0:07
Okay. Well, this is the law is good if one uses it lawfully, session 22. Um, we'll be continuing in Deuteronomy 6 uh where we left left off last week. Last week we addressed the
0:18
first six verses uh as being a very dense statement dense statement of a sort of thesis of uh what is to come uh in the whole
0:29
commandment that God instructed Moses to instruct the people. Um so if you uh look with me if you care to from verse four uh we'll we'll read from there.
0:41
Deuteronomy 6:4. Here, O Israel, Yahweh our God. Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and
0:51
with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when
1:03
you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as
1:14
frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And when Yahweh brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Issach,
1:26
and to Yakov to give you, with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and sistns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees
1:38
that you did not plant. And when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is Yahweh your God you shall
1:52
fear him shall you serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. For Yahweh your God in
2:03
your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. You shall not put
2:13
Yahweh your God to the test as you tested him at Masaha. keeping you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and his testimonies and his statutes which he commanded you.
2:26
And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of Yahweh that it may go well with you and that you may go in and take possession of that good land that Yahweh swore to give to your fathers by
2:38
thrusting out all your enemies from before you as Yahweh has promised. And when your son asks you in time to come, what is the meaning of the testimonies
2:49
and statutes and rules that Yahweh our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt." And Yahweh brought us
3:00
out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And Yahweh showed signs and wonders great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes. and he brought us out from there
3:13
that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes to fear Yahweh our
3:24
God for our good always that he might preserve us alive as at this day. And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment
3:35
before Yahweh our God as he commanded us. So, I want to look at the what the distinguishing mark of the people of God
3:47
is. And you you have three uh profered uh marks in your outline and and a host of uh scripture references uh that I put
3:58
down for you so that you have the opportunity to reflect on them later. Um because oftentimes I'm going through them at a brisk pace.
4:08
But the distinguishing mark as as we looked at the thesis last week, the distinguishing mark of the people of God is their love for him. Right? A heart as
4:19
this always as Moses rather as God said uh earlier. Uh and that love for him is worked out in their dedication to his commands. So in verse 7, the commands of
4:32
the God of our fathers shall be impressed upon our children as a constant in life because God has impressed his commandments on us, his sons. Now that's not made explicit in
4:44
the passage that we read, but over in Deuteronomy 14, uh Moses teaches them explicitly, you are sons of Yahweh your
4:56
God. And well, and furthermore says, "You shall not cut yourselves or make any boldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to Yahweh your
5:08
God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." And it's not an accident that the u a law concerning marking
5:21
yourselves is spoken after saying, "You are sons of Yahweh your God. This is speaking of his word and of their identity as his sons as their
5:31
distinguishing mark. Right? Therefore, they shall not make marks on themselves for other reasons. And uh there's a parallel passage uh in in Leviticus
5:43
uh where this same relationship uh is established. Uh Leviticus 19 um starting in verse 27. You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of
5:55
your beard. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves. I am Yahweh. Do not profane your daughter by making her a
6:06
prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.
6:17
So the way they treat their own children has much to do with whether they will have rest in the land and the and the um pollution of the sanctuary will result
6:28
from the pollution of their children. Do not turn to mediums or necromancers, those who consult the dead. Do not seek them out and so make
6:38
yourselves unclean by them. I am Yahweh. You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man and you shall fear your God. I am
6:51
Yahweh. So there's a that reciprocal relationship between parents and children ends up in two places set among statutes concerning marking themselves.
7:02
Not an accident. The commands of God are to be impressed upon the whole people as if they were in verse eight marks on the forehead or the hand. Okay. And we often
7:15
will, I guess, see easily that if something were on your head or on your hand, you're going to see it quite clearly. It will be brought to remembrance constantly. I think that goes without saying. But but also if
7:27
something is on your hand or on your forehead, other people tend to notice it. I think the import of the text is so that my fellow Israelites will in a fashion see that I am diligently
7:39
remembering the commands of God. I had a wrist brace uh here that I've been wearing and for some reason everyone notices it. So apparently things on the hands uh draw human attention. Please.
8:07
Yeah. I don't there there doesn't seem to be any scriptural reference to that aside from the Lord condemning the Pharisees for making very elaborate felacttories and then just forgetting what's actually what they're actually
8:18
supposed to be reminding them of. Um I don't know that that endorses the practice uh since it's spoken of in the negative and there is no Old Testament evidence that I know of for that. I I I
8:29
take the the image to be a symbolic one, but a symbolic um meaning that exceeds the literal doing that was known among
8:41
the Jews in the days of the Lord. I mean that as a symbol it exceeds actually physically doing it in significance. I think what you're saying also applies to what we read in Revelation.
8:54
I was actually going to get there. That's right. Yeah. and the idea among many that it's some type of literal now of course
9:11
right right or or chip readers or Facebook or what have you tendency to make it literal seems to actual meaning I I agree that that as for the sake of the recording the
9:21
tendency to make this literal clouds the actual meaning of of what Moses Moses is saying that this saying is set among you shall talk and teach and do. Okay. So
9:33
the then the import of it shall be for you a sign on your forehead and on your hand is talk and teach and do. That's it. It's it's together. Um, I was
9:43
actually going to get there. That marks on the body are according to what what I just read in Leviticus and what I read in Deuteronomy 14 are marks of identity, of parentage, of devotion, even of
9:57
worship. Um, they will be uh the marks of God or they will be the marks of man. Um, going back to my working definition
10:07
of idolatry being an a devotion to the work of men's hands. uh marks of man. Um so from Revelation 13 uh the image of the beast causes all both small and
10:19
great, both rich and poor, both free and slave to be marked on the right hand or the forehead. So that's not an accident, right? And then skipping a little bit further on, that is the name of the
10:31
beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a
10:41
man. It is the marks of man. And further on, then I looked, and behold, on Mount Cion stood the lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his
10:53
father's name written on their foreheads. So this again the symbol exceeds the any sort of physical um uh
11:06
manifestation. Um furthermore uh another I think uh symbol that exceeds the physical act of doing so is verse 9. You shall write
11:17
them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Another thing that the Jews did literally and certainly nothing wrong with doing that. But the the commands of God here are figuratively
11:30
how the people come into their dwelling place. They came into the land via the word of God and his promise. And they will come into their houses continuously
11:43
via the word of God. that as you go out and as you come in, when you sit down and when you rise, when you walk along the way and when you are in your houses,
11:54
um so that the commands will be as it were written on their doorposts and on their gates. Um Psalm 118 uh specifically uh verses 19 and 20 uh I
12:08
think helps us with this imagery to understand uh how how this symbol exceeds any actual act of marking a doorpost. Uh let's see verse 19. Open to
12:22
me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to Yahweh. This is the gate of Yahweh. The righteous shall
12:33
enter through it. Okay, as a symbol, it's its significance is so much greater. They pass through to their inheritance through the word of God. And
12:45
it may seem like a stretch when I say this, but I think it notable that the Psalms profering righteous gates uh that the Lord would later tell his disciples concerning himself, I am the
12:58
door. It's worth thinking about uh further on in uh verses 10-
13:11
11. And when Yahweh your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, etc., the patriarchs could and did leave their
13:21
offspring no offspring no inheritance. That was not possible. By saying we were slaves in Egypt, you you are saying by definition we had no inheritance because slaves don't have
13:33
inheritances. And Pharaoh when Moses treated before him and asked that the people go three days journey into the wilderness felt perfectly within his rights to say fine but leave your stuff.
13:44
He knew he was in charge and he was the patriarchs didn't leave them an inheritance except that Yahweh had sworn to bring them into it. And that's remarkable. Um so this is why keeping
13:58
the commands of God is so crucial to remaining in the land. It was by the word of God that they received it in the first place. And we know that the present form of this world is lost and
14:08
that we ourselves will most surely die. But with God's word, we can be sure that we will inherit everything. The promise of Abraham, the import of the promise to Abraham is that his seed would inherit
14:19
the earth. But it it is very it what what this is doing is pulling apart the I'll say options. That's not a great word, but pulling apart the options away from
14:30
any kind of middle ground. They will either inherit nothing because they had nothing or they will inherit everything by the by their keeping the commands of God uh by holding fast to his word. And
14:44
as Hebrews tells us, similar phrasing, it was by faith that they received what was promised not by uh not by having it physically. Um, furthermore, when Yahweh
14:56
brings you into the land he swore to the patriarchs to give to you, it's into a land already stacked with the kind of worldly goods that one would typically inherit from parents. Right? The children don't build the cities. They
15:08
don't fill the houses. They don't dig the wells. Uh, and they don't plant the orchards. They enjoy the fruit of their father's labors and if they're wise, expand upon them.
15:20
The song that goes with that is that the of the of the unealth of the wicked store up right I think it aligns
15:37
with the building of cities and the establishment of industry even arts culture of the lineage right right and those that what you're saying
15:47
is ultimately those those worldly goods are things of this world and we need to and they're all that the worldly man inherits, right? And yet they pass away,
16:00
right? They are used by the godly, but they're not. It's like what he's saying here. We we enjoy we benefit from that which we give thanks for even though
16:12
it's it's this world, but this world is not our inheritance. Right? And I think what the the point the the point of the teaching is that they will inherit these things which are needful and good and to
16:24
be received with thanksgiving. They will only inherit those things through the word of God. That they don't they're not in the world with the option to experience God's kindness and not know
16:35
it and not give thanks to him for a time. Um they're not being given that option. They are that that is being prescribed. Um, I've I've often uh said
16:45
that the the one of the results of that that I have no intention of uh raising my children to be good worldlings. Um that if if they forsake
16:59
the God of their father, they're going to be really miserable worldlings. Um I I I don't that's not because that's not where we're going u in in our household.
17:09
um that that that option is being taken from them bit by bit just by the way we live and I think the same is true for the way the Israelites were to live. Um
17:20
um we have in verse uh 12 through 15 uh one of the Oh sure go ahead
17:33
I don't know when I read this passage here I'm just going back to Christ talking about the being built.
17:45
I don't know. There are similarities here that I'm thinking back to Christ.
18:06
Sure. Well, and I I would say that that the the parable of the vineyard is picking up on Isaiah, and I cannot remember the uh chapter number off the top of my mind, but it is picking up on what
18:17
Isaiah is saying in which the people of God are referred to particularly the in that case the body politic of Israel is referred to as God's vineyard. This is
18:28
this is his um Paul later calls us who are in the spirit uh God's building and God's field. Um, so the the the point of
18:38
that imagery is that the people of God are the inheritance that that God has set apart for himself that that God is in fact making for himself a a heritage,
18:49
right, in which we share. As far as the physical worldly goods of the land, I I would not encourage a relationship between what he's saying, vineyards you
19:01
didn't plant, houses you didn't build, and the image in Isaiah. What he's saying is more akin to what the Lord taught us that that we should seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and
19:13
all these other things will be added to us as well. If if I had to relate it to the Lord's teaching, I would relate it there. Um but uh but in in the case of the
19:23
passage in Isaiah, it is the people of God themselves that are referred to as the vineyard. Whereas this is evidently talking about worldly goods that they are to inherit as a result of going in by God's goodness. Is is that
19:36
I guess I was going to you know these things aren't something
19:51
right. All of them, right? Well, and and and there and there is a connection point for sure. Okay. Uh because the people the people of God are
20:02
a vineyard that God himself has produced, right? And and gives back to the the inhabitants or the the the constituents of that vineyard over and
20:14
over again. It's a it's a deep and deep and wide uh image. Um uh looking so looking at verse 12. Um
20:25
this is one of uh a couple of major markers in the text that uh I'm going to come back to again and again as a way to to anchor our understanding of Moses'
20:36
message. So one of the one of the things we talked about was you have the sort of um abstract um abstract uh to to whole um uh relationship in the
20:52
text. And this this has helped uh show how the entire work of Deuteronomy is organized and helps you see transitions uh even within the same
21:03
discourse. Um within this particular part of the discourse, what's it what's chapters 5 through 11 in in your copies? Um you also have the the use of the
21:21
phrase okay here O Israel slash and now um we saw that as well in Deuteronomy 4 uh where there was a see or here see take heed watch take heed
21:32
and now uh that that kind of was the scaffolding on which the whole speech was built. These motifs are also really
21:42
important uh because they they show they help show us the flow of the messaging. Okay, show the flow of the teaching and help keep us anchored in the text. Um so in in verse uh in verse 12
22:37
your heart be lifted up I believe. Okay. And
22:48
then 11:16 which is on the trailing edge of this part of the discourse.
23:03
Uh, take care lest your heart be deceived and you forget. Let's see. I think it's no. And
23:16
you turn aside. Okay. And serve other gods. I'm just going to write. And you serve other serve other gods. Okay. gods. Okay. So that's going to be a big one. Um as
23:29
this this occupies almost third points or quarter points in the uh in the in the discourse and they're all related. Okay.
23:40
You have you have forgetfulness, your heart be lifted up, your heart be deceived. There's a clear progression in there where the it's mostly the same words being mixed up and
23:51
yet they're they're they're being interpreted as we go. Similar phrasing there its meaning being unfolded in a changing context. Okay?
24:01
And and the phrase occurs these three times amid a description of Yahweh's future blessings in the land. We've just read that and now he's saying in light of that take care lest you forget. Okay,
24:15
so this underscores one of Moses' main messages throughout the section. The the gravity of the human heart toward idolatry combined with prosperity is one of the most dangerous forces for temptation that they'll face in the
24:26
land. Um to put it to put it another prosperity plus forgetting
24:52
idolatry. There it is. because idolatry is at its essence a devotion to the work of men's hands. I'll make a finer point on that when he gets uh down into uh verses six verse 16
25:04
and following. Um there's a point to be made about that, but I'm go in the order of the text. Did you have a comment? What you written there is basically the evolution of apostasy, right?
25:20
Churchy, I guess that's the right word in Deuteronomy. in Deuteronomy. God promised to bless his obedient children. Yes. And that that prosperity will become
25:36
right. That's right. I think that that underscores what you were saying earlier about the the fact that worldly goods are of this world and that we need to remember that that they are not a
25:47
worldly prosperity is not an objective good. um it has no uh intrinsic spiritual significance. It can be
25:57
received with thanksgiving for the remembering of the God who gave it or it can be received and then you can forget and you end up straight back here. Uh the the worldly goods have no power in
26:09
themselves to lead you to godliness and they have plenty of power to tempt.
26:27
It's an interesting way of putting it. Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother. Okay, I'll have to think on that one. That's a that's very dense. um they for um so anyway
26:42
uh these others will also occur in a description of God's goodness to them and their future prosperity. So
26:52
the the context of each of these is similar enough to start to see steps almost the three-point outline of of part of Moses' message. And I'll just say as maybe this is a matter of
27:05
personal privilege, but there are so many threads running through this that one, there's no way I'm going to capture them all. And two, I feel like you could go through it with a different emphasis
27:16
and get by no means a completely different message, but just a a message that stood by itself many different times depending on what you focused on.
27:27
So this is this is one major thread. Um, but there there are there are a lot of others. Um, this is just the one that stood out to me. So, um, we'll we'll get
27:38
we'll get to that a little bit further on. Um, he says, "Then take care lest you forget Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
27:48
slavery. It is Yahweh your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people
27:58
who are around you. For Yahweh your God in your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from the face of the ground. So they are not to
28:09
forget that they do everything in God's sight. Him shall you fear. They do everything they do for him. Him shall you serve. And by his
28:22
blessing and authority, by his name you shall swear. Um, and there is a certain harmony, maybe you noticed it, between these directives and the and the 10
28:32
words, the commands to have no other gods before him, right? Fear, uh, to make no carved images or bow down to them or serve them. Serve. Okay. Nor to use his name for a vain thing. Swear.
28:45
Um uh we were recommended last time that one of the emphases of the of the first word or the first rubric I am Yahweh your god is the your part. Okay as Paul
28:58
says there are many gods and many lords but for us there is one god the father and one lord Jesus Christ. Similarly James tells us that friendship with the
29:08
world is enmity toward god. He is for us the only God. And that jealousy is to the intensity, as I said earlier, that if
29:19
Israel is not a nation for Yahweh's own possession, he will see to it that they cease to be a nation. There's no going back to being as they were in Egypt. Um, and we too
29:30
having been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into light, having died with Christ, our life now being hidden with him and the life we live
29:42
being by faith, not in the old manner because there's nothing to go back to. You can't You can't undy. Our very existence then pushes inexurably against any lesser identity
29:54
than sons of the living God. On the other hand, as as I worked down and thought, okay, the fourth word then
30:06
pertains to God's rest, notice the phrase, and in your copies, it may be destroy you from the face of the earth. Um, apparently it's the same phrase in
30:16
in Genesis 4, from the face of the ground. Um, if they are unfaithful to their God, their fate will be like that of Cain.
30:28
who falling short of the blessings of God by forgetting him was cursed from the face of the ground. Um in from Genesis 4, uh and now you are cursed
30:38
from the ground. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And even what we've already heard from the first
30:51
discourse in Deuteronomy 4 in particular, it's the message is the same. you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. They'll be put out of the land for uh for forgetting the commands
31:04
of God. And appropriately, Cain says to Yahweh, "Behold, you have driven me away from the ground, and from your face I shall be
31:14
shall be hidden." So they're being put out of the land needs to be read as being put away from God's face. as as Cain rightly observed being taken from the ground
31:26
would be being put away not just from the face of the ground but from Yahweh's face. Do you have a comment? What you're saying you're reading reminds me of the parable of the prodical
31:37
son. So often it's treated in modern treatments as the prodical son comes to faith okay and returns. But in fact the
31:48
prodical son was always a son. The text says
32:02
remember who he was and his plight, his situation is is like any child of God who lives with a desire for things of this world, which is what
32:13
he did. Never ceases to be a son and yet lives like a slave. Right? Practically speaking, he ceases to be he ceases to be a son in practical life. And yet he
32:24
never ceases to be. And I think that's a beautiful image of what what believers are when they do not remember when their hearts are lifted up. When their hearts
32:36
are deceived, they don't cease to be children of God, but they're living like they're children of this world. Right? And and the contrast that that this
32:47
teaching is drawing for us is is not to put us in mind of well, okay, you know, I guess I guess we can be um cast out uh
32:57
as in a in a spiritual fashion as the children of Israel were cast out in in a in well both physical and spiritual fashion. I I don't think that the intent of the teaching
33:08
is rightly read as frightening us with judgment. Um it is to remind us of who we are and that there there is no
33:20
identity between light and darkness. The sons of light can't practice darkness. Um I think I think that also sheds a lot of light on the difficult and and it is
33:34
um admittedly very difficult. Uh first John, the way he phrases so many of his teachings in in that letter are greatly
33:46
disturbing. U and and yet he's he's not wrong. He he who is of God doesn't make a practice of sinning. And and I think at least one way of reading him
33:59
rightly is that don't make no sense. uh this these these two things can't go together and he says in a lot of different ways and I think that's the
34:10
import of this teaching those who will not fear God serve God and do all in his name are are they sons of God how can
34:20
they be we would never be able to say oh yeah they're they're they're totally they they belong to God their works don't say that and that's all we can
34:32
And and what we what we warn uh when we warn is that those who will not fear God, serve God and do all in his name will have no part in his rest. Um I
34:45
certainly think that is the case temporally uh in in a being recalcitrant in sin that um find that rest is taken from you.
34:59
It's exhausting. I think this there's a psalm that says something really similar u to that. I cannot remember what it is. Um but to put a finer point uh on it uh
35:13
the the f the verses following um you shall not put Yahweh your God to the test as you tested him at Masa. Masaha was named so as a location. Uh it means
35:26
because the the sons of Israel tested Yahweh there. So the the word apparently means the testing. So the phrase reads as a play on words. You shall not test
35:37
Yahweh as you tested him at the testing. Which I just I love that. U and and I don't think it's really an accident of play on words that of all the places
35:48
where Israel tested Yahweh, Masaha is mentioned. uh in in Exodus 17, the way the people tested Yahweh is by asking is Yahweh among us or
36:03
not? It's not that they went after idols at Masa. I think often this is I'm saying I think we often go here because
36:14
this is the nature of the way I was taught. Okay, we often go right to the idolatry question and and without dealing with this, okay, without dealing
36:25
with the forgetting as a prerequisite. Okay, they didn't go after idols at Masa, but they tested Yahweh by saying, is he among us or not? And
36:36
that's very similar to to what they're being warned about here. um they are that going after other gods will be the symptom and the result of forgetting
36:48
Yahweh and his word. The content of Deuteronomy is meant to guide future generations, they and their descendants after them. So the overtone of the command to honor and f honor father and
37:00
mother, which is just throughout this whole passage, is no accident. Diligent teaching will be the source of diligent keeping. And the future history of
37:12
Israel laid out for us in Judges shows us with the opposite language that this diligent teaching did not happen because the result was not diligent keeping. But everyone doing what was right in his own
37:24
eyes. Call back the phrasing that you shall do what is right in the sight of Yahweh. Judges tells us they were doing what was right in their own eyes. They did in fact put their God to the test
37:35
when Yahweh tested them. Um later uh in Deuteronomy 7 uh he he tells them, "Yahweh your God will clear away these
37:45
nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you." Um but Judges
37:57
3:4 clarifies the purpose of God in that even further. even further. saying that these nations were for the testing of Israel to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of Yahweh
38:10
which he commanded their fathers by the hand of hand of Moses. So when they were tested by Yahweh they did not diligently keep to
38:20
the commandments instead doing what was right in their own eyes. Okay. Contra verse 17. you keeping you shall keep the commands of Yahweh your God and his testimonies and
38:31
statutes which he has commanded you. Okay. It did not go well with them. Uh per verse 18, uh doing what is good and right in the sight of Yahweh that it may go well with you. U and they failed to
38:45
take full possession. Going on that you may go in and take possession of the good land that Yahweh swore to give to your fathers. And you can read this in judges 1 through3. Um but they failed to
38:56
take full possession and furthermore their enemies overcame them. Contra what is written here in verse 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you as
39:07
Yahweh has promised. So a clear contrast is set up that if they put their god to the test and forget him. Then they will
39:17
do what is right in their own eyes. It will not go well with them. They will fail to take possession and and their enemies will overcome them. The exact opposite of what Moses has laid out for us here.
39:28
us here. Not trying to be too pedantic about that, but is that clear the parallel I'm drawing? Okay.
39:40
Um, I think I was really impressed by the parallel, so I'm tending to be a little bit pedantic. Um, so, uh, moving on to verse 20. When your son asks you in time to
39:50
come. So I I made the point one that diligent teaching
40:13
of diligent keeping. And now as Moses keeps keeps teaching us, it's going to be that diligent keeping will be the source of diligent teaching. The parents in time to come
40:25
are to teach their children the same things that Moses will teach in the coming words, particularly the recurring touchstone of remembering the deliverance from Egypt. Okay? And the
40:36
teaching of the father in in this paragraph uh parallels Deuteronomy 4:32-40 uh containing a short form repetition of this phrase uh further back uh in that
40:50
passage um and because he loved your fathers and chose their seed after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence by his great power driving
41:00
out before you from your presence nations greater and mightier than yourselves to bring you in to give you their land for an inheritance as at this day. What what the what the parents say
41:13
to their children in time to come is similar. And he brought us out from there that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And that that that that also he
41:27
is bringing up we were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt and Yahweh brought us out from there is is not as I've said before about other things. It's not a throwaway phrase. Um the meaning of these statutes
41:41
is explained by the people's deliverance from Egypt and their founding as a new distinct nation by God. He made us who we are by doing good to us while we were
41:53
still his still his enemies. And he commanded us what to do for good to us and the thrusting out of our enemies. And and another phrase that
42:05
parallels Deuteronomy 4 um alive as at this day uh parallel. So that's another triad of repeated phrases. Deuteronomy 4:4 um he points out that uh those were
42:18
purged from the camp who followed after the Baal of Peor, the god of the gods of the Moabites. Um but but all who held fast to his word are here alive at this day. And then in uh chapter 5:3 in
42:32
introducing the 10 words, he says, "Not with our fathers did Yahweh make this covenant, but with us who are here alive today." And now the the father teaching his son says the same thing that they
42:45
that we are alive as at this day a holding fast to the word of God. The people with whom God has established his covenant for blessing are those who hold
42:56
fast to his word and he shows his approval of them by preserving them to continue repeating his word and works in the ears of those who come after.
43:07
Why do we gather as a church? To continue repeating his word and works in one another's ears and in the ears of those who come after. Okay. Is this not the same as the Lord said to the seven
43:19
churches in Asia? If they in Revelation, if they persisted in patient endurance and faithfully holding the testimony, they would live as a church.
43:35
Psalm 78 puts a very a very beautiful point on this reality of of why why it is that we gather and hold fast to his word. Um why if having been ransomed from our sin and God remembering our sin
43:45
no more no more um what what is his purpose in our being afflicted with temptations and by his
43:57
spirit overcoming spirit overcoming um Psalm 78 the first couple of stanzas here a mosciel of assaf give ear oh my
44:08
people to my teaching notice how similar this is to the to the passage at hand. Give ear, oh my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my
44:18
mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, uttering dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us. We will
44:29
not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of Yahweh and his might and the wonders that he has done. He
44:40
established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and
44:52
arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, that they should not be like their fathers, a
45:04
stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. So these very works of God in
45:16
Egypt, which if you read the if you continue reading the psalm, the the works of God in Egypt and in the wilderness establish wilderness establish then what what the content of this
45:29
repeated message is. So when the father says in answer to what is the meaning of these statutes that Yahweh our God commanded you to do them, he is to say
45:41
to them, we were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. He's to go right back there. That is the meaning of them that we were established as a unique people by our God with his mighty works as the as the
45:54
visible witness of of what he was doing in the spirit and setting his presence among us. among us. Okay. And and the psalms certainly help
46:04
us see the centrality of declaring and passing on these things. So that even the pronouns that the father uses in contrast to the son's question is really
46:16
important. He the son asks what is the meaning of these statutes that Yahweh our god commanded you? And the father then teaches him that Yahweh commanded
46:30
us. The son's question presupposes that he's inquiring then of the father's example that of obedience to God in
46:41
these things that Yahweh your God commanded you. It's an astute observation on the part of the child that clearly the father's works are being carried out in God and the
46:52
teaching then naturally follows from that. And I I don't think that the scenario here is contrived. It is teaching us something
47:03
about how this teaching comes about. This is not okay, make sure you drill all these things into your children's heads. They are to
47:13
inquire after the example of their parents. What's the meaning of these things that you're doing? Okay. And then they are taught that it is what we do.
47:24
Okay. Okay. And this the scenario is no more contrived than the constant and casual talking of these things in all areas of life that were mentioned before in verses 7-9.
47:42
The law is then only as the father in this um hypothetical this scenario teaches. The law is only righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this
47:54
commandment before Yahweh our God as he commanded us. And that is just pregnant with meaning. Hey, it is not righteousness merely to have the law.
48:04
There's an if in there that is conditional. It is not righteousness merely to teach them or to promulgate a tradition. Okay? To do them is the
48:16
purpose of those words being given. And it's not righteousness to do them as we see fit. We do these things before our God in his sight as he commanded us, as
48:27
it is right in his eyes. So going back to the question that I think is going to be on all of our minds if it isn't already. Okay. And really what one
48:38
of the central purposes of this study is one why the law for us and two why teach
48:53
and study at all particularly the law. And one answer I'll propose is because our obedience
49:05
matters. Our obedience matters. It's the matrix in which happens. It's the means of extending God's praise generation after
49:16
generation. As the psalm, as the psalm said, it's who we are, a people who do his will. As if the word of God were
49:28
written all over the door that we go in and out of our house with, and as if it were stuck on our hand and stuck right here where everybody can see it. It's who we are.
49:40
James 1 uh 22. Probably a familiar uh verse to
49:59
open. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a
50:09
mirror, looking at himself and going away and at once forgetting what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and
50:20
perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who does, he will be happy in his doing.
50:33
So don't be merely hearers but doers. And he says, notice, for the one who hears and does not do is like a man who sees his own face and then immediately forgets who he is. But we in looking into his law
50:46
lawfully and finding there the freedom for which Christ has set us free, it will be happy in our doing. Let us reckon ourselves a people who are
50:59
children of God, set apart by his gracious favor, freed from sin, living by his word, blessed in our doing, his
51:10
praises on our lips. Moses in Psalm 90 says, "Let your work be shown to your servants and your
51:20
glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our
51:33
hands. And finally, his own words again from Deuteronomy from Deuteronomy 29:29. The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our
51:45
children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Let us pray.
52:00
Father, I pray that these words and the the manner in which we have spoken of them here today would increase in power as you apply it
52:10
and as you cultivate it. I ask that we would by ruminating on these things from your word come into a greater and greater
52:21
understanding that we might do what is right in your sight from a heart of love from the standpoint of being your children from the standpoint of being
52:32
identified with your son as your sons and daughters and Jesus not ashamed to call us brothers either. We thank you that you have
52:44
provided a way that we might put our put your praises on our lips and rightfully speak of you and rightfully do and find that you are pleased with us.
52:57
We ask that as we lift up our voices in song and in prayer and we hear the reading of your word again and as we hear further preaching from your word
53:09
that you would make all effective for the greater setting apart of us as a people and for the greater effectiveness of passing on your works to those who
53:21
come after. We thank you for setting your spirit among us in Jesus name. Amen.
