Deuteronomy 30:11-20 "The Choice of Life & Death"

Text Read

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Text Explained

As we come to today’s text, we see that Moses is coming to a close. He has given the Law. He has explained in detail the tremendous Covenant Blessings that God would give if God’s people would simply obey and he has given the horrendous consequences that will come upon God’s people if they turn away from the Lord. He has even given them hope for when they do go away. In the verses 1-10 he has told them how, if they return to the Lord, the Lord would have mercy and gather them together once again. Now, Moses comes to a point of exhortation/encourage the Israelites to be faithful. 11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. So Moses is saying you can do this. Now he is not saying they will be perfect because the sacrificial system was in place. He is not saying you will do all the Law perfectly. What he is saying is that they could be faithful in keeping the Law of God. In fact, in verse 12-13 Moses says that it is not a Law that is so far away they cannot reach it. This Law that is given 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ The Law is not something that is far away and requiring a special flight to the skies so that someone could bring the Law to them. 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ The Law of the Lord is not something that requires a special voyage of certain individuals who would then bring back the Law of the Lord. NO, 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. This Law of the Lord is near to His People. It is clearly given. There is no need to question what the Law says. It is known and because it is known, this national Law is something they are capable of keeping. Again, not perfectly, but the Law even allowed for failure to be made right through sacrifice. So Moses exhorts/encourages the people to obey and be blessed. Working with young people, you sometimes see them making choices that you know will lead to a bad end. So at times you plead with them, don’t make the same mistakes. Moses is making it clear: Don’t make the mistake of turning away from God. He pleads with them to follow the Lord and be blessed. In fact, that is what Moses does. He says, 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. There are two choices for you to make. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The choice is clear. One path leads to life and good. The other path leads to death and evil. If the people of God obey the commandments of God if they keep His statutes, if they keep His rules, if they walk in His ways the Lord will bless them. Yet I want us to notice that this obedience is not strictly rules based. Rather God wanted their hearts. If they obey…by loving the Lord their God. Folks, if you are trying to keep rules without a heart for the Rule Giver, those rules will be a weight upon you that will eventually feel like they are crushing you. However, if you look at those rules as something that a Loving Father has put in place for your good, then those rules are not burdensome. Jesus makes this point in Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” So Moses exhorts the Israelites to love the Lord your God and demonstrate that love through obedience to Him. This is heart that Moses has for his people. He desires to see his people be blessed by their God. Yet, Moses continues his pleading by giving them the reverse. 17 But if your heart turns away, and (if) you will not hear, but (if you) are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, If you think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Then 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. If they turn away, if they refuse to listen, the end of their path of sin will be death and their stay in the blessed Promised Land will be short. Moses then shifts to more formal covenant language by calling heaven and earth as witnesses. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, As one scholar notes: “The ‘life’ theme in these verses culminates in a strong appeal to ‘choose life’ (19b). ‘This is the high point of Moses’ Third Discourse, and perhaps the high point of all Dt’ (Lenchak 1993: 113). Israel’s ‘life’ is the goal of the covenant; they have every means at their disposal, by Yahweh’s grace, by which to take the opportunity; and all depends on their decision to be faithful to the covenant—not just on one occasion, but continually, as the preaching has tirelessly made clear by its rhetorical use of the term ‘today’. (McConville, J. G. (2002). Deuteronomy (D. W. Baker & G. J. Wenham, Eds.; Vol. 5, p. 430). Apollos; InterVarsity Press.) The opportunity for the people of God to have life is given clearly and it is done by: 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Thus Moses ends our text today with a passionate pleading for the people to love God.

Text Applied

Life and Death is Before You. Life and death is offered to everyone here. We know that Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death...” We know that we have sinned and we have earned the wages of that sin. Death. Eternal separation from God. Death is the path we were all on. We were born in sin. Yet Christ has made a pathway to life and a way to be reconciled to God. You see, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” While we were all on the pathway to the second death, God through Christ made a way for us to have new life and that is through repentance and believing in His Son, Jesus who is the Christ. The pathway of death remains before you and is the easier path. It is easier because it is the path you are already on. However, the pathway to life requires submission to, surrender to, belief in Christ. It requires you to repent and believe. Matthew 7:13–14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” The pathway of life to salvation is shown to each of us.

Abundant Life: In our text, the Israelites were exhorted to obey all the words of the Law. In fact, in the words of J. Vernon McGee, “Love and obedience is the great theme of Deuteronomy.” (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Law (Deuteronomy) (electronic ed., Vol. 9, p. 186). Thomas Nelson.) There are many people who have put their faith in Christ for their salvation, yet they refuse to give up certain sins. They refuse to shed the sin that clings to them. Yes they love God, but they refuse to give up pet sins. And as a result, you stumble along wondering why others seem to have the joy of the Lord, but you do not. You wonder why it seems like your walk with God is always a struggle. You wonder why God always seems so far away. Dear one, if you are holding on to known sin, you are not loving the Lord with all your heart soul and mind. Remember Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Dear one, if there is known sin in your life, then I plead to you the words of Hebrews 12:1–3 “...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

The Word is not far Off: In our text Moses stresses the nearness of the revealed Law of God for God’s people. They had the Law of their God written on stone tablets. What God had revealed was in their hands. Dear one, John 1:14; 16 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth...For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” The Word that was near to the children of Israel was made flesh. The Word is not One who is far off but the Word is the One who came to this earth and died for you and I. He rose again, and He ascended on high. We are left with the written Word. The complete revelation of God to us and 2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The Word of God is not something far off, but revealed in the person of Christ and written for our benefit in the inspired words of God that you hold within your hands. The word is not far off yet it so often simply sits on a shelf, only to be moved on Sunday mornings. Dear one, we have a treasure that the Old Testament Saints would have wept for joy to have and we take it for granted. Moses excitedly encouraged the people because they had the Genesis-Deuteronomy. You and I have Genesis-Revelation and in our abundance of translations and study Bibles we take it for granted. Oh dear one, spend time with God by spending time in His word. You do not need to go far to read it, and if you struggle reading, you don’t have to go far to listen to someone else read it to you. In the word of God, you will find that the Word who became flesh is very near.

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