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So Deuteronomy chapter 11 the Bible begins there in First one where it says therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God and keep his charge and his statutes and his judgments and his Commandments always and what's interesting notice here right out of the gate is that we got to remember it begins with the word therefore And that old principle in Scripture, you know anytime you see the word therefore you got to see what it's there for And really the therefore there is what we read last week in chapter 10 if you would just back up there He's saying what is the reason you shall love the Lord your God What is the reason you're gonna keep his charge what and his statutes what you know, what's the therefore? Well, he says in chapter 10 verse 17 for the Lord your God is a God of gods And Lord of Lords a great God a mighty God and a terrible God verse 20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name He is thy praise and he is thy God and hath done these for thee these great and terrible things Which eyes eyes have seen that's the therefore because of who God is and all the great things that he's done for them That's why he rolls right into chapter 10 or chapter 11 Excuse me and begins by saying therefore because of who God is because of what he's done for you You know, that's why you're going to love him and to keep his charge. That's why you're going to obey him and really verse You know verse 21 there in in chapter 10 That's kind of the theme of chapter 11 and actually it's pretty much the theme of a lot of the book of Deuteronomy In fact the whole Bible and it goes on there in verse 2 and it says and know ye this day So he starts out he says look you're gonna love God You're gonna keep his charge and his statutes and then he moves right and then he goes on and says verse 2 and know ye This day now when he says and know ye this day I don't think he's saying no you in the sense of hey, this is new information here This is something you need to you know, you need to understand now. He's not introducing like, you know, hey He's not teaching them something no new he's saying like and you already know this and know ye this day does that make sense? For what I spake on your children. He said and know ye this day I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement of Lord your God So he's saying look know ye this day not in the sense of he's teaching them something new But in the sense of you know, not being forgetful of what they've already learned because we are to standing over chapter 10 He's already rehearsed all this. He's reminding them of all the things that they've already gone through you know and that's that's where you kind of get the meaning in that where is it's kind of becomes apparent say because he says for I speak not with your children, which have not known he's saying look know ye this day because Hey, you already know, you know this this day that this is who I am and this is what I expect and he goes on and says You know that they have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God and his greatness Now it's interesting that they have Known and seen he says there look you've known it and you've seen the chastisement Right because you have to remember the generation that this is he's addressing here he's addressing the generation that came up that was raised by those that came out of Egypt and Those that have wasted in the wilderness those 40 years and have passed off the scene those that were disobedient the first time When they came to the River Jordan and he said hey look because of your unbelief you're gonna go and wander Until this generation, you know 20 years and upward is perished So he's saying look you've known it and seen it but yet that doesn't necessarily mean that they have been the ones that endured that Directly they're familiar with the chastisement of God They're familiar with the fact that God is a God who punishes the disobedient and it's not necessarily because they have been you know Suffered that directly. I mean, I'm sure they there were some residual effects that they had to deal with But if they know and seen it because they watched it take place in the previous generation they were there as children as that previous Jane generation came up to You know the River Jordan they were there when the twelve spies came back and the ten had the evil report They were children at that time and they knew and they saw what God did because of their unbelief Their chase thing that their parents endured and really this is a really, you know important You know principle that we need to apply to our own lives, especially those of us that are younger is That you know learn from the mistakes of others rather than trying to learn yourself You know Just take take the words of those of us that have already made the mistakes And I've already had to learn the hard way and just trust us when we tell you Hey, you don't want to do this. You do want to do this, you know, you don't and that's what that's what you see going on Here they've already learned it, you know Why do you think it was so much easier for them to go over the River Jordan in the Promised Land? Because they already saw the previous mistake of the previous generation. They said well, let's not let's not repeat that We've already saw that's what happens, you know They didn't have to go and try that out for themselves to see if was going to be different If things were going to go differently so learn from mistakes of others learn from mistakes the previous generation and and you know What newsflash not every generation is going to be perfect, you know this generation that's coming up behind us You know those of us that are older the next generation that's coming up, you know There's going to be things that we get wrong. We're not going to be perfect. We're gonna make mistakes And you know you're in the next generation. They're gonna make mistakes and they're not they're not gonna be perfect But learn from the mistakes of the previous generation and don't feel like you have to just go out and make those same mistakes yourself So I thought that was an interesting, you know principle you see there is he's saying look you already know You've seen the chastisement of the Lord, you know His greatness his mighty hand in a stretched out arm now when he when he starts to remind them of this fact in verse 2 You'll notice that he he kind of does it out of chronological order, right? he starts out with the chastisement and Then he moves into his greatness and his mighty hand and stretched out arm Then he moves into verse 3 where he says and his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt now Which came first the chastisement in the wilderness or the mighty acts in Egypt? What was the chastisement? You know, you know it was after they came out of Egypt that God began to chasten them But that's not the way God rehearses it to them here He puts the chastisement first and I think that's you know that he does it out of he puts it out of Chronological order for a reason and what he's trying to do. I believe he's God is trying to emphasize the negative you know the negativity the the the the negative effects of disobedience and Really when we look at this this passage here in verses 3 through 6 actually through 7 You'll notice that actually that's how it's actually booked end by negative events So he goes on in verse 3 He says you've seen his miracles and his acts and what you did in the midst of Egypt and a pharaoh the king of Egypt Under all his land that's positive when they were delivered out of by a mighty hand and what he did under the army of Egypt and under their horses and their Chariots and he made the water the Red Sea to overflow them after they pursued after you and now the Lord had to destroyed them under this day This is all positive for Israel and then he goes on in verse 5 and what he did to you in the wilderness When I tell you came unto as this place what he did unto day thin in the by room So now he's getting real specific. He's calling out names, right? Remember that negative thing that happened in the wilderness The sons of Elia the son of Reuben how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their households and their tents and all Their substance that was in their possession the midst of Israel But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord what you did So if you notice there again, he starts out saying look you've seen the generation before you you saw the chastisement in the wilderness you know any book ends that these great things these positive things that God did for them with two negative events and What I think God is trying to do there again is to emphasize The negative and it's important we keep that in mind because we're living in a day of positive only preaching Where people only want to talk about positive things where every message has got to be a feel-good message Where people just want to have their back scratched and their ears tickled and just told everything's fine God's not mad with you, you know come as you are stay as you were don't bother making any changes in your life And that's just not God that's not the Bible This is a great example of it that God deals in the negative that God puts Emphasis on the negative and it's always for our benefit You know, we should be more concerned about What God will do to us if we will disobey then what he will do for us if we obey Does that make sense? Let me say it again We should be more concerned about what God will do to us if we disobey than what he will do for us if we obey Sometimes in the Christian life We always just get so busy thinking about all the blessings that we want from God and we want from that will God do for me Here if I do this if I do that You should just be more concerned with not getting out of sorts with God and having to suffer the the chasing hand of God I mean just focus on that. That's that's you know, that's what I see here when I read this passage Yeah, God did a lot of great things but with the people that got chasing man it wasn't good I mean the earth swallowed them You know, it just opens up and then all their household goes down in it, you know that they're perishing in the wilderness You know if we would just focus more on Keeping you know being right and not always just so focused on what we can get out of God And I just turned God into some spiritual vending machine where if I do enough good things and God's gonna bless me You know, God does want to do good unto us. God does want to bless us. God does want to do great things for us But we should probably just stay focused on staying right with God and if we would just do that then you know these other things Would probably fall into place is you know, the unchastened life, you know You want to live to bless life live an unchastened life live a life of obedience. That is a blessing Just the fact that God's not gonna chase in you that in itself is a blessing The Bible says and if you would turn over to Romans 5 Romans 5 Bibles and you know that it just reminds me of 1st Samuel what Samuel said to to Saul You know when he disobeyed he said behold to obey is better than sacrifice You know rather that's the best thing you could do for God It's just to obey him and do what he says For rebellion as the sin is which is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as an iniquity and idolatry I mean, that's that's how God That's what he thinks of people who are rebellious and people who are idolatrous and people who do not want to obey I mean, it's like witchcraft to him. It's it's that wicked So we don't want to underestimate the dangers of disobedience And you know, I saw and I know this is redundant I know that the Bible, you know I've been I feel like I've been preaching on that a lot as we go through the book of Deuteronomy But the only reason why I am is because that's what the Bible is dealing with That's what this book is about so far So if it sounds like a broken record, it's not my fault and what it tells me is that you know God puts a real strong emphasis on it and he keeps drilling it in over and over and over and it just seems like it's Something that he really wants to get through our heads Because of and you say well, why is that because some people seem to just underestimate the dangers of being disobedient They think oh God's just gonna give me a slap on the wrist or maybe he won't notice if I just do this or that Or I get out of sorts. Look, I mean when people disobey bad things happen unforeseen consequences come about Think about even just with mankind the fall of mankind look at Romans chapter 5 verse 18 Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation that's quite talking about Adam Adam just took that one just that one moment of disobedience. Just that one little sin right just that one time Didn't do anything else just a harmless little bite of the fruit, you know I know God didn't say to do that, but I'm gonna do it. Anyway, what's the worst that could happen? Oh, I don't know you could plunge it all of humanity into into into sin And that's every you know, it goes on and says there You know verse 19 for us by one man's disobedient of disobedience many were made sinners So the obedience of one shall many shall be made righteous All it took was one time just one guy being disobedient one time and just everybody's now we're all in for it So don't underestimate the dangers of disobedience, you know, we think like it's not that big a deal You don't know what could happen, you know, if you just you know do that one thing, you know You're not supposed to you don't know What the consequences are and there's probably a lot of people that if they knew what the consequences were going to be would not have done what they did People have made mistakes. They'll say if I could just go back and change it, but here's the thing you can't Once mistakes are made that's it. It's over It goes on there go over to a rep Romans chapter 16, you know, our reputation will be based on our obedience or lack thereof You know with God at least maybe maybe those around you might not think it's that important but with God, you know He he you know, your reputation with him is based on the level of your obedience I mean think about the people he mentioned back there in Deuteronomy Dathan and Abiram they're going down in the pages of Scripture for all eternity as those wicked men that they were as those disobedient rebels that they were that entire generation that perished in wilderness You know, I'm sure you know many of them were saved You know many of them were saved we'll see them in heaven and like oh you were with the children Israel to be like, yeah Yeah, I was there, you know, try to end the conversation real quick. Hey, have you seen uh, you know You've been over this part of heaven yet. And like so what what part of uh, you didn't say what part of what generation? Were you with? Were you there? Were you there at Egypt? Yeah. Oh You're those people that lacked faith. You're those people that disobeyed God Right, that's their reputation, you know that and then we have to be careful, you know That's the reputation people can develop as just to be Rebels, you know, that's that's something that can happen look here in Romans chapter 16 verse 19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men Now I know in this context where he's talking about salvation the fact that they will bathe the gospel But this is something a principle that we could even apply in our own lives I mean think about people we could we could talk about that. We all know that are we have common, uh knowledge of That have been uh, you know disobedient to the Lord and what do they got they've got a soiled reputation they've sullied it And they've got they've become bywords they've become proverbs To to this movement to our church and things like that. Hey, don't don't be like so-and-so And what were they disobedient? They disobeyed Right and they ruin their reputation Now book wrote bookmark Romans, excuse me. Keep something there. We're going to come back at the end We go ahead and turn back to uh to deuteronomy You know, we should just be so preoccupied with obeying god And pleasing god that you know, if we would just do that We would just focus on you know, i'm just gonna obey god do what I need to do every day to please him You know, you probably wouldn't even find yourself being tempted to disobey as much What is it that we're tempted to disobey when we're not? You know when we're idle when we're just kind of not moving forward we're just kind of idle Taking it easy. Just kind of thinking Well, what can I do and that's when trouble comes is when people are just idle So if we would just stay busy, you know preoccupying ourselves with just pleasing god Reading our bibles praying going soul-winning coming to church, you know memorizing scripture Uh being a blessing, you know, uh, whatever it is Just just developing in our christian life if we would just focus on that You know, we wouldn't even have a lot of time to get into trouble to even be tempted to disobey The bible says in psalm 19 the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever The judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether more desire to uh to be desired are they than gold Yeah, they're much fine gold sweeter also than the honeycomb The honey and the honeycomb moreover by them thy servant is warned and in keeping of them there is great reward He's saying look, you know, you keep the commandments the judgments of the lord There's that, you know, you're warned by them and when you keep them there's reward, you know That's what we need to focus on our life is keeping The judgments of god keeping his commandments and then the rewards will just come, you know, the will be will be blessed as we go And people say well, you know I just feel like the christian life is you know, it's just all about robbing me of my fun You know, it's i'm missing out on all this this fun stuff that the world's doing Look, you're you're missing out there might be some things that are genuinely fun that maybe you don't get to do But a lot of it's sin and there's pleasure that goes along with it. I'm not denying that But what you don't see is the consequences that come No one ever comes to you and says hey, do you want to go do this? It has terrible consequences Hey, this is going to turn out real bad. This is going to be we're going to have we're going to suffer For the rest of our life by going and doing this activity. Do you want to come with us? If they put it to you like that who in the who in their right mind would say yes Is that ever how they approach you with that kind of thing when people want you to come do bad things with them? Hey, man, it's gonna be a blast. It'll be a lot of fun. Maybe say well, what if they'll say oh You know quit worrying about that. Nothing's gonna happen People always say that something happens, you know something about to happen, you know That's what you got to think yourself when they're something they're just like hey something's about to happen Right because something will happen and it's not going to be good But people think oh you're just trying to rob me only fun the bible's got all these rules, you know The preacher just doesn't want me to have any fun No, you know, it's clean. It's enduring, you know, there's you're warned by them You're being warned and in keeping this there's great reward It's just not you're it's just a great reward is not immediate gratification That's a problem If people just want to be immediately gratified in their flesh, they just want to do whatever feels good That's the culture we're living in if it feels good do it You know live for today do whatever you want, you know Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law right that satanist allister crawley. That's what he said You know, that was the beatles mentality. That was the that generation do as thou wilt You know if it feels good do it, you know, who's to say right or wrong? Well that you know, go ahead live that way, but just be prepared to suffer the consequences that come with it You know the the free love go out, you know, go out and live a life of fornication well be prepared for the you know, the the the the the pregnancies out of wedlock be prepared for You know the uh, the diseases that come Prepared for the heartache that comes with that just be prepared for the consequences You know or whatever area it is, you know, the thing about drugs and the alcohol that that people are always trying to get tempted Into doing with other folks Oh, yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. You know, it's it's it's groovy man, right? But hey, there's a lot of consequences go, you know, be prepared to have a to be stupid You'll fry your brain on some drugs go go you never know what could happen That's that you're I mean you're praying you're playing russian roulette when you when you take drugs You know, especially these days there's so much out there you can get into and you know, I really don't want to get into it You know in my own past, but i've known people that are just lost their minds Friends and I just saw it go completely off the rails Just gone Like and and they're finally, you know They're it took them years to come around and start to recover from the things that they did and praise god I didn't get swept up in it and taken away with it And praise god, I didn't get swept up in it and taken away with it You know friends that uh again, I don't want to get into it But here's the thing people everybody thinks all the bible is just a bunch of rules you guys just trying to steal all my fun No, they're trying it's trying to spare you From all the bad things that come the bible says in first john 5 3 This is the love of god that we keep his commandments You want to know how so much someone loves god's it's how much they keep his commandments, you know And we talked about that last week and it says and his commandments are not grievous Look if the commandments of god are grievous to you. You need to search your heart You need to ask god to help you to to get your heart, right? And you get to come to place of understanding that his commandments are there To uh, you know that they're sweeter than the honeycomb and the honey That then you know that you're being warned by them and that's a good thing that someone's saying hey danger over here. Don't don't do that You know, what what kind of loving person would just let you walk blindly into some minefield You know, they're going to put up the signs. They're going to put things up danger state, you know Even on the road people put up signs to tell you to slow down You know whether or not we do that is up to us, right? You come off that, you know, we're in tucson, but you know, you're heading you're heading What is it east on the 60 and you're going to take the 101 north? And that turnpike and it says 25 miles an hour for a reason And you only had to go down at once before you realize you better hit you better get down to 25 on that on that Exit ramp because man that thing there's just black marks all over the place on the walls and your tires squeaking But hey, what if they just say well, you know Who are we to say that people can't do 65 around this corner? Who are we to tell people to slow down and take it easy here? We don't want to kill their good time So we want to be a downer, you know, we want to be grievous to them So let's just go let them just let them do whatever they want. There'd be wrecks there every day You know these these these commandments these signs these warnings are there Not to bring us down and to ruin our good time, but to keep us from making a mess out of our lives Now if you would go back to deuteronomy and look there in verse eight he says Therefore shall ye keep the commandments which I command you this day that ye may be strong You say you know what's going to make you strong, you know What's going to make you able to endure is if you keep his commandments and go in and possess the land Whether you go to possess it Why verse nine that you may prolong your days? The bible is saying here that hey if you keep his commandments, you're going to be strong. You're going to prolong your days You're not going to catch the disease You know, you're not going to get you're not going to smoke yourself to lung cancer You're not going to drink yourself to death and die an early life Like so many people do if you obey if you keep his commandments You may prolong your days and the lord which the lord swear to your fathers to give unto you their seed Land that floweth with milk and honey now if you would keep something there go to psalm chapter 34 psalms chapter 34 You know, i'm sure everybody in the room wants to live a long life You know, if not, you know, you might you know, maybe it's maybe we need to have some counseling or something. I don't know You need to talk Get some work some things out Right So he's saying here. Look if you want long days keep his commandments and that's the message of the bible. He says in psalm 34 you're going there. I'll read you from proverbs 3 says my son forget not my law But let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee You want a long life you want peace along the way you want Uh length of days. Well, then, you know what he says let thine heart keep my commandments You know learn the word of god obey the word of god and you're going to live that long life And you're going to have peace along the way Look there in psalm, uh chapter 34 verse 11 come you children harken unto me. I will teach you the fear of the lord Well, that doesn't you're going to tell us You're going to tell scary stories. What's going on here? No, i'm going to teach you about who god is and what he's like and it's going to cause you to be afraid of him You know, that's you know, the bible says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom You know that that's that's where it all starts, you know, and we kind of went over that I know previously but here it is Again, I will teach you the fear of the lord. That's a good thing to learn What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may say good Who doesn't want to live a good long life? Don't raise your hand You know because you know, we some of us are packing heat. We can help you with that. No, i'm just kidding He says hey, you know who doesn't want to live a long life and love it and love and loveth many days they may say good Well, here's here's how you get that. Yeah, we all want that Well, how do we get it verse 13 keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile depart from evil and do good See, there's two parts that equation. It's not enough. Just do good. Just show up at church and you know, play the part sing the song say amen You know and be you know, do the soul wing and just do everything that you know You're supposed to do and then turn around monday tuesday wednesday fridays, you know the rest of the week living like the devil There's two parts there. You have to depart from the evil and do good It's not you know, just do good and and then it's going to balance out seek peace and pursue it The eyes of lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open under their cry The face of the lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance them from the earth from the face of the earth Or from the earth, excuse me Go back to deuteronomy chapter 10 So again, I mean god is just emphasizing obedience over and over and over And over and over and over it's the main theme in this book and elsewhere in scripture So he said there, you know, uh, keep the commandments which I command you to stay they may be strong they may prolong your days He's taking you to land which flow with the milk and honey verse 10 for the land where thou goest to in to possess it It is not as that land of egypt where you came out Where thou sowest thy seed and waters to with thy foot as a garden of herbs But the land whether you go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys Then drinketh water of the rain of heaven a land which the lord thy god careth for The eyes of the lord thy god are upon it from the beginning of the year even under the end of the year And it shall come to pass if you shall harken diligently into my commandments which I command you this day To love the lord your god to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul That I will give you the rain in your land in his due season and And the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine and thine oil And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayest be full In that that thou mayest eat and be full. So this is kind of you know Interesting that back then when they were, you know when people were living, uh more were there most people were farmers And they were living off the land they were, you know more involved with agriculture You know, they it seems like they were a little bit more dependent upon god you know and I can't help but wonder maybe the reason why our country is just so Far from god and cares so little for the things of god It's quite frankly because they can get everything I can get a can of food you know, we were talking about the service about uh this evening about Is there going to be another great depression, you know, and I said well, I hope so Because that's what people need sometimes to get shaken out of their safe little worlds to wake up and realize that There's still a god in heaven and that you know, they they can that everything can change like that And maybe they'll actually seek after god I mean back then they were so I mean they were so much more reliant upon the land And that was god used it and said hey if you seek me i'll i'll send the rain If you disobey me, I won't send the rain You know if you seek me i'm going to send the grass your cattle's going to eat and you're going to be full And today, you know everything it's just you know Genetically modified they send loca god sends locusts a man just makes up some new pesticide To kill the locust and po and poison himself in the process You know, he has some hybrid plant that can that can you know, withstand these things drought resistant plants and people say well Why isn't god doing I believe god is we just we don't see it as much, you know, we're not paying attention People are distracted. I mean there's there's wildfires everywhere. There's hurricanes and tornadoes I mean god is still trying to deal with people you go ask those people In that trailer park in oklahoma or wherever that tornado tear through, you know, it's always a trailer park, right? And go ask him if they thought maybe some of them would probably go. You know what? I think god did that I bet you you would I bet if you went to those people they'd say boy it feels like you know God was trying to get my attention when this happened You know, we don't do it because we don't live in the trailer park, you know, we didn't get hit by the tornado But these people here back then it just seems like Man, they were so much more reliant immediately upon the land and the cattle and everything that god kind of Had him where he wanted him And not that god can't still reach down and touch us I'm, not saying we've made ourselves immune from the wrath of god I'm, just saying, you know, maybe god's letting things slide a little bit longer and he's just letting it all build up Maybe he's waiting till the cup of his wrath of his indignation is full before he finally pulls it out pours it out But back then it was pretty immediate he's like they stepped out of line. Well, guess what there's no rain And that would probably get him back in line a little bit quicker He goes on and he says there take heed to yourselves That your heart be not deceived And that you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them And then the lord's wrath be kindled against you and he shut up in heaven And he shut up the heaven that there be no rain So notice, you know again there's consequences for forgetting the lord for for casting off god God doesn't just walk away, you know feeling sorry for himself when his people depart from him When they go into idolatry when they go into wickedness when their hearts hearts are hardened when they're deceived and they forget god God isn't just suck his thumb in the corner and boo-hoo. God does something about it You know god rains up and he clouds on him or clouds up and rains on him To get their attention to bring them back to himself You know and that's that's that's who god is now we can start to understand why we should be taught the fear of the lord Because god isn't just this passive old man in heaven who's just going to let things slide and let people walk all over him You know, he's not going to let his people just get away with it. You know, if you're god's child, you know That's that's a blessing. Amen But you know what? Should probably take heed to what we're doing the way we're living our lives Because god is not going to just let us get away with it so you know God we want to have god's blessing in our lives and if you would let's look here at verses 18 through 22 We're going to kind of transition We want to obey we want god's blessings. We want god to you know Provide for us. We want him to to to bless us in life Well, how do we get that? Well one one way of getting it is through, you know, knowing his word Obviously, it's through keeping his commandments knowing his judgments You're not going to know that You know, the only way you're going to know that is through his word, you know That's that's how that's the how to know get to know god how to please god manual is the bible Verse 18. It says therefore you shall lay up these my words in your heart and your soul He's saying look you need to keep my commandments. You need to keep my judgments. You need to do what i'm telling you You need to obey is essentially the message here fear and obey me and then he says in verse 18 therefore Because of this fact you shall lay up my words in your heart and in your soul And bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as front lengths before your eyes You know, god puts a strong emphasis on reading the bible on people his people knowing what the bible says Because ignorance is not an excuse with god. You can't just say well, i've never read that. Well, did you have a bible? I mean if you don't have a bible tonight come talk to me. We'll get you a bible. I'll pull one off the shelf of shame And give it to you it'll be your brand new i'll get you a brand new bible We'll go down to the dollar store after church and i'll buy you six of them Or maybe even seven, you know, we'll get a bunch For everybody that's not an excuse especially in this country But even if you didn't have it that doesn't that's not an excuse. But here's the thing. We we do have it You know, it's nigh us it's in our hands. You've got it in your lap tonight more than likely it might even be open But he's saying look If you want me to bless you therefore lay up these my words in your heart know the bible know what it says Learn it and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they made as frontlets before your eyes And you shall teach your children them your children speak to them when thou sittest in thine house And when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down when thou risest up Now shall write them upon the doorposts of thine house and upon thy gates That your days may be multiplied and the days of your children the land which lord thy god swear to your fathers to give them As the days of heaven upon the earth So god is just putting a huge emphasis here on our need to know and read and understand the bible and to teach it to our children And we should be teaching our kids the bible You know, I was just thinking about this the other day, you know, my wife She she spends a lot of time just sitting down with the kids every day. Just reading the bible Explaining the bible stories. Look when you have a little you know A child you don't have to dive into you know The more complex and deep difficult things of scripture, you know, you can teach them the story of you know You know no on the ark David and goliath they like that stuff I mean there's there's good stuff and and there's great things that kids can learn from the bible the bible addresses children directly It says children obey your parents. It doesn't say parents tell your children to obey you It says children. It's addressing children. So the bible is written for kids, too Are we reading it to them? Are we teaching it to them? Are we doing it? I mean the bible I mean Let's take the bible's challenge here. Are we doing it when we walk by the way? Are we doing when we lie down when we rise up? It's like 24 7 every opportunity that you have to teach your child a principle out of scripture take advantage of it You help them why because you want long days And and a long life length of days and peace. It's through god's word. It's through keeping his commandments I mean, how are we going to keep god's commandments if we don't know them? God says you want to be blessed you want then obey i'll keep my commandments. Okay. What are they? Well, they're in the bible So how are we going to know god's commandments if we're not reading it? How are we going to know what god wants to expect from us if we're not, you know, listening to preaching If we're not reading for ourselves if we're not you can't expect your children to obey if you're not telling them what it is They need to do You know, that's why you know provoked out your children your sons under wrath And they don't give them clear instructions on what it is you expect um You know how we we know them if we don't how we know the commandments if we don't read them for ourselves if we don't Memorize them keep thinking as the front line person. I mean, how are you going to get this signed copy of the christmas cd? If you don't memorize job 28 Are you not going to get this? Hopefully no one's taking me seriously on that. They're like that's surprising. I get it forget it I was going to do it but not now it's a joke You know, how will our children learn the commandments of god if we fail to teach them You want god on your side This is it right here. You have to get in the book You have to open it and read it and know it and understand it and apply it to your life Verse 23 then will the lord drive out these nations from before you Then god will come to your aid god then god will bless you and be on you You know, it's it's but people want to put the uh, the the cart before the horse They want god to come to their aid, but they don't want to know anything about what it is. It is he expects them of them And you shall possess greater nations mightier than yourselves every place where on the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours From the wilderness and lebanon from the river the river Euphrates even though the uttermost sea shall your coast be There shall no man be able to stand before you For the lord your god shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land That you shall tread upon as he hath said unto you Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse So, I mean what what a great promise they received I mean you have to remember they're going in like he said nations that are mightier and greater in number than themselves so when they heard these words to them man that that was really something to them that that that hit home like That gave them that confidence that they needed, you know, we're just reading it From you know, the third from a third party. We're just kind of looking in here And maybe it doesn't we don't feel the impact that that promise has but to them that meant everything That no man should be able to stand before you What a relief but again it all came at a price for them. They all they had to do these things they had to obey god And he says there in verse 26 he says behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse And what is it that he's setting before them is the is the word of god. It's the commandments. It's the judgments of god So it's the same thing, but it can be received in one of two ways The word of god can either be a blessing to you or it can be the curse of you He's saying look you can either you can either prosper by keeping my commandments or you can be chasing by disregarding them That's what he's saying here It could either be a blessing or a curse to you now Notice it's one or the other And it's not one to the exclusion of the other he's not he's not saying like You know, there's not this middle ground people get this idea like well i'll just neither then no It's going to be one or the other first of all And it's it's going to be one or the other You know, you're going to either obey and be blessed or you're going to disobey and be cursed There's no third option There's no neutral Right, there's no well, you know or you could just you know Before behind door three, there's no door three doesn't exist. There's no curtain to draw back That's door one and door two blessing cursing and it's obedience or disobedience. That's it. Are you still in romans? You still have something there? We're gonna look at romans chapter eight romans chapter eight And what this is showing because again, he's addressing his people right he's addressing You know the people that he called out that have faith in him that are following him, you know It's a picture of us today, you know It's the same way to us and what it shows it says that god's people are still subject to god's blessing or cursing And christians need to learn this today that just because you're born again just because you're saved doesn't doesn't mean you're immune to god's wrath I mean, we know that we're not going to go to hell We know that because of because we're saved that we can't we couldn't go there Even if we wanted to right That we are but we are still subject to the chastening hand of god on this earth While you still have breath as god's child god can still Curse you on this earth The bible says in romans 8 look at verse 1 it says there is therefore now no condemnation with them or in which are in christ Jesus and so many churches today they want to put a period right there And i've talked to people christians who are you know, they're just living wicked life They're backslid in you know, they're living in sin And I said god's gonna judge you. Oh, no. No, I talked to my pastor at my church And he said there is no condemnation them which are in christ. Jesus What's condemnation judgment, you know being found guilty? Being condemned, right? And they'll say well, you know, i'm in christ. Jesus. There is no condemnation It goes on though that verse that's not where that verse ends your pastor forgot to keep reading And can you see why maybe you might want to get the book open for yourself? And actually get in what it says He says who walked not after the flesh but after the spirit, so there's the caveat Yeah, there's no condemnation and we understand there's no condemnation in christ in the sense that we're saved We're not going to go to hell and it's really a primary application of the scripture But the same way they like to interpret it and say oh well, you know, god's not going to it's all we're under grace You know, that's all old testament stuff that you're talking about. God's not going to judge me Well, if you don't walk after the flesh and after the spirit, yeah, I agree You know if you keep his commandments if you obey him if you seek him with all your heart soul and strength If you love him and you're and you're endeavoring to serve him and obey him. Yeah, you're right if you're walking in the spirit But he says right there. It's who walk not after the flesh So when you're living in sin when you're disobeying god's commandments When you're when you're you know, you're getting into doing the things that god said don't do that You know what? You you are subject to condemnation You are subject to god cursing you How else is it a curse then how else could god say? Hey, I sat before your blessing and a curse if the curse just doesn't apply to you That doesn't make any sense. Then it would be I just sat before your blessing And that's it. No, he said it's a blessing and a curse it could go either way and it's all hinges on your obedience That's why he says in verse 12 therefore brethren We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if you live after the flesh you shall die You know, you're going to suffer the wrath of god But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh You shall live look if there's no condemnation. What need is there to mortify the flesh? Why did paul have to tell us in colossians 3 mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth? Fornication uncleanness inward and affection evil concupiscence covetousness, which is idolatry For which things sake the wrath of god cometh on the children of disobedience So why did he have to say that why did they say hey mortify your members? Otherwise, you're going to suffer the same consequences as the children of disobedience If if we're not hey if there is no condemnation It's because there is condemnation Even if we are in christ that we can still suffer for our sins that we can still be cursed If we don't obey god and keep his commandments Now, can you disobey god's commandments your whole life and and be be wicked and be saved. So what evan? Yes But is that really the the life you want to live? Get to heaven say man that took forever That was miserable lord Boy, oh heaven will be so much sweeter. No, it won't All you'll get there is you'll you'll get there and you'll realize how much you missed out on And you'll see all those people that you thought were just a bunch of old fuddy duddies A bunch of goody two-shoes going to church and believe in the bible and obey in the bible and they'll be up there rejoicing They'll be glorified. They'll be given 10 cities and so on and so forth. They'll have great rewards And all you'll have is nothing You'll be saved so as by fire You'll get him by the skin of your teeth And and but you'll have no reward. Is that really what you want for your life? Is that really what you want as christians? No, of course I hope not, you know, and that's why we have to take this to heart and say look Let's mortify the members of our of our flesh Realize that we're walking around in a corpse That still has a pulse. We're dead men walking That this that we're just waiting for our bodies to be to be done away that the old man is crucified with christ nevertheless I live But and yet the life that I would now live in the flesh I live by the faith the son of god That's the life we're going to live the life in the new man and we're going to wait for this body to pass away So we see here that you know god he's laying before them his own people He's saying look this is a blessing or a curse a blessing if you obey and a curse if you disobey That's what god is laying out when he gives us his statutes and his judgments When god hands us this when we god shows us the scripture and gives us the bible it can go either way And what we see is that you weren't blessed as a christian just because You know there you know god isn't just going to bless you just because you're a christian Just because you're saved now being saved is a blessing in and of itself the greatest blessing of all But that's not you know, oh you're saved now. Let me just bless you and bless you and bless you bless you No, you got to be you got to obey You're not you're not just going to be blessed because you grew up in church Well, I grew up in church. Well, did you learn anything? Did you apply it to your life Did you actually use that to to please god with your life? You know, you're not going to you know Those of us the the children that are growing up with godly parents You're not going to be blessed by god just because your parents were godly good parents You're going to be blessed by god when you actually do the things that your godly parents told you You actually would apply the things you were instructed in your life to do You know, you're not going to just be blessed just because you actually have to put in your and I could I could tell you stories I could get up here and we could talk about people that I knew that grew up in great christian homes That are full-blown reprobates today That they quit on god and it happened quick. It was overnight. They turned 18. They're out the door within a couple years Just full-blown fags It happens why because it's not it's it's you're not blessed just because You're not blessed just because It's got to be personal to you. It has to mean something to you personally. You have to make it your own at some point And and if you don't well, it might not be the blessing and i'm not going to say if you don't you're going to turn Into a reprobate i'm just saying don't be some that kind of thing happens You know people get us sorts with god and they and they think well, you know, I grew up in church I grew up with parents and And so god's just going to bless me just because no No, you still have to make it your own there comes a point where we have to own these things for ourselves He says there in verse uh, we're back in deuteronomy he says behold verse 26 I set before you this day a blessing and a curse And he says in verse 26 27 a blessing if you obey right the commandments of lord your god which I command you this day a blessing if you obey And he says in verse 28 and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the lord your god But turn aside out of the way what should command you this day to go after other gods, which you have not known So it's all it's all the it's all the word of god. It's how How we're going to apply it to our lives. What are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with what you've learned at church? What are you going to do with what you've read in your bible? What are you going to do with what your parents have taught you? You know, what are you going to do with that? Are you going to turn into a blessing? Are you going to turn into a curse? Because those are the two options that's what's on the table And it should come to pass verse 29 when the lord thy god hath brought you land whither thou goest That thou shall put these blessings upon mount garis garism garism and the curse upon mount ebal Now I think this is interesting and I think god's trying to show us something here So he's saying look when you go into this land, there's going to be these two mountains And you're going to put the blessing on one and the curse upon the other you're going to put the blessing upon Uh, you know mount garism and the curse upon mount ebal And I think there's significance here, you know, god could have just said put them next to each other where it's real easy to get to You're going to find a flat plane And you're just going to set them there, right? Why does he say a mount? You know, well one one thing could be because he wants us to be able to see it You know, he wants everyone, you know when things are elevated everybody can see it He wants to get the message across to everybody but I think really what he's trying to show us here is that You know them being placed upon mountains what it shows us is that Both take effort to attain You know that there's there's effort that goes into either life There's effort that goes into a life that's blessed. There's effort that goes into a life that's cursed It takes effort to reach either one if you want to climb out mount ebal in your life, you know That's going to take effort if you want to climb up mount garism, that's going to take effort as well Each one is going to take effort, you know disobedience it comes more naturally to us doesn't it visit that is our nature And we're born in sin But think about it. It still takes purpose to live a disobedient life You know, you still have to put effort into that Like it made me think of this verse in proverbs 26. It says Whosoever digget the pit shall fall there in right? It's a guy who's being cursed because of his wickedness He's he's laying a trap. He's a wicked man. He's doing he's not obeying right? He's not loving his neighbor as himself. He's digging a pit so that somebody can fall there in He says, uh in who I mean digging a pit's hard, right? There's effort that goes into that especially here in arizona. Good night Man, I moved out here from michigan and I remember a guy in michigan. I had a job at excavating firm I remember sitting in the truck with him on a lunch break and saying he was from arizona He said if you ever move to phoenix Don't ever get a job doing this don't ever get a job digging anything whatsoever because he was telling me about the ground here And I remembered that after I got a job digging here My first week or two here. I got some cash job digging footers. I'm just going off on a story right now But I mean the first week I ended up with heat stroke I mean my arm seized up. I had I laid in bed with a fever for like two days I show up in the job and we're digging footers for a house, you know, and the guy hands me a pickaxe i'm like We're not mining for gold. What's this about? He's like, well, we got to dig and because i'm from michigan where it's just one giant sand dune Where you could just dig with one hand you're like, oh, it's sand the whole way It's just like 10 feet of sand. I mean i've dug down to my mom's and she got a crack in her wall It was like a 10-foot basement on two different occasions. We dug all the way by hand to the bottom of it in like an hour I mean it didn't take long at all. You just dig a big hole You know, it was work, but it was easy. Good luck doing that here Man, you got to get these pneumatic jackhammers out and everything like the point i'm trying to make is it takes effort to dig a hole Right, if you don't get anything else tonight, you got that And if you're going to dig a hole prepare to be prepared to sweat stay hydrated and don't do it here but What he's saying look it takes effort to do wickedness, doesn't it? It takes effort to dig a pit and guess what? You're the one that's going to fall there in you're still going to be cursed He that rolleth a stone right there's effort being put into being a wicked person I'm going to get this guy and you roll up a stone right that's hard work It will return upon him The bible says in proverbs 13 who so despiseth the word shall be destroyed it's not like you get to just be god's child and put the word on the shelf and say that And uh, I I don't want the blessing look then you're going to live a cursed life There's not this middle ground you don't get to walk up to mount garism And mount, what's the other mount eball and just walk down the middle? Well, i'm just going to stay in the valley. No, you got to pick one Which which light which mount are you going to ascend in your life? The one that leads to a curse or the one that leads to a blessing they both take effort You can't stay in the valley He that despises the word shall be destroyed but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded You see that again, there's one that's despising it and there's one that's fearing it one's being destroyed and one's being rewarded It's black and white in the scripture the law otherwise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard People think they go if I just oh the you know, living the godly christian life is so difficult Go live an ungodly one and see how hard that is You think keeping god's commandments and doing the things that god commands of you and demands of us is difficult And then and you forget about the blessings that are that come on the other side You know there and we could we could talk about them here. I mean the blessings, you know of of you know, being married one man one woman for life That's a blessing. There's a lot of you know, is that always the easiest thing to do? No Takes work takes effort, but there's blessing in it You know blessing and raising godly children that's hard work There's a lot of effort that goes into disciplining and teaching and instructing And and loving and being patient with children, but you know what? There's a great reward at the other side Is it difficult? Yes, but there's a reward And you think that's hard then then then don't discipline then don't raise godly children and watch how much harder It turns out to be in the end when the curse comes The way of the transgressor is hard, I mean if you've been out doing any any soul winning any door knocking You go into some of these neighborhoods where there's a lot of transgressors and you don't have to look very far Folks and you start to see people that have been living a hard life without god And you say well, I don't want that. No, you're right, you know, you know, but hey it takes effort either way They didn't end up that way an accident. They made decisions that led them to where they are Every every transgressor that's had a hard life has had a life full of decisions that he made And who knows he might even been you know, he might even be saved He might even be you have grown up in a good godly home and been a part of a good godly church at one point But one day he made a decision To ignore the word and to start going up this other mount And that and didn't know it thought well, maybe it'll lead somewhere else. It's not gonna lead anywhere else except for the curse So You can't stay in the valley in life you got to choose one or the other You know, which which which one are we going to go up? We're going to go up the the the the one that's going to we're going to help garize them to the blessing Are we going to go up to eball to the curse? You can't stay in the valley the bible says and that's why the psalmist prayed, you know incline my near incline Not my heart to any evil thing To practice wicked works with men that work in equity and let me not eat of their dainties So we say hey, you know the mount of the blessing it might be hard to climb up right that mount up to uh, Mount garism, it looks rocky. It looks rough. It's a hard climb To keep all these commandments it takes effort And there might not be as many people in that mountain. There's a lot of people over here, you know a mount eball And they're like, hey, let's go up this mountain You know, there might be more company But here's the thing The company over on mount, uh, eball in my opinion is better. All right garism. Excuse me. It's better company You know, there's might not be as many people here tonight as there are in the bar You know over near some university right now Right now there's some bar somewhere that's just packed out with people. They're all laughing and smiling carrying on And having a good time But you know what the company over here is better in my opinion Because of everything that goes along with that scene And it's fake So Maybe we need to pray that prayer tonight, you know if we're feeling like Eball is kind of calling to us. I think well, maybe eball is the way to go Maybe it's not so bad at the top You know Maybe you need to pray incline not my heart to do to uh to uh any evil thing You know, maybe that sometimes that's where we just have to start like look It's not even lord. It's not even lord. Help me to do the right thing It's just like help me to not do the wrong thing Maybe we just need to start there lord. Just help me to not do anything evil That's why I said the beginning of the sermon. Maybe we just need to focus on Not doing the wrong thing That's a good place to start and sometimes that's just where we need to be And again, you know, it's another sermon about obedience And the consequences of disobedience. That's another one out of the book of deuteronomy and you know what there's going to be more Because this keeps coming up over and over and over but you got to remember it's it's a pinnacle point for israel You know, they're they're crossing over the promised land Moses their leaders passing off the scene. It's not going to be there to keep them in check. It's up to them now It's the same way with us You know at some point you have to take ownership for your own christian life and live it And you have to that's why obedience is just being emphasized over and over And and you know, it sounds redundant But you know the more I read the bible the more I listen to preaching the more preaching I do myself The more I just continue to live the christian life The more I understand the need to emphasize obedience just because that's the thing we all struggle with I mean that is the christian life in in a nutshell Is the spirit versus the flesh and it just comes down to obedience versus disobedience and that's why it's just being emphasized over and over And over again And that's why this chapter like so many others Is just summed up by that old saying, you know the path of god's blessing Is through the door of obedience. Let's go ahead and pray