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OK, we're in Deuteronomy chapter 
six, I'll just pick up reading in 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, 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 you now 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 
asked 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. In the last 
couple of weeks, we noticed the central confession of Israel's 
faith found in verse four hero, Israel, the Lord, our God, the 
Lord is one. And then in verses five to nine 
is the response to that confession. You shall love the Lord, your 
God, with all your heart, with all your soul. and with all your 
strength. You are to internalize it. You 
are to delight in it. You're to diligently teach others. 
And it is to pervasively influence every area of community life, 
every area of family life, every area of individual life. You 
shall bind them. Verse eight, there's a sign on 
your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 
That highlights the individual responsibility. You shall write 
them on the doorposts of your house, the family responsibility 
and on your gate. Societally, the word of God was 
to influence the law of God was to be the foundation of Israel. And so that is the Shema. the 
confession, the proper response. And now there are several warnings 
that God gives through Moses as they prepare to enter into 
the land. In fact, verses 10 to 25 are 
potential dangers and necessary precautions. There are three 
potential dangers that the children of Israel would need to be on 
guard against. And then there are necessary 
precautions, things that they were to implement, things that 
they were supposed to do so that they could successfully guard 
their hearts from falling prey to these dangers. Now, of course, 
we know as we go through history or as we begin to leave the book 
of Deuteronomy, we will see that they fell prey. They did fall 
into. these particular dangers. So 
this isn't all just a bunch of hot air. God through Moses knows 
what God knows what's going to happen. He speaks to those issues 
to try and alert the people. So the potential dangers facing 
the covenant community in the land versus 10 to 16, as I mentioned, 
there are three. And the first is the danger of 
forgetting God because of prosperity. the danger of forgetting God 
because of prosperity. That's found in verses 10 to 
13. Notice the promise is reiterated. So it shall be, verse 10, 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 
this particular land. That is very, very specific and 
conspicuous throughout the narrative. We are never to forget that this 
land acquisition was not because Israel worked hard for it. This 
land acquisition was not because Israel was the smartest nation 
on the face of the earth and figured how to get the people 
out of the land. This land acquisition was purely 
and completely according to the sovereign pleasure of God Almighty. He made a covenant with Abraham 
He reconfirmed that promise, or he continued that promise 
along with Isaac and with Jacob, and now it has come to fruition. 
This whole system, this whole book, everything that we find 
here, which incidentally helps us with verse 25 as well, when 
they speak about their righteousness. We cannot minimize the reality 
that everything that is taking place is according to the gracious 
plan of Almighty God. The covenant promise of God is 
the foundation of Israel's redemption and their subsequent possession 
of the land. So it was the Lord God Almighty 
who brought them out of the land of Egypt. It is the Lord God 
Almighty who has promised to give them the land of Canaan. 
And it is the Lord God Almighty who brings them into that place 
and conveys this benefit upon them. Notice he describes the 
land versus 10 B to 11. And there's a parallel here tells 
us what it is and how they didn't achieve it. That's conspicuous. The author, God, ultimately through 
Moses, wants them to remember this was a gracious deposit on 
behalf of a gracious God. Large and beautiful cities which 
you did not build. Houses full of good things which 
you did not fill. You know, Wells, which you did 
not dig vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plan. So you 
see, there is a conspicuous emphasis in here. It is God's grace that 
is responsible for their possessions. It is not their hard work. It 
is not their ingenuity. It is not their military strategy. It is not their ability. God 
has graciously given them these things. that are in the land. And this then highlights just 
how wicked the sin is. It highlights how grave and severe 
the sin is. God gives them these things. 
God blesses them with large and beautiful cities, with houses 
full of good things, with hewn out wells and vineyards and olive 
trees. And instead of waking up every 
morning and thanking God for what they have, they come to 
the place where they actually forget God. They actually begin 
to think that they've acquired these things without the help, 
without the sovereignty, without the gracious deposit of God Almighty. Alan Harmon says they are reminded 
that their possession of the land and its contents was all 
of grace. And the adjectives used large, 
flourishing, emphasize the bounty of God to his people. I mean, look at what they have 
inherited. Look at what they have received. 
Doesn't this underscore just how bad the sin is when they 
forget God? It's akin to the Christian today 
who has been, by God's grace, called out of darkness into marvelous 
light. The Christian who has been washed 
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Christian who 
then lives as a practical atheist. As if there is no God. As if 
God is not responsible for our salvation. Forgetting the very 
God that brought us out of darkness. Forgetting the very God that 
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places 
in Christ Jesus. Notice that he then highlights 
the potential for danger. You have your cities. You have 
your houses. You have your hewn out wells. 
You have your vineyards and your olive trees. Now, notice the 
end of verse eleven when you have eaten and are full, which 
is God's intention. He's not about, you know, minimizing 
the blessings God made man put him in a garden and told him 
he could freely eat of every tree in the garden, save the 
one God is not stingy. God is not Ebenezer Scrooge. God wants his people to eat. 
He supposes he he infers he realizes. that when they enter into the 
land and there is bounty and there is goodness that they will 
in fact eat and they will be full. But here then comes the 
warning. 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. This is one of the 
problems that prosperity can bring. We know we've seen this 
recently in our studies in the Sermon on the Mount. But I know 
that we referred to Proverbs chapter 30, that great statement 
of Proverbs chapter 32 things I request of you. Deprive me 
not before I die. Remove falsehood and lies far 
from me. Give me or then give me neither 
poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted 
to me, lest I be full and deny you. Lest I be full and forget 
God. Lest I be full and just assume 
the reason I have bounty is because of my hard work, because of my 
ingenuity, because of my industry, because I live next to a Costco 
or a Walmart or a Superstore. We need to guard our hearts against 
falling prey to this particular temptation that would face Israel 
when they would enter into the promised land, and certainly 
must face us living in a land of prosperity. I mean, we live 
better as middle-class people than the kings of the ages past, 
save the ones with all the gold and silver and all those sorts 
of things. Flushing toilets and running water and refrigeration 
and air conditioning and coffee makers and all those things are 
luxury items that the people in the past never, ever possess. And we would be fools to think 
that our prosperity does not dull us to the reality that we 
have a sovereign God who provides every last jot and tittle of 
those good things we possess. Beware, lest you forget the Lord 
who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Meredith Klein said this such. is human perversity that Israel, 
satisfied with the material plenty of a plundered culture, would 
be inclined to honor the vain claims of their victims' idols 
and to forget the claims of their own God who had saved them from 
Egypt and given victory in Canaan. just read that again. Such is 
human perversity that Israel satisfied with the material plenty. All of these cities, all of these 
houses, all of these, you know, wells, all of these vineyards 
and olive trees satisfied with that material plenty of a plundered 
culture. would be inclined to honor the 
vain claims of their victims' idols, the deities of the heathen, 
and to forget the claims of their own God who had saved them. Christopher Wright says, fullness, 
this is very Davis-ish, if I may add. He says, fullness, or perhaps 
Davis is Wright-ish, Fullness can lead to forgetfulness, especially 
forgetfulness of where they came from and what Yahweh had rescued 
them from, the land of slavery. We need to be on guard that our 
fullness does not lead to forgetfulness. You see, the same sorts of dangers 
that confronted Israel as they entered into the promised land 
are the same sorts of dangers that confront the true Israel 
of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, when we live amongst plenty. 
There are all kinds of things vying for our attention. It's 
not wrong to work hard. It's not wrong to make money. 
It's not wrong to do those lawful things God has called us to do. 
Do not leave here saying, oh, we've got to take a vow of poverty 
or a vow of celibacy or all those things that the monks do. I'm 
not saying that at all, but I am suggesting that we need to be 
mindful of the potential danger that is there and take active 
steps to resist the temptation that affluence brings to the 
people of God in specifically North American culture. Remember, 
Paul writes to Timothy and he tells him how to instruct the 
rich in the church. He doesn't tell him, you know, 
Timothy, just tell everybody to get rid of everything they've 
got. Tell them to take a vow of poverty, to shave their heads, 
put on orange, you know, sheets and go bang tambourines at the 
airport. That's not what he says. He tells 
him very specifically, verse 17 of first Timothy six, command 
those who are rich in this present age. I've always found this to 
be interesting as a sideline note. Command that. Very often rich people are the 
leaders, rich people are the ones who command others. Paul 
tells Timothy, who probably didn't make near the money that these 
rich people made, you command them that this is the way they 
are to use God's money. You don't let them tell you what 
they're going to do in terms of this, that, and the other. 
Now, I'm not suggesting that the man of God is involved in 
everybody's details, but it's an intriguing use of the word. 
Command those who are rich in this present age. Again, not 
get rid of it, not sell everything you have, not leave your house, 
but those who are rich in this present age, they're not to be 
haughty. Riches bring a haughtiness. An 
accomplished man, very often, Demonstrates his accomplishments. We need to be mindful of that. 
And by the way, I don't think of anybody here picking on anybody 
here. I really am absolutely not. So don't get that in your mind. 
Oh, he's got this worked in for me. No, it's in the text. I thought 
we should spend time here. So not to be haughty, nor to 
trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. There's that 
whole God and man thing. Right. Money has got me this 
house. Money has got me this car. Money 
has got me. No, no, no. Wait a minute. Back 
it off. Back it down and reflect upon 
reality. The earth is the Lord's and the 
fullness thereof. Everything belongs to God. What 
you possess is as a steward. God has entrusted it to you. 
Never forget that we are prone to focus on the gift and forget 
the giver. Paul says, don't let them do 
that. Don't trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God 
who gives us richly all things to enjoy. You see, he's even 
realizing you don't have these things so that you can grimace 
when you use them or or feel guilty. If God has prospered 
you and blessed you, it's not wrong to smile when you eat a 
good meal. It's not wrong to rejoice in 
the kindness of God. In fact, as we work our way through 
Deuteronomy, that's an indictment upon the people. They will go 
into the land and they won't be thankful to God. They won't 
rejoice in God. He doesn't send you into this 
land with all this bounty and say, just go in there and be 
miserable. No, go in there and rejoice, 
eat to the glory of God, drink to the glory of God, enjoy things 
to the glory of God. But the temptation is to forget 
the giver and focus on the gift. He gives us these things to enjoy. 
He then says in verse 18, let them do good, that they be rich 
in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up 
for themselves a good foundation for the time to come. that they 
may lay hold on eternal life. So there is a real life danger 
about with reference to forgetting God because of prosperity now 
built in right here in verse 13 is how we are to respond to 
this. What is the proper response with 
reference to large and beautiful cities, to houses full of good 
things, to hewn out wells, to vineyards and olive trees? The 
proper response isn't, we're going to go back. We're going 
to leave the promised land. This is too nice, God. We can't 
have this. I think I sometimes function that way. Maybe it was 
my Roman Catholic upbringing, but guilt played heavy in my 
upbringing. Everything. I felt guilty about 
everything. There's a temptation and a tendency 
in some people to feel so guilty about stuff. I don't want to 
use it. That's not the instruction. You're going to go to these cities. 
You're going to go to these houses. You're going to have these vineyards. 
You're going to have these olive trees. The proper response is 
to fear God. When you go into that land of 
Canaan and you reap the benefit, you reap the bounty. Notice what 
verse 13 says. You shall fear the Lord your 
God. When you go into that land and 
you are enjoying the blessings, you respond properly to the God 
of heaven and earth. You revere him. You honor him. 
You adore him. You glorify him. You praise him. You acknowledge his handiwork. 
You acknowledge his kindness. You acknowledge his mercy and 
his grace. You acknowledge your nothingness 
beforehand. You acknowledge the fact that 
everything you possess, everything that he has given, is by a gracious 
deposit from the hand of a merciful God. This is the way you were, 
the way Israel was supposed to respond when they found themselves 
in Canaan reaping the benefits of things that they had no part 
in building. Notice not only fear Yahweh, 
but serve Yahweh, serve him. You think he gave you those cities 
and those houses so you could just sit back and forget him? No, he gave you those cities. 
He gave you those houses. He gave you those wells. He gave 
you those vineyards and olive trees so you could serve God. 
And there's a sharp contrast here. There's a sharp contrast 
between 12 and 13. Notice the end of 12. 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 what serve him. Serve him. The people went from 
slavery in Egypt to a new kind of slavery. The root word in 
12 and 13 both is the same. The idea here is that they have 
transferred from the ownership of Egypt to the ownership of 
God most high. Craigie says both words are derived 
from the same route and contrast vividly the old and new masters 
of Israel. You see, it's never a question 
of slavery versus non-slavery. It's always a question of whose 
slave will you be. And when God liberates them from 
Egypt, and puts them into the land of Canaan. They are to fear 
him. They are to rightly think of 
God. They are to rightly relate to God, and they are to serve 
him. They are to be his vassals. They 
are to be his subordinates. They are to be his loyal subjects. 
They are to use those benefits and those gifts that God has 
conferred upon them for the glory of God in the service of God. You see the beauty of this. He 
says, this is what you're getting. This is how you may be tempted 
to react by forgetting God. But don't do that. Do just the 
opposite. Not only should you not fear 
God, beware lest you fear him, but rather you should fear him. 
Rather, you should serve him and rather you should swear oaths 
in his name. That's the last part of verse 
13. You shall take oaths in his name. Meredith Klein again said swearing 
by Yahweh's name was in effect a renewal of the oath of allegiance 
which ratified the covenant. So every time you swore in the 
name of God. Now we're not talking about curse 
words. We're not talking about you hit 
your thumb with a hammer and you let fly. No, it means swearing 
oaths, lawful oaths as the Bible sets before us. He says it was, 
in effect, a renewal of the oath of allegiance with which ratified 
the covenant. So when you go into that land, 
don't forget God. When you go into that land, fear 
God. When you go into that land, serve 
God. And when you go into that land 
continually, when you're swearing oaths to this God or in the name 
of this God, what you are doing is ratifying or renewing or reviving 
within your own soul and mindset this covenant that you are in 
with the living God. It's a beautiful section. He 
doesn't say get rid of everything. Fill in the wells and start over 
again. I mean, it's always amazed me, 
you know, the people that oppose sovereignty. How do you get past 
the fact that God took a people who no doubt worked hard? I mean, 
those canines, they were wicked, but they worked hard. They built 
cities. They built houses. They dug out 
wells and they planted vineyards and all of trees. God then tells 
the people who are no more righteous. He tells the people who are not 
more numerous. He tells the people that are 
not, you know, more in number to go in and take their land. 
That's what I'm giving to you. How do you not see sovereignty 
in that? How do you miss that if you're 
an opponent of sovereign grace? God says to one people dispossess 
the land of that people. And I want you to take what they've 
built hard or they've built with their hard work. It's an amazing 
display of the sovereignty of God here. So that's the danger 
of forgetting God because of prosperity. Notice secondly, 
verses 14 and 15. The danger of forsaking God because 
of idolatry. Notice in verse four, you shall 
not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are all 
around you. That is the command to avoid 
idolatry. Now, again, this temptation would 
be real. The people of Israel are told 
to go in and dispossess the land. God knows good and well they're 
not going to dispossess the land. What happens when you don't dispossess 
the land? Well, eventually you become friends 
with the people that you should have dispossessed. Unfortunately, 
eventually you start marrying people that are a part of the 
people that you should have dispossessed from the land. See, when you 
become their friends and when you become their husbands or 
their wives, it's not long before you're bowing with them to their 
God. You see, bad company does corrupt. We need to guard our hearts. 
We need to make sure that we're not going after the other gods 
as well. They would live in neighborhoods. 
I don't know if they look like neighborhoods today, but they 
would see their neighbors praying to bail or praying to the other 
gods that they would get rain upon their crops. Again, the 
tendency would be within the heart of depraved man that Calvin 
says the heart of man is an idle factory. When you see someone 
committing idolatry, hey, what are you doing there? Well, I'm 
praying to Baal because he's the storm god. And when we pray 
to him, he causes rain to fall upon our cross and we get a bounty. You ought to try it. Well, the 
non-confessional Israelite, the one who is not living consistently, 
has not responded properly to the Shema. He hasn't taken heed 
to these particular warnings. What does he find? He ends up 
finding himself bowing down, praying to Baal that Baal would 
rain on his crops. And then the neighbor says, oh, 
there's this other thing that we do in order to get Baal really 
to start raining on our crops. We have sex with other people 
because that's what primes the pump, so to speak, with reference 
to Baal. When he sees us doing these things, 
then he really goes into action. That's how Baal worship functioned. 
It was sexual in nature, and the people would engage in sexual 
immorality such that they would hope Baal would reciprocate and 
bring blessing upon their crops. You see, there is a slippery 
slide or a slippery slope here. God says, do not go after other 
gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you. The Israelites 
would fail to dispossess the land of Canaanites. They would 
befriend the Canaanites. They would eventually bow down 
with the Canaanites to the gods of the land. This is why later 
in Deuteronomy 12, there will be centralized worship. a central 
place for worship. Why the people of God would have 
to go to the tabernacle and to the temple? It was to try and 
avoid and try and help prevent them from engaging in idolatry 
that would be the natural inclination and tendency. And then he gives 
the reason for the command. And this shouldn't surprise us 
if we've been reading Deuteronomy, we've already seen this in Deuteronomy 
4.24 and in the second word in Deuteronomy 5.9. Notice in verse 
15, after the prohibition against idolatry in verse 14, there is 
the reason stated. Four, the Lord your God is a 
jealous God among you. The Lord your God is a jealous 
God among you. He's already stipulated that 
the Shaman necessitates that the Lord, our God, the Lord is 
one. Remember, he's incomparable. 
He is unique, but as well, he is solitary. He is alone. He is singular. There are no 
other gods. so that when we go after other 
gods, we provoke the jealousy of Yahweh. And we certainly don't 
want to do that, because notice what he goes on to say in verse 
15. Lest the anger of the Lord your 
God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of 
the earth. I don't think this is expulsion 
from the land, though that would certainly happen. He's talking 
about being destroyed from the face of the earth. We need to 
understand how idolatry provokes the Lord our God. I mentioned 
Deuteronomy 4.24. We can read that. It says, For 
the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. So, both concepts are present 
here in verse 15. He is jealous and he is a consuming 
fire, lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you 
and destroy you from the face of the earth. Again, the modern 
application of this is we need to guard ourselves against idols, 
whatever those idols might be. Now, they could be legitimate 
things. Sometimes people take a good 
thing God has given and make an idol out of it. Right. What 
do you mean? Yeah, we all know that, don't 
we? God gave good gifts, according to Paul in first Timothy six, 
that we should enjoy them. But rather, we become enslaved 
by them. And those things that are to 
be tools and resources and blessings and benefits to lead us to a 
deeper appreciation of our great God, to lead us to fear him and 
to serve him and to swear oaths in his name, are those things 
which ultimately become enslaving to us. We need to guard our hearts 
against the idolatry of the land, of the peoples around us. And 
then the third. danger, the third potential danger 
facing the covenant community in the land is the danger of 
testing God because of difficulty. Verse 16. You shall not tempt 
the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massa. Now there's no paragraph break 
in the in between 16 and 17. I think 17 goes with or summarizes the entirety. I think verse 16 stands alone. That's sort of my impression 
at this particular time. We'll just take up verse 16 here. You shall not tempt the Lord 
your God as you tempted him in Massa. Remember who said this 
or who quoted this was Jesus. when he was being tempted in 
the wilderness by the devil. The testing here, the idea here, 
is test. I want to quote Christopher Wright 
again. He says, the Hebrew word does 
not mean to tempt someone by trying to entice them to do what 
is wrong, but rather to test or prove whether someone will 
really do what they say. This is precisely the nuance 
of the people's challenge at Massah. You can go back there 
for just a moment, Exodus 17. This is what's in being referred 
to Exodus 17, beginning in verse one. Then all the congregation of 
the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness 
of sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim, 
but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the 
people contended with Moses and said, Give us water that we may 
drink. So Moses said to them, Why do 
you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord? The 
people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against 
Moses and said, Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt 
to kill us and our children and our livestock, excuse me, with 
thirst? So Moses cried out to the Lord, 
saying, What shall I do with his people? They are almost ready 
to stone me. The Lord said to Moses, Go on 
before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel. 
Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river 
and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock 
in Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water will come 
out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the 
sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the 
place Massa and Meribah because of the contention of the children 
of Israel and because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord 
among us or not? You see, that's the issue. Is 
the Lord among us or not? Back to Deuteronomy six. Verse 
16, You shall not tempt or test the Lord your God as you tempted 
him in Massa. Again, Christopher Wright says, 
This is precisely the nuance of the people's challenge at 
Massa. This God, Yahweh, can he do what he promised? Is he 
really competent? Is he really with us? Such testing 
of Yahweh flows from a lack of belief in his words. and comes despite the fact that 
this people has witnessed God's previous faithfulness. This kind 
of hardship is commonly induced by need and hardship, and this 
warning comes. I'm sorry, this kind of temptation 
is commonly induced by need and hardship, and this warning comes 
because life will not always be as idyllic and effortless 
as pictured in verse 11. So you see, there's going to 
be a day when you're large and beautiful cities have problems. 
Your house is full of good things run low. Your well's dry up and 
your vineyards and olive trees die. What is going to be your 
response? Where is God? Where is the Lord? This is the sort of testing, 
the sort of tempting that they would be prone or they would 
be tempted or induced to engage in. Do not tempt him or test 
him as you did in Massa. Don't question his veracity. 
Don't question his word. Do not question his covenant 
promises. Do not question his faithfulness. 
When you go into the land, When there isn't great benefit, there 
isn't great plenty. You need to guard your heart 
against this temptation to to mumble, to grumble, to whine 
and to complain. Israel tested God at NASA in 
a time of hardship. So you see, I think the new covenant 
or our sort of application to this don't tempt the Lord your 
God. As you tempted him in Massa, 
when trials come, when hardships come, when difficulties arise, 
do not immediately conclude. God has abandoned you. God has 
left you. Or where is the Lord? Or can 
he handle these particular things? You need to be faithful. You 
need to be solid. You need to be steady. Far too 
often, brethren, and I've seen this in my own life, I've seen 
it for 15 years pastoring people. I've seen it for 20 years as 
a Christian. We are governed by our emotions 
and governed by our circumstances. God calls us to be governed by 
his word, not our emotions, not our circumstances, because our 
emotions and our circumstances go like this. When we're down, 
we have no thought of God. When we're up, he's our best 
friend. Governed by the word means we 
have a steady, constant dependence upon him. We don't call him into 
question. We don't ask whether he's there 
or not. We know he's present. We know 
he's true. We know as he has spoken according 
to his word. This is the temptation that they 
are being warned about. Do not tempt him, do not test 
him as you did at Massa. Is the Lord among us or not? 
You see, built in to such a statement is that God is only there when 
it's good. That's that's wicked. Some people who go through trials 
and difficulties can testify on the other side, God was there 
in those trials and difficulties. We are not to judge the Lord 
by feeble sense. We're not to say, well, as long 
as everything's going well, then I'm going to be God's. You know, 
I'm going to I'm going to be a fan of God. But as soon as 
those things dry up, soon as my well no longer gives me water, 
my vineyards no longer yield fruit. Soon as that happens, 
this is going to be my retort. Is the Lord among us or not? 
Implicit is we'll only serve you, God, as long as you keep 
the gravy train flowing. Will only serve you, God, as 
long as my marriage is happy. I'll only serve you, God, as 
long as my children obey. I'll only serve you, God, as 
long as my parents give me what I want. I'll only serve you, 
God, as long as I'm pleased with the church service. I'll only 
serve you, God, as long as my business prospers. But as soon 
as there's any trial or any difficulty, the temptation wells up, is the 
Lord among us or not? That's wicked. He says, don't 
do that. Beware of this. This is a temptation. This is 
a potential danger that you will face in the land. It will not 
always be this rosy environment. There will not always be happiness 
and joy on every front. There will be times of trial 
and difficulty. How will you respond to that? 
See, what's so faulty about a health, wealth and prosperity gospel, 
what is so faulty about a gospel that is no gospel that promotes 
happiness before the glory of God, is that as soon as anything 
hard comes to a man or a woman who supposedly has faith in Jesus, 
they're shattered, they're gone, they're destroyed. We cannot 
do that. Just recently posted on our blog 
a quote from Machen that speaks to this. Jay Gress of Machen, 
and I think he's spot on with this. He says, We value God solely 
for the things he can do. We make of him a mere means to 
an ulterior end, and God refuses to be treated so. Such a religion 
always fails in the hour of need. If we have regarded religion 
merely as a means of getting things, even lofty and unselfish 
things, then when the things that we have been gotten are 
destroyed, our faith will fail. When loved ones are taken away, 
when disappointment comes and failure, when noble ambition 
ambitions are set at not, then we turn away from God. We have 
tried religion. We say we have tried prayer and 
it has failed. Of course, it has failed. God 
is not content to be an instrument in our hand or a servant at our 
beck and call. He is not content to minister 
to the worldly needs of those who care, not a wit for him or 
a bit for him. Has it ever dawned on us that 
God is valuable for his own sake, that just as personal communion 
is the highest thing that we know on Earth, so personal communion 
with God is the sublimest height of all. If we value God for his 
own sake, then the loss of other things will draw us closer to 
him. We shall then have recourse to 
him in time of trouble, as to the shadow of a great rock in 
a weary land. That is absolutely perceptive 
that I wish every Christian could read, think about and get it 
in their heart. That's the focus. That's the 
thrust. That's the intent here in verse 
16. Don't tempt him. Don't test him. Don't base your relationship 
on your emotions, your happiness, your getting us your success, 
your circumstances. It is to be grounded solely in 
the word that God, the Lord has spoken. God, the Lord, who is 
truth, who cannot lie. We need to believe it. We need 
to say with Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I mean, that is genuine faith 
right there. When things are dark, bleak, 
depressing, and down, and you say with Job, though he slay 
me, yet will I trust him. So those are the potential dangers 
in the land that they would face. I don't want to rush through 
the necessary precautions to be employed, because I think 
those actually deserve a bit more attention. So let's just 
review what we've looked at. The three particulars. One, the 
danger of forgetting God because of prosperity. Two, the danger 
of forsaking God because of idolatry. Didn't really develop that one 
too much because it just recently preached on Romans 1, the effects 
of idolatry and its effects. Just think, anything not God 
can be an idol in your life. And again, legitimate things, 
right? You know, sometimes people put their children before God. 
Sometimes people put their spouses before God. Sometimes people 
put, obviously, their possessions before God. They put their leisure 
before God. They put their recreation before 
God. They put their success before God. They can put anything and 
everything before God. It's not just sticks and stones 
and totem poles and, you know, the sorts of idols that we imagine 
when we think of that word idolatry. It could be sexuality. It could 
be power. It could be prestige. It could 
be any number of things. Again, what is an idol for a 
particular man is what is in his heart, and we need to understand 
that we need to identify those things in our lives that we need 
to avoid that we need to resist that temptation and then the 
danger of testing God because of difficulty. We need to guard 
severely against that in a very me-oriented generation, a me-oriented 
society. We often think that me comes 
first. And he doesn't come first. We 
want God to come first. We want him to be glorified. 
We want to trust in his blessed word. Well, I'll close in prayer 
and then turn this off and then we can have some discussion. 
Father, thank you for this. Your word and God, we acknowledge 
and we would even confess these things. These dangers are real 
dangers. They're not some made up things 
that Moses on the Mount tried to use to manipulate people or 
control people. Certainly, God, prosperity and 
affluence can infect and affect the soul in such a way that we 
have a tendency to forget you. We know as well, God, the temptation, 
the tendency to idolatry in our hearts. John writes his first 
epistle and signs off, little children, keep yourselves from 
idols. Father, help us to guard our hearts in this regard. And 
as well, Father, help us not to test you or tempt you and 
doubt your word and and be governed by our emotions and be governed 
by our circumstances. But may we be governed by our 
our our Bibles, by knowledge of who you are, Lord God, and 
that we would trust in you in the good times and in the bad 
times. And I pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen.