SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
SPEAKER_00: What a wonderful way to be led to the throne room of the Lord Jesus Christ in song.
SPEAKER_00: Hope you appreciate singing together as much as I do.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many rich, rich songs for us to sing, to give praise to our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, together.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you are aware of, not the last one, but the one before that, yet not I, but Christ in me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're aware of that song.
SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful new song.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of my favorite new songs.
SPEAKER_00: There's a group, an Australian group called City Alight.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not familiar with them, I encourage you to find them on YouTube.
SPEAKER_00: City Alight.
SPEAKER_00: They are one of the new groups, worship groups writing new hymns, new songs for worship.
SPEAKER_00: And that is one of them.
SPEAKER_00: And I am so thankful, regularly thankful for the ability that God has given our musicians to lead us together and worship in those new kinds of songs.
SPEAKER_00: I know if if you have ability and we don't know about it, please let Webb know.
SPEAKER_00: I know he would love to be able to talk to you and incorporate you in some way, if possible, into our worship team.
SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to take your version of God's word that you have with you this morning and open it to the Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: I know we've been in Matthew so long now that my Bible just naturally falls open to that point.
SPEAKER_00: But we're going to spend some time together in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning this morning, we're going to take a couple of months off from Matthew's record of the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Lord willing, we will pick up where we left off in the Sermon on the Mount in January.
SPEAKER_00: In December, we will start that month with celebrating the faith of several individuals demonstrating their faith to you in baptism.
SPEAKER_00: And then for the rest of the Christmas season, our focus is going to be on God's promise to send a redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: But until then, for November, we're going to consider the importance of God's word, especially as it relates to our obedience to him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm really looking forward to these next few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: We've been planning this for several months now.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to be in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy for three weeks.
SPEAKER_00: There we are going to see that our God is a God who has spoken to us.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us his word to hear and obey.
SPEAKER_00: Going to look this morning at chapter 4 and 5.
SPEAKER_00: Then the following Sunday, next Sunday, we're going to look at chapter 6, and then Deuteronomy 8, the week after that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's all going to lead us to kind of a pinnacle in John chapter 1, where we wrap it up.
SPEAKER_00: Because in the Old Testament, we see that God has spoken to us.
SPEAKER_00: We hear his words and we're reminded to hear him speak.
SPEAKER_00: And then in John chapter 1, that culminates with God's word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, and we hear him in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, my part in this this morning is really to set the stage for what is to come.
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis, or not Genesis, Deuteronomy 4 and 5, we are going to really kind of set the foundation for what we're going to hear in Deuteronomy 6 and then in Deuteronomy 8.
SPEAKER_00: This is an incredibly powerful section of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: From the Jewish perspective, it was a needed reminder for the nation of Israel as they prepared to set out across the Jordan River to take possession of the land that God had promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob for centuries and centuries.
SPEAKER_00: They needed to be reminded, though, of God's word as they sought to obey Him in their new land of promise.
SPEAKER_00: Israel needed the reminder to never forget God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we need that reminder continually as well.
SPEAKER_00: Struggle to remember what I had for breakfast this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So it's so easy for us to forget God's word as well.
SPEAKER_00: We need the reminder that God's spoken word has prepared the way for the incarnate word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy played an important part in Israel's history.
SPEAKER_00: God sent them on a 40-year journey of wandering through the deserts of Arabia because they failed to trust in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: You probably remember the story.
SPEAKER_00: Moses sent 12 spies across the Jordan River to spy out the land, to say, go in and see how rich and prosperous and wonderful it is so that we can go in and take possession.
SPEAKER_00: Those twelve men went in, they spied it out, and they came back, and two of them said, Yes, let's trust what God has promised and go in and take it.
SPEAKER_00: Ten of them said, No, we cannot trust God's word because it's filled with giants.
SPEAKER_00: And the nation believed the word of the ten instead of the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: So God sent them on a 40-year wandering in the desert while everyone who failed to trust in God's word died without experiencing the blessing of God's promise.
SPEAKER_00: So now in Deuteronomy there is a new generation, a second generation of Israelites after coming out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They are ready to possess God's promises.
SPEAKER_00: But first, they needed a reminder of exactly what God had said.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Deuteronomy is.
SPEAKER_00: It's a reminder.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy chapter 17, Moses gave instruction for the future.
SPEAKER_00: He knew there would be a time when kings would rule over the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And so he gave some guidance for them.
SPEAKER_00: Specifically, that under the guidance of priests, future kings were to make a handwritten copy of the law for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he said in Deuteronomy 17, 18.
SPEAKER_00: When he, that is, when your future king sits on his throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, that is approved by the Levitical priests.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine that you are established as the new king of Israel, and your first obligation, your first duty is to sit down and hand copy the first five books of the Bible so that you have your own personal copy of God's law.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when that passage was first translated into the Greek language, the words that you see there in English, a copy of this law, that was translated into Greek with the Greek words deuteronom.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteron meaning second, nomion meaning law.
SPEAKER_00: It is the second copy, the second reiteration of the law of God.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing new here.
SPEAKER_00: What you find in the book of Deuteronomy is not a new expression of something, it is simply saying it again.
SPEAKER_00: Why would we need to say it again?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know about you, but I often have to tell my son three or four times to do something, and he still doesn't remember.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing with us.
SPEAKER_00: God has to keep speaking to us the words of his law.
SPEAKER_00: But here specifically, there is a new group of people, a new generation of Israelites who need the reminder of the word of God before they go over and take possession of God's promise.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Moses wrote this book and communicated it to the people to motivate their obedience.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds the people, beginning in chapter one of Deuteronomy, all the way through the third chapter, that God chose them.
SPEAKER_00: He chose their father Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: He gave his people his words.
SPEAKER_00: But Moses wanted them to know that success and blessing came only as they remembered and obeyed the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's why.
SPEAKER_00: That's why remembering the word of God is at the heart of our obedience.
SPEAKER_00: We don't remember, we don't obey.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a Christian, you need to remember that God has spoken to us through the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And it's here that we find the voice of God speaking to us, calling us to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a Christian, you're going to be challenged this morning to hear the God who has spoken, and then to follow him in faith and trust and obedience.
SPEAKER_00: We begin then in Deuteronomy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: The first three chapters recount the previous 40 years or so of Israel's wanderings, taking us right up to the brink of the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: Soon Moses is going to climb a mountain where God has told him to go up and to die.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua will come down, his assistant, and lead the people of Israel across the Jordan River to take possession of God's promise to his people.
SPEAKER_00: So, in many ways, what we're going to see here are the last words of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: This is his last opportunity to teach the people that he has led for 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: Many of these people he has seen from the moment of their birth.
SPEAKER_00: They've grown up with Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And this is Moses' last opportunity to have an impression upon these people.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is what he says to them in chapter 4, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and rules that I am teaching you and do them.
SPEAKER_00: That you may live and go in and take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving to you.
SPEAKER_00: That theme of listening and of hearing and of being careful to remember and not forget is a constant in these chapters.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to hear it again and again and again and see it again and again and again.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, take care to listen, don't forget over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Moses repeatedly expresses the commands of God to his people to hear, to remember, to not forget.
SPEAKER_00: Because God demands obedience to his words.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, we don't have time this morning to read all of these two chapters that are before us, chapter four and chapter five.
SPEAKER_00: We're only going to focus on some portions of them.
SPEAKER_00: So it's best for you, if you really want to pay attention this morning, it's best for you to have your copy of God's Word open so that you can see the verses and the passages that I'm going to be referencing throughout.
SPEAKER_00: There are going to be a lot of them.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are one of God's people that is prone to take notes, I've made it very easy for you this morning to take notes.
SPEAKER_00: So you'll be delighted with this this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at two divisions of God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: Primarily, the first division in chapter four is remembering God's uniqueness.
SPEAKER_00: Moses reminds us never forget the uniqueness of your God.
SPEAKER_00: Then in primarily chapter five, he is going to remind us to remember to obey God's words.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the two divisions that we're going to highlight this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think for a moment about how you would describe your God.
SPEAKER_00: How would you describe the God that you worship and follow?
SPEAKER_00: If someone asked you, what is your God like?
SPEAKER_00: How would you answer?
SPEAKER_00: Could you answer?
SPEAKER_00: I hope you can.
SPEAKER_00: It's important to know how to answer that question because the world outside of these walls has all kinds of answers to that question.
SPEAKER_00: And the vast majority of them are wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Some of what you will find in the world are false perceptions of the true God.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will also find gods of our own making.
SPEAKER_00: You will find false gods, and you will leave this building in a short while and enter that world of false gods and false understanding.
SPEAKER_00: How is your God different than what you will encounter in the world outside these walls?
SPEAKER_00: How is he different?
SPEAKER_00: Israel had spent 40 years practically quarantined from false religion.
SPEAKER_00: They were wandering in the desert.
SPEAKER_00: For the most part, they didn't have much influential contact with people who worshiped other gods.
SPEAKER_00: But at this point, at this point in their history, they they are about to cross the Jordan River and encounter and conquer people groups who had infuriated Yahweh with their devotion to idols and all kinds of false gods.
SPEAKER_00: They were about to come into contact with different ideas about God and gods and what to worship and how to worship than they'd ever seen before.
SPEAKER_00: So it's in that context that Moses took time to remind Israel your God is unique.
SPEAKER_00: He is not like what you are about to encounter.
SPEAKER_00: He is unlike any other God.
SPEAKER_00: And so he begins then to go through examples of how God is unique.
SPEAKER_00: And again, we don't have time to really dive into these in depth.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to go through them quickly with you to show what Moses showed his people about how God is unique.
SPEAKER_00: First, we notice that God is unique in his word.
SPEAKER_00: In his word.
SPEAKER_00: He begins, and now, O Israel, listen.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why should they listen?
SPEAKER_00: For that matter, why should we?
SPEAKER_00: Why should we pay attention to what God has said?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Moses gives the reason that you may live.
SPEAKER_00: There was more for those Israelites that they might go in and take possession of the land of God's promise.
SPEAKER_00: But if they don't live, then they're not going to be going in.
SPEAKER_00: We've already gone over that there's a whole generation of people dead in the desert because they didn't trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't live, they're not going in.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is unique because it is one of the major keys to true life.
SPEAKER_00: Peter picks up on this in the New Testament in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of God, he says, His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us.
SPEAKER_00: How do we have that knowledge of him who called us?
SPEAKER_00: Through his word.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not all we see about the uniqueness of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: God goes on in verse 2 to say, it's settled.
SPEAKER_00: It's determined.
SPEAKER_00: You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle John picks up that theme at the end of the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Cursing anyone who changes, who adds to or takes away from the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is settled.
SPEAKER_00: It is determined, it's done.
SPEAKER_00: When God speaks, he's finished it.
SPEAKER_00: That means that any other any other text that claims to be God's word, claims to be divine revelation, is false.
SPEAKER_00: There's more.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is the source of wisdom and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: So much so, so much so that whoever whoever values and trusts in this word, the word of God, as the source of wisdom and understanding, is noticed as being set apart by God.
SPEAKER_00: They're unique.
SPEAKER_00: We should go on, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: On the day that you stood before Yahweh, your God at Horeb, Yahweh said to me, Gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that God's word is his grace to you?
SPEAKER_00: We saw a little bit earlier about folks in Pakistan and how they endure much less privilege than we have.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are many people groups throughout the world who do not have a copy of God's word in their possession, much less, even many in their communities.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that we have the words of the living God in our possession, most of us in multiple copies, and acts accessible to us via the internet or through your smartphone or your device of any kind is astounding.
SPEAKER_00: That is God's grace to you.
SPEAKER_00: No, remember, God did not have to give you his words.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the choice of words God had.
SPEAKER_00: That I may let you hear my words.
SPEAKER_00: We would not know the heart and mind of God had He not chosen to speak.
SPEAKER_00: He lets us hear the fact that you can have the words of the living God right in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: It's his grace to you.
SPEAKER_00: And that points to another aspect of God's uniqueness in his word.
SPEAKER_00: He actually spoke.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Then Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form.
SPEAKER_00: There was only a voice.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully, since you saw no form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you.
SPEAKER_00: That Horeb out of the midst of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: God spoke his words and revealed himself to his people to show that there is no one like him.
SPEAKER_00: His word is unique.
SPEAKER_00: We just read through this.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 12, Moses spends a lot of ink on this point.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: You heard the sound of words, but saw no form.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, you saw no form.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice what he what he does here.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on in verse 5 verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: You saw no form the day that Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: So beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure.
SPEAKER_00: The likeness of male or female, of any animal that's on the earth, winged bird that flies in the air, anything that creeps on the ground, any fish in the water, beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, and you be drawn away and bow down to them.
SPEAKER_00: The warning is carried on into verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Beware lest when you have children and grandchildren and grown old in the land, you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything.
SPEAKER_00: God hates when people make an image, a form of something and worship it.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says that in John chapter 4, verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: God is spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's important because the common means of worship of false gods is by taking a piece of wood or a piece of stone or some gold or some silver or some bronze and forming it into the shape of something.
SPEAKER_00: There were golden calves that were worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: There were goats that were worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: Mice were worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: Sun, moon, stars were worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: Those all have a form of something.
SPEAKER_00: God hates that because it very clearly identifies it's a different God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not Him because anything that can be described in form or in shape cannot be the true God.
SPEAKER_00: He is unique in His being in that He does not have physical shape or form.
SPEAKER_00: God is spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You wanted His people to know that.
SPEAKER_00: You wanted His people to understand that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when we get to the new Testament, we find that God is spirit, but God can take on a kind of form.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that?
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of the Lord Jesus, it says that even though he was in the form of God, he didn't count equality with God as something to be held on to at all costs.
SPEAKER_00: So what did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He emptied himself.
SPEAKER_00: He set aside his divine prerogatives and said, I'm going to take on the form of a slave.
SPEAKER_00: And he was born in the likeness of human flesh.
SPEAKER_00: But God, being spirit, took on a form.
SPEAKER_00: But in his being, in the pureness of his being, he is spirit.
SPEAKER_00: His word is unique.
SPEAKER_00: His being is unique.
SPEAKER_00: Third example that we see in this chapter is his redemption is unique.
SPEAKER_00: His redemption is unique.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance as you are this day.
SPEAKER_00: Later, in verse 34, God asks some questions.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: Has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation?
SPEAKER_00: And done so by trials, signs, wonders, war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, by great deeds of terror.
SPEAKER_00: Has that ever happened?
SPEAKER_00: God asks.
SPEAKER_00: Eugene Merrill, in his commentary on Deuteronomy, writes this if ever there was an example of lordship, it was this.
SPEAKER_00: For Egypt, by any standard, was the dominant economic and military power in the world.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord to be able to humiliate that great empire by rescuing an impotent slave people from its grasp was ample witness to his incomparability.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to describe this verse, and he says, the Hebrew term here is related to another language word for crucible, a kiln in which metals and glass were melted down and refined.
SPEAKER_00: Any nation caught up in the white heat of Egyptian wrath and oppression was virtually hopeless.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord used that time of bondage as a purifying process for his people.
SPEAKER_00: And when the process was over, he powerfully delivered them from it.
SPEAKER_00: And the point we see in this chapter is that no God could do that.
SPEAKER_00: God with a little g.
SPEAKER_00: You've never heard of it, because it's never happened.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh redeems, and when he does so, he does so powerfully and fully, completely.
SPEAKER_00: He does it by his own power, by his own hand.
SPEAKER_00: He rescues and he redeems.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, as New Testament believers, we we automatically understand then that Israel's redemption out of Egypt is a picture of the powerful work of God to redeem us through the work of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Fourth example of God's uniqueness is that he is unique in his character.
SPEAKER_00: He is unique in his character.
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, the characteristic that we see first is verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't sound very encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: But if you are one of God's people, it is extremely encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: God's jealousy is connected over and over again to images that represent something other than God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: Take care lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image in the form of anything that Yahweh your God has forbidden you.
SPEAKER_00: Why should we be afraid to worship some kind of image?
SPEAKER_00: Because your God is a consuming fire.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't take it well when his people go worship something other than him.
SPEAKER_00: That's nothing new.
SPEAKER_00: It goes all the way back to the book of Exodus and to the Ten Commands in Exodus chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 20, verse 5, God told his people, You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 20, I'm sorry, Isaiah 42, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord, that's my name.
SPEAKER_00: My glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved idols.
SPEAKER_00: God is jealous for his name.
SPEAKER_00: He's jealous for his being, he's jealous for his people.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, if you go and you worship something other than me, you're going to experience my character as a consuming fire.
SPEAKER_00: Sadly, in Deuteronomy 32, 21, God said, My people have made me jealous with what is no God.
SPEAKER_00: They have provoked me to anger with their idols.
SPEAKER_00: Mercy is one of his characteristics.
SPEAKER_00: That's astounding because the variations of Baal that were worshipped in this time in history, or the Ashturiths, or any other false god of the millions that there were, were not considered merciful.
SPEAKER_00: If anything, they were vengeful and angry.
SPEAKER_00: They were gods that had to be appeased.
SPEAKER_00: So if something didn't go your way, then that indicated that the gods were angry with you and you had to appease their anger.
SPEAKER_00: So you had to go and offer a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: That's why so many of the ancient nations went so far as to participate in child sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Because the greatest act of appeasement is offering your own child as a burnt offering, apparently.
SPEAKER_00: They had to be appeased, but our God is a merciful God.
SPEAKER_00: Moses wants his people to be reminded of how unique their God is.
SPEAKER_00: Fifth example of God's uniqueness is found in what he does, in his actions.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: Ask now of history.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have a history lesson.
SPEAKER_00: The days that were before you.
SPEAKER_00: Since the day that God created man on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Ask from one end of the heavens to the other whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was even ever heard of.
SPEAKER_00: Still live.
SPEAKER_00: God has done things that have never been seen before or seen since.
SPEAKER_00: He spoke with an actual voice, unlike any other so-called God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 34, he redeemed a nation out of another nation with terrifying power.
SPEAKER_00: He gave actual evidence of his presence with his words and with the fire of his presence in verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 37 and 38, he led his people out of Egypt to drive out nations that were more powerful than they.
SPEAKER_00: This is a powerful God recounting his awesome deeds.
SPEAKER_00: And it's astounding that as we see just in this little passage, all that God has done, it's astounding that Israel forgot how powerful her God was.
SPEAKER_00: She forgot.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we could point to several incidences.
SPEAKER_00: One is when Elijah, the prophet Elijah, was on the top of Mount Carmel.
SPEAKER_00: Because he challenged the 400 prophets of Baal to a duel.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You come up on this mountain with me and we'll gather all of the people on top of this mountain, and we're going to once and for all determine who is God.
SPEAKER_00: Is it Baal or is it Yahweh?
SPEAKER_00: So let's have a duel.
SPEAKER_00: You prepare a sacrifice, you kill an ox, and you offer him up as a burnt offering, you call on your God and we'll see who responds with fire.
SPEAKER_00: If your God responds with fire, great, we'll worship Baal.
SPEAKER_00: If my God responds with fire, then we're going to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Why did they even need to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because they had forgotten how powerful their God was.
SPEAKER_00: Later on in Israel's history, they forgot how powerful their God was, and that was demonstrated because they went and made peace treaties with other nations who they thought could come and help protect them because their God wasn't powerful enough to protect them.
SPEAKER_00: They forgot.
SPEAKER_00: Now the sixth example of God's uniqueness is absolute sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: There's a pattern in verses 32 through 39 that just very clearly demonstrate this truth.
SPEAKER_00: Twice there are three verses that are followed by a statement of Yahweh's supremacy and uniqueness.
SPEAKER_00: So that we see this twice.
SPEAKER_00: So first we see in verses 32, 33, and 34 this statement about how powerful God is, and then in verse 35, we are asked, To you, it was shown that you might know that Yahweh is God.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other besides him.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 36, 37, and 38, we go at it again.
SPEAKER_00: Out of heaven you hear his voice.
SPEAKER_00: He loved your fathers, he brought them out by his great power.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38, he drove out nations before them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 39, know therefore today and lay it to heart that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other.
SPEAKER_00: There's no question.
SPEAKER_00: When you understand God's word, when you understand who he is, when you understand his redemption of his people, when you understand the kind of character that he has, when you understand how powerfully he has acted in history on behalf of his people, when you understand how sovereign and supreme he is, you respond with, There is no one like my God.
SPEAKER_00: There's no one like him.
SPEAKER_00: And Moses understood that as his people were getting ready to cross over to take possession of God's promise, they needed that reminder.
SPEAKER_00: They needed to hear that again.
SPEAKER_00: And all of these, all of these examples of God's uniqueness are placed right in between two bookends.
SPEAKER_00: The book ends are the same.
SPEAKER_00: Verse one, listen to the statutes and the rules.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 40, you shall keep his commandments and his statutes.
SPEAKER_00: You see what Moses did?
SPEAKER_00: It's astounding, really.
SPEAKER_00: In half a dozen different ways, he goes through and he reminds Israel of God's uniqueness.
SPEAKER_00: There's no one like him.
SPEAKER_00: The God who redeemed them was so unlike any other so-called God that they were about to encounter in the world in front of them.
SPEAKER_00: And once God's people remembered and recognized who their God is, that remembrance was to motivate obedience to God's word.
SPEAKER_00: They were to be so astounded with who their God is that they were driven to do what he said.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the focus of chapter 5, where we look at remembering to obey God's words.
SPEAKER_00: I apologize if I'm flying through this.
SPEAKER_00: I uh threatened to Jeremy and Webb that I was going to preach for an hour.
SPEAKER_00: Not going to put you through that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to get through all of this.
SPEAKER_00: Because what we're doing is setting the stage, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're setting the stage for what we're going to hear in chapter six and chapter eight.
SPEAKER_00: So in chapter five, that's the second division of this section.
SPEAKER_00: We are remembering to obey God's words.
SPEAKER_00: And so notice the first verse of chapter five.
SPEAKER_00: Moses summoned all Israel, and he said to them, Hear, hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today.
SPEAKER_00: You shall learn them and be careful to do them.
SPEAKER_00: Then the rest of this chapter is primarily a recounting of the Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: But along the way, we're going to see a handful of qualities of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Qualities that should help us when we properly understand them, help us to obey his word.
SPEAKER_00: The first quality of God's word couldn't be surprising.
SPEAKER_00: It demands obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Demands obedience.
SPEAKER_00: As we read in verse 1, Israel was to learn God's words and be careful to do them.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 7, we see the beginning of repeating the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Ten Commands themselves are, well, commands.
SPEAKER_00: They are requirements that demand obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And the chapter ends in the same way.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 32, you shall be careful, therefore, to do all of this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 33, you shall walk in all of the way that Yahweh your God has commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see in a couple of weeks that that's the essence of Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by what?
SPEAKER_00: Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: God spoke to his people.
SPEAKER_00: That's repeated over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: God spoke, God spoke, God spoke.
SPEAKER_00: When the utterly unique and sovereign God speaks, his people must respond in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, the image that we have is that Israel's history as God's people is a sad account, not of obedience, but of disastrous disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a key truth I think that we have to notice here.
SPEAKER_00: Obedience is demanded of anyone who possesses the words of the God who has spoken.
SPEAKER_00: The word demands obedience.
SPEAKER_00: God's word demands obedience.
SPEAKER_00: God's word also motivates reverence.
SPEAKER_00: Motivates reverence.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what Moses recounted in verses four and five.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between you and Yahweh at that time to declare to you the word of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: You were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Now look down at verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: These words of Yahweh spoke to all of your assembly at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23 As soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the fire, out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders, and you said, Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness.
SPEAKER_00: We've heard his voice out of the midst of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: Please, can we not hear anymore?
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to hear anymore because we might die.
SPEAKER_00: You, Moses, you go near, you listen to what God has to say, then you come back and you tell us what God has said, and we'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: Because we are afraid of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are afraid of God.
SPEAKER_00: They had developed an awe and a fear-filled reverence of the speaking God.
SPEAKER_00: See, awe-filled fear and reverence is the result of a clear comprehension of the uniqueness of the speaking God.
SPEAKER_00: When you understand who it is that you're hearing speak, the result is not some warm, fuzzy feeling.
SPEAKER_00: The result is I might die.
SPEAKER_00: I better not do the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: Quite the difference from those who claim God speaks to them today as though he's some boyfriend or girlfriend.
SPEAKER_00: Someone has rightly said if you want to hear God speak to you, open your Bible and read it out loud.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words of the God who speaks.
SPEAKER_00: And we ought to crave his words and be filled with reverence for this one who has spoken to us.
SPEAKER_00: It anticipates a mediator.
SPEAKER_00: I was tempted to just preach on this one thing today.
SPEAKER_00: So, so rich.
SPEAKER_00: Ancient Israel saw the visible effects of the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, whenever you see the presence of God with his people, with one exception, the exception being the Garden of Eden, after that, when you see the visible presence of God, there's there's this thick darkness that surrounds him.
SPEAKER_00: There's this fire out of which comes his voice, as we see it described here.
SPEAKER_00: They understood that God was speaking.
SPEAKER_00: And it gave them such fear that they felt they would die if they heard any more.
SPEAKER_00: And they heard the living God speak and didn't want to die.
SPEAKER_00: They understood they needed a mediator, and so they told Moses, Moses, you go, you go up into that thick darkness, you go close to the fire, you listen to what God has to say, and you come back and tell us it's okay if you die, we don't want to die.
SPEAKER_00: They needed someone to stand in the gap and hear God speak and turn and speak to them.
SPEAKER_00: As we've already noted, Moses is going to die.
SPEAKER_00: Just a short, short time from Moses sharing this word with them, he would go up on a mountain and die.
SPEAKER_00: Be gone.
SPEAKER_00: So it's important then to understand that in chapter uh chapter 18, Moses would tell Israel that God would send another prophet, a prophet like him, a prophet who would be a mediator like Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And God himself promised this prophet, and here's what God said about that prophet.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I will raise up for them a prophet like you, Moses, from among their brothers.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to put my words in his mouth, and he's going to speak to them all that I command him.
SPEAKER_00: God said, I'm going to give my words to someone else, and someone else is going to give them to my people.
SPEAKER_00: And how wonderful is it then that we read in the Gospel of John in chapter 1, verse 14 that the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen his glory, glorious of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: And then later in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5, we read there is one mediator between God and man.
SPEAKER_00: Who is that?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus, we have the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: We have that spoken word of God now.
SPEAKER_00: In human form without the fear of being consumed by the words of God.
SPEAKER_00: More on that in a few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Attention.
SPEAKER_00: God's word requires attention.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, God says something really astounding.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that my people had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments that it might go well with them and their descendants forever.
SPEAKER_00: Israel didn't always have that mindset.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Moses would then say a little bit later in verse 32, you shall be careful.
SPEAKER_00: God knows my people aren't always going to have this mindset.
SPEAKER_00: Moses says, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see more of that in coming weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 6, verse 12, take care lest you forget.
SPEAKER_00: 6, 17, you shall diligently keep the commandments.
SPEAKER_00: 7, 11, you shall therefore be careful to do.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8, verse 1, you shall be careful to do.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8, verse 2, you shall remember.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8, verse 11, take care lest you forget.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8, verse 18, you shall remember, verse 19, if you forget, and on and on it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Life distracts us, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Life distracts us.
SPEAKER_00: We get distracted by by any myriad of things that come into our daily lives.
SPEAKER_00: Even our own sin distracts us.
SPEAKER_00: We can be distracted by the good things that God gives us.
SPEAKER_00: So wandered away.
SPEAKER_00: Israel's wisest man, King Solomon, was distracted by the blessings of God.
SPEAKER_00: Israel would be in danger of distraction by the nations that they were to dispossess.
SPEAKER_00: They would be distracted by the abundance of God's blessings.
SPEAKER_00: But Moses made it quite clear in all of these chapters that the one who knows the unique God will give attention to obeying the words of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to hear more of what God says about giving attention to his word next time in chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to leave you with this challenge.
SPEAKER_00: As we follow in in Israel's steps and even as their spiritual spiritual connection to their God, ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_00: What place and what place does remembering what God has said and and carrying it out, following through on it, what place do I really give that in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Is it Sunday morning?
SPEAKER_00: Is it once or twice a month?
SPEAKER_00: Is it is it half-hearted hearing?
SPEAKER_00: Do we take care and not forget?
SPEAKER_00: What place do we give?
SPEAKER_00: In the coming weeks, we'll be directed to commit ourselves more and more to that heart of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Remembering the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we confess that we are forgetful people.
SPEAKER_00: We confess that we forget all of the little details in our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: And how can we remember what you've said?
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord God, give us a mind to remember.
SPEAKER_00: Give us hearts that are diligent to be refreshed in your word, to be reminded so that we might not forget.
SPEAKER_00: Give us new hearts that want to obey, and that are inclined to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_01: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.