Deuteronomy 5:23-33

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning, we're at Deuteronomy chapter five, verses 23 through 33. We're going to be talking about the Lord's fear before or the people's fear before the Lord, as well as God's desire for the people. What does God desire for the people of Israel? Let's have some coffee.
We'll pray. We'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to get to read your word. Father, we pray that you would please help us to understand it. Please apply these words to our lives. Please teach us to walk after you, to follow in your ways. Lord, we pray that we would bring you glory and that it would go well with us. In Jesus's name. Amen. All right. Deuteronomy, chapter five, beginning at verse 23. Here we go.
So it was when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, surely, surely the Lord, our God has shown us his glory and his greatness. And we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man.
Yet he still lives now, therefore. Why shouldn't we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have and lived?
You, you go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it. Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the word of this people, which they have spoken to you.
They are right in all they have spoken. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children forever. Go and say to them, return to your tents. But as for you, stand here by me and I will speak to you all the commandments. the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.
Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do?
So we have really three different paragraphs here, verses 23 through 27. are the people's response to God speaking to them out of the fire at Mount Horeb, at Mount Sinai, right? They are scared to death. We can't stand this, right? If God was to say this to us again, if we were to hear his voice, we're gonna die.
Moses, you go talk to him, right? They want Moses to be a mediator, an intercessor, or someone to go in between them and God. And God says, yep, yep, they're right. They're right, that's exactly what it is. So in verses 28 through 31, It's the Lord speaking to Moses now and the most and the Lord speaks to Moses and he says that's true That's true. I would consume them However, you stand here before me, God says you will be the mediator. God is the one who, it seems as the New Testament tells us, ministers through angels, giving Moses the law, the statutes, the judgments, the commands. But notice what the Lord said at the heart of this in verse 29.
Oh, that they had such a heart in them. They would fear me and always keep all my commandments. that it might be well with them and with their children forever. God's desire is that it would go well with them and for their children forever, right? This is the Lord's desire for them. This is what the God wants from his people, Israel, that they would fear him. And out of this reverential fear for him would keep his commandments. And then that covenant would be able to be continued and they would go well. That's his desire for them, but he knows it's not gonna happen.
And so in verses 32 through 33, this last section, God commands them to not turn from his law, from to the right or to the left, right? To follow the straight and narrow. Why? Again, you shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you that you may live. and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. This is the beauty of this covenant, that if they do well, it will go well. God is a God of equity and of justice, of fairness towards them. And the way that they're gonna stay on the Lord's path is by fearing Him, not turning to the right or to the left, but keeping their eyes on the Lord and following that path.
What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I have verse twenty nine underlined. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep my commandments, that I may be well with them and with their children forever. But now we get into see calling, what are we called to do? Well, if we're honest with ourselves. We don't keep the Ten Commandments. I were just like Paul.
We hear about covetousness and we might not even know necessarily what that word means, but then we hear about it and we're like, man, now I'm stirred up. I recognize that I really am covetous. I see my neighbor's sightings and I'm like, man, I wish I had sighting like that. We see the guy driving down the road in a nice new truck or a nice car and we're thinking, man, I wish I had that type of truck. I wish I had that type of car. We see somebody's wife and we're like, man, I wish my wife acted like that, looked like that.
We see somebody else's children and we're like, kids, why aren't you obedient like their kids? We recognize that we're not, we're not those who actually follow him with all of our hearts. Even the good things that we want to do, we don't do. And stuff that we don't want to do, yet we do those. Wretched man that we are. Who will deliver us?
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. Jesus says, narrow is the gate. Narrow is the gate of salvation, but broad is the path that leads unto destruction. And many will enter into those gates, but few will enter into his gates. The reality is we have to go through the narrow gate, through Jesus Christ.
Because it's only Jesus that perfectly feared the Lord and kept his laws in every way. And unless Jesus's righteousness is imputed to us, guys, our righteousness will never surpass that of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. So how would we ever see the kingdom of heaven? It's by the person and work of Jesus Christ. His work was accepted, his righteousness was perfect, and his life is where our lives are hidden if we believe in him.
Out of that following of God, out of such love for Jesus Christ, that now we can follow the law, not out of a slavish fear, but out of a reverential loving heart. Knowing that all of these laws, all these commandments were teaching the Israelites something about God. But then also it was meant to teach them that they couldn't keep this in and of themselves, but they needed a mediator even better than Moses. What a blessing we have to live in the new covenant and to know that that great mediator is Jesus Christ.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would trust in you. Lord, we thank you. We thank you, God, that your desire for us is that it would go well with us. Lord, we pray that we would follow after you. For you have saved us by grace through faith, not of our own works, Lord, we can't brag about it. But God, you have called us now unto good deeds, to walk in newness of life. So give us strength, Lord, to do that. We pray in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may God bless you as you look to your mediator, Jesus Christ, who has given you the fullness of righteousness. And I'll see you next time. Bye.