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to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey. 

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 

So it shall be when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant. When you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him and shall take oaths in his name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you. For the Lord your God is a jealous God among you. Lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 

"'You shall not tempt the Lord your God, "'as you tempted him in Massa. "'You shall diligently keep the commandments "'of the Lord your God, his testimonies and his statutes, "'which he has commanded you. "'And you shall do what is right and good "'in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, "'and that you may go in and possess the good land "'of which the Lord swore to your fathers, "'to cast out all your enemies from before you, "'as the Lord has spoken.' 

when your son asks you in time to come, saying, what is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land of which he swore to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is this day. 

then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us. Amen. 

So the last several, I don't know if it was weeks or months, we looked at the Ten Commandments, that's foundational. with reference to God's law, remember the threefold division of the law, we've got moral law, we've got ceremonial law, and we've got judicial law. And certainly Deuteronomy 5, beginning in verse 1, all the way to chapter 28, calls Israel to fidelity with reference to their covenant obligations before God Almighty. So foundational to that is the Decalogue, or the Ten Words of the Ten Commandments. And here, specifically in chapter 6, they're reminded of the purpose for which they're going into the land. It's to obey God's law. It is to demonstrate that they are, in fact, His people. 

And then the chapter continues to underscore some of the dangers that might befall them when they get into the land. not dangers from the Canaanites, not dangers from enemy invasion, but rather the dangers of their own thankless hearts. And then there are certain precautions set forth to prepare them as they go into the land. Remember, they're on the plains of Moab. It's the second generation. They're going to go into the promised land. After Moses dies, Joshua will succeed him, and it's Joshua who will lead the people on the conquest, and that's the book of Joshua. 

There's a very favorable presentation, but by the time we get to the book of Judges, it's less favorable, and we see them growing increasingly like the Canaanites. They were supposed to dispossess from the land of Canaan. Certainly, subsequent to Judges, we see the ebbs and the flows, mainly the the infidelity on the part of Old Covenant Israel. It ultimately culminates in the cutting off of the northern tribes in 722 B.C. through the Assyrian Empire, and then the southern tribes in 586 B.C. by the Babylonian Empire. 

So they don't follow this covenant. They don't obey. They renege on what they swear at the base of Sinai in Exodus 24, all that the Lord commands us we will do. And so we see God's covenantal sanctions. Those promised in chapter 28, they would be dispossessed from the land. They would go into exile. They would be basically accursed. as a result of having violated that covenant. 

But here are specifically several warnings and encouragements and exhortations for them as they go into the promised land. So when we look at chapter 6, specifically in verses 1 to 9, I want to look at three things. First, the purpose of the commandments of God in verses 1 to 3. Secondly, the profession of allegiance to God in verses 4 and 5. And then thirdly, the propagation of the truth of God in verses 6 to 9. 

If you look back for just a moment to chapter 4, you will see that it was one of the intended purposes of God, not only to bless His people Israel, but to bless the nations through them. And specifically in Deuteronomy chapter 4 at verse 5, Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore, be careful to observe them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 

For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? So certainly the blessing of Israel, to be sure, as the covenant people of God, but the blessings of God mediated through the covenant people of Israel to the nations surrounding them. Of course, they failed. The true Israel of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the one in whom the nations are blessed as a result of God's faithfulness. And so succession plays a large part of Old Covenant religion, that admonition to teach your children, that admonition to pass on the baton, that admonition to encourage not only your sons but your grandsons to fear the Lord. This was crucial. The religion of God is evangelistic. In other words, it is wisdom, it is that which is excellent, and it is that which should be believed upon and enacted by all men everywhere.

So first, let's look at the purpose of the commandments of God in verses one to three. Note verse one, now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. So we again see the divine origin of the law. If you go back to 522, after the giving of the Ten Commandments, these words, the Lord spoke to all your assembly. These words, the Lord spoke to all your assembly. This wasn't the sort of invention of Moses, this wasn't the best agreed upon solution for this people, but rather this is in fact the word of God, divine in its origin.

When he says in verse 1, commandment, statutes, judgments, which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, as we move on in the book of Deuteronomy, as we've seen, the foundation is the moral law, the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, but then we'll see several ceremonial laws and judicial laws. Ceremonial laws flow out of that first table of the law. In other words, the ceremonial law deals with the cultic life of Old Covenant Israel, their religious worship, the apparatus of temple and tabernacle and priesthood and sacrifice. Judicial law flows out of the application of the latter half of the Decalogue. How do we conduct ourselves in a civil polity? How do we function among the nations of the earth? Well, judicial law is tasked with that and the specific or expressed design of God is that they know how they ought to live in the land that the Lord is giving to them. And that's the specific conduct that we see there at the end of verse 1, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess.

So the reception of the law, God promised to give the land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's repeated later on in chapter 6. It's all the way in the book of Genesis. God swore this promise that he would give this land, Abraham got it, Isaac got it, Jacob got it, and certainly they are inheriting that promise given by God.

And so the reception of the land, and then as I said, the religious and civil life of Israel in the land. They weren't supposed to be like the nations around them. They weren't supposed to conduct themselves like the Canaanites. They were supposed to be a holy people, a chosen generation, a kingdom of priests that were to function in a mediatorial capacity to benefit the nations around them, but as well to shine the light of glory upon God Most High.

Of course, they don't do that. And so what we have here is tenure in the land secured by obedience to the law, specifically that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. And then the retention of the land. In other words, if they do what God calls them to do, they'll get the land.

So I already mentioned Deuteronomy 28. Add to that Deuteronomy 27 and 28, that's sort of the crowning or the pinnacle of all the previous legislation before it, and basically it appends blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. And of course, the curses for disobedience include exile. It includes expulsion from the land. And that's obviously what happens in 722 B.C., and that's what happens in 586 B.C., and that's what happens, incidentally, in A.D. 70. That's the culmination of the covenant curses of God, because they rejected the Son of God, who came to save His people from their sins.

If you look back for just a moment, Leviticus chapter 18, you see a similar emphasis there on retention of the land. In other words, go into the land and don't live like the Canaanites, who you are dispossessing. As we move on in redemptive history, they do live like the Canaanites, that they were supposed to have dispossessed, and ultimately they are expelled.

But if you look at Leviticus 18, prohibition specifically against sexual sin, and at verse 24 we read, Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. So again, it's not arbitrary. It's not capricious. God didn't just say, well, I don't like those Canaanites, so I'm going to throw them out and let the Israelites take their occupation. No, it's not that at all. They violated the Seventh Commandment. They engaged in homosexuality. They engaged in bestiality. They engaged in all manner of evil and lawlessness. And so God the Lord judges them accordingly.

When God rains hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, it's not arbitrary. It's not capricious. It's a violation of the Seventh Commandment. All men everywhere, trans-covenantal application of the moral law of God, whether Old Covenant, New Covenant, whether Jew, whether Gentile, whether in the covenant community or outside the covenant community, God judges according to His revealed law. God judges according to what we see in those Ten Commandments.

Notice in verse 25 of Leviticus 18, Notice that. Not only your own nation, but any stranger who dwells among you. God doesn't make provision or special provision. Well, there's a stranger. They're outside the covenant people of God. It's like when the non-believer uses our values against us. Well, you're not supposed to do that. Well, neither are you. I don't know why you think it's okay for you to engage in this stuff. It's lawlessness, it's rebellion, it's transgression against God, and none of us are supposed to do that.

Verse 28, lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Keep that in mind when you read the letter to Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3, and Jesus threatens to vomit out the church because they're neither hot nor cold. They're lukewarm, rather. And so Jesus threatens to cut them off. And that's the sort of imagery that we see here with reference to the land, which was a central blessing in the religious life of Old Covenant Israel.

So back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, the commandments of God given expressly by him through the mediation of Moses, conduct in the land, and then specifically the fear of God is to characterize them as they enter in. Notice in verse two, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. So the connection between the fear of the Lord and obedience to the Lord is obvious.

In fact, turn to a New Covenant sort of application of this in Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. results in a lack of obedience to God. You see that, well, in Romans chapter 1, specifically in verse 18, I think the order is specific, I think it's conspicuous, and I think it's purposeful. It's first against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. And I think the idea is that the ungodly are those who don't think rightly about God. And as a result, unrighteousness follows as a reflex from that.

So God's wrath revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men And then notice, he speaks specifically of their ungodliness first, to suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things." So it's ungodliness. It's knowing that God is, suppressing that truth and unrighteousness, being led by the effect to know that there is a cause, and yet all the while living as if that cause doesn't exist.

It's from that vantage point, therefore, verse 24, God also gave them up to uncleanness. And then he deals with acts of unrighteousness. He deals with godlessness and wickedness and transgression of the law. And then over in chapter 3, as he kind of summarizes the entirety of his argument up to this point, beginning in chapter 1 verse 18, notice what he says in 3.9. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all, for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they all understand.

From chapter 118 to the end of chapter 1, he's dealing with Gentiles, those outside the covenant people, those who had not received the oracles of God, but they had the law written on their hearts according to Romans 2. They didn't live according to that. And so they're culpable and responsible with reference to not honoring God. Chapter 2, he turns his gun against the Jews. He says, you're no better. In fact, you received the oracles. You had the privileges. You had the blessings. And yet you violated, transgressed, and lacked conformity under that law.

So verses 9 to 20 in Romans chapter 3 is summation. It is basically showing the just judgment of God that is rightly targeted against all men. So again, verse 9, what then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one. Notice, there is no fear of God before their eyes. So the absence of the fear of God, ungodliness, always leads to unrighteousness, and we see that combination in Deuteronomy 6 too.

Notice in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, a text we looked at I think last week, to show this idea of fear. It's not simply confined to the old covenant, but it's a new covenant impetus as well for us to pursue holiness. 2 Corinthians 7, 1, Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

So the fear of God is a good summation of the religious life before God. In fact, Harman says, there is no Old Testament expression more all-embracing in describing the religious life than this one. This fear is not the abject fear of a cowering slave, but heartfelt devotion of a redeemed sinner.

So the fear of God leads to, hopefully, godliness. The fear of God leads to righteousness, not unimpeccably, not perfectly, not without spot or wrinkle or blemish. We all have that, to be sure. But if we don't fear God properly, we will not relate to Him properly. If we do not esteem God and revere God as He ought to be esteemed and revered, we're not going to worship Him. We're not going to serve Him. We're not going to glorify Him.

Paul's words are on the mark. There is no fear of God before their eyes, as he summarizes the state of man before God, whether he be Gentile or Jew, whether he be outside the scope of special revelation or within the scope of special revelation. All men everywhere are liable to God's just wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. And he summarizes it by saying, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

So the fear of the Lord was to mark them, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you. And then notice, as I mentioned, succession for the covenant people. Succession for the covenant people. you and your son and your grandson all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

This is not the first time we've seen this in Deuteronomy. You can turn back to Deuteronomy 4. Once again, we read 5 to 8, but if we continue at verses 9 and 10, "'Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself, "'lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, "'unless they depart from your heart "'in all the days of your life, "'and teach them to your children and your grandchildren, "'especially concerning the day you stood before "'the Lord your God in Horeb. "'When the Lord said to me, gather the people to me, "'and I will let them hear my words, "'that they may learn to fear me "'all the days they live on the earth, "'and that they may teach their children.

In our own chapter, in Deuteronomy chapter 6 at verse 20, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, what is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you? You see, it was crucial to the covenant people to have this plan of succession. God wanted for their children to benefit, their sons, their grandsons, their posterity, the covenant people, so again they could retain the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And so on the heels of that, having stated the purpose in verses 1 and 2 with reference to the law, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, He then exhorts them in verse 3 to careful obedience. Verse 3, Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey. So the need for careful obedience, not careless obedience, not recklessness, not lawlessness, not transgression or lack of conformity to God's law, but rather careful obedience to the things that are specified.

And again, the rest of the section up to and including chapter 28 is gonna be very repetitious in terms of legislation. So they can't come away from the plains of Moab and say, well, we just didn't know. We just didn't understand. You just didn't communicate it to us well enough. No, God spake through Moses specifically what it was that they needed to take and receive and put into practice with reference to their own lives as they inherit the land.

And God, of course, gives that incentivization As the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, it's a good land. It's a blessed land. It's a rich land. It's a land where you're not going to have want. The rivers flow with good things. There's milk. There's honey. There's all the benefits that you could ever want. But again, it's conditioned upon your obedience with reference to this law code that God has stipulated through the mediation of Moses.

So that then brings us to this profession of allegiance to God in verses four and five, or what we might call the central confession of Israel's faith. If you notice verse four, we call that, or we should call that, or if we don't, others do, here is Shema in Hebrew. You've probably heard of the Shema, it's Deuteronomy 6.4. And as the story goes, faithful Jews recite this in the morning and in the evening and at other times of their lives.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. So that's the declaration. Again, Shema is simply Hebrew for hear or listen, call attention to. That's what he's saying here through Moses. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Now, in terms of the theology, we see here, as Bavinck says, a unity of singularity. There's not two gods, there's not three gods, there's not a multiplication of gods, there's not a genus called God, and our God happens to be a part or portion of that. There is one living and true God. The Bible is very clear on that point. You see it here in the Shema. You see it throughout the Old Testament. You see it in 1 Corinthians 8-6. You see this emphasis. We are monotheists. One God. Not two gods. Not three gods. Not five gods. Not ten gods. And not the best God out of the lot. Not the best God out of the offering. That's not it at all. There is one living and true God.

There as well is a unity of simplicity. When we speak about God, we speak of him being simple. That doesn't mean dumb, it doesn't mean foolish, it doesn't mean he can't do math, but it means he's not composed of parts. He's not put together by other things that somehow found their way together and made God. God just is. God has always been and God will always be.

Haley asked the question the other day. Did you get a call? We share a granddaughter. And Haley said, how can God be if he didn't come to be? If he wasn't made, how can he be? Which I thought was a pretty brilliant question. She definitely comes from Cam's line on that regard rather than mine. At seven, I was playing with army men in the backyard and blowing their heads off. That, I just tried in, you know, seven-year-old language to say God is. From everlasting to everlasting. God's not like us. He's creator. We're creature. Everything not God is created by God. God is not created. God just is.

And again, that's the mystery of the Christian religion in the sense of, or in the reality of, again, it's not a competing pantheon of various gods, and we just happen to tap into the best that the market had to offer. No, there is but one only, the living and true God. He's not put together by parts. He's not composite. He's not created. There's not something more ultimate than God that came together to be God. God just is, from everlasting to everlasting.

Theologians speak of the unity of singularity, oneness, singularity, there's no others, and then this unity of simplicity. God is who He is. God is his attributes. When we talk about the perfections of God, we're not talking about them as so many pieces or parts of God. It's not that God is 33% love, 33% justice, 33% righteousness. No, God is his attributes. God is his perfections.

Perfect example is in 1 John chapter four. John tells us God is love. You can't say that about us. You cannot say he is love. You can say we do love, you can say we should love more, you can say they increase and decrease with reference to love, but you can't define us as love. You can define God by his perfections because all that is in God is God.

And so this central confession of Israel's faith distinguishes the living and true God from the dunghill deities of the Canaanites that they're gonna see when they go into the land of promise. And so this had to be primary with reference to their thought life, their intellect, their heart, their soul, their mind, their strength.

Now the unity of singularity, that God is one, does not militate against a trinity of persons in that one living and true God. Our confession is very helpful here because It makes a distinction that we need to make in theology, the being, or the essence, or the substance that is God, and the three persons.

As the Shorter Catechism asks, are there more gods than one? No, there is but one only, the living and true God. In how many persons does this one God exist? There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

This is not contradiction. We're not saying God is one in one sense and three in the same sense. That would be a contradiction. When the Jehovah's Witnesses tell you it's contradictory to believe in the Trinity, they don't know what they're talking about. And if you fall prey to that, you don't know what you're talking about and you need to fix that in your theology. He's one in one sense and three in another sense.

Second London Confession, Chapter 2, Paragraph 1, starts off, When it says that, it doesn't mean we can't know anything. We are given 31,000 propositions in Holy Scripture that we may know a lot about God. But in terms of knowing his essence, it's only God himself that knows that. 

I mean, we have what's called an ectypal knowledge. That's a derivative knowledge conveyed to us by God. God's his archetypal. God knows everything at all times. There's nothing he comes to discover. There's no derivation. He doesn't learn. There's no maturation process. There's no, you know, he's going to go to God's school, and hopefully he gets a certificate. That's not it at all. 

But Confession, Chapter 2, Paragraph 3 goes on to say, in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences. Westminster uses persons, which isn't bad. Subsistences is a bit more technical and better, but persons isn't bad. The Father, the Word, or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations, which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence on Him."

Again, that's difficult to be sure for us It's difficult for Haley. I said, wait till we talk about the person of Christ and the hypostatic union. That's a real humdinger, too, if you're struggling with that part of it. 

The glory of the Godhead. And brethren, if you think through it, we ought to expect a degree of mystery. When Andy, a theologian, said that heretics solve mysteries, That's a bad thing. If you get to the point where you solve God, you've become like God. We have to live with that tension that our P brains, our finite minds, can't exhaust the infinite mind of God. 

Well, I don't know how he can do that. Well, because he's God, but living in the true God, who in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences. How are they distinguished? By these properties. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That's what distinguishes the persons within the Godhead. But each person has the same substance, has the same power, has the same eternity. Not three wills, not three minds, not three centers of consciousness, but one living and true God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Brethren, that's a good thing. We don't want to exhaust God. If we exhausted God in our thinking and comprehension, we'd move on to the next puzzle. We'd move on to the next thing. We would get tired of it. Oh, I figured it all out, so I'm just going to move on. Have you ever noticed that if you've read through your Bible? Have you gotten to the point when you've read from Genesis to Revelation, you finish Revelation chapter 22, you close the Bible and you say, okay, I've got it all figured out. I've not met that person yet. I've met people that have read it several times through and through that say, man, I see something new each time I read it. And it's not new in the sense that God zapped a new text in there. The Spirit leads and guides and directs. We're, you know, products of our environment. There's certain things going on. Certain texts speak to us in ways that, you know, various experiences that we're going through, the Spirit impresses those things as we read. 

We're not going to figure it all out. But we believe what the scripture reveals, that there is one living and true God, that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God, yet not three gods, one God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

How do we deal with, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God? except that Jesus is God. If John 1 tells us that Jesus is God, we have to accept that. If Ananias and Sapphira are, you know, executed for having lied to God, when specifically they lied to the Holy Spirit, we have to conclude that the Holy Spirit is God. When we see that the unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, doesn't that underscore his dignity of office? Doesn't it underscore the divinity of the Spirit? When Jesus in the upper room says, I'm gonna send another comforter, one like myself, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, 1526, what do we do with that?

So again, Jehovah's Witnesses are rationalists. They wanna solve mysteries. They want to tie off knots. It's not bad to tie off knots, brethren. But when it comes to the infinite, we can't tie off those knots. We go where revelation takes us and we worship and praise and adore. We glorify this living and true God.

This was to be their profession of allegiance to the Most High. The revelation of the Trinity is certainly there in the Old Testament. I'd argue that Psalm 33, 6 is divine commentary on Genesis chapter 1. You see all three persons in Genesis 1. You see all three persons in Psalm 33. You've got the predication of divinity to the Messiah. He's called, you know, Eternal Father in Isaiah 9, 6. It says that His goings forth are from of old, even from everlasting in Micah 5, 2. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

So it's not the case that the Trinity is not in the Old Testament. Wherever the living and true God is, there's the Trinity. But the fullness of the revelation is in the mission of the Son. The fullness of the revelation is in the mission of the Spirit. The procession of the Son and the Spirit into this world to save His people from their sins. That's where we learn. We use that language often at B.B. Warfield. The Old Testament is like a room that's furnished, but it's dark. All the furniture's there. You can bump your knee on a table that's in the middle of a dark room. When the New Testament come, the light switch has been flipped on. It's not that now the furniture has been placed in the room. The furniture was always there, but the light switch vis-a-vis the mission of the Son, the procession of the Spirit, demonstrates what was always present.

And so the doctrine of the Trinity is not destroyed or not upheld by the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. In terms of the polemic importance, that means arguing against falsehood. They're going into the land of Canaan. What's happening in the land of Canaan? Oh, just a lot of innocent, righteous people that like to praise the living and true God. No. These are people that throw their children into the arms of Molech. Molech, of course, had outstretched arms with fire at the base, and when you chucked your baby into its arms, because it had arms it could not catch, the baby would bounce off right into the flames. It was human sacrifice. They had Asherah, they had Baal. What was the conception concerning Baal? Baal was the storm god. How do we get Baal to perform? Well, we hope that Asherah and him spend a night of conjugal bliss together because the next day we may get some rain. I mean, these were people that looked like that or that thought like that, dunghill deities. And so God is cautioning the children of Israel against that kind of thinking. When you get into the land, you're going to see these various expressions of religion. You've got to guard your hearts against that. You've got to stay away from that. That's one of the reasons of dispossessing the land of the Canaanites. 

We read texts like that and we say, oh, that's vicious of God. I mean, these poor Canaanites, they weren't doing anything wrong. Well, they were doing everything wrong, but what was the danger of not dispossessing the land? Just read your Old Testament, what happens? They bow to Baal. They praise Molech. They throw their own kids into the arms of Molech. 

If you don't dispossess the land of the Canaanites, it's not going to be long before you're worshiping with the Canaanites, especially when your neighbor Canaanite says, guess what? Baal and Asherah got together tonight. That's why it's raining today. Huh. If that's the case, I prayed to Yahweh and He didn't make it rain, I'm going to start going to the bail services. 

You see, brethren, this idolatry was a reality and it was absolutely important, absolutely crucial rather, that they own this confession of faith concerning the glory of the living and the true God. His uniqueness and incomparability, His exclusiveness, there's no other gods beforehand. 

John Gill says, the doctrine of which is that the Lord, who was the covenant God and Father of His people Israel, is but one Jehovah. He is Jehovah, the being of beings, a self-existent being, eternal and immutable, and He is but one in nature and essence. 

"'This appears from the perfection of his nature, "'his eternity, omnipotence, omnipresence, "'infinity, goodness, self-sufficiency, and perfection. "'For there can be but one eternal, one omnipotent, "'one omnipresent, one infinite, one that is originally "'and of himself good, one self, and all sufficient, "'and perfect being, and which also may be concluded "'from his being the first cause of all things, "'which can be but one.'" and from his relations to his creatures as their king, ruler, governor, and lawgiver.

" In other words, there's not a competition. There's not a plethora. There's not a multiplicity. Whatever they're going to witness when they get into the land of Canaan, it's going to be fake. It's going to be false. Baal doesn't answer prayer. Asherah doesn't get Baal to answer prayer. Molech isn't real. All these things are fake and that's why their theology had to be rock solid or they were going to stray. 

If they don't have the proper theology of the living and true God, guess what's going to be absent? They're not going to fear that God. They're not going to honor and revere that God. Why would you fear and honor and revere a God? You can figure out a puzzle you can solve, a solution you can offer. You don't. But if you understand who this living and true God is, the reverence that comes as a result of that, or that fear that comes as a result of that, will hopefully lead to obedience, such that you won't violate the first commandment. 

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods besides me. See, that's another problem that Old Covenant Israel faced when they, you know, went into the land. It wasn't just a, we hate Yahweh, we disbelieve in Yahweh, and so we're gonna turn to Baal, we're gonna turn to Moloch, we're gonna turn to Asherah, we're gonna bow to Dagon. No, they tried to marry the two. God's good for what he does, but, you know, Baal's good with reference to our crops. That's called syncretism. That's marrying things together in a wrong, godless way. In fact, probably in 1 Kings chapter 18, when Elijah gives that contest at Carmel, it probably wasn't the case that they were completely and totally repudiating Yahweh. They wanted Yahweh for what Yahweh could do, but they also wanted to hedge their bets. If Baal's the storm god, we want him. If Dagon, you know, can do this, we want him. In other words, it's multiplying gods to get what it is that we want.

You see this vividly in 2 Kings 17. Or, yeah, 2 Kings 17 at the fall of the northern empire, or northern kingdoms. It's amazing. God sends lions to destroy the people of the land the Samaritans had brought people in. They start worshipping all their false gods, their dunghill deities. That's Poole's language, by the way. all means the Lord of the flies, and so Paul says He's the dunghill deity. It makes great sense in my mind as to why he says that.

But in 2 Kings chapter 17, God sends these lions. What's their response? We need to figure out the religion of this land. There's a priest over there in Bethel. Let's get him and let's see what works to deal with the lion problem. And so it says they had their various gods and they feared Yahweh. Well, they doesn't, the author's not telling us that that's real. I have, you know, this God and I'm fearing, no, it's dripping with irony. You don't have this God and fear Yahweh. Yahweh is exclusive. There's no, you know, I'm gonna take my girlfriend to the altar when I marry my bride and I'm just going to keep her in the wings. No, that's not it at all.

And so that is what they're going to face when they leave the plains of Moab and Joshua leads them into the promised land and they start meeting these various pagans and they start meeting these various heathen. So the exhortation of covenant loyalty from Deuteronomy 5 to 28 has a specific purpose. You're going to receive this land. You're going to be challenged when you get into the land. Again, not militarily, though that, but spiritually. That's the demands of holy war. We'll see it next time in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Don't make alliances with them. Don't enter into politics with them. Don't enter into social, you know, relationship with them. In other words, don't marry them. And certainly don't have religious activity with them.

Isn't this the problem with reference to Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 11? I mean, Solomon was the wisest man ever, save Jesus Christ, a godly, faithful man. You know, we got scripture from Solomon. What happens to Solomon? He multiplies pagan wives. And what happens? They take his heart from devotion to Yahweh to these other gods. And so there is an emphasis on the plains of Moab. We're not supposed to just rush through this as some sort of religious history about a barbaric or antiquated people. If we don't see the application in this New Covenant situation, I mean we don't have Moloch, we don't have Baal, we don't have Dagon, though I'm sure there's some wingnuts out there somewhere that are still worshiping those dunghill deities, but there's still a whole host of idols.

How does John end his first epistle? My little children, keep yourselves from idols. What a downer, John. Why don't you end on, you know, the grace of the Lord Jesus be profusely poured out upon. My little children, keep yourselves from idols, is how he ends 1 John in chapter five at verse 21. Why is that? Because we are prone to wander, prone to leave the God that we love. If something seems to work, wow. That's one of the problems with church preaching. It's not what's useful that we ought to be preaching. It's what's true. It's not what's pragmatic and practical and what helps people to navigate and negotiate in this present. No, no. What is the truth? As if somehow the truth isn't practical. As if somehow the truth isn't that which sustains, blesses, encourages, and helps us along the narrow way.

So the polemics involved here are rich as well. And then note, we'll end here. We're not going to cram in the last part. I don't want to do any cramming tonight. But notice the response to this. So the central confession is verse 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. What do we do with that? What's the practical, you know, how do I use that? What's for me? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. That's the appropriate response. When you're met by the living and the true God, when you understand who he is, when you understand that in this divine and infinite being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence? What is our response to that? It's love, it's adoration, it's honor, it's respect, it's praise. He not only created us, he not only governs and sustains us, but in our case, he's redeemed us. So what is our legitimate response?

In fact, look at Romans 12, where Paul tells us what the legit response is. And it corresponds specifically or corresponds obviously to what we see here in the Shema and the right response in verse 5. So Romans chapters 1 to 11, what does Paul do? He expounds the truth of the gospel. After that section, 118 to 320, where he highlights the universality of sin and condemnation for it under the just judgment of God, he then moves to the presentation of the gospel. In fact, you see it conspicuously. Romans 118, for the wrath of God is revealed. Romans 321, but now the righteousness of God is revealed. And he shows justification by faith alone, how we live as sanctified believers in the Spirit. He deals with election and sovereignty in the place of ethnic Israel up to chapter 11. He ends that section in verse 33 of chapter 11, oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out?

Paul didn't solve the mystery, did he? Paul didn't tie off the loose ends. See, rationalists or those who are not content with mystery are a danger to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses are a danger because they want to solve mystery. They want to have a nice tidy package in a box, which I suggest that if we understand scripture, it's a nice tidy package in a box It's all consistent. There's a consent of all the parts. There's the glory of the living and true God. But to plumb the depths of who God is? No. By nature of the case, the infinite is not going to be fully comprehended by the finite. You don't pour the Pacific Ocean into a glass. And you could do that before you could figure out God in his totality. Right? There's a correlation between Pacific Ocean and a glass. There's no correlation. I mean, there is image-bearing, there's analogically all that. But God is not just a better version of us. So Paul was content with mystery. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has become his counselor? who is first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him, for of him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever, amen.

He ends his presentation of the gospel, specifically a consideration of God's sovereignty and election, the place of ethnic Israel, the inclusion of Gentiles, and he just rejoices in doxological praise.

Now he gets real practical in chapter 12. Notice in verse one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that You present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. Notice, which is your reasonable service. It's rational. It's spiritual. This is legit. This is what is expected of you.

If the God described in chapters 1 to 11 has saved you, through the death of his son, the blood shedding of his son. If Romans 5, 8 is true, God commends his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If Romans 5, 1 is true, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. If Romans 8, 1 is true, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If all that is true, your presentation of your bodies as a living sacrifice is reasonable. It's not super above. You're not going, you know, overboard. You're not, you know, taking one for the team. It's rational. It's right. If God has saved you through the death of his own son, in fact, look at Romans 8.32. Romans 8.32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

If that's true, then it's your reasonable service to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, and that, as He says, is our reasonable service. And then He says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Intriguing, he starts there. When it comes to deal with ethics or how we live in light of the Christian gospel, he begins with this presentation of our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Well, that's what Moses is doing on the plains of Moab in the book of Deuteronomy. Hear, O Israel, verse 4, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And don't miss that, the Lord our God. You know, there's a difference in 2nd London 2-1 and Westminster 2-1. Westminster 2-1 doesn't use the Lord our God. The Baptists do. They're better. No, I'm kidding. But it hearkens to this. Not this abstract, far removed, transcendent being that we have no truck with. No, the Lord, our God.

In other words, you're here on the plains of Moab because of what happened back in Egypt. Remember, you were in bondage. You were in slavery. You were being brutalized by a godless state and totalitarian authority, and God redeemed you. He brought you out of there. He brought you out of there through plaguing the Egyptians, culminating in the death of their firstborn children. You went through the Red Sea. You fought Sihon, and you fought Og, and you went through the wilderness. I mean, you went through it all. And all the while, God carried you. In fact, go back to Deuteronomy 1, where that convention is used, specifically at verse 31. Well, verse 30, the Lord your God who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son and all the way that you went until you came to this place. 

When he gets to Deuteronomy 6, 4, he's reminding them, this is the Lord our God. This is our Savior. This is our King. This is our Redeemer. 

So what is legit and what is appropriate? Well, love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And again, this emphasis on love is all throughout the book of Deuteronomy. You see it in Deuteronomy 10, 11, 13, 19, 30, several times the response of Israel to this good and gracious God. 

Yes, obedience. Yes, fear. but all mingled with love. We respond to God in love. We bless God for his love for us. We love him, as John says, because he first loved us. And so it's a delight and a privilege for us to love him back. So this with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 

Klein says, Yahweh is unique. Deity is confined to Him exclusively. To Yahweh alone must Israel submit in religious covenant. And Him they must serve in the totality of their being with the intensity of love. 

Christopher Wright says, to love God then with all your heart and with all your soul means with your whole self, including your rationality, mental capacity, moral choices and will, inner feelings and desires, and the deepest roots of your life. 

Remember David in Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, and what? Some of what is in me, part of what is in me, reserve a bit for Dagon, a little bit for Moloch, a little bit for Asherah and Baal. No, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 

David wholeheartedly, whole-souledly, and with his whole life praised God. And that's what they're being called to on the plains of Moab. 

is our reasonable service to the God who has saved us by His grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Well, let us pray. 

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this book of Deuteronomy and the blessings that it holds forth and the prefigurements and the types and the shadows and the pointings forward to that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We thank you for what we have in Jesus. We thank you that he is the covenant keeper, that he is the true Israel of God, that he did and accomplished all that Israel in the old covenant failed to carry out. We thank you that he is that holy, harmless, and undefiled man, separate from sinners, holy and righteous for us. 

We ask that you would go with us. We pray that you'd watch over all of the brothers and sisters in our local church, and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Any questions or comments about any of that material? It seemed like it was a lot. 

Yes, go ahead. 

Yeah, yeah, that's good. Good. Amen. Yep, the parallels are very strong. 

And did she have to go to Surrey? 

Yeah, we had that way back.