Deuteronomy 8:1-3 5/26/24 A.M.
A person’s mind really is quite an amazing thing. Our BRAIN has a HARD DRIVE that RETAINS THOUGHTS and EVENTS. We call those THOUGHTS and EVENTS, MEMORIES. OUR MEMORIES allow us to RELIVE something that has happened in the past whether it be 10 seconds ago or 10 years ago. Both GOOD and BAD.
I had a RELATIVE, I won’t say who, but they told me that taking trips and vacations was a waste of money. Some of you all might agree and I understand the point. When you spend your HARD EARNED MONEY on something like a vacation, you don’t gain any ASSETS. You have NOTHING to show for it.
But listen, here’s what you do GAIN. You GET MEMORIES!!!
ILLUS: Back when I worked at AA I had what they called Flight Privileges. My family would get on a list and if there were any open seats on an airplane, going where we wanted to go, we could have those seats. And they were FREE for Rachel and I and our kids and they were just a few dollars for my mom and dad. And so we took a quite a few trips with my mom and dad to places we wouldn’t have been able to go if we would have had to buy a ticket. Here’s where I’m going with this. I never thought I could talk my old mama and daddy into flying but when I did, they caught the bug. They were always ready to go. Listen, today they’re gone, but I still have something from those TRIPS that we took. I have WONDERFUL MEMORIES!!!!
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It’s a day that has been set aside to REMEMBER those who fought and died for you and I and the CAUSE of FREEDOM. We have BIG COOKOUTS. Get togethers. The LAKE is FULL of BOATS. And that’s OK. Go out and enjoy the day. But we need to take time to REMEMBER what the day has been set aside for. To RECALL those BRAVE men and women who gave their LIVES for you and I. To REMEMBER THEM.
And listen, GOD wants us to REMEMBER. I have never preached out of this passage before. At least I DON’T “REMEMBER” preaching out of this passage. You see what I did there? But let’s turn in our Bibles to Deuteronomy 8 and we’ll read Verses 1-3.
“All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.
2 And thou shalt REMEMBER all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
In Deuteronomy 5, Moses begins to speak to the Nation of Israel and the rest of the Book is him speaking to them and telling them to OBEY GOD. Reminding them of God’s STATUTES and COMMANDMENTS. And when you get to the last Chapter, Chapter 34, Moses dies just before the Nation of Israel enters into the Promised Land. And so basically the Book of Deuteronomy is a BOOK of MOSES REMEMBERING and REMINDING the Nation of Israel to remember God's Word.
This morning I want to look at these Verses here in Chapter 8 and see what we can learn from them. But before we do, let’s PRAY.
Brother _____, would you lead us?
For 40 years these people had WANDERED around in the wilderness.
40 years of LIVING off of MANNA and QUAIL that God provided for them to keep them alive.
40 years of REGRETTING that they had gotten SCARED and not crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.
But now they were getting ready to go in. Now Moses won’t be going with them but he wants to give them some LIFE GIVING ADVICE. He tells them here in Verse 1,
“All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live”
Listen, God’s LAW, God’s COMMANDMENTS, His STATUTES were NOT for HIMSELF. They were for HUMANITY. For the Nation of Israel. They were for you and I.
Romans 3:19 and 20 tells us,
“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
God didn’t give the LAW to make HIMSELF feel better about HIS OWN PERFECTION. NO, He gave the LAW for YOU and I to SHOW US three things.
1. God’s Law is like a mirror. It shows us our SIN.
2. And secondly, it’s a BOUNDARY, it’s almost like a CURB that holds our SINFUL NATURE in CHECK.
3. And thirdly, it shows us our NEED FOR JESUS.
And through these THREE THINGS right here we can have LIFE!!!
God wanted SO BAD for the Nation of Israel to do well. He wanted them to LIVE. He wanted them to MULTIPLY. He wanted them to GO INTO THE PROMISED LAND and POSSESS IT. But for them to do that they were going to have to do something. They were gonna have to REMEMBER.
Look at Verse 2,
“And thou shalt REMEMBER all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness”
So what were the things that God TAUGHT THEM in the WILDERNESS? What did He want them to REMEMBER?
I. Well first of all, He wanted them to remember how God had to HUMBLE THEM.
You see, God brought them to a point where all they could do was trust in Him. They were caught between the Egyptian Army and the Red Sea. They would either be SLAUGHTERED or God would have to provide a WAY of ESCAPE.
He brought them into the WILDERNESS where there was NO WATER. They would either DIE from THIRST or GOD would provide.
There was NO FOOD to eat so either God would BRING FOOD to THEM or they would STARVE to DEATH.
And looking back into Exodus, we find the Nation of Israel was VULNERABLE to attack as they made their way across the DESERT. And in Chapter 17, the Amalekites come against them. Let’s read Verses 8-14 of Exodus 17.
“Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
And so each time the Nation of Israel had a NEED, God provided. He provided a PATHWAY across the Red Sea. He provided FOOD and WATER to keep them fed and hydrated.
He provided a miracle to save the Nation against the Amalekites. I’m sure that each person came to realize that without God, they would be destroyed. God had to HUMBLE THEM. And he told MOSES to write it down to REMEMBER.
And on this Sunday before Memorial Day, we need to REMEMBER where we came from. We need to REMEMBER and REALIZE where we would be if it hadn’t been for the Lord being by our side. WE NEED TO BE HUMBLED. Psalms 124
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
If it hadn’t been for the Lord I would be LOST.
If it hadn’t been for the Lord I would be on my way to Hell.
If it hadn’t been for the Lord I might be in JAIL.
I might be DEAD already. I might be under a BRIDGE somewhere in Tulsa.
I don’t know where I would be but I do know that the Lord is ON MY SIDE. Lamentations 3, Verses 22 and 23,
“It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
And when I remember these things. When I realize that I am NOTHING without Him, it HUMBLES ME. There is NONE of us here this morning that can say we pulled ourselves up from our own BOOTSTRAPS. We all had someone to help us. And that SOMEONE IS GOD.
BE HUMBLE. Remember where you would be without God.
II. The second thing that Moses reminded the people was that God LED THEM THROUGH THE WILDERNESS to PROVE THEM.
So what does that mean? To PROVE THEM. Well, one definition of PROVE is TEST. God gave Israel a TEST. And listen, it was not because He didn’t know their hearts, HE DID. HE KNOWS ALL. He TESTED THEM because THEY didn’t KNOW their own hearts.
ILLUS: I was looking up the meaning 0f PROVE. Man, there’s a lot of different definitions of PROVE. One of them deals with DOUGH. It means to become aerated by the action of yeast; to rise.
To me this fits the Nation of Israel to a “T”. Did they have enough FAITH and TRUST in God, within themselves, to make it across the WILDERNESS? Would they RISE to the occasion?
Did they have enough HUMILITY to ALLOW GOD to lead them into the Promised Land or would they SEE the BATTLES ahead and get SCARED. How in the world would they get PASSED JERICHO?
And then there’s the GIANTS that are still in the LAND? Would they have enough COURAGE to face them? God wanted to PROVE THEM, TEST THEM not for HIMSELF but so that they MIGHT KNOW that they could TRUST HIM.
ILLUS: I remember years ago Rachel’s mom was married to a guy named Larry. Some of you all probably remember him. He died several years ago. But he was a MARINE. And he loved to tell me how hard Marine Boot Camp was. Not only PHYSICALLY but MENTALLY. I think we’ve got three MARINES here today. Brother M.P. Lee, Brother Danny Hicks, and Brother Roger Cornett. I’m sure that all of our Service Members have some stories to tell about Boot Camp.
But anyway, Larry would tell me about the MENTAL GAMES the DRILL INSTRUCTOR would play. And he explained the whole idea was to BREAK YOU DOWN so that you could be BUILT BACK UP the way the United States Marine Corps wanted you. Maybe that’s not accurate but that’s what he said.
And listen, God is NOT in the BUSINESS of PLAYING GAMES. He doesn’t have FUN watching you and I struggle. But there are times that GOD HAS TO PROVE US. NOT for Himself but for US.
How many of you know what I’m talking about? There are things that come up in our lives that are a STRUGGLE. Times when we don’t UNDERSTAND why things happen. TIMES when LIFE is HARD. So why do these things happen? Because God has PLACED US in the WARMING OVEN to PROVE US. Not for HIMSELF but for our OWN GOOD.
I’m sure as Moses spoke these words to the people, he remembered back on the times when GOD PROVED HIM
He had to run for his life after killing an Egyptian Soldier who was ABUSING a fellow Hebrew in Exodus 2:12.
God was PROVING HIM when he called Moses to go stand before Pharaoh and tell him that GOD SAID, “Let my people go”
And God was PROVING HIM when the people Complained and Moaned against him while traveling through the Wilderness.
God didn’t ALOW these things to happen for HIS OWN PLEASURE but to PROVE MOSES.
And GOD ALLOWS things to HAPPEN in our own LIVES to BUILD US UP to what He wants us to be. He HUMBLES US and He PROVES US. Sometimes it’s HARD. But it MUST BE DONE for our OWN GOOD.
So it’s GOOD to remember the way the Lord has HUMBLED us in the PAST. And it’s good to REMEMBER the way that the Lord has PROVED us.
III. And then Moses goes on and tells the people in Verse 3 that they needed to REMEMBER one more thing. And this right here was the MOST IMPORTANT of all.
“that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
Here Moses was sharing with them the IMPORTANCE of GOD’S WORD, His STATUTES and His COMMANDMENTS. OBEDIENCE to God’s Word. Moses knew that he wasn’t going to be around when they crossed over the Jordan River.
And so I think he was saying,
“REMEMBER what you have learned by being HUMBLED and PROVED. REMEMBER that the Word of God is what gives LIFE.”
There is SO MUCH MORE than the PHYSICAL THINGS that we NEED and that we SEE. I read this quote from David Guzik and I think it is so true.
“You may EXIST by material things alone, but you will not LIVE. Anyone thinking they live for bread alone is actually one of the living dead.”
Yes, you BREATHE, you SLEEP, you GET UP EVERYDAY and do your OWN THING but you’re just PHYSICALLY ALIVE. It’s SO SAD that MOST PEOPLE LIVE their LIFE trying to get MORE. More of this or more of that. I remember the old saying, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.”
You know what, that’s just foolish. It’s the ONE who DIES KNOWING JESUS as HIS PERSONAL SAVIOR, He or she is the WINNER!!!
Listen, the Nation of Israel back then and you and I today need to REMEMBER that we REALLY LIVE when we CONSUME the Word of God. When we TAKE it to HEART and we LIVE IT OUT in our DAILY LIVES.
In Matthew 4, Jesus had been in the wilderness for FORTY DAYS and not eaten anything. And the Devil comes to TEMPT HIM. And in Verse 4, Jesus QUOTES this very scripture to him.
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
In Acts 17, Paul is preaching to the people there in Athens Greece, and he begins to DECLARE to them the UNKNOWN GOD. In Verse 28 Paul EXPRESSES to them how IMPORTANT GOD was in his life. This is where the rubber meets the road.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
God was EVERYTHING in His life and that’s why Paul had GIVEN everything to God. I’m sure Paul thought back about his past life. I’m sure he remembered the Christians he had PERSECUTED, thinking he was doing a good thing. But I’m also sure that PAUL REMEMBERED the Road to Damascus when God came into his life and NOTHING was ever the same again.
ILLUS: I heard Rachel talking the other day to someone and she said this. “A few years ago we hadn’t really lost anyone close to us. All of our parents were still alive and all of our siblings were still alive. But then within a 2 and 1/2 year period we lost ALL four of our parents.
You know folks, I feel like God threw us into a PAN and slid us into the WARMING OVEN to PROVE us out.
He didn’t do it for HIMSELF, He did it for US. And through those LOSSES, we learned to TRUST HIM.
We LEARNED, like never before, that He is FAITHFUL. And now we can LOOK BACK and we can REMEMBER how He was there for us.
In closing, I want to ask you a question? I want you to THINK BACK and REMEMBER. Here’s the question.
Has there ever been a time when Jesus was the most IMPORTANT PERSON in your life. He was YOUR ALL. His WORD gave you LIFE.
If you answered “NO”, then He needs to become that IMPORTANT. In Matthew 16, Jesus tells us,
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Maybe you answered “YES”. You remember when God was the MOST IMPORTANT PERSON in your life. But since then there have been times that God has had to HUMBLE YOU. Maybe you look back and REMEMBER times when God has PROVED YOU. You went through some really tough times. And you may have questioned why God allowed you to go through those things. Listen, God was there all of the time. He didn’t do it for Himself, He did it for YOU. Maybe you need to recommit your life to HIM this morning.
Illus: George Foreman is famous for many things: boxing champion, pitchman, grill guru, television celebrity, and, he has five sons. Do you know what their names are? GEORGE. All five are named George. Someone asked him why he named all of his sons after himself and he made a joke, “If you’d been hit in the head as many times as me, you’d make life as simple as possible.” But when a guy really pressed him for an answer this is what he said,
“I named my boys George because I want them all, everyone of them, to REMEMBER who their daddy is.”
You see, George’s father was never around when he was growing up. George Foreman wants to be THE FATHER that he never had.
It seems like there’s more and more people today that are SO INTENT for PLEASURE. And some of the things they want, there’s nothing wrong with. But what happens, those PLEASURES BECOME the most important thing in LIFE. And GOD and HIS WILL come in 2nd place, 3rd place ... Our PRIDE and LUST for PLEASURE become our god, our father. And it’s a father that we can never please, always wanting more.
But as Christians, we are called to be a part of the family of God, and we can KNOW and REMEMBER who our Daddy is.
Listen, wherever you’re at with Jesus. Maybe you’ve never met Him or you need to reconnect, you can make a MEMORY that you will never forget this very morning. He stands waiting for you with open arms. LET’S PRAY
