Deuteronomy 6:13-19

Introduction:

-Wouldn’t it be nice to have Jesus preach to us?

-I often read the account in Luke 24 of how Jesus taught the 2 disciples on the Road to Emmaus of all things about Himself from the OT

-And that’s something that I’m sure all of us would be willing to trade just about anything to have heard that

-Imagine if Jesus were here Himself to preach to us this evening, how truly amazing that would be

-Well, unfortunately, that won’t be the case until we get to heaven

But, it seems that Jesus knew Deuteronomy 6 very well and thought very highly of it, because not only did He say that the Greatest Command in all of Scripture is found in Deuteronomy 6, but He also quotes our passage this evening twice when He is being tempted by Satan in the Wilderness

-So, our passage this evening was a passage that Jesus knew well and relied on during His earthly ministry

-And because of that, we have the very help of Jesus’ Words in the Gospels to help us understand God’s inspired text from Deuteronomy

-And that’s exciting, because there is no better interpreter of the OT than Jesus Himself!

Background to the Text:

-Moses has reminded the Israelites of their past

-And then beginning in chapter 4, he urges them to listen to the commands of God that He is teaching them for their God so that they won’t endure God’s displeasure

-In chapter 5, Moses rehearses the 10 Commandments which form the very core of what God desires of the nation

-Then in chapter 6, we looked 2 weeks ago at the Shema

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 NKJV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

And we saw how really the whole book of Deuteronomy is a commentary on the command to love God supremely

Then last week, we looked at how the Israelites were to keep these words on their minds constantly

-They were to teach their children God’s commands and His ways constantly

-It was something that was not just to be memorized, but thought through

-God’s words were to permeate every aspect of their lives

-They were to talk about them from sun-up to sun-down

-They were to keep them always in front of them

Why?

-So that they wouldn’t forget the Lord!

-There was a real danger to them that when they came into the land and received the blessings that the Lord was going to provide for them, that they would forget Yahweh

-Prosperity could tempt them to forget the dependence on God that He had taught them in their wilderness wanderings

-There was the real danger that they would come to the myriad of blessings that God had given them, and then they would forget Him and go their own way

This brings us to our text this evening, verses 13-19

13-15

vs. 13

-There are 3 things that Israel is commanded to do that all go hand in hand:

-The first is to fear Yahweh

-We talked about this some a couple weeks ago as a reverential awe of God

-When you stand before something incredible, like when I stood in front of Victoria Falls in Zambia, or some of you going to the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, you’re overwhelmed with a sense of awe and respect and fear for the incredible thing before you

-I’m going to skip to the third thing, and come back to the second thing:

-the third thing is to take oaths in His name

-This could be referring to swearing allegiance to God alone as their covenant God

-Or it could be referring to their everyday integrity

-That their word could be trusted because they were ultimately giving their word on the basis of God being their God

Either way, the idea is that the Israelites were to be a people who lived with an integrity that was worthy of their faithful God

-The thing there in the middle that I left for the end is to serve Him

-This Hebrew word here occurs close to 300 times in Scripture, and 88 times it is translated “worship”, and 108 times it is translated as “serve”

And it is appropriate to translate the word either way, since these two ideas are so closely connected

-You truly worship something without serving it

-To worship means to ascribe worth to something

-What is it the thing in your life that all other things bow the knee to?

-What is it you’re willing to sacrifice everything for?

-People don’t have to bow down to it physically necessarily

-People don’t have to pray to it

-People don’t even have to verbally acknowledge it

-But every person in the world worships something

-Their life and their actions show that this is the one thing that everything else in their life is subservient to

And all though there are millions of things that people can worship (job, family, relationship, money)

-Ultimately, there are only 2 categories

-God

-Or something else

And the Israelites were to worship and serve God alone

Does the same apply to us today?

-Is there a NT passage like this?

-Actually, our Lord Himself used this verse in His earthly ministry

-In the third temptation from Satan that Jesus endured in Matthew 4, Satan comes and tempts Jesus that if He will but fall down and worship him, Satan would give him all the kingdoms of the earth

-And Jesus says:

Matthew 4:10 NKJV

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

And He quotes this verse right here

-So a questions for us then to consider would be:

“Do I worship God alone? Is He the thing that everything in my life gets sacrificed for? Do I show not just with my words, but with my actions, my choices, my finances . . .”

Does my life show that?

There’s only obedient worship of God, or there’s idolatry

Vs. 14

-This idea of worshipping God alone is brought out now in the negative aspect

-The Israelites are not to worship other gods

-Why would Israel be tempted to worship other gods?

-think of it:

-the gods of other peoples had physical representations

-you could see these idols, touch and feel them, picture them

-And it would be tempting to switch to a god that you could see and feel and picture

-Or maybe the ways that these gods were served and worshipped would be appealing

-There would be times when their sensual worship style perhaps would be appealing

-the dancing or the sexual involvement, kind of like was seen in Numbers 25.

Or maybe the other gods would be easier to serve than Yahweh

-they demanded less offerings or time commitment perhaps

-Or the gods of other peoples didn’t demand the same rigorous kind of “all of life obedience”

Do you think there is that temptation among God’s people today?

-Are we tempted to go after other gods that allow us to have our sensual pleasures?

-Are we lured away by other gods who demand less of us?

-That are ok with us skipping church, who don’t demand our financial resources or our time?

-Are we tempted to go after other gods who don’t require such us to be as ethical or devoted

Why were the Israelites to worship God and beware of idolatry?

Vs. 15

Because God is a jealous God

-Now, we really need to make sure we understand this concept of the Jealousy of God

-This Hebrew term here is only used 6 times in your entire OT

-And this one here in Deuteronomy 6 is actually the last time it is used

-The first 3 are in Exodus, and the last 3 are in Deuteronomy

-All 6 of these occurences are describing God

-So in the OT, this term “qa-na” is used only of God

Now, when we think of jealousy, we think of it usually as a negative concept

-We think of someone who is jealous of someone else’s money or success

-jealous of someone’s good looks or their popularity

-But with God, this is not in anyway a negative concept

-All 6 times that this term is used for God in the OT, it’s in connection with idolatry

-All 6 times this term is used, it is always connected to a phrase that says something like “you shall not bow down to them or worship them.”

-Or “you are not to go after other gods.”

-So this idea of God’s jealousy is always connected with God’s people worshipping something else other than God alone

There’s a NT passage that really helps us understand this concept

James 4:4–5 NKJV

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

-Now there’s a lot going on here that we don’t have time to delve into

-But here James connects God’s jealousy to His people being friends with the world, and he actually calls them adulterers and adulteresses

-A spouse would be jealous if their spouse were going after someone else

-Why?

“Because that’s my wife! or my husband!”

“they ought to be faithful to me!”

“I’m not going to share my spouse with another person

-And you’re right! there’s a commitment in marriage to where your spouse ought to be for you alone!

-And in the same way, God is jealous for His people

-He’s not going to share them with other gods

-He alone is God and He alone deserves His people’s love and worship

So much so, that if His people of Israel turn from Him to other gods, He will be angry and destroy them from the face of the earth

-We see movies or hear stories of someone being so jealous for another person, that they end up wanting to kill them

-This mentality of “if I can’t have them then no one will”

-That’s a pretty twisted and sick mindset from a selfish human

-But with God, His very glory is at stake

-He loves His people so much

-And He is zealous for His own glory

-And if His people Israel were to cheat on Him, commit adultery with other gods, He would punish them severely

-And this is why, we cannot go after our idols

-We can’t let our jobs, our money, our relationships, anything! become more important than God

-Because when we do, we cheat on God

-And this is ultimately at the heart of disobedience

-Even things as seemingly small as missing not coming to church because we’d rather sleep

-not being faithful to be in God’s Word because we’d rather watch TV

-casually gossiping or slandering someone because we want a laugh

-Not being a good employee and stealing time from our employer

-Saying a snarky and ungracious remark to your spouse

-All of these things ultimately reveal an idolatrous heart that sees cheating on God as a light thing

How do you think a young woman would react to the guy she’s been dating getting down on one knee, opening up a ring box and saying:

“will you marry me? I promise that you’ll always be a top 3 girl in my life! you’ll be up there at the very top when it comes to my affections, devotions, and loyalty. Maybe sometimes I’ll even love you more than the 4 or 5 other girls I’m seeing!”

God is a jealous God, and not interested in being anyone’s second or third most important object of devotion

Vs. 16-19

In addition to outright idolatry, Moses offers another negative command, something that the Israelites are not to do

-The word here is better translated “test” instead of “tempt”

-They were not to test Yahweh as they did at Massah

Now, what incident is Moses referring to?

-Everyone hold your place in Deut 6 and go to Exodus 17 real quick

In Exodus 17:1-7 we find the account that Moses is referring to

Exodus 17:1–3 NKJV

Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?” And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

So Yahweh graciously gives them water from the rock

Look at verse 7

Exodus 17:7 NKJV

So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

-So what’s going on here?

-How are the Israelites testing the Lord?

-They are making His love and provision of them dependent on what they want and desire right then and there

“if God is really among us . . . then He’d give us water right now”

“If God could really provide for us . . . He’d give us a drink”

It’s when people try to impose what they want on God

-And this is how Jesus understood the passage, because he quotes verse 16 too when He’s tempted

-During Jesus’ tempting by Satan in the wilderness, the second temptation recorded in Matthew 4 is Satan daring Jesus to throw Himself off the Pinnacle of the Temple, trusting that God could catch Him

-Satan even quote Scripture, citing God’s ability to protect His own

-But Jesus replies:

Matthew 4:7 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

(test)

Jesus understood this passage to be saying that God’s people are not to go around trying to impose their desires on God

-God was able to catch Jesus and protect Him

-But Jesus was not to put God to the test that way

“if God really loves and protects you, jump off and make God prove it!” Satan was saying

And Jesus wasn’t going to fall for it

-Because it’s wrong for God’s people to test Him in that way

And brothers and sisters, aren’t we tempted to do the same thing in subtle ways

-I talk to people frequently on the Billy Graham prayer line who have this attitude

-This attitude of “look at how much I’m suffering. Look at all the horrible things that God is doing to me despite all the wonderful things I do to Him!”

“If God loves me, then He’ll give me what I want financially!”

“If God loves me, then He’ll give me the car I need”

“If God loves me, then He’ll answer this prayer the way I want Him to”

Brothers and sisters, God does not owe you or I anything

-God is not beholden to us in anyway

-And don’t ever make God’s character dependent on Him answering your prayers in the way that you think He should

-God is loving and gracious, regardless of whether He chooses to give you that job promotion

-Or heal your friend

-Or save your family member

-Or work on your spouse’s heart

These are often good prayer requests!

-They are often urgent or dire prayer requests!

-We ought to pray them!

-But we are never to stake God’s character to answering our prayer requests the way we desire

-We are never to make decisions, and then just expect God to come running along behind us to clean up the mess or to catch us when we fall because of our poor choices

-And we are never to stake our loyalty to God on Him doing something for us that we want

“If God doesn’t come through for me, then I don’t know if I’ll continue to serve Him”

We must guard against these things

Instead, what are the Israelites commanded to do?

-They are to diligently keep God’s commands

-They are to be careful to obey everything God desires

-This idea of diligently keeping is important, because it harkens back to the danger of forgetting God that we talked about last week

-There would be a danger for the Israelites to forget God, to fall into idolatry, and to put God to the test

-I mean, think about it, wouldn’t it be easy for the Israelites to slip in their obedience?

Let me give you a hypothetical situation:

-Let’s say your an Israelite parent after you’ve inherited the land

-Let’s say your 7 year old daughter runs into the house super excited!

-Mommy! (or Daddy!) look at what someone gave to me today!”

-And she holds up this pretty dress that apparently a foreign merchant gave to her

-Her eyes beam with excitement. It’s probably the nicest piece of clothing she now owns

-But as you look at the dress, your heart sinks as you realize that it’s made from multiple kinds of fabric

-This goes against God’s law from Leviticus 19:19 and Deut. 22:11.

-And your heart just sinks at the thought of having to tell your ecstatic 7 year old daughter that she can’t wear this new dress

-What would you do?

-Wouldn’t it be so tempting to think: “it’s not that big of a deal. We have so many laws. This one isn’t as important as others.”

-Or maybe even spiritualize the disobedience. Say something like: “God wants me to be a good parent. And He loves my daughter and wants her to be happy. Surely He understands! we might even be able to get a chance to witness to the merchant by her seeing this dress!”

Don’t you see how easy it could be to slip into disobedience?

-Do you think, there’s similar temptation for us today, brothers and sisters?

-Are we tempted to categorize God’s commands based on how important we perceive them to be?

-Maybe not consciously, maybe we’re not meaning to, but we begin to categorize God’s commands and then make judgment calls on whether we will obey them or not.

-Don’t we do that sometimes?

“gossiping or complaining this once isn’t a big deal. I mean, my coworker is the one who started this. It might be rude or awkward for me not to participate in this conversation with them.”

“God would understand why I’m going to miss church”

“I’m going to participate in this activity even though I know I shouldn’t. Maybe I’ll get a chance to witness from it.”

What are some sins that we tend to think are acceptable to commit occasionally:

-gossiping

-sarcastic comments to friends or family members

-stealing time from our employers

-Maybe you can think of some others

Vs. 18-19

-Why was it so important for the Israelites to obey diligently?

-What is the motivation given?

-Moses says that when this happens, things would be well with them

-They would be able to go in and possess this wonderful land

-They’d be able to drive out their enemies, just like God had promised.

-Their obedience would mean the blessing of God on their lands, their families, and their prosperity in the land that He was promising them

-What about us today?

-What’s our motivation

-You and I are not promised land, or prosperity on our crops and herds for our obedience

-That was for the nation of Israel, and it does not apply to us in the same way today

-So what’s our motivation?

Well, it’s actually very similar to the basis for the Israelites’ obedience

-Now, the motivation listed specifically here in vs. 18-19 is the blessing of God in the land

-But the basis for the people of Israel’s love and obedience to God is seen in both Deut. 5 and Exodus 20 when God gives His people the heart of the Law, the 10 Commandments

-Both those passages start like this

Deuteronomy 5:6 NKJV

‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Then

Deuteronomy 5:7 NKJV

‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

You see, the basis for any relationship at all to the Lord

-The basis for all of our obedience

-Is because God chose us and rescued us

-And for the Israelites, this was God choosing their undeserving father Abraham, and then bringing them out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt.

But for us, we know more than they do

Romans 5:6–11 NKJV

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

-Because of God saving us out of our slavery to sin, we now are His people, His very own children

-And the reason we obey God is not out of trying to earn anything from Him

-But out of love for Him supremely

And despite what pop-culture Christianity might tell you, God’s love is not a license to sin or a reason for loose living

-It’s a reason for diligent obedience

-It’s not our responsibility to make judgment calls on when we should obey or what commands are important enough to obey

-It is our privilege to come under and submit to all of God’s commands because we love Him so supremely