(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Amen, so Deuteronomy chapter 30 again we're wrapping up this book as we've been going through it chapter by chapter over the last several months and again as I mentioned I'll mention again as I did last week if you recall kind of these last few chapters and a consistent theme throughout the book of Deuteronomy is these this concept of obedience and blessing disobedience and cursing and you know it's almost at the point of redundancy but again I think the reason why that is is because of the fact that these are some of the parting words of Moses and the reason why he's just hammering this in especially in these latter chapters is that because there's a real need for us to understand and learn this concept that obedience equals blessing and that disobedience brings the curse of God upon our lives and again if you've been with us through these last few sermons this is something that he's really driven in and is continuing to do with the last few moments he has with the nation of Israel after he's led them out of the wilderness and spent so many decades with them wandering with them trying to teach them instruct them now he's ready to pass off the scene and again he's just reiterating the same thing just hammering this this need for them to learn to obey the voice of the Lord their God and it says there in verse one and it shall come to pass and all these things are come upon thee the blessings and the curse which I have set before thee and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee and now and shalt return unto the Lord thy God and shall obey his voice according all the command of this day so again the reason why he's emphasizing this need to obey is because you can see from Moses' words he already knows what's going to happen God already knows that when they get into the promised land they're gonna get you know you know fat and sassy they're gonna get in there and they're gonna start in taking over this land dwelling in houses they didn't build dwelling you know eating of all of yards and vineyards they didn't plant and it's going to go to their heads they're gonna forget the Lord their God and he's already reminding them of a promise that they're going to need you know many generations later that they when they are in that in fact in that land when God does in fact bring the curse upon them that they need to turn to the Lord their God and to remember him and call to mind all these things among the nations whether the Lord thy God hath driven thee and it says in verse 2 and shalt return to the Lord thy God and shall obey his voice according to all that I command in this day thou and thy children with all thine heart and with all thy soul that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee and will return and gather thee from all the nations whether the Lord thy God has scattered thee again this isn't something I really want to spend a lot of time on in this sermon because there's there's other things here but notice here that when God brings the nation of Israel into the land when they believe on the Lord when they turn to Lord thy God with all their heart that's when God has compassion upon them and gives them and gathers them from all nations you know which which should you know in that concept ring it rings through truth through all scriptures that should remind us of the fact that you know the the false state of the nation of Israel that is not God's chosen people over there today those people are not believing on the Lord the Lord God they're not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ they don't have the Father and they don't have the Son you know that was not God's doing 1948 was not a miracle that was the working of man and and others but again I don't want to park it on that that topic that's something that's been preached you know quite a bit here in this church but I think what we can really what I really want to drive in tonight or get us to understand is that God desires to forgive people it's God's desire that he would be able to forgive the disobedient that he would be able to restore those that are experiencing his wrath and his punishment that are on the receiving end of his chastening you know it's not God's desire to just you know chasten people and to punish them I mean but obviously that's what God does I mean God you know he gives them fair warning throughout all of these scriptures leading up to this they can't say that they they weren't warned but we see here that God desires to restore and have compassion and gather them and he wants to forgive them you see that especially there in verse 3 where it says then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee that's God's desire he will return and gather thee from all nations whether the Lord thy God hath scattered thee it's not that God just wanted to scatter them among all nations and then forget about them and leave them in their sad state he actually wants to bring them back into the land and can have compassion on them and restore them that is his desire okay now moving on here in verse 4 it says if any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee and from thence will he fetch thee the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which the Lord thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possess it and he will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers so God's desire again is to restore them to restore that to forgive them and restore the disobedient and he even says he'll go so far as the outmost parts of heaven to grit to retrieve them he will bring them and he will go and fetch them and he will bring them into the good land that he had promised them that's what God's desire is and again it's interesting that you know God doesn't say well you can come into the land and then we'll talk he says I'll even go to the farthest parts of heaven and bring you back and here's what I want us to understand because again the nation of Israel we can liken you know unto our own selves you know we can learn we can apply this personally in our own lives a lot of things that happen under them you know we can like it onto our own personal walk with the Lord I mean the nation of Israel is kind of a picture of the Christian life if you think about it you know you're brought out of the bondage of sin in Egypt you know you're baptized and you before first of all you have the you know the Passover and the blood is applied you're saved and you're baptized you know then there's that learning process in the wilderness you grow as a Christian you go in the promised land you live a victorious Christian life but it's possible that we as Christians you know we can end up like the nation of Israel or even after we've you know done all these things we've you know we've grown we've walked with the Lord we're saved that we might begin to wander you know our hearts might grow cold and it might be that God has to start to chasing us in our lives and here's what I want us to understand is that no matter how far we get away from God it's always his desire that we would return if we're his children there's there's always a way back and a lot of and I think this is important because a lot of people they get they get up to a point in their Christian life where they just think well I've committed so much sin you know I've done so I made such a mess out of my life that I might as well just you know I as much as I think I'd like to go back and serve the Lord I'm just sure he wants nothing to do with me now you know there's no point in me going back to church you know I'm just I'm just gonna keep living this sinful life it's not you know it's I know it's gonna be miserable and it's not really what I want but they just have this this you know this guilt and this this misunderstanding that they think that God won't forgive them that God's not waiting for them to come back with open arms and that therefore they just continue to go down this path of sin and disobedience and continue to endure the chastening hand of God but what we're seeing here in these first few verses the fact that God's desire is to have compassion that's God's desire is to forgive and it doesn't matter how far away from God we've gotten from them or from him rather that he wants us to come back that God is willing to receive us unto himself no matter how distant we've become whether it's you know the utmost parts of heaven and what's interesting is that and if you would turn with Psalm 103 Psalm 103 is that God often he goes if you notice the way he speaks in those verses there verses four and five is that he's going to find them where they are and bring them back he you know he's not just waiting for them to return in another onion of themselves of course they have their part to do with you know having to to repent and to you know seek the Lord and things like that but God goes and finds them where they're at you know and often I think that's way it is in a lot of Christians lives and we might find ourselves in some backslidden state and think that you know God's just done with us but even then God will come and begin to work in our lives and to minister to us and to try and bring us back into the fold to bring us back into walking the walking with him and living for him and to come back from that the Bible says in Psalm 86 you're going to Psalm 103 for thou Lord art good and ready to forgive that's one of the great things about God is it's just his readiness to forgive that he is plenteous and mercy unto all them that call upon thee you know you're not going to exhaust God's patience you're not going to exhaust God's willingness to show mercy and compassion and to and to forgive it says thou O Lord are a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering plenteous and mercy and truth that is the you know that is the nature of the Lord they know them thank God for that because I'm sure every Christian is going to need that to some degree or another in their life they're going to need to you know call upon those attributes of the Lord they're going to need to know that God is long-suffering and that God is plenteous and mercy and truth you know we're probably all going to you know make mistakes and mess up some more than others but we have to understand that no matter how far or how bad you know we might make I'm not saying we should you know but if we do no matter how much of a mess we make you know God is willing and able to forgive and God wants to that he's very long-suffering it says there in Psalm 103 look at verse 6 the Lord executed righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed excuse me he made known his ways unto Moses his acts under the children of Israel verse 8 the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger forever verse 10 he is high above the earth or excuse me he hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities for as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him as far as the East is from the West so if you removed our transgressions from us like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame and remembereth that we are dust as for man his days are as a are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourishes for the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them so again here we see you know God's compassion is is being expressed we see that God's these attributes of God's long-suffering and his mercy and his goodness you know it's his merciful and gracious he's slow to anger his plenteous mercies he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger forever right these these attributes of God's compassion are being expressed and the Indian likens and unto a man towards his son right God you know is we see that he tempers his chastening due to the frailty of man you know look there in verse uh verses 14 for he knoweth our frame he rememberth that we are dust you know if God will just let loose it wouldn't take very much to for God to just crush us for God to just wipe us out in God you know often I believe in our lives shows grace and mercy and and he holds back and remembers that we are but dust but what I want us to understand all this is this is not to be taken as a license to just go sin you just say well I know all these things about God I know that God is compassionate I know that God is long-suffering I know that God will pity me and have mercy upon me and after all I'm just human you know I'm just a man I'm just you know I'm just flesh and blood I'm just dust you know what I can't help it you know I'm gonna do these sinful things and I know God will forgive me you know we've got to read the language here and and pick up on the fact that you know we don't want to be guilty of you know sinning presumptuously I'm just saying well I'm gonna do this sin now and then I'll ask for forgiveness later that's that's a that's a bad attitude to have but God's mercy is actually reserved for the repentant those that are turning towards the Lord if you would look at verse verse 11 he says for as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him that's the key of verse right there part of that verse so great is his mercy towards them that fear him you know if we want God's mercy in our life you know if we find ourselves in some backslidden state you know we're gonna have to learn to fear God we're gonna have to actually get out of that that that state of being backslidden and start to fear God again you know it's that we can't just continue going in our sin and just saying you know I'm just gonna continue to live a backslidden life and just continually ask God to forgive me and I'm sure things will turn out fine no they won't but the promise is is that if we learn to fear him and if we will repent if we'll turn from those sins if we'll get that out of our life that mercy is there that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that's what that's the you know the important caveat that we have to remember here it's not just this license that well God's just you know this merciful God that's gonna just you know be okay with my sinful life no God is if you want that mercy and that grace you have to learn to fear the Lord your God it's reserved for those that are repentant and he says the same thing there in verses 11 verse 17 but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him verse 18 to those that remember his commandments and and to do them you know those that will actually live for the Lord those that want to get their life cleaned up and start living for God and get back on the right path that option is always there and no matter how far down the wrong way they've gone you know if anytime like the prodigal son if they want to come to their senses you know and realize that they're eating on the husks of this world and they're gonna fill their their their belly with the filth of this world you know God's God's at home the father's at home looking for them to return but they're the ones that are gonna have to leave the pigsty behind and come back to the Lord so God's mercy is reserved for those that want to repent the repentant you know you have to notice that in our text back there in Deuteronomy chapter 2 all these merciful attributes that that they go through that Moses expresses there about how God's gonna turn other captivity and have compassion upon them and gather them from all the nations you know that all comes after verse 2 and it says in verse 2 of Deuteronomy 30 and thou and shalt return unto the Lord thy God and shall obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day thou and thy children with all thine heart and with all thy soul that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity you know that that's something we need to learn to apply in a personal level and and even as a nation you know this nation we can we can get up and sing God bless America all we want but until this nation is ready to turn from its sinful ways you know from the sins of abortion and fornication and the drunkenness and the adultery and the idolatry and the covetousness and the oppression of the poor and everything that this country is guilty of you know you can you can sing God bless America to your blue in the face you know and it's not gonna make it and it's not gonna make a difference God wants to see people that are ready to return unto the Lord their God and do what obey his voice and to remember to do his commandments and not just pay lip service to him and we have to understand well what's the purpose of it you know what's the purpose of God's being so willing to forgive and God's so willing to to to receive those that are willing to you know repent what's the point of it and so that they can serve him again you know God wants to restore Israel here he wants to he's giving him this promise that look if you get out of sorts with me if you find yourself scattered in other nations you know there's a way back and I'm gonna bring you back but it's not just so that you can be safe again and so that you can learn to live for me and then you can serve me and be and bring glory to him so that's why the Lord you know he's so willing to just deliver them and to show this compassion is so that they might serve him once again look there in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6 and the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy scene to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live and the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies and on them that hate thee which persecuted thee in verse 8 and thou shall return and obey the voice of the Lord thy God and do all his commandments which I command thee this day he's not just you shall return and take it easy and just go back about your merry way no you're gonna return and you're gonna obey my voice you're gonna do what I said and you're gonna keep my commandments that's what God wants for them so we have to see again this that you see again this theme that's just been throughout all the book of Deuteronomy and just something that he's just hammering at here in these latter chapters that blessing is always contingent upon obedience you know if we want God's blessing in our life it has to come through obedience we can't just live however we want and think that God's gonna be okay with it because he's not and think that our life is going to be blessed if we're just gonna go do those things which are not pleasing to him it says there in verse 9 and the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand in the fruit of thy body in the fruit of thy cattle in the fruit of thy land for good for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good as he rejoiced over thy fathers so again we see that's the God's desire for his people that's what God wants for his children to bless them so that he can rejoice over them you know that's something we should want for ourselves I mean what that's something that we should desire in our lives is that God would rejoice over us and it says in verse 10 again here's the caveat if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in the book of this law or excuse me written in this book of the law that's the prerequisite the willingness to obey the willingness to keep these commandments to keep these statutes which are written then the blessing comes then God will rejoice over us when we do those things which are pleasing to him and really the best time to remember all this is when things are going well the best time to have all that you know to understand this is not when you find yourself scattered among the heathen this is you know when you're being chastened of God that's that's not I mean it's great if you know of course those things to come back to mind and get your life right but ideally you would remember all this before that even happens and if you remember look at there in verse 1 and he says and it shall come to pass and all these things are come upon thee the blessing and the curse we want to remember all this when we're being blessed it's a man things are going well God's rejoicing over this we're being fruitful in our in our land and in our in our in our cattle you know we're everything's going really well let's not lose this and let's remember you know the fountain from which all blessings flow which is you know every good and perfect gift descended from above from the father of lights and we should remember that while things are good and that's the danger of prosperity often isn't it and I think that's the danger that we you know for sure that we saw Israel fall into and we can even see that in our own country then when things when a nation is blessed and they have abundance of things they tend to forget the Lord their God so again we should remember this when all these things come upon us even the blessing is upon us but you know if often it's not the case and we have to go through that chasing you know to some degree or another whether as an individual or a nation no matter how but we have to remember that no matter how far from God we are he will forgive us that there's always a way back you know if you're still here sucking air you know God still has a plan for you I don't care if you're face down you know you're God's child you're saying you're out just living a wicked life if God hasn't you know taken you home there's still work for you to do and you could still turn your life around and do it God is still willing to forgive us no matter how far from him we get as his children the Bible says in 1st Timothy this is a faithful saying and if you would turn over Romans chapter 2 Romans chapter 2 he said this is a faithful saying and worthy of all the expectation that Christ Jesus came the world to save sinners of whom I am chief he said how be it for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should believe hereafter believe on him to life everlasting while saying look I'm a pattern to other people and if you have to call you know when Paul said he was the chiefest of sinners you know obviously that might be a bit of an exaggeration who can really know that but no doubt when before Paul got saved he was a very wicked man I mean he was doing some terrible things but God saved him and showed him mercy why as a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting as an example to the rest of us you know that God is willing to save the sinner that God is willing to forgive you know those that are you know repentant for what they've done so again no matter how far we are from God he will forgive us but that's not to say that we know we won't suffer the consequences of sin you know we can't go out and just so all these wild oats and then and then just pray that God you know that the harvest isn't going to come come do we're still gonna have to reap that harvest and you know there's still gonna be consequences it's just that now we can go about sowing good seed and wait for that harvest to come in so we will still suffer since consequences we should never take this as well I can just go out and live however I want and just be a wicked individual then when I you know I've had my fill of the pleasures of sin for this seat for a season then I'll get right with God and live for him as that when I get older and everything will be fine no there will be things that will follow you the rest of your life there's mistakes that you can make there's sins that you can commit the consequences of which you're gonna have to live with yeah the sins forgiven it's forgotten but the consequences that come with it they don't go away often they can stay with you your entire life so it'd be better to remember God's goodness you know and when the blessings are here if you remember to remember that and experience his blessings then define ourselves in need of his mercy I mean wouldn't it be better to just find out to say well I understand I can read the Bible here we could even look to the example of other people that we might know and say well look at the mistakes they made I don't need to go and do that I could see how that turns out and then we can look at other individuals you know who are living a very blessed life we can read about all the good things that God wants to do for us and we can make that decision without having to go and experience it for ourselves we can say well let me just live a life that God can bless you know I'm glad that God's merciful and long-suffering and willing to you know receive me if I go astray but that's not just because that's an option doesn't mean you have to go take advantage of it you know that in fact I'd be get again because even though that option is there there's gonna be a lot of other baggage that comes along with that he says in Romans chapter 2 where you are verse 3 and thinkest thou this old man that judges them that which do it such things and do it's the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that what the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance you know it'd be better just read about how merciful and long-suffering and compassionate God is and understand that that's him and how good he is that he's you know willing to just reach the you know the the you know the utmost parts of heaven to bring back those that are turned unto him once again to just understand that and know that and say wow God's good and then just go ahead and live an obedient life in the light of that fact in the light of the scriptures that make sense rather than saying well let me see if that's true let me go see how far away from God I can get and then and then I'll go experience his goodness in that way then I'll go experience the mercy and compassion and all that no you can just read about it and say wow God is good let me just go ahead and be obedient now let me just go ahead and praise him for that now because here's the thing you know Israel they're being warned here in the book of Deuteronomy I mean just over and over and over and over again Moses is saying obey obey obey blessings cursings blessings cursings just ad nauseum and we're reading it you know we're hearing the preaching of it and we read it for ourselves so we like they you know we've kind of been warned we've been warned and we like they have no excuse and he says here if you would go back to Deuteronomy chapter 30 go back to Deuteronomy chapter 30 pick it up in verse 11 he said for this is the command which I command thee this day it is not hidden from me and saying look you know you know who I am God saying look I'm warning you right now this is how I am yes you know I I'm very merciful and long-suffering and compassionate and you can find about you can you can learn that about me through in the blessings that I'll bring upon the obedient or you can learn about it when you get tired of your sin and decide to come back and then you can see how merciful I am however in the meantime you will suffer the chastening hand of God so he's saying look it's not hidden from thee neither is it far off it is not in heaven that thou should say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the sea that thou should say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it but the word is very nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it God's saying look I'm not hiding in the shadows I'm not my will for you is not this mysterious thing I've made it very plain what I expect for my people and the consequences that come with obedience and disobedience he's made it he's laid it all out there and it's interesting there it wasn't it wasn't just near them it wasn't just nigh them but it was actually in their mouth the Bible says and in their heart you know they read it they they they heard it and they understood it and we're in the same we're in that same boat today you know this made them accountable we've heard these things you know we've read these things we understand just as much as they do who God is and what is expected of his people and you know that's why God gives us his word you know that's why God hasn't hidden the Bible up in heaven he hasn't hidden it you know in some cave somewhere across some ocean we're not gonna have to you know charter somebody to go over and find it for us and bring it back and remind us of what it says I mean we're surrounded by the Word of God we have it in abundance why they got why does God give us his word why does God has just preserved this book for us to read ourselves and to know so that we can do it not because God knows we've got time to kill and you could use some good reading God has given us a great you know wonderful book to read and yeah we love the the poetry and the literature of it that aspect of it but God has given it to us so that we can actually do it that we can actually do these commandments that are written in here that's why he's given it to us it says in Psalm 19 I'll read to you the statue of the Lord's statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and lightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean and during forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together more to be desired are they than gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb moreover by them thy servant is warned look these the Word of God is a great thing it's wonderful I mean look at the way he's describing it you know he's saying the fear the Lord is clean he says the commandments of the Lord are pure they're enlightening the eye they're more desired than gold the much fine gold they're sweeter than honey in the honeycomb and but you know the real the real reward the real value in the Word of God moreover by them as thy servant warned and in keeping of them is there is great reward so the reward comes not just from reading the Word of God not just from having a copy of the Bible on the shelf at home but actually picking it up and reading it because when we read it we're warned and that's the reward of the Word of God so really you know the summation here that Moses's instructions is that the Word of God can be a blessing or it can be a curse you know it cuts both ways with the Bible that's kind of what he's wrapping everything up you know after everything he said in the book of Deuteronomy his kind of his last point because often you know you got to think about the fact that people tend to remember the kind of the last thing they hear you know that's something we try to emphasize as preachers or practices preachers is that you know people are probably only going to get one thing out of a sermon so you might as well just try to make that sermon about one thing and close it with a strong statement because people you know just human nature we tend to kind of remember the last thing that we heard maybe one thing stands out with us so the parting words of Moses or what it is he's trying to get across is pretty important and that's really what he's getting trying to get across here is that the Word of God can be a blessing to you or the Word of God can be a curse to you it's a blessing it's a reward if you keep it and it's gonna be a curse if you don't and like I said last week that's not like there's a third option it's not like there's this gray area or this middle road where you know it's gonna be neither it's gonna be one or the other in our lives and we're you know we're in that same predicament as Israel if you would go over to second Peter chapter 1 second Peter chapter 1 second Peter chapter 1 beginning of verse 19 it says this we have also a more sure word of prophecy were unto ye do well that ye take heed you know you know taking heed to the Word of God would do us well you know it's gonna fix a lot of problems in our life it's gonna keep a lot of problems out of our life it's gonna teach us how to live a life that's gonna be blessed of God he says you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place unto the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts I always love that illustration that he uses there as unto a light that shineth in a dark place that's what he's saying this sure word of prophecy is he's likening it unto a light in a dark place you know I wonder if we really treat it like that you know I think it's a great illustration you know we imagine walking in you when you go home tonight you know the sun's gone down since you left and came to church you're gonna go back if you if the lights aren't on and the first thing you're gonna do when you walk in the door is turn on the lights I mean who's gonna go home tonight and stumble around the dark for 15 or 20 minutes before they decide well I guess I'll make my way to the light switch and turn that on I've stubbed my toe enough I've knocked over enough you know planters or whatever I think it's time to turn the lights on no the first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna go work you know you're gonna hit that light switch because you want to see the obstacles you want to see so you can you know not stub your toe and so on and so forth but is that how we treat the Bible is that how we treat the sure word of prophecy you know or are we stumbling around in the dark in life you know well I'll get to it eventually I'll find out what it says about that later you know I'll read that later I'll deal with I'll turn this switch on later let me just stumble around in life for a little while let me just you know fumble around in the darkness get hurt fall over let me fall down a flight of stairs you know hurt myself get a rug burn and then maybe I'll go ahead and turn the light switch on so I can see what I'm doing and we'd say that's foolishness about the person who would go and do such a thing in their house but spiritually that's how a lot of us live our life we say well I'll turn that on later I'll look at that later I'll listen to the preacher what he has to say later you know well later you know you might be in a spiritual neck brace you know you might not even be able to make your way over to the light switch anymore but I love that illustration you know I remember I used to whenever I bring this up from time to time with you know bus kids when I was running a bus route trying to you know teach them to read the Bible I say you know if I took you kids out in the middle of the woods on a dark night you know with no moon and a cloudy night just complete I mean I don't know who's ever been probably everybody at some point or another has been you know way out in the woods somewhere way away from the city I mean there's dark and then there's dark you know me like so we're just so dark you can't you literally can't see your hand in front of your place in your face you know if I took you all to a place like that and said here you all have one you know I'm not gonna drop you off you know I'm not gonna tell you where you're at you have no clue where you are you just know it's dark and it's gonna be dark for a long time and you all have one flashlight to get home I mean that flashlight would suddenly become very important wouldn't it I mean you if I say hey you can have a flashlight you know or a your favorite candy bar you know if you were in that predicament you'd pass up anything for that flashlight I want to see where I'm going I got to find my way back you know what if I threw that light he'd be stumbling around the dark trying to find it but that's and that's why I love this illustration that hey this this sure word of prophecy is a light that shines in a dark place and spiritually that's what this world is it's a dark place where we can just fumble around run into things get hurt spiritually but we have this light but the question is are we turning it on are we going to the switch are we or moving that you know the switch forward and looking at where we're going you know he says that his light is a lamp unto my feet his word is a lamp unto my feet and a lamp light unto my path the Bible is a spiritual light that we need to make sure that we have on in our life he says it's a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts knowing this first that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time but the will of man but holy men of God spake as they are moved by the Holy Ghost so go ahead and turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 30 so look you know there's a lot of we can we can be worn by the things of God through the Bible we can be worn worn about the things of God you know we can avoid the the the curse of God in our life the chasting hand of God in our life if we'll read the book and we'll do the things that are written in here if we'll keep them but if you know in it but if we don't you know we're gonna we're gonna suffer the consequences and that's what that's what Moses is driving in here look you have two options in life you can be blessed or you can be cursed you can have God's blessing in your life or you can have God's chasting in your life it's up to you you decide what you want those are the two options you know that's it there's no third option here where you can say I choose neither it's one of the other that's what he says in verse 15 see I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil and what is it that he's setting before them the commandments of God that's what this is you know it's it's it's life and good it's also death and evil because it's warning us it's making us accountable and he says on verse 16 and that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God to walk in his ways to keep his commandments in his statutes and in judgments that thou mayest live and multiply in the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land where thou goest to possess it but if thine heart turn away so that thou will not hear but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them I denounce unto you this day ye shall surely perish look just as much as the promise of God's blessing is is there you know saying look God God will for sure God is going to if you love him and walk in his ways and keep his commandments and statutes thou mayest live you will multiply and the Lord shall bless thee in the land where that thou goest to possess it he says that's a promise of the Word of God it's the blessings there you can have it he said but if you go the other way you know just as much as that is true just as much as the blessing is a hundred percent guaranteed so is the curse he says I you know ye shall surely perish if your hearts wander out of the way and he says and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whether thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it I call heaven and earth to record against record this day against you that I have before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live that thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life in the length of day of thy days that thou mayest dwellest in the land of Egypt which land which Lord thy God sware into thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give them so again he's saying look you have two options here and this is really what this whole chapter is about and you know a lot of the book of Deuteronomy is that you have two things to choose you can have the blessings or you can have the curse and if you're the blessing comes through obedience if you would just go to one last place you're gonna go over to Matthew chapter 22 Matthew chapter 22 and say well I want God's blessing you know I want to God to bless me and to cause his face to shine upon me and to and to have the goodness of God and to have his blessing upon my life that's what I want I don't want to have to go and and suffer God's you know anger and his cursing and his chastisement I don't want that in my life you know I want to obey and here's the thing you know I think a lot of people sometimes they want that they understand it but they just they don't seem to want to obey they did they just can't bring themselves to do it they just want to keep going back to their sin back to their old ways and you scratch your head you go why is that why I mean people understand this they know this isn't a mystery they've heard the preaching they've read it themselves they know this is the way it is with God I mean didn't Israel know I mean they had they knew for sure especially this generation I mean they saw their parents what happened when they were faithless when they had when they disobeyed they saw I mean they understood this is how God is but still people they get it but still it just seems like why is it they still disobey why do they still choose sin why do they still choose to go down the wrong path and suffer the consequences full knowing what you know what ends at the light of what lay at the end of that path why do they do that it's because I believe that true obedience it begins with love you know you're gonna obey God when you love God and I think that's really at the heart of it all I mean God wants us to obey but he wants to do it from a plate because we want to out of a place of love I mean if you really love somebody you're gonna want to please them you're gonna want to do those things that that that are gonna bring their blessing upon you right and that's why if you recall the greatest commandment is to what to love the Lord thy God and that's what Jesus said there in Matthew chapter 22 look at verse 34 but when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence they were gathered together then one of them which was a lawyer asked him a question tempting him and saying master which is the great commandment in the law Jesus said on him thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great commandment you know there's a reason why that's the first commandment that's the great command that's the greatest and commandment in the Bible is to love the Lord thy God because if you don't get that down you're probably not gonna get the rest of them you're probably not gonna obey the rest because it's not going to come from a place of love you know and we can keep it up for a little while maybe you know just well I get you know I know that's what God says so I'm just gonna do it and just drag yourself through life being obedient that's not gonna last because it's not coming from if we love it we're gonna we're gonna say I love serving the Lord I love obeying God I love his commandments they're a delight unto me I love God I love the blessings that obedience brings to my life and who wouldn't love that the problem is we lose focus you know we get short-sighted spiritually and we just choose the easy because serving God and living for God and being obedient isn't always the easiest thing to do and we give into the flesh and so on so forth so forth so really our struggle to obey when you boil it all down stems from a lack of love often you know so the moment so how do we fix that how do we fix that lack of love maybe we've grown cold I mean it says in the light you know the Bible says in the latter days the love of many the iniquity shall abound why because the love of many shall grow cold you know the disobedience the iniquity the sinfulness gets worse what when there's a lack of love when that grows cold so how do we fix that if that's enough if that's us if that's going on in our heart in our life so you know my my love I am being a little disobedient you know I'm not keeping the things that I the way I should I'm not walking after Lord the way I know I should you know I do feel like I don't love the Lord the way I should how do you fix that well I think really the best thing to do is just to stop and meditate on how much God loves you you know that might fix that we realize that this love this relationship with God is not one-way street it's like we love God and that's it you know I don't care how much you love God you'll never love him as much as God loves you so that might be one way to kind of fix that if that's a struggle that we're going through is to stop and think about the great love wherewith he loved us so when we when we meditate upon that you know that might rekindle the love in our own hearts and help us to live a life of obedience and therefore experience the blessing of God and not his curse let's go ahead and pray dear Lord again thank you for the promises of the Word of God Lord that we can be blessed and Lord thank you for the warnings in the Word of God that there is a curse that awaits the disobedient Lord help us to be people that will obey you and and know your blessing and Lord if our hearts have grown cold Lord I pray that you would help us to remember how much you love us Lord that we might learn to love you in return and to obey you so that you can rejoice over us and Lord we just praise you and thank you keep us safe as we go and we just again thank you for this time together in Christ's name amen