Gospel Obedience
Notes
Transcript
1 “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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
Last week we saw in Psalm 1 that the way of the Lord is better than the way of the ungodly. God’s way leads to life, whereas the way of the ungodly leads to destruction
Continuing with that theme. We will look into what Gospel Obedience looks like by reading about an example from the past. We will look at the book of Deuteronomy,.And we will see how the people of Israel are exhorted to keep the Law and why it was important even to us today.
But brother Alejandro, why are we speaking about the Law? Isn’t Christ the one who fulfilled the law and therefore we need not to worry about the law? It is true that Jesus has fulfilled the law for all of those who have repented of their sin and trusted in Christ. But yet, in the New Testament, we are called to a life of holiness. For instance, let's look at 1 Peter 14:16 where it says:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
John 14:15 : “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
How are we to understand Obedience in light of the Gospel?
REMEMBER THIS: “Gospel Obedience loves God, keeps His law, and looks forward to being with Him”
We will look at 3 points from our passage:
Gospel Obedience seeks to keep the Law, and looks to God (v.1-2)
Listen and do (obey), that you may live (v.1)
Listen and obey the unchanging perfect Law [keep] (v.2)
Gospel Obedience is loyal and remembers the Covenant (v.3-4)
God punishes lawbreakers (v.3)
Those who hold fast (are loyal) to Yahweh are kept by Him (v.4)
Gospel Obedience is a testimony of God’s presence and faithfulness (v.5-8)
God promises an inheritance to those who keep the law (v.5)
Keeping the Law is a testimony to the nations of the goodness of God (v.6)
A nation that keeps the Law displays God’s presence in its mist (v.7-8)
Israel, the chosen nation of God, had been rescued from slavery in Egypt through miraculous working of God. In the book of Exodus we read of awe-striking events that secured the freedom of the Israelites. God, through many mighty works, rescued them from a powerful kingdom, such as the Egyptians, to carry them to a land rich in milk and honey.
As we begin to see in the book of Deuteronomy, it is a time of new beginnings. It was a time of expectation after great failure. Earlier in Deuteronomy we are told of how, at Kadesh-barnea, the Israelites, despite God’s gracious dealings with them, doubted God and refused to enter the land that God had promised for them! (Deuteronomy 1:28-32)
Because the Israelites doubted God, they were banned from entering the promised land, except Caleb and Joshua who did not doubt God but trusted in Him to give them the land. Yet despite this, the Lord did not forsake His people but guided them through battles to prepare for the promised land. For indeed He was going to stay faithful to His promise to give the land to His people.
Not even Moses was going to enter the land as we see at the end of chapter 3. For He (in Numbers 20:7-12 @ ”The waters of Meribah”) disobeyed God , who told Moses to speak to a rock to give water to the Israelites but Moses struck a rock instead. Thus God cut him away from the promised land.
It was at a time like this that God directed Moses to exhort the new generation who will inherit the land, not to commit the same mistakes as the ones made in the past, and to act in accordance with their relationship to God.
1) Gospel Obedience seeks to keep the Law, and it looks to God (v.1-2)
Deuteronomy 4:1
1 “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.
V.1 - “And now, O Israel, Listen to the status and rules… and do them”
Moses is using an emphatic call to his heares, to LISTEN (Hearkening). The word in the Hebrew is Shema (for those who remember the passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9). This word involves taking to heart and acting on what is being said. Moses wants them to know that the Law is of utmost importance! (in the imperative!)
The Statues and Rules denote the whole law. Moses further exhorts them to do (or keep) them, that in keeping them, they may take possession of the land promised by God for their inheritance and so that they may live.
But, what does it mean to Obey the Law? Simple: To Listen and Do it!.
That is what the new generation in Israel was called to do by Moses.
What does that look like for us now? Is it different for us as Christian believers? It is true that we are justified by Faith Alone in Christ Alone, but we cannot ignore the Law. The Law shows our imper fections and our need for a Saviour. That is true. Yet, There are many exhortations in the new testament about hearing and keeping the law.
Luke 11:27-28:
Luke 11:27–28 (ESV)
27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
James 1:22 “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
But one moment brother Alejandro. Are you teaching us justification by works? No, I am not. However, the Bible is clear about the kind of life that Christians ought to have. Just like the Israelites of the day. We ought to listen to God’s Word, to hear it, engage with it, understand it, and we need to obey it on whatever it says!
That’s what Gospel Obedience looks like.
I say this as someone who believes and teaches that we are justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. For as it says in Ephesians 2:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Our salvation is the work of God! Amen? V.8 -9 But that is not the only work of God done in the Christian, for it continues in v.10
I submit to you that we do these works as we listen to God’s word and keep it in our hearts. The Israelites were called to listen and do what God commanded them out of their identity with Him, the God of their Fathers He is a known, personal God, who promised to them that he may dwell in their midst (ultimately the Temple?).
What about us now? We have been saved by Grace Alone, through Faith in Christ alone. In Christ we have the Hope to a new, promised land. One that will never be destroyed, unlike the temporal kingdom of Israel. And God will more surely dwell in the midst of us (Revelation 21:23)
We have a great reason to want to honour our God through listening to the Statutes and Rules of our God, and to do them.
Like the Israelites then, we are called to keep the Law brothers and sisters. But will we do so perfectly? No. But we have been provided the way to be reconciled to God. for
1 John 2 1 “1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
2 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.
v2 - .Going back to our passage, the Israelites were called in v.2 to not add or remove anything from the commandments of God. This is very important and has direct application to us today.
The previous generation, back at Kadesh-Barnea took away from the word of God. How? the Israelites disbelieved God’s promise to give them the land.
They also added to the word of God. By accusing God of hating them to “take them from the land of Egypt to give them to the hand of the Amorites to destroy them” (Deut 1:27).
And all of this led to their denial to inherit the land.
What do we know about the word of God?
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
The Word of God is sufficient, within itself, to supply for all our needs for a life of godliness.We need not to take away nor add. God’s word is sufficient for godly living.
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Why do you think God decided to rescue them, give them a land and give them His own Statutes and Rules? I have one answer. Because He loves them. Let us look into Deuteronomy 4:37 (Moses speaking)
Deuteronomy 4:37-38
Deuteronomy 4:37–38 (ESV)
37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
In light of God’s loving action, Moses exhorts the Israelites:
Deuteronomy 4:39-40
Deuteronomy 4:39–40 (ESV)
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you for all time.”
God acted in love and continues to act in love towards those with whom he enters into a relationship (a covenant, a mutual agreement). He did so in the past through his identity with the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But now, in Christ we are brought into that same relationship. The one in the past was a type of the one that was to come. In Christ, God has brought us in and offers us a great inheritance. Eternal life with Him.
1 Peter 1:3-4
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Christian, we are called to hear the law of the Lord, to keep it in our hearts and to do it. Not to take away nor to add to it. And this in light of the inheritance that God provides in love, to those who hold to His commandments.
Gospel Obedience loves God, keeps His Law and looks forward to being with him
2) Gospel Obedience is loyal and remembers the Covenant (v.3-4)
Deuteronomy 4:3
3 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.
v.3 Moses continues with the exhortation to the generation that is moving into the promised land by warming them with a vivid, relatable illustration. This time he warns them from their own history to remember the failures of their parents, so that they may not do the same.
The events at Baal-Peor are recorded for us in Number 25:1-9
Israel was tempted to sin against God by committing idolatry and disobeying God’s Laws for them not to marry the people from the surrounding nations and not to worship idols. Israel was unfaithful to their God, who had rescued them from slavery. And God punished those who broke the Law with a plague that killed 24,000 people!
Moses wanted to remind this new generation that disobedience of God’s law brings destruction and death. But those who remained faithful in the face of temptation were spared the plague and were alive then, many of them were those to whom Moses was speaking! Let’s look closely at v.4.
Deuteronomy 4:4
4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.
V.4 The word that gets translated as “held fast” has the sense of clinging (holding firmly). And it is even used as what we see all the way in Genesis 2:24
Genesis 2:24 “24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
It is intentional, constant and conscious clinging to God
This is what should guard us from the most common abuses about keeping the Law. There are 2 extremes. One is Legalism and the other is called Antinomianism. That last one is a big word, it comes from Anti - against and nomos law. Think of “anti-law”.
Legalism seeks to fulfil the Law with precision and Antinomianism sees the impossibility of the moral demands and drops it altogether. Both have aspects of truth but both reject the same thing at their core.
Legalists seek to fulfil the law out of mere obligation, as a task. It is something on which, if achieved, can be a source of self-pride. Whereas, those who deny the law altogether (Antinomians) go under the premise that it is too hard to follow the Law.and live doing whatever seems right in their own eyes.
(Romans 6:1-2 )
They both reject seeing God’s character and relational aspects in the Law. The Law was brought by God to His people, and in so doing, He identified with them exclusively!. All the other nations did not have this law.
Psalm 1:5-6
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
God, the relational God who rescues His people, has made His perfect law known to them. He keeps the righteous and condemns the way of the wicked.
Moses’ reminder and warning to the Israelites is important as we should remember that God will both punish lawbreakers and will preserve those who hold fast to Him. To hold fast to God, cling to Him intentionally and constantly, is done by those who love God and know Him.
We have come to know God through the gospel. And we are called to hold tight to the LORD! To listen and obey His commandments. For there is a coming inheritance.
Let us be a faithful people who cling to our God, let us reflect upon the Law, and look forward to the promised inheritance of God.
Gospel Obedience loves God, keeps His Law and looks forward to being with him
3) Gospel Obedience is a testimony of God’s presence and faithfulness (v.5-8)
So far we have seen how Moses encouraged the people to hear and keep the law as they were to take possession of the promised land. Also, we have seen that they were not to add to the law nor take away from it. and how they were to remember the consequences of disobedience and obedience.
Deuteronomy 4:5
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
V.5 - Here we see how God promises an inheritance to those who keep the law. This verse acts as a small bookend between verse 1 and it appears again here in v.5. God’s warnings, about not adding or removing from the law, about keeping the law and clinging to Him, are of utmost importance to be blessed in the land that God is giving to them. They are called to remember and keep the commandments.
Now Moses comes to explain the consequences of keeping the law and of doing it.
Deuteronomy 4:6
6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
In v.6 Israel was to move in the midst of nations that did not know God. This happened before, as we read in v.3 about what happened at Baal-Peor. Their ancestors were in the midst of a people and failed to uphold the law of God, mixing with the nations, and departing from worshipping God.
Moses is warning the new generation to not fail where their ancestors did! For their ancestors did not regard the Law as precious and stopped loving God first, they disregarded their God and went after the idols of those who had charmed their hearts!
What does this look like for us? Do we forsake listening to God’s word in favour of the ways of the world? For we live in the midst of a people who do not know God. Are we letting their influence drive us from God’s word? If so, we will meet our own destruction. Do we adopt the wisdom of the world?
We live in a world that even ridicules God’s law as antiquated and obsolete. We are told that the Bible was a book written by ignorant people, a book that was written in a time that has nothing good to offer to us modern people. The world presents to us their ideas, to renounce the truths of the Bible.
We are told that God did not create the world. We are told that God has made mistakes in His creation. We are even told by some that we ourselves are gods. We are told that Jesus is not the only way to heaven. We are told we ought to be inclusive of all other faiths and ideologies. That we Christians are not loving and we should be more loving by dropping the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. We are told that we should not oppose any conduct that the Bible condemns, out of love.
Are we letting these ideas influence our hearts and go after these new baals?
Where does our wisdom and understanding come from? Does it come from the world and popular opinion? Worldly wisdom keeps on changing with the times. Do we rely on changing winds or do we rely on the unwavering, perfect wisdom of God?
Psalm 1:1-2 :
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
What does this look like for us? Do we forsake listening to God’s word in favour of the ways of the world? For we live in the midst of a people who do not know God. Are we letting their influence drive us from God’s word? If so, we will meet our own destruction. Do we adopt the ways of the world? The world we live in has rejected God, both in his general revelation (in creation) and in its specific revelation (the bible).
We live in a world that even ridicules God’s law as antiquated and obsolete. We are told that the Bible was a book written by ignorant people, a book that was written in a time that has nothing good to offer to us modern people. The world presents to us their ideas, to renounce the truths of the Bible.
We are told that God did not create the world. We are told that God has made mistakes in His creation. We are even told by some that we ourselves are gods, or that creation (mother nature) is a sort of god. We are told that Jesus is not the only way to heaven. We are told we ought to be inclusive of all other faiths and ideologies.That we Christians are not loving and we should be more loving by dropping the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. We are told that we should not condemn any conduct that the Bible condemns, out of love.
Are we letting these ideas influence our hearts and go after these new baals?
Where does our wisdom and understanding come from? Does it come from the world and popular opinion? Worldly wisdom keeps on changing with the times. Do we rely on changing winds or do we rely on the unwavering, perfect wisdom of God?
Gospel Obedience, when it is in place, is a testimony of the wisdom and certainty of God to this relativistic and ever changing world.
Gospel Obedience is one that Loves God, keeps His Law, and in doing so, makes God known to those looking from the outside.
Deuteronomy 4:7-8
7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
V.7-8 - “For what a great nation is there that has a God so near to it as Yahweh our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
Where the Israelites previously had failed, Moses is encouraging the new generation of Israelites to be what God intended Israel to be in the midst of the peoples.
Isaiah 49:6
6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
God has established a people, to be a beacon of His wisdom and goodness. In the times of the Old Testament it was identified in the nation of Israel. But TODAY, God has set apart the church to be a light to the world!
Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
How are we to understand Obedience in light of the Gospel?
Gospel Obedience is one that clings to God, keeps His law out of thankfulness for the gospel and looks forward to the inheritance that we have in the gospel. And while we live in this world, Gospel Obedience is a means by which we make Yahweh known to the world!
We as the church ought to take Jesus’ command to go and teach the world what He has commanded. And how are we to do this when we cannot even demonstrate this through our lives?? For Jesus said in Matthew 28:20 - “…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”?
Christian. I want to appeal to you to keep the Law, in the power of the Holy Spirit. May you embrace gospel obedience, that which seeks to honour the God who loves you and gave His Son for you. May you live a life clinging to Him. Remembering your state outside of God’s mercy and how you were destined to be destroyed, like the rest of mankind. And remember that God chose you in Christ, and has provided for you an amazing inheritance, that you may look forward to. May you live a life that shows the world that you belong to Jesus.
If you are not a believer this morning, I plead with you to consider your position regarding the perfect Law of God. It is a law that condemns us for nobody is able to keep it perfectly, yet we are called to do so. Even the Israelites that took the promised land failed and their sons devolved into following what seemed right in their own eyes (Book of Judges), which brought them back to slavery. Consider the perfect wisdom given by God, and the nearness He offers through His gospel. May you ;look the the cross of Christ so that you may live through the one that has perfectly fulfilled the Law and calls us to follow after Him.
Gospel obedience loves God for what He has done. Gospel Obedience keeps His Law, clinging to Him. And Gospel Obedience looks forward to the inheritance God offers to those who trust in Him.
Let us pray