God Loves Us

We are in Deuteronomy 8. If you are using, if you don't have a Bible with you, you can turn in the Pew Bible, page 153. If you're new here, we just walk through books of the Bible. We want to make sure that the words of God are what lead us and what we think about and meditate upon and obey as a church. And so we're walking through Deuteronomy. A little bit of context just to make sure we're all on the same page and remembering where we are. God has delivered a people from Egypt out of slavery. That first generation was disobedient. So for 40 years he had them wandering in the wilderness, but we'll mention that in the text. So that generation would pass away because they're rebellious. they refused to obey god to trust god and so they died outside of the promise land here we are the second generation in and in deuteronomy is all about the seconds this second generation is getting the the second reception of the law of those is giving the second law same ten commandments the the the second giving of the of the ten commandments so that when they go where they will not be like Their fathers. We'll see this as well. And we have to remember, Deuteronomy is a series of sermons. Chapters 1 through 4 was the first sermon. That was a preparatory sermon, much like Mike gave you already this morning. We're in the middle of the primary sermon, the heart of the text. And the primary sermon was Deuteronomy 5. Deuteronomy 5 is where he gives the Ten Commandments. I'm told you can't hear me if I move, so I'll stay here. Deuteronomy 5 is the Ten Commandments. This is the heart of the covenant. This is the heart of what God is telling His people as they're going into the new land. And I just want to walk through where we've been from chapter 5. The first point of His sermon Moses' sermon to the second generation, his first point is to tell them, obey God because He alone is God. He's explaining and applying the Ten Commandments, primarily, you shall have no other gods before me. So he's telling them, there is no other God, love Him. That's his first point of the sermon. That's chapter six. Chapter seven is his second point. Chapter seven is the second point. He says, when you go, when you're in the middle of the fight, fight trusting that God will win the battle. He knows that a battle is before them. He knows that the enemies who are living in this land, they're going to have to be conquered. Trust God. He loves you. He will win the battle. So he's preparing them. He's getting them ready. The third point of the sermon, which is where we are today, is this. When you enter that land, your blessing from God is going to be abundant. Do not forget to obey Him. Have no other gods before Him. He's setting them up. He's giving such precise, specific instructions. That's what God's Word does for us, because without it, we wouldn't know what to do. The Ten Commandments, have no other gods before me. He alone is God, love Him. When you go to battle, He'll fight for you. Trust Him in the battle. When you enter into the land, be careful, be careful. We're so forgetful, do not forget that it is God who gave you that land. I want you to look at the text with me quickly. Verse 1, the whole commandment that I command you today, you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply, go in and possess the land. It's all about entering the land properly. Look at verse 10, and you shall eat and be full. You shall bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. He's going to bless you. How will you respond? Verse 11, take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today. When you've eaten, when you've been full, when you find gold, when you find silver, when you get all these blessings, are you going to forget? Then you see verse 18, be careful lest you forget that God gave you the power to have this wealth. The overarching point of our passage, our message is this. Your parents failed when God gave them little. They rebelled. Will you fail when I give you much? Your parents failed, he's telling this generation. When I gave them little, Will you fail when I give you much? There are three key, there's one word used three times in our text, and we're going to just order our sermon structure around that word. It's confusing at one point. So verse one, you see there, you shall be careful to do them. Verse six, you shall keep the commandments, same word, I don't know why it's translated differently. You shall be careful to do them, you shall be careful to keep. And then verse 11, you shall be careful. Take care, it translates, lest you forget. So here's our outline, be careful to obey. God disciplines us to be more faithful worshipers. Be careful to obey. God disciplines us to be more faithful worshipers. Secondly, be careful to obey. God is worthy of worship when blessed. And third, be careful to obey lest you forget to worship God. The overall point is be careful to obey. I want you to see also, this is a matter of life and death. Verse one, that you may live and multiply. Look at verse 19. If you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall perish. This is life and death. Love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength. When you think about what you desire with all your resources, regardless of what you're blessed with, will you love God? Let's look at verses two through five. Verse one is really an overarching kind of introduction into this next point, this third point of Moses' sermon. When you go in, be careful to obey so that you live and you'll multiply, go in, possess the land. Look at verses two through five, and you shall remember the whole way. that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He may make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you." Will you pray with me before we continue? Lord, we're thankful that we can see Your clear instruction. for us, what you expect for us, you redeem people. After you call us out of the darkness, you call us into your light. As we hear these specific instructions for your people, help us to understand them. Most of all, give us a desire to obey them. Help us to be careful to obey. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There's four main actions that we see in verses two to five that God does. And notice the one action that we need to see, remember. Remember the way, remember what happened. He's going to use the previous generation as a teaching tool, as an object lesson. Remember what God did. God did four things. He led them, He humbled them, He tested them, He fed them. He led them, He humbled them, He tested them, He fed them. You can see all those declarations of what God did in the text. The first thing we see is He led them for 40 years in the wilderness. He had led them out of slavery, he had now led them into the transition point to get into the promised land, but they failed, so he led them around the wilderness. God is still functioning as their king. One of the things we need to see here is that following God was not mysterious. He led them with great clarity, with great purpose. God leads his people. He has the power to lead them. Now, I want you to think about something. Do you think God is a bad communicator? Do you think God lacks the ability to communicate? I hope not. God is very clear in what He says and what He intends to do with His speech. So what went wrong? Because these people never listened to God. What I want to get you to see is God spoke very plainly and clearly. So the problem isn't God. The reason people weren't following, it wasn't God's problem. He wasn't unclear. He wasn't unable to make His purposes clear. The problem is man. They were bad listeners. There's a lot in Scripture about two things. What we say and how we listen. Words are so powerful. Words are extremely important. They're how God communicates to us or how we communicate with one another. There's two parts to a great conversation. Speaking and listening. God is constantly correcting us for the things we say and He's also constantly correcting us for how we listen. There's a good chance that everyone in this room is sitting next to someone who's not a good listener. Think about that for a moment. In case you weren't listening, wake up. There's a good chance that everyone in this room is sitting next to someone who's not a good listener. I see spouses and children elbowing. Someone gets the point, very good. The key here is he speaks. His word is sufficient. We simply don't listen. The second thing we see is that He led them. He led them with power. He led them with mind. He led them by speaking. He gave them words of instruction. They failed. It also says, verse 3, He humbled. He humbled them. Now, it's interesting to think about the Israelites. Did they really need humbling? They shouldn't have, they were slaves, delivered out of slavery. But they were so prideful, they then complained to the king who saved them. They complained to God for the things that he'd done for them. They complained, you know, back in Egypt we had fish. Yeah, back in Egypt you were beaten and murdered. You were a slave and you're telling God how great it was back there. They needed humbling to say they needed his protection, his provision. A great part of this, the passage verses 11 through 7, 18 is the fact that their hearts were puffed up. They're so prone to pride. This probably has something to do with our inability to listen. Verse 3 again. Let me go back to verse 2. He led you these 40 years in the wilderness, and He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make known that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. We see here, he tested them. And also notice, did you hear the repeated no? He tested you to know what was in your heart. You did not know the bread. Your fathers did not know the bread, but he wanted to make something known to you. This is a key concept. God tests us in order to make known. Now, God knows everything. When he's making it known, he's demonstrating, he's highlighting, he's illuminating it so that it's made known for everybody to see. He doesn't need new information. He has all the information. According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, these things were written down so that we would know. He made an example out of Israel so that we would know. It was their rebellious hearts. It was their inability to listen. It was their pride. so that we would be warned not to be like them. The test involved hunger. It says, I fed you, but notice it was kind of an unusual bread. I fed you with something your fathers did not know. I fed you with something you didn't know. In order so that you would know this, you do not live on bread alone. I tested you so that your sin would be known so that you would see what you really need to know. You need God. This is just a pattern throughout scripture. We first have to see our sin in order to see salvation. We have to first see our need. We have to cry out, Lord, I need you. Before we can cry out, Jesus, Messiah. Only then will we value his word. He tests them. Now, the test is this. It demonstrates what's true. It's refining. Like a metallurgist, he uses intense heat to extract the impurities. God uses painful situations to refine us. As a metallurgist, the purpose of refining is to have something more pure, more valuable afterwards. So with God, who He calls His treasured possession, He's actually making them more pure, to be more treasurable. The amazing thing about God is He's not taking diamonds out of the rough, though. He's not making us better people because we're already kind of good. He's taking that which was sinful and wicked and rebellious and reshaping us and reforming us to be worshipers. To know. God knows us better than ourselves. He doesn't need to discover how fickle our faith is. He knows what He wants is for us to see it. He wants to expose how shallow our commitment is. Warning to the faithful is to not be like the unfaithful. He's using this so that the second generation will know what was wrong with the first generation. Don't be like them. It's a warning. Notice the fourth thing he does. He fed them. There's a lot about food today. Thankfully, there's lunch right afterwards. So if your stomach starts grumbling, just be patient. He fed them. He let them hunger. He let them hunger so that he could feed them so that they could know. They needed to see how much they didn't trust him. They needed to see the call to covenant faithfulness. It's really amazing how much this physical blessing, holding it back, it should have accomplished. Now, when God held back the physical blessings, when He only gave them bread, the people grumbled. The people complained. The people told God how much better it was back in Israel. God didn't hold it back. punish them. God held it back so they could discover what was even better. Not just the bread, but the very word of God. This is also a theme throughout scripture. We can go back to Jacob and Esau. Esau gave up his birthright for porridge. He was controlled by his immediate appetite to the point where he gave up God's given birthright. Or Numbers 11. This is what I keep referring to. When all they had was bread, they said, we want chicken. God gave them chicken. Everybody who was craving what God did not intend, they got sick and they died because they refused to see the lesson You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God. It's amazing that this passage, Jesus quotes it in the wilderness. When Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, the very first thing Satan says, turn these stones into bread. You can do that, you're God. Jesus quotes this very passage. He's demonstrating that just as the first Adam failed in temptation, Jesus is saying, I am the new Adam. I'm bringing about a new humanity. The word of God is sufficient. The word of God is enough. It's very powerful to think about that. We are to live. We are to be sustained by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. His words are the correction we need for our waywardness. His words are the guide we need in how to live and love God. His words are the balm we need when we need comforting and healing. His words are the hope we need because we're sinners in need of grace. For us to live, we must hear and listen to and obey Christ's commands. They're very difficult. Deny yourself. Forgive one another. Trust God. Love one another. Obeying God can feel unnatural because it's going against our very strong sinful inclinations. We're called to listen to Christ. He speaks through His authoritative Word. This is what Christ is telling us we're supposed to live on. This is supposed to sustain us. We as a church must be built upon this Word. Christ speaks through us when we're echoing His Word. This is why we need to be sure that we are a people committed to His Word to be His church. The church is built upon the foundation. That's what Paul says in Ephesians. The Word of God is also the mortar that holds it together. He gives us words to live by. Again, Live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Paul says every word equips you. Every word is good for you. Not just the ones we like. Not just the ones that have spoken to us at a specific time in a specific way. Every single one of them especially the uncomfortable ones. There's some really powerful words. Here's just some verbs we have to wrestle with. Deny yourself. Forgive your enemy. Respect. Honor. Submit. Repent. Judge. Correct. Remove. Those are all words that, within context, the church is commanded to do. None of those really make you feel warm inside. Those are all uncomfortable, but they're words commanded to us by Christ. One of the most difficult things we have to realize is that the church is not a social club. It's not a place where if you pay your dues, we all feel good about ourselves. It's not the place for shiny, happy people. It's a temple. It's a temple where where the living pieces that God has renewed are supposed to be built on one another in a way that that builds up to the Christ, the head, so that we're we're more glorifying together. If we follow his word. So the Holy Spirit dwells within. So when people come, they see how all these members are built upon the word together. What's so different? It's the fact that Christ and his word dwells. There's one clear truth in the first half I want to press in today, it's this. God's love is expressed through discipline. God's love is expressed through discipline. Look at verse five. Know then in your heart. And everywhere else he mentions heart in this passage, it's a puffed up heart. Know then in your heart that it is so easily puffed up, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you." God's love is expressed through discipline. Correction. God loves His people by correcting them. In the same way, a parent loves their child and therefore corrects them. Children, when your parents are correcting you, that isn't easy for them. It's difficult, but they do it because they love you. If they did not do it, they would not be expressing love. Even more, God corrects His children in love. There's nothing more confusing and painful for a parent that while disciplining a child, they lash out and tell the parent, you're mean. You don't love me. Why do you hate me? I hate you. There's nothing more confusing and painful for a parent to do that difficult task of loving a child while that child is barking back with anger. Friends, this is what we do to God. This is what we do to God when he's disciplining us. We're lashing out, God, why? All I can say is, I love you. I've demonstrated my love for you on the cross. I haven't held back my own son. All things are going to work together for good for those who love him. I love you. All this is for you and your well-being. Why do we lash out at God if we know that everything will work out for our good? He disciplines us. Are we submissive to that discipline? Something else we need to see here. It isn't just for God who disciplines his children. It's not just for parents who discipline their children. Church, if we love one another, we correct one another. Church membership love necessarily requires correction because every church member is a sinner. To love is to correct. To correct is to love. If we're not correcting one another, then we're quenching the Spirit. We're letting sin go. Untouched. We're protecting one another's sin. That is ungodly. To love is to discipline. Long for the refinement of Christ. Another place we could go with this passage, as it mentions the bread of life, we go to John 6. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Again, it's not by bread alone, but if you want the true satisfaction that God intends, it's not going to be found in having a full belly. It's not going to be found in having a full mind. It's found only in having a full heart that is fully embracing the love that God gives you. Look at verse four. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these 40 years. Now this is an interesting passage in the verse in the context because he's just talked about how I've led you, I've fed you, I was testing you so that you may know that you live on every word from the mouth of God. And then he explains your clothing did not wear out. Now remember, all their parents died in the wilderness. And here, God sustained their shoes. He sustained their feet. He sustained their clothing. For 40 years, they wore the same thing in the desert. I'm not a man of fashion. Understatement of the day. But I'm pretty sure that this is miraculous. That their clothes and their feet, nothing wore out. I wonder if God's saying here, what killed your parents? It wasn't the desert. It was their sin. What killed your parents wasn't the long journey where things should have been destroyed. It was actually the judgment of God. Know then in your heart, see there how God disciplined your parents. They died because they refused to listen to me. As a man disciplines his son, the Lord disciplines you. Discipline again. It's it's refining He's taken them. He said you're my treasure possession now. Let's Let's make you worshipers All this is about worship having no other gods before me It means there's correction. There's consequences Good correction helps us know what we did wrong We've got to first know where we went wrong Then we got to explain what why do we do that wrong? What should we have done and what are the consequences? This passage is, I believe, referenced back to in Hebrews 12 beginning in verse 3. Hear that sermon to the Hebrews and listen for the word discipline. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, speaking of Christ, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood, and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have heard earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we have had earthly fathers who had disciplined us and respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them. But He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. but later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. As I was looking at the passage, I came across an article that will be sent out in the evangel, but the article comes up with seven propositions, seven truths from that Hebrews passage. First, God disciplines His children. Second, God disciplines all. every one of his children. Third, God disciplines only his children. Fourth, discipline is training. God disciplines his children for their good. Fifth, discipline seems unpleasant and painful. Six, God's children should endure God's discipline. And seventh, God's disciplining his children compares to human parents disciplining their children. This is important, because if you're a child of God, you're in the all. Discipline is always painful. As we think about how we're going to go through trials, as we think about the second Corinthians and the prayer we were prayed through from Ron, as we think about the hymn, when through fiery trials a pathway shall lie, how are we gonna think about it? Are we gonna endure? Are we gonna try to escape? Are we gonna complain? Are we gonna see that all things truly do work out for the good of those who love them? What are the key questions? Well, how do we know it's discipline? When it's painful. We know it's discipline when it's painful. The discipline the Hebrews are having to suffer, there are people outside who are persecuting them. That's the context. There are Jews who are persecuting the Jewish converts. And that's the discipline he's referring to. There's other disciplines from other letters where it comes from within inside the church. It's difficult. It's painful. It's discipline. It's an opportunity to say, God, I'm not going to grumble. I'm not going to complain. I'm going to hold firm to your truth because I know you love me. I know you're working all things for the good. If we'll carry it on through Hebrews, listen to verse 12. Therefore, this is a continuation, God disciplines those he loves. Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. I think he's actually referring to the members of the body, not the physical, person, but the metaphor of the members of the body. Because listen to what he continues to say. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. It's all about how the church is working together. That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For only, for you know, that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no chance to repent, though he salted with tears." The worship is about the body working together under Christ's discipline so that we're becoming more pure. Our sin doesn't just affect us, it affects everyone. It's a beautiful truth. every painful, difficult situation is an opportunity for worship. That's a freeing truth. If we really capture that, if we really embrace that, every bit of pain is an opportunity to glorify God. It's an opportunity for worship. Let's look at our next point. Most of the time was spent here, but I do want to show where he's going here. So he said, don't be like your parents. They failed. I'm disciplining you because I love you. Look at the next. Be careful. Verse six. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord. They lost the covenant. They were rebellious. They died in the wilderness. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and by fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and water, of water, of fountains and springs flowing out in the valley and the hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vine and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. Sounds like a good land. It's a promised land. where God just makes life abundantly blessed. And you shall eat and be full. They were hungry and I fed the manna. You shall eat and be full. And you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. He's preparing them. You're going to have abundant blessing. Will you still praise the Lord? You're going to have abundant blessing. Will you still bless the Lord? It's a warning. It's going to be so good. It's going to be so good for you. Will you continue to bless the Lord? Now this is actually helpful for us in our context because I'm not sure there's been a nation as prosperous with physical blessing as the one we live in. Everyone is rich. No one's hungry. We know where to find bread. There's no scarcity. Okay, when it snows, there may be some scarcity. But there's no scarcity. It's abundant. Do we let the distraction of how abundant life is Do we say, this is our opportunity to bless the Lord? We are so blessed, we bless the Lord. He continues, really, verse 11. Be careful to obey, listen, take care lest you forget. So the first commandment was remember, remember this, you shall keep the commandments. Now he's giving you a different, he's angling a different way, saying the same exact thing. Take care lest you forget the Lord your God. By not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today. Listen to the less. Be careful to forget less. When you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied, and that all you have is multiplied, then your heart will be lifted up, puffed up, and you forget the Lord your God. who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with his fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the land. Beware, lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth." The first half, be careful to obey because in little your parents didn't obey. The second half, be careful to obey because it will be easy for you to forget where you came from, what I did for you. And notice there, beware. It's a warning. Lest you say in your heart, that's what it means to have your heart lifted up. My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. That is not blessing the Lord your God who has blessed you. It's taking credit for something you had nothing to do with. God gave them everything. Notice the contrast in verses 14 through 16 and 17. 14 and 16 tell them, if you forget, when you forget that you were slaves and you're redeemed people, if you forget how I carried you through the wilderness, how I fed you, how I watered, how I gave you water, how I protected you, if you forget what I've done for you, then you become haughty. It's forgetting that we're sinners saved by grace that pride begins to creep in and ruin our hearts. That is the beginning point of sinfulness. Forgetting what God has done. Forgetting that we're completely dependent upon His grace for anything we have that's worth speaking of. Paul talks about boasting in the passage we read earlier. He boasts of Christ because he knows he has nothing without Christ. So I ask you, what do we boast of? And what is our boasting? In whom do we boast? Do people know more about our accomplishments or do people know more about what Christ has done in us and through us and to us? The diagnosis that Moses gives is pride because we're so easily swayed to think, look what I've done. And the prescription is to look up and say, how blessed I am for what God has done for me. Verses 18 through 20, you shall remember the Lord your God for is he who gives you power to get wealth. that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you. So you shall perish because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. God is giving us instruction for worship. If you have little, will you trust God and love Him with all your heart? Love Him with all your thoughts, all your desires, all your resources. No matter what little you have, will you love Him? Whenever we're so blessed, when we're abundant, will we look and say, look what I have? Or will we say, look what God has given me? May I use it to bless the name of the Lord. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You that You allow us to see Your love. We thank You that You do not allow us to remain in our rebellion. You've corrected us. You've called us. You've converted us. Lord, protect us from the sinful hearts that we have that want to boast in ourselves. Help us to boast only in You. Help us to boast in what You've done for us in Jesus Christ. We thank You, God, for Your Word. We thank You for the power of Christ to save sinners, to build a church, to sustain a church, and to glorify Yourself through a church. May You do that here at Jefferson Park. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.