So Deuteronomy chapter 11 the Bible begins there in
First one where it says therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God and keep his charge and his statutes and his judgments and his
Commandments always and what's interesting notice here right out of the gate is that we got to remember it begins with the word therefore
And that old principle in Scripture, you know anytime you see the word therefore you got to see what it's there for
And really the therefore there is what we read last week in chapter 10 if you would just back up there
He's saying what is the reason you shall love the Lord your God
What is the reason you're gonna keep his charge what and his statutes what you know, what's the therefore?
Well, he says in chapter 10 verse 17 for the Lord your God is a God of gods
And Lord of Lords a great God a mighty God and a terrible God verse 20
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name
He is thy praise and he is thy God and hath done these for thee these great and terrible things
Which eyes eyes have seen that's the therefore because of who God is and all the great things that he's done for them
That's why he rolls right into chapter 10 or chapter 11
Excuse me and begins by saying therefore because of who God is because of what he's done for you
You know, that's why you're going to love him and to keep his charge. That's why you're going to obey him and really verse
You know verse 21 there in in chapter 10
That's kind of the theme of chapter 11 and actually it's pretty much the theme of a lot of the book of Deuteronomy
In fact the whole Bible and it goes on there in verse 2 and it says and know ye this day
So he starts out he says look you're gonna love God
You're gonna keep his charge and his statutes and then he moves right and then he goes on and says verse 2 and know ye
This day now when he says and know ye this day
I don't think he's saying no you in the sense of hey, this is new information here
This is something you need to you know, you need to understand now. He's not introducing like, you know, hey
He's not teaching them something no new he's saying like and you already know this and know ye this day does that make sense?
For what I spake on your children. He said and know ye this day
I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement of Lord your God
So he's saying look know ye this day not in the sense of he's teaching them something new
But in the sense of you know, not being forgetful of what they've already learned because we are to standing over chapter 10
He's already rehearsed all this. He's reminding them of all the things that they've already
gone through
you know and that's that's where you kind of get the meaning in that where is it's kind of becomes apparent say because he
says for I speak not with your children, which have not known he's saying look know ye this day because
Hey, you already know, you know this this day that this is who I am and this is what I expect and he goes on
and says
You know that they have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God and his greatness
Now it's interesting that they have
Known and seen he says there look you've known it and you've seen the chastisement
Right because you have to remember the generation that this is he's addressing here
he's addressing the generation that came up that was raised by those that came out of Egypt and
Those that have wasted in the wilderness those 40 years and have passed off the scene those that were disobedient the first time
When they came to the River Jordan and he said hey look because of your unbelief you're gonna go and wander
Until this generation, you know 20 years and upward is perished
So he's saying look you've known it and seen it but yet that doesn't necessarily mean that they have been the ones that endured that
Directly they're familiar with the chastisement of God
They're familiar with the fact that God is a God who punishes the disobedient and it's not necessarily because they have been you know
Suffered that directly. I mean, I'm sure they there were some residual effects that they had to deal with
But if they know and seen it because they watched it take place in the previous generation
they were there as children as that previous Jane generation came up to
You know the River Jordan they were there when the twelve spies came back and the ten had the evil report
They were children at that time and they knew and they saw what God did because of their unbelief
Their chase thing that their parents endured and really this is a really, you know important
You know principle that we need to apply to our own lives, especially those of us that are younger is
That you know learn from the mistakes of others rather than trying to learn yourself
You know
Just take take the words of those of us that have already made the mistakes
And I've already had to learn the hard way and just trust us when we tell you
Hey, you don't want to do this. You do want to do this, you know, you don't and that's what that's what you see going on
Here they've already learned it, you know
Why do you think it was so much easier for them to go over the River Jordan in the Promised Land?
Because they already saw the previous mistake of the previous generation. They said well, let's not let's not repeat that
We've already saw that's what happens, you know
They didn't have to go and try that out for themselves to see if was going to be different
If things were going to go differently so learn from mistakes of others learn from mistakes the previous generation and and you know
What newsflash not every generation is going to be perfect, you know this generation that's coming up behind us
You know those of us that are older the next generation that's coming up, you know
There's going to be things that we get wrong. We're not going to be perfect. We're gonna make mistakes
And you know you're in the next generation. They're gonna make mistakes and they're not they're not gonna be perfect
But learn from the mistakes of the previous generation and don't feel like you have to just go out and make those same mistakes yourself
So I thought that was an interesting, you know principle you see there is he's saying look you already know
You've seen the chastisement of the Lord, you know
His greatness his mighty hand in a stretched out arm now when he when he starts to remind them of this fact in verse 2
You'll notice that he he kind of does it out of chronological order, right?
he starts out with the chastisement and
Then he moves into his greatness and his mighty hand and stretched out arm
Then he moves into verse 3 where he says and his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt now
Which came first the chastisement in the wilderness or the mighty acts in Egypt? What was the chastisement?
You know, you know it was after they came out of Egypt that God began to chasten them
But that's not the way God rehearses it to them here
He puts the chastisement first and I think that's you know that he does it out of he puts it out of
Chronological order for a reason and what he's trying to do. I believe he's God is trying to emphasize the negative
you know the negativity the the the the negative effects of disobedience and
Really when we look at this this passage here in verses 3 through 6 actually through 7
You'll notice that actually that's how it's actually booked end by negative
events
So he goes on in verse 3
He says you've seen his miracles and his acts and what you did in the midst of Egypt and a pharaoh the king of Egypt
Under all his land that's positive
when they were delivered out of by a mighty hand and what he did under the army of Egypt and under their horses and their
Chariots and he made the water the Red Sea to overflow them after they pursued after you and now the Lord had to destroyed them
under this day
This is all positive for Israel and then he goes on in verse 5 and what he did to you in the wilderness
When I tell you came unto as this place what he did unto day thin in the by room
So now he's getting real specific. He's calling out names, right?
Remember that negative thing that happened in the wilderness
The sons of Elia the son of Reuben how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their households and their tents and all
Their substance that was in their possession the midst of Israel
But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord what you did
So if you notice there again, he starts out saying look you've seen the generation before you you saw the chastisement in the wilderness
you know any book ends that these great things these positive things that God did for them with two negative events and
What I think God is trying to do there again is to emphasize
The negative and it's important we keep that in mind because we're living in a day of positive only preaching
Where people only want to talk about positive things where every message has got to be a feel-good message
Where people just want to have their back scratched and their ears tickled and just told everything's fine
God's not mad with you, you know come as you are stay as you were don't bother making any changes in your life
And that's just not God that's not the Bible
This is a great example of it that God deals in the negative that God puts
Emphasis on the negative and it's always for our benefit
You know, we should be more concerned about
What God will do to us if we will disobey then what he will do for us if we obey
Does that make sense? Let me say it again
We should be more concerned about what God will do to us if we disobey than what he will do for us if we obey
Sometimes in the Christian life
We always just get so busy thinking about all the blessings that we want from God and we want from that will God do for me
Here if I do this if I do that
You should just be more concerned with not getting out of sorts with God and having to suffer the the chasing hand of God
I mean just focus on that. That's that's you know, that's what I see here when I read this passage
Yeah, God did a lot of great things but with the people that got chasing man it wasn't good
I mean the earth swallowed them
You know, it just opens up and then all their household goes down in it, you know that they're perishing in the wilderness
You know if we would just focus more on
Keeping you know being right and not always just so focused on what we can get out of God
And I just turned God into some spiritual vending machine where if I do enough good things and God's gonna bless me
You know, God does want to do good unto us. God does want to bless us. God does want to do great things for us
But we should probably just stay focused on staying right with God and if we would just do that then you know these other things
Would probably fall into place is you know, the unchastened life, you know
You want to live to bless life live an unchastened life live a life of obedience. That is a blessing
Just the fact that God's not gonna chase in you that in itself is a blessing
The Bible says and if you would turn over to Romans 5 Romans 5
Bibles and you know that it just reminds me of 1st Samuel what Samuel said to to Saul
You know when he disobeyed he said behold to obey is better than sacrifice
You know rather that's the best thing you could do for God
It's just to obey him and do what he says
For rebellion as the sin is which is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as an iniquity and idolatry
I mean, that's that's how God
That's what he thinks of people who are rebellious and people who are idolatrous and people who do not want to obey
I mean, it's like witchcraft to him. It's it's that wicked
So we don't want to underestimate the dangers of disobedience
And you know, I saw and I know this is redundant
I know that the Bible, you know
I've been I feel like I've been preaching on that a lot as we go through the book of Deuteronomy
But the only reason why I am is because that's what the Bible is dealing with
That's what this book is about so far
So if it sounds like a broken record, it's not my fault
and what it tells me is that you know
God puts a real strong emphasis on it and he keeps drilling it in over and over and over and it just seems like it's
Something that he really wants to get through our heads
Because of and you say well, why is that because some people seem to just underestimate the dangers of being disobedient
They think oh God's just gonna give me a slap on the wrist or maybe he won't notice if I just do this or that
Or I get out of sorts. Look, I mean when people disobey bad things happen unforeseen consequences come about
Think about even just with mankind the fall of mankind look at Romans chapter 5 verse 18
Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation that's quite talking about Adam
Adam just took that one just that one moment of disobedience. Just that one little sin right just that one time
Didn't do anything else just a harmless little bite of the fruit, you know
I know God didn't say to do that, but I'm gonna do it. Anyway, what's the worst that could happen?
Oh, I don't know you could plunge it all of humanity into into into sin
And that's every you know, it goes on and says there
You know verse 19 for us by one man's disobedient of disobedience many were made sinners
So the obedience of one shall many shall be made righteous
All it took was one time just one guy being disobedient one time and just everybody's now we're all in for it
So don't underestimate the dangers of disobedience, you know, we think like it's not that big a deal
You don't know what could happen, you know, if you just you know do that one thing, you know
You're not supposed to you don't know
What the consequences are and there's probably a lot of people that if they knew what the consequences were going to be would not have
done what they did
People have made mistakes. They'll say if I could just go back and change it, but here's the thing you can't
Once mistakes are made that's it. It's over
It goes on there go over to a rep Romans chapter 16, you know, our reputation will be based on our obedience or lack thereof
You know with God at least maybe maybe those around you might not think it's that important but with God, you know
He he you know, your reputation with him is based on the level of your obedience
I mean think about the people he mentioned back there in Deuteronomy Dathan and Abiram
they're going down in the pages of
Scripture for all eternity as those wicked men that they were as those disobedient rebels that they were that entire generation that perished in wilderness
You know, I'm sure you know many of them were saved
You know many of them were saved we'll see them in heaven and like oh you were with the children Israel to be like, yeah
Yeah, I was there, you know, try to end the conversation real quick. Hey, have you seen uh, you know
You've been over this part of heaven yet. And like so what what part of uh, you didn't say what part of what generation?
Were you with?
Were you there? Were you there at Egypt? Yeah. Oh
You're those people that lacked faith. You're those people that disobeyed God
Right, that's their reputation, you know that and then we have to be careful, you know
That's the reputation people can develop as just to be
Rebels, you know, that's that's something that can happen look here in Romans chapter 16 verse 19
For your obedience is come abroad unto all men
Now I know in this context where he's talking about salvation the fact that they will bathe the gospel
But this is something a principle that we could even apply in our own lives
I mean think about people we could we could talk about that. We all know that are we have common, uh knowledge of
That have been uh, you know disobedient to the Lord and what do they got they've got a soiled reputation they've sullied it
And they've got they've become bywords they've become proverbs
To to this movement to our church and things like that. Hey, don't don't be like so-and-so
And what were they disobedient?
They disobeyed
Right and they ruin their reputation
Now book wrote bookmark Romans, excuse me. Keep something there. We're going to come back at the end
We go ahead and turn back to uh to deuteronomy
You know, we should just be so preoccupied with obeying god
And pleasing god that you know, if we would just do that
We would just focus on you know, i'm just gonna obey god do what I need to do every day to please him
You know, you probably wouldn't even find yourself being tempted to disobey as much
What is it that we're tempted to disobey when we're not?
You know when we're idle when we're just kind of not moving forward we're just kind of idle
Taking it easy. Just kind of thinking
Well, what can I do and that's when trouble comes is when people are just idle
So if we would just stay busy, you know preoccupying ourselves with just pleasing god
Reading our bibles praying going soul-winning coming to church, you know memorizing scripture
Uh being a blessing, you know, uh, whatever it is
Just just developing in our christian life if we would just focus on that
You know, we wouldn't even have a lot of time to get into trouble
to even be tempted to disobey
The bible says in psalm 19 the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever
The judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether more desire to uh to be desired are they than gold
Yeah, they're much fine gold
sweeter also than the honeycomb
The honey and the honeycomb moreover by them thy servant is warned and in keeping of them there is great reward
He's saying look, you know, you keep the commandments the judgments of the lord
There's that, you know, you're warned by them and when you keep them there's reward, you know
That's what we need to focus on our life is keeping
The judgments of god keeping his commandments and then the rewards will just come, you know, the will be will be blessed as we go
And people say well, you know
I just feel like the christian life is you know, it's just all about robbing me of my fun
You know, it's i'm missing out on all this this fun stuff that the world's doing
Look, you're you're missing out there might be some things that are genuinely fun that maybe you don't get to do
But a lot of it's sin and there's pleasure that goes along with it. I'm not denying that
But what you don't see is the consequences that come
No one ever comes to you and says hey, do you want to go do this?
It has terrible consequences
Hey, this is going to turn out real bad. This is going to be we're going to have we're going to suffer
For the rest of our life by going and doing this activity. Do you want to come with us?
If they put it to you like that who in the who in their right mind would say yes
Is that ever how they approach you with that kind of thing when people want you to come do bad things with them?
Hey, man, it's gonna be a blast. It'll be a lot of fun. Maybe say well, what if they'll say oh
You know quit worrying about that. Nothing's gonna happen
People always say that something happens, you know something about to happen, you know
That's what you got to think yourself when they're something they're just like hey something's about to happen
Right because something will happen and it's not going to be good
But people think oh you're just trying to rob me only fun the bible's got all these rules, you know
The preacher just doesn't want me to have any fun
No, you know, it's clean. It's enduring, you know, there's you're warned by them
You're being warned and in keeping this there's great reward
It's just not you're it's just a great reward is not immediate gratification
That's a problem
If people just want to be immediately gratified in their flesh, they just want to do whatever feels good
That's the culture we're living in if it feels good do it
You know live for today do whatever you want, you know
Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law right that satanist allister crawley. That's what he said
You know, that was the beatles mentality. That was the that generation do as thou wilt
You know if it feels good do it, you know, who's to say right or wrong?
Well that you know, go ahead live that way, but just be prepared to suffer the consequences that come with it
You know the the free love go out, you know, go out and live a life of fornication
well be prepared for the you know, the
the the the the pregnancies out of wedlock be prepared for
You know the uh, the diseases that come
Prepared for the heartache that comes with that just be prepared for the consequences
You know or whatever area it is, you know, the thing about drugs and the alcohol that that people are always trying to get tempted
Into doing with other folks
Oh, yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. You know, it's it's it's groovy man, right?
But hey, there's a lot of consequences go, you know, be prepared to have a to be stupid
You'll fry your brain on some drugs go go you never know what could happen
That's that you're I mean you're praying you're playing russian roulette when you when you take drugs
You know, especially these days there's so much out there you can get into and you know, I really don't want to get into it
You know in my own past, but i've known people that are just lost their minds
Friends and I just saw it go completely off the rails
Just gone
Like and and they're finally, you know
They're it took them years to come around and start to recover from the things that they did and praise god
I didn't get swept up in it and taken away with it
And praise god, I didn't get swept up in it and taken away with it
You know friends that uh again, I don't want to get into it
But here's the thing people everybody thinks all the bible is just a bunch of rules you guys just trying to steal all my fun
No, they're trying it's trying to spare you
From all the bad things that come the bible says in first john 5 3
This is the love of god that we keep his commandments
You want to know how so much someone loves god's it's how much they keep his commandments, you know
And we talked about that last week and it says and his commandments are not grievous
Look if the commandments of god are grievous to you. You need to search your heart
You need to ask god to help you to to get your heart, right?
And you get to come to place of understanding that his commandments are there
To uh, you know that they're sweeter than the honeycomb and the honey
That then you know that you're being warned by them and that's a good thing that someone's saying hey danger over here. Don't don't do that
You know, what what kind of loving person would just let you walk blindly into some minefield
You know, they're going to put up the signs. They're going to put things up danger state, you know
Even on the road people put up signs to tell you to slow down
You know whether or not we do that is up to us, right?
You come off that, you know, we're in tucson, but you know, you're heading you're heading
What is it east on the 60 and you're going to take the 101 north?
And that turnpike and it says 25 miles an hour for a reason
And you only had to go down at once before you realize you better hit you better get down to 25 on that on that
Exit ramp because man that thing there's just black marks all over the place on the walls and your tires squeaking
But hey, what if they just say well, you know
Who are we to say that people can't do 65 around this corner?
Who are we to tell people to slow down and take it easy here? We don't want to kill their good time
So we want to be a downer, you know, we want to be grievous to them
So let's just go let them just let them do whatever they want. There'd be wrecks there every day
You know these these these commandments these signs these warnings are there
Not to bring us down and to ruin our good time, but to keep us from making a mess out of our lives
Now if you would go back to deuteronomy and look there in verse eight he says
Therefore shall ye keep the commandments which I command you this day that ye may be strong
You say you know what's going to make you strong, you know
What's going to make you able to endure is if you keep his commandments and go in and possess the land
Whether you go to possess it
Why verse nine that you may prolong your days?
The bible is saying here that hey if you keep his commandments, you're going to be strong. You're going to prolong your days
You're not going to catch the disease
You know, you're not going to get you're not going to smoke yourself to lung cancer
You're not going to drink yourself to death and die an early life
Like so many people do if you obey if you keep his commandments
You may prolong your days and the lord which the lord swear to your fathers to give unto you their seed
Land that floweth with milk and honey now if you would keep something there go to psalm chapter 34
psalms chapter 34
You know, i'm sure everybody in the room wants to live a long life
You know, if not, you know, you might you know, maybe it's maybe we need to have some counseling or something. I don't know
You need to talk
Get some work some things out
Right
So he's saying here. Look if you want long days keep his commandments and that's the message of the bible. He says in psalm
34 you're going there. I'll read you from proverbs 3 says my son forget not my law
But let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee
You want a long life you want peace along the way you want
Uh length of days. Well, then, you know what he says let thine heart keep my commandments
You know learn the word of god obey the word of god and you're going to live that long life
And you're going to have peace along the way
Look there in psalm, uh chapter 34 verse 11 come you children harken unto me. I will teach you the fear of the lord
Well, that doesn't you're going to tell us
You're going to tell scary stories. What's going on here?
No, i'm going to teach you about who god is and what he's like and it's going to cause you to be afraid of him
You know, that's you know, the bible says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom
You know that that's that's where it all starts, you know, and we kind of went over that I know previously but here it is
Again, I will teach you the fear of the lord. That's a good thing to learn
What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may say good
Who doesn't want to live a good long life?
Don't raise your hand
You know because you know, we some of us are packing heat. We can help you with that. No, i'm just kidding
He says hey, you know who doesn't want to live a long life and love it and love and loveth many days they may say good
Well, here's here's how you get that. Yeah, we all want that
Well, how do we get it verse 13 keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile depart from evil and do good
See, there's two parts that equation. It's not enough. Just do good. Just show up at church and you know, play the part sing the song
say amen
You know and be you know, do the soul wing and just do everything that you know
You're supposed to do and then turn around monday tuesday wednesday fridays, you know the rest of the week living like the devil
There's two parts there. You have to depart from the evil and do good
It's not you know, just do good and and then it's going to balance out seek peace and pursue it
The eyes of lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open under their cry
The face of the lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance them from the earth from the face of the earth
Or from the earth, excuse me
Go back to deuteronomy chapter 10
So again, I mean god is just emphasizing obedience over and over and over
And over and over and over it's the main theme in this book and elsewhere in scripture
So he said there, you know, uh, keep the commandments which I command you to stay they may be strong they may prolong your days
He's taking you to land which flow with the milk and honey verse 10 for the land where thou goest to in to possess it
It is not as that land of egypt where you came out
Where thou sowest thy seed and waters to with thy foot as a garden of herbs
But the land whether you go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys
Then drinketh water of the rain of heaven a land which the lord thy god careth for
The eyes of the lord thy god are upon it from the beginning of the year even under the end of the year
And it shall come to pass if you shall harken diligently into my commandments which I command you this day
To love the lord your god to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul
That I will give you the rain in your land in his due season and
And the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine and thine oil
And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayest be full
In that that thou mayest eat and be full. So this is kind of you know
Interesting that back then when they were, you know when people were living, uh more were there most people were farmers
And they were living off the land they were, you know more involved with agriculture
You know, they it seems like they were a little bit more dependent upon god
you know and I can't help but wonder maybe the reason why our country is just so
Far from god and cares so little for the things of god
It's quite frankly because they can get everything I can get a can of food
you know, we were talking about the service about uh this evening about
Is there going to be another great depression, you know, and I said well, I hope so
Because that's what people need sometimes to get shaken out of their safe little worlds to wake up and realize that
There's still a god in heaven and that you know, they they can that everything can change like that
And maybe they'll actually seek after god
I mean back then they were so I mean they were so much more reliant upon the land
And that was god used it and said hey if you seek me i'll i'll send the rain
If you disobey me, I won't send the rain
You know if you seek me i'm going to send the grass your cattle's going to eat and you're going to be full
And today, you know everything it's just you know
Genetically modified they send loca god sends locusts a man just makes up some new pesticide
To kill the locust and po and poison himself in the process
You know, he has some hybrid plant that can that can you know, withstand these things drought resistant plants and people say well
Why isn't god doing I believe god is we just we don't see it as much, you know, we're not paying attention
People are distracted. I mean there's there's wildfires everywhere. There's hurricanes and tornadoes
I mean god is still trying to deal with people you go ask those people
In that trailer park in oklahoma or wherever that tornado tear through, you know, it's always a trailer park, right?
And go ask him if they thought maybe some of them would probably go. You know what? I think god did that
I bet you you would I bet if you went to those people they'd say boy it feels like you know
God was trying to get my attention when this happened
You know, we don't do it because we don't live in the trailer park, you know, we didn't get hit by the tornado
But these people here back then it just seems like
Man, they were so much more reliant immediately upon the land and the cattle and everything that god kind of
Had him where he wanted him
And not that god can't still reach down and touch us
I'm, not saying we've made ourselves immune from the wrath of god
I'm, just saying, you know, maybe god's letting things slide a little bit longer and he's just letting it all build up
Maybe he's waiting till the cup of his wrath of his indignation is full before he finally pulls it out pours it out
But back then it was pretty immediate he's like they stepped out of line. Well, guess what there's no rain
And that would probably get him back in line a little bit quicker
He goes on and he says there take heed to yourselves
That your heart be not deceived
And that you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them
And then the lord's wrath be kindled against you and he shut up in heaven
And he shut up the heaven that there be no rain
So notice, you know again there's consequences for forgetting the lord for for casting off god
God doesn't just walk away, you know feeling sorry for himself when his people depart from him
When they go into idolatry when they go into wickedness when their hearts hearts are hardened when they're deceived and they forget god
God isn't just suck his thumb in the corner and boo-hoo. God does something about it
You know god rains up and he clouds on him or clouds up and rains on him
To get their attention to bring them back to himself
You know and that's that's that's who god is now we can start to understand why we should be taught the fear of the lord
Because god isn't just this passive old man in heaven who's just going to let things slide and let people walk all over him
You know, he's not going to let his people just get away with it. You know, if you're god's child, you know
That's that's a blessing. Amen
But you know what?
Should probably take heed to what we're doing the way we're living our lives
Because god is not going to just let us get away with it
so
you know
God we want to have god's blessing in our lives and if you would let's look here at verses 18 through 22
We're going to kind of transition
We want to obey we want god's blessings. We want god to you know
Provide for us. We want him to to to bless us in life
Well, how do we get that? Well one one way of getting it is through, you know, knowing his word
Obviously, it's through keeping his commandments knowing his judgments
You're not going to know that
You know, the only way you're going to know that is through his word, you know
That's that's how that's the how to know get to know god how to please god manual is the bible
Verse 18. It says therefore you shall lay up these my words in your heart and your soul
He's saying look you need to keep my commandments. You need to keep my judgments. You need to do what i'm telling you
You need to obey is essentially the message here
fear and obey me
and then he says in verse 18 therefore
Because of this fact you shall lay up my words in your heart and in your soul
And bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as front lengths before your eyes
You know, god puts a strong emphasis on reading the bible
on people his people knowing what the bible says
Because ignorance is not an excuse with god. You can't just say well, i've never read that. Well, did you have a bible?
I mean if you don't have a bible tonight come talk to me. We'll get you a bible. I'll pull one off the shelf of shame
And give it to you it'll be your brand new i'll get you a brand new bible
We'll go down to the dollar store after church and i'll buy you six of them
Or maybe even seven, you know, we'll get a bunch
For everybody that's not an excuse especially in this country
But even if you didn't have it that doesn't that's not an excuse. But here's the thing. We we do have it
You know, it's nigh us it's in our hands. You've got it in your lap tonight more than likely it might even be open
But he's saying look
If you want me to bless you therefore lay up these my words in your heart know the bible know what it says
Learn it and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they made as frontlets before your eyes
And you shall teach your children them your children speak to them when thou sittest in thine house
And when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down when thou risest up
Now shall write them upon the doorposts of thine house and upon thy gates
That your days may be multiplied and the days of your children the land which lord thy god swear to your fathers to give them
As the days of heaven upon the earth
So god is just putting a huge emphasis here on our need to know and read and understand the bible and to teach it to
our children
And we should be teaching our kids the bible
You know, I was just thinking about this the other day, you know, my wife
She she spends a lot of time just sitting down with the kids every day. Just reading the bible
Explaining the bible stories. Look when you have a little you know
A child you don't have to dive into you know
The more complex and deep difficult things of scripture, you know, you can teach them the story of you know
You know no on the ark
David and goliath they like that stuff
I mean there's there's good stuff and and there's great things that kids can learn from the bible the bible addresses children directly
It says children obey your parents. It doesn't say parents tell your children to obey you
It says children. It's addressing children. So the bible is written for kids, too
Are we reading it to them? Are we teaching it to them? Are we doing it? I mean the bible I mean
Let's take the bible's challenge here. Are we doing it when we walk by the way?
Are we doing when we lie down when we rise up?
It's like 24 7 every opportunity that you have to teach your child a principle out of scripture take advantage of it
You help them why because you want long days
And and a long life length of days and peace. It's through god's word. It's through keeping his commandments
I mean, how are we going to keep god's commandments if we don't know them?
God says you want to be blessed you want then obey i'll keep my commandments. Okay. What are they?
Well, they're in the bible
So how are we going to know god's commandments if we're not reading it?
How are we going to know what god wants to expect from us if we're not, you know, listening to preaching
If we're not reading for ourselves if we're not you can't expect your children to obey if you're not telling them what it is
They need to do
You know, that's why you know provoked out your children your sons under wrath
And they don't give them clear instructions on what it is you expect
um
You know how we we know them if we don't how we know the commandments if we don't read them for ourselves if we don't
Memorize them keep thinking as the front line person. I mean, how are you going to get this signed copy of the christmas cd?
If you don't memorize job 28
Are you not going to get this?
Hopefully no one's taking me seriously on that. They're like that's surprising. I get it forget it
I was going to do it but not now it's a joke
You know, how will our children learn the commandments of god if we fail to teach them
You want god on your side
This is it right here. You have to get in the book
You have to open it and read it and know it and understand it and apply it to your life
Verse 23 then will the lord drive out these nations from before you
Then god will come to your aid god then god will bless you and be on you
You know, it's it's but people want to put the uh, the the cart before the horse
They want god to come to their aid, but they don't want to know anything about what it is. It is he expects them of them
And you shall possess greater nations mightier than yourselves every place where on the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours
From the wilderness and lebanon from the river the river Euphrates even though the uttermost sea shall your coast be
There shall no man be able to stand before you
For the lord your god shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land
That you shall tread upon as he hath said unto you
Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse
So, I mean what what a great promise they received
I mean you have to remember they're going in like he said nations that are mightier and greater in number than themselves
so when they heard these words to them man that that was really something to them that that that hit home like
That gave them that confidence that they needed, you know, we're just reading it
From you know, the third from a third party. We're just kind of looking in here
And maybe it doesn't we don't feel the impact that that promise has but to them that meant everything
That no man should be able to stand before you
What a relief but again it all came at a price for them. They all they had to do these things they had to obey god
And he says there in verse 26 he says behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse
And what is it that he's setting before them is the is the word of god. It's the commandments. It's the judgments of god
So it's the same thing, but it can be received in one of two ways
The word of god can either be a blessing to you or it can be the curse of you
He's saying look you can either you can either prosper by keeping my commandments or you can be chasing by disregarding them
That's what he's saying here
It could either be a blessing or a curse to you now
Notice it's one or the other
And it's not one to the exclusion of the other
he's not he's not saying like
You know, there's not this middle ground people get this idea like well i'll just neither then no
It's going to be one or the other first of all
And it's it's going to be one or the other
You know, you're going to either obey and be blessed or you're going to disobey and be cursed
There's no third option
There's no neutral
Right, there's no well, you know or you could just you know
Before behind door three, there's no door three doesn't exist. There's no curtain to draw back
That's door one and door two blessing cursing and it's obedience or disobedience. That's it. Are you still in romans? You still have something there?
We're gonna look at romans chapter eight romans chapter eight
And what this is showing because again, he's addressing his people right he's addressing
You know the people that he called out that have faith in him that are following him, you know
It's a picture of us today, you know
It's the same way to us and what it shows it says that god's people are still subject to god's blessing or cursing
And christians need to learn this today that just because you're born again just because you're saved doesn't doesn't mean you're immune to god's wrath
I mean, we know that we're not going to go to hell
We know that because of because we're saved that we can't we couldn't go there
Even if we wanted to right
That we are but we are still subject to the chastening hand of god on this earth
While you still have breath as god's child god can still
Curse you on this earth
The bible says in romans 8 look at verse 1 it says there is therefore now no condemnation with them or in which are in christ
Jesus and so many churches today they want to put a period right there
And i've talked to people christians who are you know, they're just living wicked life
They're backslid in you know, they're living in sin
And I said god's gonna judge you. Oh, no. No, I talked to my pastor at my church
And he said there is no condemnation them which are in christ. Jesus
What's condemnation judgment, you know being found guilty?
Being condemned, right?
And they'll say well, you know, i'm in christ. Jesus. There is no condemnation
It goes on though that verse that's not where that verse ends your pastor forgot to keep reading
And can you see why maybe you might want to get the book open for yourself?
And actually get in what it says
He says who walked not after the flesh but after the spirit, so there's the caveat
Yeah, there's no condemnation and we understand there's no condemnation in christ in the sense that we're saved
We're not going to go to hell and it's really a primary application of the scripture
But the same way they like to interpret it and say oh well, you know, god's not going to it's all we're under grace
You know, that's all old testament stuff that you're talking about. God's not going to judge me
Well, if you don't walk after the flesh and after the spirit, yeah, I agree
You know if you keep his commandments if you obey him if you seek him with all your heart soul and strength
If you love him and you're and you're endeavoring to serve him and obey him. Yeah, you're right if you're walking in the spirit
But he says right there. It's who walk not after the flesh
So when you're living in sin when you're disobeying god's commandments
When you're when you're you know, you're getting into doing the things that god said don't do that
You know what? You you are subject to condemnation
You are subject to god cursing you
How else is it a curse then how else could god say?
Hey, I sat before your blessing and a curse if the curse just doesn't apply to you
That doesn't make any sense. Then it would be I just sat before your blessing
And that's it. No, he said it's a blessing and a curse it could go either way and it's all hinges on your obedience
That's why he says in verse 12 therefore brethren
We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if you live after the flesh you shall die
You know, you're going to suffer the wrath of god
But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh
You shall live look if there's no condemnation. What need is there to mortify the flesh?
Why did paul have to tell us in colossians 3 mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth?
Fornication uncleanness inward and affection evil concupiscence covetousness, which is idolatry
For which things sake the wrath of god cometh on the children of disobedience
So why did he have to say that why did they say hey mortify your members? Otherwise, you're going to suffer the same consequences
as the children of disobedience
If if we're not hey if there is no condemnation
It's because there is condemnation
Even if we are in christ that we can still suffer for our sins that we can still be cursed
If we don't obey god and keep his commandments
Now, can you disobey god's commandments your whole life and and be be wicked and be saved. So what evan? Yes
But is that really the the life you want to live?
Get to heaven say man that took forever
That was miserable lord
Boy, oh heaven will be so much sweeter. No, it won't
All you'll get there is you'll you'll get there and you'll realize how much you missed out on
And you'll see all those people that you thought were just a bunch of old fuddy duddies
A bunch of goody two-shoes going to church and believe in the bible and obey in the bible and they'll be up there rejoicing
They'll be glorified. They'll be given 10 cities and so on and so forth. They'll have great rewards
And all you'll have is nothing
You'll be saved so as by fire
You'll get him by the skin of your teeth
And and but you'll have no reward. Is that really what you want for your life? Is that really what you want as christians?
No, of course I hope not, you know, and that's why we have to take this to heart and say look
Let's mortify the members of our of our flesh
Realize that we're walking around in a corpse
That still has a pulse. We're dead men walking
That this that we're just waiting for our bodies to be to be done away that the old man is crucified with christ
nevertheless I live
But and yet the life that I would now live in the flesh I live by the faith the son of god
That's the life we're going to live the life in the new man and we're going to wait for this body to pass away
So we see here that you know god he's laying before them his own people
He's saying look this is a blessing or a curse a blessing if you obey and a curse if you disobey
That's what god is laying out when he gives us his statutes and his judgments
When god hands us this when we god shows us the scripture and gives us the bible it can go either way
And what we see is that you weren't blessed as a christian just because
You know there you know god isn't just going to bless you just because you're a christian
Just because you're saved now being saved is a blessing in and of itself the greatest blessing of all
But that's not you know, oh you're saved now. Let me just bless you and bless you and bless you bless you
No, you got to be you got to obey
You're not you're not just going to be blessed because you grew up in church
Well, I grew up in church. Well, did you learn anything?
Did you apply it to your life
Did you actually use that to to please god with your life?
You know, you're not going to you know
Those of us the the children that are growing up with godly parents
You're not going to be blessed by god just because your parents were godly good parents
You're going to be blessed by god when you actually do the things that your godly parents told you
You actually would apply the things you were instructed in your life to do
You know, you're not going to just be blessed just because you actually have to put in your and I could I could tell you stories
I could get up here and we could talk about people that I knew that grew up in great christian homes
That are full-blown reprobates today
That they quit on god and it happened quick. It was overnight. They turned 18. They're out the door within a couple years
Just full-blown fags
It happens why because it's not it's it's you're not blessed just because
You're not blessed just because
It's got to be personal to you. It has to mean something to you personally. You have to make it your own at some point
And and if you don't well, it might not be the blessing and i'm not going to say if you don't you're going to turn
Into a reprobate i'm just saying don't be some that kind of thing happens
You know people get us sorts with god and they and they think well, you know, I grew up in church
I grew up with parents and
And so god's just going to bless me just because no
No, you still have to make it your own there comes a point where we have to own these things for ourselves
He says there in verse uh, we're back in deuteronomy he says behold verse 26 I set before you this day a blessing and a curse
And he says in verse 26 27 a blessing if you obey right the commandments of lord your god which I command you this day
a blessing if you obey
And he says in verse 28 and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the lord your god
But turn aside out of the way what should command you this day to go after other gods, which you have not known
So it's all it's all the it's all the word of god. It's how
How we're going to apply it to our lives. What are you going to do with it?
What are you going to do with what you've learned at church? What are you going to do with what you've read in your bible?
What are you going to do with what your parents have taught you?
You know, what are you going to do with that? Are you going to turn into a blessing? Are you going to turn into a curse?
Because those are the two options that's what's on the table
And it should come to pass verse 29 when the lord thy god hath brought you land whither thou goest
That thou shall put these blessings upon mount garis garism garism and the curse upon mount ebal
Now I think this is interesting and I think god's trying to show us something here
So he's saying look when you go into this land, there's going to be these two mountains
And you're going to put the blessing on one and the curse upon the other you're going to put the blessing upon
Uh, you know mount garism and the curse upon mount ebal
And I think there's significance here, you know, god could have just said put them next to each other where it's real easy to get to
You're going to find a flat plane
And you're just going to set them there, right? Why does he say a mount?
You know, well one one thing could be because he wants us to be able to see it
You know, he wants everyone, you know when things are elevated everybody can see it
He wants to get the message across to everybody
but I think really what he's trying to show us here is that
You know them being placed upon mountains what it shows us is that
Both take effort to attain
You know that there's there's effort that goes into either life
There's effort that goes into a life that's blessed. There's effort that goes into a life that's cursed
It takes effort to reach either one if you want to climb out mount ebal in your life, you know
That's going to take effort if you want to climb up mount garism, that's going to take effort as well
Each one is going to take effort, you know disobedience it comes more naturally to us doesn't it visit that is our nature
And we're born in sin
But think about it. It still takes purpose to live a disobedient life
You know, you still have to put effort into that
Like it made me think of this verse in proverbs 26. It says
Whosoever digget the pit shall fall there in right? It's a guy who's being cursed because of his wickedness
He's he's laying a trap. He's a wicked man. He's doing he's not obeying right?
He's not loving his neighbor as himself. He's digging a pit so that somebody can fall there in
He says, uh in who I mean digging a pit's hard, right? There's effort that goes into that especially here in arizona. Good night
Man, I moved out here from michigan and I remember a guy in michigan. I had a job at excavating firm
I remember sitting in the truck with him on a lunch break and saying he was from arizona
He said if you ever move to phoenix
Don't ever get a job doing this don't ever get a job digging anything whatsoever because he was telling me about the ground here
And I remembered that after I got a job digging here
My first week or two here. I got some cash job digging footers. I'm just going off on a story right now
But I mean the first week I ended up with heat stroke
I mean my arm seized up. I had I laid in bed with a fever for like two days
I show up in the job and we're digging footers for a house, you know, and the guy hands me a pickaxe
i'm like
We're not mining for gold. What's this about?
He's like, well, we got to dig and because i'm from michigan where it's just one giant sand dune
Where you could just dig with one hand you're like, oh, it's sand the whole way
It's just like 10 feet of sand. I mean i've dug down to my mom's and she got a crack in her wall
It was like a 10-foot basement on two different occasions. We dug all the way by hand to the bottom of it in like an hour
I mean it didn't take long at all. You just dig a big hole
You know, it was work, but it was easy. Good luck doing that here
Man, you got to get these pneumatic jackhammers out and everything like the point i'm trying to make is it takes effort to dig a hole
Right, if you don't get anything else tonight, you got that
And if you're going to dig a hole prepare to be prepared to sweat stay hydrated and don't do it here
but
What he's saying look it takes effort to do wickedness, doesn't it?
It takes effort to dig a pit and guess what? You're the one that's going to fall there in you're still going to be cursed
He that rolleth a stone right there's effort being put into being a wicked person
I'm going to get this guy and you roll up a stone right that's hard work
It will return upon him
The bible says in proverbs 13 who so despiseth the word shall be destroyed
it's not like you get to just be god's child and put the word on the shelf and say that
And uh, I I don't want the blessing look then you're going to live a cursed life
There's not this middle ground you don't get to walk up to mount garism
And mount, what's the other mount eball and just walk down the middle?
Well, i'm just going to stay in the valley. No, you got to pick one
Which which light which mount are you going to ascend in your life?
The one that leads to a curse or the one that leads to a blessing they both take effort
You can't stay in the valley
He that despises the word shall be destroyed but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded
You see that again, there's one that's despising it and there's one that's fearing it one's being destroyed and one's being rewarded
It's black and white in the scripture the law otherwise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death
Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard
People think they go if I just oh the you know, living the godly christian life is so difficult
Go live an ungodly one and see how hard that is
You think keeping god's commandments and doing the things that god commands of you and demands of us is difficult
And then and you forget about the blessings that are that come on the other side
You know there and we could we could talk about them here. I mean the blessings, you know of of you know, being married
one man one woman for life
That's a blessing. There's a lot of you know, is that always the easiest thing to do? No
Takes work takes effort, but there's blessing in it
You know blessing and raising godly children that's hard work
There's a lot of effort that goes into disciplining and teaching and instructing
And and loving and being patient with children, but you know what? There's a great reward at the other side
Is it difficult? Yes, but there's a reward
And you think that's hard then then then don't discipline then don't raise godly children and watch how much harder
It turns out to be in the end
when the curse comes
The way of the transgressor is hard, I mean if you've been out doing any any soul winning any door knocking
You go into some of these neighborhoods where there's a lot of transgressors and you don't have to look very far
Folks and you start to see people that have been living a hard life without god
And you say well, I don't want that. No, you're right, you know, you know, but hey it takes effort either way
They didn't end up that way an accident. They made decisions that led them to where they are
Every every transgressor that's had a hard life has had a life full of decisions that he made
And who knows he might even been you know, he might even be saved
He might even be you have grown up in a good godly home and been a part of a good godly church at one point
But one day he made a decision
To ignore the word and to start going up this other mount
And that and didn't know it thought well, maybe it'll lead somewhere else. It's not gonna lead anywhere else except for the curse
So
You can't stay in the valley in life you got to choose one or the other
You know, which which which one are we going to go up?
We're going to go up the the the the one that's going to we're going to help garize them to the blessing
Are we going to go up to eball to the curse?
You can't stay in the valley the bible says and that's why the psalmist prayed, you know incline my near incline
Not my heart to any evil thing
To practice wicked works with men that work in equity and let me not eat of their dainties
So we say hey, you know the mount of the blessing it might be hard to climb up right that mount up to uh,
Mount garism, it looks rocky. It looks rough. It's a hard climb
To keep all these commandments it takes effort
And there might not be as many people in that mountain. There's a lot of people over here, you know a mount eball
And they're like, hey, let's go up this mountain
You know, there might be more company
But here's the thing
The company over on mount, uh, eball in my opinion is better. All right garism. Excuse me. It's better company
You know, there's might not be as many people here tonight as there are in the bar
You know over near some university right now
Right now there's some bar somewhere that's just packed out with people. They're all laughing and smiling carrying on
And having a good time
But you know what the company over here is better in my opinion
Because of everything that goes along with that scene
And it's fake
So
Maybe we need to pray that prayer tonight, you know if we're feeling like
Eball is kind of calling to us. I think well, maybe eball is the way to go
Maybe it's not so bad at the top
You know
Maybe you need to pray incline not my heart to do to uh to uh any evil thing
You know, maybe that sometimes that's where we just have to start like look
It's not even lord. It's not even lord. Help me to do the right thing
It's just like help me to not do the wrong thing
Maybe we just need to start there lord. Just help me to not do anything evil
That's why I said the beginning of the sermon. Maybe we just need to focus on
Not doing the wrong thing
That's a good place to start and sometimes that's just where we need to be
And again, you know, it's another sermon about obedience
And the consequences of disobedience. That's another one out of the book of deuteronomy and you know what there's going to be more
Because this keeps coming up over and over and over but you got to remember it's it's a pinnacle point for israel
You know, they're they're crossing over the promised land
Moses their leaders passing off the scene. It's not going to be there to keep them in check. It's up to them now
It's the same way with us
You know at some point you have to take ownership for your own christian life and live it
And you have to that's why obedience is just being emphasized over and over
And and you know, it sounds redundant
But you know the more I read the bible the more I listen to preaching the more preaching I do myself
The more I just continue to live the christian life
The more I understand the need to emphasize obedience just because that's the thing we all struggle with
I mean that is the christian life in in a nutshell
Is the spirit versus the flesh and it just comes down to obedience versus disobedience and that's why it's just being emphasized over and over
And over again
And that's why this chapter like so many others
Is just summed up by that old saying, you know the path of god's blessing
Is through the door of obedience. Let's go ahead and pray