God’s Promise

                                           Renewing His Covenant

Text: Deuteronomy Chapter 4

Our Focus: Deuteronomy 4:1-9, 23-31

Israel was not a great nation because it had great Army. Israel was not great because of Abraham. Israel was not great because of Moses. Israel was not a great nation because of the Jew.

Israel is a great nation because it is the “Covenant Nation of God”!

We can say we have faith in the Word of God BUT if we do not apply God’s Word to our daily lives then where is our faith? Believing God’s Word is a matter of focusing our whole mind, all our heart and our will on the Lord. We must die to ourselves!

To change our lives God’s Word must penetrate deep inside our entire being!

This chapter in the book of Deuteronomy concludes Moses’s review of the 40 year wilderness journey. Israel now stands on the east bank of the Jordan River and are very near Mount Nebo.

As Moses gives his final instructions, there are only a few others that have made the whole trip. They are Joshua and Caleb and those that were under twenty years of age when Israel left Egypt.

That path taken by Israel so far has been of death and destruction. The new generation has seen this death and Moses has reminded them of it as they are now ready to enter into the Promised Land.

Moses pleads with them to obey the God who loves them!

Moses reminded this people of the character of God and how they should respond to Him.

If we do not know the character of the God we worship, how can we worship Him in spirit and truth knowing this is the only worship that will please Him!

Our Text:

Deu 4:1  Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
Deu 4:2  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Deu 4:3  Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
Deu 4:4  But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
Deu 4:5  Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Deu 4:6  Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

These people are to not only hear the Word of God they are to be doers of the Word!

They were not to try to add to what God had said and they were certainly not to take away from God has said.

In the world we live in many do this very thing. There is the Liberal side that takes away from God’s Word and the Legalistic side that adds to God’s Word. We must trust the entire Word of God just as it is written, rightly divided!

They were to obey it just as God gave it. The Church Age assemblies are to rightly divide God’s Word and obey it just as God gave it!

There is no doubt that we do not need some help to understand what the Word of God is saying but these people also needed some help to understand what God was saying.

God knows this:

The Bible says:

Neh 8:2  And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, [and all that could hear with understanding], upon the first day of the seventh month.
Neh 8:3  And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate [from the morning until midday], before the men and the women, and [those that could understand]; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

Now we see the Sunday School of Israel:

Neh 8:7  Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, {caused the people to understand the law}: and the people stood in their place.

Ezra was a great Priest of the Lord but he also had helpers to cause the people to understand but we should also notice that this worship service lasted more than just an hour or a couple of hours.

We will never understand God’s Word if we do not open our Bibles but once a week!

The Bible says:

2Ti 2:15  [Study] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

To study means more than just read.

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the [man of God may be perfect], throughly furnished unto all good works.

And, If you are seeking perfection it will come from the Word of God!

God had made a long list of the blessings He would have given Israel if they had been obedient.

To be quiet honest, we will not know what blessings we missed out on until we get to Heaven and know the truth of what we missed because of our disobedience.

Israel chose to not obey God’s Law and we know know that “No Flesh” can be justified before God by those laws.

It is not these laws that we need to concentrate on, it is God’s Love, and God’s Mercy, and God’s Grace that we should see in these passages.

But we will also see what happens when God gets angry.

Moses is pleading with this nation to obey God! That should also be our prayer that this nation we live in would obey God!

1.) God wants His people to prosper and He will preserve them.

Verse 1 says “that ye may live, and go in and possess the land”

*****There can be no blessing without obedience.

The Bible says:

Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

God already provides many things that we all seem to forget but God will especially bless those that are obedient to His Word!

Psa 115:13  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

God writes all the things down that we do good and that we do for one another and these things are precious to Him and the people who do these things are precious to Him.

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: [and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name].
Mal 3:17  [And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts], in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, [as a man spareth his own son that serveth him].

We know that God resurrected His son and He will resurrect every child of God on the day of the Rapture!

And again we see His promise that we will miss His day of wrath!

*****When we are obedient to the Lord it shows our gratitude for what He has done in our lives!

These things would be noticeable to all that observed them when they were in their land.

These things should be noticed from those in the world then they see a child of God!

If we do not see anything else on T V we can sure see that Israel and the land of Palestine are at the forefront of the news most of the time.

***** God’s love should prompt us to obey Him.

Deu 4:37  And [because he loved] thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

The word “love” is used before this passage, but this is the first time in the Bible that God tells a people that He loves them.

God has demonstrated that He loves mankind from the very first of Genesis but up to this point He hasn’t said very much about it!

God makes it very plain that He does things out of His “Love” for us!

In spite of “Sin” God loved us enough to send His Son to provide a means for us to be with Him.

That cross that Our Lord was hung on was the “Cross of Love”!

*****When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we can experience the Love of God!

*****And, We should be obedient to God because we belong to Him.

God delivered Israel out of bondage and He has delivered every Saint of God from the bondage of Sin!

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, [which he hath purchased with his own blood].

We belong to the Lord! He owns us!

Deu 14:1 says  Ye are the children of the LORD your God:

We only have one duty:

Ecc 12:13 says  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

As we get out of public, people see the results of our obedience or are disobedience to God. Israel was no different, any that looked upon Israel from the outside would be able to see if they had been obedient or disobedient.

The children of Israel themselves had seen how God reacted to disobedience. Moses was referring back to the time of Balaam. Remember Balaam at been hired to curse in Israel but God would not allow that.

Though Balaam tried to cursed the Jews he ended up blessing them. His curses did not work but, he came up with a plan that did work. The Jewish men were invited to a religious feast of the Moabites and and they had been enticed by the prostitutes of the Temple of Moab.

God used this as an example for this new generation but it is also an example for us.

We cannot take any part in false religion!

We will soon be studying the Cults in Bible College and I have been assigned William Branham and you would not believe how much influence this false religious cult has had in this world we live in.

Obedience would bring the blessing of God, which  is the promised land. Israel was to be a witness to all the world and that could not happen if they intermingled with the world.

The body of Christ is in the world but we are not to become a part of the world!

God’s command is simple:

Mar 16:15  says Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The truth of the Gospel is real!

Every believer should have some part in getting the Word of God out to the ends of this Earth!

This is our purpose after we come to know the Lord Jesus as our Savior!

We cannot all be preachers and teachers, but we can be prayer warriors and those that give, and those that witness. God’s plan includes every Born Again” in child of God!

This Was the Way, Israel was to witness to the world. If they obeyed God would bless them!

*****Our Text

Deu 4:7  For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
Deu 4:8  And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Deu 4:9  Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

The nation of Israel was given the privilege to teach God’s Word to the world. Notice how this was to begin at home with their own sons and daughters.

The greatest undertaking of every nation is to teach its children. The greatest failure of any nation is the failure of educating it’s children. In America we have not only allowed the education system to take God out but we have failed miserably in teaching them at home.

God placed a great responsibility on these parents of Israel.

When we bring a child into this world we are responsible for that child in the eyes of God! God will hold us accountable for what we have done with our children.

Parenthood is a great responsibility and God makes this very clear to this new nation of Israel! the nation of Israel failed because it failed at home and America is failing because we fail at home. For this we will be judged by the Lord Jesus Christ.

God also made it very clear to Israel that they were never to have any likeness of God whatsoever.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

And, Even the woman at the well had been taught that when the Messiah came he would teach us all things.

Joh 4:25  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

The Lord Jesus became a man when he came to this Earth but we still do not have any physical description of Him.

We certainly cannot use any pictures we see of Him for the truth of what He looked like.

Jesus abides in our hearts, this is the picture of Him that is most important!

We need Him in our hearts today we don’t need any pictures of Him!

These instructions given to Israel still hold true as great principles for us today!

Our Text:

Deu 4:23  Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
Deu 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Deu 4:25  When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
Deu 4:26  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
Deu 4:27  And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
Deu 4:28  And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
Deu 4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Deu 4:30  When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
Deu 4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

The nation of Israel is still a witness to the world today but they are still a witness in their disobedience. Many of them go home every day to Israel which means they are still scattered all over the world today. Yes they are new nation and have fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

Isa 66:8  Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? [Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once]? [for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children].

When we read this we usually to stop with that part that says “a nation born one day” but if we read the rest of the verse it plainly states that once established “Israel would bring forth her children”. In other words the Jews had to have a home before they could go home. And Many more go home every day.

We can also see there is not one moment’s peace for them at home. We will know prophecy has been fulfilled when Israel is not having trouble it has today. Israel is still under the judgment of God!

Judgment will come upon any and every nation that rejects Him!

This is a lesson that we are learning in America!

What we see in verse 30 is the first mention of the Great Tribulation. The nation of Israel will still see a more terrible time than what they are having now.

This will take place after the “Rapture” to the church though many disagree. The Bible is specific, the Body of Christ will not see this time of Great Tribulation.

1Th 5:9  [For God hath not appointed us to wrath], but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

God delivered Lot:

2Pe 2:7  And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
2Pe 2:8  (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
2Pe 2:9  [The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations], and [to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished]:

God promises the Philadelphian Church:

Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, [I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world], to try them that dwell upon the earth.

And verse 31 says that God is merciful. God will not forsake the children of Israel. God will not destroy the children of Israel.

The only reason that any of us have not been consumed is because of our merciful Savior and our God.

We have been saved, not because we are sweet and innocent, it is only because God is a merciful God!

Even in these days of Israel’s travel in the wilderness, God still reached down from heaven to make contact with them.

Even on my worst day the God of glory reached down to make contact with me. God does not want us to forget these things.

God does things because He loves us!

I don’t have a good bone in me but I know a good God!

God loves us but God does not save by love!

God saves by his “amazing grace”!

A righteous God will not open the doors of Heaven and just let us slip in. There are many that believe He should do this but if He did He would not be God!

God had to sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ before there was any deliverance from our sinful ways.

John 3:16 tells us that God loves the world but it does not say that God so loved the world that he saved the world.

It does say God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He did this so that whosoever, it makes no difference who it is, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will not perish but have everlasting life.

These are the things that Moses is trying to tell the children of Israel so that they would not make the mistakes that they did.

Israel failed just like I fail my Lord everyday!

Let’s pray!