Deuteronomy 6:10-25 - Watch Yourself (2)
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Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Deuteronomy 6:10-25]
10 “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 “You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth. 16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. 17 “You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 “You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, 19 by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 ‘Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ 24 “So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. 25 “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.
[PRAYER]
Moses is preaching his second sermon to the Joshua and Caleb generation of Israelites who are preparing to enter the Promised Land.
In this second sermon, as he refreshes God’s people on God’s covenant with them, he gives them the Ten Commandments and the greatest commandment—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might.
But this may be difficult as Israel enters the Promised Land because Israel will be blessed with so much. As Deuteronomy 6:10-12…
10 “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
It’s that command—the command to “watch yourself”—that we continue to talk about this evening.
[ILLUS] On Sunday mornings we’ve been talking about Ephesians, and one of the things that Paul said to the Ephesian elders before he left them was…
28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Likewise, in writing to Timothy, whom he had left as pastor at Ephesus, Paul wrote…
16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
Whether under the old covenant of Mosaic Law or New Covenant in Christ’s blood… whether we are a new born babe in Christ or a leader in the church… there is always need to be on guard for yourself, to pay close attention to yourself, to watch yourself as commanded here in Deuteronomy 6.
Last week…
…we saw that God’s people were to watch themselves and not forget God, the I AM who saved us by grace and calls for obedience.
…we saw that God’s people were to watch themselves and fear God only, worshipping Him only, depending on Him only, and serving Him only.
…and we saw that He is jealous for our obedient allegiance and rightfully demands it.
Praise God that in Jesus, God has our obedient allegiance, and through the power of Jesus working in us, we strive to gladly submit to Him more and more.
[TS] Tonight we want to continue with two more SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS related to this command to watch ourselves…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Specific Instruction #: Watch yourself and don’t test Him (Deut. 6:16-19).
Specific Instruction #: Watch yourself and don’t test Him (Deut. 6:16-19).
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. 17 “You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 “You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, 19 by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.
[EXP] Verse 16 references a place called Massah, which means testing or place of testing. Moses—and more importantly, God through Moses—wants the people of God to remember what took place at Massah. In order to see what took place, we only have to turn back to Exodus 17.
In Exodus 17:1-7, the Scripture says…
1 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” 5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”
To test God means to make demands and requirements of God that He hasn’t invited us to make; demands and requirements that say to Him with a scoff, “Prove it!”
Let me give a couple of examples that may help us understand.
[ILLUS] In Isaiah 7, God told His prophet Isaiah to have King Ahaz ask Him for a sign.
Jerusalem was under attack, and God wanted to prove to Ahaz that he had no reason to fear or be fainthearted.
Ahaz self-righteously said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”
But he still received a sign—Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel, which means God with us.
In this case, God said, “Test me in this, Ahaz. Ask for a sign. Let me prove it to you.”
Ahaz wouldn’t have been wrong to say, “Ok, Lord, I’ll let you prove it to me.”
[ILLUS] Very differently, however, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Satan said to Him…
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ”
But Jesus replied to Him in Matthew 4:7…
7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
In this case, Jesus is saying, “Because I trust God, He doesn’t have to prove anything to me.”
If Jesus would’ve said, “You know, you’re right, Satan,” and then jumped, He would have sinned by putting the Lord His God to the test.
At Massah, that’s what the Israelites did.
They had not been invited to ask for a sign.
They tested God because they doubted Him.
They said to God with a scoff, “You didn’t bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock? Ha! Prove it!”
They didn’t trust that God was with them.
They didn’t trust that God would provide for them.
They didn’t trust that God was good.
So they rebelled against God accusing Him of leading them into the wilderness only to watch them die of thirst.
As this Joshua and Caleb generation enters the Promised Land they must trust God.
Trust that He is with them.
Trust that He will provide for them.
Trust that He is good and has good things in store for them.
[EXP] Instead of testing Him, they can prove their trust in Him by diligently keeping His commandments, doing what is right and good (17-19)
He will bless them because of their obedience and they will have the confidence that God is with them and that He is for them.
The first step in this obedience once they enter the Promised Land will be driving out all the pagan peoples in the land.
This is God’s land given to God’s people and it shall be full of His praise alone.
[APP] How does this stuff about testing and obedience relate to us today?
Well, first we must be sure to understand that the opposite of testing God is trusting God.
The Israelites tested because they didn’t trust.
Jesus trusted so He didn’t test.
Second, we must be sure to understand that all the reason we ever need to trust God is given to us in Jesus Christ.
At Massah, the Israelites doubted God was with them, but Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.
At Massah, the Israelites were given water to drink from a rock that had been struck, but they would grow thirsty again—but in Jesus stricken for us on the cross we receive living water that we should never thirst again.
If we’ve ever thought, God prove to me You’ll do what you say, He could respond, “I have in My Son Jesus.”
If we’ve ever thought, God prove to me You’re faithful, He could respond, “I have in My Son Jesus.”
If we’ve ever thought, God prove to me that You’re with me, He could respond, “I have in My Son Jesus.”
If we’ve ever thought, God prove to me that You’re good, He could respond, “I have in My Son Jesus.”
Jesus didn’t jump—not be He doubted God would save Him—but because true trust never says with a scoff, “Prove it.”
This Joshua and Caleb generation should not put God to the test.
Neither should we.
[TS] …
Specific Instruction #4: Watch yourself and tell the next generation to watch itself (Deut. 6:20-25)
Specific Instruction #4: Watch yourself and tell the next generation to watch itself (Deut. 6:20-25)
20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 ‘Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ 24 “So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. 25 “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.
[EXP] Even if the current generation kept a close watch on itself, what about subsequent generations? Each generation of Israelites had the responsibility to train the next generation in watching itself.
If they didn’t watch themselves so as to remain faithful to God, they would forfeit the Promise Land.
But how was one generation to train the next?
First, one generation was to tell the next of God’s powerful grace (Deut. 6:21-23).
21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 ‘Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’
As one generation trained the next to watch itself, they didn’t start with commands but with grace. God brought us out to bring us in!
In Hebrew, the ‘us’ in v. 23 is emphasized, “Us the Lord brought out to give us this land!” They were to be the astonished recipients of His grace!
To begin this way is important because it explains the ‘why’ before the ‘do’ or ‘do not’ of God’s commands.
So then, second, one generation as to call the next to grateful obedience (Deut. 6:24-25).
24 “So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. 25 “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.
Notice that this grateful obedience is good for them.
No matter how it feels, to obey God doesn’t deprive them of anything. No! Rather, it blesses them with everything!
Notice that this grateful obedience is for their survival.
In the Promised Land—the land flowing with milk and honey…
…if they obey, they get to stay.
…if they rebel, they get expelled.
Notice that this grateful obedience will be their righteousness.
25 “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.
The word for ‘righteousness’ used here is the same word used for Abraham when he believed God and it was counted to Him as ‘righteousness’ (Gen. 15:6).
And the meaning is the same here.
These Israelites would not be earning righteousness by obeying the covenant laws, rather they would be proving that they had been made righteous by obeying the covenant laws.
[ILLUS] President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
While that’s somewhat true for earthly freedom, it is even more true for the spiritual freedom we have in Christ Jesus.
It is our God given responsibility to help the next generation of believers to watch themselves so that they do no forfeit the freedom their parents and grandparents had in Christ.
[ILLUS] A man in another church once asked me, “How can I get my teenage kids excited about coming to church?” I asked him, “Are you excited about coming to church?”
I asked him that question because much of what we’re talking about in helping the next generation watch itself is more caught than taught.
In other words, it probably does little good to say to the next generation, “Watch yourself,” if we don’t first say to them, “Let me tell you the story of God’s grace!”
[APP] As we tell the story of God’s grace with passion, the next generation catches on.
If we are not excited about God’s grace, we shouldn’t expect our children or grandchildren be excited.
As we tell the story of God’s grace, we must include them in the story.
Our story is their story too! The home-life of my children is vastly different from my own because of God’s grace!
I must help them see that!
As we tell the story of God’s grace, we must tell them that the story continues with them.
I am praying that when God started telling His grace story in my life that He planned to make it a multi-generational story—a story that reaches into Dalton’s, Lydia’s, Madelyn’s, and Lillian’s life and into the lives of their children and into the lives of their children’s children.
When we tell of God’s grace like this, we give them the best opportunity to catch on and gratefully obey Him?
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]