Untitled Sermon

Intro

Thesis

Context

Obedience to the Torah

v.1 “listen”, “do them”

Admonition (Lexham Glossary)

No addition or subtraction v.2

Prestigiousness (v.6-8)

Remebrance

v3 “Your eyes have seen”

take care..make known (v.9)

personal and familial responsibility

Result: the full extent of God’s goodness

v. 1 “that you may live”, “and take possession of the land that the lord..is giving you”

intimacy with God

through Torah

obedience=God’s presence

land (v. 1, 5, 14)

Conclusion

Obedience

From Deut. 4 onward, the text has shifted from lesser to greater matters— from conquest and inheritance to covenant, obedience, and instruction. Yet Israel treats residency in the land as more fundamental than fidelity to YHWH. In effect, it seeks to hold onto its world at the price of its life Work, Telford. Deuteronomy, Brazos Press, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sbts-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3117175. Created from sbts-ebooks on 2020-06-28 21:21:11. (Tork, 101)

Israel’s obedience is life-giving as well as life-keeping: “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18 NRSV). Mission is an essential theme to include in the midst of God’s judgment on the nations through Israel’s conquest. Without a clear distinction between conquest and obedience, mission would be collapsed into imperial assimilation, and exile would be an excuse for apostasy. The heavenly wisdom of Torah, not Israel itself or its earthly holdings, converts the nations. This is unforgettably demonstrated and the verse fulfilled in the most surprising way when Israel is stripped of its earthly holdings and sent abroad with only the Torah to discover its true identity and mission Work, Telford. Deuteronomy, Brazos Press, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sbts-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3117175. Created from sbts-ebooks on 2020-06-28 21:23:29. (tork, 102)

keeping the commandments lead to life (v.1)

not arguing for works based

-the one above is big

-below, use for brief contrast to v. 1-2

In fact, it is precisely because the sinner does not know God that he also does not fear him (cf. Pss 36:1; 55:19; Prov 1:29; Eccl 8:13). By contrast, love in the covenant context especially speaks of choice (NIDOTTE 1.279–280). For God to elect one to salvation and service is tantamount to God having loved him first (cf. Neh 13:26; Ps 78:68; Hos 11:1; Eph 1:4). Both fear and love are expected of God’s people toward him. If he loved them, they must love (i.e., choose, obey) him (Cornerstone)

At Horeb, more was involved than the mere hearing of words. The saving acts of God made known in the exodus and the subsequent declaration of his covenant stipulations were intended to evoke a response of obedience in Israel. The only adequate response for Israel was to fear God, i.e. to reverence him, by acknowledging his sovereignty. Reverence would express itself in worship and in obedience. (Thompson)

Remembrance

The people must never forget what they had seen and learned; moreover, they must transmit what they knew to the generations to come (cf. 6:4–9, 20–25). A nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat its failures, and a people that fails to pass on its righteous principles has no right to expect a continuation of those principles in the life and experience of its descendants. (Cornerstone)

Whatever we fear is our master. The previous generation feared the Amorites and so disbelieved YHWH and perished (1:29). The present generation is forbidden to fear them (3:22) and commanded to fear YHWH. Faith fears YHWH alone. But fear of those who fear YHWH is a step on the road to faith (2:25). (Tork, 104)

The lesson is one that the Fourth Gospel takes to heart: the form of God is none other than the Word. Any substitute is a radical departure from the Word who has become flesh and dwelt among us. So the worship of God in spirit and truth cannot mean prostration before either power or powerlessness, but only reception and obedience to God’s voice. (Tork, 106)

Result: full extent of Goodness

A major feature of the Abrahamic covenant was the promise of land, a geographical arena in which the ministry of universal reconciliation could be proclaimed and exhibited. That land was none other than Canaan, the land to which God had led Abraham at the very outset (Gen 12:1, 4–5) and which he promised to grant to Abraham’s offspring as their inheritance (Gen 13:14–18; 15:12–21; 17:8; cf. Gen 26:4; 46:4). Now, on the very eve of conquest, Moses recapitulated these promises as justification for Israel’s impending occupation of the land (1:8, 35; 6:3, 10, 18, 23; 7:13; 8:1; 10:11; 11:9, 21; 26:3, 15; 28:11; 30:20; 31:7, 20). The very covenant relationship with Yahweh into which Israel had entered was the fruit of the ancient promises he had made with the fathers of the nation. (Cornerstone)

Israel as a community of faith. Israel was chosen for covenant partnership not only to do something but to be something, namely, the people of God in the midst of a world of unbelief. By its very uniqueness, Israel could and should demonstrate microcosmically God’s intentions for all mankind. She was paradigmatically to instruct the whole world as to what it means to live in a right relationship with God; she was to recover something of Eden. (Cornerstone)

This point, as suggested above, is made in 4:6–8. When the nations observe Israel’s life and faith, they will irresistibly be drawn to the questions, “What makes these people different?” and “Who is their God?” The same idea appears in 26:19 where Moses teaches that if Israel is faithful to live in holiness before the world, Israel will receive praise, honor, and renown from those who take note of her. (Cornerstone)

Obedience to them will allow the people to live (as opposed to their parents who died in the desert; cf. 1:34–36). Their survival would result in their successful entry into and conquest of the Promised Land (4:1). (Cornerstone) Part of the ‘goodness’ is the blessing of the land/nearness/intimacy through the giving of the law

But another mark of his intimacy with his people is his revelation to them of the body of laws (see note on 4:8) he is about to share with them, laws described as righteous. Righteous law is law that sets a standard of behavior expectation, one commensurate with God’s own holy character. (Cornerstone)

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible C. Exhortation to Obedience (4:1–40)

The experience at Horeb (v. 10) was the historical climax of the first stage of Israel’s salvation. In that historical event there was a great theological lesson: the Lord God is spiritual and unique in his essence. The people heard his voice, but he was invisible. This revelation served as the basis for the second commandment. This was no abstract doctrine, but a revelation of God who established a personal relationship with his people. This relationship is a covenant (v. 13), which God graciously wrote not only on stones but intended to be inscribed on the believer’s heart.

this is the ultimate representation of the fullness of God’s goodness. To experience a personal relationship with this God, the God that came down on Sinai. This relationship can only be maintained through obedience to the Torah and remembrance. This is the motivation the people should need to keep the covenant

Holman Concise Bible Commentary Reminders (4:1–40)

Israel’s motive for serving and worshiping Yahweh exclusively lies in Yahweh’s unique intervention on Israel’s behalf, freeing them from slavery and making a covenant with them.