HFL
SEPT 12, 2010
DEUT. 8;1-5
1Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
WE ARE GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF THE MONTH OF
SEPTEMBER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.
THIS IS THE FIFTH AND LAST BOOK OF THE PENTATEUCH. IT WAS WRITTEN BY MOSES. IT IS A REPEATING OF THE LAW OF MOSES AND IT IS ALSO A REPEATING OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DURING THEIR WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS,. NEXT WEEK, AND THE FOLLOWING, WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. THIS MORNING, WE ARE GOING TO JUMP AHEAD TO CHAPTER 8.
THERE IS A CONSTANT THREAD THAT RUNS THRU THIS BOOK. IT IS; BLESSINGS AND CURSES. GOD PROMISES TO BLESS THEM IN THEIR OBEDIENCE, AND TO CURSE THEM IN THEIR DISOBEDIENCE.
IN THIS REPEATING OF THE LAW, GOD HAS SPELLED OUT FOR THEM SPECIFIC LAWS, COMMANDS THAT HE EXPECTS HIS PEOPLE TO FOLLOW AND KEEP. THERE IS A SECONDARY THOUGHT HERE AS WELL; GOD IS ON OUR SIDE. WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED BY THIS; “IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US” ROMANS 8;31. LOOK AT 7;17 FOR A MOMENT, “You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” HOW DO YOU VIEW YOUR ENEMIES? WHEN YOU FACE ADVERSITY IN YOUR LIFE, HOW DO YOU SEE IT? THE SCRIPTURES ARE FIRM IN THIS, LOOK AT V18, “BUT Do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did “ MOSES IS REMINDING THEM ABOUT EGYPT, BUT THE LIFE APPLICATION TO US HOLDS TRUE IN ALL ASPECTS OF OUR DAILY LIVES. YOU SAW WITH YOUR OWN EYES THE GREAT TRIALS, THE MIRACULOUS SIGNS AND WONDERS. THE MIGHTY OUTSTRETCHED ARM. MOSES IS TELLING THEM, THINK BACK, REMEMBER. WE NEED TO LOOK BACK, SEARCH YOUR PRAYER JOURNAL, RECALL THE AWESOME VICTORIES THAT GOD HAS WON FOR YOU. REJOICE IN THOSE THINGS.
MOSES REMINDS THEM HOW GOD TOOK CARE OF THEM IN THE WILDERNESS. HE FED THEM MANNA, MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD.
HE REMINDS THEM, YOUR CLOTHES DID NOT WEAR OUT. YOUR FEET DID NOT SWELL. LET ME ASK YOU, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU BOUGHT NEW CLOTHES? CAN YOU IMAGINE WEARING THE SAME CLOTHING FOR 40 YEARS. CAN YOU IMAGINE YOUR CLOTHING EVEN LASTING THAT LONG. EVEN IN THE SMALL THINGS, GOD PROVIDES. WHEN WE TRUST GOD IN THE SMALL THINGS, HE PROVIDES EVEN THE BIG THINGS.
LOOK AT V17, You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE SEEN THIS? A PERSON HAS A NEED, COMES TO GOD IN FAITH, AND GOD PROVIDES. OFTEN HE PROVIDES ABUNDANTLY, THEN THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW, THAT PERSON PROSPERS, AND THEN THEY ARE GONE. THEY NO LONGER FEEL THAT THEY NEED GOD. V18; But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, nd so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
REMEMBER THIS; WHAT YOU HAVE CAN BE GONE IN AN INSTANT. YOUR WEALTH, YOUR HEALTH, EVERYTHING. DON’T EVER FORGET WHO PROVIDES FOR YOU. ALL THAT WE HAVE COMES FROM THE HAND OF GOD. IT IS HE WHO PROSPERS US.
JUMP INTO CHAPTER 9. MOSES TELLS THEM THE TRUE REASON THAT GOD GIVES THEM THIS LAND. After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. 5It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
GET THIS. THEY DO NOT GET THE LAND B/C THEY ARE SO GOOD. GOD IS GIVING IT TO THEM, B/C THE PEOPLE WHO NOW POSSESS IT ARE SO BAD. PERHAPS OUR OWN COUNTRY OUGHT TO CONSIDER THIS. MIGHT GOD TAKE ALL OF THIS FROM US, BC WE FALL SO SHORT OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
ONE LAST THOUGHT; MOSES REMINDS THEM OF WHO THEY WILL BATTLE. HE TELLS THEM, THAT THEY ARE TALL AND STRONG. THESE NATIONS ARE GREATER AND STRONGER THAN YOU. THEY HAVE WALLED CITIES THAT REACH TO THE CLOUDS. YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM. YOU HAVE HEARD THE RUMORS, WHO CAN STAND AGAINST THEM. YOU MIGHT QUESTION WHY MOSES TELLS THEM THIS. IT IS BC HE WANTS THEM TO KNOW IT IS NOT BC THEY WILL BE SUCH A MIGHTY ARMY, ITS NOT THEIR POWER. LISTEN TO WHAT HE TELLS THEM; But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. WHAT A GREAT KNOWLEDGE. YOUR ENEMIES MAY BE STRONG, BUT GOD WILL GO AHEAD OF YOU.
