Skip to content Deuteronomy 11-12: The Power of Obedience 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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Repetition Builds Faith: Love and Obey 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, your0:57 name at least 7 times. They need to be exposed to it at least 7 times for for them to even to take notice of it. And reports indicate that the number 1 business advertiser in the US1:09 is wanna guess? It's Amazon, estimated to spend somewhere between 40 and 50000000000 dollars a year. Now Amazon did not become a household name1:21 because it is the second largest company in America. It became the second largest company in America because it was a household name, frequency and repetition. So Moses,1:33 he's making sure that the people knew what god had done for them 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?1:45 I would 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 to dismiss2:10 this old test this is old testament, 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 to them,2:22 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 miraculously intervening.2:34 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, and we2:45 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, you shall keep2:57 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 to your3:08 fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. Our obedient our obedience to god not only brings blessing, but it3:20 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 the land,3:32 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 world is3:44 really on fire because of weakness. The reason is that strength, true strength, comes from obedience to God, which provides the confidence to act3:56 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. The eyes of the lord of4:08 your god are always on it from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. Now I find this this after the first I mean, this jumped out at me this this time. Obviously, I've read this many times, but this time4:18 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 the world? Because4:30 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 if you earnestly obey myBlessings for Obedience, Curses for Idolatry 4:42 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 rain for your land in its season,4:54 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 livestock that you may eat and5:06 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 turn aside and serve other gods5:18 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 to drift into idolatry,5:30 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 the land yield no produce, and you perish5:42 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 case we missed it the first dozen times, it5:54 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. You shall teach them to your children,6:05 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 write them on the doorpost of your house and on6:17 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 the days of heaven above the6:29 earth. Focus on and be intentional about the obedience to god. That was the key to their success of staying in the land. There's so much in this chapter. Look at look at this6:41 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 dread of you and the fear of6:53 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, honoring him, we don't need to fear man7:05 no matter where God sends us because he will put the fear of us upon them. Then Moses restates all of this as a choice. Alright? He puts it all out there. God doesn't7:16 force us 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 you today a blessing and a curse,7:29 a blessing if they obey God and a curse if they all dis if they disobey God and reject God's ways. Verse 29. Now it shall be when the lord your god has brought you into the land which you go to possess,7:41 which you shall put that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Now last year, I actually stood at the very remains of the7:52 altar that Joshua built when he crossed over into the promised land and fulfilled this command by Moses. And as I was there with a a small group of pastors, I actually8:04 read from the book of Deuteronomy. So who who's, you know, who gets to choose the blessing or the curse? We do. Individually, we8:16 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? Obedience brings the blessing ofDestroy Idols: Worship God His Way Alone 8:28 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 judgments which you shall be careful to observe in8:40 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 a onetime experience.8:52 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 all the places where the nations which9:03 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 was just it was everywhere on the9:15 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 cut down the carved images of their9:27 gods and destroy their names from that place. There was no accommodation. There was no toleration. There was not a call to religious pluralism, no9:38 tolerance, but obedience and intolerance to idolatry. Look at the first steps they were to take upon entering the promised land. Destroy the altars.9:50 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 lord your god with such things.10:02 Alright? In Numbers and Leviticus, we saw repeatedly the specific detailed detailed, very detailed instructions that god gave for how he was to be worshiped10:14 worshiped. This this, pursuit of this syncretic worship, mixture of all these different elements is an abomination to God. We are10:26 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. Their focus was10:38 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. And that's where the worship was to take place,10:50 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 command you that it may go well with you11:03 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 go well with you? Well, obey the Lord. When11:15 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 them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not11:26 ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their god saying, how did these nations serve these gods? I also will do likewise.11:39 You shall not worship the lord your god in that way. For every abomination to the lord which he hates, they have done to their gods. For they even burned their sons and daughters in the fire11:51 to their gods. And, unfortunately, we're gonna see later that they fact in fact did. Chemosh, Molech, they followed in those ways. So don't follow the path of the nations that12:03 God is removing to make room for you, lest God remove you to make room for someone else who will obey him. Verse 32. Whatever I command you, be careful to12:14 observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. In other words, be careful and be focused on intentionally following God just as he said. Father, thank you for12:26 your word. And, Lord, this, this entire book is so enlightening. And and, lord, it just shows us and I I know we're under under the new covenant, and we thank you for your grace and for your mercy.12:38 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 my commandments. Lord, help us through the power of the holy spirit living in us as12:50 believers to obey you to and, lord, sanctify us through your word and through the work of the holy spirit in our lives. And, lord, I pray that we would be able to possess that abundant life that that Jesus13:02 brought to us. So, father, continue to be with us on this journey. May the holy spirit lead us, opening our understanding to your word and how we should apply it to our lives in this world in which we live. For we pray13:13 this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for being with me this morning. Until next time, keep standing on the word.13:23 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you13:35 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 Repetition Builds Faith: Love and Obey God4:33 Blessings for Obedience, Curses for Idolatry8:26 Destroy Idols: Worship God His Way Alone
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