Deuteronomy 6:20-25

Introduction:

-We’ve been looking at Deuteronomy 6 the past 3 weeks, and we’ll be finishing up this evening

**give brief background to the passage*

As a parent, your kids ask you some strange questions sometimes, don’t they?

-I was looking up some of the most interesting questions kids ask today

-Things like:

“Why do I have two eyes if I only see one thing?”

“Mom…my belly hurts…am I pregnant?” asked by 5 year old boy

While cookies are baking, “Are the cookies loading?

“Why are you buying beer, Dad? Do you know how much candy we could get with that money?”

Kids ask questions! They’re inquisitive

And if you look at our text this evening, the passage opens up with a question that a child will ask

Vs. 20

How should the Israelite parent answer?

-How they answer will show how they view the entirety of God’s commands and covenant

And from this answer that is prescribed by Moses, we see 4 key things that Moses wants the Israelites to understand and remember about the covenant:

1. Their Past Slavery (21a)

-The covenant theology of Israel begins with their slavery to the Egyptians

-They weren’t some privileged group of individuals who were doing great and God came along and kind of made things better for them

-Kind of like a nice add-on or bonus

-No, they were slaves

-A people who was oppressed and ruled over against their own will

-It’s not like someone who works a job they don’t like

-At least in that situation, they chose to work there and they are getting compensated and earning a living, so that’s why they stay

-No the Israelites were slaves against their will

-And they weren’t really given a choice in the matter

-Notice who they were a slave to:

-They were a slave to Pharaoh

-Pharaoh was the Egyptian ruler

-But he was more than just a leader

-Pharaoh was a god in this Egyptian culture of the day

-He was the link between the people of Egypt and the gods they served, and therefore was himself given a deity-like status

And Pharaoh was cruel

-He enslaved the Israelites against their will

-He tried to commit genocide against them by having their sons killed as babies

-Now, why was it important that an explanation of the significance of the commands and covenant of Israel begin in the past?

-Why couldn’t they have just “cut to the chase” and give a straight-forward, textbook explanation instead of all of this backstory?

-Because it’s important for God’s people to remember who they were before God

-It’s important to remember what state they were in before God sovereignly and powerfully rescued them

-On December 9th, 2014, Cam Newton, QB of the Carolina Panthers, was driving his truck to work to watch game film

-Another car pulled out in front of him on 277 and they crashed

-Cam’s car flipped several times, and the pictures of the truck afterwards looked gruesome

-Cam was taken to the hospital where it was determined he had broken 2 bones in his back, but he was alive

-For at a long time after that, Cam Newton wore the hospital bracelet he received while being treated after that accident

-Cam wore it as a reminder of what had happened and how he could have almost lost his life in that accident that day

-It helped keep his life in perspective, reminding him to be grateful to be alive

-He said “It's a constant reminder -- never take nothing for granted”

-Brothers and sisters, do you think it’s important for us to be constantly reminded of what we’ve been saved from?

Ephesians 2:1–5 NKJV

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

1 Peter 2:9–10 NKJV

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Brothers and sisters, do we take time to remember what we were before salvation?

-I’m not talking about morbid introspection

-I’m not talking about living in the guilt and discouragement of past failures and sins that have been dealt with

-But I am talking about what the NT writers do in making sure that we understand who we were before Christ

-That we remember what state we were in before salvation

-If we’re not careful, we can slip into thinking about “man, remember when I didn’t have to tithe? Or when I could sleep in on Sunday?”

-And if we’re not careful, we’ll fall into the lies of thinking that things weren’t so bad back then

-That I wasn’t such a bad person

Brothers and sisters, we need to remember that we were dead in our sins and trespasses, sons of disobedience, under the reign of Satan

-before God stepped in

-Do we remember these things?

But the past slavery of the Israelites was not the only thing they remembered

2. Their Past Rescue by Yahweh (21b-22)

It’s through the lens of the their past slavery, the rescue of Yahweh is shown to be all the more glorious!

Vs. 21-22

Yahweh’s rescue of them out of slavery to Pharaoh was central to their understanding of the covenant and the laws of God

-God looked upon their the helpless state

-He reached out and sovereignly rescued them

-This wasn’t some joint effort

-It wasn’t God teaming up with the Israelites to fight together against Pharaoh

-The Israelites weren’t very courageous or obedient a lot of times

-And yet God sovereignly brought them out by His power and might

It began with God pitying them:

Exodus 2:23–25 NKJV

Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

-And because of God’s love and mercy, He effectually works on their behalf to bring them out!

-Aren’t you so thankful that God isn’t just some kind-hearted being who really is sympathetic, but is unable to do much?

-Aren’t you so thankful that God isn’t a worried grandfather figure who wrings his hands and hopes that somehow things will turn out ok for His people?

No, God powerfully acted and delivered!

-He brought them out with a mighty hand!

-Through the 10 plagues, God showed the gods of Egypt and Pharaoh Himself to be insignificant, impotent, unfit, and useless to the fight

-God demanded that Pharaoh release His people, or else

-And no matter how stubborn Pharaoh was or how hard he tried to hang on, he was no match for Almighty

And brothers and sisters, is this not the same for us?

God pitied us:

Romans 5:6–8 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.

And God sovereignly acted to bring us to salvation:

Colossians 2:13–15 NKJV

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Aren’t you so thankful that we can look back and wonder at our own salvation against the backdrop of our horrible slavery?

-Aren’t you thankful that God has powerfully saved us, not by killing the son of a foreign ruler, but by killing His own Son for our freedom?

What a wonderful salvation we who are God’s people today have experienced!

-Do you think of your redemption?

-Do you think of the act of God in saving you?

-Do you spend your day reminding yourself and others of God’s powerful act of redemption on your behalf, the giving of His Son, to powerfully and decisively set you free from your slavery to sin?

-Do we remind ourselves of these truths daily?

That brings us to our third point:

3. Their New Master (23-24a)

Look at verse 23

-Why had God brought them out of Egypt?

-To “that He might bring them in”

-Does everyone see that?

God has brought them out for a purpose!

-And that is to bring them into the land that God promised to their ancestors

-This wasn’t just purely a rescue operation like we think of it

In June and July of 2018, there was a rescue operation that gained worldwide coverage when a team of teenage soccer players in Thailand and their coach was trapped in some caves that had become flooded

-There were 1,000s of volunteers from all over the world who came to Thailand and worked around the clock to pump water out of the caves and divert water from the rain on top of the mountain

-and after 2 weeks of exhausting work and planning, a group of British cave-divers came up with the plan to sedate the boys and bring them out one at a time through the tunnels, taking over 4 hours for each boy

Now, after the rescue operation, the Thai government demanded that each boy serve a 20 year contract for the Thai government in their military

-The boys were to train and specialize in a certain military function, and then to . . .

-Of course that’s not what happened

-After the rescue the boys were set free to go home and do what they wanted

-They were freed, and then left back to their normal lives

-But this is not the case with Yahweh and His people that He rescued

-God brought them out in order to bring them into the land God had promised to give to the Patriarchs

-Why?

-Because God is a faithful, promise-keeping God

But notice the beginning of verse 24

-Through this, they had gained a new master

-As opposed to being slaves of Pharaoh, the Israelites were now slaves of Yahweh

-There was a new Master to serve and obey

-They were to obey all His Words, to fear (reverence, serve) Him

This was not something where God just wanted to come in and rescue a group of people just for the sake of doing it!

-We see this in super hero movies or shows

-Some lady is falling from a building, and Superman swoops in and catches her and gently sets her on the ground, then smiles and nods at her and flies back into the stratosphere somewhere

-It’s not like God was like:

“look at these poor slaves in Egypt over here! Here, come on out of slavery and be free! You’re welcome! now go find something to do and have a great life!”

No! He had brought them out from there, that He might bring them in

-And now He was their Master, and they were to serve Him alone

Now, if we’re being honest, that doesn’t sound all that great to us sometimes

-It doesn’t sound all that fair, and it doesn’t seem to make God seem very loving, compassionate, or merciful

It’s almost like this:

-Let’s say that you were kidnapped against your will

-You’re taken to a remote place up in the mountains

-And you become a slave to this cruel man

-This person has taken them from their family

-And he makes you slave away cleaning for him, doing hard work on his property

-And you get to sleep on the floor in this tiny cell he has created for you

-He doesn’t feed you much at all

-You’re in a terrible situation, and you long for the day when someone will come and find you and rescue you

-Well, one day another man stumbles upon the property and sees what’s going on

-He attacks your owner, and ends up shooting him

-You’re ecstatic! You’re finally free

-But instead of freeing you, the rescuer, this other man, instead takes you to his mountain house and you slave away for him instead

-And if we’re hearing this or reading this passage in the Bible, or other passages that talk about God’s people being His servants or slaves, we can feel a little bit put out with God

-Why would He free someone so that they can be His slave? Doesn’t that make Him no better than the person you were freed from?

And that brings us to our last point here in closing as we look at this sermon addressed to the Israelites:

4. Their New Blessings (24b-25)

-When it came to obeying and fearing their new Master, look at what Moses says

-it would be “for their good always”

You see, God isn’t a Master of cruelty

-actually, obeying and fearing God would result in their benefit

Deuteronomy 5:29 NKJV

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

He would preserve them (vs. 24)

-He would keep them alive and well in the land that He had promised to give them

-He would watch over them to protect them

Vs. 25

-Their obedience and fear would mean righteousness for them

-This is the same word used in Genesis 15:6

Genesis 15:6 NKJV

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

-Peter Craigie in his commentary says that it has the idea of a “personal relationship with the covenant God”

-People might be tempted to think “this must mean that people in the OT were saved by their works, and now we’re saved by faith in Christ”

-No, people have always been saved by faith, as Paul argues in Romans 4 and in Galatians 3-4.

-The Israelites’ faith in God was expressed in their obedience to Him

-It was the outworking of their faith, trust, and submission to God

-Which is what James argues for in James 2, where he teaches that true saving faith is demonstrated in right actions

So the question I want to ask as we close is this:

-How is obedience to God for our good?

-How is it that it is for mankind’s good to obey and fear God?

Let me ask you this: have you ever used something for a purpose that it wasn’t made for, and it didn’t go very well?

-How many of you have ever unwittingly used your plastic fork to cut your slice of meat, just to be rudely brought back to reality when it snaps very loudly

Let me give another example:

-Let’s say that you go out and buy a brand new Ferrari

-The newest, nicest model of the Ferrari is the 2022 SF90 Stradale

-It is worth $511,295

Let’s say that you lived on some a farm, and you heard that your cows on the other side of your property had got out

-the only problem is that your 4-wheeler, which you use to get through the woods and rough terrain is dead

-You’re sitting there, contemplating what to do, knowing time isn’t on your side, and your eyes wander over to your brand-new ferrari you bought last week

-And your eyes light up as you have a light-bulb moment

“I know! I’ll just jump in my ferrari and take that through the woods and the mud and the hills over there and use it to round up the cows! After all, it is a pretty fast vehicle”

-And off you go, zooming through the woods and the terrain over to where the cows are

-What is going to happen to your ferrari?

I’m going to venture a guess that you’d probably end up ruining your ferrari

-Why?

-Ferrari’s aren’t designed to fly through narrow trails in the woods to round up cow

-The answer is this: we have all been created for the purpose of worshipping God and enjoying Him forever

-You have been made for a purpose

-And when we live for things that we were not made for, we end up wrecking and ruining our lives

As of 2020, 21 million American adults said they struggled with depression

-About 1/5 of the US adult population struggles with anxiety

-People in our society are seemingly as unhappy and miserable as they’ve every been

-Despite the fact that we’re throwing off seemingly any and all restraints when it comes to morality, sexuality, and identity so that we can be free, we’re more miserable and stuck than ever

-Why?

-Because we have been created for a purpose

-And the more God-centered we are in our hearts and minds, the more joyful we are as we fulfill the purpose we’ve been created for

-John Piper has often said that God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him

-Because our good and God’s glory go hand in hand

-Being a slave to God is for our good

-It’s to give us the abundant joy that God desires

-It doesn’t mean that life will be easy

-That we’ll float along without any trouble

-But being a slave of God is a joyful thing

Do we understand that?

-Do we see what we truly ought to desire is to love God supremely and enjoy Him

-Is that demonstrated in our love for Him and obedience?

-Do we work hard at our jobs, knowing that it’s for our good?

-Do we love our wife or submit to our husband because we know that it is for our good

-Do we come to worship with His people regularly and sit under the preaching of His Word, knowing that it is for our good?

Let’s be people who understand:

Our past slavery

Our past redemption

Our New Master

Our New Blessings