Yahweh Alone

Introduction

Consider telling a story of how my parents reaffirmed their love and relationship with me. . . reminding me who they are. . . after punishing me for disobeying them.

This is what Moses is doing with Israel. After he recounted their history of faithlessness and God’s continued faithfulness. . . he reminds them of their covenant relationship with God and reaffirms God’s unique character and love for his people. . . so that they would love him alone by obeying his commands in order to enjoy the land he was giving to them.

This chapter proclaims who God is, what he has done for Israel, and what Israel is to do in response as they enter the land. . . which is to keep his commands.

Therefore, the Key Point for us to know tonight is. . . By Remembering that Yahweh alone is God, and only he has drawn near to us and been faithful to save us, we be able to obliterate idols and obey God’s commands to prosper in his land.

1. Listen and Keep God’s Law Because Yahweh Alone Has Revealed Himself to Us (Deut. 4:1-14).

Remember that Yahweh Alone Has Revealed Himself to us through his Word.

Success and prosperity come through listening and obeying God’s commands. . . “do them” is repeated four times in this chapter.

God revealed himself and came near to Israel by giving him two things. . . his law and his land.

Deuteronomy 4:1–4 ESV

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.

So, Israel must see the commands the Lord has given them. . . and that through giving these commands, God has made Israel a great nation. . .

Deuteronomy 4:6–8 ESV

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?

Guard Your Hearts from Forgetting the Lord

Deuteronomy 4:9–14 ESV

9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Application

Remembering and recalling our experiences with the living God are vital to help us not forget who he is and how he has commanded us to live.

Once more, this is why Easter, Advent, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are vital for our health as Christians.

This is also why meditation is so important. We cannot digest and be nourished by God’s word if we do not chew it up and meditate on it in our minds.

Thomas Watson wrote, "A Christian without meditation is like a soldier without arms, or a workman without tools. Without meditation the truths of God will not stay with us; the heart is hard, and the memory slippery, and without meditation all is lost.”

By remembering and meditating on God’s Word, we will be able to walk in obedience to his commands, which will lead to a continuing experience and enjoyment of God’s presence.

Another way to “keep our soul diligently” is to teach God’s commands to others. Moses specifically mentions children to Israel which stresses the need to continue to pass down the faith to the younger generations. When we teach something, it becomes more ingrained in our hearts and minds and we are less apt to forget it.

2. Guard Your Heart From Idolatry Because Yahweh Alone is Faithful (Deut. 4:15-31).

Since God has revealed his greatness in a cloud and a voice and not in an image, Israel must guard their hearts (same word in verse 9) that they do not fashion God in a physical image like the pagan nations (Deut. 4:15; Josh. 23:11).

Deuteronomy 4:15 ESV

15 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

Explain idolatry in Moses’ day. .

Application: we cannot worship God any way we want. Instead, we must worship him specifically in the way he has revealed himself to us.

Idolatry is when we worship the creature over the creator and give our time, talents, treasures, and affections to anything or anyone else besides God.

Idolatry is foolish, because our idols cannot save or satisfy our souls.

Deuteronomy 4:23–24 ESV

23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Israel must not forget God’s covenant or make an image out of God or worship anything besides God because Yahweh is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deut. 4:23-24).

Just as a fire consumes everything in its path, God desires the full and wholehearted praise of his people. He is a jealous God who desires all glory and praise from his people to be given to him alone (Isa. 42:8), because he alone is the only one worthy of praise because there is no one like him.

God’s warning to Israel is in marital language. . . Example: A husband’s righteous jealousy for his wife.

In verses 25-28, God promises judgment on his people if they bow down and worship idols.

Idolatry was the worst possible misuse of God’s two gracious gifts to his people. . . it corrupted his law and polluted his land. . . thus, the only result is judgment.

God eventually judges his people and fulfills his promise after they sin and exiled them off to Babylon and Assyria.

BUT GOD. . .

Deuteronomy 4:29–31 ESV

29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Even if Israel falls into idolatry and God’s judgment, God promises they will find him again if they seek him with all their heart in an exiled land (Deut. 4:28-29).

Mercy is received by turning from sin to the Lord in faith and seeking to obey him wholeheartedly.

God promises that his people will return to him and obey his voice because of his abundant mercy. Because God is faithful to remember his covenant, he will not leave his people in exile, but restore them back tot he land he promised them (Deut. 4:31).

God is so faithful! He will never leave us or destroy us or forget the covenant he has made with us in Jesus. If we are covered in the blood of Christ. . . then we are eternally safe.

3. Keep God’s Commands Because Yahweh Alone is God and Has Redeemed You In Love (Deut. 4:32-40)

Moses reiterates the key reason Israel should obey the Lord’s commands and worship him alone: There is no one like him and there has never been any other time in history or any other nation that God has done these mighty things for Israel.

Deuteronomy 4:32–35 ESV

32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.

Yahweh does all these things for Israel, because he loves and has chosen them as his treasured possession.

Deuteronomy 4:37–39 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, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

Therefore, because Yahweh alone is God, Israel must obey his commands so that they will prosper in the land God is giving to them (Deut. 4:40).

Response

We must worship and love God by obeying his Word because. . .

He Has Revealed Himself to Us.

He has spoken to us through his written Word.

He has come to dwell with us through the Word made flesh.

He has come to dwell in us through His Spirit.

He is near to us and will never leave us.

If we feel far from God, it is not because he has left. . .

“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).

The Word will equip and strengthen us to obey.

He is Continually Faithful

God continually shows mercy his people.

God always remembers and fulfills his covenant to his people.

God’s compassion and faithfulness have fully arrived in Christ.

Through Christ, Abraham’s promise is complete.

Through Christ, those who were scattered and far off have been brought near by his blood (see Eph. 2:11-16).

Earlier, we saw that life only comes through perfect obedience to God’s commands.

This is something we cannot do. . . but this is something Christ has done for us!

We must not forget the new covenant in Christ

Christ’s blood will cleanse us of our faithlessness, and he will give us his faithfulness and change our hearts so that we can obey his commands.

There is No One Like Him. . . Idols are nothing and not worthy!

We must cling and be yoked to God. . . not idols.

Beholding God’s greatness will help us see the futility of our idols and turn our hearts back to him to obey him with all our hearts and all our souls.