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We'll begin reading in chapter 
six, verse one, just to set the larger context. Now, this is 
the commandment and these are the statutes and the 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, here, oh, 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 here. Oh, 
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. Well, let us pray. Father, again, 
we thank you for your word. We pray that you would guide 
us now. We pray that you would forgive 
us now and that, Lord God in heaven, you would give us the 
grace to receive these cautions, to receive these warnings and 
help us, Father, to consider our own life in light of these 
truths and help us to regulate ourselves. by your spirit, according 
to your word, that we may pursue those things which are above, 
that we may pursue Jesus Christ, that he may be our sufficiency, 
that he may be our all in all. We just pray now for your blessing 
to be upon us and we ask through Christ the Lord. Amen. Well, 
the particular context here, Moses is addressing the children 
of Israel, the second generation who is poised to go into the 
promised land. The book of Deuteronomy takes 
up the space of about one month. It is a series of addresses by 
Moses on the plains of Moab to equip the people to go into the 
land. Deuteronomy chapter 5 is the foundation of their covenant, 
the foundational law, rather, of their covenant relationship 
to God. The Decalogue is specified in chapter 5, and now in chapter 
6, all the way to chapter 26, what God through Moses will do 
is expound that law and apply that law for life in the land. So certainly not only are they 
receiving positive instruction, but as I said earlier, from verses 
10 to 16, they're given three warnings, three potential dangers, 
three things that will in fact face them when they get into 
the promised land, things they need to take caution against, 
things that they don't want to fall into. And so we'll just 
look at those three things together this evening. And the first is 
found in verses 10 to 13. The first danger is the danger 
of forgetting God because of prosperity. The danger of forgetting 
God because of prosperity. Notice in verse 10 at the very 
beginning, the promise of God is reiterated. So it shall be 
when the Lord our God brings you into the land of which he 
swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You see, God 
never wants us to forget this. We are dealing in the context, 
we are dealing in the arena of sovereign grace. We are dealing 
in the context and in the arena of God's covenantal faithfulness. This is not a simple call to 
a simple people to obey in order to be saved. The very preface 
or introduction to the Decalogue is a declaration of independence. God says, I am Yahweh who brought 
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
God delivered them sovereignly. God delivered them graciously. 
God redeemed his people in his power and in his strength. So 
when he does this, when he commands them, he is speaking to a people 
in covenant union with him. And here he wants to remind them 
of this reality. The promise is reiterated. Then notice, secondly, he describes 
the land that they would receive. And you have to understand the 
great contrast that is specified here in these four descriptions. There are four things stated, 
but counterbalanced by the fact that they didn't earn it, they 
didn't build it, they didn't do it, they didn't accomplish 
it. They will receive large and beautiful 
cities, which you did not build. They will receive houses full 
of good things, which you did not fill. They will receive hewn 
out wells, which you did not dig. They will receive vineyards 
and olive trees which you did not plant. Note the recurring 
theme. You will enter into the land 
that God promised by covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When you enter into that land, 
you will be given something. You will be graciously given 
something. This isn't something you've accomplished. 
You didn't go in there with your excavators. You didn't go in 
there with your builders. You didn't go in there with your 
dump trucks. You didn't go in there on your own and with their 
own ability and strength and build these things up so that 
you could find your rest in them. God has given it to them. Harmon says Alan Harmon in his 
commentary on Deuteronomy says they are reminded that their 
possession of the land and its contents was all of grace. You see, when God graciously 
delivers us. We are not to turn that grace 
into disgrace. We are not to take that grace, 
forget the giver, use the gifts and neglect the one who has planted 
us with all his heart and with all his soul in the land. He 
goes on to say, and the adjectives used large, flourishing, emphasize 
the bounty of God to his people. I mean, it's almost an idyllic. 
paradise-type description of what they will have in the land. 
And then right after that, their minds are taken to consider what 
it is they're going to inherit. We're going to get cities. We're 
going to get houses. We're going to get wells. We're 
going to get vineyards. We're going to get olive trees. 
We're going to be blessed with the fruit of the land. Our God 
is good. Our God is gracious. This is 
consistent with his promise to Abraham. This is all founded 
and grounded and solidified in the covenant mercies of our God. 
And then, smack dab in the middle, God says, through Moses, then 
beware. The red light comes up. The stop 
sign comes up. Beware of your heart. You see, 
what unfortunately tends to happen with people who receive the gifts 
of God, with people who are the recipients of God's grace, they 
end up resisting the reality or forgetting the reality that 
God gave them those things, that God has blessed them with those 
possessions. They begin to take stock in their 
earthly treasures rather than heavenly treasure, and that's 
precisely what they are being warned against in this particular 
passage. Notice in verse 12, 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 would be akin in the New 
Covenant community for a man or a woman to be saved by God's 
sovereign grace, to be called out of darkness into marvelous 
light, to by God's grace confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior, and 
then basically forgetting the fact that God saved him And then 
saying something like, you know, it was my choice. It was my free 
will. It was my ability. It was my 
good work. It was my law keeping. It was 
me that brought me into this place of salvation. God is not 
happy when we reject him, when we take him out of the equation 
after he has blessed us and benefited us. And in the language of the 
psalmist, loaded us daily with benefits. Meredith Klein says, 
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 them 
victory in Canaan. This underscores and it highlights 
that perversion of the spirit, that perversion, that sin. that 
abominable attitude that receives from God and then lays up its 
treasures on earth, that neglects the fact that the giver himself 
has, in his covenant mercies, bestowed every spiritual blessing 
in the heavenly places in Christ on us, and then we live as practical 
atheists. We get so caught up in the material, 
we get so caught up in the temporal, we get so caught up in the large 
and beautiful cities, in the houses full of good things, in 
the hewn out wells, in the vineyards and olive trees, that we forget 
God. This is precisely what we just read tonight, Proverbs 30. 
This is the instance where he says, give me neither poverty 
nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted 
to me, lest I be full and deny you. That's the problem with 
Israel. That's the problem with us. If 
we are not on our guard, lest I be full and deny you and say, 
who is the Lord? Christopher Wright says fullness. Fullness can lead to forgetfulness. Foolness can lead to forgetfulness. He goes on to say, especially 
forgetfulness of where they came from and what Yahweh had rescued 
them from, the land of slavery. You see, this is a real danger. It was a real danger facing the 
children of Israel as they entered into the land of Canaan. It is 
a real danger facing the Church of Jesus Christ when we live 
in an affluent society, when we are prosperous, when God has 
blessed us with not only every spiritual blessing in the heavenly 
places in Christ, but he has fit us with things that would 
make kings envious in the history of the world. I mean, we have 
been blessed beyond measure. Now, notice the response to God's 
provision. What were they supposed to do 
in this instance when they found themselves in these cities, in 
these houses, with these wells, with these vineyards and these 
olive trees? I said this morning, the answer 
isn't don't use them. The answer isn't destroy the 
cities, destroy the houses, take dirt and fill the wells, and 
let all the trees and the vineyards spoil. That's not the answer. The answer is given us in the 
test. When you find yourself in these 
cities, when you find yourself in these houses, When you find 
yourself walking out to get water in this well that you didn't 
dig, when you find yourself blessed with grapes and olives from vineyards 
and olive trees that you didn't plant, when you find that to 
be the case, don't say, well, we just got to get rid of it 
and wear hair shirts and eat ashes. No, you fear God. You appreciate the fact that 
your God is good. You appreciate the fact that 
your God is merciful. You appreciate the fact that 
he has not dealt with you according to your sins. He has not rewarded 
you according to your transgression. He has removed your iniquity. 
He has cast it into the depths of the sea. And he's given you 
cities. He's given you houses. He's given you wells. And he's 
given you vineyards and olive trees. The proper response to 
the goodness of God is to fear him, to rightly revere him. To honor Him, to praise Him, 
to adore Him, and to glorify Him. This is precisely what Moses 
holds out to the people. You shall fear Yahweh, your God. This is a recurring theme up 
to this point in the book of Deuteronomy. Chapter 4, verse 
10, fear Him. Chapter 5, verse 29, God says, 
Oh, I wish that they always had a heart that would fear Me. Chapter 
6, verse 2, fear the Lord. What is God, through Moses, communicating 
to Israel as they're poised to enter into the promised land? 
The proper disposition for the covenant community, the proper 
disposition for the recipient of God's holy grace, the proper 
disposition for one that has come out of darkness into marvelous 
light is one of fear to God. Not only that, servience. You 
see, when you've got these cities, you've got these houses, you've 
got these wells, you've got these vineyards, you've got these olive 
trees, you fear God. That means you relate to him 
rightly. You understand who he is. You understand who you are. 
You revere him. You adore him. You honor him 
and you glorify him as God. But as well, you serve him. And 
note the contrast between verses 12 and 13. It says, Then beware, 
lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of 
Egypt from the house of bondage, fear Yahweh and serve him. Craigie indicates a commentator 
says both words, this house of bondage and this service to Yahweh, 
both words are derived from the same root. and contrast vividly 
the old and new masters of Israel. You see, slavery, it's never 
a question of slavery versus no slavery. It's always a matter 
of whose slave are you? You're either a slave in Egypt, 
you're either a slave to your lusts, you're either a slave 
to sin, you're either a slave to the devil, or you're a slave 
to God most high. You see, that's how you are to 
respond to the grace of God. No one can serve two masters. Literally what Jesus says, no 
one can be enslaved to two masters. I mean, because typically you 
could work and then moonlight. You could, in effect, serve two 
employers. You might work at Taco Bell for 
a night job. You might dig ditches for a day 
job. You're serving two masters. But 
what Jesus is talking about is slavery. You can only be the 
slave of one owner. It's either God or mammon. And 
here the contrast is clear. When you find yourself in this 
blessed position of reaping the benefits of God Most High, you 
fear Him, and you serve Him, and then you swear oaths in His 
name. Again, Meredith Klein says, swearing 
by Yahweh's name was in effect a renewal of the oath of allegiance 
which ratified the covenant. It invoked God as the oath deity 
who avenged untrustworthiness. So the swearing in Yahweh's name 
was a conscientious acknowledgment of this covenant relationship 
and of the fact that we delight to be in it. So you see, that's 
the proper response when God That's the proper response when 
God conveys upon us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places 
in Christ. We are to fear God. We are to 
serve God. We are to swear oaths in His 
name. And now notice the second danger, 
verses 14 and 15. The danger of forsaking God because 
of idolatry. So the first was the danger of 
forgetting God because of prosperity. The second is forsaking God because 
of idolatry. Note the command in verse 14. You shall not go after other 
gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you. The temptation 
would be real. Israel was told to go into the 
land and dispossess the land of the Canaanites. There was 
a reason for that. God knows best. Never forget 
that. God does know best. Get the Canaanites 
out, because you know what's going to happen if you don't 
get the Canaanites out? You're going to befriend the 
Canaanites, you're going to marry the Canaanites, and then you're 
going to bow with the Canaanites. You see, that familiarity breeds 
idolatry. There was an issue later in Israel's 
history. Specifically in Deuteronomy 12, 
there is a place or a prescription for a centralized location for 
worship. Later it would be Jerusalem. 
It would be the temple compound or complex. It wasn't a compound. 
They have guns up there. Centralized worship. There was 
a reason for that. Later on in the book of Joshua, 
What had happened is the tribes east of the River Jordan erected 
an altar so that they could worship Yahweh. The tribes on the west 
said, wait a minute, you're not supposed to do that. You cross 
that river and you come to the place that Yahweh has called 
us to worship. Ralph Davis makes this perceptive 
comment on that particular passage. He says, the restriction of sacrifice 
to one sanctuary was preventative theology intended to preserve 
the purity of worship. To oversimplify it meant one 
altar, one faith, one people. But allow such worship wherever 
folks are hankered to experience God, and it would soon take on 
a Canaanite color. Soak up Canaanite belief. Sport 
Canaanite practices. Adore Canaanite gods. In short, 
it would at one blow kill fidelity, or both kill fidelity to Yahweh 
and the unity of Israel. So to the Western tribes, wind 
of another altar suggested man-chosen worship and sacrifice, and it 
reeked of the first step toward apostasy. So you see, they're 
being cautioned. When they enter into the land 
of Canaanites, you are to resist the temptation. You know, when 
you see your neighbor out there bowing down to Baal, don't join 
him. You ask the question, what is 
it that you're doing? He's going to tell you, I'm bowing 
down to Baal. Why would you bow down to Baal? 
Because Baal is the storm god. When we bow down to Baal, Baal 
causes rain to fall upon our crops. Well, the unwitting Israelite 
Let's say, you know, my crops have been quite dry for a while. 
Yahweh's not really doing what he has promised to do. Let me 
give this Baal a shot. Let me just try. Let me just 
engage with you. So lo and behold, the Canaanite 
and the Israelite are now calling upon Baal to send rain from heaven 
to water the crops. God says, do not go after those 
idols. Do not go after the other gods. Do not go after the gods of the 
peoples who are all around you. This is why our confession of 
faith, accurately reflecting scriptural teaching, tells us 
as believers we are not to marry outside of the Lord. This is 
why young people, as girls, as boys, as you get older, as you 
begin to have these yearnings and these longings and these 
desires to get married, those are legitimate. God the Creator 
made you that way. But if you are in Christ, you 
must go after somebody that is in Christ. You must resist the 
temptation. Just because he's nice or because 
she's hot, if you go after an unbeliever, More than likely, 
you won't convert them. They will bring you down. That's 
generally the rule. Marriage is not the missionary 
enterprise. You don't marry an unbeliever 
to try to make them a Christian. Beware! We befriend them, we 
marry them, and the next thing we know, our hearts are dragged 
away. Look at Solomon himself. Look 
at Solomon himself as a terrible example of what happens when 
you marry the Canaanite women. There's a whole host of other 
applications. We've looked at idolatry recently 
in our studies, so we won't spend a lot of time here, but you get 
the gist. Do not go after other gods. Notice the reason for this command. It is the jealousy of God, verse 
15. He says, verse 14, 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. God's jealous. Remember that 
the central confession of Deuteronomy, six for Israel, the Lord, our 
God, the Lord is one. That means he's unique. That 
means he's incomparable. That means he's most excellent. 
So that when we attempt to go after other gods, God is jealous 
of that. Be akin to a man bringing his 
girlfriend to the altar when he seeks to marry his bride. 
She'd say, what are you doing? Everybody there would say, what 
are you doing? You don't do that. For the Lord your God is a jealous 
God, but not only is jealousy His wrath. That's what's highlighted 
in verse 15. Lest the anger of the Lord your 
God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of 
the earth. This doesn't sound like exile. 
This doesn't sound like expulsion from the land. This sounds like 
destruction from God Most High because His people, or professing 
people, went a-whoring from Him. Guard your heart from idolatry. 1 John 5, verse 21. Little children, keep yourselves 
from idols. Hebrews chapter 12 quotes Deuteronomy 
chapter 4 verse 24, where both these concepts are enjoined. For the Lord your God is a consuming 
fire, a jealous God. Those are the two reasons the 
Lord gives as why you ought not to pursue or go after the gods 
of the peoples. God is jealous and God is wrathful. He is angry with those who reject 
him and who go after idols and then the third danger. Third 
danger is found in verse 16, I believe 17 and following are 
sort of precautions that they are to take to avoid these three 
dangers. So verse 16 will treat on its 
own. Verse 16, the danger of testing 
God because of difficulty. The danger of testing God because 
of difficulty. The tempting here, it's not the 
idea of tempting 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. So, in the context here, the 
specific prohibition, you shall not tempt the Lord your God as 
you tempted him in Massah. Now, remember, this is the verse 
that Jesus uses in Matthew chapter 4, when he's driven out by the 
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in that 
40-day period. Remember, the devil says, why 
don't you take yourself up to the pinnacle of the temple and 
throw yourself down and let God send his angels to deliver you. 
What does Jesus say, Deuteronomy 616, do not tempt, do not test 
the Lord your God in the specific context here of verse 16. He 
refers to Massa. You can turn to Exodus chapter 
17, Exodus chapter 17. I think in a moment you'll see 
how this does, in fact, relate maybe more than all the others 
to the new covenant Christian. Because more than likely, as 
Christians, I mean, we have that tendency to go after idols. We 
certainly have the tendency to forget our God. But this one 
seems to plague us on a pretty continual basis. This danger 
of testing God because of difficulty. In other words, Christians at 
times function as fairweather fans. As long as God is doing 
for me, as long as God is blessing me, as long as God is there for 
me, as long as God is delivering me, I'll worship, I'll praise, 
I'll read my Bible, I'll go to church. But the moment I suspect 
that God has not got me as his priority, where is he? Why has he left me? Why has he 
departed from me? Is he mad at me? Is he angry 
with me? This is the testing of God. It's calling into question the 
veracity of his word. Now, notice in Exodus 17 at verse 
one, that 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 or test the Lord? You don't believe he's going 
to take you where he has said. You're not convinced that he's 
got your well-being in mind. So Moses, verse four, cried out 
to the Lord, saying, What shall I do with his people? They are 
almost ready to stone me. And 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 in the sight of the elders, 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. And here it is saying, is the 
Lord among us or not? It's the essence of this particular 
danger. Is the Lord among us or not? Quote from Harmon again, or I'm 
sorry, Christopher Wright. He says this or 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 Massa. This God Yahweh, can he 
do what he promised? Is he really competent? Is he 
really with us? This is the essence of the challenge. Before you say, well that was 
a bunch of Israelites hanging out and eating water, and they 
just said the first thing that came into their mind. Has this 
ever been your experience? Have you ever called into question 
God's truthfulness? Have you ever doubted? Have you ever danced around the 
thought that maybe, maybe He really isn't going to do what 
He said? Maybe when I believe the gospel, 
he really doesn't forgive my sins. Maybe, just maybe he's 
not even there. Wright says such testing of Yahweh 
flows from a lack of belief in his word and comes despite the 
fact that this people has witnessed God's previous faithfulness. 
This is an amazing thing in Exodus 17, 7. These people have seen 
amazing realities, amazing things up to this point. Isn't it true 
of us? God saved us. God cleansed us. God's given us every spiritual 
blessing in the heavenly places. We get to some little difficulty 
in the road and we freak out. Where is He? Why is He doing 
this? We may not do that outwardly. We may not do that publicly. 
We may not do that on display for all to see us. But if men 
could see our hearts, it's throwing up its hands. It's saying, why 
has God done this? Where is God for me? Doesn't 
He know this bothers me? Doesn't He know I want deliverance? 
Doesn't He know that I shouldn't be going through these things? 
Do not test the Lord your God. He says, this kind of hardship 
is commonly induced by, or this kind of sin or danger 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. Yeah, you're going to have these 
cities, and you're going to have these houses, you're going to 
have these vineyards, you're going to have these olive groves, 
you're going to have these wells. But you're also going to have 
Canaanites in the land. You're also going to have to fight. 
There's going to be a holy war. You're going to get bloody. You're 
going to have to do some damage. You're going to have to maintain 
fidelity. It's not always going to be this 
picturesque, paradisiacal place where everything only ever goes 
right. And if you've been a Christian 
for more than a minute, you realize That's true. It's not all beautiful 
cities. It's not all filled houses, is 
it? Is that your experience as a Christian? Really? Everything's 
always great? Sometimes you meet people, how's 
everything going? Great, great. There's the great people. I'm great. 
Everything's great. Yeah, I just lost my arm. I'm great. Everything's 
great. Great, great, great. Well, most of us aren't great. 
Most of us have trials. Most of us have difficulties. 
Most of us have struggles. Most of us have those deep, dark 
seasons that the psalmist encountered, where the psalmist, with biblical 
honesty, said, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in 
God. He talks to himself. He gets 
himself by the neck and he says, Why are you cast down? What's 
your problem? What's your issue? What's your 
deal? That's the general experience of God's people. Didn't Jesus 
promise this in John 16? It always amazes me. We get these 
little books of promises or lists of promises, and they're always 
about how much we're going to get blessed. Well, you know, 
the promise that in this world you will have tribulation is 
just as real as be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. 
You see, we don't like to reflect on those promises. We don't like 
to reflect upon the promise of God through the Apostle Paul 
to Timothy when he said, all who desire to live godly in Christ 
Jesus will what? Always have happiness, will always 
have joy, shall see persecution. You see, that's the reality of 
the Christian life. And when that difficulty comes, 
when that trial comes, when that pressure comes, when it's as 
if the life itself is cranking up the vice and pressing you, 
Don't tempt God. Don't test him. Don't say, where 
are you, God? Why did you leave me, God? Why 
did you forsake me, God? There's a wretched illustration 
of this in the prophet Malachi, a terrible, terrible admission 
by the people to their God or a statement rather. Look at Malachi 
chapter three, God willing, in a few weeks, we'll pick up the 
prophet Malachi for our evening studies. Just want to jump to 
chapter three, just to sort of illustrate this point that Israel 
obviously didn't learn our lesson. Malachi is structured as a series 
of questions and answers or rather statements and then explanations. God says, you've done this. And 
then the people said, who us? And then God goes on to explain 
how it is they did it. Notice in verse 13 of Malachi 
three. Your words have been harsh against 
me, says the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken 
against you? Isn't that typical? Isn't that 
us? Me? God comes to deal with us. Me? I didn't say that. I wouldn't do that. I'm far too 
holy. I'm polished. I'm pure. I'm godly. That's what 
the people of Israel were doing. I don't mean to sound sort of 
weird like this, but that's what they're doing. You've wearied 
me with your sacrifice, yet you say, how? Well, when you go to 
the back of the flock and you pick the lame one or the blind 
one and you drag it to the temple and you present it to me, that 
wearies me. God says, your words have been 
harsh against me. Remember who he's talking to? 
Covenant people. Delivered from the land of Egypt. 
Graciously freed from bondage. Led through several hundred years 
by God's faithfulness. Back in the land. Malachi is 
post-exile. They'd already gone into Babylon, 
and they'd already returned to Judah. You think you'd learn 
the lesson after 70 years in Babylon, don't you? You think 
you've learned the lesson that you ought not to speak ill against 
the Lord God most high. That lesson was short lived. 
Yet you say, what have we spoken against you? You have said it 
is useless to serve God. What profit is it that we have 
kept his ordinance and that we have walked as mourners before 
the Lord of hosts? So now we call the proud blessed. 
For those who do wickedness are raised up. They even tempt God 
and go free. You see, they weary God. They speak harsh words against 
God. They say service to God is useless. Service to God is 
unprofitable and service to God is unfair. He rewards the wicked 
and he forgets about us. Don't tempt the Lord, your God, 
as you did at Massa. It's a modern equivalent of this. 
We'll end here. We mentioned this on Wednesday 
night. The believer who is governed by emotion. The believer who is governed 
by emotion. What should the believer be governed 
by? The Word. The Spirit. Not emotion. Not my feelings. Luther said, 
feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. My 
warrant is the word of God. None else is worth believing, 
though all my heart should feel condemned for want of some sweet 
token. There is one greater than my 
heart whose word cannot be broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging 
Word till soul and body severed. For though all things shall pass 
away, His Word shall stand forever. Do not be governed by emotion. 
Can I just let you in on something? We've already covered it. There 
are some times the Christian life is hard. It's difficult. We must, through many tribulations, 
Enter the kingdom of God, Acts 14. The man who spoke that had 
recently been stoned, left for dead, managed to pick himself 
up and walk 50 miles so that he could preach that sermon. 
His audience didn't have to say, what did he mean? You saw him 
hobble up to the pulpit or whatever the equivalent was. And he says, 
we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. Do 
not be governed by your emotions, brethren. I know I'm going to 
say this, and we're all going to leave. We're all going to 
be governed by our emotions. We sing this, and I love it. 
I wish we all believed it. I wish I believed it. My hope 
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest 
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock 
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. We look for the 
sweet frames, don't we? If we don't get the sweet frames, 
if we come away from our Bible and we're not Spurgeon, or we're 
not Owen, or we haven't had some angelic experience, well, I'm 
not going to read my Bible tomorrow until God blesses me. We go to 
church and the preaching is dry, or it's cold, or it's like gravel, 
or the worship seems stale. And until God blesses me, I'm 
not going to be happy. Do we unwittingly sort of combine 
some of these dangers? Have we at times made an idol 
out of our good feelings? We seek the feeling rather than 
God. It's easy to see. Lay up, not 
for yourselves, treasures on earth. It's easy to see the miser, 
the hoarder, the guy that's got his garage and his sheds and 
everything filled with all this stuff. It's not as easy for the 
Christian to see that his religious feelings, his happiness, his 
joy, his delight is every bit as much an idol as that guy's 
stuff. If we aren't enjoying an emotional 
high, are we tempted to test God by saying, Is the Lord with 
me or not? The Christian life, not only 
is it hard at times, not only must we enter the kingdom of 
God through tribulation, but you know what most of the Christian 
life is? Mundane. Ordinary. Typical. You're going to get up in the 
morning, you're going to go punch the time clock, you're going 
to come home, kiss your wife, have devotions, go to bed, get 
up the next morning. You're not going to get zapped 
from on high every day. Aren't most of our marriages, 
and I don't say this in a bad way, I say this with utter respect 
and with utter joy, because I think as you capture this idea, it 
helps you with the Christian life. Our marriage is, by and 
large, pretty ordinary. There's no rapturous fits of 
joy and excitement and delight and honeymoon all the time. If 
everything's special, nothing is. Most of our lives are ordinary, 
so we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Some 
of us are willing to long die for Jesus. Are you willing to 
live a relatively boring life for Jesus? Not being spiritual? not being Mrs. Wesley, not raising 
up some great preacher, wiping noses, wiping rear ends, day 
in, day out, doing it to the glory of God, seeking to honor 
Him, seeking to praise Him, seeking to be faithful in your vocation 
and your calling. You see, it's not an emotional 
high, Christianity. Baal worship was. See, I mentioned 
that the Baal worshipper would bow down and pray. Baal worshippers 
also engaged in rank sexual immorality so that they could invoke Baal 
to bless. You see, Baal worship happened 
from the waist down primarily, trying to be delicate. I don't 
want to offend. I don't want to hurt anybody's 
delicate sensitivities. But that's reality. It was built 
around the experience. It was built around the ecstasy. It was built around the razzmatazz. Christianity comes to normal, 
regular, ordinary folk, elevates them out of the quagmire of sin, 
destruction, and hell, and sets them on their path as new men 
and new women in Christ to function where God has them. So they can 
shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation. holding 
forth the word of truth, having some blessings, having some difficulties, 
having some tribulations, but having a whole bunch of ordinary. The believer as well, who is 
governed by experience and circumstance, and I'm talking about emotion 
and religious feeling here now, there's that sense of experience 
and circumstance. Y'all know what I mean. When 
everything's going well, your circumstances are great, you're 
a great Christian. But as soon as your circumstances 
turn sour, you begin to have these testing thoughts of God. Where is He? Is He really among 
us? Does He really care? Is He really for me? Job said 
in Job 13, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. I quoted 
Machen on Wednesday night. I think it bears repetition. 
He says at times, the believer, 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 have 
been gotten are destroyed, our faith will fail. When loved ones 
are taken away, when disappointment comes and failure, when noble 
ambitions are not, then we turn away from God. We have tried 
religion. We say we have tried prayer and 
it has failed. Ever met those people? I tried 
Jesus, I tried prayer. It didn't work. Jesus isn't the 
Buddha in the Chinese restaurant that you rub his belly and out 
pops blessing. He's being preached as such in 
churches is a tragedy. Come to Jesus and he'll do whatever 
you want. Come to Jesus for forgiveness, 
righteousness, acceptance with God. Machen says, 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 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. Don't tempt the Lord your God 
as you did at Massa. Don't be governed by your emotions, 
brethren. Don't be governed by your experience and your circumstance. 
Don't be a fair weather fan. Don't be the kind of Christian 
who says, you know, I tried prayer. I tried reading my Bible. I tried 
that. It just didn't do anything for 
me. Of course. You take that attitude, you're 
not reading your Bible because it does something for you. You 
read your Bible because there is the Lord God Almighty to be 
found. You seek God. You seek Him. I think that's the biblical remedy 
for all of us to fight against this particular temptation, the 
gospel of Christ. Our sufficiency in Christ, Paul 
says in Colossians 2, 9 and 10, for in him dwells all the fullness 
of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him who 
is the head of all principality and power. Believer, if you're 
in Christ, you have everything. You have it all. You have sufficiency, 
this is why I often encourage young people, I try to try to 
encourage young people, believe the gospel, believe on the Lord 
Jesus, find your sufficiency in Christ. You know what the 
best guard against peer pressure is? You are complete in Him. You don't have to wear $500 jeans 
because you're in Jesus Christ. You don't have to have the latest 
toys. You don't have to have the latest 
gadgets. You're in Christ. Your sins are forgiven. You have 
a righteousness that avails with God. You are on your way to Emmanuel's 
land. You are on your way to eternal 
bliss, blessing, joy, and happiness. It doesn't matter what trinkets 
this world has to offer. It doesn't matter what young 
people say. Oh, you're weird. Oh, you're 
strange. Oh, you're not like us. Who cares? You are complete 
in Him. We have the presence and the 
power of the Holy Spirit. We have the favor of a loving 
and a gracious God who has promised to work all things together for 
good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according 
to His purpose. May I recommend a book? that 
I think would be helpful to inoculate us against this idea of being 
governed by experience and circumstance. Thomas Watson's All Things for 
Good. It's an exposition of Romans 
8.28. He shows how not only good things work for good in the life 
of the believer. We already got that. But he shows 
how bad things work for good in the life of the believer. 
That we need to learn. We need to confess with Job, 
though he slay me. Though he slain me, yet will 
I trust him. Do not tempt the Lord, your God, 
as you tempted him in Nassau. Let us pray. Father, thank you 
for your word. Thank you for these cautions, 
these potential dangers, these real dangers that Israel did 
engage in. Father, I pray that you would 
help us to take heed and help us to guard our hearts against 
forgetting you in prosperity, forsaking you for idols and testing 
you. by calling into question your 
holy word. Help us, Lord God, not to be 
governed by emotion. Help us not to be governed by 
experience or by circumstance. Help us to say with Luther, feelings 
come and feelings go. But the word of God stands forever. We just pray that you would go 
with us now, that you would bless your people here. I pray that 
you would cause your face to shine upon us. And may the peace 
of Jesus Christ truly flood our hearts. And we pray in his most 
blessed name. Amen.