Turn From the Grave

Good morning, brothers and sisters.

My name is David. I'm one of the staff here at Watermark, and I'm responsible for the Mandarin ministry.

And Karen is my co-worker here.

So I'm thankful for her so that you can understand what I'm saying here today.

Today is the last message in our series on Deuteronomy.

When we think back over Deuteronomy,

we see that God has made a covenant with the people of Israel.

He's given them His sacred law.

It speaks of God's holiness, righteousness, love and compassion.

Not only did He give them this law,

and He told them how they ought to love one another.

How they should care for the widows and orphans and foreigners among them.

And He even told them how they ought to celebrate and party.

You know, we can always review and go back and listen to the previous sermons in this series.

Today, we see that the people of Israel, they need to turn back to God.

This is a weird feeling.

Because where are they now?

And we think this is so strange, because what is the situation that they are in?

Because they are in the situation that they are in.

They are in the place of the Lord.

They immediately enter the place of the Lord.

Actually, they are just outside of the promised land.

They are about to enter into the promised land.

But in the Bible, they are in the promised land.

And why is this passage talking about turning back?

This is like a couple of married married to a couple of married married.

They say,

It's as though you are telling people who are about to get married.

In the future, when you are about to get divorced,

this is how you repair the relationship.

Because here, Moses is saying to the people who are about to enter in the promised land,

After you go into exile, this is what you should do.

In the future, it reminds us how, in God's perspective,

A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

I like a movie.

There is a movie that I like.

There is a type of movie that I like.

For example, Back to the Future.

Like The Wife of the Time Traveler.

Recently, there is a movie that I like.

Some amazing professor.

Dr. Strange.

Sorry, Dr. Strange.

So, in Dr. Strange, there is a treasure.

He can see the past and future.

It enables him to see the past and the future.

If you have this treasure,

I see the wall on the table.

If you look at the wall,

it's a wall.

You know, if you were to look into it,

at my future, you would see I'm Apollo Bones.

If you look at it from this angle,

then I'm a baby.

Now, we see the following.

It says,

it's a few hundred years.

And we feel a little bit like this

when we're looking at this passage today.

You just look at it a little bit,

and it's as though we fast-forwarded hundreds of years.

Hundreds of years after Israel entered the promised land,

they betrayed God,

and God allowed them to go into exile.

But God gave them an amazing promise.

And as I thought about this promise,

I thought it was,

it's really an amazing promise.

Because in human relationships,

it is very rare to find this kind of a promise.

Like, for example,

if you have a dating couple,

or even good friends,

the relationship among good friends,

if one party offends

and does a lot of things

against the other party,

what typically happens is

the other party gets really mad

and doesn't want to have anything to do

with the first offending party.

In most situations,

when one party offends the other party,

even if the first party

wants to come back and be reconciled,

the offended party

may or may not be willing

to continue the relationship.

But the God that we see

in this passage of Scripture,

He's very different.

When the Israelites

went to the other party,

after they were beaten,

the other party,

the other party

would still tell them

to go back.

Even though Israel

has offended God,

has gone and worshipped idols,

has betrayed God,

but God says to them,

turn back to me.

This is the context.

This is what precedes

our passage of Scripture today.

We need to turn back,

return to the Lord.

Leave the path to death

and return to the path of life.

And return to our God.

Let's look at our passage today.

In verse 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10,

it repeats and repeats

the concept of turning back,

restoring, turning again.

In the original language,

this is the same word

repeated again and again.

In both the Chinese

and English translations,

different words are used

in these six verses,

but the original text,

it was the same word.

In verse 1,

in the ESV translates it,

call them to mind.

In verse 2,

it says return.

In verse 3,

it uses the word restore

and He'll gather you again.

The 8th is

in verse 8,

in English,

it uses the word again.

The 9th is

in verse 9,

it uses the word again.

In verse 9,

but in the original language,

the term is this idea

of turning,

returning.

God's promise is,

after the people of Israel

have been exiled,

that if the people of Israel

turn back to God,

God will turn back to them.

In verse 3,

it says,

then the Lord your God

will turn back.

He'll restore your fortunes.

神,

这样的圣洁的神,

他竟然

向以色列明去回转.

This God,

this holy God,

it is amazing

that He would turn back

to the people of Israel.

It's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

It's amazing.

If it's amazing.

Again,

we think about

the illustration of marriage.

If one party

offends the other party.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

If it's amazing.

Now let's say

the party that

the offending party.

Let's say that

he or she turned back.

Next 10 years.

You have to clean.

If it's amazing.

You have to clean.

I think that person

will have to do

the dishes in the house

for the next 10 years.

And we can't buy

a dishwasher.

But God here says

if you turn back

I will turn back.

Now the theme

in the New Testament

one theme

in the New Testament

is a theme of

repentance.

Our Lord Jesus

He starts out

His ministry

and He says

repent

for the kingdom

of God is near.

God tells us here

that we can always repent

we can always turn back

and He is here

waiting for us

to turn back to Him.

Now what are we

turning from

and what are we

turning to?

We need to turn

from idols

and we need to turn

to God's word.

In verse 8 it says

and you shall again

obey the voice

of the Lord

and keep all His commandments.

第九节说

你要尽心尽性

归向耶和华

In verse 9

in verse 10

it says

when you turn

to the Lord

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and you obey

the voice

of the Lord your God

就是你要去

听从耶和华的话

and you need to keep

His commandments

and His statutes.

我们转

从这个偶像

那里去转离

We are turning

away from idols

这个偶像呢

对大家来说

可能不太容易理解

But maybe in our society

today we don't talk

a lot about idols

How do we understand

idols?

太简单

Or we might have

a very simplified

understanding

of the concept of idols

因为我们经常会想

是那些庙里的

木胎泥塑

Is it those

wooden and metal statues

in the temples?

那些只是外在的

Those are just external idols

实际上有很多的偶像

是在我们的心里

是内在的

But many many idols

are internal

They're in our hearts

是我们自己的心里的罪

It's our sin

有人说人的心呢

是一个偶像的工厂

A famous preacher said that

Our hearts are idol factories

总是会制造出

各种各样的这样的偶像

We produce all sorts of different idols

也有人呢

去制造

就是列出一些表格

然后帮助我们

去看到你的偶像

到底是什么

You know there are actually tools

available that help you to identify

What's your idol?

不同的人有不同的偶像

Different types of people

manufacture different idols

比如说大家都喜欢钱

It's not that all of us love money

但是钱呢

背后所代表的

却是不一样

Or even for those of us

who love money

We may love money

for different reasons

有的人呢

是因为他有钱以后

他可以舒适地生活

For some people

They want money

Because then they can live comfortably

这种舒适呢

就是他的偶像

And comfort can become an idol

有的人呢

他有钱

为什么呢

因为希望别人

得到别人的这样的称赞

Some people

They want money

Because they want the acclaim of man

有的人呢

他想得到钱呢

是因为他想呢

能够去控制很多的事情

Some people want money

Because money means power

有的人呢

是因为这钱

能够带来权力

Because they can control others

我去对照那表格

去看的时候

一样一样找

然後我自己

看

我是哪一个呢

When I used this tool

I was wondering

Oh, I wonder what kind of idols

I tend to manufacture

然后我就找我爱人

让他帮我看

你看

And I had my wife

take a look for me too

What are my idols

因为我自己看

感觉每一样

好像都有一些的

Because when I was looking through this

I was like

Wow, all of these are idols in my heart

我爱人可能就是这样

一针直直痛楚地说

舒适就是你的偶像

But my wife

She knows me so well

She's like

Comfort is clearly your idol

所以对我们

很多兄弟姐妹呢

也可以去回想

就是仔细地去看我们心里

我们到底是看中哪些事情

You know, brothers and sisters

We can take some time

examine our hearts

And think about

What are idols

让我们去偏离神

What desires

What things tend to draw us away from God

我要从那些偶像当中

去转向神

We need to turn from these idols

And turn to God

我们刚才回顾了说

从哪里去转离

So we've talked about

What we need to turn from

现在我们看

我们要转向哪里

Now let's talk a little bit

About what we're turning to

在这里我们看到

神说我们要转向神的话

We see here

God says

Turn to my word

在这里边呢

神也说

这话呢

这诫命呢

离你不远

And here

God says that

His word

It is not far from us

就在你的口里

就在你的心里

The word is very near you

It is in your mouth

and in your heart

这对我来说

是很不容易理解的

It's difficult for me

to understand this actually

为什么呢

Why?

因为当我去想

理解神的话语的时候

Because when I want to try

to understand God's word

我呢就需要漂洋过海

I feel like

I need to put in a lot of effort

就去看呢

说神啊

你在这里边

所说的到底是什么意思

I need to spend a lot of time

and study

and try to understand

What is God really trying to say

in this passage

但是对于以色列人

他们真是蒙福的人

But the people of Israel

They were so blessed

他们就从

站在那里

就听到这话语的时候

其实就是他们的家乡话

When they stood there

and when they heard these words

It was in their own language

他不像我们还要去

翻译成这个中文

或者翻译成中文

去这样的去

When I'm studying the scripture

Oh it had to have been translated

into Chinese

translated into English

所以这话就在他们的口里

就在他们的心里

This word

It was in their language

And it was in their mouth

And it was in their heart

在心里是什么意思呢

But what does it mean

That this word was in their heart?

就是以色列人

他们对神的话呢

就不断地这样的重复

不断地去说

不断地去读

最后呢

内化在他们的心里

God told them to keep on meditating on

To keep on thinking on

And repeating these words

Until these words were in their hearts

直到神的话成为他们生命的一部分

And until God's word became part of their lives

这就是神的话呢

要在他们心里

我们如果去以色列的话

会看到很多的人

在这个西墙那边

在那里不断地去诵读神的话

And even when we go to Israel today

We find, for example

Many many Jewish people

At the wailing wall

And they're repeating

repeating, repeating, repeating

God's words

就是要把神的话去记在心里

Until God's words are in their hearts

不同的人呢

对神的话呢

就是这样的记忆呢

不一样

去画的时间读也不一样

Now all of us

We spend different amounts of time

And use different methods

To read God's word

但是呢

当我们去读神的话语

彼此读神的话语的时候

我们就会能够

把神的话语

变化成我们的生命

But as we spend time in God's word

God's word enters into our lives

因为第30章6节里面

告诉我们

要尽心尽性爱耶和华你的神

In verse 6 it says that

We are to love the Lord your God

With all your heart

And with all your soul

就是我们是怎么样去爱神呢

But then how do we actually love God?

因为主耶稣基督曾经说过

Our Lord Jesus he said

爱我的

遵行我诫命的

这就是爱我了

If you obey my commandments

You love me

这就是我们

如果说想去爱神

我们所能够做的

What can we do

If we want to love God?

We can love His commandments

这个爱神

其实确实是很难理解的

It's very difficult to understand

如果说有一个人

在你旁边

你去爱他

这很容易

I mean when a human being

is standing next to you

Maybe it's easier to understand

how to love them

当然对你来说

或许也很难

Or maybe it's also very difficult

但是对于一个神

你看不见神

你怎么样去爱他

How do you love a God

Who you can't see

神告诉我们

就是爱他的话

去遵行他的禁忍

God says if you love His word

And you obey His commandments

You're loving Him

对于爱这个词汇呢

我前一段时间

去学到了一个

这样一个新的拼写方法

Recently I learned

A new way of spelling the word love

就是在

因为我现在是

两个孩子的爸爸了

Because I now have two little ones

我就想

我该怎么样去爱自己的孩子

And I want to learn

How to better love my children

然后我听了有人

上了一堂就是这样的一个课

就是说

训练孩子的这样的课

And so I attended a parenting seminar

有一位老爷爷呢

他就是这样说的

And this

This grandfather there said

他说

爱你这个词汇是这样拼写的

This is how you spell the word love

现在大家跟我来一起拼写

We can spell it together

他拼写是这样的

爱的拼写是

T-I-M-E

I spell love

T-I-M-E

什么意思呢

What does this mean?

就是说当你爱什么

你就会花时间在什么事情上

Whatever you love

You're going to spend time on

如果说你爱爬山

你就花很多时间去爬山

If you love hiking

You're going to spend time hiking

若你爱打球

你会花很多时间去打球

If you love playing basketball

You're going to spend time playing basketball

若你爱你的男朋友和女朋友

你就会花很多的时间跟他在一起

If you love your boyfriend or girlfriend

You're going to spend a lot of time with them

若你爱你的妻子或丈夫呢

你也一样会花时间与他们在一起

Also if you love your spouse

You're going to spend time with them

对我来说

就是说我要

如果说我去爱我的孩子

我就要花时间在他们身上

And so for me I realized

If I want to love my children

I need to spend time with them

当我去检验自己都发现

哇 其实如果按这个标准来说

其实我对孩子的爱真的是很少

And for me I realized

That if I use this standard

I don't love my kids that much

所以对我来说

我就要有一个回转

So I need to turn to them

我就要花时间在他们身上

I need to spend time on them

对于这里边呢

也就是说我们爱神

回归到神的话有哪里

我们到底花了多长时间在哪里

And so we kind of have to ask ourselves

If we are turning to God

If we're turning to His word

Are we spending time in God's word?

我们是不是也把神的话放在我们的心里?

Are we putting His word into our hearts?

我们是不是也把神的话呢

放在我们的嘴里?

Are we putting His word on our lips?

In our mouths?

彼此去说神的话?

And speaking God's word to one another

彼此教导神的话?

And even teaching one another

这就是神说告诉我们

我们向哪里就回转?

And this is the way that God tells us

因为神是这样的爱我们

Since God has so loved us

祂就把所有我们生命当中需要知道的话语

都记录在祂的圣经当中

He's given us the Bible

Which has all the words that we need for life and godliness

让我们知道该怎样爱他

怎样爱世人

These words tell us how we can love him

And how we can love one another

在这里边我们看到

神呢就在以色列

他们去离开

被逐出应许之地以后

神呢去应许他们

让他们去回到这应许地

So this is something

A promise God offers to the Israelites

After they have left the promised land

They have been taken off into exile

And God says

This is how you are to turn back

神就一直在等待他们的回转

And God is waiting for them to turn back

神呢也说在

这话语当中呢

是第19节

我今日忽天换地向你做见证

我将生死或福沉命在你面前

这里边是生死

福祸

Here we see in contrast

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

很多这样对立的观念

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

来说

我可以看到

来说

来说

我可以看到很多条不同的道路

In our lives

We see so many different paths

但是其实

归根界里

只有两条道路

But actually

It all boils down to two paths

一条呢

是死亡的道路

One is a path toward death

一条呢

是生的道路

One path is toward life

神说呢

你们要选择生命

离开死亡之路

选择生命

And God says

Choose life

Don't choose death

在这里面呢

让我想起来

上周我碰到的一个人

This makes me think of

Someone I met last week

这个人过去的生活

是什么样子的呢

How did this

This is how this person used to live

他过去的生活

可以说是

五毒俱全

It seemed that he had everything

他曾经吸毒

Everything in terms of drugs

And alcohol

他也曾经

具有这样不正当的关系

He had all sorts of

Sexually immoral conduct

其实他的生活呢

其实如果说

从这个富裕的条件来说

倒也还不错

I mean materially

He was pretty well off

比如说

他曾经开过夜总会

就有六件

He had owned

很多不同的网站

但是呢

他在这种罪的生活当中的时候呢

他就

他自己是不知道的

But as he was living in these ways

Like he didn't know really

What he was living for

他也跟妻子离婚了

He divorced his wife

当然就是在这种

毒瘾当中

生活当中

他会过得

也是有很多挣扎的

Obviously he was also

going through a lot of struggles

from all of his addictions

Be it to drugs

alcohol or sex

直到有一天

一位传道人

跟他去传讲福音

But one day he heard the gospel

from a preacher

在这种福音的教导当中

慢慢地他就有了转变

And as he started to receive

the teaching of the gospel

His life started to change

他就完全转离了

他过去这种罪的生活

He turned away

from his entire previous lifestyle

而且他又去

用尽千方百计

去让他的妻子要回来

And he even put a lot of effort

into pursuing his wife back

当中经历了很多很多的挣扎

After many more struggles

当他去回转了以后

他就花很多时间

在神的话语上

As he turned to God

He spent time in God's word

现在呢

也在不断地去传讲神的话语

And now he spends a lot of his time

actually sharing God's word with others

每周讲道可能要两次

On typical Sunday

He'll preach twice

查经班就得带三次

当他在回到过去

一起生活的那些

比如说黑社会啊

或什么那些人身边的时候

And when he goes back

to his old friends

including some who are gang members

他说 哇 你真的是不一样

They say

You are a totally different person

当那些人来到他家中的时候

He invites them over to his house

When they come over

他说 你们家真的有平安

And they say

There's a sense of peace in your home

你们家有神

There's God in your house

这就是回转

This is what it means to turn back

也就是悔改

And it's related to repenting

圣洁的神

跟这个罪是一点关系都不可能有的

当我们有在罪中生活的时候

我们是无法去面对

没法去在上帝的同在当中

If we're living in sin

We cannot be living with God who is holy

而且当我们是这个罪人的时候

我们自然而然就会过罪的生活

And because we're sinners

We very naturally live sinful lives

就像我们面前的这些以色列人一样

Just like these Israelites

他们就最后拜偶像

然后被逐出允许之地

They worship idols

And then they were driven out of the promised land

所以最后呢

还是神要去解决这个问题

And our God

He takes the initiative

And He solves this problem

他就拆检他的独生子来到这个世界当中

So He sent His only Son into this world

并且为我们的罪被钉在十字架上

To die for our sins on the cross

这个罪是如此之大

The magnitude of the sin

Was born by Him

当主耶稣基督在十字架上的时候

祂都要去跟父说

我的神 我的神

你为什么离弃我

On the cross

Jesus said

My God, my God

Why have you forsaken me?

这就是神的作为

That is what God did

是我们人所做不到的

We could not do that for ourselves

这也是第六节当中所告诉我们的道理

And this is what it's talking about in verse 6

第六节当中是这样说的

耶和华你的神

必将你心里和你后裔心里的污秽除掉

And the Lord your God

Will circumcise or get rid of what is unclean

In your heart and the heart of your offspring

中文我们看得不清楚

在英文里面它是表达比较清楚

就是说要去

在人的心里去行一个割离

The English uses the word circumcision directly

Which is to have a surgery on your heart

而且这个手术呢

只能神去做

And only God can do this surgery

就像我们刚才所说的这个奇异博士一样

他曾经是一个最高明最高明的一个医生

Just like Dr. Strange

He was once a brilliant doctor

有很多人在那个手术台上

都已经被宣布死亡了

然后他呢又把他那个病

知道到底是出了什么问题

然后把那个病给治好

然后能够活过来

Where many patients were already declared dead

on the operating room

And he was able to understand what was the problem

And bring them back to life

但是当他自己去有了这样的病的时候

他就无能为力

But when Dr. Strange himself

When he became sick

He could not heal himself

他必须找到他的最好的助理

然后去帮他把这个心脏呢

让他重新去运转起来

He needed to find an assistant

He needed to have someone else

Who could save his own heart

之前看他那么的风光

但是在这种状况面前

他是无法自救的

He seemed so strong and so brilliant

But in light of his own mortality

He could not save himself

在这里面我们看到

神他去做的这样的一个手术

Here we see that God did a surgery for us

当然这也就是

让我们看到

在旧约当中

这个心里的割离

实际上就是

之前谈到歌里的时候

讲的是这个立约的记号

In the Old Testament

Circumcision is a mark of a covenant

神呢在那时候知道

人所有所不能行的

就预备了这样的一个新的约

神在旧约的时候呢

是律法写到石板上的

神在那个时候就预言说

时候将到我要与以色列家另立新约

这就是神要去做的

神要在人的心里面去动工

让罪人能够去转向他

完全地转向他

也就是36节说

好叫你尽兴尽信

爱耶和华你的神

In order that we may love the Lord our God

The Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul

在主耶稣基督

在上次十字架之前

Our Lord Jesus

Before he went to the cross

有一个门徒彼得

One of his disciples, John

曾经发誓赌咒

要跟他在一起

Said

He declared

I will definitely stay with you

但是在基教两遍以前

他有三次不认主

But before the rooster crowed twice

He had already denied Christ

当基教了以后

他就心里是痛悔莫及

但是耶稣基督复活以后

是主耶稣基督找到他

But after Christ rose from the dead

Jesus Christ went and sought Peter out

问他

你爱我吗

And he asked him

Do you love me

你爱我吗

Do you love me

你爱我吗

Do you love me

神这样的爱彼得

就在他犯了罪以后

完全地离弃他以后

还是这样地爱他

God loved Peter so much

That even when Peter betrayed him

And denied him

God sought him out

但彼得呢

就有这样的一个回转

他是在那个时候呢

是忏悔

就悔改

And Peter repented

And Peter turned to Christ

Turned back to Christ

我们今天也要去想

我们自己的罪到底是什么

So today

We also need to spend time

Reflecting on

What is our sin

有的时候需要彼此的去提醒

And sometimes we need to remind one another

然后我们要回到神面前

回到神的话里

And we need to turn back to God

And turn back to God's word

回到永生神的面前

And come back to the presence of the living God

因为二十节里边说

Because verse 20 says

因为他是你的生命

For he is your life

主耶稣基督也告诉我们

Jesus also tells us

我是道路真理生命

I am the way

The truth and the life

若不借着我

没有人能到父那里去

Apart from me

No one can come to the Father

这就是我们

做人所能够去做到的

去回转归向神

归向神的话语

And this is what we must do

As people

We need to repent

And turn to God

And turn to God's word

因为他那里有生命

Because

He has the words of life

Let's pray

Let's pray

慈爱大爸父

我们感谢你

Our loving heavenly Father

We thank you

感谢你是这样的慈爱的神

Thank you that you are a God of such love

在我们还是罪人的时候

Even when we were still sinners

你说一下主耶稣基督

You sent the Lord Jesus Christ

来到世间

To come to earth

拯救我们

To save us

拯救我们这些无助的罪人

To save us

We were helpless sinners

并把你的话语

不断地去传讲给我们

And you continually speak your word to us

让我们能够认识你

So that we can know you

让我们知道该怎样去爱你

怎么样去把你的话语

去记在我们的心中

And so we know how to put your words

into our hearts

也去传讲你的话语

And also to speak your words to others

让我们能够跟身边的人

一起去回转

Lord we pray that you would help us

and those around us

去走这条生命之路

And to take this path of life

that you've given us

感谢主

Thank you Lord

奉主耶稣基督的命祈求

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray

Amen

Amen

Correct

谢谢 screens

oud

And always

下集

oud