Chapter 8 beginning of verse 1 the Bible reads all the commandments which I command thee this day
Shall you observe to do they may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord has swear unto your fathers
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee
These 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee and to know what was in thine heart
Whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no, so it's interesting there in verse 2. God says
Thou will and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years
So we have to think about the fact that he's dealing with this generation
That's about to pass over into the promised land and he's talking to a group of people who have seen a lot of things not
Just what they saw coming up out of Egypt
But you have to remember they watched the previous generation perish in the wilderness
And when you kind of look there at the end, you know
God reminds them look the same thing can happen to you just like these nations that are being cast out before you
You know the same thing will happen to you if you do not obey me if you don't
Keep my commandments and do all the things that I command you to do if you start to go after these other gods
You're gonna end up in the same boat
What should show us that you know, just because you're God's people just because you know, you're you're saved today
You know doesn't make you exempt from some suffering God's chastening or God's punishment
God still chastens and God still punishes and really that is the theme of this chapter God
Just again warning and bringing up some of the same warnings that we've seen over and over again
We talked about a few weeks ago
Where he was warning against the prosperity that they were going to inherit, you know vineyards. They didn't plant
They were going to live in houses
They didn't build and God was saying look don't forget that I was the one that gave you all these things you see that same
That same warning there. He's saying look lest I'll say by thine own hand. I have gotten me this wealth
So this is again just kind of repeat
There's a lot of there's a lot of redundancy in the book of Deuteronomy
But for good reason God is bringing up these same warnings. God is trying to drive home these points
Because you have to remember this was a reality for these people
They really were going to go in and inherit these vineyards and these lands and these olive yards
They really were going to have all this great wealth given to them and they really were going to face the temptation of being drawn
Away after other gods and worshiping false gods and it was a real possibility for them to be
Led into idolatry and have to suffer the punishments
That's why God is just drilling this over and over and over again in the book of Deuteronomy
But what I want us to kind of focus in there in verse 2 is
where he says and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee and
that's a real important concept for us to remember as well as we go through the Christian life as we live as we start to get
Some years behind us is not to forget how far we've come. I know I preach this morning about not looking back and
And that's definitely true. We don't want to be looking back
We want to keep our eyes forward as a sermon, you know, a modest us this morning
but it's also you know, that's not to say sometimes it isn't good to just step back and reminisce and remember how far you've come and
To think about where you were, you know
That can be a very encouraging thing for some people to stop and and just remember all the way which the Lord thy God
Had brought you and it might even be if you remember back
You might even remember a season where God was dealing with you very severely
You know, you might you might be tempted to go back into some old sin or something like like that
Like he's kind of warning them here. Hey, don't follow a false god, you know, maybe that might be a temptation
It might do you well to stop and just think back to the last time that happened and God had to you know
Come down on you and let me say whoa. I don't want to experience that again
You know kind of just like a man would chase in his son as it says, you know, you know
We our children don't start behaving because they want to please us
They started behaving because they don't like the plate the pain that is associated with certain behaviors
They don't like to you know, mom says no
They start ducking right now. They they know what's coming next, right?
They don't want to have to deal with that now
They do grow to the place where they hopefully start to obey us because they love us
They want to please us but it's the same way with us, you know
Sometimes it's good for us just to remember how far God brought us
Remember the way God has dealt with us in the past, you know to prevent us from going into sin or things like that
But also not to just remember, you know, how far you've come in the Christian life. I
Think some people really sell themselves short. Sometimes they think well, I'm not the Christian
I should be and you know that you know, we could probably all say that about ourselves, you know
None of us is ever gonna reach
You know this this I were no no one's ever gonna be the perfect Christian, right?
But you know, you could probably take some encouragement. Are you a better Christian than you were a year ago?
I mean we're coming up on the new year and start maybe it's time to start thinking about those kind of things
What goals are we gonna have to where we look back?
We can remember the way the Lord has brought us this last year this last five years this last ten years
Can we look back and say we're a better Christian than before now he says here to them
He says remember all the way which I've led you and he says in the wilderness, right?
so for them when they were reminiscing when they're looking back remembering where God took them, you know, it was probably a little bit more of a
Not as a pleasant of a memory, you know watching
Everyone die watching, you know, they're the previous generation, you know and to us it's just you know
People in a book to them it was actually people it was aunts uncles moms dads it was people they knew and loved
And they understood why God had to do that, but they still had to go through that and God saying hey
Well, you need to remember that you need to think about that
Remember what I did in the wilderness when I led you all these 40 years in the wilderness, you know
It's it's not always easy. Sometimes we wonder why God is leading us through this path
Why God has taken us on the journey that he has and it's not easy
But you have to remember that God always has a purpose in his leading if we're following God and we're just going to commit it
To his leading in our life, you know, he might take us through some wildernesses and we would question why we'd say
Why is God doing this?
But we have to understand that he has a purpose and the purpose here
Of course with these people and often even with our own selves
It was to humble thee he goes on and says you remember all the way that I brought thee through the wilderness
These 40 years to humble thee and to prove thee and to know was in thine heart
So he says look sometimes I you know
God might bring us through a hard season in our life bright bring us through a type of wilderness to
Humble us because we can get too puffed up, you know
we can start thinking we're more than we really are and God has to bring us down a notch and and remind us of
The fact that you know, we're really not all that in a bag of chips sometimes, you know
We need to we need to get humbled because you know, God resists the proud, you know
And he's not a respecter of person. So he said he brought him through the wilderness
to humble them and
Also to prove thee he says and to know what was in thine heart
And I really like that God says, you know, I did this to prove you now
Not to he's not saying the sense I did this to prove something to you
He's saying he did that to test you to see what you're really made of to see what's really on the inside
to know what's in your heart and
You know, that's a that's something that we have to keep in mind
Maybe sometimes we'll see people or we ourselves are going through some great difficulty or great trial
It might just be because God's trying to see what you're made of God's trying to test your mettle
God's trying to see you know, what you're really made of to know what's in thine heart
Because here's the thing. It's real easy to say you're gonna follow God no matter what you love God
But when something comes up, you know when things get tough when you have to go through some trial some wilderness
You know, that's what a lot of people kind of fall out of the way, you know
Just kind of like when Jesus, you know, you know, you told them and people you know
They turned away and they went no longer with him, you know, because this wasn't hard saying
You know that a man must he has to love him more than father or mother and and you know
that was a very unique time of course, but
The point being that you know, we if we go through some difficult time it's because we're being proven perhaps, you know
Maybe it's a result of our own sin. Maybe it's a result of our own
You know foolishness or whatever it might be, but it could also be that God is leading through us through that wilderness
To prove what's in our heart because here's the thing and this is a phrase I think of a lot is talk is cheap
Talk is cheap and that's true in the Christian life, too
People can talk a lot about how they love God and how they're gonna serve God that they'll never turn from God that you know
And it's really easy to say that stuff when when the goings good
But when the things start to get rough, that's when you start to see what people are really made of
You know when that when when things when the when the boat starts to rock and the waves start getting a little higher
You start to see who's gonna just you know, jump ship. So I think that's what he's saying here
You know, it's something we could learn from this
Why does God lead us through the wilderness to humble us to prove us to know what's in our heart?
to prove thee to know thee and
Then he goes on there in verse 3 and says and he humbled thee. Mm-hmm. So, you know mission accomplished
It worked you say why was God do that because it does humble people. That's why God leads through these wildernesses in our lives
That's why God takes his people through these difficult places, you know mission accomplished now
You know, that's that's not a pleasant experience if you ever go through it in life, that's not something that's fun
But it's necessary because of the results that it brings
Because he says he humbled you now, how did he go about hung?
How about you go about humbling them? He says there he suffered thee to hunger
Right and meaning this he allowed you to go hungry
That God said you know what it's fine for you to miss a meal
Then I'm gonna take you out in this barren wilderness where there's no food where there's no water and see what how you react
And of course, we know the story how they reacted they murmured and they complained against Moses they spake of stoning him and
God had to rebuke them
But God, you know, he will allow pain into our lives. God will allow us to suffer
You say well, you know that question. Why do good things happen to or why do bad things happen to good people?
Why does that happen?
Well, it's because God knows that pain produces results as as you know
As un-snowflakey as that sounds as
You know as unpolitic isn't you know unpolitically correct as that sounds that is the truth
Is that when we we are made better by suffering when you go through some hard thing now
Of course, we want to avoid that as much as we can. We don't want to bring more suffering upon ourselves. It is necessary
Through sin and other things but you know
There are circumstances in life that God allows into our lives that produce some kind of pain
I'm not and I'm not saying physical although that might be sometimes through an illness or things or something like that
but emotional pain, you know the things that we feel things things we have to go through and
We probably all know people, you know that have gone through some very difficult things in life
I know I know people that have gone through some very difficult things in life and I and that I've never gone through and I say
I you know, I don't know. How would I react? How would I handle that situation and I've seen people handle it very well
I've seen people go through very difficult things and be very gracious and loving God through it all and
and being able to see the good in it and you know, they're an inspiration to others and they motivate us and
You know, that's why God allows these things to happen
He allows these things to prove us and and to humble us and he does it by allowing us
To suffer to allowing us to go without so
Don't avoid discomfort don't live your life
Just trying to avoid every bit of discomfort that you can and really that's what the world will teach you
The world to say hey, you shouldn't have to suffer anything at all
You know, no one should ever have you should never have to hear any mean things said to you
You should always get what you want
You know, you're you're a special snowflake and everyone just you just deserve the best of everything and you you know
But that's not God's philosophy God leads his people through wilderness God leads his people and and allows them to suffer
Allows them to go through hunger to prove them and to test them and ultimately we'll see here in a minute to yes provide
For them and even in all that it's not that God is you know, you know
Locking you up in some camp and starving you to death
But God allows us to go through lean seasons in our life to prove us and to show us
What we're really made of and you say well, I don't know about that. Okay. Well, let's think about several examples
You know, we could start off with job, right?
That should be the most famous example that we could probably all think of of a man suffering great loss in his life
The wealthiest man in his time loses everything loses his house loses his family loses
All of his riches loses everything in a day
one day and then he's afflicted with boils and
Sickness and and and and but what did he say though? He slain me yet. Will I serve him?
You know the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away naked came
I into this world and naked shall I return hither and gave glory to God through it
So he's an example of that a God allowing suffering to come into his life to prove what was in him
And that's what God said of Job. I know him and that he is a righteous man
What about Paul think about all the things that Paul suffered for Christ God allowed all those things to happen
But what did it do it produced results?
He went I mean the group I mean
People say he's the greatest Christian that ever lived and I'm not gonna argue that
And I mean did more for the cause of Christ and his time than probably anybody ever has or will do
You think about our Lord himself the Jesus Christ. I mean, he's suffered great things
Why because of the big he went through all that pain because of what it produced what it brought forth
So he says, you know
In these beginning verses that he
them too
He wants them to remember this how they went through a wilderness and that they were humbled and that they were proven and that God
allowed them to suffer hunger and
He goes on and he says there in verse 4 and he says and fed thee
With manna and he says thy raiment wax not old
Excuse me, that was in verse 3
He says in verse 3 he humbled me and suffered the hungry and fed thee with manna
So he says, you know, hey I caused you to suffer with hunger and that's true and then he's fed thee with manna
And sometimes God allows us to go through and go without so that will turn to him for the provision that we need
And God keeps us lean so that will go to him for to make up the difference
Because then he gets the glory for it and we know that it was God that did it
So he says I fed thee with manna. So yes, God allows us to suffer
But it's so that he can you know be that source of provision so that he can prove show you hey I can help you
through any wilderness
you know and David said, you know, he prepares a table for me in the midst of mine enemies and
And God that's what God is showing us here
so and that's kind of the theme of this chapter and that's really the experience that he's rehearsing of this generation and
It kind of goes on there and just kind of rehearses all all that happened there
If you look there in verse 11, he says beware that thou forget not
The Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes
I command thee this day lest thou will now eat in an art full and has built goodly houses and dwelled therein
And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied
Then thine heart be lifted up and now forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt
from the house of bondage
Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery
Serpents and scorpions and drought and there was no water who brought thee forth water out of the rock of the Flint
So when God says he brought them through a wilderness, he describes it, you know
We get a good clear picture of what it was like. It was great and terrible, you know great. It's very vast
It was a very big wilderness. It was a terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and
Drought and there was no water this place sounds really familiar
I'm just trying to it reminds me of some other place
I know
Anyway, and he goes on he brought thee forth water out of the rock of the Flint who led thee in the wilderness
With manna which thy fathers knew not then he might humble thee and he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end
You know, there's always that blessing that's waiting for us if we'll go through that trial
It's not that God always just wants to keep us down and hold us down
And said God allows these things to come into our life
We suffer then he provides and we can for and if we do right and we inning when God proves us we do, right?
He blesses us at the end just like Joe
He had more at his ladder in than he did at the beginning
Everything was given back to him and then some
And he goes on and he says there
And in verse 17 and now saying thine heart my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth
But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth and that he may establish his
Covenant which he sware into thy fathers as it is this day
so
He's saying look what God is saying here is he doesn't want these people to stop relying on him
He doesn't want them to get into this this good land and start
Having all these blessings and having this every all this increase of their flocks all the increase of the gold and have no need
Of anything and then forget God and stop relying on God because when we start to forget God and then you know
We start doing our own thing and nothing ever good comes of that
that's when you start going into sin and they hear they go into idolatry and all kinds of wickedness in a few generations and
That's why God allows us to go through those wildernesses, you know
Sometimes before we get a blessing sometimes God will take us through a valley before you get to see the mountain
And that's because when you get there, you know, God has made an impression and reminded you already of you know
Where everything comes from where all this is coming from not your own not your own hand
It's God and you know reminds me of people who?
You know who own the you know, maybe start their own business, you know, they start a business from scratch
You know and they're doing well, they're prospering in their business
But you know what some people fail to see is all the lean years that those people went through all the time
They spent you know as an apprentice somewhere even learning their craft
you know up at all hours of the night working all kinds of hours throughout the week and
You know and and and going through all of that, you know suffering, you know going through a type of wilderness
You know and and they but they appreciate the value of what they have when they finally do make it when they finally do are
Able to strike on their own and succeed, you know
They remember everything that they went through and it's kind of the same the same thing
You know, they they when we start to succeed in our Christian life when we start to you know
Get some wisdom and some experience and we start to you know, do well and succeed and have some victories
It'd be really easy to sit back and say well, you know
This is all my hand. I'm the one I'm the one who's got the brains here
I'm the one that figured this out when really it was God when God had you over here
You know dazed and confused and not knowing what's going on
And and that's when he taught you how to rely on him and that's what God was really trying to impress
I believe on these people is like look I did all these things you saw what happened in the wilderness
Don't forget what happened because he knows they're gonna go in and all these blessings are gonna come upon them and the temptation and human
Nature is to forget God
So in order to accomplish
This, you know, we must come to rely on the Lord through weakness
And if you would let's go ahead and turn over to Hebrews chapter 11 in Hebrews chapter 11
In order to come to the place where you understand that it's God that sees you through the good times and the bad
You know, you have to be taught that by going through bad times, you know, you actually have to experience that for yourself
And you know life itself has a way of just kind of bringing us through that
Even without God, you know necessarily having to intervene though. He often does if you look there at Hebrews chapter 11
Remind us of what it says and 2nd Timothy 2 it says thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ
That's something we have to be prepared for in the Christian life
We talked about this morning how the Christian life is likened unto a race, but you know Paul often also liken it unto a warfare
and there's nothing pleasant about war war is a very difficult thing war is a very hard thing and
it takes
endurance if you're going to be able to make it through that if you're going to be successful for that and that's why
Paul's telling think Timothy to endure
Hardness because hardness, you know is is is bound to come
He didn't say run away from hardness
He didn't say shelter yourself from any discomfort, you know avoid any a difficult situation
He said no endure it go through it experience it and get to know it
Here in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 32
says in Hebrews 11 32
And what shall I say more for the time would fail fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of
Jephthi of David also and Samuel and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms
wrought righteousness
obtained promises
Stopped the mouth of lions
Quenched the violence of the fire of fire escaped the edge of the sword. We love all that don't we?
We love all these are great stories we would love to go through all this right maybe be able to do some of that
You know subdue a kingdom who hasn't wanted to do that, right? That's you know, that's where you get these games like risk
You know, you have a subdue a kingdom
All right. Well, that's probably as much as we'll get of that, you know, right rot righteous obtain promises
Stop the mouths of lions. I mean that would be fun right quench the violence of fire and escape the edge of the sword
But what about this one out of weakness were made strong?
You know, we really want to be brought to that place where God makes us weak so that he can make us strong
But that's what happens and that's how God works
God brings us into these weak places in our lives to show us to prove us to test us
To allow he allows us to suffer hunger and go through these things
so that we can be made strong and
Go through that so that he can show him himself strong in our behalf
Now if you would go back to Deuteronomy, we'll kind of move on here because you can't really talk about Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3
without kind of showing this here and
That's the correlation between manna and the Word of God because he says there in verse 3
He humbled me and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna. Okay, and we all know the story
God brought manna down from heaven
which thou knowest not and
that he might
Neither did thy father's know that he might make thee to know that man did not live by bread only but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God
So you kind of see this correlation where he's saying look I fed you with manna
So that you would know that you don't live by bread alone, but by every word on the manna
That comes out of the mouth of God doth man live
So there's kind of this correlation between the manna and the Word of God
You know saying it's kind of we look into scriptures that kind of represents the Word of God that manna
represents that the Word of God and
Of course the purpose of the physical manna right was to show our reliance on God's Word
They had a physical reliance on the manna, of course
But what it shows us today spiritually speaking is that we rely upon the Word of God as a spiritual meat
You know back then they needed that for an actual physical meat to sustain them
But in the same way today we need to we don't live on bread only nothing's changed
you know, we also need to live by the very Word of God and
That spiritual meat that we need is found in the Word of God
If you think about it, you know that that also pictures Christ the manna Jesus said I'm the bread that came down from heaven
He's talking about the manna
Right, and what is he called? He's called the Word of God
So there's a correlation there that that that is representative of the Word of God. It's representative of Christ as well
Let's go over to Exodus chapter 16
Exodus chapter 16 and we'll actually read about the story because when we understand that when we see that there is indeed a
Correlation there. He's saying look manna the Word of God
That that exists and that it's representative of the Word of God, you know
We can learn some things about the Word of God by reading the story
Where the manna came down in Exodus chapter 16 in verse 13
It says and it came to pass that at the even the quails come up and covered the camp and in the morning the dew lay
Around about the host and when the dew lay upon was gone up behold
upon the face of the wilderness there was a small round thing as small as the horror of frost on the ground and
When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another it is manna for they wished not what it was
And Moses said unto them. This is the bread which the Lord give hath given you to eat
This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded gathered every man
according to his eating and omer for every man according to the number of your persons that you may
every man
Take ye every man for them which are in your tents and the children of Israel did so and they gathered some more and some
Less than when they did meet it with an omer he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack
and every man and they gathered every man according to his eating and
Moses said let no man leave of it till the morning not withstanding they harken not unto Moses
But some of them left it until the morning and a bread worms and they and stank and Moses was Ross
Roth with them and they gathered it every morning every man according to his eating and when the Sun waxed hot it melted
So a very interesting story, but how does it relate to the Word of God?
So the way it relates, you know or what we can learn from this and in a few in a few ways
Is that first of all, they were told to gather it in the morning
He said look you're gonna go out early in the morning when the dew lifts off the ground is there
So that's something that's done in the morning, you know, that's a that's a good principle for us when it comes to Bible reading
That's a great time to read your Bible is early in the morning, you know start your day with the scripture now
I understand that people schedules are different not everybody can do that all the time, but if it's possible
I highly recommend it that you know
The first thing you lay your eyes on instead of a screen or some other book or whatever
you know would be the Word of God and
Get that spiritual manna first thing in the morning because what happens is the wax comes or the Sun comes up and it wax hot
And melts away that time is precious, you know, and that's that time during the day when we were aren't really bothered
You know, especially if you have children, especially if you have young children now if they're really young it doesn't matter what time of day
I'll disturb you at any hour, right?
But you know generally speaking that's a great time for people to be able to get up before anybody else has gotten up before
Everything gets crazy in the house the kids running around and everything else before we go off to work and our day gets busy
You know take a moment to get some spiritual manna in your gut and and and go on that strong that meat of the word
That'll carry you through the day and that's a great principle to learn from this story
Job said I have esteemed thy words of the words of his mouth more than my necessary food
He said look you're the this was more this spiritual food was more important to me than physical food
That's what Job said. It was more important to me to get up and get the Word of God than it was to pour a bowl of
Wheaties and eat that it would do you more good to get in this spiritually than anything else
Now the Bible says in Proverbs 8 blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gate
Gates waiting at the posts of my doors
I mean that and that's you know, when wisdom comes out in the morning and will they find will she find us waiting?
When that time comes, you know, are we gonna be there ready to receive from the word from God what he has for us for?
that day
You know, are we watching at his post? Are we waiting at the gate?
early in the morning
Watching daily. Are we there because again, you know that spiritual manna when the day gets busy that hot Sun comes up
It's gone. I'll read my Bible later. I've got to get going
Next thing you know, it's nine o'clock at night
You can hardly keep your eyes open and you got a whole day of work tomorrow
You got to go to bed and and you've missed that time, you know, and that can become habitual
Now it says in verse 16 there it says they gathered of it every man according to his eating and Omer for every man
so this is measured this manna was measured out and
What I get from this is that you know, you shouldn't you should measure your reading and you know
this could really I've preached about this in the past like how to actually go about reading through the Bible and
One way to do that is to you know
Mark out what you're gonna read every day, you know, how what's your goal?
You know again New Year's is coming right? Everyone's gonna start their Bible reading goals. How many times are you gonna read it this next year?
Did you meet your goals this year? Did you read more? Did you read less than you wanted to?
You know one thing that's gonna help you is if you measure it out you say hey
I'm gonna read X amount of pages today and I highly recommend doing it that way
To read a number of pages and not number of chapters a lot of people who?
Try to read I'm gonna read X amount of chapters
Every day, you know, what's gonna happen when you get to Psalm 119
You know and you still got another eight chapters to go, you know
Some chapters are longer than others and others are shorter, but you know, the pages are all the same
So that's a really good way, you know measure it out say if I read, you know, ten or fifteen pages a day
You know, I'm gonna read it X amount of times
Everyone's Bibles different, you know, unless you got the same one
But you say I've got this many pages in the Old Testament this many pages of the new divide that by
365 that's how many pages is you have to read one in a day in order to read through it once
You know like this and this one this was great. I loved him. This was my daily reader because
The New Testament is 365 pages long
So I knew if I read one page a day, I'd get through the New Testament once a year
Which my opinion is nowhere near enough
Right, but I knew if I read 12 pages I get through it 12 times a year. I get through it once a month
You know, but the point being and you'd have to decide what you're gonna do next
Point being and you'd have to decide what you need to read for yourself, you know people, you know are in different
You know positions in life and in ages in life, you know
That they have to kind of determine what is appropriate has how much they need to or should be reading
But you know the point being
Measure it out
And figure out how much do you need to read how much is an omer for you?
You know that that's gonna be appropriate
So
Have a goal and determine the daily amount
You know, you say well, I don't know that sounds like a lot of work. Well, you know, here's the alternative starve
Go ahead and starve spiritually then
I don't have time to read my bio. Okay, well then just go starve spiritually
And and don't be surprised when you're the spiritually emaciated person with no strength
Well, why not because you haven't been eating
You haven't been getting in there. You're you're you're starving to death your skin and bones spiritually
And uh, that's you know, that's the alternative there
And not only that but you also will suffer the chasting that comes with it because ignorance is not an excuse with god
Well, I didn't I didn't know that god. Well, you know, it was written in black and white
And you had a copy of it. And if you just read it you would have known
If you if you got in a church and heard the preaching you would have known
So ignorance is not an excuse. That's the alternative to saying well, you know bible reading that's such a boring topic to talk about
It's actually really important
Because you know your whole spiritual life hinges on it
Uh, so that's why you want to take a minute and admonish one another to read our bibles
So if you would let's go back to deuteronomy and let's look at uh, let's pick it up in verse five chapter eight verse five
or it says
It says in verse five thou shalt consider in thine heart
That as a man chasteneth the son, so the lord thy god chasteneth me
so he's saying look you need to consider this in your heart that
One, you know, he doesn't say he doesn't just say consider this that god chastens you
Okay, he didn't say he said as a man chasteneth his son
So god chasteneth thee see that's what he wants you to consider
Not the fact that god chastens but it's how he does it that god chastens as a father does his son
And so we have to ask ourselves and if I should have told you keep something in hebrews if you haven't please turn back there
But how and go to hebrews 12 how does god how does a man chasten his son and uh
And one of the you know, you say well chasing I don't know about that that's you know, that's old testament
Well, it's actually we're admonished in the new testament to consider the same thing
So let's bring it into hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse four
Where he says he have not resisted unto blood striving against sin
And if you've forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children
My son despised not thou the chastening the lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him
so again, what is it there that he says, uh, he says, uh,
He speaketh unto you as unto children, right my son despised not thou the chastening lord so as a man
Chasteneth his son as a father would chase him his son
So how how what is he trying to get across here by saying look?
It's it's it's the way god chases you is in the same way as a man with chasing his son
That doesn't mean that god literally is going to come down here
And take his belt off and and tan some hides
or have a paddle or
You know, does god have a little plastic or wooden spoon for the little ones that he's going to you know, wrap no
He's saying here look here verse six for whom the lord loveth he chasteneth
And scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth
the way god chastens the the the the uh,
the similarity between
Of man chasing his son and god chasing us is that it's done out of love
It's because why why are we chastened by our parents because they love us
It's a loving thing to chase in somebody
Now all the kids in the room saying are you sure about that
Are you sure because it doesn't feel very loving
When you get older and you start to see the heartache that those chastenings have spared you
You'll see how loving it really was
When you start to meet other people that grew up without that chastening
and the lives that they're leaving because of a result of not understanding of the the of
Of you know, uh consequences that come with your actions
You know, you'll start to say wow my parents spared me
It hurt then but it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as what these people are going through who were not chasing
So chasing is a very loving act and that's what god is saying here as a man chasing it to his son
He's saying look i'm chasing you in a loving way what i'm doing is very loving
Me taking you through the wilderness and punishing those people
And causing you to suffer hunger and and warning you about what i'll do if you don't obey
It's all loving
Because god wants you wants to spare you just like a parent wants to spare their child
They don't want their little, you know
precious pumpkin to go running out into the highway
because
They don't stand a chance against a semi-attractor or whatever
Right, so they when junior starts headed towards out the door
You know, he gets crack and he begins to associate
disobeying with pain, right
And he has to understand something that that's a loving act
The unloving person would go say no go ahead and touch the hot iron and find out for yourself
Go run out in the road and find out for yourself
Go mess around with sin and find out for yourself and suffer the consequences many of which are permanent
And cannot be changed
So chasing is a loving act and that's what the bible says and that's what god is trying to get across here to them
It's like look i'm chasing you as a father does his son i'm doing it because it's a loving act
Bible says in proverbs 13 24 he that spareth his rod hateth his son
So the person who does not chase in their son, that's the person
That is unloving. That's the person. In fact, the bible says hates their child
I don't hate them. Well, you know, but what you're doing is not loving
I don't hate them. That's why I don't I don't spank them. Actually the bible says the complete opposite
That if you're going to spare your rod if you're going to not chase in your child that you actually hate them
But he that loveth him and the bible says chasteneth him betimes
meaning early
He gets after that kid early and starts to work on them early
the bible says the rod
of correction will uh
What is it?
Yeah, the the the rod of correction
Foolishness is bound in the heart of the child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him
And it's such an interesting thing when it says that it's bound in there
And I know i've brought this up and i'm gonna remind us again
It says it's bound in the heart of a child and anyone who's had a child knows this is true
That it's bound in there. You know, it's not it's not that it's it's not this little slip knot
You know, it's not just it's not foolishness is just in there
Just this dainty little decorative bow that you just pull a little string. Oh the foolishness is gone
Man, i'm talking it's in there like it's bound
You know, it's like it's you know, some sailor with giant arms came along and just
tied that thing in there
You know, it's it's tight and you're not going to just walk up to it and pull it apart and it's going to be so nice
You're going to have to take the rod and loosen it up and loosen it up driving it
He says he will drive it far from him
You know, it's not just something that you're you're going to swat once and bam. It's it's gone. It's something you have to drive out
It's a persistence
And you know, that's the way sometimes god has to deal with us
You know god has to chase it and but here's the thing
We always have to understand this is that when we're being chased and it's not because god hates us
It's because god loves us
I know and kids, you know in the room. I know we got a lot of them
The you know, if if you're being chased by your parents understand something it's because they love you
It's because they want the best for you
That's because they don't want you to make mistakes because they don't want you to get hurt so they have to chasten you
So this generation here is particularly that we're reading about in deuteronomy they witnessed some chasing didn't they
They witnessed what happened to the previous generation. They saw a big old whooping come down
They saw the earth open up and swallow people
I mean they saw fire come out from the from god and consume
uh the uh
The two sons of aaron I can't remember their names right now at the top of my head
But they saw some chasing didn't they they saw a whole generation
perish in the wilderness
So they got you know, they might not have gotten all the the direct chasing but boy they were they were close enough
You know, they were close enough to feel the the the draft as the paddle swung by so to speak, right?
They got a good they were close enough to know that they don't want any part of that
And it served as a warning it served as a precaution to say hey look don't make the same mistakes they made
You know, hopefully that's what kids do when it comes to chasing they start to figure out. Well, you know, it's it's action reaction
You know when I do this I get a spanking
So the solution and i'm trying to explain this to the little ones
You know, it's bedtime. You're about to go to bed. Okay
Do you want a spanking tonight? No
Okay, well if you don't want i'm glad you don't because i'm not really looking forward to spanking anybody either
So since we both agree on that that neither of us wants anything to do with spanking tonight
Here's what you need to do. You need to go to bed. Be quiet. Okay
And don't say anything just be quiet. Okay, I can do that
Never happens
And it's not much longer. It's like all right get the belt come out here. You're gonna deal with this
Remember what we talked about? Yeah. All right. Well
It didn't work out that way did it and then you try it again the next night
You know, that's the same thing now eventually they start to get it, you know, and they every once in a while
They need that gentle reminder
But you know, that's that's that's the thing we should learn from these chastenings
You know, that's what god is saying in this chapter. Look he's been through the wilderness
You've been you've been you saw the hunger that was suffered. You saw these people get chased and learn from this
And don't go after these strange gods he says in the end there
And that's really what he was kind of warning them, you know in verses six
through 18, you know, I won't take the time to read all that again, but
He's saying in verse six therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the lord thy god. Why because of verse five?
Why is he saying you're going to keep you should you shall keep the commandments of the lord of god. Why?
Thou shalt consider in thine heart that a man is a man chasing a son
So the lord chastenest thy god chasteneth thee he's saying look, you know, I chasten you know, I punish you know
That's better than anybody
Therefore in verse six
Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the lord thy god
To walk in his ways and to fear him
For the lord thy god bringeth thee into a good land a land of brooks and of water and fountains and depths
That spring out of valleys and hills a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of oil
of oil olive and honey
A land wherein thou shall eat bread without scarceness thou shall not lack anything
In it a land who stones an iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass
Saying look, I know the the the blessings of the land that are waiting for you
Don't forget me and don't forget a particular aspect of god that he chastens
That he deals with sin and disobedience that he doesn't just let it slide
as any loving parent does
They deal with it they get involved and they correct it
Now it goes on there and we'll just wrap it up here at the end
He says in verse 19 and it shall be if thou do at all forget the lord thy god
And walk after the other gods and serve them
I testify against you this day
That i'm going to let it pass because I understand people forget
Is that what god said?
He said no if you forget you're going to perish. That's what he says there
Ye shall surely perish as the nations which the lord destroyeth before you or before your eyes he's saying or before your face, excuse me, so
you know he's saying here like
Basically this that you know forgetting is not an excuse
You know, I forgot doesn't fly with god
Because you shouldn't have forgotten because here's the thing people think forgetting is something that just
Just happens in and of itself. That's that somehow forgetting is just something that happens to us
But what is it when we forget forgetting something is the result of failing to remember
You know, that's what it is. It's not just
I forgot because that's just what happens
It's because you failed to remember that's why you forgot
You didn't take the time to make yourself remember that I mean think about all the things that we forget about that
We know we're not supposed to I mean little things
You know things that we say I have to remember this, you know for our jobs and things like that
What do we do if we don't want to forget them we write them down
We put a sticky note. Don't forget we're being intentional about not forgetting. That's what all remembering is
Is being purpose, you know purposely not forgetting
Forgetting is not an excuse because all forgetting tells somebody is that it wasn't important enough for you to remember
Being forgetful is not an excuse of god
And really, you know, you could take that into the work aspect of it, you know
It's not an excuse for most employers
Only sending the good ones, right?
They tell you to do something. Hey, I need you to do this and this and this and you come back hours later. Oh, I forgot
Oh, i'm sorry. Oh, you're right. Well, I guess I should have wrote that down for you. I should have reminded you
I should have called you later and said hey, you know
What some of them do if they know you're forgetful, you know, you're not
On top of the game so they will start hey, did you forget
But here's the thing about forgetful employees, you know, if they don't get fired they usually don't succeed
You know and if you got one of those jobs where all you need is a pulse
They're out there
You know then you go then yeah, I guess some jobs you can go be forgetful and still keep
Your job, but it's probably not a very good job
It's probably because they can't really find anybody else to do that job
Or they're just going to get more of the same if they try to find somebody else to replace you
But forgetful employees, you know often they get fired from good jobs that doesn't fly with employees or employers
You know forgetting is not an excuse in the re in in even in our secular world
And it's certainly not an excuse with god because all forgetting is is you failing to remember
and here's the thing when you forget on god, it's it's not just
you know
You you know the jug of milk stays at the grocery store and you have to go get it tomorrow
You know, I forgot to get that on the way home, you know, it's not that
God's not just disappointed when you forget about him
You know when you're forgetting about god and his commandments you're forgetting something pretty important
You're forgetting something pretty big in life
If you start to forget who god is and and how god is
And what god expects if you just start to forget that if you just say well, it's not important enough for me to remember
It's not that god's just going to be disappointed
God's going to be angry
And god's going to be furious
The bible says in psalms 10 the wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after god
God is not in all his thoughts
It's a wicked thing to keep god out of your thoughts to not be remind to be not to be mindful of god
It's it's it's the proud. It's the wicked that do that. Isaiah 26 says thou will keep him in perfect. Peace
Whose mind is stayed on thee?
You know, we want peace in life. We want god's blessing. Don't forget him
Keep your mind state on him. Remember the things that god expects
He says whose mind is stayed on me. Why because he trusted me
So it says there in isaiah 26 that will keep him in perfect. Peace whose mind is stayed on me
Because he trusted in me
Why does this person trust in god because he remembers god
Right. He trusts in him
Because his mind has stayed on him and as a result god keeps him in perfect peace
So that tells me this that the one who remembers the lord is the one who trusts the lord
You know, you're not why would you need to?
Why would you ever trust or rely on god if you don't remember him?
If you don't ever keep your mind on him, you're not staying your mind on him
So, you know what god does god allows suffering that's what we were talking about god allows the wilderness to come
God allows the chastening. He brings the chastening into our lives. He begins to execute judgment
He begins to chase in us as a man doth his son to do what to keep our minds fixed on him
So that we will trust him and obey his voice. Let's go ahead and pray