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Deuteronomy 10 |
| Posted by Administrator (charlie) on Mar 23 2009 |
- Introduction
Do you believe in second chances?
I know people who do and people who don’t. I was talking tone lady who told me that she gives everyone the benefit of the doubt until they do something to prove otherwise but it only takes that one time for her to abolish any relationship that she had with that person once they have messed her over.
But, we have seen others who do things like get into abusive relationships and they give the abuser chance after chance after chance to change and yet they continually abuse in spite of a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance etc.
- Describing the Biblical Text
Here we see God giving the people of Israel a second chance in their efforts to enter the Promised Land.
He gives them a second chance at the law.
He gives them a second chance to live for Him.
He reminds them of the spiritual importance of His covenant with him and instructs them in the requirements of Godly service.
- Narrate the Contextual application
How do we respond when God gives us the chance to reclaim our spiritual heritage?
The people of Israel had been wandering in the desert under the discipline of God for their refusal to enter the Promised Land at the first opportunity.
Now, God has brought them back to the brink of going into the Promised Land and claiming the blessing that he had originally prepared for them
God had not changed and his covenant with their fathers had not changed.
We see God demonstrating His faithfulness to his people in light of the fact that they were stubborn and stiffnecked.
But you know what?
So are most people and God being rich in His Grace and mercy toward us makes us alive in Christ and then as Jesus said, gives us that abundant life.
- Life Application (thesis)
This is why, as we encounter this text this morning, we want to remember this idea.
The essentials of God’s covenant never change.
- SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we explore our text today, let’s unpack that truth into two essentials.
God is compassionate with our hardness of heart.
A few minutes ago, we were talking about second chances weren’t we?
Moses had gone up on Mount Horeb or Sinai if you prefer and God was speaking out of the smoke and cloud to him giving Him the Ten Commandments as He carved them into tablets of stone.
But God sent Moses away from Himself because God knew that the people were corrupting themselves in debauchery with a golden calf.
The book of Exodus describes this scene by saying the people cast off restraint.
Proverbs 29:18 tells us where there is no vision, the people perish. But a more literal reading of that passage tells us that where there is no prophetic word, the people cast off restraint.
It is the same word and idea that we find in Exodus.
Let’s not lose the irony here that when Moses was receiving the Law is when the people were casting off restraint.
When Moses saw the horrendous behavior of the people, he cast the tablets to the ground and they were broken.
But, what is worse than the original tablets being broken was the fact that the law had been broken in hearts of the people.
Yet God sent Moses back to the people to rescue them.
God told Moses of their treachery and later, God was willing to replace the writing on the tablets though Moses had to cut the tablets himself for the replacements.
God still loves his people and He still desires a relationship with them so what does he do?
He shows them mercy.
He pours out compassion and lest they fall again, he gives them those Ten Commandments a second time and instructs Moses exactly where to store them.
We can be the same way can’t we?
Jesus’ half brother James says it very well when he says he who know what is right and does not do it, to him it is sin.
How many times could we say that applies to us?
It happens probably more than we would care to admit or want to think about.
Yet, when we think about Jesus death on the cross, we remember that it was not a partial payment that was made for our sins; it was a payment in full.
Consequently, our hearts are no longer open to be hardened to God once we have entered into that relationship with him through His son Jesus Christ.
There is a very abused and misused passage in the NT and that is 1 John 1:9 which tells us that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Do you know what people derive from that verse?
That somehow, people are not forgiven for the sins that they commit after they come to Christ.
They don’t realize it but that is a works based salvation.
It’s like forgiveness is available and perfect for every sin up to the time of conversion but after that, every sin has to be confessed to God to be forgiven.
That’s not Biblical and it is not true.
Confession is a function of fellowship with God.
Listen to what Colossians 2:13-14 tells us, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
In the very same way and by the very same grace that was employed by God to save us, He keeps us as His own.
As a matter of fact, the law is no longer written on Tables of stone but rather on the tables of our heart.
Jeremiah 31:33 says but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
2 Corinthians 3 describes our lives this way, “being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,”
Since the gospel cures the hardness of our hearts, let’s look at our second Essential this morning and it is very similar to the first.
God is concerned with our hearts.
J. Stowell in his book, Fan the Flame wrote this about the heart, “Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the center of a person, the place to which God turns."
That really makes sense especially in light of what we find in verse 16.
That sounds like a very NT idea doesn’t it?
But God has always wanted the outward man to match the love for him that the inward man would have.
Circumcision is the primary covenant sign in the Old Testament and it demonstrates the removal of that which would take away from the reverence of God.
In the NT, the sign of the Covenant with God is baptism, an outward demonstration of what God has done inwardly.
But, it all comes back to the heart.
It all comes back to the place that Man gives God in his heart.
The story is told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Savior and applied for membership in a local church. "Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your Life?" inquired an old deacon. "Yes, sir," she replied. "Well, are you still a sinner?" "To tell you the truth, I feel I'm a greater sinner than ever." "Then what real change have you experienced?" "I don't quite know how to explain it," she said, "except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved. I'm a sinner running from sin!"
We find these word in Romans 2
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
God has been faithful to save us and to keep us.
We need to be faithful to serve Him.
Last changed: Mar 31 2009 at 9:44 AM
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