Deuteronomy 4

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Deuteronomy 4:1-40

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. 2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye dimmish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; 10 specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. 15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: 16 lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18 the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19 and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. 21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: 22 but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. 23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. 25 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you. 28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. 32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? 33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. 36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; 38 to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. 39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED596]

“We had ended the 3^rd chapter, Moses rehearsing as it were the history of God’s people, camped on the edge of the Promised Land, looking across the Jordan River at the walls of Jericho. A stone’s throw as it were from all of the promises made to Abraham. Moses longing to go in, God asking him not to talk to him about that, said he’d hear no more of it from him. And as we come to the 4^th chapter, in the 4^th through the 11^th chapters, there is a review or a renewing of the Law. There had been a review of their history, the first three chapters, now there is a reviewing of God’s Word and of his Law to this new generation. A generation had perished in the wilderness. Those young men that were 19 years old, they were 57 at this point in time, were spared, just those men of war 20 years old and upward to 50 evidently perished in the wilderness. And many of the women, many of them remember Horeb, there are some of them who remember Egypt. Certainly Joshua and Caleb, remarkable men, that would lead the children of Israel as they came in. But God has some things to say to them. Now remember, these things were written for us, for our learning, because so many times we stand on the edge of some promise God has made us, we stand on the edge of some thing that God would have us step into. And I know in my own life, I think ‘Lord, I lack so much faith, but I’m just afraid when I get to heaven Lord, there will be things that I realize that you were urging me to step into, that I was too complacent, or I was too comfortable.’ And I’m not condemned, I know I’m saved by grace, I’m not going to be bummed out in heaven forever, it wouldn’t be heaven, it would be just like staying here, ah, heaven is heaven. [For one thing, shortly after the 1^st resurrection to immortality, after the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, we’re all going to come right back down to earth with Jesus Christ to put an end to WWIII, and set up the Millennial Kingdom of God, where we’ll rule with Jesus Christ over all that survived that war, ruling for 1,000 years. Then shortly after that, the New Jerusalem will come down to earth, where we’ll live forever with Jesus and God the Father, on earth, not heaven. This concept of “going to heaven” for those who die in Christ needs reevaluation by the Greater Body of Christ, truing it up to what Scripture actually teaches (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf )] But I’m thinking ‘Lord just let me see those things, that can only be done now. And show me how to move forward in them.’ And I think there’s tremendous instruction here for all of us.

Hearken Unto The Statutes & Judgments--Neither Diminish Or Add To Them--So That You May Live

So Moses now speaking to the children of Israel, “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye dimmish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” (verses 1-2) So this beginning exhortation, and it will be so many times, it’s relative to God’s Word, to his Statutes and to his Judgments. He says “Now therefore” he’s going to tell us why he’s saying that “hearken” and this is a word that’s used in one form or another over 90 times in the Book of Deuteronomy. “Hearkening” in the Scripture is not just hearing. We can be guilty of coming and going, and I come to the church, and just hearing the Word of God, but never hearkening. Hearkening is a hard attitude, it speaks of leaning towards, that you hear the Word of God with the intention of incorporating it into your life. [the King James word “hearken” is a compound word composed of the word “hear,” to hear, and the Old English word, taken from the same German word “ken” which means “to know.” “Hearken” literally means “hear-to-know.” It is based on the German word “kennenzulernen” which means “know-to-learn.” Learning something so well that you come to know what is being taught. Both the English and German words convey the same meaning.] Not an academic exercise, and we should study to show ourselves approved, and there’s much to learn. And it’s wonderful with computers, and all the information we have accessible to us today. But the Word of God is to take the lead role in our hearts and in our lives and our character. And he says “Now therefore hearken,” he wants their hearts involved with this, “O Israel, unto the statutes” now those Statutes are the religious principles, those things in regarding to sacrifice and worship, the Statutes are the things that God gave to Israel that were Godward, ‘I want you to hearken, to lean into these with an attitude that you want to incorporate them into your life, that you want to obey “unto the statutes and unto the judgments,” the judgments were the civil laws relative to their fellow man, they were manward. Look, the two tables of the Law, the first table was God-ward, the second table was Man-ward. And here he says, I want you to hearken unto the Statutes, those things of worship, and to those things that are most practical, relative to your fellow man. God cares, those things are as sacred to him as singing a song in church, those are also sacred, our attitude and our behavior towards our fellow man. He says I want you to hearken, I want you to have an attitude towards these things, Moses says, “which I teach you,” first reason, “for to do them,” There’s a huge danger here, and we’re going to talk about it. I, and you, can get into the habit of coming to church, listening to sermonettes, and you can become Christianettes, and leave here and not be disciples, and not be on fire. Do we come, do I come to the Word of God that way? [He gives full-blown sermons that last over an hour, they’re by no means “sermonettes,” which in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God last for 15 minutes, and then their main sermon comes, which last about an hour. I’m not sure why he’s using that term.] You know, sometimes I’m running, I’m late, I’m coming to the Word, I’m pulling out commentaries, I’m reading scholars, I’m coming to pull together a Sunday morning, a Wednesday evening study, whatever, and then I have to say ‘Lord, forgive me, I haven’t sat alone, I haven’t got my heart before this. I haven’t read over it and over it, until it’s piercing me.’ Charles Spurgeon said he wouldn’t preach on a text until it bit him. He says the reason that we should hearken, have this attitude towards the principles, and principles towards human beings is to do them, not just to know them, not just to argue theologically about them, not just to prove our theological position. And we should be able to do that. But to do them, he says, the reason, God is not selfish, “that ye may live,” he wants us to flourish, “and go in and possess” inherit “the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.” It’s all of grace, he wants everything he has for us today, it’s of grace, it’s all of grace, we could never earn any of it, we could never deserve any of it. What he says is I want your heart attitude, if your heart is towards me, and if you hear my Word with an attitude of yielding to it and doing it, you’re going to live then in all of the fulness I want you to live in. You’re going to possess the things that you need to possess, because it’s my heart to give them to you. Let me tell you something, even in illness there’s a difference between a believer and an unbeliever. At death’s door, and I’ve been there with many folks, there is a difference between a believer and an unbeliever. If we listen, and we go to him, that we might do his Word, we live the right way, we possess the things he wants us to possess, even to that point, because he gives them to us freely, he’s challenging.

You Shall Not Add To Or Diminish From My Word

He says this, “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye dimmish ought from it,” the reason? “that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” (verse 2) He wants them to keep them. Now look, adding to, Jesus warned us about the leaven of the Pharisees, they certainly claimed, and in their own thinking, were orthodox and had kept God’s Word. But they had added tradition upon tradition upon tradition to the purity of the Word. He warns us about the leaven of the Sadducees, the Sadducees had detracted from the Word of God. Oh they embraced the first five Books of Moses, but they didn’t believe in angels, they didn’t believe in spirits [spirit-beings, which are either holy angels or demons], they didn’t believe in resurrection, that’s why they were Sad-u-see, that’s just old as the hills, it’s in there. Adding to, taking away from the Word of God. Listen, it began in Genesis. ‘Hath God said?’ Satan said to Eve, ‘you shall not surely die,’ denying the Word of God, taking away from it. ‘He knows in the day you eat thereof, you shall be like God,’ adding to the Word of God. It went on from the beginning. We can follow it through Scripture, to the leaven of the Sadducees and the Pharisees in Jesus day, all the way to the last exhortation in the Book of Revelation, ‘not to add or take away from the words of the prophecy of this Book,’ and then it says ‘anybody who does that, the book of the words of this prophecy…’ People say ‘Well is that the Bible? or is that the Book of Revelation?’ Well he’s got you coming and going, cause first he says “the words of this prophecy of this book,” and he says “the words of this prophecy,” so you’re in trouble either way. It’s God’s Word, we’re not to add to it, we’re not to take away from it. I am convinced again, that the Bible is the Word of God. Not that it contains the Word of God, that it’s inerrant, it is the Word of God. He’s smart enough to inspire it, he’s smart enough to preserve it, he’s given it to us. I believe it is powerful, and I believe it’s life-changing. You look at Israel today, you look at the Jews, this exhortation goes to the Jews, what preserved them, as they were driven through all the nations of the world, it was the synagogue, it was in the synagogue it says, in Acts chapter 15 verse 21, ‘That Moses was read every Sabbath day,’ they never left go of the Word of God, and it kept them in foreign lands, it kept their health, it kept the way they did business, it kept the way that they worshipped. Oh sure there was a deadness to it, without God being part of it, it could become dried up. The point is, it was powerful enough to do God’s work, to preserve them all over the world. You read the early Church, you read the Church fathers, the anti-Nicene fathers, you hear them, they were determined to live their lives according to the teaching of the New Testament, to order their worship services according to the teaching of the New Testament. [And what was that early Church like as it started out in Jerusalem, and then migrated up into Asia Minor? (see https://unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm )] And here there’s this exhortation not to add to it, not to take away from it, but to keep it. Look, what it’s saying is, adding to God’s Word or taking away from God’s Word, is what prevents us from keeping God’s Word. Adding to it, it prevents us from keeping it. It makes it impure. Taking away from it, weakens it. And there’s so much of that going on today. He says not to add, not to take away. It tells us this in Acts, I’ll look in a few places real fast, you don’t have to turn. It says in Acts chapter 8, ‘Therefore they that were scattered abroad’ persecution, Acts chapter 8, ‘they went everywhere preaching the Word.’ Paul when he writes to the Thessalonians, he says this to them, ‘For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. You became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Acai.’ Here’s why they were examples, ‘For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Acai, but also every place your faith toward God is shed abroad, so that we may not speak anything.’ There the Thessalonians. Paul, the last thing he would write to Timothy, closing in his exhortation, he would say ‘But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures,’ now that’s the Old Testament by the way, ‘which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture’ is a different word, now looking to the New Testament, ‘is given by inspiration of God, all Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for teaching, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. I charge thee therefore before the God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his Kingdom, preach the Word, be instant in season, and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering, and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts they shall heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables, unto story telling.’ It’s one of the prime things that’s being pushed in the Church today, telling stories instead of the Word of God. Here’s chapter 4, edge of the Promised Land, he says through the first 3 chapters, this has been your history. Now understand this, God wants you to flourish, he wants you to live, he wants you to possess the things that he’s given to you. It’s gonna take a heart attitude that is yielded, ‘Hear his Word so that you might do it. Not adding to it, not taking away from it, but keeping it, in it’s purity, in its power and it’s strength.’ Case in point, look what he says here in verse 3, “Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” Remember, over 20,000 died in a day, because they were involved in sexual sin and idolatry. God says ‘I want you to hear my Word, so that you might do it.’ Look, we can make all kinds of excuses about living in sexual sin. God says this, here’s a case in point, remember what happened to these guys, they turned away from my Word, they did whatever they wanted to do, they entered into idolatry. And whenever we turn away from God’s Word it’s idolatry of one form or another, it’s putting something higher than him. And he said they were destroyed. “But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.” (verse 4) proving the things he just said.

There Are No Laws On Earth Like The Laws I’ve Given You

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them,” now he, Yahweh, is in the middle of the camp in the Tabernacle, his presence would be right there, finally of course in the Temple, right in the middle of Jerusalem, “as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (verses 5-8) You read the Code of Hammurabi, you read any of the ancient writings, none of them even come close to the Scripture, it’s standards, it’s truth, it’s power, it’s morality, it’s wisdom. What other nation? He says the people are going to say ‘There’s no people like this, that God has given them wisdom, he’s given them his Word, he’s given them Statutes, he’s given them Judgments unlike anything we’ve heard, and he’s so nigh to them, he’s so close. What nation is there that’s so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day?’ Much of our jurisprudence system today is based on Scripture. Premeditated manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, so much of it is based on God’s Word. Listen, when we talk about a Judeo-Christian ethic, we’re not talking about a Judeo-Christian faith or doctrine, this nation was set up where all faiths can worship here. And as far as I’m concerned, so all faiths can get converted here. But a Judeo-Christian ethic is a standard of morality. That’s why the Ten Commandments are in courtrooms, that’s why our founding fathers prayed and fasted, and sought the Lord. [Comment: When the Continental Congress was deadlocked over the words of the Declaration of Independence, or it may have been for the words of the Constitution, which were even more important, Ben Franklin called on all of them to have a day of prayer and fasting, which afterwards, the right words came freely, the deadlock was broken.] They understood the power of these things, I love Psalm 19, it says this, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (verses 7-8) ‘making wise the simple,’ I am a fool, and I live my life like a fool, and if God didn’t save me, I’d probably be dead [me too, multiple times over], spending my money on drugs, immorality, making the simple, God’s Word, God’s Word, making wise the simple. ‘the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart,’ [Comment: one section of the Statutes of the LORD are written out in the Holy Day chapter of the Bible, Leviticus 23:1-44, where the Sabbath (the 4^th Commandment) is the first Holy Day mentioned, and the Feast of Tabernacles is the last Holy Day mentioned, and these days are meant to rejoice the heart, for the ancient Israelite, as well as for the believer, for contained within them in symbolic form, is the very Plan of Salvation mapped out for us by the LORD. It is a wonderful plan, which most believers only partly understand because these Statutes have been “diminished” from God’s Word, (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm ). Messianic Jewish believers, about a million in number, and Sabbath-keeping Church of God members observe these days and understand their rich meaning, and they bring joy to them.] ‘the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.’ “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” (verses 9-10) We have lost tract of that, haven’t we, all we’re worried about is the barrel of oil and what’s happening on the Dow Jones. I ain’t got no money there so I ain’t real worried about it. But it effects the rest of us whether it goes up or down. Look, he says ‘More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold’ by the way, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be good stewards, we should be wise. [Comment: but these Judgments, if they were a genuine part of our Constitution, would guarantee the ability for all people to build and maintain a healthy degree of financial wealth. These laws and the judgments contained within them made up the Constitution of ancient Israel, and will make up the future Constitution for all nations within the soon-coming Millennial Kingdom of God (for a taste of them, see https://unityinchrist.com/IsraelAPeculiarPeople--ALightToTheGentiles.html ).] We need to talk to somebody smarter than me to figure that out [and God’s judgments and laws in his ancient Constitution give us that wisdom]. “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” (verses 10-11) “And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (verse 8) Now he warns them. Look, when there’s privilege there’s responsibility. God has given these things to them, and think of all he’s given to us. He says this. Look, he’s made promises to them nationally, now he’s talking to them individually, as he’s talking to us this evening individually.

Take Heed To Yourselves, Lest You Forget

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life:” but rather, in contrast to that, “but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;” (verse 9) Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, ‘guard your heart with all diligence, because from it flows the issues of life.’ (Proverbs 4:23) Solomon said this ‘He that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul, but he that despiseth his (the LORD’s ways) shall die.’ It says here, “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget” (verse 9a) now we’re going to read about forgetting in 6:40, in 8:11, and 17, and chapter 9, verses 1, 4, 7, I mean all the way through that’s going to be the warning, “forget not.” Look, it’s very interesting, when we follow the history of this nation, the most wicked king that arises over Judah is Manasseh, and Manasseh is the word that means “forgetting.” [see https://unityinchrist.com/kings/5.html ] That was the epitome of forgetting all that they were as a people in Manasseh’s reign [to see how badly the entire nation of Israel, the 10 northern tribes making up the Kingdom of Israel, and the southern Kingdom of Judah forgot God’s Laws, go through this entire survey of Old Testament history at: https://unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html and read all the way through to “kings/6.html,” all six chapters. They did more forgetting of God’s Law than they ever did of remembering it, to their own demise, ultimately. It’s a very sad history, both for the 10-northern tribes, and for the Kingdom of Judah, the Jews, scattered as a race for over 2,000 years, right up to 1948.] Here he says “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;” (verse 9) “lest thou forget” now it isn’t, we’re going to be warned, not to forget God. The Bible is wise enough to understand, you’re not going to forget God. It’s not that word that means “it’s going to go,” and you’re going to get up on a Sunday [or Sabbath] morning and you’re going to think ‘You know, I feel kind of guilty, I know I’m supposed to be somewhere, what am I supposed to, Sunday [Saturday] morning, I don’t know, God, I don’t know, there’s something, you know, I forgot.’ You can’t forget God, that’s not what it’s saying. The word literally means “to set aside.” He says ‘I am the LORD thy God, I will have no other gods before me,’ it doesn’t mean “before me in line,” ‘if you let me be the #1 God I don’t care what is #2, #3, #4, #5,’ it’s not what the Hebrew word means, it means ‘I will have no other gods in my presence, before me, in my sight, in my presence, I am the LORD thy God, I will have no other gods before me.’ And that’s what it says here, “take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget” ‘lest you set God to the side.’ ‘Oh ya, ya I’m a Christian, I read the Bible,’ but what we give the most of our time to, what we give the most of our passion to, what we give the most of our emotion to, what we give the most of our life to is our god, and it is very easy for you and I, it’s very easy for me, to let Calvary Chapel become my god, and that’s idolatry, to let something I do instead of him, become the dominant thing in my life. We can all do that. But I’m thankful that he warns us. ‘Here’s my Word, have an attitude of hearing it so that you might obey, because I have things I want to give you, don’t add to it, don’t take away from it. There’s no other people like you, you have something no one else on this planet has, not Buddhists, not Hari Krishnas, you have something of treasure, of worth, of wisdom, of God’s Word, more to be desired than gold. Only take heed to yourself,’ knowing human nature, we are made of the kind of stuff that gets distracted, that gets wound up in something else, that makes other things blown out of proportion, we make mountains out of molehills, that came from somewhere, that came from a human, didn’t come from a dog or from a mole. Take heed that you forget not, don’t push God aside, but it tells us this, ‘but teach your children, and your children’s children, [ah, yes, those precious grandkids!] it’s a very interesting thing about teaching, teaching does two things, teaching imparts, and teaching reminds. You know yourself if you go and witness to somebody, somehow, when we start witnessing, you remember all the stuff you’re supposed to remember right early anyhow, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit is there, it says the Spirit of glory rests upon you when you’re testifying of Christ, and you walk away sometimes and say ‘that was good! that was hot!’ No you weren’t, that was just you had the Holy Ghost on you. You needed him just as much the next minute as you did the minute before. But the point is, you can never impart something to someone without reminding yourself of the same thing. [That happens to me as I transcribe these wonderful sermons or write articles for this website, this has become my form of witnessing, but instead, to believers and new-believers.] So one of the instructions he gives is, Take heed, keep your soul diligently, don’t forget. One of the preeminent things, everybody here is a pastor in a sense, that there are kids, there are grandkids, you have some little flock. I’ll have somebody who comes to me with three, four or five kids and says ‘I want to be in the ministry,’ I think ‘You got a congregation right in front of you, and they’re bad, too, you need to exercise some discipline there or something 😊’ Teach your children, and your children’s children, it both imparts to them, and it reminds us, it renews us. “Especially” now the word is not there in the Hebrew, but it’s in the intense form, the idea is there “specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb,” and most now are adults that were children when this happened, but they remember, “when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” (verse 10) We just read, the fear of the LORD is clean. You know, he’s going to say in the days of Jeremiah, when the whole nation [of Judah] has become idolatrous, ‘There’s two evils, you’ve departed from me, the fountain of Living Waters, and you’ve hewed out for yourselves cisterns that don’t hold water,’ and he says ‘you’ve forgotten me, my fear has departed from you.’ The fear of God is not torment, look, I had a dad who I loved and feared. I didn’t want him whacking me. When he did I didn’t think ‘this is the time he may just blow his gasket and tell me to pack my suitcase and change my last name.’ It wasn’t that kind of fear, I knew he loved me, it was just chastening was unpleasant temporarily, but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So we have a great Father, who both loves us, and who chastens us. So it’s not tormenting, the fear of the LORD is clean, “when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” (verse 10b)

Moses Is Instructing Those Who Never Saw Mount Sinai Burning With God’s Presence On Top Of It--He Repeats God’s Commandments For Them

“And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” (verse 11) Now imagine trying to communicate that to the next generation that wasn’t there, trying to convince a generation that hadn’t seen that. Imagine saying to the next generation ‘We stood at Mount Horeb, and the presence of God covered the mountain, and the earth trembled.’ And it wasn’t like it happened with Charlton Heston, you have to understand, ‘Don, don, donand!’ and animated thing comes down and carves out ‘I am the LORD thy God!’ and Charlton is up there with his beard turning white. That’s not what happened. God spoke audibly, you know, we got techies that work here at church, imagine a PA system that’s clear to 3 million people, twice the size of the city of Philadelphia. He spoke out loud to all of them, ‘I AM THE LORD THY GOD!’ They came to Moses and said ‘Look, from now on you go to him, you talk to him, whatever he tells you, you come back and tell us, we’ll do it. Because if we get to 11 Commandments, we’re going to have a cardiac arrest here.’ But imagine trying to tell your children, and your grandchildren, and the way you tell them is if it’s burning in your heart, you’re contagious. You can’t give someone the Measles unless you got it. You know, when George Whitfield used to preach here in Philadelphia, Ben Franklin went to hear him preach all the time…because I believe what he’s saying because Whitfield believes what he’s saying. And I hope he got to Franklin. [I’m related to Ben Franklin’s mother, but not to Ben.] Look in verse 12, “And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” In verse 10 we talked about hearing his words, God actually spoke. It was the spoken Word that was powerful. “And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” (verse 13) So God has given us his Word, God speaks to man, that’s the most remarkable thing, he speaks to us. He’s written his Word down, it says it right here. He’s given us his Word. “And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments,” notice “that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves;” he’s saying again, “for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:” now he’s saying for this reason, “lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even the host of heaven, shouldest be driven” the word means, it’s active, it means “to be drawn away” “to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.” (verses 14-19) Look, this is not a prohibition of art, ok. Some Christians get so crazy with this, ‘ok, you can’t wear a cross, that’s idolatry,’ look, he’s not saying that, because the Tabernacle was filled with imagery, the Vail between the Holy and the Holy of Holies had the cherubim, the face of a man, the face of an eagle, the face of an ox, the face of a lion, there were nobs and flowers, you read about the intricacy there, bulls are going to be under the bronze laver holding it up in Solomon’s Temple, remarkable, remarkable. God is not forbidding art, he’s saying ‘Take heed, because when I spoke to you there was no similitude, I’m taking you from Egypt, that was the center of idolatry in their day, into Canaan, where idolatry is alive and well,’ and he’s saying to them ‘I don’t want you to make any graven image of anything in heaven, on the earth or under the earth,’ as it tells us in the Law, ‘to bow down to it and to worship it.’ It doesn’t say there’s anything wrong with wearing jewelry, it doesn’t say there’s anything wrong with art. What it says nobody should have any kind of image in their lives that they ever would bow down to in worship. Isaiah is the one finally who gets to the complete irony of it, when they become more and more idolatrous, and he said ‘You guys don’t get it, you don’t get it, you go into the woods, you cut down a tree, you drag it back to your house, you make a table out of part of it, you use part of it in the fire to cook your bread, and then with the part that’s left over, you carve this little image, then you take it to the goldsmith on a cart, you drag it down the street with an ox pulling it, you get it covered with gold, and then you bring it back to your house on a cart, then you gotta worry about somebody stealing it.’ If you gotta move your god on a cart, you got the wrong god. If somebody can steal your god, you got the wrong god. If you carved your god out of a tree trunk, you got the wrong god [and some Christians see that what Isaiah wrote here can probably point to the Christmas trees as being idolatrous, and who knows, they may be correct in that interpretation]. And look, I love trees, I’m not a tree-hugger, but I love trees. I don’t talk to them or play classical music to them, but I really like them. I think they’re cool, I think God made all this in one day, I even know some of the Latin names, I really like trees. I don’t have a mental problem about trees though. This is not a prohibition of art, or of astronomy, there’s some wonderful astrophysicists who love the Lord, and see his design in the heavens, ‘The heavens declare the glory of the LORD.’ If you have watched The Privileged Planet, one of the most remarkable things about that, is it finally takes you to the point where it says “In the Milky Way Galaxy, our planet sits in a place where it’s not too far out to get destroyed, not too far in to get clouded, and it’s at a high platform, it is in the best place in the universe to view the rest of the universe.” That’s where our planet, coincidentally, happens to sit in the whole universe. Why? By implication they’ll say it, it’s because ‘the heavens declare the glory of the LORD, the earth sheweth forth his handiwork,’ we are in the best observation point in the universe, to see the work of God. Not so that we, I’m not talking about astrology, ok? I’m not talking about worshipping what sign you were born under nonsense. And he says, just take heed…here he says, this is in regards to committing idolatry, take heed, you didn’t see his similitude [i.e. you never saw what God looked like], you don’t need to go out and carve anything, they had done that with the Golden Calf, God had judged them. Romans 1 warns about worshipping the creation more than the Creator whose blessed forever. And boy we live in a world where that’s happening. I just read this huge report the other day how that the oceans around the South pole are colder than they’ve been in 100 years, and the ice formation is bigger than we’ve ever measured it before So people now on the other side are saying, the North Pole, they stopped talking about the South Pole, because they realize how ridiculous it is, now they’re just worried about the North Pole. [now all that has gone the other way, both in the regions of the South Pole and the North Pole, see https://www.unityinchrist.com/warming/warming1.htm I love Christians that are science deniers, I’m just not one of them. Things have warmed so much over the past 40 years above the Artic Circle, that there almost isn’t any sea-ice during the summer above the Artic Circle. But Global Warming doesn’t bother me, because the worst scenario effects won’t be for another 25 years or so, and Jesus will be back before then, and set everything right, so who cares? I don’t.] It doesn’t have anything to do with this chapter, it’s just free information.

The LORD Has Taken You Out Of The Iron Furnace

Verse 20, “But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” Look, has he done that in your life? How many of you have come out of addictions or come out of abuse or come out of bitterness, he’s taken us out of the iron furnace, what a God, what a God we serve. He says he has taken you out of the iron furnace, look, “even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” Not just relative to inheriting land, but be to him personally a people of inheritance. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 18, “that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” just listen to that [and in the King James it’s a run-on sentence from verse 18 through verse 23, to get the whole meaning you have to read it all, it’s a complex set of verses]. Paul prays that you and I might understand and realize what are the riches of his inheritance in you and I. You know, we get up in the morning and look in the mirror, and go ‘Oh yuck!’ [I don’t even look in the mirror anymore] And yet the Bible says God is the God that calls things that are not as though they were, so it’s easier for him. He’s the God who was, who is, and is to come, so he can say we’re justified, sanctified, and glorified, he’s in all three places. But he’s lavished his love upon us in that he’s given his only Son to redeem us, to restore us, to reconcile us. And Paul says, ‘I want you to know what are the riches of his inheritance in the saints.’ Malachi chapter 3:16-17 talks about God’s people, that when they meet together, he stoops down to listen, very interesting construction in the Hebrew, it speaks of his ears perking up, it’s used of a horse, their ears perking up. It says when we come together on a Wednesday night, when we remember the Lord and his name, when we sing his songs, that he stoops down, God’s ear comes right over this building. And there’s a book of remembrance written, with all of our names that are here worshipping, and it says we make up the jewels in his crown, he loves us so much. Malachi 3:16-17, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” I’m still learning that. I don’t feel bad because Paul was still learning it. “I have not yet apprehended to that which I have been apprehended for.” Paul said ‘I haven’t taken fully hold, yet, of why he’s taken hold of me.’ But Paul says ‘I know this, in the ages to come, he’s going to be teaching us about his mercy and about his grace, in the ages to come.’ What a future we have. He says here ‘I’ve taken you out of the iron furnace,’ thank you Lord Jesus, “even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes,” ‘you’re the beneficiary of me getting whupped,’ and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:” (verses 20b-21) He would finally sneak in on the mount of transfiguration, he’d get there [in reality, he’ll get there when he comes up in the 1^st resurrection to immortality, when we’ll all get there]. “but” he says “I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves,” again, “lest ye forget” set aside “the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.” the reason, “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” (verses 22-24) He is a consuming fire, he is Holy, he can’t tolerate evil. And as a consuming fire, he purifies or he consumes. And he is, the fire of God’s Holy Ghost in our lives, constantly reveals and reveals. And you think ‘God’s working on this area in my life, and how I’m struggling…I got victory here,’ and then he goes right on to the next thing, there’s as whole line of stuff just waiting to get burnt up, in a wonderful process. He’s a jealous God, because he’ll have no rival, he’ll have no other gods in his presence, he wants all of your heart, the Shema says ‘you shall love the LORD your God will all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.’

Moses Now Is Putting Off The Mantle Of The Law-Giver And He’s Putting On The Mantle Of The Prophet

Now, we have a few minutes left here, Moses is now taking off the mantle of the Law-giver, and he’s putting on the mantle of the Prophet. If you’ll look down in verse 30, he comes to the point where he says ‘even in the latter days.’ He does a very remarkable thing now, verse 25, “When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.” notice lead, what a gracious word, “lead you.” “And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” (verses 25-28) Of course it looks at least to Babylon, if not further, God is going to finally carry them [Judah, the Kingdom of Judah] to the capital of idols and said ‘Have idols until you’re sick of them.’ [Comment: There were three major captivities and deportations, the first was the 10 northern tribes of Israel, carried away, deported, never to permanently return, conquered and deported by the Assyrian Empire in 721BC, and then Judah carried away to Babylon in 586BC, and then finally conquered by the Roman Empire in 70AD and 135AD, the Jews being dispersed among the nations like the 10 northern tribes, not to return until 1948 (see https://unityinchrist.com/kings/3.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/4.html and https://unityinchrist.com/kings/5.html and

https://unityinchrist.com/kings/6.html )] And they hung their harps on the willows and they wept, they said ‘How can we sing this song of Zion when we’re here in Babylon?’ And he raised up Jeremiah in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel in Babylon, and he put Daniel next to Nebuchadnezzar, and still had his way with them, a faithful, loving God. He is a faithful, loving God. It’s why I’m still breathing. Psalm 115 says not to make idols, it says that when you make them they have eyes, but they see not, they have ears, but they hear not, they have mouths but they speak not. And those who make them and worship them, become like them, nothing to say, no ability to see, no ability to hear the truth, they become like them. He says ‘I will lead you there, and there you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone,’ “which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” Now look, this wonderful word here, in verse 29, “But” he’s something, isn’t he? “if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him” here’s the requirement “with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” ‘I don’t want any phoniness, If from there,’ look, someone who turns away from the Lord, living on the street again, or prostituting themselves again, or they’re selling crack cocaine again, or using crack cocaine again, ‘From there, from that place, if in genuineness, with all their heart and soul they seek him,’ it says ‘you will find me.’ Manasseh when he was in Babylon, the most wicked king that Judah and Jerusalem had seen, he slaughtered God’s people, he shed much innocent blood in Jerusalem, he sawed Isaiah in half, and when he was in the prison in Babylon he cried out to the LORD, and it says “the LORD heard his prayer,” and he brought him back to Jerusalem, his son was no good, but he raised up his grandson name Josiah on his knee, and Josiah produced the greatest Passover celebration that nation had ever seen [see https://unityinchrist.com/kings/5.html ]. From there, wherever you are, you have no excuse, to the utmost parts of earth, however far you get away from God, it says ‘from there,’ in the Old Testament. How much better is the New Covenant that we’re under? From there, it says, from that place, if you seek him with all your heart, you will find him, it says. “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee,” speaking to Israel, “even in the latter days,” remarkable, “if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice.” please listen “(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” (verses 30-31) we read in verse 24, he just said “the LORD thy God is a consuming fire and a jealous God,” here he says “the LORD thy God is a merciful God” Which one is he? is he verse 24 or verse 31? Yes. He’s all of that and more. His mercy is unending, it’s everlasting, it’s new every morning. His judgment is just and true. It says in the Book of Revelation as he’s bringing judgment on the world, ‘that thy judgments are just, they had slaughtered your holy people and the prophets and shed their blood, now you’ve given them blood to drink, you are just and true O Lord.’ He’s completely just and he’s a consuming fire [you don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of that hurricane is how I interpret the difference between verses 24 and 31], and yet gracious. He’s completely just, it tells us in James that the Spirit even lusteth to envy, the Holy Ghost is jealous over us as he possesses us, he wants all of our heart before God. And it says here “the LORD thy God is a merciful God” and there is no mercy like his. His mercy is new every morning. “(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” (verses 30-31) He made a deal before you were born, and he’s going to keep it. He said to Abraham ‘I will bless them that bless thee, I will curse them that curse thee,’ and as far as I know, that has not been revoked, and it still holds today. And you can follow every nation that’s turned their back on Israel and cursed them and watched their decline. And every nation who has blessed them has been blessed. He says ‘I will not destroy thee, I will not forget the covenant of thy fathers which I sware unto them.’ (We can take a run at this. Ya, at least 7 more verses.)

Has There Ever Been A People That Have Heard God Speak Out Of The Consuming Fire?

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?” (verses 32-33) Search human history, history of mankind, from the Creation, has anything like this ever happened before--that the True Living God, the Creator spoke out of the fire to a group of people, and they actually lived afterwards? “Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation” he moved forward to take a nation “from the midst of another nation,” like when he took them out of Egypt “by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven” notice “he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.” (verses 34-36) “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice,” and he does it more quietly today by the way. But when I sit alone with him I still hear his voice out of heaven. How far away is heaven? Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven in the midst of you, when two or three of you are gathered in my name, he says, there I am in their midst. He says if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways. He says, you read through, “then I would hear from heaven,” so however far away heaven is, he can hear from there. He’s not hard of hearing. He can hear us. And however far away heaven is, we can hear him, he spoke to Elijah in that still small voice. And he still speaks from heaven. Listen, again, we talked about it Sunday, this is the primary way he speaks, he keeps us safe. Don’t tell me God told you something that ain’t in here, don’t tell me he told you that you should marry three wives, it ain’t in here. But God does speak to us, the truth is he does speak to us. And we need to cultivate that. But it will never contradict this [the Bible], it will never override or take precedence over this. The main way he speaks to me is when I sit alone with his Word. That’s just me. But it should be you too. But beyond that, there have been times when he said something, and I thought ‘eh, I don’t know if that’s you Lord,’ and you run into it, and you think ‘ah, that was you Lord. Man am I dull.’ He says “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.” Look at verse 37 “And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;” (verses 36-37) This is what we haven’t heard in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus or Numbers, now we’re hearing it in Deuteronomy, “because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them,” look, God’s election, we may wrestle with that, God’s predestination. It tells us here that the cause, the initiation of it, is his love. That’s why Paul in the great statement in Romans 8 says ‘What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? my Dad can beat their dad.’ In all the theological stuff stacked up, that’s great. What shall we ultimately say to it? If God be for us, who can be against us, who can separate us from his love [cf. Romans 8:35-39, read it]. He says here, ‘because he loved thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, therefore he chose their seed after them,’ “and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.” (verses 37b-40) The reason why God wants you to take heed and to obey is so that it might go well with you. You know too many people think ‘Oh man, God’s got all these rules, if I listen to him I’m never going to get married. If I listen to him I’m never going to get ahead, if I listen to him I’m never going to save any money, if I listen to him I’m never going to have any fun, and just, he’s got all these rules. But if you just listen to God you can’t get cirrhosis of the liver, can’t get venereal disease, you can’t get hepatitis, you can’t have any fun.’ He says, the reason why I spoke to your fathers and I’m speaking to you is because I love you. And if you take heed to my instruction, like the instruction of any father, I’m giving it to you so it might go well with you, that you might possess the land, that it might prolong your days. What a remarkable God we serve. Amen? Read ahead, we will skip next week because Greg will be here, I hope we’re Raptured by that Wednesday afternoon, but if we’re not, we’re going to finish chapter 4, we’re going to move into chapter 5, and we’re just going to move through Deuteronomy chapter by chapter, verse by verse, what a privilege we have to do that. But let’s stand, let’s pray, we’ll have the musicians come. Look, I encourage you, if you are one of those who have been at a great distance, remember what it said, even if you have worshipped idols, even if you have done the worst imaginable things that anybody could do, if from there, the place of your shackles right now, the place where you are in bondage, whatever it might look like, if you will call on him, with all your heart and your soul, if it is genuine, you will find him. How do I know, because he told me not to add to this, and not to take away from it. And that’s what he said to us tonight. If you will seek him, genuinely, you will find him, you will find him. Billy Sunday said, the reason most sinners can’t find God is the same reason most criminals can’t find a policeman. But when we’re tired of it all, and we cry out genuinely, he runs to us, he runs to us…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 4:1-40, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]