God Loves His People

If you're new to Jefferson Park Baptist Church, we typically preach through books of the Bible. We would typically go back from Old Testament book to New Testament book. And if you're here today, we just finished the Gospel of John. So now we're turning to a new study that I hope we will consider our study. I do pray and hope that you'll be studying Deuteronomy with me, not just coming to hear and to listen. We're going to be looking at Deuteronomy in its entirety this morning, as well as Genesis and Exodus. Yep, that sounds like a lot. The reason we're doing that is because, in order to really appreciate Deuteronomy, I want us to get the big picture, I want us to see it in its entirety, but I also want to set up the historical context, because we've walked through Genesis and we've walked through Exodus, the first two books of the Bible, the first two books of the Pentateuch, the five foundational books of the Bible that Moses wrote. But here we're going to go over to Deuteronomy because we saw God create, we saw God call, we saw God redeem and deliver Israel out of slavery and now we need to see Him take them into the new land. The deliverance is not yet complete because they're not yet in the land until we get to after Deuteronomy, really, but it's setting up that next generation, how will you worship? So, we're going to have a different kind of sermon. Normally, we go through a verse, or a passage, or a chapter, or chapters. We're doing three books. So, be patient, be gracious, and again, the reason we want to do this is that oftentimes we're kind of on the ground, We're hiking, we're seeing the terrain there, slowly but surely. Well, before we do that, I wanted to take a kind of a hot air balloon ride, and my notes say pause for hot air jokes. Alright, we're going to take a hot air balloon ride. We're going to see the whole landscape, so that as we go through the terrain, we can appreciate the parts as we know them in the whole. As we look to Deuteronomy, If I could summarize the passage in the most simple way, the book in the most simple way, it's this. Love God because He first loved you. Now, that would be the most simple, easy way of summarizing the book of Deuteronomy. Of course, there's much more than this. If I could give a thicker thesis, it's this. God leads His people into His land and gives them His law so that they will love Him. God leads His people into His land and gives them His law so that they will love Him. As we look to Deuteronomy, we're going to learn a lot about God. The key thing we're going to learn about God in Deuteronomy is His love. We're going to be thinking about His love. That is the main emphasis of Deuteronomy is love. We're going to see God's love. We're going to see God's law. We're going to consider God's land. We're going to see He's a God who makes promises and keeps them. He has steadfast love. When it comes to us, to man, well, we're going to learn about our love for idols. We're going to learn about our love for things that God gives us, rather than loving God. We're going to learn about our love for carved images, rather than being the images that reflect the glory of God. We're going to also see our call to love God by obeying His law. Genesis and Exodus are reviews for many of us, but I want to, again, give a snapshot. We're going to miss a lot of details. I'm probably going to skip most people's favorite parts of each book. So, everybody can be disappointed together. But, I want to capture kind of the big picture, so we can see God has one story that He is sovereignly bringing about. It's our redemption. So, let's first begin in Genesis. You can turn to page 1, because we're going to be in chapter 1. We're going to skip down to day 6. Genesis chapter 1 is a poem of praise that shows how God has designed and patterned His world. It's good! It's good! It's good! And then on day 6, the last day of creation, in the sense of creative activity, God rests on the seventh day. God says this, chapter 1 verse 26, then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps from the earth. So God created man in his own image, and the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. All of creation is good. Then in the last days, it's very good. All of creation was created to have harmony and purpose. As He designed it, it was perfect. If we flip over this very quickly to Genesis 2, verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and to keep it. There's a special place where God and man, in all the earth, there's a special place. He said, this is where I will be with man in this specific land. Now, if you think about this, God created man to be the centerpiece of creation. He's the one who's supposed to reflect Him as the image-bearer of God. He's the one who's supposed to exercise dominion. He's in the center of the garden, which is the center of the world. He has a command. The command is to fill the earth. fill the earth with human beings that reflect the glory of God. All the earth is supposed to be filled with His glory. There's one law. Don't touch a specific tree. Just to remind man, you're not autonomous. You have free reign in this garden. Each have dominion. Exercise your authority. Reflect my glory. But don't touch that tree. As we see, God created us. He has authority over us. We were created for His worship. Now, let me just recap, because I want you to see that the themes of Deuteronomy are right here in the first two chapters, and really in the first chapter of Genesis. First, He created man to be in all the earth, and then specifically, He is with man in the garden. Here's that key theme of land. Land matters throughout the Bible. God created a land to be with His people. As we'll see, land is extremely significant for Deuteronomy. Secondly, God made man in His image so that we would reflect His glory. The number one sin that Deuteronomy is targeting is our desire to create an image of God. He's created us in His image. Third, God has created us to have a unique relationship with Him. Here we see that very foundational theme, love. And God has a clear expectation for man and a command for man. There we have law. Even in the garden, we have land, image, love, and law. Four themes of Deuteronomy. Now we have to turn to Genesis 3 to get our next theme. Everything changes between chapter 2 and 3. We have turned to chapter 3 to see the theme of our rebellion, our stubborn desire for sin, our resistance against His authority, our resistance against His worship. When we believe the lie of Satan and we decided to take that fruit to take the fruit that God had said, everything else He could have but this. We said, we're going to do it our way. God does not have authority over us. We're going to be autonomous, or believe we're autonomous. If you look at this, and you look at the curse that follows in verse 14, we see why the world is in such a bad place. Everything's been undone. We no longer have a proper relationship with ourselves because we have to know God and how He created us and how we're meant to live in order to truly be at peace with ourselves. And so, we no longer have peace internally in our own minds and hearts because we've rejected the God who gives that peace. Most importantly, we broke that relationship with God. We resisted Him. Instead of being children who receive love, we're now under judgment because of our sins. If you look at verse 16, you see that the most intimate relationship that God designed us for on this earth, husband and wife, there's now turmoil rather than peace. Where man once praised God, this at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, he later says, that woman you gave to me. Our sin has brought about a great curse. on all this earth, all this land. But here's the good news. There's another theme from Deuteronomy that we can see right here in Genesis, the first three chapters. We've got love, law, land, image, rebellion, promise. Promise. Look at Genesis 3.15. Right in the midst of the curse, right in the midst of God saying, here is the curse because of your rebellion. Listen to what He says to the serpent that led us into that rebellion. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." This is the first proclamation of the gospel. This is God saying, already, right after we've sinned, in the midst of the curse, there's a promise. a son will be born that will put all things back in their proper place so that you once again know me, you once again are in my land, obeying my law, enjoying my love, reflecting my glory, no longer rebelling, but being children of promise. And this is why, if you look to chapter 2, verse 4, these are the generations. That's the pattern that Genesis is created by. It's because we're looking for that one son. As you read the Bible, every time a son is born, we're supposed to be anticipating, is this the one who will take away sin and death and sickness? Let's skip ahead to chapter 12. Skipping a lot of very important things, but we're skipping ahead. Beginning in verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. In him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." If you notice something in the service, the scripture passages, it was about the earth seeing God's plan and being blessed by God's people. One of the biggest problems on the earth is that God's people are rarely that blessing. If we skip down to verse 6, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem to the oak of Morah at the time the Canaanites were in the land and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring I will give this land. Now there's something interesting here he's told a man who was a pagan at the time If you believe in me, if you follow me, you'll be a great blessing. You'll be a great nation. You'll have many children. There'll be more than the stars of the heavens, more than the sand of the sea. There's a problem. This guy's old. He doesn't have a kid. His wife was affected by the curse in the worst way. Her womb was closed. That was another part of the curse. You'll have difficulty in childbearing. But God said, I'm going to reverse the curse by reversing it specifically for you and your wife. I will open her womb. You will have a child. And God brought this about. And when you have this child, eventually you will have this land. Let's get to chapter 15. Beginning in verse 7. Listen for our themes. I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? He said to them, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. And he did not cut the birds in half. When the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. So this is God using a covenant promise, pattern, a covenant that would have been known in the day as a way of saying, we're going to cut these animals in half and as we walk back and through together we're making a promise. If I do not keep this promise, let me be as these carcasses. Let me be dead. It's a promise of life and death. Beginning in verse 12, and let's not miss, I'm going to give you this land. Verse 12, As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, a dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there, and they'll be afflicted for four hundred years. But I'll bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace, you shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." This is helpful for Israel in the midst of the Exodus to remember. God said this was going to happen. He told the forefather of the original patriarch, Abraham, you're going to have this land but there's going to be a season when you go into another foreign land. We know this is Egypt. and I will deliver you with a mighty right hand. I will bring you out." And believe the iniquity of the Amorites who was possessing that land at the time? This is referring, He's giving them four generations to repent. He's giving the pagans four generations to stop worshipping idols but to bow down to the one God whose wisdom and power should be evident of the things that are created in this earth. Verse 17 When the sun had gone down, it was dark. Behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these places. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, to your offspring, I give this land." Notice two people aren't walking back and forth between the carcasses. God is making a promise. It's all dependent upon His faithfulness, His commitment. He's saying, I will give you this land. And Abraham, he's worried. How am I going to have a son? If you'll go to chapter 21, we know that Abraham had a son. God gave him a son, Isaac. Isaac means laughter. They named him such because Sarah laughed at God's promise. And so there's a great reminder. Trust God. Isaac had two twin sons. The second was a child of promise. His name was Jacob. God changed His name to Israel. Israel had 12 sons. They became the 12 tribes of Israel. Fast forwarding quite fast now. Let me just kind of summarize the rest of Genesis. You keep looking for this promised son, and every time a son is born, you're thinking he's worse than the guy before. Because they're born in sin. Right? I mean, let's think about the 12 tribes. Eleven of them sold their youngest brother... ten of them sold their youngest brother into slavery. Two of them slayed an entire town. Another one, seeking to lie with a prostitute, slept with his daughter-in-law, and then tried to have her put out because of her sin. They're scoundrels. You're left longing, wondering, how is God going to fulfill this promise? But there's a very important lesson at the end. God said, I've taken you to Egypt. There's going to be a famine. I've put you there to be safe. I've put you there to be an incubator so you would go from small to many. I see some great lessons here. The first is a lesson specifically stated, God uses evil for good. What man intended for evil, what the brothers intended to selling Joseph off into slavery, was intended for evil, but God used it for good. He used it for good for His people. He used it for good for the coming generations, for His glory. God is powerful. Secondly, also related to His power, He's the Lord of history. He has said, this will happen, and it will happen. Nothing keeps God from executing His plan for His people. They go to Egypt. They multiply so much, Pharaoh starts getting worried and says, we've got to do something. We've got to start having forced abortions. We've got to start having forced labor. We've got to deter these people because they're going to outnumber us and overtake us. and after they've been abused, after they've been beaten, after they've been enslaved, after being given the most choice land at one point, they cry out. Let's turn to Exodus chapter 6, page 48. The people have cried out. We'll begin in verse 7. God says, I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God." That's the heart of the covenant. That's what the garden was like. Adam was there as God's beloved person, people. God was committed to him, but here Israel received his promise. I will take you to be my people. I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. Notice he says, you will know that I am the Lord. because he's going to stretch out his mighty right arm and do miracles, powerful miracles, to overthrow the most powerful nation so that they receive freedom. I will be your God, you will be my people, I'm going to take you into my land. This is a king covenant. God's saying, I'm going to be committed to you. I'm going to deliver you. I'm going to take you into my land. Ten plagues take place next. God crushes Egypt. The final plague being when God sent forth a plague that killed the firstborn of every son. Now remember, Genesis 3.15, the promise to reverse the curse is all about a son being born who's going to crush Satan. We also have to remember Genesis 22. After Isaac's born, God tells Abraham, take up the mountain and sacrifice. God knows to obey. God knows that He can raise Isaac even from the dead, but there on that mountain after Isaac's bound, God provides a substitute so that he doesn't have to die for the guilt of his sin. In the same way, God, whenever He sent out the Spirit to put a plague on every firstborn of every house, God said, if you sacrifice the lamb and put the blood of the doorpost, I will go over that house and that firstborn son will live. That's telling us of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the blood that washes away our sin, that covers us, so that we're no longer under judgment. Look at Exodus 14. He delivers them mightily. He delivers them so that they know He's God, that they know that He's committed to them. Look at Exodus 14, verse 11. They said to Moses, remember that theme of ours, our rebellion? They said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. They're looking at God and saying, Pharaoh was a better king. That they're telling God, Pharaoh was a better king. Here he is. He's crushed Egypt. He's about to take them across the water, or dry land through the waters, and they're looking to him, and they're grumbling, and they're murmuring. Pharaoh was a better king. That's our theme of rebellion. That major battle God crushes finally with the Red Sea. Let's fast forward, Exodus 19. We'll begin in verse 3. While Moses went up to God, the Lord called him out of the mountains, saying, Thus he shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, You shall be my treasured possession. That will show up a few times in Deuteronomy. You'll be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They were just a slave people. And God said, You'll be My people. Now He says, You'll be My holy nation. You'll be a kingdom of priests. You'll be able to rule the world with Me. You'll know Me as priests. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. If you look over, if you know, the Ten Commandments follow this. Chapter 19 is defining the relationship. God's making it clear, I'm your God, you're my people. This is the benefit, this is the privileges you have. And then chapter 20, the commandments. Very important to always remember the first word of the commandments. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Deliverance, then obedience. Deliverance, then obedience. We have to do one more step in Exodus. Remember, we're doing three books today. Chapter 32. As God is telling Moses how to build the tabernacle where the people can go in and worship God directly, they've decided that they need to build a golden calf and give that golden calf credit for their deliverance from Egypt. A theme of rebellion. This is why, constantly throughout Deuteronomy, there's a warning. Be watchful for your desire to have a carved image. Be watchful for your love for idols. They give the idol credit for the deliverance. They worship. God's ready to smite them, and Moses intercedes as prefiguring Christ. And God reveals to Moses, I am free to show my mercy and grace to whom I choose. Let's recap. God is good. He created everything good. We messed everything up. We took everything and put it out of order. And then God promises there'll be a Son who brings everything back in a proper order. He's going to produce a new people. He called on Abraham to start a new kind of people. He loves His people. He's patient with them while they're murmuring, complaining, and giving credit to every other God. He gives them a law which is good for them. The law allows them to enjoy the life He desires for them to have in their new land, worshiping Him as God. The problem is His people are stubborn. Now Israel rebelled so many times during this that God said, you will not see the Promised Land, the next generation. And this brings us to Deuteronomy. As Larry already said, it's that next generation that got to go in to the land. And one of the saddest things is Moses who's been called to lead God's people, Moses who's been called to confront Pharaoh and lead the people of Israel out, he's not going to step foot on the promised land. It's a sad ending to Deuteronomy because we've kind of gotten to know Moses and we love him, but he dies in the mountain looking at the promised land. He doesn't get to go in because of his sin and the sin of the people. Alright, Deuteronomy. The theme again, God leads His people into His land and gives them His law so that they will love Him. There's a structure to Deuteronomy. One of the reasons we sing, Speak O Lord, is because Deuteronomy keeps telling us to hear, to listen. One of the things we'll see, we become like what we worship. If you're worshiping Christ, you're going to become more Christ-like. If you worship carved images, you're going to become more hard of hearing. The idols, they don't hear you. You'll become like them. You'll have a difficult time hearing. That's when we cry out, speak O Lord, change my heart. Simple structure, chapters 1-4. say what God has done. It's a historical prologue. What God has done. What you have done. You decided you weren't going to go into the land because you were too scared after God destroyed Egypt. What God has done. Chapters 5 through 28. What God expects. There are general commands. There are specific commands. But it's God's law that tells God's people how to enjoy His new life in the land He's giving them. That's the heart and soul of Deuteronomy. Chapter 29 and 30, you should look at these specifically. It's how Israel can repent. God knows they're going to fail. He already is giving them instruction. When you fail, if you repent, I will relent. If you repent, I am rich in mercy. When you've been taken out of the land because of your love for idols, this is what you do. Chapter 29 and 30. We then have a song of Moses, we have the benediction of Moses, and the death of Moses. There's other ways we can structure the book, but I'm going to get into the themes. Let's go to the themes. God loves His people. God loves His people. Let's turn to chapter 7. The entire history demonstrates God's love for His people, but here we see God specifically teaching He loves His people. Remember Exodus 34, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. Look at Deuteronomy 7. We'll begin in verse 6, on page 152. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. I have set you apart. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people. I have brought you to myself for His treasured possession, Exodus 19, Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, it was not because you were more in number than any of the other people that the Lord has set His love on you and chose you, for you are the fewest of all people." Let this sink in. But it is because the Lord loves you. It's the most important thing you can hear the rest of your life. God loves you because He loves you. God loves you because He loves you. These are memorized. It's hard to sink in. I did not love you because you were great, next chapter. I didn't love you because you were righteous, next chapter. I didn't love you because you're powerful. I loved you despite how wicked you are, how little you are, how unrighteous you are. I loved you because I decided to set my affection upon you. That's the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, friends. His love for us does not depend upon us. While we were still sinners, God sent His Son to die for us. This is worthy of our meditation, and praise God, we're going to meditate on it throughout Deuteronomy. He loves us. And it has nothing to do with us being attractive, it has nothing to do with us being lovable. It has everything to do with Him just being rich in love and making that volitional choice, I will set my affection on this people. This is good news because we are unlovely. We do not deserve His love. Now, this also is not an abstract idea. Love is one of the most abused words in our English language, because it captures every possible kind of affection, and we use this one word for too many things. It's not abstract. His love means He's leading them, He's correcting them, He's patient with them, He's making promises, He's keeping them, He's quick to forgive, He's slow to anger. You have to realize, it's easy to use empty words about love. Love is tested when it hurts and is difficult. When God's people are grumbling, He stays committed. When they're murmuring, He says, I'm going to keep you, I'm going to correct you. God's love is not abstract. We know He loves us because He sent His Son to die for us. How should we respond to such a message? First, God's love should overwhelm us. He loved us not because He saw potential in us. He loved us not because he thought, wow, look at this resource this person has. That could really help a church. He loved us, most of all, not because we have some kind of natural attraction. No, we're sinners deserving of wrath and God said, I'm going to love you. Now, this is good news for the downcast. Those who keep asking, what is wrong with me? God wants to change your question to this. How could such a God love me? The downcast, who beats themselves up because they realize, my life's out of order. I'm not lovely. People are attracted to me. The downcast, God says, I love you. Your identity stops being, what's wrong with me? Your identity begins to be, God loves me. God loves us and calls us into obedience so that we can enjoy that love so that we do not boast in anything and anyone but Christ. Second, this sets a pattern for love. We're supposed to love one another as God loved us. God doesn't love those who are lovely. God chooses to love the unlovely. That gets uncomfortable. Do you only show kindness towards those who deserve it? Do you withhold love from your spouse when he or she disappoints you? Do you let how others treat you determine how you're going to treat them? Let me illustrate how this pattern affects us. Spouses like to ask the question, why do you love me? And what they're really asking is, what is it about me that attracts you to me? Now, first, if your spouse is asking that, you need to give more compliments. That's just bonus. They don't feel loved, they need more compliments. But now, let's get to the point. We should ask God, why do you love me? We can't be searching for compliments. We can't be asking, what's so good about me, God, that you love me? Because the answer is, I loved you because I loved you. I loved you because I saw you and you were helpless, you were under the curse, you were dead, you were going to get the wrath of my holy justice. So I said, I'm going to take this one and I'm going to make him mine. More specifically, he says, I love you because my son came and he died on the cross. And the sins that you committed, he died to take the penalty for those sins. My Son came and He took away your sins and He gave you His inheritance. So now when I look at you, I don't see your filthy sins. I see the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I see the righteousness of my Son. I see His inheritance that He shared with you. So now I say, come, feast at my table. We ask, why do you love me? Because Jesus Christ died for you and rose again and gave you His Holy Spirit so that you have a new identity in me, in Him. As we think about how we love, we must love despite how lovely. We're called to love even when we are disappointed, even when we are hurt. Secondly, God gives His people a land. Let's go all the way back to chapter 1, verse 8. We are wrapping up. If anybody was actually worried about that. Chapter 8. chapter 1, verse 8, sorry, chapter 1, verse 8. See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to give to them and to their offspring after them. We see here, it's promise. It's there. He's commissioning them. He's telling them to go. If we flipped over to verse 26, we would see he actually told the previous generation, go, and they said, no, they're too big. God wants them to be in His land, because His land is where He wants them to worship Him. It's a blessing He wants to give them. If they're going to be a new nation, they need a new land, so He can be their King. It's a place where He's going to bless them, so that He can share this rich land with them. It's a place where He'll commune with them, like the Garden of Eden. It's a place to represent the relationship, because whenever they go after other gods, He's going to tell them, I'm going to take you out of the land. When they're obeying, He's going to prosper them in the land. How should we think about the land? Well, the reason we read the Great Commission is that there's no longer one specific piece of land that God is seeking to have holy communion with His holy people. It's all the earth. God is desiring for every part of this earth to reflect His glory as every tribe and tongue and people group hears the gospel and believes. This is the big plan and how it's changed. Christ says, go everywhere throughout the earth so that people are worshiping and obeying the commands that I've taught you. Let's go to the law. God gives His people a law. God loves them. God gives them a land. God gives them a law. Let's turn to chapter 10. This was in your bulletin. Your order of worship. We can go to chapter 5 where the Ten Commandments are, and then chapter 6 where He said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Chapter 10 really captures it. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. By the way, Deuteronomy is the first time God calls His people to love Him. It's the first invitation into that relationship, not in Genesis, not in Exodus. He says, I love you, but it's the first time we're invited back into that relationship to love Him. Notice the law. It's for our good, at the end of verse 12, or verse 13, it's for our Good? He loved us because He loved us. That means we don't obey His commandments so He'll love us. That's out of bounds. He gives us His commandments so that we can enjoy His love, not earn it. He does not give us His law so it's a burden. No, friend, to know the will of God is the supreme privilege. The law of God is not a burden. To know the will of God is a unique and supreme privilege. To know what God says and what He expects and how we're supposed to live and how to enjoy Him and to love Him, it's a privilege. It is not a burden. God does not give us His commands so we merely obey them externally, but no, so that a reverence and a love for God begins to be stirred up within us and grows into maturity into the headship of Jesus Christ. God's law is good for God's people. The one message of the Bible, God said, I'm going to love you. Here's my law so you can enjoy my love. Here's my love. Here's my law. They have to be in the proper place. They cannot be removed from one another. I love you in grace. If you want to enjoy my love, you will obey my law. Next, God's people lust after idols. Sorry, I had to put an L in there. We had to fit the L into the theme. God's people lust after idols, but it fits. We know that Israel is described as whoring after gods, after other gods and after other idols. In chapter 4, verse 15, he says, Be watchful. Do not act corruptly. Be watchful because you have this love and a desire to serve other gods. I'm going to begin in verse 23 of chapter 4. Take care lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He has made with you and make a carved image and form anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you for the Lord your God is a consuming fire. He's a jealous God. He's a jealous God. I don't know how this works, theologically, because I believe God is perfect. He doesn't need creation. He doesn't need us. But, when God says, I love you, by definition, absolutely, He desires our love, but He needs our love. God says, I love you, and the only proper response for us is to love Him in response, but because our hearts are so plagued with sin, because there's such a treason within us, we continue to go after other gods. We continue to love the gift rather than the giver. God says, I am a jealous God. I long for your love. I long for your worship. Why do you keep sending it every other direction? I am the one who will delight in your love. I am the one you can delight in. He chose to desire our love and our worship. He's jealous. He's jealous. More than a wife who longs for her husband to stop looking at pornography and to delight in her. More than a parent who looks at his child and says, quit living the foolish lifestyle. I'm jealous for your wisdom to follow Jesus Christ. More than a husband who's longing for his wife to build him up rather than to be disrespectful. God is jealous for us because He has the greatest love towards His people. He desires for us to know what His love is like when we respond with love. For this is our God. He sent His Son to redeem us. He sent His Son so that we know He loves us. He sent His Son so that we're free, so that we can now respond and say, I love you because He first loved me. Thank You, God, for giving me Your Word so that I know how to love You, so that I know how to respond to Your love. He loves us. We must respond to His love by obeying Him, by loving Him. Let's pray. Father, we praise You that You are a good and holy and righteous God, that You've been merciful to a people who grumble You've been merciful to a people who refuse to give you thanks for the good gifts you give us. You've been merciful to a people who do not long to love you, but take your love for granted. We thank you, Almighty God. May you stir in our hearts, turn us together as a church, united as one body, to worship Christ, our Head. Help us, Lord, to know how to love one another, Most of all, help us, Lord, to know how to stir up one another into good works and into a greater love for You. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, Amen.