By show of hands, how many were here in November of 2022 when we
replanted Heritage Church into First Baptist Church?
That's crazy how few of you remember November of 2022 we
replanted Heritage Church into First Baptist.
Uniting 2 bodies and bringing those two bodies together was
not the end. It was an end, but it was a
means to an end. There was a future orientation
toward the replant, a future directedness that we're living
and walking in even now, and there's still a future
directedness. So the whole process, if you
were here, acknowledged the past, it was significant.
The past was significant. The history of First Baptist was
significant to all of the things that brought us to that point.
The history of heritage was significant.
All of the things that brought us to that point, the shared
history we had administering to downtown.
But the vision and strategy focused on the future.
And I went back and I'll read it for you.
The defining vision that the pastors recorded in the opening
lines of the vision document that we presented to our
churches four years ago said this.
The heart behind the replant is to pave the way for a renewed
vision for our churches, one committed to the glorification
of God and the love and the edification of His Saints.
God will be glorified and His people encouraged by a
commitment to the expository preaching of the Word, through a
renewed commitment to love and serve one another, beginning
first with the new faces among us and overflowing into our
shared local community. Through this replant, the people
of our city will be afforded something that neither church
could offer on its own, and the Heritage pastors said this to
our congregation. We aim to lead this replant into
new vision, new strategic focus, new passion for the gospel, new
hunger for the preaching of the Word, new love for the downtown
community, and a new excitement about seeing people come to
faith in Jesus Christ. And that still gets me excited.
This whole process was led by the vision, vision that we
believe was was revealed by God, His purposes revealed to us for
these congregations coming together even as we prayed the
final words of Psalm 90 over ourselves over and over again.
It says let the favor of our God be upon us and establish the
work of our hands. Yes, establish the work of our
hands. And has He done that abundantly,
more than we could have ever asked or imagined.
He's answered our prayers. He's so faithful and good.
He's given us not only salvation, He's given us a
shared identity. We learned about that shared
identity in Ephesians. He's given us a place.
He's given us a people. He's given us a mission.
And if you go back to Deuteronomy, open your Bibles to
Deuteronomy. It's likewise a book written to
people who are standing before a threshold of something new of
significance. And they, they have a, a leader,
Moses, who's acknowledging the significance of what came before
and all the history that came before.
You're going to see as we go through this, this is 3 sermons
of Moses and the first one is 3 chapters and it's dedicated to
the past because he's saying the past is important.
The past is significant, but it's a future orientated book
and it's about the future vision and mission of God's people and
what's going to happen after they cross the threshold and
enter into the promised land. Christopher Wright explains the
significance of Deuteronomy through this lens of future
directedness. He says the constant future
orientation of the book virtually guarantees that
ongoing relevance and address to later generations and centuries.
So you can say how does it what does it matter that 400 years
ago this this tiny people Israel, I guess not tiny.
There are millions of people at this point, but these this
country Israel, this budding nation Israel would be freed
from slavery under Egypt and Pharaoh.
And why is it significant that Moses would would mention that
52 times throughout the course of this book Numbers 2651 says
for context, 600,000 men were under the age of 20 as they were
wandering through the wilderness.
If you remember that story, which leads us to infer that
this is millions of people are wandering through the desert
that God providing manna and, and water out of a rock.
And they're at the very threshold of the promised land
and they're in a place called Kadish Barnea.
And what God's people are doing is they're letting go of what is
behind and they're taking hold of what lies ahead.
The New Testament says that the we, we cling to what lies ahead
and let go from what came behind.
God and his people are future directed.
We are future oriented. And so getting to the promised
land was not only an end, it was an end.
It's the fulfillment of of a lot of promises, as you'll see, but
it's also a means to an end. It's fulfillment of promise made
to Abraham, but it's also the start of a ministry, a ministry
that begins now and continue that continues through us.
This is this is our mission. The same mission for them is, is
the mission of heritage church and God.
And Deuteronomy is focused on what he's going to do in and
through this people right again says this book presents,
therefore, a God of sovereign worldwide purpose and a people
with a sharp spiritual mandate and moral agenda.
The combination forge is a dynamic factor in the biblical
concept of the mission of those who claim to be the people of
God in quotes. So Deuteronomy is saying, who
are the people of God to be? What kind of people are God's
people? What will the life and
ministries of the people of God look like?
And by implication, what kind of people are we to be?
What kind of person are you to be?
And what will the life and ministries of the people of God
look like today? And answer that read with me
Deuteronomy chapter one, verse one, and we'll read through the
1st 8 verses as our text this this morning.
Deuteronomy 11. These are the words that Moses
spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in
the Araba opposite Saf, between Paran and Toefl, Laban, Hezeroth
and Dizahab. It is 11 days journey from Horeb
by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnia.
In the 40th year. On the first day of the 11th
month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that
the Lord had given him in commandment to them.
After he had defeated Sion, the king of the Amorites, who lived
in Heshbon, and OG, the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth
and in Adriai beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab.
Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, The Lord our God
has said to us in Horeb, You've stayed long enough at this
mountain, turn and take your journey and go to the Hill
Country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the
Araba, in the Hill Country, and in the lowland, and then in
Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites in
Lebanon as far as the great river Euphrates.
See, I have set the land before you.
Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your
father's, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them and to
their offspring after them. So paving the way for
Deuteronomy ahead of us, the book's going to answer 2
questions that we're, it's going to answer 2 questions.
What is, what kind of relationship does God have with
his people? And how are God's people to
live? What is their life and ministry
going to look like? So what kind of relationship
does God have with his people? This gets to the heart of the
book. The the grand theme of
Deuteronomy is the theme of covenant and specifically
covenant renewal. So, so important.
They are renewing their covenant and right again says the feel
the pulse of Deuteronomy and you'll feel the pulse of the
whole Old Testament. If you can understand this book,
the whole Testament is going to unfold like a flower before you.
It's critical, and we're going to look as we go and answer
these two questions there you're going to see seven major themes
that we're going to look ahead and see in the book of
Deuteronomy. The 1st 4 themes are going to be
attached to the first question, the last three to the second.
And as you go, the main theme again is covenant.
The theme of covenant #1 and we said that Moses makes much of
his history, again, 3 chapters of history, and the rest is just
focused on the future and what God's doing.
But he does go back and he makes much of their history.
And as he does this, I want you to see history isn't where he
ends, but interesting is where he starts his retelling of the
history of Israel. He doesn't go all the way back
and doesn't start in the the garden with Adam, and he doesn't
start with Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant.
He starts in verse one saying these are the words that Moses
spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness.
Verse 2 it is 11 days journey from Horeb by way of Mount Cyr
to Kadesh Barnea. Horeb is Deuteronomy's name for
Sinai and this is the later name for Sinai.
This is the mountain where God thundered and there was darkness
and peals of Thunder and smoke and, and he said, if if anybody
comes near this mountain, if an animal comes near this mountain,
kill it because I'm holy. Moses alone can approach.
So it uses Sinai one time in the book, but it's poetic.
It uses horeb. It starts at Mount Sinai with
the covenant with Moses and his people 400 years prior.
This is where he gave the 10 commandments.
Verse 2 says this is where the journey began.
Verse 6 says this is where God first spoke to them.
That's where he starts history. So God has redeemed his people
from slavery. If you come back next week, he
kind of rehearses this RJ is going to be preaching and he'll
he'll go through some of this beautiful, wonderful story.
He offers terms of the covenant. So you say when all of the the
punishment comes on Israel, you have to remember they swore
themselves to God. God presented the terms and they
said, yes, we want, we, we love this, we want to be your people.
Exodus 24 Moses came up and told the people all the words of the
Lord and all the rules, and all the people answered with one
voice and said, all the words that the Lord has spoken we will
do. They swore themselves to the
Lord their God, and they were careful to do his commandments
for a few minutes until they came to Kadesh Barnia.
They come to Kadesh Barnia, and the people grumble.
And the story goes that the people ran out of water in the
wilderness. And so they grumble and they
quarrel with Moses and they say, would that we have perished when
her brothers had perished before the Lord.
And why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us into this
evil place, grumbling and complaining.
And then Moses sends out 10 spies to spy on the promised
land from that place. And they don't trust God and
they're afraid. And the they come back with the
report. These people are huge and their
cities are fortified, and they're afraid and they don't
trust God. And God and his frustration
says, how long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me?
And he swears in his wrath. As Hebrew says, your children
shall be shepherds in the wilderness for 40 years and
shall suffer for your faithlessness until the last of
your dead bodies lies in this wilderness.
And the sobering words that come after.
And you shall know my displeasure that at Kadesh
Barnea, that's Kadesh Barnea. It's where Israel was faithless.
It's where Israel disqualified themselves from inheriting the
promised land for another generation.
And I can hear Paul's words, Paul Speaking of Israel in
Romans 3 when he says, but does their faithlessness nullify the
faithfulness of God? And what's the answer?
By no means does their faithlessness same in the
church. I know a lot of Christians
who've done a lot of good, but I also know a lot of Christians
who've done a lot of bad, and sometimes it's the same person.
And you say, how can they be so stupid?
How could they do this? Does their faithlessness nullify
the faithfulness of God? By no means.
Deuteronomy starts with God bringing his people back to
Kadesh Barnia. This is covenant renewal.
He brings them back to their place of faithlessness as he
often does and he's showing you God's people are a covenant
people. If he makes a covenant with you,
your faithlessness does not nullify his covenants.
You can't break them. You don't have the power to do
it. He's a faithful God.
So he shows the the futility of what's happened in verse 2.
He says it by the way, it was an 11 day journey.
He, he puts that time reference in there.
So you know, it was an 11 day journey from Mount Sinai to
Kadesh Barnia. How long did it take him to get
there? 40 years, so he shows the
futility of a Moses puts that in there intentionally.
I want you to know, I mean, he's teaching you sin leads to
futility. We saw it in the garden.
Romans says that all creation has been subject to futility
because of sin. It's a time waster.
It wastes resources, it's ugly, it brings ugly consequences that
you never intend. It forfeits blessing.
He shows it wastes time. And so God brings them to the
exact place of their failure 40 years later to allow Israel to
renew the covenant again. This is what He does.
This is what He does to His disciples when they fail in John
21, He comes back and he says, as many times as you denied me
before, men, it's the same amount of times you're going to
swear your love and allegiance to me again.
And He makes these promises. We can't by our faithlessness
nullify the faithfulness of God. And the people, as we get to
chapter 26, are going to swear allegiance again, Chapter 2616
and 17, they're going to say, this day, the Lord your God
commands you to do these statutes and rules, and you
shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and
with all your soul. You have declared today that the
Lord is your God, and you will walk in his ways and keep his
statutes and commandments and rules and obey his voice, and
then they'll confess themselves. And Moses says in Deuteronomy
27, this day you have become the people of the Lord your God.
You've become the people again. So what's what's happening is
the, the very geography of them standing on the threshold of the
promised land is reflecting what's happening theologically.
It's a, a physical picture. This is why McConville says
Israel is between the wilderness and Canaan, between the promise
and its appropriation. And so if you know anything
about the, the geography of, of Israel, you've got think about
how to do it backwards from you. If you've got them in the, in
the southwest, this is where Egypt was and they come out of
slavery and then somehow they're standing on the east Bank of the
Jordan River. And so they, they walk around
and they come to the east of the Jordan River, which is where
Jesus is baptized. And so they're, they're right
there on, on the, the boundary. They're so close and it says
they're camped across from Jericho.
And you know that story where they walk around the walls?
I mean, they're, they're right there.
If you were to go on the Mount of Olives where Jesus was
betrayed by Judas and where he ascended into glory and you were
to look down, you would see the road that leads to Jericho.
It's only 15 miles. I mean, they are right there.
Which brings us to the second key theme of Deuteronomy.
It's the theme of the land. It's the theme of the promised
land. And so when God made his
covenant with Abraham, he famously pointed to this land
and, and, and promised him this land.
And, you know, he promised him the land.
And so we came up with, with the, you know, clever term, the
promised land. That's what we call it, the land
flowing with milk and honey, with resources.
And so when, if you're going to create a nation, you're going to
need three things. You're going to need a people,
you're going to need a body of laws and you're going to need
land. That's what God chose for
himself, a people, Israel, and he preserved them and he's
multiplied them and he, he has a people and then he needs a body
of laws. And he's given them this body of
laws and Exodus and Leviticus over over a year.
They sat at Sinai for a year receiving this, setting them
apart from all the other nations.
And so now what do they need? What are they missing?
They need land. And likewise, God promised the
patriarchs the same thing He first came to Abraham.
He says, I'm going to give you offspring.
He says, look up and if you can Number the Stars in the sky,
then you'll be able to number the offspring that I'm going to
give you. And look at the sand on the
seashores. And if you can number the grains
of sand on the sea, you'll be able to number the grains of
say, or your offspring that I'm going to bring after you.
And then he says, I'm going to bring you blessing on top of it.
And through you all the nations of the earth are going to be
blessed. And I'm going to give you my
presence. I'm going to be with you.
And I'm going to keep you wherever you go.
Joshua one, I'm with you and I will keep you the Great
Commission. I'm behold.
I'm with you to the ends of the age.
Isaac, I'm with you. I will keep you wherever you go.
I'm going to give you my presence.
And then finally he says I'm going to give you land.
And he reassures Abraham, he reassures Isaac, he reassures
Jacob. As a matter of fact, he
reassures Jacob that he's going to have land when he's at the
absolute low point in his life, when he's the most disobedient.
He's made shipwreck of his life. He's made shipwreck of his
family. He's made shipwreck of his
faith. He puts his head on a rock for a
pillow in the middle of the middle of the wilderness, and
God comes to him and says these covenant promises are for you
and for your offspring. Does our faithlessness nullify
the faithfulness of God? Absolutely not.
And so look at what Moses is doing in these opening verses,
in this in the midst of faithlessness regarding
offspring. Look down to verse 10, skipping
ahead a little past our text. He says the Lord your God has
multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the
stars of heaven. What's he doing with those
words? I am faithful to my covenant.
Look around you. There are millions of you.
You are innumerable. And regarding His presence, did
He ever leave them in the wilderness?
He was with them, He provided for them, He protected them, He
led them as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by
night. He was with them the whole time.
What about His blessing? As you go through these verses,
you see His blessing. Is there verses 3 to 4 read with
me? In the 40th year, on the first
day of the 11th month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel
according to all that the Lord had given in commandment to
them, after he had defeated Scion, the king of the Amorites,
and lived in Heshbon, and OG, the king of Bashan, who lived in
Ashtaroth in Adriai. These defeats of the kings are
blessing. They're coming into the promised
land. It's already happening.
These kings are falling before them.
And so even the Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh,
their land was on the Transjordan on the east side.
They've already got their inheritance.
The kings have already been taken out of the way in Moab,
and the whole section of the book of number of the Book of
Numbers up until this point is one of progress and victory and
blessing. So God is faithful.
His blessing is coming. Spoils of war are being made.
And what's the very last promise of God to Abraham?
The only promise that Israel is missing at this point?
It's land. Look at verse 8.
See, I have set the land before you go in and take possession of
the land that the Lord swore to your father's, to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob to give them and their offspring after them.
Does our faithless, does our faithlessness nullify the
faithfulness of God? I want to mention briefly 1/3
theme of Deuteronomy. You're going to see which is the
theme of the law. If you're taking notes.
The third theme we'll see is the law.
The phrase this law is used 17 times as you go throughout the
book. It's it's that definitive body
of laws that that God gave Israel, the code of laws that
includes all the 600 some individual laws that came in
Leviticus and Exodus and Deuteronomy represents the heart
of it. And so he says the priests are
to teach and to model it. Deuteronomy 33, the leaders of
churches and the leaders of families are to teach the law
and to model the law. So you can say this is what God
looks like. This is the character of God.
This is the heart of God as people are transformed into His
image. The psalmist call people to
praise according to this law. The prophets appeal to this law
as they made the will of God known.
Kings rule by it. As you look to Deuteronomy 17,
he says that every king, when he sits on the throne, has to write
his own copy of the book of the law so that he will never depart
from it. You see that righteous citizens
are called to live by it. His law, as my wife says all the
time, is his love. He writes his his heart into his
law so that when we fulfill and obey the law, we're obeying His
will on the earth. That's what his law is doing.
He says, this is what I love. This is my righteous
requirement. Live this way.
You'll fulfill my will for my people on the earth.
And so we do. That's how we embody His heart
and His values on the earth. The word Deuteronomy means
literally second law. We talk about the theme of the
law. It's in the, it's in the name of
the book. And you have to be careful
because what he's what he's doing is not just simply
rehearsing. Again, you could say, well, he
preached the law to this generation.
God gave the law to this generation.
They all died except Moses and Joshua or Caleb and Joshua.
And now he's just giving the law again.
That's not what's happening. It's not a repetition.
These are sermons on the law. This is law with rhetorical
flourish in application. It's sermons about the law.
If you look at verse 5, this is what it tells us.
Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain
or expound this law. The word is BA R, and it means
making something absolutely clear or plain.
It's not just bringing up legal material.
Again, he's saying this is how you shall live.
This is the kind of person you are to be, especially with this
future directedness as you engage in a worldwide
international ministry. This is how you live.
So Moses is preaching to a new generation.
He brings them to the threshold of the promised land, and he
pauses for perhaps as long as two months.
And he's saying for them, you are not theologically ready to
enter into this land yet. And he pauses and he gives them
a series of sermons about the heart of the law.
The word Torah, translated law is, is an umbrella word covering
all these individual laws, but it also means instruction or
exhortation. So he says before you ever take
hold of these promises, before you ever come into the blessings
that I'm giving you, I'm preparing you theologically.
You need to know how to live. You need to know this word.
You need to know how to obey it, how to live it out. 4th theme.
What kind of relationship does God have with his people?
A relationship of love theme of Deuteronomy is love.
And so as you come, we are a covenant people.
They were a covenant people. We are a new covenant people.
But that's not the only metaphor he uses to describe his people.
He uses the relationship of a father with his children or a
husband and his wife. Marriage, adoption is a metaphor
that he uses. He's showing you this
relationship that we have with God is like family.
It's, it's, he's not an overlord, right?
There's, there's this tender, sweet relationship here and it's
characterized in one of the most famous verses in the Bible.
We'll come to in a few weeks, Deuteronomy 65.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your might.
All these words I command you today shall be on your heart.
And so with that you take hold of God and you hold fast to him.
Chapter 4, verse 4, You who held fast to the Lord are still alive
today. Chapter 10, verse 20, you shall
fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him and hold fast to
him. And by his name shall you swear
He is your praise. He is your God who has done for
you great and terrifying things. And so more than just a
decision, this is an emotional, wholehearted laying hold of God.
Moses says choose life, choose him and choose life.
Love the Lord, obey his voice and hold fast to him.
That's why we've called the whole series worship from the
heart. Deuteronomy is worship from the
heart. So the final themes, that's your
first four. The final three themes answer
the question, how shall we then live?
What is to be our life in ministry?
What are we to look like? How are God's people to live?
And I'm so proud of Heritage Church because as I'm surveying
the commentaries and reading all the introductory matter, it's
our core values. Our core values are the last
three themes. The 5th is the theme of
theological education. There's an emphasis on
instruction. That's why he pauses.
Daniel Block says this book provides the theological base
for virtually the entire Old Testament.
Verse 5, he came to expound the law, came to make it clear and
plain. And so Moses is is doing more
than giving information. He's teaching and persuading.
These are sermons, and the teaching has to be pondered and
it has to be studied and it has to be taught.
Wright says that Deuteronomy bends every rhetorical,
literary, emotional and moral skill to the task of equipping
and motivating God's people to live for the purposes of God in
each generation. So again, Moses makes them wait.
He says you have to be formed and instructed before you go in.
And so there's frequent descriptions of him teaching the
law, Chapter 4, verse 1, chapter 4, verse five.
You see him being patient to teach on the mountain.
And all the Israelites have to learn from this teaching.
And there's an important word for parents and future parents
that says you have to teach your children this law.
Not just teach your children, but diligently teach your
children as you walk along the way and when you lie down and
when you get up. Always be teaching this to your
children. And Moses says that this book,
he commands that this book in chapter 31 has to be read before
the entire nation publicly every seven years.
And Moses urges Israel to obey the laws because he says this
will be the proof of your wisdom and discernment before other
people. The word Torah comes from the
Hebrew Hifil verb, which means to teach.
So the Deuteronomy could be literally called the book of
instruction, and that's how we're going to approach it.
This is a book for our instruction.
It have modeled our core value here, one of our 5 core values.
The first core value is theological education.
And that's what Moses is modeling for us.
It's exposition, instruction of our children and the public
ministry of the word is what he prioritizes.
And the 6th theme is caring for the vulnerable.
Some commentaries use the phrasing of social justice.
There is a monumental emphasis in this book on charity and
benevolence, the triad of dependence, the orphan, the
widow and the sojourner. Deuteronomy 1018 to 19.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible gives you a theology of
God and then says he executes justice for the fatherless and
the widow and he loves the sojourner, giving him food and
clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore,
for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
And he revisits all those laws about gleaning and he's like,
don't your business is not all about money.
That's not the point of of everything.
It's not just money and more money.
He says, remember those gleaning laws.
He says don't mow your fields to the very edge because the poor
need to come and and take of it. This is what Jesus disciples are
doing and he says don't go over your olive trees again and
again, but leave some on there for the poor.
And the same with the grapes of your vineyard.
And he says to them as well, there's going to be a poor tax.
You can work this into your own financial budget that he says
you're going to bring 10% into the storehouse.
This is the the government and keeps the whole system Levitical
system going. You bring your 10% into, to into
the sanctuary. But he says also every 3rd year,
I want you to bring another 10% of your income.
And this is going to be for the poor, for the fatherless, for
the sojourner. And so this is how you have a
covenantal provision for the vulnerable and for the poor.
It's a structured safety net for those who have fallen through
the economic and social safety Nets of their culture.
He says don't, don't ignore the poor.
He attaches social justice to his character.
He says, I am impartial. I love the orphan and the widow
and the sojourner. Love them therefore.
And he takes that social justice and he attack.
He attaches it to their experience.
He says you were vulnerable, you were sojourners like 40 years
ago. You just came out of it 52
times, He reminds them. You were vulnerable.
Now care for the vulnerable. And so we have the core value
here at Heritage ministering to the vulnerable.
For this reason, Scripture makes much of it.
And the final theme, the book of deuteronomy #7 missional
awareness, we say it at Heritage Church, advancing the gospel.
The whole book of Deuteronomy is bent toward global missions.
And some will will trace this thread and say I've, some will
argue this is the key theme of the book, this global awareness.
And so why was Israel elect at all?
Israel was elect to be ministers to the nations.
You can see it in their loyalty amidst the cultural change.
That's the very definition of what a missionary does.
They cross cultural, geographic, linguistic, and religious
boundaries for the sake of the gospel.
That's what they're doing. And it's Israel is for the
nations. The covenant with Abraham was
that all the families of the earth might be blessed.
All the families of the earth might be blessed.
And you see it starting here. They're getting a headquarters
and a home base and the land and their mission's going to to
extend to us and to the ends of the world.
And you see in Deuteronomy, the nations share a dual role, just
like they do today. On the one hand, nations are to
their way of life is to be avoided and their worldviews to
be avoided and their philosophy is to be avoided.
But on the other hand, they are witnesses to the glory of what
God is doing in his church and they are the the mission field
that we're going out to win. They're worshippers that have
filled the world and now we want them to be worshippers of Yahweh
and his glory. And Deuteronomy is future
focused. And so while Moses first sermon
is is looking to the past and what's happened to get them
where they are, the whole book is predominantly future focused.
The land is just a means to an end.
You can hear it in the vocabulary, verse 6, when you
come into the land, this is all you're going to do.
Chapter 7, when you come into the land, this is all you're
going to do. It's anticipating ministry.
He says that you might live as you do it, that you might
multiply as you do it. And you know, by their
proclamation, their holiness of life, they're going to be the
vehicle they were meant to be the vehicle of salvation to the
world. That was the mission that God
was giving them salvation to the nations.
So these are the themes that we're going to work out over the
next eight months. We'll spend 8 months in the book
of Deuteronomy. And strangely, we're going to
hear sermons and preach sermons on Moses sermons.
So his three sermons we'll go through and in detail.
And just like with New Testament sermons, the book of Deuteronomy
comes with tremendous urgency. And I hope that as we go through
that, you will get a sense and feel that sense of urgency
toward future directedness and vision and mission.
And you're going to hear these five verbs repeated over and
over and over. Fear Yahweh your God, walk in
his ways, Love Yahweh your God, serve Yahweh your God with your
whole being and keep his commandments and his decrees.
Chapter 1010 to 13. How are you to live?
And now 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, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the
Lord which I am commanding you today for your good.
I'm very powerfully and rhetorically Moses asked them.
He says, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today
that I've set before you both life and death, blessing and
curse. And which one are you going to
choose? And Moses says choose life that
you and your offspring may live. What does it mean?
Loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding
fast to him. Church, pray with me, Lord, this
is our prayer. It's my prayer for this
congregation that again you would get purge out of us all of
the deceitfulness and the hardness of heart and help us to
choose life. You define what that means that
we love you that we obey your voice that we hold fast to you
that we fear and walk and love and serve and keep all your
commandments and remember that it isn't your commandments are
not burdensome for those who love you.
So God, you are working on our heart and teaching us to live in
a way that is used to be completely foreign to us, a way
of righteousness where we we love to do these things.
Make us people that love theological education, that love
ministering to the vulnerable, that have a heart for the
nation's because that's your heart so that every tribe and
tongue will come and see you and declare your glory.
Teach us this book, Lord, again, bless our time.
We love you. Lord, we ask this in Christ's
name. Amen.
Thanks for listening. To learn more about Heritage
Church or if you'd like to respond to this sermon, visit
our website at www.heritageshawnee.org.