Stubborn and Submissive Hearts

Introduction

Illustration: Breaking in a new baseball glove.

Key Point: By remembering God’s grace in Christ we can circumcise our hearts and be no longer stubborn.

1. A Slice of Humble Pie

Going back to last week, we discussed how Israel was to not boast like they had not received everything they had.

They must not become puffed up or conceited.

God, through Moses, reiterates this point in chapter 9. . . just in case Israel thought that they were receiving this good land because of their own righteousness.

However, the Lord made clear in Deuteronomy 9:4-5 that he was giving Israel the promised land, not because of their righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the Canaanites.

He continues in verses 6-7 and multiple times in chapters 9-11 to ay that the Israelites were not righteous, but consistently called a stubborn, wicked, and rebellious people. . .

Deuteronomy 9:6–7 ESV

6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

Deuteronomy 9:7 said Israel has been rebellious against the Lord from the day they left Egypt until now, and Deuteronomy 9:24 said they have been rebellious since the day Moses met them.

So, Israel was sinful, stubborn, and rebellious to their core and God, and after being patient time and time again, responded in wrath and anger toward them in driving them out into the wilderness.

But, this is not how the story ended. . .

After his judgment, the second way God responded to Israel’s sin: He graciously forgave them through Moses’ intercession and had mercy on a rebellious and sinful people.

Deuteronomy 9:25–29 ESV

25 “So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26 And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

So, in light of God’s grace and mercy he demonstrated to a stubborn and rebellious people, God, through Moses, calls Israel to respond by circumcising their hearts in Deuteronomy 10:11-22.

2. The Call to Response: Circumcise Your Hearts

Deuteronomy 10:12–13 ESV

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

God requires five things of Israel:

Fear him

Reverence is more important than ritual.

Walk in all his ways.

Psalm 1:1-2.

Walk according to his will.

Love him

This is a further explanation of Deuteronomy 6:5, and the central command is “love him,” further demonstrating that love for God is the driving force of obeying his commands.

God loved Israel not just in words but also in deeds. Israel must do the same.

Serve (worship) him

Keep (guard, store up, cherish) his commands and statutes.

Only those who keep his Word know him and love him (1 John 2:4-6).

These commands can be summed up broadly as pledging allegiance to the God of the covenant. They are the positive side of the negative command to “have no other gods.”

Israel is to do these requirements for their good (see Deut. 6:24).

God’s commands are given to bless us and give us joy filled lives.

Deuteronomy 10:14–15 ESV

14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

“Behold”: Look, pay attention, be amazed. . .

The Lord owns heaven and earth. . . he owns the universe. . . all creation worships him (Neh. 9:6). . . yet even still, Yahweh chose to set his heart in love on Israel!

“Set his heart in love”

Means “take delight to love” and communicates a faithful covenant love.

He knew Israel would sin and rebel against him.

He knew Israel was insignificant compared to other nations.

Yet, he still freely chose to set his heart in love on this weak, insignificant, and rebellious people!

Once more, Israel is called to love God, but they can only love God because God has first loved them and set his affection on them when they were sinners and rebels to his will!

It was on the basis of God’s prior love that Moses advocated love as a requirement for Israel.

Deuteronomy 10:16–17 ESV

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

In response to God’s grace and love he has shown to Israel, Moses calls the people to “circumcise the foreskin of their hearts and be no longer stubborn.”

Circumcision was the practice of removing the male foreskin.

In reference to the patriarchs in verse 15, with whom God made the covenant, circumcision was done to establish Israel as God’s covenant people.

Yet, in the renewal of this covenant on the plains of Moab, Moses says the people of Israel need to circumcise their hearts. Their hearts needed to be cleansed and purified from sin and stubbornness.

Just as the patriarchs had to perform an action that symbolized obedience through physical circumcision, Moses called Israel to make a decision of allegiance to love the Lord with their entire being.

We see this idea of circumcision of the hearts at other points in Scripture:

God promised he would circumcise Israel’s heart so they could obey his commands (Deut. 30:6). Jeremiah commanded Israel to also circumcise their hearts in repentance (Jer. 4:4). Stephen said that Israel was stubborn and disobedient to reject God’s prophets because their hearts were uncircumcised (Acts 7:51).

Paul, would later in Romans 2:25-29 talk about how a person is not a Jew outwardly (through physical circumcision), but one inwardly through a circumcision of the heart by the Spirit.

Thus, circumcision of the heart is something God does by the Spirit in granting us repentance from sin so we can obey and no longer rebel against his commands.

Deuteronomy 10:18–19 ESV

18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Israel should circumcise their hearts because Yahweh is awesome (the supreme God and the absolute Lord) and will righteously judge all people.

He is gracious and merciful to the weak and vulnerable (widows, orphans, sojourners) and provides for them.

Since God loves the sojourner and Israel is called to imitate God as his children, Israel must also love the sojourner.

Multiple OT passages call Israel to love the sojourner: Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:33-34.

Another reason God tells Israel to love the sojourner is because Israel itself were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Who were sojourners in Israel’s day?. . . How should we love the sojourner, and does the sojourner relate to immigrants in our country today? If so. . . how?

First, the sojourner was a person who had no familial or tribal affiliation with those among whom he or she was traveling or living with.

Second, sojourners who traveled and lived with the Israelites were called to obey the same laws as the Israelites.

Third, Israel was to welcome and accept sojourners who wanted to live among them and treat them as equals (as they abided by their laws). This was on the basis of God first loving the sojourners and providing for them and how Israel had been mistreated as sojourners while the lived in Egypt.

Fourth in comparing sojourners in Israel’s day to immigrants in our day. We must understand some similarities and differences. . .

(1) Both immigrants and sojourners would be “foreigners.”

(2) Like Israel, we are called as Christians to love the nations and never exclude any of them from the gospel. . . all people are welcome at God’s table because God loves the nations.

(3) Like Israel, just as the sojourner was called to adhere to laws Israel was commanded to obey (like being circumcised to participate in the Passover), immigrants who come into America should adhere to the laws the God-given government has given us to obey.

(4) God established boarders for peoples to live in during Israel’s time (Deut. 32:8), in order to bless Israel (Psalm 147:13-14) and extend its boarders to be a blessing to other nations (Isaiah 54:3). In like manner, God establishes boarders for different nations in our day as well and determines our boundaries while we live on earth (Acts 17:26).

(5) Unlike Israel, we do not live in a theocracy, but in a democratic republic that it is run by a God ordained government (Romans 13). So, it is unwise if we compare the current situation with immigrants today and say it is the same as the sojourner in Israel’s day.

(6) In Romans 13; 1 Peter 2; and Titus 3, God commands us to submit, honor, and respect our governing authorities and the laws they establish. . . unless the the laws are contrary to Scripture.

(7) Like Israel, we are called to love all immigrants (legal and illegal) because they are made in God’s image. We should treat them as equals and having the same value and status we have before God and seek to provide for their needs. . . with their greatest need being salvation in Christ if they are not a Christian. However, loving them does not imply the license to bypass or encourage the active disobedience of the laws of our country that have been established for the protection of our citizens.

Deuteronomy 10:20–22 ESV

20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Our Response

Remember God’s grace he has shown you in Christ.

Circumcise your hearts and be no longer stubborn.

We must repent and humble ourselves before God.

Taking off the “body of flesh” through the circumcision of Christ. . . crucifying our sinful desires to the cross and being buried with Christ, so we be raised with him by faith.

We must submit to his Lordship.

Fear, love, and serve him.

This implies keeping his commands.

This implies loving others, including the outcasts, foreigners, and vulnerable.