Skip to content Deuteronomy 11-12: The Power of Obedience Apr 6 · 14 min ...more
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Repetition, Love, and Obeying God 0:09 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning. Today, our journey takes us to Deuteronomy chapters 11 and 12, verse 26 of chapter 11. Behold, I0:21 set before you today a blessing and a curse. Isn't Deuteronomy a great book? I mean, this is so encouraging. There's so much in here for us. And I bet as you've read0:33 through these chapters today, you probably said, you know what? I I I think I've read this before. Yes. You have. In fact, some of what we're reading today, we read last time. Why? Frequency and repetition.0:46 You know, the key to advertising is frequency and repetition. A rule of thumb, at least in, political advertising, is that someone needs to hear, your message, your0:58 name at least 7 times. They need to be exposed to it at least 7 times for it for them to even take notice of it. And reports indicate that the number 1 business advertiser in the US is1:10 wanna guess? It's Amazon, estimated to spend somewhere between 40 and 50000000000 dollars a year. Now Amazon did not become a household name because it is the1:22 second largest company in America. It became the second largest company in America because it was a household name, frequency and repetition. So Moses, he's making1:34 sure that the people knew what God had done for them and and what he expected of them. They were to write it on their doorpost, advertising, if you will. And I and I you know what? I would1:45 venture to say that most children in fact, I would say adults living in Christian homes, they probably know more advertising jingles or slogans than they do scripture.1:58 Alright. Verse 1, chapter 11. Therefore, you shall love the lord your god and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments always. Love and obey. For those who would want to2:10 dismiss this old test this is old testament, it has nothing to do with us, Jesus said this very same thing in the New Testament. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Now verses 2 through 7 speak to2:21 them, reminding them of what god had done for them, knowing our history does matter. Our history as a nation shows what the founders described as the hand of providence miraculously2:33 intervening. Now, of course, most people don't know that history today, but our history is filled with these occurrences of God intervening. Now our individual history with God matters,2:45 and we should share our testimony with our children and grandchildren. They need to know what God has done for them and brought them to where they are. Verse 8. Therefore, you2:57 shall keep every commandment which I command you today that you may be strong and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess and that you may prolong your days in the land which the lord swore to give to3:08 your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. Our obedient our obedience to god not only brings blessing, but3:20 it provides confidence as we live and act in faith. We can be bold. We can be competent. Obedience to God, as he's as Moses is saying here, would give them the strength to possess the3:32 land, to face their opposition, more powerful, more mighty as we've read. Now you may have heard the phrase peace through strength as an approach to foreign policy. Today, the world3:44 is really on fire because of weakness. The reason is that strength, true strength, comes from obedience to God, which provides the confidence to3:55 act and act wisely. Look at verse 12. A land for which the lord your god cares, the eye of the lord your god are always on it.4:07 The eyes of the lord of your god are always on it from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. Now I find this this I for the first I mean, this jumped out at me this time. Obviously, I've read this many4:17 times, but this time the verse jumped out to me. This is talking about Israel and much of that surrounding area. Could this be why this area that's about the size of New Jersey is the focus of so much of theBlessings, Warnings, and the Choice 4:29 world because it is the focus of God. Alright. Verse 13 begins a conditional promise. If you, then I. Look at verse 13. And it shall be that if4:40 you earnestly obey my commands, which I command you today, to love the Lord your god and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain4:52 for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock5:04 that you may eat and be filled. See, this obedience even brought about economic strength. Verse 16, we've seen this before. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn5:16 aside and serve other gods and worship them. God was giving them a good land and was going to bless them with abundance. And they had to be on guard not to5:28 drift into idolatry, which would then lead to God's chastisement and punishment. Verse 17, lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the5:40 land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land, the good land, which the lord is giving you. So how do you keep that from happening? Well, here it is again in case5:52 we missed it the first dozen times that it was here. Therefore, you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.6:03 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, basically, all the time. And you shall write6:15 them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the6:26 days of heaven above the earth. Focus on and be intentional about the obedience to God. That was the key to their success of staying in the land.6:39 There's so much in this chapter. Look at look at this promise in verse 24. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. No man shall be able to stand against you. The lord your god will put the dread6:51 of you and the fear of you upon the land where you tread, just as he has said to you. You see, if we fear god, reverence him by obeying him, honoring7:02 him, we don't need to fear man no matter where God sends us because he will put the fear of us upon them. Then Moses restates all of this as a7:14 choice. Alright? He puts it all out there. God doesn't force us to to do any of this. Alright? You get a pick. You get a pick. A blessing or a curse. Alright? Look at verse 26. Behold, I set before you7:26 today a blessing and a curse, a blessing if they obey God and a curse if they if they disobey God and reject God's ways. Verse 29, now it shall be when the lord your god has brought you into7:38 the land which you go to possess, which you shall put that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Now last year, I actually stood7:51 at the very remains of the altar that Joshua built when he crossed over into the promised land and fulfilled this command by Moses. And as I was there with a8:03 small group of pastors, I actually read from the book of Deuteronomy. So who who's, you know, who gets to choose the blessing or the curse? We8:14 do. Individually, we make this choice. As families, we make this choice. As a nation, we make this choice. So which do you choose, the blessing or the curse?8:26 Obedience brings the blessing of God. Chapter 12 focuses on the spiritual foundations and the, the preparation preparations of the nation. Look at verse 1. These are the statutes and judgmentsDestroy Idolatry and True Worship 8:38 which you shall be careful to observe in the land which lord the lord god of your fathers has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth? Again, the repeated message of obedience to God. It's not a8:49 onetime experience. Right? It's not like you just alright. I'm gonna follow God, and then you just go about your business. It is a way of life. It is a way of life. Verse 2. You shall utterly destroy all9:01 the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. So this idolatry was everywhere. It was it was9:13 just it was everywhere, on the hills, on the mountains, under the trees. And you shall destroy their altars. Their altars were everywhere. Break their sacred pillars and burn their wooden images with fire. You shall cut9:25 down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. There was no accommodation. There was no toleration. There was not a call to religious9:37 pluralism. No tolerance, but obedience and intolerance to idolatry. Look at the first steps they were to take upon entering the promised land.9:49 Destroy the altars. Break the sacred pillars. Burn the wooden images, break up the carved images. And the next verse tells us why. Look at verse 4. You shall not worship the lord10:00 your god with such things. Alright? In Numbers and Leviticus, we saw repeatedly the specific detailed detailed, very detailed instructions that god gave for how10:12 he was to be worshiped worshiped. This this pursuit of this syncretic worship mixture of all these different elements is an10:24 abomination to God. We are not to mix the element elements of pagan or idolatrous worship with the worship of the 1 true God, and he wanted all of that stuff eliminated.10:36 Their focus was to be where the name of the Lord, where his presence was located, and that was gonna be in 1 place, and it would, as we'll read eventually, it was in Shiloh. And10:48 that's where the worship was to take place, not on the high mountains, not not under the trees, 1 place. Drop down to verse 28. Observe and obey all these words which I command11:00 you that it may go well with you and your children after you forever when you do what is good and right in the sight of the lord. Wow. Do you want it to go11:11 well with you? Well, obey the Lord. When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which go to that you go which you go to dispossess, and you displace them11:23 and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods saying, how did these11:35 nations serve these gods? I also will do likewise. You shall not worship the lord your god in that way, For every abomination to the lord which he hates, they have done to their11:47 gods, for they even burned their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. And, unfortunately, we're gonna see later that they fact in fact did. Chemosh, Molech, they11:58 followed in those ways. So don't follow the path of the nations that God is removing to make room for you, lest God remove you to make room for someone else who12:10 will obey him. Verse 32, whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. In other words, be careful and be focused on intentionally12:22 following God just as he said. Father, thank you for your word. And, Lord, this, this entire book is so enlightening. And and, Lord, it just shows us and I I12:34 know we're under under the new covenant, and we thank you for your grace and for your mercy. But, Lord, the truths that are here for us, that we are to obey you. Jesus himself said, if you love me, you'll keep my12:45 commandments. Lord, help us through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us as believers to obey you, to and, lord, sanctify us through your word and through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.12:57 And, lord, I pray that we would be able to possess that abundant life that Jesus brought to us. So, father, continue to be with us on this journey. May the Holy Spirit lead us, opening our understanding to your13:08 word and how we should apply it to our lives in this world in which we live. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for being with me this morning. Until next time, keep standing13:20 on the word. Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan13:39 Learn more and request the free reading guide at FRC dot org slash Bible.In this video 0:00 Repetition, Love, and Obeying God4:22 Blessings, Warnings, and the Choice8:29 Destroy Idolatry and True Worship
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