Deuteronomy

let me open us up in a word of prayer before we begin

our father in heaven lord we pray that you would sanctify us by your word

your word is truth father we pray that you open our eyes to see wondrous things in your word

lord let the meditations of our hearts and the words of my mouth be acceptable in your sights

oh lord our rock and iron routine i pray this in your precious son's name amen

so good morning um please open up your bibles to deuteronomy so today as we conclude our overview

of the pentateuch we'll encounter one of the greatest transitions in the bible as the people

of israel prepare to enter into the promised land and by its own admission in the first verse

chapter one moses is the author of this book so why is the book called deuteronomy

the name comes from the greek for second law oh yeah there's a handout right there

my mr stringenters so why is the book called deuteronomy the name comes from the greek for

second law since the book is a second giving of the law that we've already seen in the pentateuch

deutero equals seconds and onomy equals law and the name actually comes from a reference in chapter 17

stating since they didn't have photocopiers back then that when a king sat on his throne

he would have to word for word write out the book of deuteronomy and that would a serve as his own

copy of the scriptures for the rest of his life but also be it would teach him how to revere

yahweh and for him to follow the law as israel's king but this book is a lot more about just the mere

giving the law it's a summary of god's covenant with israel so it's actually a prerequisite to

understanding what is unfolding for the rest of the bible the authors in the old testament continue to

come back to this one book more than any other in the pentateuch they continue to come back to

deuteronomy it's the key to understanding joshua and judges first and second samuel first and second

kings and in the new testament deuteronomy is alluded to close to 100 times and in fact jesus

quotes deuteronomy more than any other book in the old testament you know for example you remember

jesus quotes deuteronomy to satan in the wilderness he says you shall not tempt the lord your god

and man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of mouth of god

so you get the picture this book is central to the rest of scripture and you can think about it

deuteronomy is like the romans of the old testament so let's talk about the context of deuteronomy in

the pentateuch so the basic story up to deuteronomy has been this god created everything and then all

of creation became cursed and after the curse came the covenant that god made with abraham

and from abraham to moses is about 430 years where god saved his people out of egypt and in exodus we

saw the obligations abraham's descendants were bound to in a new covenant namely the 10 commandments and

the laws in exodus 20 to 24 this covenant called the mosaic covenant was a gracious step forward in

god's redemptive plan it made the people into a nation it revealed god's holy character through his law

and it established a sacrificial system that prepared the way for christ's atonement on the cross

but it also placed a formal obligation on the nation of israel to be holy as god is holy with the curse

of death if they fell short so it's this mosaic covenant that's being expounded and ratified here in

deuteronomy and after god saves the people from the land of slavery in number four numbers 14 reminiscent

of the garden of the garden in the fall we see the people get cold feet before entering into the

promised land and they rebel against god accusing him of conspiring to murder them in wilderness

god judges them and tells them only their children will enter the promised land so 40 years later the old

generation dies and deuteronomy begins with these children now adults standing next to the river jordan

about to enter into the promised land in addition god tells moses that he himself will not enter the

promised land and he will die in the wilderness so here we are at the end of that 40 year period

on the plains of moab moses knows that he will die shortly and he will he himself will not go with

them into the promised land so moses in deuteronomy is like an old veteran recounting a great war that

happened 40 years ago or he's like an old pastor delivering one final exhortation to his congregation

or depending on how you view the structure two or three sermons so a sermon series to the people

that have known him to be their shepherd their entire life and he will not be with them so looking at this

book from the perspective of moses impending death deuteronomy actually is an early catechism

where moses will teach his people how to remain faithful to yahweh in a pluralistic land so since

it's a catechism that's why you expect to see that famous passage of deuteronomy 6 direct to parents

where it says these words i am commanding you today are upon your hearts you shall teach them

diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the

way and when you lie down and when you rise tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on

your foreheads write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates so moses is catechizing

these parents and in turn they're to catechize their children so with that important context in place

let's take a look at how the covenant shapes the actual structure of this book so you remember a

covenant is a binding agreement between two parties with terms and conditions covenants are common

today probably the most well-known covenant is the covenant of marriage when you make vows you're

entering into a covenant to love honor and cherish your husband or wife until death do us part

you've entered into a covenant deuteronomy is a different kind of covenant this is a covenant of

life and death administered by a king to his subjects the king doesn't negotiate over the

terms of the agreement and scholars tell us that in the ancient near east it was common for kings to

use covenants to guarantee their alliances so normally these terms we laid down in a document following the

five-part formula first the historical context of the covenant second identifying the parties to the

covenant third the stipulations or the terms of the agreement fourth the blessing if the covenant is

followed or the curses if the covenant is broken and lastly provisions for continuing the covenant if

it's broken so in fact if you turn to the handout which is on the chair there you'll see that deuteronomy

follows the format of a covenant document commonly found in the ancient near east so for the

rest of our class today we'll walk through this covenant document section by section

so for the first part we begin with the historical prologue in chapters one to four

where moses recounts god's past faithfulness to the people and the theme for this section

is yahweh is the only true god is utterly sovereign and has shown himself to be just and merciful

so the history recounts in chapter one is the same as we saw in the book of numbers

last week in chapter one verse 26 it says yet you would not go up but rebelled against the command of

the lord your god verse 32 the people lack trust in god's power and as a result god refused to let the

first generation enter the land god was just but god also showed them mercy in chapter two verse seven

it tells us that god graciously provided by being with the people for 40 years in the desert and they

lacked nothing god showed them mercy and god's absolute sovereignty is why moses is recounting the past

military victories against king sion and king ab told you originally back in numbers 21 now remember

the israelites who were shepherds in the land of egypt were again up against a well-trained and well-equipped

army it'd be like if all of us here in this room had some pitchforks and shovels and we're up against the

well-trained army of king leonidas's first spartan warriors from the ancient greek city state of

sparta humanly speaking there's no way we're ever going to win that fight uh however moses is telling

the people here that it was as easy for god to hand deliver these nations over to you as it is

for me just to hand my keys to you like this moses chapter 4 verse 22 says you shall not fear them

why for it is the lord your god who fights for you it is the lord your god who fights for you

the battle is the lord he will fight for you so don't be afraid god rules over these nations

later on god says see now that i even i am he and there is no god besides me i kill and i make alive

i wound and i heal and there is none that can deliver out of my hands god is absolutely sovereign

and the god this book is about is the only god there is so while we're in this section i want to

address an objection that many have about this book an atheist like richard dawkins will point to this

section and say it is actually immoral to believe in the god of the bible since here god is commanding

genocide so you look in chapter 3 god commands israel to wipe out the people in the land of canaan

men women and children and you know sometimes even mistaken christians will try to put the god of the

new testament against the god of the old testament saying that christ would never condone such violence

so how do we make sense of what's going on here so first there's a common refrain that's been said

over and over again we must remember what stage of redemptive history we are in israel was a special

political nation that god used to execute his righteous judgment of the surrounding nations

no such nation exists today and you know this point hit home this week watching the violence on the news

about the dispute between israel and the palestinians fighting about who has the divine right to the

promised land in the middle east but as jesus explained to the woman in samaria he says woman

believe me the hour is coming but neither on this mountain nor in jerusalem will you worship the father

you know as christians we know the meeting point between god and man is no longer a place

whether a reconstructed temple or a geographic area in the middle east

instead it's the meeting point between god and man is a risen and reigning and soon returning

person the lord jesus christ who will bring new heavens and new earth christians don't need to

travel to jerusalem to commune with god but second let's take a let's take the objection that god of

the new testament is different than the old testament the new testament does not have any ethical reservations

about the conquest of the canaanites at all you know in fact jesus name is the greek version

of the hebrew name joshua so think about that god himself wanted the incarnate son of god to have the

same name as the person who conquered israel's enemies and led the people into the promised land

so something about joshua what he did tells us something important about jesus and hebrews teaches us that

joshua's conquering was just a shadow of what jesus himself comes to the true and better joshua who

conquered the greatest enemy god's wrath against sin led his people back to the promised land and

secured the long-awaited rest for god's people next let's take up the charge of genocide

and the fact is god is not some racist here race and ethnicity were irrelevant this had everything to do

with idolatry though back in genesis chapter 15 verse 16 when the lord promised to give abraham

Genesis 15:16

his descendants the land of canaan he said that there would be delay of 400 years because quote

the iniquity of the amorites is not yet complete and this iniquity is detailed for us actually

in leviticus 18 the iniquity god is referring to were wicked sexual practices of incest and bestiality

after saying that god's people must not engage in these things the text reads that god punished the

iniquity and the land vomited out its inhabitants so in some way not only did god but even the land

itself rejected the people and you remember god gave the canaanites at least 400 years to repent

and they refused to do so and later on in joshua we learned that the people welcomed rahab an ethnic

canaanite once she bowed her knee to the god of israel and rahab is included in the hall of faith in hebrews

11 as a as as an example to us and a faith in new testament which doesn't make sense if god hated

ethnic canaanites so to say this is genocide is to not understand what's happening here

and then finally this judgment of the surrounding nations is a dim picture of the final judgment

for those who refuse to turn from their sins moses was to offer some of these cities terms of surrender

and and realize even offering terms of surrender was another chance for these canines to repent

and if they didn't accept those terms god will destroy them so let's get getting back to deuteronomy

the main verse summarizing this entire section is chapter 4 verse 35 which says to you it was shown

that you might know that the lord is god there is no other besides him know therefore today and lay it

to your heart the lord is god in heaven above and on earth beneath there is no other moses continues

therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments which i command you today that it

may go well with you and with your children after you that you may prolong your days in the land the lord

your god has given you for all time so that's the history god has been gracious and that's the charge

therefore follow god alone so what will it look like for the people to obey that charge once they're in god's land

in the land god tells them by giving them the covenant stipulations in the next section

so these general stipulations of the covenant begin in chapter 5 and run through chapter 11

so if you turn to chapter 5 you'll see a restatement of the ten commandments

now one of the central aspects of this book is that it helps us to understand the role of the law and of

grace in our salvation you know some people have said that in the old testament people are saved by works

and in the new by grace but we know that's not true romans 3 makes it clear that salvation has only

and ever been by grace and we see the relationship laid out in deuteronomy is by grace alone at the heart of

the ten commandments is a story of love look at chapter 6 verses 4 to 6 hear oh israel the lord

our god the lord is one you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul

and with all your might and these words that i command you today shall be on your hearts this is the famous

shema which is the hebrew word for here when jesus was asked what commandment is the most important

of all in mark 12 jesus quotes the shema the most important thing for the israelites to hear

to shema is that yahweh is one god he is the only god and the proper response to yahweh is the total and

exclusive worship of his people and this looks like the commandment to be upon their hearts which the

israelite would have understood the heart to be the mind will emotions everything on the inside of a

person israel was to engage with its covenant god in total exclusive love but and here's the thing

they were to love god because god had loved them first listen to these amazing words about god's

election or his unilateral love for his people just a chapter later in chapter 7 verses 7 to 8 god says

this it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the lord set his love on you

and chose you for you the fewest of all peoples but it is because the because the lord loves you

and is keeping the oath that he swords your fathers that the lord has brought you out with a mighty hand

and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt god did not love them

because of anything good within them it was simply because he just loved them their relationship with god

was entirely based on god's grace you know ephesians 1 says the same thing it says blessed be the god

and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world so if you're here and you

love the lord jesus christ now granted our love isn't perfect it falls short but if you love him

sincerely that's because god has loved you first what an encouragement you love god by first tasting

that gracious electing love toward us and one other thing to notice about the relationship between law

and grace here it's important to notice the timing of when the law is given so in deuteronomy chapter 5

Deuteronomy 5:6

verse 6 god first reminded the people that he saved them from egypt out of the land of slavery before

he revealed his covenant law to them and this is an important pattern that is found throughout the

bible salvation always comes before obedience put in another way the indicatives in the bible always

come before the imperatives the indicative refers to god's great work of salvation to save his people

and the imperative refers to the call of obedience to live in light of god's saving work so if you're new

to read the bible this is absolutely essential saint always tries to reverse the order and tell and

try and try to convince us that obedience leads to salvation but we are justified by faith and faith alone

now as just like back then

so another prominent theme in chapters 5 to 11 is moses teaching the israelites about the nature

and danger of idolatry so what comes to mind when you hear the word idolatry

wood carvings statues perhaps moses helps the people to understand the essence of the idolatry and it's

this it's anything that rivals the exclusive worship of yahweh idolatry is inclining our hearts to

anything before god that's why moses instructs the people to destroy foreign idols in chapter 7

that idolatry can even look like worshiping our own self-righteousness or our ability to amass wealth

to never forget god's faithfulness and to remember that idolatry is deadly in chapters 8 through 9

and here moses helps to identify what is counterfeit idolatrous worship that is man-made religion and the

true worship of the god of israel and and it's this the true god can be heard but he cannot be seen

whereas idols can be seen but they cannot be heard the true god can be heard but he cannot be seen

whereas idols can be seen but cannot be heard remember the famous shaman chapter 6 is calling

for the israelites to hear the emphasis is on israelites to hear god's words and it's the same today

faith comes by hearing in hearing through the word of christ romans will say faith comes by

shemaing so even today hearing the word of god by faith is what we do as christians true worship of

the triune god always emphasizes the priority of the preaching of god's word and the importance for

christians to hear that preached word the proclamation of the word so it's not some clever idea that someone

came up with at one point this has always been a defining and distinctive mark of god's people

the way we're able to know him to love him to believe him are only through his words

you know it's interesting to notice the means by which god was to be worshipped in deuteronomy

yes think about it that second commandment the lord clearly forbade the making of any carved images in

any form but in chapter 27 the lord commanded people to get a big stone put plaster all over it

and then to write the laws on it and display it publicly for everyone to see so it's almost as if

god's law is better at depicting his character than a form than you and i could fashion with your own hands

and the words that inscribe on the rock help the people to know their god

and moses continues to explain why idolatry is dangerous not only what it is

chapter 4 verse 23 23 says be careful not to forget the covenant of the lord your god that he made with

you do not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything that the lord your god has forbidden

for the lord your god is a consuming fire a jealous god

what does it mean when it says that god is a jealous god you know some people have said that

they cannot worship the god of the bible when they hear that god is jealous of them

but is that what this means that god is jealous of us no scripture consistently views god's jealousy

as an aspect of his covenant love for his people that's why in other places like in the book of

hosea the worship of idols is likened to spiritual adultery provoking god's jealousy and vengeance

you know john calvin i think hit the nail on the head when he explained it this way

the lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband as he performs all the

offices of a true and faithful husband so he requires love and chastity from us that is we do not

prosecute ourselves to satan as the pure and chaste her husband is the more grievously he is offended

when he sees his wife inclining to a rival so like a husband loves his wife god loves his people with

a jealous love and if you look over the cut the section of the covenant stipulations you see a

critical part of loving god is obeying that first commandment having no other gods than him

so what is idolatry according to the book this book when moses says that the people shall love

the lord your god with all your hearts in the shema what it ultimately comes down to is what we

treasure the most the covenant demanded that god was to be enjoyed as the people's supreme treasure

that's what it means to love god john piper i think when let's explain it this way which i think fairly

summarizes deuteronomy's teaching on this so what is it sin is this the glory of god not honored

the holiness of god not reverence the greatness of god not admired the power of god not praised the

truth of god not sought the wisdom of god not esteemed the beauty of god not treasured the goodness

of god not savor the faithfulness of god not trusted the promises of god not believed the commandments of god

not obeyed the justice of god not respected the wrath of god not feared the grace of god not cherish

the presence of god not prize the person of god not love that is the nature of sin and idolatry

god will not share his glory with worthless idols god demanded that israel pursue their highest joy in god

anything less is sin which leads to idolatry so in one of the striking i think verses in this whole book

is later on in chapter 28 verse 47 the people were cursed because quote you did not serve the lord

your god with joyfulness and gladness of heart you might say well that's not fair we can't control

our emotions how can joyful service be commanded in the covenant the old covenant well god has the right

to command anything that is right for us to do and i think here is where we begin to see the nature of the

law in deuteronomy the law was not a to-do list instead the law demanded perfection on the ever on

everything on the inside of a person romans 8 verse 7 8 says this about the law the mind that is set on

Romans 8:7

the flesh is hostile to god for it doesn't submit to god's law indeed it cannot and those who are in the

flesh cannot please god i will submit to you that those who are in the flesh cannot find their ultimate

joy in god they cannot serve him joyfully in light of who yahweh is it is impossible to find our joy in

god we must revere him savor his attributes his love his power his sovereignty his mercy his holiness

and let's face it friends the natural person doesn't revere god the natural person resists god

it's here where i think the law acts as a mirror the more you stare at the law the more you realize

that something profound must change on the inside of us to really do what the law is telling us to do

and as we need to be born again we need new hearts which is actually something god says he will give us

later in this book praise god so what hope is there for lawbreakers to commune with the holy god

i mean israel we need to look away from the law at this point the sacrifices in the Torah

i mean the presence of the book of leviticus presupposes that people would break the law

right i mean they would need to look at the calendar of israel the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat on the

day of atonement the yearly remembering of the passover lamb the constant sacrifices and offerings of the

temple later on that mysterious suffering servant of isaiah 53 that would take away the people

god would one day solve the problem of sin through a sacrifice and a pattern is being established

in the torah for this so with this guiding principle of loving faithfulness and the danger

of idolatry in place moses then explains a specific stipulation of the covenant for the nation's life

in the promised land chapters 12 to 26 for the most part you can think of this section as an exposition

of the 10 commandments and you'll see in the back of your handout it shows how the 10 commandments

correspond to specific stipulations moses starts out with a general principle in chapter 12 verse 1 by

saying these are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the lord

the god of your fathers has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth the point of

these 15 chapters is this that as god's people in god's land they will worship god alone reflect god's

holiness you represent god's justice but despite this straightforward purpose this is one of the

hardest sections to interpret as christians why well there are a lot of commands that don't really

seem to apply to us but for example chapters 12 to 13 talk about how to destroy foreign idols

and the lord's chosen place to worship for people to make their sacrifices and burnt offerings

chapters 14 and onward talk about clean and unclean food tithing lending and borrowing practices national

feasts and the basic structure of israel's government so if you're reading deuteronomy in your devotional

time this is where you start asking yourself like how am i to make sense of all these laws like what does it

have to do anything with me and here are some basic points to help us with this section

first it's helpful to keep in mind the basic structure that these specific stipulations are

essentially expositions of the 10th commandment so for example the sixth commandment to not murder

corresponds with chapters 19 so if you turn to chapter 19 there it's distinguishing between

premeditated murder and what we'd understand as involuntary manslaughter where you unintendedly kill

someone without a motive there's a law about not moving landmarkers but it's positioned among the

laws about not murdering may be intended to stress the life and death nature of moving boundary markers

in an agricultural society so the principle to not murder means positively to seek the good of your

neighbor and preserve his life by protecting by respecting boundary markers there's a law about

needing two or three witnesses to establish that someone has committed a crime um so in a way to not

murder means positively protecting the innocent from being convicted and lastly there's

the much malign eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and in the context it's clear this is

referring to what we would say the punishment must fit the crime so there's a proportionality

requirement in the law in many ways it meant over punishing a crime so when jesus said you've heard it

said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but i tell you do not resist the evil person if someone

slaps you on the cheek turn the other cheek as well jesus here is correcting a misapplication of the law

so the law meant to restrain judicial excessive punishment not justify personal retaliation as some

said in jesus day but seeing how the commandments correspond uh the chapters correspond to the 10

commandments helps but it doesn't get us all the way there because we don't know how to apply them

today so here are three suggestions that will help us interpret the laws first every law tells us

something about the law giver every law contains a principle that tells us something about god himself

in john chapter 5 verse 39 jesus claims that the old testament bears witness about me

John 5:39

it's his portrait so to speak so for example in deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 11 it forbids

Deuteronomy 2:11

the israelites from mixing wool and linen in the same article of clothing to remind them about god's

holiness and the distinct the nation's distinctness from the world we don't have to obey that law today

but it does tell us something important about god second we must remember what stage of redemptive

history we are in as it's been said here god is fulfilling his promise to abraham by establishing

israel as his special people to set the stage for christ god is here setting israel apart

and they're the holy nation in which the messiah would descend from so when reading these laws remember

god is giving these laws to israel in a specific point in history that we are in a different stage

of redemptive history but it doesn't mean the law is irrelevant the law reveals god's flawless character

and exposes our need for a savior as martin luther said once the principal purpose of the law in

theology is to make men not better but worse that is it shows them their sin that by the recognition

of their sin they may be humbled frightened worn down and so may long for grace and for the blessed

offspring so here we need a mediator to keep these laws for us jesus said in matthew 5 verse 17 that he

Matthew 5:17

didn't come to abolish the law and said he came to fulfill it now in one sense he fulfilled it by obeying it

perfectly and so deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 26 says cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words

Deuteronomy 27:26

of this law by doing them because jesus was the only one who did them he's the only one not under a curse

so he's able to die in our place bearing our curse that we may be set free from the curse of the law

so the law should increase our appreciation of jesus because he kept every one of these laws

and lastly the distinction as tim mentioned a few weeks ago between civil ceremonial and moral laws

is helpful here the civil laws apply to the political nation of israel to preserve civil order

and restrain sin the ceremonial laws dealt with israel's temple sacrifices and national feasts

so those were the shadows shadows pointing ahead to christ so they are no longer buying on christians

for example the law is about clean unclean food like we see in deuteronomy chapter 14

Deuteronomy 14 · chapter mention

and the new testament mark 7 acts 10 teach that christians do not need to follow those rules

they are part of the ceremonial law the moral laws however are not limited to an ethnic state

and are repeated or even amplified in the new testament so like do not murder are valid for christians today

so although there is some interpretive heavy lifting that is needed may we say with the psalmist

that blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the sea of the scoffers but his delight is in the law of the lord and on his law

who meditates day and night so as we move ahead to the second to last section in chapters 27 to 33

and the blessings of the cup of the covenant and the curses of the covenant is broken we see that god's

standards are sky high we learn that life and death are at stake in choosing whether to obey the covenant

so if israel devotes themselves to wholeheartedly and trust of yahweh then turn to deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 28:10–11

28 verse 10 to 11 it says this and the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of

the lord and they shall be afraid of you and the lord will make you abound in prosperity in the fruit

of your womb and the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground within the lord the lord

swore your fathers to give you sounds good on the other hand if they are not faithful it is as if

creation itself will disintegrate and collapse upon them and ominously the list of curses is much

longer than the list of blessings so some of the some of it reads cursed are you in the field

cursed are you in the city cursed are you when you come in and when you go out the lord will send on

you curses confusion frustration wasting disease drought famine the lord will cause you to be defeated

before your enemies the lord will strike you with madness and blindness infusion of minds the greatest

curse of all exile from the promised land listen to chapter 28 verses 36 37 the lord will bring you

and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known and

there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone and you shall become a whore a proverb and a byword

among all the peoples where the lord will lead you away all these curses will come upon you

they will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you did not obey the lord

your god and observe the commandments and decrees he gave you

so if you're listening to moses we'd be quaking right now this isn't for the faint of heart

now i'd probably collapse you know i'm in the back collapsing because of all the curses that are

happening here and deuteronomy actually is very realistic about the people's likelihood

of keeping the demands of the covenant in fact in chapters 29 to 30 moses directly tells the people

that they will fall short that the reason in chapter 29 verse 4 is that but to this day the lord has

not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear so the people could only keep the

covenant if they're given new hearts and only god can do that but the last part of deuteronomy are some

astounding promises of grace and mercy that give the people some hope god promises restoration for those

who repent of breaking the covenant and chapter 30 verses 2 to 3 when you return to the lord your god

you and your children and obey his voice and all that i command you today with all your heart and with

all your soul then the lord your god will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you and he will gather

you again from all the peoples where the lord your god has scattered you if only they would repent and

trust in god's promises so this is a message of hope for those of those of us who feel weighed down

in our sin and second god promises a new heart to his people and back and back in chapter 10 verse 16

the lord commanded people to circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn

he wasn't talking about mere externalities the lord is after inward transformation

so refreshing news in chapter 30 verse 6 moses declares that even after people go into exile

for the disobedience the lord your god will circumcise your heart and the heart of your

offspring so that you will love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul that you may live

so god does for his people what we are unable to do on our own he will transform their hearts you know

jesus would tell nicodemus you are israel's teacher yet you don't understand that one must be born again

from the beginning moses told you that god needs to give the people a new heart

and naturally our hearts are dead in sin and dead hearts just like dead bodies need to be resurrected to have

life god needs to sovereignly regenerate a person's heart before anyone can ever choose to follow god

as ephesians 2 says we were dead in our sins before god made us alive in christ god's spirit

is the one who changed us so radically that we desire to choose life which is the final plea that

moses makes in deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19 so as we conclude in chapters 31 to 34 remember this is

Deuteronomy 30:19

a book of transitions the people now have affirmed god's covenant and now they're preparing to transition

into the promised land as moses transitions transfers the authority of joshua but in another

sense though the whole bible is transitioning as the torah the books of moses have come to an end

so now we wait and see in the next books of history and prophets prophecy exactly how these blessings

and curses and promises of grace will play out but before that happens god offers a preview

of their future so that the people will be without excuse when they fail to trust him

he does this through the song of moses in chapter 32 in fact as you study the old testament it's a

great chapter to continue to come back to because in many ways it's a sneak preview for the hundreds

of years that are to come in israel's history in it moses looks ahead to future israel and says this

you were unmindful of the rock that bore you and you forgot the god who gave you birth

john edwards's famous sermon sinners in the hands of an angry god preached in infill connecticut is based

on this section addressed to unfaithful israel in chapters 32 verse 35 where the lord said

vengeance is mine and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip for the day their day of calamity

is at hand and their doom comes swiftly unlike some parents god does not make empty threats

and that is a lesson israel had to learn the hard way in the exile

but praise the lord israel's unfaithfulness will not be the last word look at deuteronomy chapter 32

Deuteronomy 32:43

verse 43 after the exile god will avenge the blood of his servants and make atonement for his land and

people a promise of atonement so the tone here is moses blessed the tribes in chapters 33

and even as he breathes his last breath in chapters 34 is one of hopeful expectations in trusting god's

grace god will make all wrongs right god will atone for his people this covenant will not be the last

a new covenant is coming and that is the hope that propels the rest of the old testament forward

and so what we see here just in a macro sense is that while mosaic covenant required obedience from the

people the bedrock gracious disposition toward israel is the covenant that god made with abraham

which was an unconditional promise of grace so what is deuteronomy is it a covenant works or is

the covenant of grace well it's both isn't it it's the great riddle of the old testament so and to

figure out how it all sort of reaches the climax you're gonna have to read the rest of the old and

new testament um and as we close there's one more thing in the final verses of deuteronomy that should

strengthen our hope in this covenant making and covenant keeping god first turn back quickly to

deuteronomy chapters 18 verse 18 in this verse god promises that in the future i will raise up for

Deuteronomy 18:18

them a prophet like you moses from among their brothers and i will put my words in his mouth and he

shall speak to them all that i command him so a prophet who speaks only god's words a prophet even greater

than moses and praise god we know that prophet he is jesus christ the word of god made flesh

who spoke all that the father gave him to say and confirmed his messages through miracles and

ultimately the resurrection and just as the great prophet moses was the mediator of the covenant in

deuteronomy the greater prophet jesus is the mediator of a new covenant by his blood so jesus christ in the

new covenant takes the mosaic covenant curses in one hand by becoming a curse for us for it is written

cursed is anyone who curses everyone who is hanged on a tree so in the language of deuteronomy chapter 27

Deuteronomy 27 · chapter mention

at the cross the father was saying this to his own son but never said jesus cursed are you because you

cast a metal image and the father would say amen jesus cursed are you because you've dishonored your

father and your mother and the father said amen jesus cursed are you because you've led the blind

astray on the road and the father said amen and jesus cursed are you for withholding justice

for the foreigner fatherless and the widow and the father said amen jesus bore the weight of the curse for

you and the new covenant and in the new covenant jesus with his other hand gives the eternal blessings

that only he deserves forever secured by the resurrection so as second corinthians says for our sake

he that is the father made him jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in jesus we might become the

righteousness of god so we see the new covenant is building off jesus keeping the conditions of the

covenant that god made with moses for his people um so we have about 10 minutes for questions um

so thank you for staying with me everyone uh people on the zoom if you guys want to

ask a question in the chat

there's a lot in this book so yes sorry

oh yes uh

the

where uh chapter 30 verses two to three

yeah he will restore your fortunes and he will gather you again from the peoples from where you're scattered

uh

uh

in that um i'm sorry i was late uh i was wondering if you uh talked about uh the outline of the covenant

as we have in deuteronomy compared to the outline of the you know king and uh subject the uh

uh structures that

that existed at different times than the ancient near east

yes yeah i think we may have got to that right before you walked in

oh okay no it's uh

but the the covenant document of deuteronomy mirrors what

the covenant documents look like in the ancient near east

and it follows the formula that would have existed

um in the ancient near east and there's five parts

uh the historical context of the covenant which is chapters one to four

uh identifying the parties of the covenant

the stipulations of a term to the agreement

fourth the blessings of the covenant is followed and the curses of it's broken

and lastly the provisions for continuing the covenant

so that kind of follows the outline for deuteronomy

yep

um uh some of the you know higher critical uh argument

uh is that ah this you know isn't historical in the sense that uh

you know this didn't happen between moses and israel this covenant didn't

was given by god back around 1200 bc or 1400 bc

it was uh written later by people who

you know wanted to invent you know a history and the uh

faith of the old testament as we have in the bible

right but the uh the covenant structure that we have here

doesn't come you know from uh you know 500 bc when

supposedly these people would have made up uh this story

no it's the covenant structure that existed back

you know about 1200 or 1500 bc

and so yeah it's uh it leads to be

no it's a great point

uh a strong argument but the historicity of uh the old testament that happened as it did

because if they were going to make this up you know they would have had to go to the library

to find out let's see what would the structure of the covenant have been

uh a thousand years ago

yeah um that's a great point let's think to point that out and you know it yeah

for those who aren't familiar people argue that this book was written way after moses

like around the king of times king josiah because

they're already like they're they're trying to make sense of the exile and like king and israel's rebellion

and so higher critical scholars will say that it was written thousands of years out a thousand years afterwards

but that's because the higher critical scholars aren't willing to accept that god knows the future

he knows how this is all going to turn out

um and so there's certain assumptions that they're making

when they can't accept mosaic authorship and like you're right matt it's

the covenant format

follows exactly what we would expect to see during the time of moses

so that's why i say i think mosaic and the rest of the scriptures

um say that moses wrote this book

i'll go with that

i'll go with the scriptures on this one

any questions about some law in there that you're like

just makes sense of this law in deuteronomy i didn't get into all of them but there's some

there's some ones in there that are hard to understand

i got a quick question or comment really

really yeah yeah just just a footnote on the discussion there about the historicity of deuteronomy

uh there's a prevailing theory in in academic circles about you know multiple authors

redacting and changing uh the the law of moses so on and so forth that you guys were referring to

just just a quick footnote to say simply that there's actually been a lot of recently there's

been a lot of scholarly pushback on that so um a lot of those arguments just don't hold the water

they used to 10 years ago even so just i haven't uh if someone wants a source on that we can

talk about that offline but just just an fyi that's not the compelling theory that it once was

a few even a decade ago so there it is great thank you

i just encourage that archaeology and and scholarship always ends up on the side of the bible

like you know faithful scholarship will affirm what god has been saying

one of the laws uh that i appreciate is the law that uh a runaway slave is not to be returned uh to his master

and of course our country has you know this horrible history you know with slavery

and then uh uh you know we make mistakes like this i make mistakes like this today but uh you know

arguing i think i think that uh the bible talks slavery you know some christians uh argued 100 300 years ago

and then totally ignoring uh a law like that which would have you know made you know sort of transformed

uh our history if in fact the opposing law actually was put into practice in the united states because you had to return

yeah uh slaves to their mess

was that first simothy uh passage about not kidnapping someone that may have helped too um

yeah i think the chat the chattel slavery that we had in this country you know i heard this recently that the miracle

of the bible is that the slaveholders god is the same god as a slave and like that is such a monumental

um change in how the slave holding the slave were to relate to each other

um and you see that in uh in paul's letter so it's like they're brothers now like you're a brother now with

you know so treat him treat him well

so uh any further questions and then not all

okay i mean i mean um father in heaven lord thank you for your word um lord we pray that

you would sanctify us by sanctify us by your truth lord because your word is truth and in your word we see

who you are i pray that you give us a greater appetite for your word so that we would commune with you

um and that we would become more like your son jesus uh who loved the word um because he loved you

i pray this in jesus name

amen