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Disappointed so Deuteronomy chapter 4 and we'll get right into it here. The Bible says in verse 1 Now therefore harken O Israel unto the statutes and of the judgments which I teach you for to do them They may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord your God the Lord God of your fathers Giveth you you shall not add Unto the word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it That you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you now It's a great principle right there in verse 2 where it says you shall not add under the words Which I command you and you shall not diminish hot from it either You know that tells us a couple of things and one of that your God doesn't you know doesn't take his word lightly What he says, you know, he says what is sufficient and he doesn't appreciate people tampering with his word And we see a lot of that today don't we with all these false versions and things that are out there that people are adding to and Diminishing ought from the Word of God removing verses You know whole whole sections of Scripture changing it adding to it Manipulating the Word of God, you know and God isn't gonna hold those people guiltless You know their part the Bible says shall be removed out of the book of life You know, that's that's one thing that God really draws us, you know He draws a lot of lines and that's a real particular one that he draws pretty deep and says you should not do this So that's one way you can look at that But another way that you could look at that is the fact that you know We should not add unto the word and we should not diminish it front from it in the sense that you know from in our own teaching You know those that would preach or get up and teach God's Word, you know We should make sure that the things that we're teaching and preaching Commanding of the Word of God are of the Word of God and nothing more You know we shouldn't get up and start adding other things to the Word of God or adding the traditions of men and teaching for the The traditions of men for the doctor teaching the traditions of men for the doctrines of God We shouldn't get up and teach tradition. Like it's something that God commands. I mean we could all have preferences We can all have things that we like done a certain way or principles or things that we think are best done But they're not clearly lined out in Scripture or we could say it's you should or should not do this and there's areas There's gray areas. There's areas where we can have preferences, but we should never get up and preach our preferences as Commandments and say it's this way and without a clear scripture everything that we teach and believe Should be based on clear scripture and if you don't have clear scripture, you know, what do you have to stand on? You know, it might just be your opinion It just might be some tradition and just might be something false that you were taught even I mean Here's the thing. I mean hasn't God given us enough to keep track of as it is I mean the Bible's got a lot of do's and don'ts in it. I was got a lot of rules You know We don't need to sit and sit there and make up new rules and try to add to the Word of God And try to lay even a more of a burden on on ourselves by adding to God's Word and his commandments So we shouldn't be adding to the burden, you know There's plenty there for us to get right and to keep right and and and to work on But the other hand, you know that then people go to the other extreme don't they then they start excusing people They might not be adding on to the commandments of God, but they like to diminish off from it They'd like to say well, you know, I know this is what the Bible says But you know, you don't really know that's that's Old Testament or you know, we're under great So they'll have all kinds of different excuses for whatever You know particular commandment they have a problem with that. They'll actually start excusing other people from their God-given responsibilities You know, they'll start diminishing off from the Word of God. So we don't want to do either You know, we don't want to add to the Word of God But we also we don't want to diminish from it either you want to make sure that we're you know We're teaching the whole counsel of God and and not leaving anything off and again not adding anything to it So a great principle right there in verse 2 He goes on and says in verse 3 your eyes have seen what the Lord had done what the Lord did because of Baal Peor For all the men that followed Baal Peor the Lord God thy God hath destroyed them from among you But he that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me Then you should do so in the land whether you go to possess it keep therefore and do them For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations What shall hear all these statutes and say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people But what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God in all these things that we call Upon him for and what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments So righteous is all this law, which I set before you this day And you know that goes to show us and we have to be reminded the fact that God intended Israel in the Old Testament To be a light unto the Gentiles he intended them to be a testimony of God to the whole world That the the the Gentile nations would look unto Israel and would become believers and followers in the one true God that they would they would look and have this same reaction that's described here They would say what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them As the Lord our God and what nation is so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous is all this law. I mean People should be looking at those that teach and represent God and his law and they should be in orbit They should be in awe of the righteousness of the law of God now. Is that what we see today? Do we see people looking at the Bible and reading it and saying and being in awe of the book of Leviticus? Are people in awe of the book of Deuteronomy are they in awe of the book of you know The five books of Moses and are they in awe of the whole of Scripture and all the statutes and the judgments and the and the law That God gives in his word. Do they call it righteous? They say this is good. They say wow This is really something, you know, what nation is so great This is so wise and what an understanding people that believe these things. That's not what they do today They mock and they scoff and they ridicule and they and they they don't exalt the Word of God, you know And obviously there's no nation that's following and keeping You know practicing the laws that are given out in God's Word but that was the intent of Israel in the Old Testament that they would kid they would live by the Word of God and they would have a Society based upon the Word of God and that other nations would look on and say that nations got it, right? And that's the thing if we had a nation that and you know America is loosely based on the Bible a lot of it You know, there's a lot of principles and things that we have from the from the Bible that our forefathers, you know tried to put into into our in our you know, our government and You know for that reason we do to some degree experience, you know greater liberty than a lot of other nations Even to the little bit that our nation still observes the statutes and the judgments of God we benefit from that You know not to the degree that God would intend a nation to benefit from his word, but it's there It does happen and it's showing us here that if a nation would embrace the Word of God if a nation would embrace The law and the commandments and the statutes and the judgments of the Bible That it would be such a wonderful thing that nation would be so wise and understanding That the other nations around it would look at it and say this is amazing Truly, this this nation has the Lord God is their God. This is the true and living God That's what God intended for Israel. And it also shows us and if you would Go ahead and turn over to Psalm 9. Psalm chapter 9, of course keep something there dude around me That was God's intent For Israel and it also shows us that You know, it's God's law that exalts a nation It's not the nation itself You know if a nation is exalted and lifted up it becomes mighty, you know, it's it's it's usually directly Related to how much they observe God's law Now, you know, we're also living in a time where if you know Nations are being lifted up for other reasons. They're they're powerful like like the United States But when God exalts a nation, it's because they're exalting God if that makes sense And the Bible says that the law of God is perfect. It's the testimony. The Lord is sure the statutes of the Lord are right You know, we should there should never be anything in the Word of God that we're ashamed of Then we should back away and say and then someone say well you believe this and turn this to a past So you believe that? And try to explain it away, you know diminish ought from it We're trying to add unto it say well you got to understand back then and try to explain something away There's no part of the Bible that we should ever back down and be ashamed of We should be able to brace the whole thing the Bible says happy is the people that is in such a case Yeah, happy is the people whose God is the Lord If we had a nation that embraced the Lord that embraced the statutes and the judgments of the Word of God They would be a happy people Bible says Bible says righteousness exalted a nation, but sin is our approach to any people and Let me tell you something We are living in a country that is putting off the Word of God To whatever degree we had embraced it in the past. We're we're moving away from that We're casting off the Word of God. They're banning the Word of God. They've kicked God out of the public schools They've kicked God out of the public, you know courts. They've kicked God out of the public square every chance they get they don't want to mention anywhere and You know what's happened? It's turned this nation into a reproach. I mean look at the things that are going on in our country The wickedness and the vile disgusting filth that's being exalted in this country right now and Paraded up and down our streets and promoted out throughout the whole world. You know, that's our approach to this people We you know, that's our approach to the United States of America to those that have what you know that have woken up to the truth and are Brainwashed by the media and it can unsee it for what it is those that Understand righteousness and truth and holiness. They we look at the filth that's going on this nation and it's a reproach It's it's it's disgusting, you know, you know brother Fabian We're out soul winning today and he's telling me about these Halloween direction decorations. He said he sees now He saw this one in this house where it was clearly something that some kids made, you know, they do that in schools They'll build certain types of the year. They'll you know Thanksgiving They put their hand on the paper and they make the turkey in school and they bring it back You know the turkey decoration they do all these everything well Halloween, you know Sometimes they have the kids make Halloween director decorations and on this house. There's this hand-drawn little cross upside down You know the kid probably didn't know what they were doing But you know, that's where we're at where kids don't even understand that they're just mocking the things of Christ mocking the things of God It's wicked and it's a reproach to any people when we cast off the Word of God look there in Psalm 9 where it says in verse 17 the wicked shall be turned into hell and All nations that forget God every single one of them there are no exceptions here, you know We're not just because we're in the United States and you know, don't get me wrong. I'm glad to be in this country There's no other country I'd rather be in and I'm thankful for the freedoms that we still have and pray that we could still use them and preserve them But a nation that forgets God no matter who it is, even our own nation will be turned into hell. That's the Bible says For the needy shall not always be forgotten The Expectation of the poor shall not perish forever Arise o Lord let not man prevail let the heathen be judged in thine sight put them in fear Oh Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men see if people want To get all excited about you know rah rah, you know this country that country and What they forget is that a nation a country, you know This idea of patriotism all it is in the end of days. It's just men It's just man. It's just representing mankind and men, you know aren't aren't the greatest thing in the world you know, they do a lot of wicked things they do a lot of Terrible things and you know national pride when I read the scripture here in other places as well You know, I don't see national pride being a concept in Scripture where we should have this nationalistic pride You know, I just don't see it and and I You know, I'm welcome to be corrected on that someone could show me and say this is where we should the Bible says that we should you know be patriotic and Pledge our allegiance and loyalty to a nation, you know, we should we should pledge our allegiance to Christ in his kingdom You know and if we live in a nation that exalts God then great Let's get behind that and that's something that maybe we could You know take us, you know, if I could say a sense of pride maybe you know We could be grateful for that. We live in a country that exalts the righteousness But here's the thing. We're not we're not living in a country that exalts holiness and righteousness and godliness. We're not So why would I get all excited about the United States? Why would I start waving flags and you know? Putting the stickers on my car and pounding my chest about the United States This country's got a lot of blood on its hands people a lot And it's a wicked country and it's casting off God and it's moving away from the scripture and it's moving away from the things of God and The Bible says that sometimes nations they just need to be judged and put in fear so that they understand something that they're just men That the end of the day were just men And that's why I don't you know, I'm not a big proponent of You know and people again, I'm not that this is preference This is not trying to say you shouldn't vote but I'm not a big proponent of it You know, I don't think that God's blessing is going to be found through a ballot box. I just don't I Don't think you're gonna go and vote this country into inter righteous living. You're not gonna vote this country into embracing the Bible You know, it's gonna be kept that that's gonna happen when God's people keep God's Commandments And we go out and we win souls and teach others these things and you know, we perfectly honest I hate being pessimistic, but sometimes I wonder if we're just a little bit past the tipping point Where it's kind of maybe too late where all we can do now is just kind of hang on and we're about to go for a ride with this country and just you know, and we do what we can along the way so If you came to be uplifted tonight Yes, I don't know but you know, this is the reality that we're living in this is where we're at in this country We're in a country. That's I mean Do I have to get up here and rehearse them and remind everybody what's going on out there? I Mean, it's the same what's going on out there just in the short time that I've been alive You know when I was growing up in junior high and things like that today till today, you know the course of 20-some years All right, maybe 30 years, but you know, it's it's it's just taken off this country's it's gone mad it's because people have cast off God and You know, we shouldn't be afraid we shouldn't fear that we should just understand that that's the way it's going to be in the end You know perilous times shall come the Bible says and that's where we're at so let's just you know, let's do our part to Exalt our families and exalt our own lives by lifting up the Word of God Let's go ahead and move on here look at verse 9 it says only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently Lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life But teach them thy sons and thy son sons Especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in horror. So God begins here Moses here is beginning to Draw special attention to this particular day, you know, he's telling them it look you need to you know Don't forget the things that you've seen and heard you know teach them of thy sons and thy son sons Especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in horror You know when you go on you read it, of course He's referring to the fact that God came down in a pillar of fire upon Mount Sinai and gave the law He says there and he says when the Lord said unto me gather the people together and I will make them hear my words That they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth and they may teach their children I mean when God came down he was trying to make a very strong impression on them And And I think he did that and even to this time and we were reading about the story I mean, that's one of my favorite stories in the Bible is reading about God coming down upon Sinai and the trumpets and the and the voice and the Quakings and the thunders and the lightning. I mean, it's it's a magnificent story I mean, I sometimes I read it. I just try to imagine myself just being there, you know in that camp Maybe maybe some way, you know, you get a big crowd You know, maybe not be right up close to the action, but just seeing that from afar in this crowd Just a pillar of fire coming down in this mountain the ground shaking on your feet the thick black clouds and the lightning That really happened, you know, some people saw that these people saw that happen and he said in verse 11 and He came here and stood under the mountain and the mountain burned with fire into the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick Darkness, I mean under the midst of heaven So here's this fire just coming down and I sent and going up into these clouds of where they just disappears in the sky I mean, it's God coming down out of heaven in this pillar of fire upon this mountain. What an amazing sight this must have been And he goes on in verse 12 and the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire You know, so it's not just that they saw this they actually heard God speak You know, this is a really this is a very special thing God doesn't do this often In fact, you know, this is one of the few times you ever see it I was trying to think about the only other time I can think about God speaking from heaven to man was upon the mountain transfiguration Where Peter piped up when Jesus was, you know, transfigured he saw Moses and Elijah And he said let us prepare here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses with Elijah the cloud overshadowed them And they heard a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son hear him and what was Peter what was their reaction you know, they fell down and they quake and they were afraid and Jesus had to come and touch them and Not to fear not and then they woke up. They saw no man, but Jesus So, I mean, this is a special thing when you hear God speaking from heaven I mean they're hearing God speak out in the midst of the fire Remember and he's talking to you know millions of people so to make himself heard. He's got to really be speaking very loud I mean, it must have been to some deafening to hear God speak Have you ever been to any kind of like a public like a concert or any kind of a you know? Public gathering where there's someone speaking over a PA system or something like that. I mean sometimes that gets really loud But I don't think anyone's ever heard it as loud as God God that day. I mean God is just booming his voice He says he heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude Only he heard a voice You know and there was a reason for that, you know We're gonna see that here that God really emphasizes this like look you didn't see anything that day You didn't see God. You don't know what he looks like You know, all you heard was a voice Yeah, you saw all these other things the fire the clouds the lightning all these other things That you know made a strong impression that that that God was present But the only thing that you were that happened the only thing about God is that you heard him you didn't see him You didn't see any similitude. It says there And he declared unto you as covenant Which he commanded you to perform even ten commandments and he wrote them upon two tables of stone And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you may do them the land whether you go over To possess it take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves for he saw no manner of similitude So again, he's bringing us up. He's being repetitive here is being redundant You know, he's saying look you didn't see anything. You didn't see anything. You didn't see God Then you didn't see any manner of similitude in the day the Lord spake unto you in horror out of the midst of the fire So Moses is drawing real special attention here in the fact, you know, not only to what they did see, you know He's reminding them remember everything. You didn't see all of that magnificent sight of the fire and everything So yeah He's bringing that he's drawing their attention to what they did see but he's also drawing their attention to what the fact that they didn't See something that they didn't see God that they didn't see his actual similitude And what he's doing here the reason why he's emphasizing this point is Because he's trying to curb idolatry among the children of Israel Because this is something I was very prevalent in the land where they're going over to possess They were idolaters the Canaanites, you know, they were making you know, even Egypt that they came out of idolaters You remember Aaron he made the golden calf. This is something that they're used to You know making things that they call God these these statues these images that they craft they mold that they make And saying well, this is God this be your gods. Oh Israel, and he's here saying look you didn't see God You didn't see God you saw no similitude. He's driving it home because he wants to curb that He doesn't want them going into that. I mean imagine being God and then you know, nobody knows, you know You know you have your children and then they make an image they say well This is this is an image of my dad and it just looks nothing like you This is me and my dad, you know, it's a picture of them with some stranger. It's my dad Look dad. It's a picture of me and you You're like, who is that? That's not me. Oh, no, it's you. That's you dad. That's how God me I mean God actually I'm trying to put it down on a human level but think about that with God You know, you're we're over the people Aaron's over there making a golden calf. This is God You know and God has never even been seen. I mean what an insult what a smack in the face And it just you know makes you scratch it why it's why this man have to have something tangible like that to call God It's just it's it's very odd buddy so here he is he's trying to curb this idolatry He doesn't want them going back into this idolatry and that's exactly what happens, isn't it? When they stray when they forget God when they leave off God if they go right into it They just go right into idolatry like that and God's trying to curb that you know, and that's why you know, we have no accurate Depictions of Christ today, you know that long-haired blue-eyed hippie that they try to pass off as Jesus that fed me looking clear I'd like to say this is what Jesus looked like. That's not what Jesus looked like One how do you know? Well one he's got long hair And the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair so that'd be pretty hypocritical wouldn't it and Jesus wasn't hypocrite and You know, the Bible says that he hath no form of comeliness that we should desire and there was nothing special about his physical appearance When he walked around on this earth that and I believe God made sure that nobody there might have been people who tried to draw It or something or have some depiction of Jesus if they did I'm sure God made sure it got destroyed some way You know some guys following Jesus around, you know, like those courtroom drawings or something like that He's trying to make a portrait of Jesus And gets it all done and then just burst in the flames or something Wind comes and just takes it away and blows into some lake or something. I mean God there are no accurate depictions All those depictions that we see those came hundreds of years later is after Christ hundreds of years All the people that see Jesus first hand were dead and gone So, how do they know what he looked like they don't you know, and it's just funny because they always depict him You know as some you know, if the European everyone every nationality depicts Jesus in their own in their own To reflect them, you know, the Europeans have a white Jesus You know the black you have a black Jesus, you know, everyone tries to do it make him look like him You know if you had to guess what color he had, I mean the Bible doesn't tell us But I don't think he was blond hair blue eyed and white as a snow, you know, he's from the Middle East So But you know, this just goes shows us that God doesn't want us making depictions of him I'm saying oh, this is what God looks like and Moses here is just driving this in saying you saw no similar to don't make any graven images. He's trying to curb this Because of verse 16 because he knows what happens when man starts to Make these images He says lest you corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image The smell dude of any figure the likeness of male or female The likeness of any beast that is on the earth the likeness of any we could follow that flies in the air the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath them the earth and now listed Lift up thine eyes unto heaven and without seeing us the Sun the moon and the stars and all the hosts of heaven Should just be driven to worship them and to serve them Which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under heaven But the Lord hath taken you and brought you forth out of the iron first even unto Egypt to be unto him a people of inheritance as ye are this day It's God saying look don't make any of these things because Pete they just go overboard When they start making everything they make start making images of everything You know that every saint has to have a statue now in the Catholic Church You know, you got to have Mary's got to have a statue, you know gonna have a statue for Jesus You got to have all these images now and it corrupts people, you know They it takes them away from the true and living God. They start to worship an actual image a porcelain you know model of Whoever it might be they bow down they worship them and go go Go over to India go over to these Buddhist countries and watch where they practice You know Buddhism and watch them bow down and bring offerings and you know, I remember Going up in North Phoenix, you know, we had the location up in North Phoenix on 35th Avenue you know, I stopped by on Sundays and we would go to rainbow donuts and We'd walk in and over next to the donut case behind the counter They had their little Buddha with a little tiny thing around it and they were I'm not kidding You post cup of coffee and a donut in front of this Apparently Buddha likes likes sprinkled And black coffee and it's been there a while You know what coffee sits in the cup for a while starts evaporating get that brown stain around the edge I'm like, it's yeah, then she made a clue folks. I'm not drinking it Evaporating the donut still whole You know say well should you give you about those donuts? Well, you know, we understand that an idol is nothing, you know Let every man, you know Eating this donut offer to an idol cause my brother defender shall eat no donuts and you know the world standards But I didn't have a problem that I said as long as you didn't sacrifice that donut You're gonna give me you know, cuz I see how long you let them stay out there But it's perfect example, you know, and I'm not one to turn down a day. We'll go But it just goes to show you people they get carried away There they'll say I leave let me bring a donut to my little statue set it down to worship. This is my god You know sitting there next to the broom. I Mean how are you bringing God down to such a low level you're the concept and idea of of God the Creator Like you get a capsule God in this tiny little statue and and you can serve him By giving him dough now you're providing for this little thing It's it's insulting to the true living God to worship the stars and the heavens and the moon that you know That God created. Oh, let me worship the Sun. Why don't you worship the woman made that? We worship the stars. Well, why don't you worship the one who put every star in its place? It knows every single one of them by name Now in verse 20 He says but the Lord hath taken you and brought you forth out of the iron furnace Even out of Egypt to be unto him a people of inheritance as you are this day And I love that phrase and I've wanted to preach a sermon about this for so long This sprays out of the iron furnace, you know guys that might be wanting to write a sermon. There you go I just gave you one right out of the iron furnace Go and steal my thunder But you know for and for the longest time I couldn't understand what he meant by that and then I figured it out And I thought well that's you ever you ever have something if I will you can't get in and then later it clicks You're like, how did I not understand that? That's so simple So he says he brought him out of the iron furnace even out of Egypt. So what's the iron furnace? It's Egypt. All right, that's what he's calling Egypt here. He's saying Egypt is the iron furnace and You know, he's he eludes Egypt in the same way. I'll read him first Kings He said for they be thy people. This is Solomon, you know dedicating a temple thy inheritance Which thou brought us forth out of Egypt from the midst of the furnace of iron. So this is something that Yeah, that is a phrase that's used to describe Egypt He calls it an iron furnace the furnace of iron So, what does he mean by that again you see that same thing in Jeremiah verse 11 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land Egypt from the iron furnace So again again again iron furnace Egypt these things that's what he's calling Egypt. It's the iron furnace now I Try to kind of understand what he meant by that I'm thinking okay The iron part kind of confusing furnace, you know, well, we could cut I could kind of see that, you know Egypt's a hot place. We were familiar with that You know, we could we could say well, you know Tucson has a bit of a furnace, you know We've been brought out of the furnace of Tucson, you know So I thought well, maybe that's it but that isn't really gel right because it's the iron furnace so and really when you when you get this it's a perfect description of Egypt because What he's what he's reminding us is is that there was no escape for them in Egypt It was an iron furnace like iron there's there's no way out They're they're in iron. They couldn't penetrate through and escape on their own. There was no way out of this iron furnace They were stuck there There's no escape and he calls it a furnace because of the fact that Egypt was going to consume them Remember before God delivered them. They there was a rose of Pharaoh who knew not Joseph and And decided to start, you know, he doubled their tasks, you know He made them make double their tale of bricks and gave them no straw and said you're idle You know He was looking he was worried that the Pharaoh then was worried that they were going to The Israelites would side with their enemies and turn on him. You know, he was he was uh, he was a wicked man He was commanding them to throw their children in the river every male child Trying to breed them out. He was trying to destroy God's people So that's why God calls Egypt an iron furnace. There was no escape and sure enough eventually It was going to destroy them. You know, you put a metal in a furnace and you turn it up hot enough No matter what element it is. It gets hot enough that thing's gonna melt That thing's gonna get broken down and destroyed and consumed. So that's why he's Describing it that way To remind them of what God delivered them out of That he didn't just they weren't just you know, hanging out in some park somewhere when God came along Egypt wasn't just You know a dance through the lilies that they were they were on their way out. They were gonna be snuffed out They were gonna be destroyed in this iron furnace and God comes along and delivers them does the impossible Snatches them out of the flame reaches into the furnace and pulls them out by a strong and mighty hand And you know that should serve a reminder for us too, because I'll tell you something the same thing happened for me and you You know we as sinners without Christ were on our way to a furnace a literal furnace called hell Of which there is no escape Bible says that those that are there the smoke of their torment ascendeth up day and night and they have no rest forever Once you're there you're there You're stuck like you are an iron furnace So just as God miraculously reached it and pulls them out of the iron furnace of Egypt. God has done the same thing for us You know if we're saved the Bible says in Colossians chapter 1 giving thanks in the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light Who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son? In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins now you got saved You know you got delivered from the power of darkness That's that's powerful You got delivered to the power of darkness. You've been translated into God's kingdom God took you from that kingdom and put you in his through the blood of Christ Bible says is Jude Jude 1 keep yourselves in love God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life and If some have compassion making a difference and others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire You know we can do the same thing for other people now We can go out and help other people escape the iron furnace We can go out help other people be delivered from the kingdom of darkness We can go out help other people be translated in the kingdom of his dear son Through the through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus You know that's what God has given us And I believe you know that's why God is bringing up Egypt here and describing this manner of the children of Israel to remind them of where they came from and to remind them just how close they were to utter destruction and We can look back at that and be reminded to us as well That we by nature were children of wrath, and we were this close one breath From just slipping off into eternity in a place called hell so He goes down there in verse 21 Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and swear that I should not go over Jordan And then I should not go in under that good land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for inheritance of course we covered this Last week when he's referring the fact that you know Moses disobeyed at the rock or have been smote it twice rather than speaking to It and God said for that reason and we talked about how God makes a leadership accountable even more so He said, but I must die in this land if you recall last week Moses recounting the story of how he had pleaded with God that he would allow it that he would show a mercy That he would have allowed that he would you know retract that judgment and let him go over in the promised land now We're reading in this next chapter. It sounds like Moses is resolved You know God said at that time. He said speak to me no more of this matter And now it seems like Moses kind of got it settled. You said you know what that's now. I must die in this land You know he's not gonna change God's mind on it, and you know that's a good lesson And you know that's a good lesson. You know that when when God has determined something. You know it We shouldn't fight it. You should just say okay, Lord and make the best of the situation He says I must die in this land I must not go over Jordan But ye shall go ever and plus possess the good land take heed unto yourselves Lest you forget the covenant the Lord your God which he made with you and make you a graven image So he's making it up again. He's graven images. I mean that's what this whole chapter Just is about great. Don't make images don't make images. You didn't see a similitude. He just keeps bringing this up Which he made with you and make a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God had forbidden me for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire even a jealous God So he's saying you know what don't make these images because you know it hurts God's feelings You know makes God sad That's not what he said. He said because God is a consuming fire Even a jealous God And you say well, how is God a consuming fire? Well what it's showing us. Is that God is a God who destroys? God destroys things. I mean that's what fire does Fire absolutely goes in and just as I mean look at the wildfires you see all the time over in, California People don't go back and repair that house that burned to the ground they have to start all over because the old one is gone It's destroyed ashes And the Bible says God is a consuming fire And he's saying look don't don't make God angry don't make these images You're gonna upset him and God's a fire. You know we should take word It could take you to that as God's people That you know if we just start living flippantly if we just cast off the things of God And we just say all the Bible that's but it's just a bunch of rules. You know God's not gonna judge me Better check yourself because God is a consuming fire And God will burn you up Maybe not literally, but he'll light a flame under you one way or another in your life He'll put you in the hot seat to bring you back around God God doesn't play games. You know God wants you know God wants to bless his children God wants to bless his people, but God is not stupid either and God knows that man This has a proclivity to go into sin. You know in this instance. We're reading about making graven images and That's why he's just trying to hammer this in and say look don't make these images You're gonna make God God's a consuming fire. He'll destroy you because he's a jealous God Well, why does God get so mad because he's jealous? Because this is his people. He's the one that went delivered them out of the fire He's the one that went and brought them out of Egypt He's the one that's gonna bring them into this great wonderful land and bless them And that's how they're gonna reach that's how they're gonna show their their gratitude Making some stupid image and say it's God Wouldn't that make you angry? You know going back to that illustration as a dad You're the one providing for this family You're the one taking care of these kids putting food on the table house over the head clothes on their back And then they're gonna go call some other guy dad And say you're not oh, that's not really my dad And that would make me mad isn't it we'd figure that one out real quick We'd find out who dad is and who dad isn't in a heartbeat Because I'd be jealous. You know I want my kids to love me I want them to show me that affection. I would be jealous and Bible says God is a consuming fire Yeah, if you know we won't we're kind of getting ahead ourselves, but in Deuteronomy 9 it repeats this it says Understand therefore this day that the Lord thy God Is he which goeth over before thee as a consuming fire? He shall destroy them, and that's why it's liking God unto a consuming fire because he destroys And People you know they don't like that aspect of God, but that's who God is God is a creator God gives life But he also takes away He also builds up, but he also destroys. You know he's a complex person. He's not just this one-dimensional character And and we're warned in the New Testament you say well, that's the Old Testament God well, we're warned the same thing about God in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 12 a Chapter that's all about God chasing his children as a man doth his son And he closes in verse 28 and says wherefore we receiving a kingdom right just like the Israel to receiving a land a Physical end we also are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved Not a temporal dwelling on this earth, but an eternal home in heaven we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably You don't do the things that are right live a righteous and holy life for God with reverence and godly fear We should be afraid of God And why is it because in verse 29 of Hebrews 12 in the New Testament it says for our God is a consuming fire describes God in the same way in the New Testament says look we ought to serve God with fear for the same reason because he's a consuming fire he destroys And we can't get this idea that just because we're in the New Testament That we can just be flippant and play games with God and not obey God and just disregard his commandments And think that nothing bad is gonna happen You'll get burned God will burn you because he's jealous and you have to kind of stop and Define this word jealous because people have had this idea today that jealousy is a bad thing jealousy is not a bad thing If jealousy is a bad thing then why does God call himself jealous in fact if you would turn over to Exodus since you're so Close in chapter 34, we'll see where God That's his name God calls himself jealous. He says hey, I'm a jealous God then he goes you know what you can call me. Hey jealous I Praise thee. Oh jealous Look here verse 34 chapter 34 verse 14 for thou shalt worship No other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God Well that seems pretty appropriate if you're a jealous if you're jealous You know why do they call you jealous because I'm jealous And people today they think all you shouldn't be jealous what you mean is you shouldn't be envious You know there's a difference between envying. What is it yours and then being jealous for what is yours? Saying hey, this is mine, and you can't have it. I'm jealous for this why because it's mine. You can't have it We should and that you know what we should be jealous for what is rightfully ours We should be jealous and not let people take things that aren't there near and dear to us You know in one particular area we can reapply this it is in our marriage Because some people have this misconstrued notion that if a husband or wife is jealous for their spouse that somehow that's wrong Look, it's wrong to not be jealous You know like I should just let my wife hang out with other guys And just be okay with that. There's people. This is the philosophy that's out there Like she should have some other friends that are men and she should go bowling Actually we fell in love bowling so That's the only reason she likes bowling because I was there right or whatever if she joins a chess club You know I don't know Whatever whatever area. She just starts. You know having some some boyfriends some man friends around I'm just supposed to sit back and have a nice night, honey. I'll be here when you get back You think that's gonna happen no way man. I'm gonna be jealous, and there's nothing wrong with it There'd be something wrong doesn't that just seem completely out of place If I wasn't jealous and said oh go have a nice time You know where's that gonna lead? You know well God understood where it took his people into into spiritual adultery Worshipping other gods loving other gods having affections for false gods Now the same thing happened with your spouse you know yeah, go ahead honey go chat on the phone look up your old high school sweetheart on Facebook and And strike up a conversation you don't know where that's gonna lead rekindle some old claim or something like that Don't even go there be jealous for your spouse And there's nothing wrong with it You know make that your name if you need to hey, I'm jealous you start calling me jealous around the house You know You might maybe we need to do that a little bit with our with our kids You know keep them out of this dad snacks, and I'm jealous for those snacks. You know my pringles There's nothing wrong with that you know being jealous for what's rightfully yours You know we should be jealous for our God. We should be jealous not let other people try to you know put God down or tell us we can't worship God the way he we ought to and You know God's a jealous God, and he's and you know what here's the thing God's jealous for you If you're his child God is jealous for you tonight So why does God get angry and become a consuming fire? Why would God rain now caught up and rain on you if you start wandering off in the world because God's jealous for you Because if you're born again, he shed his blood for you. You are not your own the Bible says you're bought with a price therefore glorify God in your members And God you know he gets jealous over what's rightfully his and if you're saved By the Bible's clear me or not your own your gods And you think he's just gonna you're just gonna let you just take take your members and wander off and do whatever Wicked city wine God's just gonna not be jealous about it. You got another thing coming Because this is the same God all the way through the Bible all the way from Deuteronomy to the Hebrews Jealous Let's move on here. We got a little bit more to get through in verse 25 He says when thou shalt beget children and children's children You shall remain long in the land and shall corrupt yourselves he's talking about like it's gonna happen because it is and shall corrupt yourselves and Make a graven image or the likeness of anything that and shall do evil in the sight of Lord thy God to provoke him to anger I Call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land Where until you go over to the George possess it you shall not prolong your days upon it But shall utterly be destroyed and the Lord shall scatter you among the nations And you shall be left few a number among the heathen whether the Lord shall lead you and there you shall serve gods of work of men's hands wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell I Need to read that those people up there in me both donuts But if doubt if now I want you to paint all the ifs that are coming up here, okay? But if from fence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul when thou art in tribulation all these things are come upon thee and in the latter days if Thou turn to the Lord thy God and shall be obedient unto his voice for the Lord God is a merciful God God is very jealous, but that is also very merciful He will not forsake thee neither destroy thee nor forget the covenant of thy father's which he swear unto them You know what this tells me is that God's covenant with Israel was conditional upon their obedience to him That they didn't just have a license to do whatever they want I mean It's just clear as day in the scripture And we see this play out in the history of the children of Israel They go into idolatry and God takes them out of the land Destroys them and they're few a number and scatters them among the heathen and then they get right in Babylon right they get right They call upon the name of Lord. They want to obey God and God brings them back into the land But it was all conditional upon their obedience If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God if thou seek him with all thy heart if thou turn the Lord thy God Not just you know God's gonna destroy you and then just one day You know in your heathen backslidden wicked state God's just gonna miraculously bring you back in the land And you and there you will continue to blaspheme Christ and deny the Lord God of the Bible and God's gonna bless you the Bible doesn't teach that and And you know these Zionist Christians need to get this through their heads This is a conditional promise And God does it because of the Covenant with he made with thy fathers, which he sware unto them But it's conditional upon their obedience and again. That's a big topic whole sermons can be preached on that Let's go into verse 32 for ask now the days that are past which went before thee since the day that The day that God created man upon the earth and asked for the one side of heaven into the other Whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is where I've been hurt like it So he's saying look you need to stop and consider How unique this is what God is doing here with you. There's nothing this has never happened before Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire as thou has heard and live? He's saying that's never happened before what you saw at Horeb. That's never happened before Where the God is saved to go and take him a nation from out of the midst of another nation by Temptations by signs by wonders and by war and a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm About great terrors according all that Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes So that's never happened before it's unprecedented and it's never happened since where God just goes in and Plucks them out of that iron furnace like he did and just brings him out with miracles and temptations and great signs And then speaks to them out of the voice out of the fire Under thee it was showed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God He's he know why God did all that that you would know who God is There is none else beside him out of heaven. He made me to hear his voice that he might instruct thee And upon earth he showed thee this great for his great fire and thou heardest his words out of the midst of fire You know God. This is a very unique thing Now now this is now he's saying look This has never happened to go he says look for what happened to the end of earth to the other Under the whole of heaven has this ever happened before and the answer is no, and it's never happened since But you know as I was reading this I was thinking it's gonna happen again one day One day God is going to deliver his people again by a mighty stretched-out hand. You know what's gonna be it's gonna be us If we live under the coming of the Lord the God is going to do the same thing He's gonna deliver us You know in the rapture out of the midst of an iron furnace out of another nation that is seeking to destroy us in the Great Tribulation God is going to deliver his people and That you know, that's that's that that what else has that ever happened. I mean, that's a very unique and special thing and And the reason why he did that Was to make them hear his voice, you know and God wasn't just speaking because he likes to hear himself talk God it says he made it here in his voice that he might instruct thee You got piped up it had something to say and you had some directions. He had some Commandments. He had some do's and don'ts God wanted to instruct them and wanted them to know who it was that was speaking and What this does, you know, this this is an amazing thing that they did, but you know, and truly it was We know what it did. It made them more accountable It made them more accountable Because of the fact that they saw all these things Unprecedented things that have never happened before They witnessed all of them and that so that now they're even more accountable because there's no denying. This is the word God This has never happened before None of these other, you know, these these these these false gods which can't hear speak They can't do any of the things that God did they're dead. They're not even alive God did all these things for and they made them accountable now look there in verse 37 and because he loved thy fathers Who's referring to ice, you know Abraham Isaac and Jacob? It wasn't it wasn't because he loved you so much It's because he made a covenant with your father's any love Therefore he chose their seed after them and brought thee out and brought thee out in a sight with mighty power out of Egypt To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art To bring thee in to give thee their land as inherent for inheritance as it is this day. I Love verse 39. I've loved this verse One of the first verses I've memorized know therefore this day consider it thine heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else You know if you know the true and living God, you know, the only God there is You know if you know the Lord God in heaven above, you know, the only God there is there's nobody else There is no other option. He is the only God What a blessing that we know him he goes on to verse 40 and he says Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I keep thee this day that it may go well with thee So does God just have rules because he just likes making up make like making like difficult This guy's just an old fuddy-duddy doesn't want anybody have any fun No, it's before our own good Because you know what? There is pleasure and sin for a season But there's also the consequences that come with sin and you have to pay the piper, you know You have to pay the price like I was saying about you know Jonah when he went when he started to backslide from God he had to pay the toll thereof, right? There's a price to pay for sin. You don't just get away with it And the reason why God gave statutes and commandments and which can commanded them that it may go well with thee You know if we keep God's commandments and we keep God's statutes. It's gonna go well for us You know and I could testify to that, you know and I never want to get up and try to glorify the past and say that you know I'm something special because I lived a sinful life in the past because we've all had sin in our lives But here's the thing like I know what it's like to live without God I know what it's like to live a contrary to his commandments. I know what it's like to live contrary to God's statutes, and it's not fun It's not what it's not the picture the world paints for you and says oh just come in you know be a fornicator and be a drunk and and covet and just chase money and Life will be great. Life will be miserable And what you see on TV the movies fake. It's not real. It's a lie And the happiest I'll tell you what Even at the worst points in my Christian life are still better than some of my highest points in my own saved life As even in the lowest points in my unsafe of my saved life as a Christian. They've never been as low as when I wasn't saved Because we have high and low points. I'm not saying that you know just because you got saved all of a sudden You know life is just going to be you know The sky's the limit. It's just this rocket ship ride to heaven You know there's ups and downs in the Christian life, but I'll tell you what the lows in the Christian life They're not nowhere near as bad as the lows in the unsaved life or a worldly life And I've never had to you know Suffer the consequences of sin like I did when I was living in it purposely as an unsafe person So again, you know God doesn't just make up these rules to just be a buck and be a downer It'll go well with thee and who doesn't want that for their life who doesn't want their life to go well I Mean who doesn't want to get to the inner life me. I'll say life went well for me No one wants to get in their life and say life was was hard Life was difficult, and there was no pleasure in it, and it was miserable You know and I failed at it No one says that they want to get to the inner life to say you know what life went well for me Yeah, I had something down. I had difficulties, but by and large it went well for me Well, why because I got kept God's commandments because I kept his statutes God you look at God's commandments in the statutes. They're there to protect you They're there to keep and keep us right with one another And you know love the work of no ill to his neighbor You know that one of the greatest commandment of all you know is love the Lord thy God with all that whole heart soul mind and Strength the second is like unto it love thy neighbor as thyself And if we do that you know we're gonna have a good life And the purpose of God's commandments is to benefit us you should always remember that it's for our own good Just like the rules that parents lay down in the house It's not so they can just because they they want to be tyrants Then they may take out the trash oh You poor thing you know maybe it's because they're teaching you that hey you know life isn't all fun and games They got to work, and you got to pull your weight in this world They're doing it for to benefit you And plus you know we've taken out the trash It's your turn now But then you know it goes on in verse 41. He says then Moses Moses severed Three cities on this side Jordan for the Sun rising that the Slayer might flee thither So this is getting him the cities of refuge You don't really have a lot of time to get into this, but God's rule was you know that if a man accidentally killed somebody It wasn't intentional murder. It wasn't like first-degree murder where he plotted to kill somebody it was an accident was manslaughter Rather than that man dying He was to flee into one of these cities into the death of the high priest Lest the avenger of blood should slay him and it was really it was just like a cool off It was allowing that person have a bit of a cool off period And it wasn't he would that guy was not allowed to go in and avenge that blood that man was allowed to live in that city in these cities and he says That the Slayer might flee thither which would kill his neighbor unawares and hated him not in times past And that fleeing into one of these cities he might live namely Bezer in the wilderness in the plain country in the Rubenites and Ramoth and Gilead and the Gadites and Golan and Bashan of the Manassehites, and this is a law which Moses set before the children of Israel So this is referring to what we just read this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel After they came forth out of Egypt on this side Jordan in the valley over against Beth Peor in the land of Sion King the Amorites who they who dwelt at Heshbon whom Moses and the children Israel smote after they came forth out of Egypt So this isn't all the law, right? Because Deuteronomy is just getting started. There's a whole lot more to come on the law You know But this is the portion of the law that God taught that Moses taught the children Israel on this side Jordan before they passed over So stick with us, you know because again you say Deuteronomy. Oh, come on the statutes and the commandments and the law Yeah You know why we should learn them and take and and and listen to what God has to say the book of Deuteronomy That it might go well with thee That's why we should understand not just this portion of the law, but all of that which is to come Let's go ahead and pray