This book
opens with God’s people in the wilderness preparing to enter the promised
land—do you get a feeling deja-vous?
We’ve been here before—at the beginning of Numbers. However in Numbers a whole generation of
adults[2] failed
to trust God and enter the land, so they died in the desert. Now we are preparing for entry again.
On the plains
of
Sermon 1 ‘The One and
Only’ (chapters 1:5-4):
The first and
shortest sermon begins in chapter 1 verse 5.
In this Moses spends a lot of time reminding them of what has been
happening during their time in the wilderness.
Despite the fact that God had preformed miraculous signs among them the
people had refused to believe that he could conquer the inhabitants of
Moses reminds
them of these things to highlight what God is like. To show them how God does things—so that they
might know who it is that they are dealing with. In chapter 4 comes the most important thing
they are to know about God—he is ‘the One and Only’: . . . ‘the LORD is God;
besides him there is no other’ (NIV) (
Sermon 2 Part 1: ‘God who takes the initiative’ (chapters
5-7):
The second
sermon, which begins in chapter 5, is the longest by far. It has, however, a simple structure: after
telling them more about the LORD, Moses focuses on how they should respond to
him. With this in mind we are going to
divide the sermon in two.
It opens by reminding them
that their relationship with God is the result of God’s initiative. It was God who rescued them from
As in Exodus, the Ten Commandments are introduced here with a reminder of what God has already done for them (5:6). Their obedience to these commands is not what will save them. God has already saved them! Their obedience is to be their response to his salvation.
But why did
God save them? What prompted him to take
the initiative? Deuteronomy 7:6-9:
For you are a
people holy to the LORD your God. The
LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to
be his people, his treasured possession.
The LORD did
not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than
other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and
kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a
mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of
Pharaoh king of
Did God choose
them because they were an impressive nation of people? No!
Quite the opposite, they were insignificant. He simply loved them because he loved them,
and because he is the God who is faithful to his covenant promises.
When we think
of our salvation we remember that God took the first step. He rescued us from slavery—a second Exodus, on
the cross freeing us from slavery to sin.
He has loved us even though we have done nothing to deserve that
love. Rom. 5:8 . . ‘God demonstrated
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’
(NIV). He did not set his love on us
because we were impressive or faithful, we were weak and rebellious. To the Christian he says, ‘I love you not
because you are better, or wiser, or more attractive, or more impressive than
anyone else. I simply love you because
in grace I choose to love you. Nothing
can separate you from my love.’
Sermon 2: Part 2,
Response: ‘Trust and Obey’ (Chapters 6-28)
Ch. 6 tells us
that there is really only one fundamental response that
God has
demonstrated his awesome love for them.
He has been committed to them through thick and thin. Despite the stubbornness of his people he has
stuck with them. Yes, God disciplined
them—he did it to wake them up to themselves.
He never stopped wanting the best for
The remainder
of the second sermon spells out the behaviour that is to demonstrate their love
for the LORD. Their love is to be shown
in trust and obedience.
For example in
chapter 8, Moses points to LORD’s provision of manna. It should have taught them that God can be
trusted. Every day they had to trust God
to feed them, and not once had he failed them.
Now as they prepared to enter the land they were to trust God, and once
in the land—enjoying its luxuries, they were not to forget that everything
comes from God.
At the start
of chp.11, Moses takes another lesson they should have learned from their time
in the wilderness—a lesson to teach them the importance of obeying God. Dathan and Abiram treated God with contempt
and were literally swallowed up by the earth (see Numbers 16:1-35). Through such events God reminds the people
that obedience is important—as is spelt out in the rest of that chapter.
The rest of
the second sermon is heavy going. It
contains lots of specific ways they are to obey God once in the Promised
Land. Their diversity reminds us that
every aspect of life is relevant to God.
Some of them are extensions of the Ten Commandments, applying their
principles for a new setting. Many are
designed to be a reminder of God’s absolute holiness.
But what about
us, are we to follow all the commands that are given here? We have looked at this already in our Bible
overview. The laws Moses gave to
However, that
does not mean that these verses are irrelevant.
When we read them we should look behind the law and consider what aspect
of God’s character it is referring to.
For example, many of the laws relate to God’s concern for the needy—as
we read them we remember that God is merciful.
One last thing
about obedience before we move on to the third sermon:
Sermon 3: ‘Happily ever
after?’(Chapters 29-33):
As we reach
the third and last sermon the unimaginable is about to happen—Moses is going to
die. He was the leader God used to bring
them out of
In this last
sermon Moses presents them with a choice.
It is a choice that all of Deuteronomy has been presenting to them. Are they going to follow God when they enter
the Promised Land? It’s a choice between
life and death; between God’s way and their own way.
If they choose
God’s way it will be like
In the last
chapters we see what
So a book that
began with such hope—a new generation about to enter the Promised Land, ends in
disappointment—
These
questions point us to Jesus. For on the
cross Jesus broke the grip of sin in our lives.
On the cross Jesus opened up the way for us to be forgiven by God and
become his obedient children. Moreover,
Jesus’ followers have the Spirit living within them, enabling us to put to
death our sinful nature.[6]
Conclusion:
The LORD is
the one and only. Who or what else is
there that should command our greatest loyalty?
The LORD is
the gracious God, who rescued his people from slavery in
The LORD has
rescued us from something worse than slavery in
[1] A lot of this sermon used material adapted
from Bryson Smith, The One and Only.
Interactive Bible Study available from www.thegoodbook.co.uk
[2] With the exception of Joshua and Caleb.
[3] Bryson Smith, The One and Only, p.
13.
[4] Bryson Smith, The One and Only, p.
16.
[5] Bryson Smith, The One and Only, p.
33.
[6] Moses had seen that a radical work was
necessary in the heart was needed (Duet. 30:1-10).
J. G. Millar,
‘Despite all that God has done for his people, they will surely disobey. Moses however, goes on to anticipate the later
prophetic discussions of the ‘new covenant’ [e.g. Jer. 31-34]. The grace which God has shown to
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