Deuteronomy 29

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Deuteronomy chapter 29. We're getting really close to actually being at the end of Deuteronomy. Nathan and I were having a great discussion off air about where Deuteronomy goes after that section of cursings that we did last time. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into the covenant at Moab.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. God, we pray that we would take the heart seriously, what you have given us today. We pray that we would read and listen, understand and believe. Lord, we need your help. And we especially need it to apply to our hearts. Lord, we confess to you that it'd be really easy to be legalists about all this, thinking we can do all of it ourselves, that we would be the heroes in these stories. But God, we believe that you would please, by your spirit, teach us. but we're to learn from this and how it's to apply to our hearts in honest ways. In Jesus's name, Amen.
All right, Deuteronomy chapter 29, here we go. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. So this is the second time of this covenant, right? So the first one is at Horeb, now it's at Moab. Now the Lord called all Israel and said to them, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders.
Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eye to see and ears to hear to this very day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you. Your sandals have not worn out on your feet. You have not eaten bread nor have you drunk wine or similar drink. that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do. All of you stand today before the Lord your God, your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives, also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water, that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today. that he may establish you today as a people for himself, and that he may be God to you, just as he has spoken to you, and just as he has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant and this oath not with you alone, but with Him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as Him who is not with us today. For you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and we came through the nations which you passed by, and you saw their abominations and their idols, which were among them wood and stone and silver and gold.
So there may not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may be may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.
And so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart. as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. The Lord would not spare him. For then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him. And the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven, and the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel, and pour adversity according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law. so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a far land would say when they see the plagues of that land and the sickness which the Lord has laid on it, the whole land is brimstone, salt and burning. It is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adma and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.
All nations would say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of His anger mean? And people would say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods that they did not know, and that he did not give to them.
Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed to us belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. What is this A about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? What's this section about?
This is this proclaiming of the covenant again at Moab, right there, right on the other side of the Jordan River. They're about to get to the Acacia Grove. They're about to go into the promised land. And here's the Lord's coming into covenant with them again, reminding them he brought them up out of Egypt. He redeemed them. He's their covenant king. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. He led them. He cared for them. He brought them through the nations.
They saw all the different idols of the Amorites and the Moabites. He showed them all the... and said, I'm the Lord, follow me alone. And he says, if somebody decides that they're going to follow after their own heart, they're like a drunkard trying to be amongst the sober. And when he brings the curses because you turn away, even all the nations are going to be able to look and all the following generations and even the strangers are going to know those are the people that wouldn't follow the Lord their God, the one who redeemed them.
And so he's done this through them because of what they did in forsaking him. That's really what this is about. Right. That he's not playing around here. He's he really did redeem them. Historically, accurately true. He cared for them these 40 years. Historically, accurately true. He's made them know that he alone is our God. Historically, accurately true. And now the question is, will they continue to be his people or will they become a byword? Will they become those that go, what in the world has happened here today?
So that's what this covenant's about. This preamble and this thrust that you know the curses, you know the blessings, will you follow the Lord? So what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I think in my Bible, not what I think, in my Bible I have, especially verse 24, 25, and 26 underlined. Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heart of, heat of this great anger mean?
And the people would say, because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord, the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Verse 26, I have double underlined. where they went and served other gods and worshiped them gods they did not know and that had not been given to them that's why the anger of the lord is aroused against them i think that's what i have underlined is what i to remember what i think this passage is about so see calling what are we called to do well i have to ask you are you like the one who would say i shall have peace even though i follow the dictates of my own heart If you watch enough Disney movies, you know that this is what's pushed to our children and our culture all the time. This is what's pushed all the time with a philosophy of what's going on with gender dysphoria and stuff, right? Following after your emotions, going after what you think is going to be good for you. Are you following after the Lord? Are you serving him? Are you going in his paths? we must remember that we must serve the Lord.
Not the gods of this age, not the gods of this culture, not the gods of whatever religion we may be around. I know some of you are watching and you're in other nations where there are legitimate idols made out of gold and silver. They're physical, I don't mean illegitimate, like our greed isn't somehow idolatrous, it certainly is. But I'm saying you live in lands where you can see with your eyes people bowing down to statues of gold and silver and wood.
The Lord is saying here, will you follow me alone? Will you serve him alone? The God who's been made known to you, especially in Jesus Christ, the exact image, the icon of God himself, will you serve him and follow him alone? Or will you trust your deceitful heart, go after your own emotions, seek to do whatever you want, doing whatever you think is right in your own eyes? or will you follow the Lord?
Let's pray. God, we need your Holy Spirit. Lord, we are those who are quick to go our own way. God, we know the tuggings of our own heart to go after the idols that we desire. Please help us, Lord. Please help us to follow you and to love you. Thank you for Jesus Christ. Lord, please teach us to live as obedient children who have been forgiven and called to walk in your ways. In his name we pray. Amen. May God bless you as you seek to follow the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And when you fail, I pray that you will remember that you have been sprinkled in the blood of Jesus Christ if you believe in him and have been united to him. I'll see you next time. Bye.