Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

We has seen in the previous lesson “What Does God Require of Us?”

And we’ve seen that it is not merely law-keeping.

God’s relationship with man has never been to keep His laws.

Rather it is to fear Him, follow His ways, love Him, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Keeping His commandments is merely to show that we’re having these relationships with Him.

In , we’re seeing that the blessings on the Mosaic Covenant are conditional on Israel’s exclusive loyalty to Yahweh.

When the conditions are not met, there’ll be curses instead.

Moses’ sermon can be divided into 3 points and the meat of the message is found in the 2nd point.

I. Lessons from Israel’s History

Dt 11:2-4

This section describes the lessons Israel should have learned from their past history.

And Moses used 4 Manifestations of Divine Power to remind them of what God has done for them.

v2 The word “chastisement” in Heb can also mean “education” which is more appropriate in this context since Israel’s enemies and not only Israel herself who was “chastised.”

1) What God did to Pharaoh and Egypt v3

This recalls the 10 confrontations between Moses and Pharaoh and every time Pharaoh loses as a result of the 10 plagues.

The 10 plagues literally reduced Egypt into a wasteland as all plants, trees, animals and even the landscape are destroyed.

Israel must be blind in order not to see how God destroyed the land of Egypt in the 10 plagues.

This is one of the greatest lessons of God’s power.

Egypt was supposedly the world’s no. 1 superpower at that time.

2) What God did to the Army of Egypt v4

This recalls the Red Sea which allows Israel to pass on dry land but subsequently drowned the whole army of Egypt that pursued after Israel.

It also taught Israel not to panic when they are surrounded by their enemies and they had no place to run.

Their hope is to look up to God for help.

And God is able to help beyond their imagination.

Dt 11:

3) What God did for the Israelites in the Desert v5

While Moses didn’t elaborate on the details, in we learned that God made Israel to hunger and thirst so that they may not just depend on food for survival but also depend on God’s Word.

Because God is able to provide for all their needs seen especially in the provision of food from heaven and water coming out of the rock.

4) What God did to Dathan and Abiram v6

This is the only chastisement done to Israel.

The power God showed in this incident is to open up the earth and swallow up the rebels led by Dathan and Abiram who despised God’s Promised Land by calling Egypt a land flowing with milk and honey.

And the ground closes immediately after that.

This serves as a warning not to rebel against the Lord who is all-powerful.

II.

Land Promised to Israel

A. The Land as Gift

Dt 11:8-9

v8 reminds the Israelites that although God is giving them the Promised Land, they still have obligations to the Lord by being loyal to Him and not seeking after other gods which is the first of all the commandments.

The land is God’s promise to Israel’s forefather Abraham that God will provide a beautiful place filled with abundance for Abraham’s descendants.

It is therefore a gift of God.

Dt 11:10-12

The land is then compared with Egypt where there is virtually no rain and everything has to be cultivated by human beings.

Although they have the Nile river as their source of water, they need to manually irrigate their fields from this river.

On the other hand, there is rain in the Promised Land (v11 - drinketh rain) and a land God cares for and watches over it the whole year round (v12).

That is, no irrigation needed unlike the land of Egypt.

The land is so much being taken care of by God that the Lord lays claim to the land.

Lev

B. The Land as Test

Dt11 13-17

In this section, the land serves as a test.

And is contingent on Israel’s love for the Lord.

The opposite to loving the Lord is worshipping other gods.

That is, the people look elsewhere besides the Lord to provide for their needs.

Why do the people want to look elsewhere for their needs?

Ans: because they want to go their own way and not follow the Lord.

Their lack of gratitude is another reason for their lack of love for God.

So what is the test?

@@ Ans: is the land more important than God?

Just as the Lord’s fulfillment of His promise to Abraham that He would give him a son provided Him an occasion to test Abraham’s faith—God asked him to sacrifice his son and tested his covenant commitment and his faith—so the Lord’s fulfillment of the land will provide an occasion to test Israel’s faith and covenant commitment to Him.

Very often we worship God with selfish motives.

We just want eternal life but we don’t really want God.

And when we are not willing to sacrifice any thing for God, we don’t love God at all.

In v17, Moses tell the people that if they worship other gods, God can shut up the heaven and bring famine to the country and people will die as a result of famine even in the Promised Land.

So the Promised Land is inextricably tied to Israel’s relationship with God.

v13-17 tells us what is the test.

v18-21 Moses gives a prescription for passing the test.

The prescription is to hide God’s Word in your hearts by reading and memorizing it.

Then you are to teach your children by speaking of them very often about them - described here as sitting, walking, lying down and rising up.

You are to write God’s Word on your door and gates so that when any leave the house, they will remember God’s Word.

Essentially, the way to pass the test is to meditate about God’s Word regularly.

And it is still true today.

Strong Christians are those that take God’s Word seriously.

Weak Christians are those that neglect God’s Word.

STOP HERE ON 3/5 FOR WORKING ADULTS

C. The Land as Promise

In v22, you have a call for covenant commitment.

In v23-25, you have the rewards of covenant faithfulness.

Although God’s covenant with Abraham and Israel is eternal, the blessings are not automatic entitlements.

Each generation, each individual, must choose the way of life and blessing, or they will find themselves on the way of death and the curse.

Since God never speaks of curses here, the blessings here constitute a promise of God if the people will remain faithful to Him.

D. The Land as Opportunity

The land is now presented as an opportunity of blessing or a curse.

Just getting into the Promise Land is by no means a guarantee of blessing.

What makes the land become a blessing or a curse all depends on who you worship.

You can either worship the gods of the land or the Creator God.

We saw early in the study of Dt that the gods of the land are fertility gods which gives rain and child-bearing.

They are equivalent to today’s prosperity gospel.

The reason why Israel turned to the gods of the land is because they want prosperity more than God.

Hence Moses asked Israel to make up their mind now (“this day”) if they will choose to obey God or not.

However, we must note that God did not call Israel primarily to a code of behavior; He called them to Himself.

E. The Theology of the Land

The Promise Land as we saw can be a blessing or a curse depending on Israel’s faithfulness to God.

The challenge and promise of this passage will become urgent for the Israelites within a matter of days or weeks—the moment they cross the Jordan and take their first steps in the promised land.

Within a generation of occupation, apostasy would set in, and the seduction of the gods of Canaan would prove too strong ().

While God did give Israel the land, He never promised them automatic blessing.

It all depends on whether the people will claim the promises of God by faith and demonstrate that claim by loving and being faithful to God.

The supreme command in the conditions that govern the covenant is that they must not have other gods beside Him.

The land was a gracious gift, and to forget the giver, the divine Giver, and give credit to other gods for their well-being was the height of ingratitude and rebellion.

@@ Keeping the commands does not involve primarily keeping dietary laws or the proper celebration of the ancient festivals or circumcision (these external brand markers).