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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Moses summoned all Israel and said:
“Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our fathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face-to-face out of the fire on the mountain. (At that time, I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the Word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And He said:
‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.’
‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’
‘You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep my commandments.’
‘You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.’
‘Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.’
‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.’
‘You shall not murder.’
‘You shall not commit adultery.’
‘You shall not steal.’
‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.’
‘You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’”
“These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and He added nothing more. Then He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.”
“When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us His glory and His majesty, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.’”
“The Lord heard you when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear Me and keep all My commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!’
‘Go, tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with Me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.’”
“So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”
Deuteronomy 5
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Much of what we have seen in the Book of Deuteronomy so far has been Moses providing the Israelites a historical review covering their release from Egyptian captivity to their present state, nearing the time to cross the Jordan and inhabit Canaan, the land God had promised them. As we see in today’s scripture passage from the fifth chapter, we see that this review included a refresher on God’s commands and expectations for His people, specifically in this case on the Ten Commandments. In fact, we find Israel’s leader repeating everything that God had told him to pass onto the Israelite people when he met with the Lord on Mount Sinai (refer back to Exodus, chapter 20).
Going back to our study of the Ten Commandments in Exodus, you will find that I spent a lot of time addressing each individual commandment then so here I want to place my focus on the dialogue that happened after the commandments were reviewed. Here’s what we find in our passage:
“These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and He added nothing more. Then He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.”
“When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us His glory and His majesty, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.’”
“The Lord heard you when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear Me and keep all My commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!’
‘Go, tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with Me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.’”
“So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”
From these verses, there are three main points that apply to us today as much as they did to the people of Israel a little less than 3,500 years ago.
First, the Lord God Almighty we serve wishes to partner with mere sinful human beings like us.
Indeed, we don’t surrender ourselves to do the will of a God who isn’t personable or approachable. No, for as Israel learned and professed:
“The Lord our God has shown us His glory and His majesty, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today, we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him.”
The Israelites found hope and encouragement in the fact that God was willing to partner with them and in sharing in that fellowship, they wouldn’t perish but rather flourish in life. They also knew that submitting to a leader like Moses who could serve as a liaison with God was beneficial.
Today, we know that the same God of ancient Israel is our God and He still desires to partner with anyone who places their full faith and trust in Him so to accomplish His kingdom work here on earth. We also recognize and realize that the Lord can and does speak truth to us through leaders such as pastors and writers like myself who have the great privilege of receiving and sharing the Word of God with others.
One last note on this before I move on because it has never ceased to blow my mind how the perfect Maker and Master of all things willingly chooses to partner with imperfect people like us. After all, we’re sinners that fall so far short of His glory (Romans 3:23) and grace.
Our God is infinitely almighty and powerful. Nothing is beyond the work of His hands and so that means He can do anything without us. And yet, He still chooses to use anyone who commits themselves to obediently and loyally pledge their committed service to His holy name.
Truly, we serve an amazing and awesome God.
The second point we need to glean from this chapter is that the Almighty God we serve completely expects His people to be obedient so He, in turn, can give them His best.
You know, God must get so discouraged (and even angry) when we willingly choose to turn from Him and fall into sinfulness. After all, He surrendered and sacrificed His one and only Son Jesus to bear the very sins we still commit and die so to atone for those sins and purchase our pardon. In other words, both God and Jesus gave up their all in order to save us from the transgressions we still revert to.
Some people might choose to try and excuse themselves by saying that they were born into sin and so can’t help themselves but that simply doesn’t cut it with God. It’s nothing more than waving the white flag over sin, a cop out that communicates that we have no recourse to do anything about it.
Friends, our Lord understands what we deal with. Jesus came and walked among us, fully human and yet fully God and sinless. He isn’t naïve as to what we deal with every day and stands ready to help us when the temptation to sin comes. Here’s what we find in the scriptures on this matter:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
In the end translation, we know our weaknesses better than anyone outside of God Himself and our enemy Satan, of course. In order to offset the latter who holds immense power to draw us into doing what we shouldn’t do, we need to draw from a greater power from our Lord, a power that has already gained victory over the enemy, a power that will help “provide a way out” of our sins so we can endure and defeat our temptations.
Part of that “way out” is through constant communion and fellowship with the God who longs to partner with us, the God who sent us the Holy Spirit the moment we believed in His Son as Savior. That Spirit will convict and guide us away from wickedness and righteousness when we submit to Him and His leading. Further, the Lord has given us His Word and as the Apostle Paul informs during his discourse on the full armor of God, this Word is the weapon we use against the tempting of the devil when it comes:
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Ephesians 6:17
Jesus showed us how to use the weapon of the Word in the fourth chapter of Matthew, fending off Satan’s advances not just once but three times. In doing so, He showed us how to do likewise and when we do, then we ward off the urgings to sin against God and find ourselves living in His favor while experience the abundance of His blessings in life, all because of our willful obedience.
Finally, the almighty God we serve wishes for us to walk the straight path of righteousness.
In our scripture passage for today, we find Moses saying this to his fellow Israelites:
“…be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”
The way to living in a way that would please God was paved with compliance with all that He had commanded without compromise or deviation. If the Israelites would do that, then their Lord would ensure that they wouldn’t just merely live but prosper as they inhabited the land they were being given.
As for our lives today and our way to righteousness, Jesus shared this in His Sermon on the Mount:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
The point here is that there is only one right road to walk in life and that road is narrow because there aren’t any alternatives to it...no off ramps or detours. Just one narrow path and it might seem hard to remain on it but it’s really not as long as we follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit and stay obedient to the entirety of the scriptures.
The truth is that Jesus walked this narrow road with perfection and if we’re going to do likewise, we need to follow in His footsteps so not to stray off the path to the left or right. When we do this, we can expect to never fall into bad favor with our God, living and prospering in this worldly life until that day when we are called to our own eternal promised land, a land of beauty and glory beyond our feeble imagination.
As the old hymn states so well, “What a day of rejoicing that will be!”
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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