A sermon given to Flinders Park Church 15th September 2019
In chapters 2 and 3, Moses dealt with every possible objection to entering the land. The LORD would help Israel conquer the giants, overcome the fortified cities, and protect the children. The LORD would give them victory. Consequently, there was no need for the unbelief that resulted in the deaths of the earlier generation. In chapter 4, Moses reminds Israel that they are a people in covenant with the LORD. God has given Israel his law and his presence. Moses exhorts the people to obey the law so they may live in the land, to remember what God has done for them in the past and to teach this to future generations. They must not make an idol because God has no form. There is none like the God of Israel.
1 And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? (Deut. 4:1-8 ESV)
In this section of his (book-long) sermon, Moses is preparing the people to be obedient to the covenant stipulations that the LORD set out when they left Egypt. The land that they will be entering is not given to them without condition. Those who live in the land must obey the law of God, given to them so that they know how to be in relationship with him. If the people want to live in the land and not die, then they must set their hearts to obey the law that God has given them. No one is to add or subtract from what God has said to Israel. These are not human commands to be ignored or followed according to whim, but the LORD’s commands.
There is a clear example of what happens when Israel fails to be obedient. This is the incident with the Baal of Peor. Israel was camping in Shittim, getting close to entering Canaan. But “the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor” (Num. 25:1-3 ESV). The leaders of this apostasy, along with the people who worshipped the Baal of Peor, died. But those who held fast to the true God were still alive and listening to Moses give this exhortation. In the context here, “hold fast to the LORD” means be obedient to his law. The point being that obedience to God’s law is required for those who want to live in the Promised Land. Disobedience is the path to death.
Moses gave a third reason for obeying the law of the LORD. The statutes of the LORD are wise and righteous. Thus, if Israel obeyed the laws that God gave them they would be wise and this would be evident to all the peoples them. No other nation has been given such a wise and righteous law. No other nation has a God who comes near like Israel’s God does. Obedience to the law of the LORD would make Israel great among the other nations. Usually when we think about great nations, we measure this by military might or by monetary wealth. But Moses measures greatness by the fact that Israel has a great God, who shares his great wisdom with his people through giving them his law.
As Christians we are not entering the Promised Land but the kingdom of God. Those who want to enter the kingdom of God must know that obedience to God is part of the relationship. This is stated negatively in 1 Cor 6:9-10: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” And again in Gal 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” We are a people in covenant with the living God and he has given us his word to know him and to obey him. We are a people inhabited by the Spirit of God and we thus don’t life as if we are in the flesh. It is important to note that obedience is the result of salvation and not the other way around. (I will elaborate on that point next week).
The gospel may not make sense to the world around us but it is most definitely the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:23). I am not sure in the current climate of Australia that people will see this wisdom unless they have their eyes opened by the Spirit. However, we should have no doubt that obedience to the gospel and its commands is the wisest way to live. No other religion can truly say (indeed I doubt that any claim it) that their god is near to them the way that our God is near to us.
“9 Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess” (Deut. 4:9-14 ESV).
The law God gave to Israel was not just for the generation which would enter the land at that time. It was for all the generations to come. The generation listening to Moses were not necessarily even born when he received the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, so Moses taught the new generation the law. In the same way, they were to teach their children and grandchildren about what God had done and what he had said. Teaching others about the redemptive acts of God and his laws was commanded so that they would not forget. If the people forget about what God had said and done then they would not fear him or obey him.
We have a lot more to remember than Israel did. Not only do we have the records of God’s redemptive acts for Israel, but we also have the incarnation, cross and resurrection to remember. One of the most helpful ways to remember these events and the commands of God is to teach them to the next generation. This includes our children and our grandchildren. This is not always easy if our children don’t want the faith taught to our grandchildren. But it is certainly a good goal and a powerful one. Timothy’s mother and grandmother are a great example in this respect. Paul wrote to Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Tim. 1:5 ESV). Paul understood what effect teaching the next generation about the deeds and words of God has on them. The faith of Timothy was a testament to this.
“15 Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. 23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:15-24 ESV).
Moses enjoins the people to refrain from making any idol to represent the LORD. It is not first of all a command to avoid the other gods of the land, but rather to remember that the LORD has no form. Given that the people of Israel had already made a cast idol and called it God, this is not a hypothetical warning. When Moses was up the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the people of Israel complained to Aaron that Moses was taking too long to come down again. So Aaron melted down everyone’s gold earrings and formed the gold into an idol in the shape of a calf. “Then they said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.’” The people then worshipped the calf, calling it the LORD, and acting like pagans (Exod 32:1-6). This angered the LORD and he threatened to destroy the whole nation (32:7-9).
Why does it matter so much that Israel does not make an idol? How can it hurt if they had something to look at while worshipping God? It is emphasised several times that when God appeared to Israel on Mt Horeb they did not see any form. It is repeated in verses 11, 12 and 15. God has no form. He is utterly transcendent, fearsome and awesome, and way above humans and all of creation. He is wrapped in fire, darkness, cloud and gloom. Any attempt to make an idol to represent the LORD will only diminish his transcendence.
There is an extra warning about looking into the sky and worshipping the sun, moon and stars. Even if Israel was careful to avoid making an idol out of something on the earth, they might be tempted to make an idol out of something in the heavens. All the cultures around them worshipped the sun, moon and stars. Israel knew, however, that the sun, moon and stars were created by their God and made to display his glory. Therefore, it would be foolish to stop worshipping the true God and start worshipping things he created.
It is unlikely that any of us will decide to make an idol in the shape of some person, animal or fish and call it the living God, and probably equally unlikely that we will begin to worship sun, moon or stars. However, it is easy to forget that the God who we worship is transcendent. We feel more comfortable with a god who is finite and therefore manageable. Images of God are fundamentally easily contained and constrained. Often we want to contain God and make him tame and easy to control, as if that were actually possible or even desirable. It is in the nature of sinful humanity to want to keep God from being in control of us. We want to be in control of him. But God cannot be harnessed or contained. He will not be represented by created things. It is amazing, then, that the LORD God, who made the heavens and the earth and is above both, chose to enter his own creation as the baby in the manger in Bethlehem. God may limit himself in that way but it is never for us to attempt to do that to him.
Moses gives a third reason for not making an idol. “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24 ESV). The New Testament agrees with this conclusion (see James 4:5). The writer to the Hebrew cautions, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29 ESV). God is rightfully jealous of any other object of worship. There is no good reason to worship any other god other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we make idols we make our God rightly jealous.
“25 When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (Deut 4:25-31).
Moses here considers what will occur in the future. After the people had entered the land and lived there experiencing God’s blessing, it is quite possible, even likely, that they will worship idols. When that happens they will be cast out of the land and into nations where idolatry is normal. So the people of Israel will get what their choices led them to; they will be forced to worship the gods of the nations instead of their own God.
The first thing to observe here is that our choices have consequences. God knows the true longings of our hearts and often those longings are for gods that are not the true God. If that is what we seek after that is what we will get. Since we don’t have to go into the nations, as we are part of the heathen nation of Australia, it is really easy to be caught up in the worship of idols. If we are not single-minded in our devotion to the true God, we will worship the gods of lifestyle, riches, success and leisure that Australia worships. And that is indeed our punishment. The punishment for idolatry is being forced to worship idols. How quickly we should repent of that sin, knowing that the very sin is itself its own punishment.
But there is also grace in this passage. The Lord is merciful and will bring his people back to true worship. The very punishment of being idol worshippers will bring the people back to desiring the true God and they will turn back to him. This is possible because the LORD does not forget his covenant and does not forsake his own people. This is also true for us. The sheer mercy and grace of the God who has make a new covenant with us, sealed in the blood of his own Son, means that it is always possible to come back to him and to repent of our idolatry.
“32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time” (Deut 4: 32-40).
Moses’ final point in this section is that the God of Israel is not like any other god. He alone revealed himself on the Mountain. He alone rescued a people out of another country to make them his own nation. He alone exerted his power to rescue the people of Israel. There is no other god in any other nation who has acted in the way that the God of Israel has done in rescuing them from Egypt, the land of slavery, and by giving the law from heaven and by giving Israel the land. For this reason, Israel should be obedient to all that God commands them. This is clearly a precursor to discussing the laws and commands which God has given them. These laws are extensive and begin in chapter 5.
We may say something very similar about our obedience to God. Our God is the God of Israel, but what he has done for the church is even greater than what he had done for Israel at this point in their history. Our God is unlike any other god that was ever worshipped. Our God does not just demand things of us but he gave us his own Son. Instead of requiring sacrifice and atonement and hard work to propitiate his anger, he provided the sacrifice himself (2 Cor. 5:19; Rom 3:25; Heb 9:26).
There is no other religion on the planet in which the god who is worshipped did all the work of reconciling people to himself. Every other religion is works-based so that people have to earn favour with their particular gods. But the Christian faith is grace-based because God has done the work on our behalf. Jesus has given up his own life and his own self in order that we might have favour with God. Given this, why would we want to worship any God other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Why would any God but the Trinity be our God?
It is, however, easy to stray from true worship of God and obedience to him and fall into the trap of diminishing God’s glory and holiness or even trying to find satisfaction in a god of our own imagination, not to mention worshipping the idols of our culture. Surely it is time to examine our own hearts to see if we have done any of these things, and then come to our God in repentance to receive his forgiveness. And he does forgive because he is exceedingly gracious.