Pre-talk Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI
Immanuel Sermon Audio
Deuteronomy (5:66)
It's kind of like an inspirational speech for the people as they get ready to go into the Promised Land. And so hopefully that fires you up to study the book of Deuteronomy tonight. Find it in your Bible, fifth book in the Bible. We're gonna look at this book. It's a long book, so we can't look at everything in it, but we are gonna hit some of the high points. Deuteronomy is not just like an inspirational speech. It is partly that. It's Moses sort of trying to pump the people up as they get ready to go into the Promised Land. And you think about where we've been in the Bible so far. You look at creation in the book of Genesis and eventually God makes these promises to Abraham. We're gonna talk about those promises tonight. What are those promises? Abraham, I'm going to give you, I'm gonna give you kids, descendants. I'm going to give you land, a place to live, and I'm going to give you the blessing or the Messiah, the special thing that's gonna be for all of the families of the earth. And so he says, I'm gonna give you kids, I'm gonna give you a place to live, and I'm gonna send the Messiah through your family. All these promises to Abraham. And we go from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. You come to the book of Exodus and you see God's people being brought out of Egypt. They released a new preview trailer today for the new Exodus movie coming out in December. We talked about movies about the Exodus a couple of weeks ago. And this one looks to be entertaining. Looks like they've added a few things in there. Not surprising, but does look to be entertaining and good special effects. So remember the Exodus? They come out in the wilderness. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. We get all of these laws and we talk about holiness. We come to numbers that we looked at last week and everything just goes haywire. Everything goes terribly wrong. The people don't wanna go in and God says you don't wanna go in. You don't have to go in. Just walk around out here until you're all dead and then I'll take your kids in. And so then you come to Deuteronomy and it's Moses and all the kids, right? Everyone else is gone. And it's Moses and all these young folks and Moses is trying to pump them up saying, "Look, this is the biggest thing that's ever happened in your life. You gotta be ready for this." But it's not just a pep talk. It's also a parent doing preventive parenting. Do you ever do that as a parent? Preventive parenting. Reactive parenting is when your kids do something stupid and you just growl all over 'em. Preventive parenting is when you pull up in the church parking lot and you turn around in the back seat and you say, "Listen, we're going into church and there's no running and there's no yelling and there's no fighting and you're gonna have a good attitude and you're gonna like this. It's gonna be fun." That's preventive parenting, right? Hey, we're going into grandma's house and you're not gonna touch anything. You're gonna keep your hands on your lap. And Moses is doing a little bit of preventive parenting. He's saying to the people, "Look, you're about to go in and here's some things you need to know," right? God gave these laws to your parents at Sinai. They're dead. You don't remember that and so I am giving this law to you again and that's what Deuteronomy means. It means second law and so Moses is taking the law and he's giving it to this new generation, right? A second delivery of the law in the book of Deuteronomy and so Moses is rallying the troops. He's trying to encourage them. He's trying to pump them up and he's also trying to warn them and say, "Look, here's how it needs to go when you get into this new land." So look at the first verse in Deuteronomy, chapter one, verse one. These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah, opposite Suph between Peron and Tofel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. You know exactly where that's at, right? That's just second nature. That's like driving to 7-11 down the street. You just got that easy peasy. So there's nothing nerdier than a laser pointer and a map. But here you go. Let's talk about where this is at. Egypt, okay? This is where they start off in slavery, first star. And these green lines and purple lines and red lines are the best guesses of a bunch of really different smart people as to how they left Egypt in the Exodus and where they went. And so you can't go around in the desert and find these places that they stopped that Moses mentions. Here's some of their best guesses. One guy says no, they came up north. One guy says no, they came through the middle of Sinai here. One guy says no, they went all the way down and then back up. Here's what we do know. They started at the star on the left and they ended up at the star on the right, okay? Somehow they made it from here to here. Now we got a circle and I'm gonna zoom in on that circle, okay? So the next slide zooms in. This was the second star on the first picture, okay? The people come to that star, they come to Kadesh and they send the spies in. You remember we talked about this last week and the spies come back and they say hey, no way. Can't do it, not gonna happen. God says okay, turn around and do what? Go back where you came from. Go back towards the Red Sea so they kind of walk around. They end up back here at Kadesh and eventually they go from Kadesh after all the faithless generation dies. They end up here and they make their way up here. Now you can't see it on this map but the Jordan River flows right here. This is the Sea of Galilee, this is the Dead Sea and the Jordan River comes right down here and the people are camped on this east side of the Jordan getting ready to cross into the Promised Land. Now put another circle on there. We're gonna zoom in even further on this area. So go to the next slide, okay? Deuteronomy takes place and the people are here on this side of the Jordan River and they're going here. On the right is the Plains of Moab and that's where they're sitting when Moses is talking to them in the Book of Deuteronomy, okay? On the east side of the Jordan River. On the left side of the Jordan River, the west side is Jericho and the way this works is right down the middle is the Jordan River and it's a valley and it comes up on either side. The Plains of Moab come up on the east, Jericho comes up on the west and as they're sitting at the star on the right, they can see the star on the left. It's a 5K run. It's not hundreds and hundreds of miles. It's not like we're gonna have to walk weeks and weeks to get there. They're looking at it. They're up on this hill, the valley goes down, there's the river, up on the other side, there's Jericho. They can see it across the way and Moses is talking to everybody and he says, "Look, you're going over there." And when you go over there, here's what needs to happen but there's an interesting little passage in Deuteronomy three. I want you to see Deuteronomy three verse 23, I and the I is Moses. I pleaded with the Lord at that time saying, oh Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant, your greatness in your mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such mighty, who can do such works and mighty acts as yours. Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan that hill country and Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, enough from you, do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes west, north, south, east and look at it with your eyes. You shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua and encourage and strengthen him for he shall go over at the head of this people and shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see. So we remained in the valley opposite Beth Peor. This is fascinating. And you remember last week in numbers for the second time the people are grumbling about water. The first time they grumbled, Moses, you take your staff, you go to the rock, you hit the rock and out comes water. The second time God said what? Take your staff, get the people, go to the rock and speak. And what did Moses do? Everything except speak and he hit it. And God gave them water after he hit it twice. And then God said, Moses, because you did not uphold me as holy, you're not going in. You're gonna die with everybody else out here in the wilderness. You're not going. Now Moses can see the promised land across the valley. You think about his journey from the basket in the Nile to growing up with Pharaoh, to murdering the Egyptian, to running for his life, to being a shepherd for years and years getting married, going back, seeing all the signs in Egypt, walking through the Red Sea, seeing all the miracles, the man of the quail, the water, all of it in the wilderness. Their shoes didn't wear out while they're wandering around. All of these things year after year, after year, 40 years walking with these people. He's done all of that. And now he is a 5K run from the promised land. And God says, you don't get to go. And Moses says, please, please let me go. I don't have to, you can kill me as soon as I get across. Just let me go across the Jordan. After all these years, please let me go. And what does God say? No. What else does God say? Drop it. In other words, this is not the only time that Moses said, please let me go. God says, listen, Moses, do not bring this up again. Here's more preventive parenting, right? Do not ask me that again. And what else does he say? Get Joshua ready. You're not going, don't ask me again, and you need to get the guy ready who is gonna take him over. What a hard thing to do. What a heartbreaking thing to do on some levels to say, after all of this, I don't get to go. But I have to get Joshua ready to go and to go with the head of the people. And God says, you get to go up on Pisgah, you get to look around. I'm gonna show you all these directions. I'm gonna show you the land, and then that's it. You're done. Your job, Moses, at this point, is to give the law to the new generation. Get Joshua ready. Don't ask me about the Promised Land again. I take you up the mountain and then you die. That's how the rest of this is gonna play out. Interesting that at some point, Moses did get to put his feet in the Promised Land. When? Transfiguration, Moses gets to stand in the Promised Land. And he stands there with Jesus in Elijah. And they talk about Jesus' upcoming death and resurrection and all of that. So eventually, he got to be there. But at this point in time, God says, you're not going encourage Joshua. So the book means second law. And Moses knows he's not going. And he's saying, okay, I gotta pump these people up. I gotta get them ready. I gotta make sure they know the law of God. But understand this, when you read through Deuteronomy and you read all these laws and you say, wait a minute, didn't we read this in Numbers? Didn't we read this in Leviticus? Didn't he already talk to the people about this in Exodus? This just seems like repeat. It's just another book of laws. It does mean second law, but the book itself is not about the law. And this is on your outline. This is important. Deuteronomy is not about laws. It's not about Israel. It's about the law giving God of Israel. And there's a world of difference when you read the book in this light. And you think that, okay, it's not just about laws. It's not just about Israel and what they're supposed to be doing. It's actually about God who is giving these laws to Israel. Totally different. It changes how you read the whole book. When you realize and you come into it saying, okay, it's not just a bunch of rules. God's teaching is people something. He's teaching them about who he is. And he's reminding them how life works best. And he's warning them that the place you're about to go into has some really nasty people living there. And I don't want you to end up like those people. If you're not careful before long, you're gonna be exactly like those folks. So I'm telling you, this is how life works best. This is what would reflect me and my character. And so he gives these people all of these laws. Since the book is about God, let me tell you five things that you learn about God and Deuteronomy. And I'm gonna give these to you. And then we're gonna just read these passages. And these passages are so clear that you cannot miss the truths that we're talking about. And so I'm gonna give you five of them. Number one, God is unique. And because he is unique, we obey him. You learn that about God and Deuteronomy. And you learn that's how we should respond to him. He is unique. He's one of a kind. Nobody else like him. And because that's true, he's worthy of our obedience. So look at Deuteronomy four, starting in verse 32. And we're gonna read all the way down to verse 40. You just follow along. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth. And ask from one end of heaven to the other whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of fire as you have heard and still live? Or has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation? By trials, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, by great deeds of terror. All of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes. To you, it was shown that you might know, here it is, that the Lord, and notice that's all caps. Yahweh, Jehovah is God. All those other gods up above there are little G gods. Any other God do this, little G God, any other little G God do this? No, Yahweh is God, big G God. And there is no other beside him. Out of heaven, he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth, he let you see his great fire and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence by his great power, driving out before you, nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance as it is this day. Know therefore today and lay it to your heart that the Lord, Yahweh, is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath, there is no other. Therefore, you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time. Verse 39 and verse 40 are really clear. The Lord is God and there is no other. Therefore, obey him, listen to him. He's telling you how life will go well in the land and how you can prolong your days in the land. God is unique and you need to obey him. Number two, what do you learn about God? God is omnipotent or he is all powerful. And because that's true, we are not afraid. You see that in Deuteronomy. God is omnipotent and because that's true, we are not afraid. Deuteronomy seven, beginning in verse 17. Seven, 17. If you say in your heart, these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? Had people ever said that before in Israel? Their parents had said that. They're too great. We can't take these people on. They're too strong, cities are too big, never gonna happen. So we're saying, look, if you think like your parents, verse 18, you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. The great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them until those who are left and hide themselves from you, hide themselves from you are destroyed. You shall not be in dread of them for the Lord your God is in your midst a great and an awesome God. God is powerful. He did all of these things in Egypt. He will do the exact same thing for you. So don't be afraid of these folks. This is different than the wisdom of the world, you understand. The wisdom of the world says, you're a special person and you're capable of great things and you don't need to be intimidated or scared or worried because there is great potential within you. That's not the pep talk God gives the people, is it? Right? He's saying to them, look, I'm with you. The one who did all these things in Egypt, the powerful one, you don't have to be afraid, you're pitiful, but I'm with you. And since I'm with you and since I'm all powerful you don't have to be scared. So there's number two. Number three, this is an important truth. God initiates a relationship with his people. So we're humble. When you understand that God is the one who initiates a relationship with sinners, that causes humility in your life. You don't say, well, I guess I'm just more spiritually with it than my neighbor. Well, I guess I just have more going for me upstairs than the guy who lives across the street who doesn't love God or come to church. I mean, what doesn't click in his brain? It makes perfect sense to me. You don't have that attitude. You say, God is the one who initiated a relationship with me and as a consequence, humility is evident in your life. So look at Deuteronomy seven, six, seven and eight. Says you are a people holy to the Lord your God. When you first hear that, you may think that he's saying, you are really good folks. You are a morally pure people, but that's not the usage of holy here. He's not saying you're good. He's saying you're set apart. A distinction has been made between you and other people. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who were on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you. For you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Let me tell you what Israel constantly fell back into. They read Deuteronomy seven, eight because the Lord loves you. And they said, well, God loves us because we're good. We're better than the Assyrians. We're better than the Babylonians. We're better than the Greeks. We're better than the Romans. We're better than the Hittites. We're better than the Jebusites. We're better than the Amorites. We're better than all theites. We're so good and that's why God loves us. But look what it says. It doesn't say that God loves you because you're good. It says God has a relationship with you because he loves you. Not that you did anything right. And if that's not clear enough, jump over. Two chapters, look at Deuteronomy nine, verse four. Just to clear it up. Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust out these people before you after he brings you in. Do not say it's because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. Don't say that. Whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. If that's not clear enough, let me say it again in verse five. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land. But because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out from before you that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. He's saying, look, what was Abraham? He alludes to Abraham. What was Abraham doing when God and him struck up this friendship? He was an idol worshiper. And God just showed up one day into his life and initiated a relationship and said, "You know what buddy, you're with me." And Abraham said, "All right, let's go." God initiated that. What about Isaac? What about Jacob? What about the rest of him? It's not because of the righteousness in your own heart. It's because God is keeping his promise. It's because God has initiated this relationship with you. And so Moses is saying to the folks, listen, listen, listen, listen. You're going in. You're crossing this river. It's right there. 5K run, you're in. And the people in Jericho are evil. And the Amorites are evil. And the Amorites are evil. And when you get in there, it's going to be very tempting for you to look around at all those evil people and say, these people don't have their act together. Don't they know what difference between right and wrong? Don't they know basic morality? Don't they know that if you just act decent, God will love you. And Moses says, quit it. Do not say that. Do not think that in your heart. It's not because of your righteousness. It's because God has initiated this relationship with you. Number four, God is holy. We've talked a lot about that in recent weeks, Wednesday night, Sunday mornings. God is holy, so we keep him first. God is holy, so we keep him first. We refuse to let anything else come before God. Look at Deuteronomy four, verse 25. "When you father children and children's children, "and have grown old in the land, "if you act corruptly by making a carved image "in the form of anything, "and by doing what is evil in the sight "of the Lord your God so as to provoke him to anger, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today "that you will soon utterly perish from the land "that you are going over the Jordan to possess. "You will not live long in it, "but will be utterly destroyed. "The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, "and you will be left few a number "among the nations where the Lord will drive you, "and there you will serve gods of wood and stone, "the work of human hands that neither see, "nor hear, nor eat, nor smell." So Moses is saying, look, if you forget that God is holy, he's different than all these other little g-gods, and you just start worshiping all the gods of these people, you're out of here, you're gone. He's gonna send you somewhere else. You're gonna worship idols in Babylon. You're gonna worship the idols of Assyria, but you're not gonna do it here. And if you make the mistake of bringing Yahweh down to these little g-gods, he's gonna be done with you. Look at chapter 20 towards the end of the book. Deuteronomy 20, 16, 17, and 18. In the cities of these peoples, that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes. And when people read that, and we're gonna talk about it in Joshua next week, people get uncomfortable. God says, kill it all, all of it. And we hear that, and we think, ah, that sounds so extreme. And the reason we think it sounds extreme is 'cause we forget the gravity of that statement, that God is holy, holy, holy. So he says, save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction. Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, parasites, Hivites, Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. So Moses is reminding them, don't go along with those people. Don't let those people teach you to treat Yahweh as if he's just another one of these little G gods. Last idea is this, number five, and we're gonna talk about this one for a little while. God keeps his promises. You see that in Deuteronomy? God keeps his promise, so we have faith in God. God keeps his promises. Moses came from the family of who? Levi, he was a Levite. And Levite came from who? Levi came from who? Jacob, and Jacob, you trace it back one more to Isaac, and you trace it back one more from Isaac to Abraham, and these promises start with Abraham, right? We're talking in Deuteronomy. God keeps his promises. And again, very simple, the promises to Abraham, to Abraham, I'm going to give you kids. I'm gonna give you land, and I'm gonna send the Messiah. Kids land Messiah, say it with me. Kids land Messiah. Okay, so let's see if God keeps his promises. Look at Deuteronomy 10, verse 22. Deuteronomy 10, 22. Your father's went down to Egypt, 70 persons. And now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the heavens, right? The 70 is Joseph's family, his brothers, Jacob, and all of them who went down and he says, there was 70 of them. Is it amazing that there was 70? Considering we started with Abram and Sarah, 70 is impressive. They come out with a multitude, and God wipes out a whole generation in the wilderness, gone, and you say, oh wow, did that decimate the people? And God says, using figurative language, you're as numerous as the stars of the heavens. Look around. I promised Abram that I would give him number one, kids. Look around. Did he keep that promise? Okay, check that one off the list. Look at Deuteronomy 11, starting in verse eight. Deuteronomy 11 eight. You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the what? Land that you're going over to possess, that you may live long in the what? Land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them into their offspring. A what? Land, flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to take possession of is not like the land of Egypt from which you've come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven. A land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it from beginning of the year to the end of the year. Land, land, land, land, land. There it is. Five kilometers away. I'm giving it to you, right? Promise number one, kids. Look around. I did it. Promise number two, land. There it is, it's all yours. Promise number three, look at Deuteronomy five. Deuteronomy five, one. Moses summoned all Israel and he said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes." Mark that word, and the rules mark that word that I speak in your hearing today and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in horrib. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord for you were afraid because of the fire and you did not go up to the mountain. He said, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." And then comes what? The 10 commandments, right? Moses says, "Look, He gave us the law and now I am giving you the law." Flip over and look at Deuteronomy six. Think of Jesus in the New Testament and somebody asks Jesus, "What is the greatest commandment? What is the greatest law?" And Jesus quotes this passage, Deuteronomy six, four. "Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might." According to Jesus, that's law. And God gives it to them in the book of Deuteronomy. Flip over and look at Deuteronomy 27. Talks in Deuteronomy 27 about writing the laws on giant stones. Verse eight, right on the stones, all the words of this what? Law, write the law very plainly. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 31. Flip over and look at that. Deuteronomy 31, look at verse nine. Moses wrote the what? Law, and he gave it to the priest, the sons of Levi who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to the elders of Israel, and he commanded them at the end of every seven years. At the set time, the year of release, at the feast of boots, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he'll choose, you shall read this what? Law, before all Israel in their hearing, okay? You wanna feel a little bit uneasy. God says to Abraham, kids, land, messiah. Moses says we got kids, that's us. We got land, there it is. And don't forget that God has given you the law. Wasn't the promise, was it? God didn't say to Abraham, here's the deal. Kids land, and I'm gonna give you a great code of laws to live by. He said to Abraham, I'm gonna give you kids, land, and messiah. And they look around in Deuteronomy and they say, kids, check, land, check. Messiah, you gave us the law instead. Now, take your Bible and look at a passage in the New Testament, Galatians three. Galatians three. Galatians three, 23. Before faith came, we were held captive under the, what? The law imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. And so then, the law was our guardian until who came. Christ, Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew word, messiah. The law was our guardian until the messiah came in order that we might be justified by faith. Here's what you see when you add Galatians three to Deuteronomy. From the very beginning with Abraham, the plan was Jesus. Really didn't have anything to do with Abraham. Really didn't have anything to do with Israel. Really didn't have anything to do with Sinai, the Exodus or any of that. The plan was Jesus. And God does all of these things along the way that are important and meaningful and he's teaching his people. And he gives them kids, just like he said he would. And he gives them land, just like he said he would. And he's promised one more big thing, the messiah. But in Deuteronomy, he's not ready to keep that promise yet. And he says to the people what I'm gonna give you right now is law and the law is gonna be your guardian. And that idea in Paul's day, the law is our guardian, meant that the law was your pedagogue. Rich families in Paul's day would hire a pedagogue. And the pedagogue's job was to follow the kids around town all day. So when you send the kid to school, here goes the pedagogue, walking with them. Don't do that. You're supposed to be going to school. And school gets out and they go to the playground and the pedagogue goes with them, the guardian goes with them. Mom and dad, once you're doing that, some of you are thinking this is a great idea. I should have had one of these when my kids were growing up. That's the job. They just walk around with the kids all day long. They're not the parent, but they're the guardian. And they're just saying, eh, eh, are you sure? Are you sure? And Paul says, look, the law was like that. The law was this thing coming behind us saying, eh, really? You think that's how it's going to work best? You think that's what God would want you to do? You think that's the best decision that you can make? It was our guardian until the Messiah came. And so when you see Deuteronomy and you say, okay, he kept his promise about the law. He kept, or he kept his promise about kids. He kept his promise about land and you jump forward in faith and you say, eventually he did keep his promise about sending the Messiah. But in the meantime, he gave his people these laws to be their guardian. There is a promise about Jesus in Deuteronomy. We've got to read it before we finish. Deuteronomy 18, starting in verse 15, 18, 15. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him that you shall listen. Just as you desire to the Lord your God at Horrib on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not again hear the voice of the Lord. Or see this great fire anymore, lest I die. As the Lord said to me, they are right in what they've spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I commanded him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. And then he gives them some tests to know a true prophet and a false prophet. And you fast forward and you say, well, was he talking about Elijah? Maybe in a limited sense. Was he talking about Elisha? Was he talking about Isaiah? Was he talking about Jeremiah? In a limited sense. But ultimately he's talking about Jesus saying, I'm gonna raise up for you a prophet, the prophet. And this is the guy that you need to listen to. Flip to Deuteronomy 30 and we'll end with this. Deuteronomy 30 has some of the very last things that Moses actually says to the people. And if you go down in verse 11, if your Bible has headings, the heading above verse 11 in my Bible says, the choice of life and death. So this is Moses is literally his last words to the folks just about. And he says, look, I've given you the law. Here it is. You can do it when you go into the land and you'll live. You'll stay in this land a long time. Things will be great. This is how life works best. These are the laws that reflect God's character. Do it and you live. If you don't do it, what? You die. And Moses says, I'm setting it before you. Life and death. Do it and you live. Screw it up. You die. What happens? They die. Which means they mess it up. They foul it up. They criss-cross it. They get confused. They go after all these other gods. They act like all these other it's all around them. And they lose it. And they don't stay long in the land. Eventually they do get kicked out of the land. And God says, look, Moses said it before you. Life and death, you messed it up. And when you read that and you think about that and you know how it ends for Israel, it's sort of a bummer. 'Cause you think, there it is. Moses said it before him and you know when you're reading it. You know these people, they're not gonna do it. They're not gonna choose the right way. You know they're gonna go off track. But you go back and you remember that God keeps his promises. He kept his promise about the kids. He kept his promise about the land. And he also kept his promise about the Messiah. And the Messiah came because we didn't choose life. We chose death. And the Messiah came to take our punishment, to take the wrath of God that should have fallen on us. So that through faith, Paul says in Galatians 3, through faith were justified. Not by trying to keep God's laws and obedience and we can be good enough. But we admit, we're just like these screw ups in the wilderness and we cannot do it. We don't do it, we're not gonna do it. We need somebody to do it for us. And our faith is in the Messiah. And in the end, the whole book points you to Jesus. So with that, let's pray. Thank Jesus for this book. Thank him for his life and his death. Father, we love you. And we are grateful for the book of Deuteronomy. And for the things that we learn about you in this book, Father, help us not to get confused and think that the Bible is just a whole bunch of rules. And help us not to get confused and think that the Bible is about Israel or about the prophets or about the nations that you drove out, the nations that you brought judgment on. Father, help us to remember that the Bible is a book about you and it teaches us about you and it reveals who you are. Father, we thank you that you are a God who keeps your promises. We believe that you're all powerful, we believe that you're holy. We believe that you are one of a kind, you're unique. But Father, we rest tonight in the fact that you keep your promises. And you kept your promises to Abram, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Israel, you gave them descendants, you gave them a land. And Father, you gave them the Messiah. And we are eternally rejoicing in the fact that you have grafted us into this family. And that is kids, when we sing about Father Abraham, we really are singing about our Father, that this is our story. We've been brought into this family by faith. Father, we're grateful for that. Lord, as we pray together, we hope that it is an encouraging time. We hope that it is a time where we can bring our petitions to you and where we can seek your will in our lives. We love you, we thank you for your word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.