Skip to content Deuteronomy 8-10: Wilderness Lessons for Believers Apr 6 · 14 min ...more
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Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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Wilderness Lessons: Humbling and God's Word 0:09 Good morning. Welcome to stand on the word. Today, we have 3 more powerful truth filled chapters. Deuteronomy chapters 8 through 10. Moses is doing what he just finished the telling0:21 just finished telling the people of Israel, the children of Israel, what they needed to do, teach their children who God is, what he had done for them, and what he expected from them. Alright. Deuteronomy0:33 chapter 10 verse 21. He is your praise. He is your God who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. Now we're in the second message of Moses here in the0:45 book of Deuteronomy. This is to the new generation that's about to cross over into the land of promise. And he's laying out for them the terms of the covenant between them and God, and it's mixed in with reminders0:58 of what not to do as he takes them back to, in this case, the golden calf incident. Verse 8 chapter 1 where is where we start. Every commandment which I command you today, you must be1:10 careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your father. So see the connection here between obedience and life1:21 itself and walking in and experiencing the the promises of God. And that principle applies to us today. Verse 2, and you shall remember that the Lord your God led1:33 you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. So what was the1:44 purpose of the wilderness? To humble them, test them, so as we see in verse 16, he could bless them. Let me jump ahead to verse 16. Who fed you1:56 in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test you to do good to you in the end.2:08 Verse 3. Let's go back to verse 3. So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall shall not2:21 live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Heard that before? Well, the humbling here in the wilderness made them dependent upon God even to2:33 the point of their daily bread. But there was a a purpose in the manna beyond the daily physical need that it met. It was to make them know that, listen to this, that2:45 the power of God's word is greater than our need. Jesus communicated this truth when he was, I believe, quoting, this passage to Satan in Matthew2:57 chapter 4 verse 3. Bread has been and remains a staple on of the diet in the Middle East. I love the bread in the Middle East when I go to Israel. So having no bread was a really big deal.3:09 You know, our needs are often used to test us and to reveal to us the power of God. God said he would provide bread from heaven, water3:20 from a rock, a cloud and a pillar, a fire for guidance, and guess what? He did. His word is greater than our need. As believers, we all have periods of wilderness experiences.3:33 Right? It just happens. In fact, some of you may be in 1 of those times right now. God uses those times to teach us to trust him and live3:45 day by day day by day in obedience to his word so that we can experience and appreciate and have gratitude for living in his promises. Now notice the warning thatWarning: Don't Forget God in Abundance 3:56 Moses has for them. Now look at verse 7. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of of brooks of waters, and that mean they've been going through the wilderness where there was often an absence of4:07 water, of fountains and springs that flow out of the valleys and the hills, a land with wheat and barley, of vines and of fig trees, a pomegranate, a land4:19 of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.4:31 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. Now let me point out something here, very important in this last verse. The4:43 difficulty in the wilderness by necessity kept them focused on God. But now as they're about to cross over into a place of abundance, it's pretty easy to shift their4:55 focus off of God. Moses gives them direction on how to keep their eyes on God, how to not drift away from him. Here it is. Be thankful. Bless the Lord for the good he has5:06 given you. Thanking God for what we have keeps our eyes and our heart fixed upon him. Then obey even when you're fat and happy is what Moses5:18 says. Verse 11, beware that you do not forget the lord your god by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes when I which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built5:30 beautiful houses and dwell in them, you forget. And and, by the way, he also says, don't tell your kids that you pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps, that you actually earned this5:42 abundant life, that somehow you gained this. Look what he says in verse 17. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth, and you shall remember the lord your god for5:54 it is he. It is he who gives you the power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. God is the 1 from whom6:06 all blessings flow. The wilderness preparation creating daily dependence upon God was to prepare them for the abundant life in the promised land. Right? Now6:18 here's the danger of God's blessing. We forget God. How do we forget him? Well, by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statues, everything's going well. We got this. We got this.6:30 You see, absent that daily physical dependence, our spiritual dependence begins to slip unless we are intentionally focused on following6:42 God with a heart of gratitude, which, by the way, is the primary reason for this stand on the word, this journey through the word of God. You know, there's a there's a real danger here. Frankly, I6:54 believe America is at this point. We are intoxicated with the blessings of God. We've forgotten God in many ways. Look at verse 19. Then it shall be, if you by any means, forget the7:06 Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish7:18 because you would not be obedient to the voice of the of the Lord your God. You know, Arnold Toynbee, historian in his exhaustive work of study of history, traced the rise and fall of 28 civilizations. And7:29 his conclusion was this, that civilizations generally collapse from within. Most often, it was the prosperity and the success that ushered in their demise.7:42 God is saying here, if you act like those nations, you're gonna go the way of those nations. Now to this point, look at what Moses says, over in chapter 9 verse 4. Do not thinkNot Our Righteousness: Golden Calf Rebellion 7:54 in your heart after the lord your god has cast them out. He's talking about the the the inhabitants of Canaan. Cast them out before you saying, because of my righteousness, the lord has brought me in to possess this8:05 land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go into possess their8:17 land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to8:28 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You see, God's picture is much bigger than ours. God was delivering the land and the nations, which were stronger over to Israel, not because of the8:40 righteousness of Israel or because they were good, but because the existing nations were wicked and he was keeping his promise. He had a plan, and he will fulfill8:52 it. Then Moses uses the rest of chapter 9 to remind them of the wickedness, their wickedness in their rebellion, example after example. But Moses also recounts the the key moments9:04 of his intercession where he appealed to God on their behalf because God's judgment was coming, and he interceded for them. I do wanna point out 1 of these incidents in is the primary 1 here, the golden calf.9:16 Verse 15. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire, and the 2 tablets of the covenant were in my hand. And I looked and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your9:28 God and had made for yourselves a molded calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. Now we're all very familiar with this account. Alright? You know,9:40 the building of the the making of the golden calf and worshiping it. But it struck me what Moses says here, and it's a warning for us. Let let me read this last part again. You had turned aside quickly9:52 from the way which the Lord had commanded you. I mean, it wasn't years. It wasn't months. It was days. From a a spiritual mountaintop experience of hearing the voice of God to 1 of the10:03 most infamous events in the history of the nation. You know, the the the words of the apostle Paul come to mind from first Corinthians where in first Corinthians 10 12, he says this, therefore,10:16 let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. We've got to be careful. And the only way we keep from doing that is abiding in Christ, in his10:27 word. Chapter 10 is a powerful point to finish on. What does god then require? How do we make this work in our homes? Number 1, in our churches, in our communities, and inWhat God Requires: Fear, Love, Serve 10:39 our country. Verse 12 chapter 10. And now, Israel, what does the lord your god require of you? But to fear the lord your god, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, to serve the lord your god10:51 with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the lord and his statutes which I command you today for your good. It doesn't get more it doesn't get much more11:03 straightforward than this. How do we abide in the abundance of god's promise? As we trust him as our savior, we fear him, reverence him, obey him, love him, and11:15 we serve him. And to close out, let's look at verse 17. For the lord your god is god of gods and lord of lords, the great god, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a11:27 bribe. God is god, and there is no other. He is just and he is righteous. Verse 20, you shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him, and to him you shall hold fast and take oaths in11:39 his name. He is your praise. He is your God who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. What has God done for you? Did he save you? Did he transform your11:50 life through the gospel of Jesus Christ, redeeming your soul and giving you life? That's awesome. And we should give God thanks for that, and often look back to that12:03 to see that God brought us out of the bondage of sin and off that pathway to death, and that should give us hope for what he'll do for us today. Father, we thank you12:14 for your word. What a powerful word we have today. And I just thank you for the word. I thank you for the holy spirit and how he's speaking to us on this journey. And I've heard from many who have just talked about how12:26 the the Holy Spirit has spoken to them, showed them truths from your word. We thank you for that. We thank you for the daily bread, the daily bread, the words that proceed from the mouth of God, and they were12:38 were abiding in this living word. We thank you for it. Continue to guide us on this journey, and use us, Lord, to to be a testimony to a world that needs you12:50 so desperately. We thank you, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and I pray that you have a wonderful, wonderful resurrection weekend. Until13:02 next time, keep standing on the word.13:06 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you13:18 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Wilderness Lessons: Humbling and God's Word3:55 Warning: Don't Forget God in Abundance7:48 Not Our Righteousness: Golden Calf Rebellion10:28 What God Requires: Fear, Love, Serve
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