Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Deuteronomy 4:1-9

Theme: How do we honor God? God is honored when His people listen to, follow, and teach His Word.

Date: 02/05/2023 File: Deut_02 ID: OT05-4

The Book of Deuteronomy is the epic conclusion to the Torah, and spoiler alert, at the end Moses dies.

He sees the Promised Land from the summit of Mount Pisgah, but he’s not allowed to enter because at a place called Meribah, Moses disobeyed God, robbing God of His glory.

Lesson: God takes His own glory seriously.

The Book of Deuteronomy consists of three sermons Moses preached to the Hebrews just before they entered the Land of Canaan.

It’s why I’ve entitled this short series Final Words.

The first sermon is found in chapters 1-11.

Much of it is a history lesson with Moses reviewing the highlights of the Lord’s dealings with Israel after he established a covenant with them at Mount Horeb.

The congregation of Israel Moses now addresses were children when their parents made the fateful decision to believe the minority report of the Hebrew spies sent to reconnoiter the land.

Due to their lack of faith they were forced to wander forty years.

Moses now recounts the last forty-one years to a generation who are unfamiliar with their history.

He summarizes the nation’s successes and failures en route to the Promised Land.

The climax of this first sermon is Deuteronomy 6 4-9; “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

7 Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

(Deuteronomy 6:4–9, NIV84).

It’s called the Shema and is Israel’s fundamental confession of faith.

It was repeated twice a day, and emphasized Israel’s exclusive commitment to their God — the One, true God.

After presenting the historical sketch, Moses reminded the new generation of Israelites of their special privileges as recipients of God’s grace through His covenant with them.

He encourages the people to honor the Lord by carefully following the statutes and ordinances God had revealed to them.

They must also pass these teachings on to the succeeding generations.

In this passage we see the three-fold pattern that honors God ...

Listening to God’s Word

Obeying God’s Word

Teaching God’s Word

I. LISTENING TO GOD’S WORD

1. Moses now urges the Israelites to live according to God’s law

“ “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

(Deuteronomy 4:1, ESV)

a. Moses moves from history to exhortation, urging Israel to perform the law he is about to explain

b. the sermon shifts from memory of the past to encouragement for the future

A. LISTENING TO GOD IS THE PREREQUISITE FOR HONORING GOD

1.

And now ... listen points the people forward to everything Moses is about to say

a. the word listen — literally harken — means more than auditory perception

b. it means to put into practice the words that are being said

ILLUS.

Every parent here this morning knows the difference between hearing and harkening when speaking to your children.

The “auditory perception” is there, but their “listening” is dulled — especially if their attention is focused on the T.V., the X-box, or their iPhone.

You might as well be speaking to the proverbial brick wall.

2. Moses intends for new generation of Hebrews to obey the Lord’s teachings, but first they must hear and understand them

a. beginning in chapter 5, Moses is going to begin teaching them God’s statutes and judgments

1) God’s statutes refers to all the ordinances and commands respecting their religious practices and the acts of divine worship

a) God demands to be worshiped rightly — not as Israel’s Canaanite neighbors worship, with their multiplicity of gods, superstitious practices, and child sacrifices

2) God’s judgments refers to all the laws of how to live with one’s family, and neighbor, and even the stranger in their midst

b. taken together, God statutes and decrees embrace the totality of Israelite life

1) every part of their life is guided by listening to what God says and obeying what they hear

3. these statutes and judgments were summed up in Israel’s confession of faith

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

(Deuteronomy 6:5, ESV)

a. and in Leviticus 19:18 Moses adds, “Oh, and love your neighbor as yourself”

b.

Israel’s faith and practice was not to be expressed in an outward legalism only, but in a full-orbed love-relationship with God that fleshed out His statutes and laws because they lead to abundant life

c.

for Israel, that abundant life includes the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you

B. LISTENING TO GOD MUST AVOID THE BLUNDERS OF HUMAN PERCEPTION

“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.”

(Deuteronomy 4:2, ESV)

1. since the Fall men have had a propensity to either make God say what He hasn’t said or to make God mute where He has clearly spoken

ILLUS.

We see an example of this in Eve’s conversation with the serpent in the Garden.

There was one particular tree in Eden that God had commanded Adam and Eve not to eat its fruit — the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The warning was clear; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

(Genesis 2:17, ESV).

God is concise and clear.

But in her conversation with the serpent, Eve adds, “ ... and you must not touch it.”

2. here is Eve putting words in God’s mouth that God never said

a. now, in Eve’s defense, she may have been making a reasonable assumption — if you don’t touch it, you’ll never eat it

1) still, she has God saying something He never said

b. ever since, we’ve been either adding to or subtracting from God’s Word

3. religious people have the tendency to add to God’s Word

a. the word for this is legalism, and is something the Rabbis of Israel were notoriously good at

ILLUS.

We see this especially in the commandment to Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.”

Well that begs the question ... how do you keep the Sabbath holy?

So the Rabbis put their minds to it and came up with all kinds of activities that were considered unholy and to be refrained from.

There were 39 activities that were forbidden, including carrying, traveling more than two-thirds of a mile, tying a knot, or untying a knot.

To this day, Shabbat Laws in Jewish communities are complex and even overwhelming.

Activities that are forbidden include; writing, erasing, and tearing; business transactions; driving or riding in cars or other vehicles; shopping; using the telephone; turning on or off anything that uses electricity, including lights, radios, televisions, computers, air-conditioners and alarm clocks; cooking, baking or kindling a fire; gardening and grass-mowing; and doing laundry.

b. and of course conservative churches can also be guilty of legalism

ILLUS.

A popular 11th Commandment of Baptists says, Thou shalt not drink, and thou shalt not chew, and thou shalt not date girls who do.

4. non-religious people have a tendency to subtract from God’s Word

a. the word for this is antinomianism (literally, against law)

ILLUS.

Among non-religious people, anything the Scriptures have to say about sex, and sexual purity, gender and gender roles, and marriage and divorce is considered an antiquated ethic, and can simply be ignored.

b. unfortunately, moral and theological revolutionaries are found everywhere — including the Church

1) they deny that God says what He means, and means what He says

c. Western culture ignores God’s Biblical injunctions to their detriment

5. we need to be careful hearers of what God says

a. Jesus told his disciples, “Take care then how you hear, ... .””

(Luke 8:18, ESV)

C. LISTENING TO GOD LEARNS THE LESSONS FROM THOSE WHO DIDN’T

1. Moses reminds this generation of Israelites that there are consequences to not listening to and obeying God’s Word

“Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor [BAY uhl-PEE awr].