God Requires Total Commitment

Transcript

GRS 52
5/15/1988
God Requires Total Commitment
Deuteronomy 10-11
Gil Rugh

We are in a section where Moses has been giving a broad overview or perspective on the instructions that God has for his people. Chapters 5 through 11 really form a unit and in this section Moses is giving a broad picture of God’s commandments to Israel and the responsibility of obedience on the part of God’s people. Beginning with Chapter 12 Moses will begin to look into the details of the commandments that God has for his people. As we come to Chapter 10; it really is a continuation of Chapter 9 where we had the rebellion of Israel reiterated.

Moses, going back into their history, and while he was on the very mountain giving the tablets of the covenant, Israel was down at the bottom of that mountain constructing a golden calf as an object of worship. When Moses came down from the mountain in anger at their sin; he smashed the tablets that God had given him on the ground and as we noted that was not just an act of anger but it pictured very clearly that Israel had smashed the covenant that God had entered into with them. They had agreed to be obedient to him, to worship him only and yet while the covenant is being given, while it is being written, if you will, on the tablets of stone, Israel has already violated it, in effect smashed it.

Now when we come to Chapter 10; we see that God graciously responds to the prayer of Moses in interceding for Israel. He could have destroyed the nation, he said in Chapter 9 verse 14, “let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven” and Moses, and here you say an example of self sacrificing love. But God said; I will make your people a great nation, your descendants, no, no Lord. Your honor is at stake in all of these, you must bless Israel. And so Chapter 10 opens up with the giving of new tablets and a call to obedience to Israel. Those first 11 verses reiterate the new tablets being given which is tremendously significant because what it says is; God will not abrogate the covenant.

Even though you had rejected it before I even gave it; I still will honor it. So he gives new tablets of stone, tablets of stone having the 10 commandments inscribed on them and as we have noted previously there are two stones and usually in the pictures you see five of the commandments on one stone and five commandments on the other. But in all probability there were two copies of the 10 commandments. Each stone had the 10 commandments inscribed on them, we say that because it was the common practice in covenants and treaties of this time to make two copies; one for each party but here there are two copies but both copies will be put in the Ark of the Covenant because God has made himself solely responsible for the provision and the carrying out of this covenant.

Details of this; the golden calf, we are back in Exodus Chapter 32 and then the new tablets were given back in Exodus 34, so what Moses is doing reminding Israel of their history and of God’s graciousness in dealing with them to drive home the importance of obedience. Down in verse 6; we are told that Aaron had died at Moserah. Now just draw this to your attention because in the Book of Numbers Chapter 20 and verse 28, Chapter 33 and verse 38; it says, ‘that Aaron died on Mount Hor.’ Now here we are told he died at Moserah, the probable explanation very simply is Mount Hor is in the region of Moserah, just like we have been talking about Horeb and Moses received the covenant at Horeb but he received it on Mount Sinai because Mount Sinai was in the district of Horeb.

So Aaron died on Mount Hor which is in the district of Moserah. We come down to verse 8; Moses says, “at that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi.” So again moving through the history of Israel. God set apart the tribe of Levi and he gave three principle functions or responsibilities to the Levites. These are the priestly tribe, in verse 8 Moses enumerates them, he set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve him and to bless in his name until this day. First responsibility was to carry the Ark of the Covenant. The transporting of the Ark when Israel moved from place to place was the responsibility of the Levites and back in Numbers Chapters 3 and 4; this matter was dealt with.

They had to take down the ark, they had to carry it, they had to set it up when they arrived at their new location. This was a prime responsibility of the Levites. The ark is called the Ark of the Covenant. Remember that ark was the box that was made and the tablets of stone, on which are inscribed the Ten Commandments, were placed in the ark in that box. So it’s called the Ark of the Covenant because it contained the tablets of the covenant and the Ten Commandments are the summary of the covenant. They are contained in that ark, so they call it the Ark of the Covenant.

Second they are to stand before the Lord to serve him and to stand before the Lord is explained by the next expression; to serve him and that expression; to stand before someone is used often in the Old Testament in the place of readiness of service and the Levites are primarily responsible for the priestly functions and related activities to the priestly functions. So they stand before the Lord, their service is in, being in effect, you will, the go between the people and their God. And the third responsibility is to bless in his name. They gave the blessing of God on the people.

Go back to Numbers Chapter 6, you see them carrying out this responsibility; blessing in the name of the Lord. In Numbers Chapter 6 beginning with verse 22; then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘speak to Aaron and to his son, saying, “thus you shall bless the sons of Israel, you shall say to them, “the Lord blessed you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace so they shall invoke my name on the sons of Israel and I then will bless them.” So they stand to call God’s blessing on the nation and God will respond to their invocation of blessing on the nation Israel.

So the tribe of Levi; the priestly tribe and their responsibilities center in the priestly ministry in representing the people to God and God to the people, if you will. Back in Deuteronomy Chapter 10 verse 8; they are to bless in his name until this day and the point of that is significant. What in effect being said is -- being said is; that the responsibilities that were previously given to the Levites continue in effect which fits with what Moses has been talking about, God did not set aside the covenant. Even though he had a right to do that. He gave new tablets of stone and here the Levites are to continue this ministry to this day, so the previous responsibilities placed on the Levites continue.

Down to verse 10; I moreover stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time and the Lord listened to me, that time also the Lord was not willing to destroy you. Back in Chapter 9 verse 18; as a result of the sin of the people, Moses said, “I fell down before the Lord as at the first 40 days and 40 nights. You remember, he went up on the mountain the first time to get the Law from God, was up there 40 days and 40 nights and during that time Israel constructed the golden calf and went off on its idolatrous worship. Now Moses the second time is up on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, this time interceding, he mentions this in verse 25 of Chapter 9; so I fell down before the Lord 40 days and nights which I did because the Lord had said, “he would destroy you.”

Again in Chapter 10 verse 10; Moses reiterates, “I was up there interceding for you 40 days and 40 nights.” I couldn’t help but be impressed as I read this that we really don’t have much of an understanding of intense intercessory prayer today. Here is Moses with all that he has been through with the nation Israel, their rejection of God took the form of rejection of Moses, you remember. They constantly complained against Moses, they constantly grumbled against him and what is Moses doing, when God says, “I’m going to destroy them” you think the natural human reaction would be; good, they deserve it but not Moses. 40 days and 40 nights interceding on behalf of the nation Israel.

You stop and think, one of you ever been so burdened about something that you spent 40 days and 40 nights in prayer. So I have a job, I have something else, do you ever think; this is such a serious matter, I’m going to take my vacation and do nothing but intercede on behalf of these people or this person or this need, day and night. You get some appreciation of the walk of the man Moses with God and why God could trust him with the responsibility of leadership of his people. Most of us would run out of things to say in the first day. What are we going to talk about with God but Moses had the kind of relationship with his God that he could be there 40 days and 40 nights interceding on behalf of the nation Israel.

And the Lord listened to me, in verse 10, we are told; the Lord was not willing to destroy you. And so humanely speaking we can say that there is an Israel today because Moses prayed, because he was a faithful intercessor. Now from the divine side Moses prayed because God moved on him to intercede for his people so he could respond to that prayer and not destroy that nation. But it’s amazing to me that we as human beings have such a privilege of playing such a key role in the purposes and plans of God that are carried out and we are missing the greatest opportunity perhaps that is given to us; the opportunity for prayer and I wonder why is that so easily left aside because there nothing more significant and that accomplishes more.

If I spend as much time praying as I do planning, I’m not against planning but prayer ought to saturate everything we do and here we have the example of the man Moses. Now he moves on to the requirements of God and this section really; the rest of this sermon, if you will, is going to go on through Chapter 11. Hear Israel, it’s your responsibility of obedience; it is a reiteration of the requirements that God has set down for you and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and to keep the Lord’s commandments and his statutes which I’m commanding you today for good. You got to underline or highlight verses 12 and 13.

This is the summary and all you have in all the Old Testament, what is God requiring of Israel, you say; O there is so many, 613 commandments and all of that, well here you can come to verses 12 and 13 and everything God wants from Israel is summed in 5 verbs. You have to underline these particular words; fear, walk, love, serve, keep. Fear, walk, love, serve, and verse 13; keep, five verbs. These are what God requires of his people Israel and they are interrelated attitudes and responses, so you can’t draw a clear line between each one, they sort of blend together and the common theme through them all is that of loyalty or allegiance to the God of the covenant.

God demands the total commitment of his people, he will accept nothing less. What does the Lord your God require from you but the fear of the Lord your God and that reverential fear, recognition of who he is, to serve, to walk first in all his ways, the pattern of my life; the fact that I fear him governs my walk. I walk in all his ways and love him. You might have thought love would be the first one, perhaps it’s put here in the middle; it is key to them all and love him. Remember, the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, isn’t it interesting, back when he said; this is the first commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, here to serve him with all your heart and soul.

And all that God requires of his people; he requires totality of commitment, don’t serve him partially but with all your heart, with all your soul and to keep the Lord’s commandments. These -- this theme is going to come out again and again through the rest of Chapter 10 and through Chapter 11. You see these five words appearing as Moses draws from what he has summarized here as their responsibility before their God. You know, the individual commandments that God gives to Israel are not binding on us today. We will see this as we begin in Chapter 12 and look at the individual commandments on Laws given to Israel although we will learn from them.

But, you know, I can find no change in the basic requirement that God sets down for his people wherever they live, Old or New Testament alike. He requires of me the totality of my life and my devotion. What does Paul write to the Corinthians; you are no longer your own, therefore glorify God in your body, everything that I’m is his and thus is to be used to glorify him. Isn’t that what we are saying here in these instructions to Israel, so we ought to look at this and see this is what God requires of his people. His people in the Old Testament or Israel, his people in New Testament is the church but he expects nothing less from the redeemed today than it did from the redeemed in Israel.

Verse 14; behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. The stress here on the absolute sovereignty of God over everything; heavens and earth and the heaven of the heavens, even where God dwells. Everything is under his sovereign control; he is sovereign over heaven, over the heavens, around the earth and over the earth. Now that’s important in light of what is said in verses 12 and 13; who should we love, who should we serve, who should we obey, there is only one, the one who is totally sovereign and note verse 15; yet, that first word, yet on your fathers did the Lord set his affection to love them and he chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples as it is this day.

God is sovereign over everything. He could have whatever he wants and he has chosen Israel to belong to him in a special and unique relationship. It’s amazing when you read verse 14 and then read verse 15. Everything belongs to God, yet he put his affection, his love on you. Remarkable, why did God chose to place his love and affection on Israel. As we have already seen; there is no explanation given in Scripture. He could have chosen any nation, why did he do it, because he chose to put his love and affection on Israel. There is no other explanation, there is no other solution and the result is; Israel is to love God because God first loved Israel.

Again it’s the exact same pattern as we have in the New Testament; God placed his love on Israel, now Israel is called to love God; that was at the heart of the five verbs in verses 12 and 13, to love him. Why because he first loved them, the sovereign God chose to put his love and affection on Israel. Look at several passages in the New Testament beginning in John 15. You know, it’s tragic that we should ever stop being amazed that God would love us, that we should ever have anything but awe and wonder that we should be the objects of God’s love. In John Chapter 15 and verse 16; similar idea, not the word love but note verse 16 Jesus says to his disciples, “you did not chose me but I chose you.”

You see the order, who is the initiator, the initiator is God, the initiator is Christ. What was it with Israel, he, God placed his affection and love on Israel. Here Christ says to his disciples, “you didn’t choose me, I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” So you see the choice is followed by an appointment, obedience that you should go and bear fruit. Look over in Ephesians Chapter 2, Ephesians Chapter 2; the Chapter opens up describing our manner of life, our condition, if you will, before God’s intervention, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, prince of this air and so on.

Down to verse 4; but God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in transgressions made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. You see that initiative again; we dead in trespasses and sins, walking and living according to the pattern and path of this ungodly world and the God of this world but God in his rich mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us. You see, it takes it back to the same place, how far back can you go, his great love with which he loved us, yes, but explain why he should and there is no explanation.

No, I can find no explanation for Israel and as I look around at the nations of the earth today they probably wouldn’t have been my choice, but God chose them; and let’s be honest as we look around at one another today most of us wouldn’t have been the choices made. No good reason; why and where, now the redeemed, love we in Christ but when we were dead in trespasses and sin; his great love with which he loved us, amazing. Look over in First John Chapter and there are other passages but we will just limit it to these, First John Chapter 4. So we are talking about love in our study of the role of men this morning, fitting passage reminds us again that love is the characteristic of the redeemed because of the love they have received. Verse 7 of First John 4; beloved let us love one another, for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Again we are talking about agape love, not the syrupy emotion that the world identifies as love. The one who does not love does not know God for God is love, by this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him and this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us. You see the initiator in this, not an issue that I loved God and he responded, no. He loved me and now I can respond to that love and he send his son to be the propitiation or satisfaction for our sins. Down in verse 19; we love because he first loved us.

That’s the reality and you know, as I read about Israel in the Old Testament, I said; they should have been overwhelmed by the love of God, that God should have chosen to place his love and affection on them, should have overwhelmed and it should have controlled them in all that they did but it didn’t. They just took it for granted and went on and you know, I hate to say but it’s the same for us today. We in a more real way, having seen the great demonstration of love in the death on the cross of the son of God should even be more overwhelmed at the greatness of the love of God and it should even more so control us in all that we are and all that we do but it doesn’t and we find ourselves repeating the pattern of Israel with even less excuse because we have greater light.

We have the completed revelation of the word of God, we see unfolded in the past the completed plan of redemption in the death of the son of God, we can understand love in a way that Israel could not understand it because it has been set forth so clearly in the death of Christ and yet does the love of God so control me that what John writes about, in verses 7 to 21, characterize me and driven by that passion to be obedient to him because I love him so much, response to his overwhelming love. And you realize the lack of depth that so often characterizes; we who have been the recipients of such great love.

Come back to Deuteronomy Chapter 10. Verse 16; circumcise then your heart and stiffen your neck no more. You see we have been reminded in verse 14 that God is sovereign overall, could have chosen anything for himself but he chose Israel, put his love on you, then the command; circumcise your heart, stiffen your neck no more. This is again a call to commitment, submissiveness, and obedience. Physical circumcision marked Israel off as in covenant relationship with God. Circumcision is the sign of the covenant for the nation Israel but God required more than physical circumcision of the people; he required a heart of commitment and obedience to him.

It is not true that in the Old Testament God required external conformity and then in the New Testament it requires internal conformity. God has always required the same kind of commitment from his people, the commitment of the heart, the expression of that commitment in the Old Testament took the form of obedience to the specific commandments, but God was never satisfied with the physical circumcision or the physical obedience. It always had to come from a heart that had been set apart to God, that was circumcised, that was marked of as belonging to him and committed to him.

The circumcised heart is the opposite of being stiff necked because the circumcised heart, again, is marked off as belonging to God, as committed to him, as submissive to him. Whereas the stiff necked person is resisting and standing against what God wants to accomplish. This picture of the circumcision of the heart is used in a number of times. We won’t take time to look at them or I want to look at one or two but jot down Leviticus Chapter 26 and verse 41 and you can check that when you are on your own. Go to Deuteronomy Chapter 30 and verse 6, Deuteronomy Chapter 30 and verse 6; moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, note this, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul in order that you may live. You see, the circumcised heart is the heart that is committed in love without reservation to God.

Israel got sidetracked, they thought physical circumcision and the relationship physically to Abraham made everything alright with God but you know, we are often no better as believers. We think that giving God an hour a day once a week is good enough to display some kind of commitment to him and we are no better than Israel, in many ways we are worse we because we have less excuse. And what he wants from us is the devotion of our heart unreservedly and then the physical things have significance because they are an expression of the love of our heart, isn’t that when in your relationships since we have been talking about this, within your -- with the husband and wife relationship which really makes a physical gift, means something is the recognition, it expresses something in the heart, that real devotion and commitment of love otherwise even a gift given can become something ugly and repulsive, something that you don’t want but regardless of the value of the gift it takes on significance when it is an expression of love.

Now does God really need an hour or two a day once a week from us on a special day, is that really something beautiful and attractive to him. Only if we are expressing to him the love we have for him and the love we have for his people, that I come because I’m driven by obligation and what will people think if I don’t, besides it’s just a habit I have developed, there is nothing attractive in that just like the sacrifices as Isaiah wrote his first Chapter. You know, your sacrifices, your festival days, your holy days they are all ugly to me, why.

They are not an expression of your love for me in the heart, that’s what God is demanding of Israel. Jeremiah Chapter 4 verse 4; we won’t turn there, Jeremiah Chapter 4 verse 4, Jeremiah Chapter 9 verses 25 and 26, other passages where the circumcision of the heart is made the crucial issue for the nation Israel. What God is demanding is their heart and when they are committed to him in the love relationship, devotion to him, obedience to him, then the other things will be done because they love him. Come back to Deuteronomy 10 verse 20; you shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him, cling to him, swear by his name, really, verse 20 is going back and picking up the summary in verses 12 and 13 again.

You see many of the same ideas, fear the Lord serve him, cling to him. It’s a call for a relationship of closeness and intimacy, this verb to cling is used to describe in the Old Testament the relationship between a man and his wife, that kind of closeness and intimacy. There is an interesting passage; I will read it to you, just jot it down, it’s Job 9 and verse 20, Job 19:20 and their Job says “My bone clings to my skin and my flesh.” You see, just like your bones cling to skin and flesh, that’s the closeness, the intimacy, the bond that’s there; now that’s exciting to me. You shall fear the Lord your God, serve him, cling to him.

It’s like a husband does to a wife and a wife to her husband, it’s like the bone, the skin, and the flesh. God wants a relationship of intimacy for this people, not distance with people who are going through certain activities but a relationship of intimacy. Shouldn’t that have thrilled Israel that this God, verse 14, the one to whom belongs heaven, the highest heavens, the earth and all that is then he says, “I want you to cling to me.” You think; we would be begging for that relationship and he is calling us to it. You see the requirements of God for us become our greatest blessing, cling to him.

Verse 21; he is your praise, he is your God who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen, the praise and worship of Israel was to be directed to the God who had done such great things for them. That’s why we reflect back on the great things God has done, why, so that our praise and our worship can be directed toward him. Chapter 11 continues talking about obedience and blessing. Calls Israel to obedience and tells them the blessing that will be theirs as they walk in obedience. Pattern Old and New Testament alike; is obedience brings blessing. Now, not salvation.

Salvation is the sovereign work of God when he chose us in eternity past and placed his love upon us but the realization of the blessings that he has come from walking in a love relationship of obedience. So in Chapter 11; you see that repeated emphasis as he draws to a conclusion this section, the overall command of God and the responsibility of Israel to walk in obedience. First seven verses give some lessons from history and Moses begins by stressing the inseparable relationship there is between love and obedience. Note verse 1; you shall therefore love the Lord your God and always keep his charge, his statute, his ordinances, his commandments.

You see how the two go together, you shall love the Lord your God and always be obedient; to summarize it. The two are inseparable, if we love him we will obey him, if we don’t obey him there is no love being demonstrated and we won’t take the time but you could trace through Deuteronomy and see the repeated emphasis in connection on love and obedience, love and obedience. Verse 2 and following; Moses gives three examples from Israel’s history of the discipline of the Lord and these examples are both positive and negative and what you learn is the discipline of the Lord is the education process that God is carrying out to develop his children to maturity.

He has taught them by the gracious provision he has made, he has taught them by the acts of judgment that he has meted out upon them. Israel was to be educated and disciplined both by what God graciously provided and in the way God judged sin in their midst. The three examples; the Exodus, the last part of verse 2 and down through verse 4, the wilderness in verse 5 and the rebellion in verse 6. The significance, the details of the Exodus, the mighty works, the signs that were done, the destruction of the Egyptian army, then verse 5; what he did to you in the wilderness till you came to this place, all those 40 years of wilderness wandering were part of the disciplining, educating process of God for his people.

Difficult, hard but Israel was to learn and to grow and mature through that. Verse 5; the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben. The key leader here was Korah, interestingly, he is not mentioned. But that is recorded in Numbers Chapter 16, Israel was to learn from that. That was the judgment, in the Exodus God was delivering them, in the wilderness God was preserving and keeping them. In Number 16; with the rebellion of Korah, God was destroying a portion of them, all had to be learning something about the character of God, how he provides, how he redeems, how he judges so that Israel now as they stand before God on the brink of the promised land ought to have maturity that comes through living through a variety of experiences with their God, they have seen him redeem and deliver.

They have seen him provide in barren circumstances and they have seen him judge rebellion very sternly and harshly. All of that helps to mature and develop and to discipline, important, New Testament has much to say about discipline as well. Hebrews talks about the discipline of the Lord and anyone that is a true child of God is disciplined by the Lord, the challenge there is that we learn and grow in that discipline and learn the lessons that God has for us. Verse 8, verses 8 to 12; we talk about the abundance of the land of Canaan but you note how this section begins, this paragraph; you shall therefore keep every commandment which I’m commanding you today.

Again the call to what; obedience, you shall keep every commandment, the result of keeping the commandments; you will enjoy a land flowing with milk and honey in stark contrast to Egypt. You remember in the rebellion of Korah; they accused Moses of bringing them out of a land of abundance Egypt and taking them to a barren wilderness. God says, “Keep every commandment and you are going into a land that is abundant in contrast to the sparseness of the land of Egypt.” Verses 13 to 17 talk about the fertility of the land of Canaan and note how this paragraph begins; it shall come about if you listen obediently to my commandments which I’m commanding you today to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.

Remember we have talked about the fact that the love we are talking about is a commanded love. Here you keep the commandment to love the Lord and to serve him. The two are inseparable. That’s why First John in the New Testament is built around the concept of a person who professes to know God but does not live in obedience to him; is a liar. He doesn’t know God at all because you cannot disassociate true love and obedience to God. Verses 18 to 25 and hope you have had a chance to read the Chapters since we are not taking the time to read the verses. Verses 18 to 25 are a review of what has already been presented; you shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, bind them as a sign on your hand, they shall be as frontals on your forehead, you shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you rise up, write them on your door post of your house and on your gates so your days may be multiplied as well as the days of your sons in the land that God has promised.

You see that the word of God is to control their lives in every way. In their homes, in their businesses, in their personal walk, everything is governed and controlled by the word of God. Now isn’t that true for us as believers as today. If that the word of God is to control us in how my home is conducted, that’s what we have been talking about; with godliness. That’s the goal of our life; to live the word of God, when I’m alone, when I’m with my family, when I’m with my job, my responsibility doesn’t change, is to live the word of God every place at all times. That’s what God calls to do and the result of that will be blessing. Verse 22; for if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I’m commanding you, to do it, to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to hold fast to him. Now you think that Israel would get the point.

How many times that God have to drive home what he is calling for them; complete loyalty and devotion, allegiance to him. And it’s simple, we can summarize so concisely what our responsibility to God is; that’s not difficult, the difficulty is living it out day by day. We have the same struggle that Israel did, not to know what God has said, not to understand what God has said, there is a place for knowing what God has said, there is a place for understanding it but the real battle is fought on the willingness to do it. That’s the challenge, isn’t that what James was exhorting his readers, don’t be just hearers of the word, be doers. We need more attention and more time devoted to doing the word of God and I’m one for Bible studies, I’m one for studying the word but we really need to be giving more attention to living the word in all of our situations.

Verses 26 to 32; concludes the section that began Chapter 5; now I have told you in summary form what God requires, I have called you to obedience, now its decision time, if you will. There he is calling Israel to a response. See verse 26; I’m setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing; if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I’m commanding you today and the curse; if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside from the way which I’m commanding you today by following other gods which you have not known. Moses very concisely summarizes the choices before Israel, even as he has summarized very concisely God’s command and the necessary response.

Now Israel you have two choices, what are they. You know, we complicate our life, you can either obey or you can disobey. Now we talk about the thesis, anti-thesis, you note here, there is no middle ground. I’m setting before you a blessing and a curse, two opposite things, you can either have a blessing or you can have a curse. What if I want something of a combination, I don’t want to be curse cursed but I don’t have to be blessed, I just like to live in the middle some place. There is no middle, I have set before you a blessing, I have set before you a curse. Can there be any middle ground, God says; I want your total obedience. Now the only thing I can do is give that or not give it, I can be obedient; the result will be blessing, I can be disobedient; the result cursing. That’s the choice that Israel had.

Now we have the benefit of the history of Israel written out for us. They made their choice, they chose disobedience and the curse and today as we gather we have a nation Israel living under the curse, why. They chose disobedience, what foolishness, why would they do that. Is it so difficult to understand, what we have read and considered even in our brief study, is that so overwhelmingly complicated, we really can’t say that but you know we can identify with what happened to Israel because we are people; that all have our own copy of the Scriptures, that come together to study it, to take it apart to analyze it, all that is important; to do all that, but we struggle with living it, why.

God says; be obedient but somehow we wrestle like Israel did, maybe there are other choices, maybe in this set of circumstances, in this situation, in this period of time; disobedience will have some blessing, never happens folks. The way of obedience is the way of blessing. We are not talking about salvation by works, God wasn’t talking about that to Israel, he was talking to an elect nation, elect; having nothing to do with anything they had done, God had sovereignly placed his affection and love on them.

Now we are talking now about elect people, individuals who have been sovereignly chosen by God, his love and affection has been placed upon them but the call is the same; to obedience. How I’m doing in living the word of God; in my home, in my personal relationships with other people, in the church, in my job. Am I really one who lives the word of God, it governs and controls me; that’s when God brings blessing in the life. Even under pressure and difficulty I’m experiencing the educating discipline of the Lord, to grow and become more and more matured so that I might enjoy more fully the relationship that I have with him and all the blessings that that relationship entails.

Let’s pray together. Father, what a privilege, what an honor to come together in your presence, to worship you; Lord, to lift hearts filled with gratitude for your love. Lord, I pray that the truth of your word, Lord, will be taken into our hearts and minds. Lord, that we will be a people who do know and understand what you have said. Lord, above all else I pray that we will be a people who are submissive to the spirit of God as he takes your truth and Lord make it part of our living. As we face the week ahead of us, make us a people; Lord, who are in love with you; Lord, a heart that is devoted without reservation to the God who loved us. Lord, may that love manifest itself in all of our relationships and all of our activities, may your word characterize us. May we be marked off by obedience because we are a people in love. We ask in Christ’s name, amen.