Hello beloved,
1 “Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”
Remember what Jesus said? “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Guess where He got it…Deuteronomy, which is quoted about eighty times in the New Testament. You might want to consider spending some time in it. Jesus did(WWJD). Anyway, this verse clearly states that you, pretty much, live on the Word of God that you take in. If you don’t take it in, you die. Of course, this is speaking of your spiritual condition. And verse 1 of chapter 4 says the same thing, and more. You see, God has mapped out your way. You just have to follow Him. You can’t follow Him if you don’t know Him. You can’t know Him if you don’t read His Word. Plain and simple. So, get in His Word, beloved. Take possession of the land that the Lord is giving you.
2 “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.”
Don’t add or take away from His Word, beloved. That seems pretty easy right? Well, just be careful what you say is in His Word, especially if you can’t back it up instantly. You might be adding to His Word. I’ll give you an example of how I have done this. Just the other night, in a round-about way I told my dad that drinking was a sin. I backed that up by telling him that I was just standing on God’s Word when I said that. Boy, did that get me in trouble. I won’t get into what a jerk I made of myself, but I sure did. Nowhere in the Bible does it plainly say that drinking alcohol is a sin. (I still believe that drinking is a sin, but I added to His Word when I said that. And, in doing so, looked like a real jerk.)
“3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the LORD your God are still alive today.”
In Numbers 25, the men of Israel began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The took the invitation and joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. This made the Lord’s anger burn against them. To summarize what happened: they angered the Lord by worshiping other god’s(among other things), the Lord gave a command to kill the leaders and expose them in broad daylight, some idiot(Zimri) brought his Midianite “date”(Cozbi) and paraded her in front of everyone, Phinehas drove both of them through with a spear, which turned the anger of the Lord away and stopped the plague. But, not before 24,000 died.
So, they all saw it, and Moses is reminding them of it. It’s good to be reminded of your mistakes and the mistakes of others. It produces the fear of the Lord. (Read Dt. 4:10) Now, don’t misread me. I’m not saying to bring up the past of others and use it against them, nor am I saying that you should bring up your own past in a condemning way. The past is the past if it is covered by the blood of Jesus. I just want to make sure you understand that it’s good to look back at how dumb we were from time to time. I don’t have to look back to far to think of stupid things I’ve done that remind me not to do it again.
“5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”
Let me clue you all in on something, beloved. God wants us to do thing His way. Period. His way is not the easy way. It’s the narrow way which few will enter(Mt. 7:13-14). He, not only, expects us to do things His way; He expects us to do things exactly how He says for us to do them.
Moses was doing things, God’s way, when he taught His Law to the Israelites. Who is teaching you God’s Law? You might not have an authoritative leader in your life to teach you. (If you don’t, you better find one) But, if you don’t have someone pushing you, you had better be pushing yourself. Push yourself to learn His Word. Study it, meditate on it, pray over it, pray with it, memorize it. In every way, digest it. Your life depends on it.
When you begin to learn His laws and decrees, you have a responsibility to follow them precisely. Others are watching you. How often do you hear “That wasn’t very Christian.” That statement usually comes from a lost person after you took part in something you shouldn’t have. Let His Word correct you, beloved, “for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” People are watching, beloved. Don’t ever forget that. But, more importantly, God is watching. Live holy. Do well.
“9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Is the fear of the Lord something that is learned? Read verse 10 and you’ll see. “Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” Beloved, you must realized that the fear of God is not something that just happens. You can’t just pray for it. It’s not a gift and you certainly aren’t born with it. You must be taught to fear the Lord. And, beloved, once you learn to fear Him, you must pass that down to your children. And it clearly states that hearing His words will teach to fear Him. So, that means you must read the Bible to learn the fear of God. For all of you parents out there, let me share something with you. You probably already practice this, but it’s my duty to tell you anyway. Learning God’s Word is much more important than sports or education. Not to say that those things are bad. But be real careful that you don’t scold your child for striking out, or forgetting his homework, and not say anything when he goes all day without reading his Bible. Test your children tonight. Ask them if they know the Ten Commandments. They should. Now, ask them if they can name ten bands or television shows. Those Ten Commandments will be much more important on the Day of Judgment.
So, for any of you that actually read all of this. I hope it encourages you.
In Christian love,
Adam Tennant
