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All right, you can turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4. So we pick up the latter half of that chapter. So basically there are several exhortations by Moses to the children of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. They are on the plains of Moab, poised and ready to go into the promised land to take the land that was promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So the section that we've been in from chapter 1 to chapter 4 is a historical review, where they had been and how God had preserved and delivered them. The next exhortation begins in chapter 5, continues all the way to chapter 28, and it's an exhortation to pursue covenant loyalty. So the emphasis is upon God's law as their constitution for life in the land.

And then the final exhortation is summary and conclusion in chapters 29 and 30. This is then followed by the succession of Joshua into a position of leadership over Israel, and then of course the death of Moses. One man has said that the historical prologue closes with exhortation. This is transitional to the following section on the obligations of the covenant relationship. So that's our section here in chapter 4.

And remember, this isn't just a dry history book that Moses is reading. to the children of Israel. Moses had witnessed God's hand in moving them from point A to point B. He had witnessed as well the death of the first generation. And so in these impassioned pleas, he's exhorting the second generation to faithfulness before God so that when they enter into that land, they're able to retain it, they're able to be blessed by God, and they're able to fulfill the covenant made by God with them. We know, of course, that that doesn't happen, but Moses' intention on the plains of Moab is to ready and prepare the people. So I want to begin reading in verse 25. We left off there, or left off at verse 24 last time. So beginning in Deuteronomy 24, verse 25.

When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.

You will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him, with all your heart and with all your soul.

When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice, for the Lord your God is a merciful God, He will not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you. Since the day that God created man on the earth and asked from one end of heaven to the other whether any great thing like this has happened or anything like it has been heard, did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and live? Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it has been shown that you might know that the Lord Himself is God. There is none other besides Him.

Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you. On earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He brought you out of Egypt with His presence, with His mighty power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land in inheritance as it is this day.

Therefore, know this day and consider it in your heart that the Lord himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other. You shall therefore keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God has given you for all time.

Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live. Bazar in the wilderness on the plateau of the Reubenites, Ramoth and Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan and Bashan for the Manassites. Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, on this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, who Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt. And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun from Erebor, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, even to Mount Sion, that is Hermon, and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan, as far as the sea of the Erebah, below the slopes of Pisgah.

Amen. Well, just by way of review, the previous section, we had first an emphasis on the necessity of obedience in verses 1 to 8. So chapter 4, verses 1 to 8, you have a command in verse 1, a warning in verse 2, a reminder in verses 3 and 4, and then an encouragement in verses 5 to 8. With reference to that encouragement in verses 5 to 8, surely I've 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."

One of the functions of Old Covenant Israel was to mediate the blessings of God to the nations around them. Notice in verse 7, 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 they were to be a conduit of blessing for the nations around them, but of course they imitated the nations around them, reaped the curses of the covenant, were thrown out of the land, And so Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes, the true Israel of God, and he mediates the blessings of God throughout the uttermost parts of the earth.

And then we come to the dangers of idolatry. So verses 9 to 31, the major section in this particular chapter, you've got the dangers of idolatry. So we see a prohibition against idolatry in verses 9 to 24, and where we'll pick up properly tonight is the consequences of idolatry in verses 25 to 31. But just by way of review with reference to the prohibition, notice the command in verses 9 to 14. Don't commit idolatry.

This is very important and very necessary. They're going to enter into the land of Canaan, and the various Canaanite people that are in that land have their own gods. They have various gods. They have all kinds of gods. And so Israel is reminded that they need to maintain fidelity to the true and living God.

The first commandment is very clear. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not add gods to me to try to sort of flesh out or make fuller your ability to invoke the divine. No, you are to maintain fidelity before God. There is a need for self-discipline. Notice in chapter 4, verse 9a, only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself.

The accent or the emphasis always falls on that. Not that fathers are not supposed to be responsible for their children. Not that the civil polity isn't supposed to be responsible for justice in the land. But government is only as good as individual government. Self-government is an emphasis here in this particular chapter, but throughout the scriptures.

Solomon says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. And that's the emphasis that God is giving through Moses to these various people. There is a need as well for remembrance. Verse 9b, don't forget from whence you've come. Take heed to yourselves, and diligently keep yourselves, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life."

As Davis says, the greatest enemy of faith may be forgetfulness. It's good for us to rehearse and recall and remember the various things that we find in the Bible. That's why it's a good practice to read the Bible every day. It's good practice to attend to the corporate means of grace so that you can hear the preaching of the Bible, so that we don't forget the things our eyes have seen, the things that we have learned, the things that we know of God.

And then there in verse 9 as well is the need for propagation. Notice at the end of verse 9, "...and teach them to your children and your grandchildren." Craigie says, "...forgetfulness opened the door to failure." And so it was vital that the people of God not only remember their experience of God's mighty hand, but also that they pass on the memory and thus the experience to their children. They're supposed to pass that information down in a manner similar to Ephesians 6.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. There is a heavy emphasis in Deuteronomy on the subsequent generations. Remember, this is the second generation. Moses does not want them or their descendants to replicate the sins of the first generation. And then notice there's an emphasis on review in verses 10 to 14.

What kinds of things are we supposed to do in terms of instructing our children? Notice in verse 10, 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. So they need to teach their children the fear of the Lord. They need to remember the manifestation of the glory of God at Sinai, and they need to remember the revelation of that divine word according to verses 12 to 14. Notice in verse 12, the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form. You only heard a voice.

Ours is not a visually stimulated religion. It is a word-based or revelatory religion. And so this is sort of backdrop or with reference to the first commandment, or the second commandment rather. The first commandment defines the object of worship, and the second commandment defines the manner of worship. We're not supposed to worship the true God the wrong way. And that's why the second commandment is there. We're supposed to worship the true God in the way that he has commanded.

And so you saw no form, but rather you heard the word revealed by God. And then notice in verse 13, he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform the 10 commandments. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone. As I mentioned last time, this is a unique way of referring to the moral of God.

The argument is not that the ceremonial and the judicial law didn't come from God. They did come from God. But the Ten Commandments, or the moral law, are said to be written by the very finger of God, showing the perpetuity and the trans-covenantal application of that moral law. The ceremonial law was operative in the Old Covenant. The judicial law was operative in the Old Covenant. The moral law transcends the Old Covenant and comes right over to the New Covenant.

And so you see that emphasis on that revealed word having been written by God himself. And then this particular section in verses 15 to 19, we see a warning. There's an exhortation, take careful heed to yourselves, again the emphasis on self-government.

The reason the Israelites did not see the form of God, but they received that word, they're not supposed to make for themselves images, and then specific prohibitions in terms of idolatry in verses 16 to 19. They're not to make carved images of earthly things. They're not to lift up their eyes to celestial things. They're prohibited against the false worship of good things that God gave to all men, according to verse 19b. God gave the sun, God gave the moon, He gave the stars for the benefit of all men. Don't lift your eyes up to those things and treat them as divine. Don't lift your eyes up to those things and treat them as objects of worship. You're not supposed to do that.

As Wright said, the list of possible shapes that idols might take in verses 16-19 is given in an order that precisely reverses the order of the creation narrative. Human beings, land animals, birds, fish, the heavenly bodies. The point, probably being made deliberately through this literary feature, is that idolatry not only corrupts God's redemptive achievement for God's people, but perverts and turns upside down the whole created order. So the emphasis for the children of Israel is to guard against that kind of a thing.

And then this section ends with a reminder in verses 20 to 24. God redeemed them, therefore he alone is worthy of worship. God judges. Remember Moses witnessed this for himself in the various expressions of God's righteous wrath in Numbers specifically. as well the necessity of faithfulness to God in verse 23, and then an underscoring of the righteousness of God in verse 24.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God, a quote or a text rather quoted by the apostle in Hebrews chapter 12 at verse 29 in the context of acceptable worship. And so that statement undergirds the various expression of worship in both the Old and the New Covenant. Our God is a consuming fire.

In other words, you don't play games with Him. You don't treat Him as if He's an equal. You don't treat Him as if He's a pagan deity, and you've just got to appease Him in the manner of the heathen around you. No, this God is a consuming fire. He is, in fact, a jealous God.

So after that prohibition against idolatry in verses 9 to 24, we come to the consequences of idolatry in verses 25 to 31. And the sin specifically is identified there in verse 25, when you beget children and grandchildren, and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God, to provoke him to anger.

I think the emphasis on the children and the grandchildren specifically is longevity. It speaks of them growing old in the land. But I think if we're reading properly, and the emphasis in the earlier part of the chapter was on teaching or instructing our children, I think the implication, or the suggestion at least, is that the begotten children and grandchildren learned idolatry from their fathers and their grandfathers.

This is symptomatic of godless people. They pass down. It's not some generational curse. Sometimes you meet believers that have this idea of a generational curse. Because of the sins of the fathers, the children are going to go in a particular direction. It's not genetic. It's learned. I think Ezekiel 18 is very clear. The soul that sins shall die.

If the son follows his father's example, that son is wicked and will be judged accordingly. But if a son sees his father, and he sees the wickedness, but the son resists that, and he doesn't follow that path, then he doesn't come under God's judgment.

As well, at Shechem, according to Joshua chapter 24, there's a covenant renewal ceremony and it speaks of Abraham's father having been an idolater. The implication is that Abraham was an idolater as well. He didn't come out of the womb as father Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites. No, he was an idolater. He came out from Ur of the Chaldeans.

And so what we find in this particular section is a prophecy, a programmatic statement, this whole section, concerning what's really going to happen with Old Covenant Israel. So you see, built into the Old Covenant, God reveals to them they're going to break the Old Covenant. Throughout the Old Covenant, it's emphasized that you are going to go astray.

How does God know that? Well, He's God, but also, it's already happened. They received the law in Exodus chapter 20, and by Exodus chapter 32, they're predicating of a golden calf, the power of having brought them out of the land of Egypt. They're dancing around it, they're worshiping it, they're giving praise and honor to it.

Of course Old Covenant Israel is going to fail in a covenant of works, and that's what we have in the Old Covenant. It's preparatory. It restrains them as a body politic. It keeps the line pure such that Messiah can come. But built into the Old Covenant is a recognition that the people of Israel are going to fail and break the Old Covenant, and the hope is ultimately in the New Covenant Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So there were saved people in the Old Covenant, but they were looking forward to the promise of God, first given in Genesis 3.15, shown by types in Genesis 22, further illustrated along the way. But the Old Covenant was a covenant in which there was death promised and curse and judgment, and they would reap that. They'd already reaped it. The first generation is gone. So as we move through this particular section, this one specifically, we'll notice that God is basically telling them what's going to happen in their future.

So notice, after highlighting the sin of idolatry, there is an invocation of witnesses. Witnesses to the covenant. Verse 26a, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day. God calls upon the created order to function as a witness with reference to Him and His covenant people Israel. This is a feature that you see often in the Old Testament.

I think one of the most pronounced ones is in the prophet Micah in Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6. We're all very familiar with verse 8, but we should get the context in Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6, specifically in verse 1, hear now what the Lord says.

And this has the setup or the function of a courtroom scene. God, through the prophet Micah, is indicting the nation for their sin and rebellion. They broke the covenant that God had sworn with them. They broke the covenant that at the base of Sinai they swore allegiance to. So hear now what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord's complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel. Oh, my people, what have I done to you?

And how have I wearied you? Testify against me, for I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from the house of bondage, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Oh, my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam, the son of Baor, answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord.

So in a courtroom, this is the proceedings. You've got the witnesses in place, and then God sets forth His case. What have I done? I've only ever done good to you. I've only ever delivered you and redeemed you and sustained you and protected you, even from the likes of Balak and Balaam. Now here comes their case, with what shall I come before the Lord? This is intriguing. Again, we all know verse 8, He has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Probably a slogan or a banner, you know, in just about every Christian school in the world. Right? A bumper sticker. I mean, that's a great statement. That's a wonderfully, powerfully, beautiful statement. It's a statement of indictment. It's a statement of rebuke. They ask the question, with what shall I come before the Lord?

The answer is, He has shown you. You're not in this predicament for a lack of knowledge. You're not in this predicament because God didn't instruct. You're not in this predicament because Moses didn't reveal. You're in this predicament because you're wretched, you're lawless, and you've transgressed the covenant.

So back to verse 6, with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? It's really very insulting. What's he want from us? What's his beef with us? Why does he have this axe here? Oh, what are we supposed to do? Gather up all these things and bring them to him so we can get him off our backs?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? They're arguing like Moloch worshipers. Does Yahweh want our kids? Does Yahweh want a human sacrifice?

That's the tenor of verse 8. He's shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? This comes from Deuteronomy 10, 10-12. It's repeated in Proverbs 21. It's in Hosea 12. It's in Zechariah 7. It's in Matthew 23.

You tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, but you neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. You see, Israel knew their problems weren't a lack of knowledge. Their problems were godless hearts that went a-whoring from the true and living God. So back to our text, that's the function of the witnesses here.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day. And then notice the specific consequences involved in idolatry, picking up in 26b, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess. You will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.

Now that statement is a part of Leviticus 26. Again, they're not, wow, this is new information, Moses. We never knew there would be exile potentially in our future if we were unfaithful. It's going to be codified in spades in Deuteronomy chapter 28. But Leviticus 26 is the curses of the covenant, the blessings involved in covenant faithfulness.

So what is Moses saying? Moses is saying that if you engage in idolatry, you grow old in that land, you've got children and grandchildren, and you've not only engaged in idolatry yourself, but you've passed that idolatry on to them via example and teaching, you're going to reap the consequences associated with your disobedience. And so that's what he's telling them.

The Lord will scatter you among the peoples. You will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. Look back to chapter 1, verse 11. Chapter 1, verse 11. This is Moses. He says, May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are and bless you as he has promised you. This is Moses' hope, this is Moses' prayer, this is Moses' desire, but Moses is conscious of the fact that they're going to go into the land, they're going to sin and rebel, and again Moses isn't God, he's speaking by the Spirit of God to be sure, but Moses' experience has taught him. It's not like Moses thinks that he's dealing with a bunch of innocent, delicate, perfect individuals. He has seen the first generation. He's got the wherewithal to suspect that it could possibly be an issue with the second generation. And so he's telling them that these things are going to happen.

So notice in verse 28 of chapter 4, "...and there you will serve gods the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell." The psalmist picks up that language when he mocks the gods of the nations. When he says they have eyes but they don't see, they have ears but they don't hear, they have noses but they don't smell, they have mouths but they don't talk. That's a mockery of the gods of the heathen. It is a put-down. In other words, they are impotent.

They can't do anything. much unlike your God who has redeemed you out of Egypt, who has brought you through the wilderness, who has put you in the plains of Moab, and who's going to deliver on his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and give you that land flowing with milk and honey.

To notice then, verse 29, But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice, for The Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers, which he swore to them."

So wonderful expression of what is going to happen in terms of their rebellion, in terms of their exile, but then in terms of restoration. After the Babylonian captivity, what happens to those people in Babylon? They get to return to Judah. God doesn't fully cut them off. He preserves Judah specifically so that Messiah can come from that people group.

But it underscores the reality that even in the midst of affliction and hardship and judgment, there is nevertheless mercy to be had in our great God. Wright says, it was the fire of God's jealousy that protected the strength of God's mercy and covenant faithfulness to his people. In rebellion and idolatry, they would find the God of verse 24. In return and obedience, they would find the God of verse 31. And if you look at verses 29 to 30 again, but from there you will seek the Lord your God.

Brethren, it's a tough lesson, but I think some have learned it. Did chastisement and affliction work for good in the Christian life? I know that's not normally how we want our good. We'd like to just ease from good to better. But oftentimes it's affliction and hardship. What's the psalmist say? It was good for me that I was afflicted. Why? Because then I sought your word.

It was good for Israel to go into exile. Again, humanly speaking, who wants to go into exile? Who wants to leave their home, their gardens, their country, their whatever, and go to Babylon? Well, it turns out many of them liked it there and stayed there. Coming back to Judah wasn't the biggest number. It wasn't the number it should have been. So there were people that quite liked it there in Babylon. I think there was about 49,000 that returned from Babylon to Judah, give or take. That was a fraction. So there are those who prefer life in Babylon.

But for the most part, these afflictions, these trials, these hardships, this scourge would ultimately provoke in them that seeking after God. And so Moses is quick to encourage them, when you seek after God, remember that he is a merciful God. Yes, you've reaped the judgment of God, you've brought these consequences of covenant breaking upon you, but if you seek Him with your heart, if you're the real deal, you know that you meet with a merciful God. Really, a blessed way for Moses to present that. So that's the consequences. You're going to do this, you're going to end up here, but the remedial purpose is that you will seek the Lord your God.

Again, not all of them. There was always a faithful remnant, an Old Covenant Israel, but it certainly wasn't the majority or the bulk. That brings us then to the last section in this exhortation, the last, last sections, cities of refuge in verses 41 to 43, and then the introduction properly to the law in verses 44 to 49. We'll just give a brief statement on that when we get there. But the last section in verses 32 to 40 deal with the incomparability of Israel's God. the incomparability, the uniqueness of Israel's God.

Uniqueness, it really doesn't fully get at it. I remember hearing Dr. Dolezal, it wasn't on this weekend, but he said it's really not even, it's not proper to say that God is special, because it suggests that there's a class of gods of which our God is special amongst them.

But that's not how it is. He is. There's no special, I mean, he's as special on the one hand, I think you know what I mean here, but he's not one among many. Even in comparability, you just can't compare anything to God. He's not even in a class by himself. You can't say that. He's in a class. No, he's not. There's not a God class out there that he's one participant of. He's creator. Everything else is creature. He's infinite. Everything else is finite. So, you know, words fail a bit, but the incomparability of Israel's God.

Pragee says concerning this section, In these verses, witnesses summoned to testify to the nature of God, and that witness is provided by history. The elaboration of the wonderful evidence of God's work in history further illuminates the compassionate and faithful nature of God. So notice, in verses 32, 33, and 34, there's questions posed by Moses, again, under spirit, under the influence or power of the Spirit, there's questions that are to be addressed or asked of the people to show the uniqueness or incomparability of God.

Notice the question concerning another Creator. Verse 32, for ask now concerning the days that are past which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth and from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened or anything like it has been heard. God created everything that you see. The gods of the nations around you, they don't boast of a God who is the creator of heaven and earth. This is why in Rahab's confession, she speaks of the Lord God, the God of heaven and earth. Remember Israel's battle when they go against the Syrians. As I recall, it's the Syrians and Joab's leading.

And they get bashed in the mountains. I'm probably getting it backwards. And they say, well, God is the God of the mountains. Let's meet him in the valleys. Well, they get bested in the valleys as well. What's the point? Whether mountains or whether valleys, God's going to beat you. That's the point. That's always the point. So, you know, where is this other God? The question concerning another revealer.

Did any people ever hear, verse 33, the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and live? Israel, look around! Do you see a people around you that have a God that created the earth? Do you see a people around you that have a God that has revealed Himself, specifically through Moses, to these people? You know, whether they're at Sinai in Exodus, or they're in Sinai in Leviticus, receiving legislation for sacrifice and priesthood, whether they're in the wilderness throughout Numbers, whether they're on the plains of Moab, hearing from God specifically through Moses. And then the question concerning another Redeemer, verse 34. Look around.

Have you ever seen a God do what our God has done? Go to another nation so that He could free His subjugated people from that nation? Verse 34. Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

In other words, Israel, you are standing before a God that is like no other. You're standing before a God that is absolutely glorious. He made the world. He revealed Himself to you. He has redeemed you. There's nothing that can limit Him. There's nothing that can restrain Him. There's no temporal issue from the beginning of the creation until now. It's not like the God that you serve has an expiration date. There's no geographical limitation. It doesn't matter where you are. If you're in Egypt, your God's going to go get you. If you're in Timbuktu, your God's going to go get you. If there's enemies in the way, God's going to destroy them. He's going to smash them, like He did with Og, like He did with Sihon.

They've had all these down payments of God's faithfulness in their wanderings up to this point, and so Moses is telling them, you need to see this God. This God needs to be fresh in your mind at all time to keep you from the idolatry that I have warned you against previously. It's going to come again through legislation, the commandments are going to be reiterated, the Ten Commandments specifically in Deuteronomy chapter 5, first and second commandments underscore this to be sure, but what Moses is doing now is pointing to what they had been through that is evidence and which is a demonstration of the very nature and being of God, the God who is for them. And then notice he highlights the love of God in verse 34. It doesn't say that, but it says that. And by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes. Why do you think God did this for you in Egypt? Because he loves you.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 6 to 8. For you are a holy people to the Lord." Well, before that, look at Deuteronomy 9. Deuteronomy 9, we'll look back at Deuteronomy 7. But in Deuteronomy 9, they're being chastened, and basically, the chastening is thus.

Verse 4, do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. No, it's not because of your righteousness, it's because of their exceeding wickedness. And of course, when Israel inherits the land, they engage in the same sort of exceeding wickedness. But notice verse five, it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So it's not their righteousness. And another place, it might be in this chapter, it's not your numbers. Oh, well, we've got more numbers, we can best the Canaanites, that's why. No, that's not it at all. Now look at Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7, specifically at verses 6 to 8. See that? It's sovereign grace, it's election, it's predestination.

Verse 7, the Lord did not set his love on you nor, oh here's the number, nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples, but because the Lord loves you. He didn't love you because you were more numerous, he loved you because he loved you. There's no reason. It's like James Dolezal was saying.

It's all of grace. Remember that illustration, you love your wife because there's good things about her. You love your husband, hopefully. You love your husband because there's good things about him. It's not just grace. I just love you, miserable, horrible person that you are, because I'm just a gracious person. No, that's only unique to God. I love you more, you know, horrible, miserable person because I love you. I've always loved this passage.

The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people for you were the least of all peoples, but because the Lord loves you and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers. The Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." It is the grace of God, it is the sovereignty of God. The point is, is that God delivered you from Egypt because He chose you, He set His love upon you according to His good pleasure.

And then that culminates in doctrinal instruction in verses 35 to 38. Notice, verses 35 to 38, this was something of their chapter 2 conference on the plains of Moab. Moses is doing theology proper here. Notice in verse 35, to you it was shown that you might know that the Lord himself is God, there is none other besides him. So the revelation of the living and true God, 35A, is the argument for the exclusion of any rival gods.

Again, a necessary reminder as they're going into a land that is going to be littered and populated with rival gods. Deuteronomy 18, they're going to be cautioned, they're going to be emphasized, the priest and the prophet. Why? Because you're going into a land where there's necromancers and there's soothsayers and there's witches and there's conjurers.

You don't look to those, you look to the priest and the prophet because God's a revealer God through the prophetic ministry. You don't seek the guy next door to you who has, you know, a God in his kitchen that he prays to because he wants it to rain.

So verse 35, to you it was shown by revelation that you might know that the Lord Himself is God. There is none other besides Him. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice that He might instruct you. On earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. Refers to that pillar of fire and cloud when God visibly, or representatively, shows His presence with them in their wanderings. Verse 37, and because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them, and He brought you out of Egypt with His presence, with His mighty power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance as it is this day. That's who God is. That's what God does. That's his nature. He's faithful. He's merciful. He's loving. He's kind. He engages in this expression of redemptive love and having brought you to this particular place. And then this part of the exhortation ends with the practical implication. Again, it's kind of a chapter 2 of the Second London Confession thing going on.

Notice how verse 39 starts, therefore. The doctrine of God, who He is, the doctrine of God, what He's revealed, the doctrine of God, what He has shown in His mighty works and powers, ought to come into you in such a way that you live consistently with that data. Therefore know this day, verse 39, and consider it in your heart that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other. You shall therefore keep his statutes and his commandments which I command you today that it may go well with you and with your children after you and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

This is such a comprehensive exhortation with reference to the particular situation that the second generation finds themselves in. Uniquely delivered by a man who is able with absolute first eyewitness testimony to their doings and dealings up to this point. Everything they needed to hear is expressed here in terms of a historical review with specific emphasis on their conduct as the second generation.

Don't duplicate the sins of your fathers. Don't complain about the leaders in Israel like Korah and his fellow rebels or Dathan and Abirah. Do not do the sorts of things that they did when they played the harlot with the daughters of Moab in Numbers 25. Don't do what they did when they basically grumbled against God. Well, they didn't basically, they grumbled and whined and complained. They weren't content with the manna and they wanted to go back to their slavery in Egypt where they got, you know, the things they preferred to eat. So Moses' exhortation is calculated to promote in them the fear of God, the remembrance of God, a knowledge of who God is, and based on that, to walk carefully before Him in a way that was consistent with His revealed will.

And that's where Deuteronomy 5 to 28 comes in and says, here it is. This is the covenant. This is the particular stipulations. This is the contours that you need to follow for life in the land in Canaan. If you don't, you're going to be cast out. If you do, you're going to be blessed. In fact, that's how it ends in Deuteronomy 28. And one of the major emphases there is on exile. It is on being cast out of the land. The land was a central feature in Old Covenant theology.

The land of promise given by God, if the children of Israel were not faithful, the land itself would vomit out the inhabitants from the land. That imagery is picked up by Jesus to the church in Laodicea. Because you're neither hot nor cold, I will do what? I will vomit you out of my mouth. It is the decisive bringing of judgment based on the covenant. And so when Israel fails in the land, they will reap the same thing that the Canaanites reap, and they'll be cast out of the land.

The cities of refuge, we've seen them in Numbers 35. That's probably why it's here, to show obedience on the part of Israel right away, based on fresh legislation. The actual explanation for the cities of refuge is going to be given in Deuteronomy 19.

It is given in detail in Numbers 35 as well. And then the introduction to the law, verses 44 to 49. Basically, we are just set up for what now comes in that larger section following from chapters 5 to 28. Well, I would just say a few thoughts in terms of some practical application. Again, the emphasis on self-government, verses 5, 6, 9, 15, 23, and 40. Verses 5, 6, 9, 15, 23, and 40. Solomon's words in Proverbs 4. The emphasis throughout scripture. Keep your heart with all diligence.

This is crucial that we as parents pass that lesson on to our children. I think we looked at the incorrigible son in Deuteronomy 21 a couple of weeks ago. The incorrigible son had been brought up well. How do we know that? Because the parents deliver him over to the elders of the city to be stoned to death. They had borne long with him. They had exercised paternal pressure on him. They had sought redemption. They had sought reconciliation. But he was a glutton and a drunkard, and they hand him over to the city elders. He had no self-government. So all of their parental government fell on deaf ears again. Government is only as good as the self-government of the people being governed.

I would suggest, secondly, the danger of forgetfulness. That comes out twice, verse 9, and then in verse 23. 23, take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. And then thirdly, the necessity of family religion, the necessity of passing these things down to our children. That's trans-covenantal as well. You see God's emphasis in both Old and New Testaments on the necessity for parents and grandparents to be about that task of instructing their children in the training and admonition of the Lord.

It's imperative. If we don't teach them truth, they're going to learn errors. If we don't teach them truth, they're going to follow after heresy, or they're going to go after idols. And then that last section on the glory of the incomparable God. Good theology is everywhere in the Bible.

God demonstrates in his revealed word those things about him so that we can learn of him, so that we can know him, and so that we can live in light of that knowledge. Well, let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this address in the book of Deuteronomy. We thank You for the entirety of Your Word that You have given us, the Old and the New Testaments. We pray that You would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive these things.

We see there's nothing new under the sun. Same sorts of emphases we see in the New Covenant, New Testament, we see here on the plains of Moab. And the same sorts of sins we see in the Old Testament, we see the people of God getting dangerously close to and often committing in the New Testament. So God, keep us, protect us, give us much of the Holy Spirit to restrain those things and cause us, though we are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love, keep us by your grace and not to do those things. We ask that you would go with us now, watch over all the brothers and the sisters in our local church, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, any questions or comments on Deuteronomy 4? Yeah. Again, I think it's by the kids learn. I mean, there's a judicial principle in the law that a child isn't punished for the crime of his father. If I rob a bank, they're not going to haul Micah off to jail. unless he was the bag man.

And then the whole context of Ezekiel 18 is the children of Israel are complaining. They use that proverb, you know, the fathers ate the sour grapes and the kids teeth are set on edge. God says, that ain't your problem. It's not the sins of the fathers that I'm visiting upon you, it's your sin. So the thousands of generations, I take it as those who are faithfully instructing their children, pointing them to the cross, those are the benefactors. Those who live in disregard of God, those lessons get passed down.

And you're an idolater, most likely you're raising idolaters. I mean, I think it's a general statement. I think it's not. I mean, I would say that sometimes idolaters raise kids that get converted, right? Sometimes godly covenant people raise kids that go astray. So I don't think there's a formula in that statement. I think it's a generalization that is highlighting the necessity for covenant faithfulness on the part of God's people. It's not an algorithm. You do this and these amounts of people.

But that teaching on generational curses, it is real. People think that, you know, my dad was a monster, so my life is always going to be miserable. No. Believe the gospel. Repent. Come to Jesus. You don't operate under this mindset that because my dad was a wretch, my life is over. You know, God is gracious. He's merciful. That's what Moses says, you know, parenthetically.

When you come back, realize this. He doesn't say he's going to refuse you. He's going to reject you. When you come back, know that you have to grovel. No, when you come back, know that he's a merciful God. In other words, you can come back to him. So yeah, the generational aspect, at least in some teachings that I've heard, it's just kind of off. Well, it's way off. Yes, sir. Yeah, that was... What is the name? Aiken, yeah.

Well, where did he bury his loot? He buried it in the ground of his tent. I doubt his wife and kids were in Hawaii when he did that. I read it as the family was complicit along with him. So it wasn't that, you know, just eliminate his wife and kids. It was probably they were complicit. They were involved. Hey, let's hide the loot. Once this all blows past, we're going to go to Hawaii. Okay, Dad, whatever.

I don't think it was because he sinned, because the law of God prohibits the execution of a child for the crime of his father. So, yeah, I mean, if he hid the loot 50 yards from his tent, That would be, okay, well, why are the wife and kids implicated? But that he hid it in his tent, I think at least indirectly implicates the kids and the wife. And you know, we see kids in the Bible, we think two-year-olds. That's not always the case.

The incorrigible son in Deuteronomy 21, his sins are gluttony and drunkenness. That's not a two-year-old. This is an adult rebel son that won't respond to his parents. And Verne Poitras has a very good comment in a book that says if a child or a teenage, you know, 17, 18 year old young man can't be prevailed upon by his own parental authority in the context of love, He's probably not fit for society. If my loving care and concern over my kid isn't gonna bend his will or help him, the civil state isn't gonna be able to prevail with their impersonal disregard. So Poitras argues, yeah, it's a legit way to deal with what appear to be career criminals.

Snuff them out. Well, if you're asking me, you may not want my answer. The Bible teaches capital punishment. The Bible definitely teaches execution. And I don't think he was executed for the drunkenness and the gluttony. I think those were symptomatic. They were symptomatic of the fact that he was a rebel covenant breaker. And his own parents, having disciplined him, having dealt with him, couldn't prevail upon him. He's not going to be a, you know, contributing member of society at some point. Yes. I tried. That's right. That's excellent point. Yeah. Yeah. Good. All right. I didn't know that would be the big sort of thing tonight, but that's cool.