Deuteronomy 30:1-10

“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deuteronomy 6:4–6 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Pray

In Luke 15 we see the story of the prodigal son.

The son of a very rich man who one day tells his dad he wants his inheritance now instead of waiting around for him to die.

He then takes his inheritance and spends it gambling and partying and sleeping around

Living like an absolute rock star

Until one day the money runs out

He then finds that all the parties and friends and fame he had were worthless and he ends up going to work for a farmer and sleeping with the pigs and eating the slop (leftover food) that they fed the pigs

He is sleeping in the manure and mud with the pigs because he desired to live his own way instead of living in the comfort of his fathers house.

He then wishes he could return back to his Father and beg for his forgiveness

This is what it’s like living outside the boundaries of a relationship with God

He has promised us life and life abundantly!

But so often we think that living how we want to live, doing what we think is best or what we want to do will bring us more satisfaction.

So we step outside of God’s boundaries and we begin living our lives on our terms.

This is what I mean by stepping out of God’s boundaries

Those things that you feel you need to hide from mom and dad

Those things that you wish Gray or I would never see

The things that deep down you wish no one ever knew about

God is often described as the light that makes the darkness flee

The things that are outside the boundaries of God are the things that we want to do in the dark where no one else knows about them.

It’s when we are living our lives in those areas that we think we are fine but in reality we will wake up one day in our sin and realize that all of the temporary enjoyment we found in our sin has left us alone, contaminated in the manure and filth of our sin

Context

Moses has just finished telling the people about the consequences of sin and what happens when they walk outside of a relationship with God.

He tells them about the pain and devastation that comes with living outside of the boundaries of God’s will.

After all this Moses tells them there is hope.

Have you ever noticed that most movies have a moment when all hope seems lost.

Action movies

The hero is beaten and broken

His foe seems too powerful for him to beat or he has too many hench men for the main character to defeat

Romantic Comedies

The couple has a falling out

it seems like they will never get back together

Their relationship is in broken shambles

Anime

When the main character has a close up on His face

He spits out a little bit of blood and he says

“heavy breathing” “I underestimated his power”

There’s always this moment when all hope seems lost.

This is where we are in Deuteronomy

Moses just told them after you have abandoned God

After the nations have scattered your families and killed your loved ones

After you have starved and lived in captivity because you have abandoned the Lord your God.

Moses says this in Deut. 30:1-2

Deuteronomy 30:1–2 ESV

Moses says when you find yourself in the mud and manure of sin you can still turn to God and repent.

Repentance however isn’t just recognizing that what you did was wrong, that’s called conviction

Repentance is recognizing what you did was wrong, asking for forgiveness and then obeying what God has asked you to do.

repentance is NOT doing the same sin over and over again and asking forgiveness when your done.

That is making a practice of sinning

Repentance is recognizing that we have walked outside of the boundaries God has created for us and we DESIRE to continue to walk in the boundaries and the relationship that only He can provide.

Pause

There is a difference between falling into sin, and making a practice of sin.

Falling into sin is something that we as Christians will do because we are not perfect creatures

Practicing sin is the desire to continue to sin over and over again because you would rather walk in sin than in relationship with Christ.

So Moses tells us that when we walk outside the boundaries of sin then there are consequences.

But if we were to repent and walk obediently with God then He is faithful to forgive and redeem us.

Deut. 30:3-10 tells us of ways that God would redeem the nation of Israel if they were to turn back and obey God

3 The Lord will restore your fortunes, have mercy on you, and gather you again

4 the Lord will gather you, from there he will take you (meaning from the nations that have enslaved you He will rescue you)

5 the Lord will bring you into the land (promised land), he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers

6 the Lord will circumcise (purify) your heart

7 the Lord will put all these curses on your foes (the Lord will protect you)

9 The Lord will delight in making you prosperous

This was specifically for the nation of Israel

However, it is conveying the message that when you turn and walk away from your sin and obey the Lord.

No matter how messy you are or how much poop you’re covered in or what you have done

God can redeem you, only He can make you new, only He can transform you into a new creation

When we step outside of God’s boundaries and we live in our sin and we mess up we often feel like God won’t let us back over the fence.

Like he will see us in our stench and filth and say nope.

That is the enemy trying to condemn you and make you feel like you are all alone because along with sin making us feel dirty and gross it also causes us to feel like we are the only ones who have ever been this gross and disgusting.

And that God will never accept us back the way that we are.

Remember the prodigal son?

He asked his dad for his inheritance because he was tired of waiting for him to die

He goes out and blows all his money on parties, gambling, drinking, and sleeping around

He becomes homeless and is living in the manure and muck in a pig stye eating the slop that pigs eat.

He wakes up one day and says I should go home because even my fathers servants are treated better than I am.

He planned to go back to his dad and ask to be a servant.

He was so convinced that his dad would not accept him back as his son that he said.

Luke 15:18–19 ESV

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

This is how we think when we live in our sin, that God would never accept us back because we have wronged him so deeply.

But look at what happens when the son returns home,

Back to the boundaries of his fathers house.

Luke 15:20–24 ESV

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

We often think that when we are far off from God outside of His boundaries or living outside of a relationship with Him that He has forgotten us but instead He is standing at the edge of the boundary calling out to you.

The heart of the Father is seen here in the prodigal son who even when the son was far off from the house the father saw him and ran to him.

The son then tried to tell him he wasn’t good enough to be his son.

The father hasn’t forgotten what was done but instead he chose to forgive the son and redeem the son when he had nothing.

Jesus found us and rescued us when we were covered in the manure of our sin.

He redeemed us and cleansed us because we could not do it ourselves

When we step outside of his boundaries He is there calling out to us to return and live in an obedient relationship with Him again.

A relationship that is full of life and that protects us from the death that comes with sin

And when we return to Him He is right there ready to forgive and redeem you and restore you to the relationship that you had before.

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