Published: August 3, 2025 | Speaker: D. Aaron Wells | Series: Deuteronomy - The Law Is Good, If One Uses It Lawfully 2 - Part 13 | Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:1-11
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0:08
So this is the law is good if one uses it lawfully session 30 uh in which is sort of a part three of this one segment uh chapters 9 and 10 in
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your copy most of 10 we'll be going through uh chapter 10 verse 11 today um before I read it uh two things one in
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the next few weeks at the very last of my sessions my sessions I I would like to I would like to have a semiopen Q&A. I'm sure that there are
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things that I have said or things that I've drawn attention to in the text that have generated questions. Some of you have talked to me privately about those things and I I really appreciate the conversations I've had on those on those
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things and the ability to um explain further because I think the way that we come at the law is uh of extraordinary importance. It a wrong view of the law
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does does what a a flight trajectory does when it's a degree off. Right? it by over distance the the the degree to which we're off course will
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widen and it's very important that we understand together why then the law and then what then is the use of the lawful use of the law for the people of God not
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under law but under grace I also have possibly brought up issues like next week I'll do the same there there's a there's a a tech I just called
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it a textual oddity uh in in chapter 10, two verses that are extremely difficult and that when when going and perusing commentaries and and
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books on the penetuk and Deuteronomy um left there was no one voice on them and it it seemed to leave uh people who were very earnest in their study enough to
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publish baffled. Um, so in dealing with that, I'm sure that there are things that I will say or arguments that I will make that are perplexing and and I'd like to flesh out those things because
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Deuteronomy is not only a laboratory for how we view the law. It's a laboratory for how we view scripture in general. Um, you know, scripture in general needs to be there's no grand unified theory of
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scripture that that will serve. um scripture has to be ex has to be experienced that our understanding of how we get the word of God and what is
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its nature needs to be known in practice. So, this is the place to flesh out those questions as to why is this in the text or this seems
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strange? Why did he say it that way? Um or as I brought out in part one and we'll hear next week, um why are you saying that there's a an insertion here?
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How can that be? Those are things that we should discuss. So um over the next couple of weeks, please think about uh questions that would be good for discussion uh here as as a whole Sunday
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session. And what I'll do during that time I think is that I'll ask for those questions upfront uh and then uh address them up to a certain amount try to a lot
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an even amount of time for each question and address them in the order that they were given. That way we don't end up spending the whole time on one question rambling about and and never end up
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getting to several others. So be in thought be in thought about that as we get into our text. The second
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thought I want you to have as I as I read uh is from is from Hebrews uh Hebrews 8 because we've we've had a tale of two fasts which involves a tale of
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two contracts which is really one contract and a tale of two mountains which is really one mountain. Um, and there are there's a significant pattern
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being laid down for us that the writer of Hebrews picks up and just very articulately shows us. Um, Hebrews 8 um,
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speaking of the law in verse 5, they serve or excuse me, speaking of the priests in the in the ministry of the tent, they serve a copy and a shadow of
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heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." But
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as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better
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promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he
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says, "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers."
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Okay, so to repeat, if that covenant had been faultless at first, there would have been no occasion to look for a second, for he finds fault with them. I
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think that's what we've been seeing here in Deuteronomy 9 and10. He fought with them, fought with the people, right? So that's very that's a
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very important turn of phrase in Hebrews that he's not saying that that the that the law itself was somehow flawed, but that the people that it was given to
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were unprepared and that the law was insufficient to prepare them. So clearly there's something the law cannot fix. And and what I'm saying is that he's not inventing that notion out of whole
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cloth. He's getting that out of the very pattern of scripture which we're seeing here in these last couple of weeks
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because yes, right? Because they do not have as he'll say uh going into uh into the and now section uh in chapter 10:12 um they do not have circumcised hearts.
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So he he then lays on them the charge. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stiff necked. That will be the the end message of all of these things. Um so their
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their problem is that they are not circumcised in heart and that they are stiff necked. And that's what he's been bringing out to us. Um, and he's again demonstrating in his narrative that he
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actually had to go get a a second a reratification or a remaking of that same contract of the law because of their hard-heartedness, because they
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were not circumcised in heart, because they are stiff necked and have been since the day he knew them. But, um, a few a few things too. uh the the the new
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tablets made were made by Moses, but the words are the same. Okay. It it was as you said, it's the people who are at fault, not the covenant. My covenant which you broke is is what it says in
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Jeremiah. Okay. But then the second and lasting covenant, okay, speaking wide, more widely in scriptures story, the
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second and lasting covenant would be procured by the man whom God appointed and predicated on Yahweh's favor toward that man. So what we read today is that
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Moses goes up based on his prayer to God successfully goes up receives not only a continuence of on the on the covenant
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but also a continuence of God's presence with him. Um and it is based he bases his argument in Exodus if you want to read it he he bases his argument entirely on God's favor for him. If I
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have found favor in your sight, go with us. Otherwise, kill me. And I'd point out too that the favor of Yahweh for Moses ran its course. Okay?
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Because even now in Deuteronomy, the spectre of Moses' impending death is very heavy on us. Okay? Moses died. So God's favor for him and its its impact
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on Israel ran its course. But the favor of the father for Jesus will never end. Hebrews makes this plain in another place uh as well since he ever lives to uh intercede for them so he is able to
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save them forever. Right? Jesus ever lives to secure that blessing that Moses that that not just a continuence or a temporary stay but the but the permanent
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cleansing of the conscience that that the law couldn't accomplish for that people who did not already have a clear
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At that time Yahweh said to me, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the
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tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark." So I made an ark of accasha wood and cut two tablets of
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stone like the first and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets in the same writing as before the 10 words that
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Yahweh had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And Yahweh gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the
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mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are as Yahweh commanded me. At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the
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ark of the covenant of Yahweh to stand before Yahweh to minister to him and to bless in his name to this day. Therefore, Levi has no portion or
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inheritance with his brothers. Yahweh is his inheritance as Yahweh your God said to him. I myself stayed on the mountain as at the first 40 days and 40 nights.
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And Yahweh listened to me that time also. Yahweh was unwilling to destroy you. And Yahweh said to me, "Arise, go on your journey at the head of the
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people so that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." Um, and it's appropriate at this point to uh to to talk about the flow and
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structure of the text a little bit more. Uh, in chapter 7, I I got way down into it before bringing out the keyasm uh structure because it made sense to work
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from the middle uh to the outer edges. That's kind of how the organization works. Um, and though I strongly considered keyasm as the governing structure to this narrative, uh, I
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became convinced that that's not actually the best way to read it. That the best way to read it is actually a parallelism that is very similar. Um but it doesn't work out in opposite
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directions to outwardly but rather as the second page on your handout has you get sort of four major parts to it and then the prayer of Moses
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and then four parts following in the text that we just read um which follow the first four in the same order. And it made a lot more sense to me in in that
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light. I kept trying to shoehorn it into the keyasm and it just wasn't just wasn't working. And that's clearly not the answer to shoehorn it in. Uh
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u it's a temptation. So why why this came clear to me? Uh a few reasons. Uh one uh the prayer of Moses being displaced chronologically. That was one thing I noticed. Hey, wait
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a minute. He didn't say that after he destroyed the calf. He said that before he even came down the mountain as I mentioned uh last week. Um secondly that the narrative as a history is basically
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basically complete uh chronologically speaking at verse 19 of chapter 9. But Moses then backs up to talk about Aaron being spared and himself destroying the
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cast metal calf and then as I said relates his prayer in in an odd place. odd if you're not arranging the narrative thematically, but if you are, it's in a perfect place, dead center of
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the narrative, thematically. Okay? And then what actually clued me in more than anything was wrestling with the two verses that you may have noticed that
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today I skipped, verses six and seven. They're another textual oddity much like the verses in chapters two and three that we observed in part one. And I'm
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I'll make that argument at a later time, but they're they're a similar I think a similar insertion from the time of the judges and a really important note u
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very necessary but one that interrupts what Moses is saying and under the notion that it was inserted on purpose as an explanatory note. I
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naturally wanted to know why why is it inserted here because it's it's meant to provide some sort of insight into what Moses is saying and it happens to occur
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at part C where Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark corresponding to Yahweh ready to destroy Aaron. Okay, so there's something that
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the the later commentator is wanting us to take note of here. Okay. And even if it happens to be Moses, which I think there's grammatical reasons to say that it's not, but even if it happens to be
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Moses, that's still a kind of out in left field notation to make in the middle of your speech. And therefore, what is around it is important and needs to be clarified. So, however you see
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that, it's a hard couple of verses and and their oddity called attention to the structure for me. So what resulted is what you have on your handout. Um so
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part A uh then says uh when I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone then corresponds to coming up the mountain again, right? Writing on the
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tablets the words at the first and gave them to me. Okay. The second section he's told to arise, go down quickly uh and and find that they had turned aside
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quickly and made yourselves a cast metal calf. On the other hand, in in the corresponding section after the prayer of Moses, I came down and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. So,
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there's a making of something that happens in both places. On the one hand, the people of Israel made the cast metal calf while he was gone. On the other hand, he's he's apparently prepared at
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least the bones of the ark of the covenant beforehand. covenant beforehand. If I want to say back up. If nothing else, the instructions have been given and it will be built and at most he's
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prepared at least its bones before going up. So that when he comes down, the law goes in it. The proper place for is where Israel's God will appear to them. Not the cast metal calf where they said
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here are your gods, but rather the place where God has said he will appear to his prophets and priests. Uh part C is um Yahweh being ready to destroy Aaron and
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the destruction of the cast metal calf. Uh and then the corresponding section is the setting apart of the tribe of Levi. Okay, Yahweh being his inheritance. And
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I've got in bold here a few of these sayings that again sort of reinforce that there are four segments to be seen here. In part a prime, Yahweh said to
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me, and then the he put the tablets and the art that I had made as Yahweh commanded me. commanded me. And then as he set apart the tribe of Levi, giving him Yahweh as his
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inheritance as Yahweh said to him. And then finally in part D, arise, go on your journey at the head of the people to possess the land as I swore. All phrases speaking of the will of God
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being known because of the prayer of Um and and really the the prayer of Moses is altering the the this the sense of
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what's going on. When he went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone the first time, it he received them for judgment uh on the people. Okay? But the
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but his prayer changes the situation for Israel. And the second time he comes down is on account of God's favor with him. It is it is to give them is to
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bring mercy along with the law. Um his going down in part B uh was to go down quickly and see that they had that they had sinned. Okay. But because of the
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prayer of Moses, his coming down the second time is to deliver that which gives life, the word of God, and to put it in its proper place. Part C, he's
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ready to destroy Aaron. Okay? And destroys the works of their hands. Yet because of his prayer, when he returns, Levi is confirmed and given not
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destruction of of their ministry, but rather inheriting it. Okay? To preserve and not destroy and Levi to endure and
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not be destroyed. And then finally at D they had gone to Kadesh Barnea and and rebelled he points out but because of the and that's looking a little bit in
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future uh from from the main um chronology he's working with working with but the fact is that because of the prayer of Moses God had gone with them
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in the first place. It it augments their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea. He's also making a point. God swore to go with you. And even the rebellion at Kadesh
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Barnea didn't overturn the prayer of Moses. He's still with them. As again, read read in Exodus sometime this he had said, "I can't go with you because if I
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if I dwell among this people, I'll consume them in a moment." and Moses low-key panics, low-key panics, okay? And and throws himself before God
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the second time on the mountain and saying what I said earlier, if if if I found favor in your sight, go with us. But if I have it, you need to kill me now. Like this will not work if you do not go with us.
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So e even at Kadesh Barnea the prayer of Moses stood for the people and was there was the means of God remaining with them even through the 40 years in the
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wilderness. So uh versus uh any questions on that at all before I move into the into the normal teaching on the text.
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Yes. I think it's perfectly good because I've already pointed out that the sufferings of Christ in the wilderness serve for us in a way forever that the sufferings of Moses on the mountain, not eating for 40 days and 40 nights, served
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for Israel during his life. And same with the prayers of Jesus. I mean, John made sure to record for us his prayer in front of the disciples for for a reason.
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We should see that as the prayer of the Lord standing for us as long as he lives. And that's what Hebrews brings. I think it's Hebrews 7. Um he talks about the the the enduring life of Christ
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being the the certainty of his ministry for us enduring that it is on the basis of his indestructible life that we that we remain with God. Yeah. So I I think
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you're absolutely right that the prayer of Jesus is to be seen as as the better prayer where Moses was the shadow and copy. Absolutely. Yeah. Do you have a comment? wonderless.
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Um that's I will get to that in a second because because I think there is an answer. Um yeah. Um let's work through it in order. That's a great question. Um
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so uh verses 1-4. At that time, Yahweh said to me, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first." Um,
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so I I think that Moses' narrative approach here, uh, calling attention to the construction of a of an arc for the law while discussing events prior to its
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final construction, at least is intentional. And put me in mind of Noah, right? uh and kind of recalling the details of Genesis 6-9 without going and
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reading all of them at this time, but you you know that Yahweh had determined to make an end of all flesh, but by the contents of Noah's ark, all flesh was
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spared. Okay? So, he he he ends up coming out of the ark and God makes a covenant with all flesh to spare them. That's that's the that's the trajectory.
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Noah found favor in Yahweh's sight. Genesis says, "Okay, and that favor stood for all that he represented. It still stands for us. The the the content
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of that covenant that Yahweh made with all flesh still stands for us." Okay. Um Yahweh gave a very specific material
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prescription for that ark's construction. Uh and as you know from Exodus if you've read it um very specific material prescriptions were given for the ark of the covenant as well. Okay. And then finally 40 days and
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40 nights Yahweh waited excuse me Noah waited for Yahweh to establish his covenant with all flesh. And we see Moses waiting this a a s a same period of time. Okay. So the contents of of the
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ark of both arks were a source of life for all flesh. Okay. The contents of Moses' ark were the source of life for all Israel. Man lives, we're told, by
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every word that comes from the mouth of God. And the ark of the covenant was meant to house the word of God. Okay? And the favor of Yahweh toward Moses
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saved Israel, bringing them to this point as with Noah, where they will pass through the waters uh of the Jordan untouched by its flood and offer gifts
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and sacrifices on the mountain in the land into which Yahweh is bringing them. So, the parallels are numerous. I think they're meant to put us in in mind of that the the what's going what Moses
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brings down after his trial and puts in the ark of the covenant is the source of fle is the source of life for all Israel. It is his covenant with all Israel. Okay? As Moses brought a
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covenant with all flesh. Um and then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the arks, excuse me, put the tablets in the ark that I had
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made. And there they are as Yahweh commanded me. He also notes that his making of the ark which is as I said the the locust of Yahweh's true presence in
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Israel. Okay, was as Yahweh commanded him. This is said in contrast to the people making the calf against the command of Yahweh and saying of it here are your here are your gods, O Israel.
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Um and and of course he he whose presence was between the Carobim is the one who had brought them out of Egypt, not their gods. Um
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uh he turned and came down to do Yahweh's will. I think that's not something we should skip over. Just the fact that Moses came down intent on doing what Yahweh had said and that
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standing for the people after a second 40-day trial. Okay. Um and because during his first 40-day trial, the people had failed exactly on
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that account. They had not been doing the will of God in the camp, but had instead turned aside quickly out of the way Yahweh commanded you. And the first time Moses came down was
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for judgment and for breaking. The second for life and preservation. As I said, I think that's an enduring pattern uh in in scripture that gets fleshed out in so many different ways.
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Um, moving on to verse eight because I think it logically does follow uh the putting the tablets in the ark that that I had made. At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark
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of the covenant of Yahweh to stand before Yahweh to minister to him and to bless his name as at this day. It is therefore that Levi has no portion or
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inheritance with his brothers. Yahweh is his inheritance as Yahweh your God said to him. to him. Um a note on the at that time because this this kind of sets the stage for why
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I'm calling verses six and seven a later insertion. um at that time following verses 6 and 7
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on the surface leads you to think that the tribe of Levi was set apart for the service of Yahweh at the point that Aaron died.
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And I've seen these are hard verses. I even had one commentary that said verses six and seven, these are the most difficult verses in Deuteronomy. And then he said nothing about it at all.
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Uh, no lie, it's in Chuck's office. Um, and it was not like some uh self-published uh uh book on Deuteronomy either. It was part of a large series. And I've enjoyed
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parts of that series very much. But that one made me mad. Actually made me mad enough to realize what I think the actual arrangement is of of Deuteronomy. But more on that at another time. um at
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that time I've seen commentators say well okay you know Moses chronology I mean maybe they were kind of worse I mean anywhere from Moses is is here inaccurate and that shows multiple
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sources to Moses is kind of futing with the narrative a little bit because he's making a point to well they sort of were ordained at the mountain but they also
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were ordained at the death of Aaron and kind of playing around I don't think such games are actually necessary It struck me in coming to this point in Deuteronomy that whereas at that time is
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not really a very specific phrasing, Moses does use it very consistently to refer to events at the mountain in
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Deuteronomy which I find interesting. Um, so it's another it's almost as if, you know, if if on our timeline, you know, Mo Moses
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is here in the plains of Moab, you know, speaking to the people, he he's kind of tethered back to to the mountain
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at that time, as in in chapter one and two, uh, he he does that. And then here, I'm convinced he's not doing any different. He's simply saying at that time, meaning at the time I brought down
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the tablets of the law, at the time I destroyed the cast metal calf, it was at that time that Levi was was ordained for the service of Yahweh. And in partial answer to your question, um the uh
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Exodus 32:29 says, "Today," speaking of the point at which he has come down and the people have broken loose. He says, "Today you have been ordained for the
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service of Yahweh, he's speaking to Levi in general here, each one of them at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing on you
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this day." this day." So punishment, I I don't I don't think so. I think for the tribe of Levi, this was the overturning of what could only
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be read as an extraordinarily negative sense in Jacob's blessing or Jacob's oracle concerning his sons before he died. Simeon and Levi are identified as
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as men of their swords and of violence in whose tents no one ought to come. Okay? and may they be divided and scattered in Israel. And for the tribe
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of Levi, that that division into all Israel becomes a blessing at the mountain. Whereas for Simeon, we'll see that become uh that that be more and
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more an indictment upon them. They'll continue in the in the cursing sense of that. But it turns for a blessing for the tribe of Levi. So I I think blessing
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or curse, I think it's undoubtedly a blessing. Did you have a followup on that at all? No, I was just gonna mention if your comment ones
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comment ones at that time is a reference specific
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most people Come on, dude. We've all heard that story, right? But no, this was highlighter, right? I keep coming back to that. Yeah.
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Right. Right. That that the ordination of Levi included Aaron. Now, that's something that I get I'll get into that when I make my notations concerning this insertion because I really think that the verses are very
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important. I really do. Um, they help call attention to something that we might otherwise miss, which is that the pe Moses' audience
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can see Elazar at that time, at the time that they're in the plains of Moab. He's right there. Okay, Aaron's dead now. So
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that's a fact. Okay? And they they know already they've seen his son ordained in the sight of all Israel to continue in Aaron's place. They know that good and
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well, but later the ability for the house of Aaron to continue in the priesthood is not so clear. Centuries later, it's not so clear that they can continue. I call
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attention to what I've been reading upstairs in 1 Samuel. The house of Eli was a shambles. And uh so there's there the notation is going to draw attention
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to these verses and clarify what's going on because on because later on the people of Israel needed it clarified. I think we do too.
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Uh, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't. Uh, but I think it's a great question. But, but you you want to say what what what came to mind? Yeah. Two things came to my mind. They're told they have to carry the ark and two they would not have inheritance
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and I can see that
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took all food they weren't supposed to take. So no that's why I ask questions.
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or describes better and will in fact be a blessing because the phrasing here one of them is to
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bless in his name. Okay, that's very Abrahamic. I agree. It's a blessing, but we have to keep in mind history
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Right. Yeah. They had all those things on the other tribes very much so. They did not have the provide for
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themselves. And later on when the tribes were not were not out to people household priests and
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Right. So, no, it wasn't a curse, right? But it wasn't an unmitigated prosperity gospel. No, and definitely not that. I I speak of it as a blessing in in to right and but but you're right. They they like So,
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Moses was quick to own the people of Israel and he tied himself to their iniquity in a way to bear it before God. that the priests would be in history whether they knew it or not. They were
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very much tied to the iniquity of Israel. When Israel was in bad shape, the priests were in bad shape and and and vice versa. Um so yes, they they were certainly tied to the to the um
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spiritual attitude of the people of Israel. Yes.
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Yeah. Yeah. I I think you're right to bring out the phrase, will it encourage a stricter judgment? I think that's a that's an appropriate illusion to make. Did you have a comment, Jenny?
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Right. Right. But I think I think that Moses purpose in this particular text is to lift up because of his prayer. All of these things that happened which he's already described as a history. Okay.
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All of these things change their character now and are recast in the light of his prayer that God answered.
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And it was Yeah, it it definitely was an indictment uh on them, but it was still a true
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Are you speaking of of Moses' audience 40 years later or are you speaking of of the old generation at the mountain? Okay. Yeah. They It's It's I wish I could say I thought they were more sensible to what they had done. Um I
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think their I think their future history which is in the past for us uh shows their hardness of heart was confirmed but it didn't overturn Moses's prayer.
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Um so Levi will bear the ark containing the law. Okay as their burden. Yahweh had set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark he built. See Aaron built the
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calf right said saw that last week. They were to bear the ark that God had commanded built as their burden. Just as Moses bore the tablets of the law as his
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burden for the people. Um we discussed during part one how Moses' death will leave Israel without a prophet but with the written word administered by the priests. That that
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is the way it's going to be in centuries to follow. And this arrangement is the continuence of Moses' ministry in the priests. They carry or bear the ark of
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the covenant of Yahweh. Whereas, and there's some parallels here, whereas Moses destroyed that sinful thing. Okay? They stand before Yahweh. Whereas Moses, because Moses lay prostrate as a result
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of his work, now they stand. They serve him because Moses mediated the ministry of the word. And finally, they bless in his name because Moses procured
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forgiveness for the people to this day. And as I said, at the time of the words, Aaron's dead. And so they need to know
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that the promise to Levi there at the mountain at the time that they joined up with Moses and said said, "We're with Yahweh, okay, has endured. It has survived Aaron's death and it will
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survive Moses' death." Again, the shadow of Moses' death lies heavy upon this. This is in the last month of his life. as I swore verses 10- 11. Um, so Yahweh
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was unwilling to destroy them even though they had provoked him to wrath many times thereafter. At the places they provoked him,
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uh God listened to Moses' prayer from his holy mountain. Okay? God was still hearing his prayer at at Tabar and at
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Kibro Hatava and at at Kadesh Barnea and later at Mirabbah and later at um at Bor
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Yahweh was hearing the prayer listening to the prayer of Moses from his holy mountain. In other words, that through the 40 years of their stiff neckness in the
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wilderness with whom he was provoked for 40 years, uh, says the familiar psalm, Moses 40 days and night stood for them, a year for each a day for each year. Um,
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just a sidelong reference that that notion is not unknown elsewhere in scripture. In Ezekiel 4, Ezekiel bears bears the iniquity of the house of Israel, a day for a year. Uh, and for
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the house of Judah, a day for a year, 40 days for 40 years of of bearing their iniquity. And Moses 40 days and 40 nights stands in a similar way for the house of Israel.
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Finally, he's told, "Arise," but this time to go ahead of the people. And though their fathers would rebel at Kadesh Barnea and fail to enter, it did not nullify the promise of God to the
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house of Israel, which I swore to your fathers. See, it's not for their righteousness. It's because of God's righteousness. So, having been then relieved of the
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burden of their iniquity by Moses, what then is left for them? What we'll look at uh next week. And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you? but
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to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of Yahweh, which I am
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commanding you today for your good. The commands came down from the mountain the first time for judgment on the house of Israel. These commands, because of the prayer of
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Moses, are issued for their good. That's a picture of the law for us for for a people not under law but under grace not under its judgment not under
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its thumb we are simply adjured what it says in Psalm 95 today if you hear his voice don't harden your heart
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that's good place to good place to close
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And what's interesting is that um what follows in uh 1012 to 11:1 shares a lot of uh language with the first half uh of this psalm in the way
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it extols it extols uh God's works and his person and how that informs Israel's behavior toward him, toward one another, toward the sojourer. um has a lot of common
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language. Oh come, let us sing to Yahweh. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise
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to him with songs of praise. For Yahweh is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains
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also are his. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before Yahweh, our
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maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
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do not harden your hearts as at Meabbah, as on the day at Masa in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had
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seen my work. For 40 years, I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. Therefore,
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I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. So having been a people who have known the ways of God and whose hearts have
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been cleansed, let us then strive to enter that rest. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the for the prayer of the Lord Jesus
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and how you have shown yourself good for all of your promises that your righteousness extends far above and beyond
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certainly our righteousness but even our sin. You would give for us the perfect son of God that he would own us as brothers. that he would that he would pray for us
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as Moses prayed for the people. We give you thanks and praise because the life you gave him now stands for us
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that we may be forever secure in the heavens as he is. And we thank you in his name, the name of Jesus. Amen.