Thru the Bible - #182-Deuteronomy 28 Part 3 - Consequences of Disobedience

Transcript

Welcome And Settle In

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Bereen's Corner, the podcast where we go through books of the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Wherever you are in the world, thank you for joining. Grab a glass of water, a cup of coffee, or tea, and let's get into today's lesson.

Deuteronomy 28 Setup And Scope

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Alright, welcome back and open up your Bible to Deuteronomy 28. Today we will be finishing Deuteronomy 28. We broke this thing down into three sections. And today we will be looking at verses 49 through 68, which will end the chapter. In the first two parts of Deuteronomy, the first section, verses 1 through 14, we uh talked about the blessings at Mount Gerosim, of how the Lord said that he would bless Israel if they obeyed these things. But then verses 15 through 68, the Lord is telling Israel that he will curse them if they don't do these things. Verse 15 said, But it shall come about if you will not obey the Lord your God. So everything that follows from verse 15 to verse 68 has to do with Israel, and this is Israel of the Old Testament. This is not a modern day Israel, this is not uh a new Israel, this is the Israel that Moses was leading. If you will not do these things, then you will be cursed. So today we will be looking at the rest of the chapter, starting at verse 49, and as I mentioned in the other two chapters, because this was a long chapter, we won't be bringing uh the reader in. I will be your reader, and we will actually read through the text as we go.

Calling On God In Truth

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Now, when God's people refuse to listen, this is what happens in these verses 49 through 68, when his people don't listen. Psalm 145 and verse 18 says, The Lord is near unto all of them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. Now, that verse gives us an incredible picture of the grace of God. God invites people to call upon him. His mercy is available, his grace is available, but there is an important phrase at the end of the verse, in truth. That issue is not simply whether someone talks to God. People often start talking to God when their circumstances become painful. People pray when the doctor gives bad news, they pray when the money runs out, they pray when the marriage is in trouble, they pray when their world begins to fall apart. But God is not simply looking for religious words, He wants us to deal with Him truthfully. He wants you to speak truthfully from your soul, from your every being. That means being honest about our sin. It means being honest about our disobedience, it means being willing to admit when God's word says one thing and we have chosen another. Now you see, Israel's problem was not that God had never spoken to them. Israel's problem was that God had spoken clearly and eventually they stopped taking what he said seriously. When Israel entered the promised land, God gave them extraordinary privileges. But over time, they repeatedly wandered into idolatry, immorality, and rebellion. Even then, God patiently gave them opportunities to repent. God warned them, God disciplined them, God sent them prophets, God gave them opportunity after opportunity to turn around, but they continually refused. That is exactly what Moses is warning about here in Deuteronomy 28. Now, earlier in this chapter, Moses explained that the blessings that will come upon Israel when they obeyed the Lord, as I said earlier, verses 1 through 14 of 28. God promised blessing in their homes, their fields, their families, their work, and even in their conflicts with their enemies. Then Moses described the consequences of rebellion.

Why Discipline Often Comes Slowly

SPEAKER_00 4:07

The principle is simple. Obedience places God's people in the pathway of his blessing, while persistence, rebellion, brings the discipline of God. And one thing we need to understand about God's discipline is that it often comes progressively. God does not always bring the severest discipline immediately. That's not always how it works. Sometimes there were warnings first. There may be problems, there may be losses, there may be frustration, there may be physical consequences, emotional consequences, financial consequences, even uh occasional consequences, and certainly spiritual consequences. God gives his people opportunities to recognize what is happening and for them to return to him. See, Paul taught a similar principle to the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 11, 28 through 32, believers were told to examine themselves. Paul explained that some among them were weak, some were sick, and some had even died because they refused to properly judge themselves. Jesus also gave a similar warning to the church at Thyatira in Revelation chapter 2, verses 20 through 23. He gave them an opportunity to repent, but warned that continued rebellion would bring severe discipline. So this principle was not limited to just Old Testament Israel. God loves his people too much to comfortably allow them to continue wandering in rebellion.

The Dashboard Light Illustration

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Let me give an illustration. Think about the warning lights on the dashboard of a car. If the oil pressure light comes on, that light is not your enemy. That light is trying to save the engine. You can put tape over the light, you can ignore the light, you can turn the radio up so you don't hear the engine making noise, but ignoring the warning does not eliminate the problem. Eventually, the engine may be destroyed. God's warnings work much the same way. Sometimes people become angry at the warning instead of dealing with what the warning is revealing. Deuteronomy 28 is God's warning light. God is telling Israel, do not ignore, do not ignore, do not ignore my word, do not continue down this road, because eventually there will be consequences you cannot reverse.

Foreign Invasion And Lost Security

SPEAKER_00 6:24

And beginning in verse 49, Moses describes some of the most severe consequences in the entire chapter. Moses warns God's people that if they refuse to obey God and His Word, God can allow godless people and powers to dominate them, control them, and scatter them. See, God is patient. Now I'm talking to you, but that definitely hits in my life. God has been very patient with me, He has been very merciful, and God does give opportunities to repentance. But God's patience should never be mistaken for approval. I know I've had that problem in my life. You know, sometimes not necessarily that you see it as approval, but sometimes when the Lord uh allows something to go on, you take it as if, oh well, the the the Lord is okay with it. That is not the case. If his people continually reject his correction, there eventually comes a point when the discipline becomes extremely severe. Moses gives Israel three major warnings in this section. The first is if God's people refuse to obey him, God will rapidly bring a godless foreign nation to dominate them. And he talked about that in verses 49 through 58. There are nine facts Moses gives concerning this judgment. The first is the nation will come from a great distance. Notice verse 49. The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar. Moses says, The Lord shall bring a nation against you from afar. Remember who had uh given Israel this land. God gave them the land. This was the land God promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. God had defeated Israel's enemies. God brought Israel across the Jordan. God gave Israel cities they had not built, vineyards they had not planted, and houses they had not constructed. But the same God who gave them the land could remove them from it. That teaches us something important about the sovereignty of God. God is not limited to geography. God can move nations, God can raise governments, God can bring down governments. In Daniel chapter 2 and verse 21, God says that uh God changes the times and seasons and removes kings and establishes kings. Israel needed to understand that their security ultimately depended upon God. And that right there in Daniel is something that we need to remember too is that God is the one who put kings in their place. So when some of you are going around and you're rebellion, you're talking about who you like or who you don't like. If you are a believer, you need to remember that it's God who puts that king in his place. Which brings us to the second fact: the nation will come quickly. Deuteronomy 49 says, From the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand. Moses compares this invaded nation to an eagle swooping down upon its prey. Once God's judgments begin, events could they could move very rapidly. Years of appearance stability could disappear very quickly. Jeremiah later, uh he later used similar imagery concerning Babylon. Behold, he shall fly as an eagle and shall spread his wings over Moab. Jeremiah 48 and verse 40. For years people may believe that everything will continue as it always has. Then suddenly everything changes. That is why God's people must deal with sin before the consequences arrive. Fact number three The nation will speak a language Israel did not understand. Notice verse 49. A nation whose language you shall not understand. Israel would hear foreign soldiers giving commands in a language they could not understand. Imagine the humiliation. These were God's covenant people living in the land God had given them, yet foreigners would be given orders. This would be a dramatic reversal of everything Israel had experienced. God was warning them if you refuse to listen to my voice, eventually you may find yourself hearing the voice of foreign rulers. Which brings us to the fourth fact. Notice verse 50. A nation of fierce continuance who shall have no respect for the old nor show favor to the young. This invading power would not demonstrate compassion. Age would not protect anyone, youth would not protect anyone, social status would not protect anyone. One indication of a spiritual decline of a society is the loss of respect for human life. When a culture becomes comfortable harming the weak, the elderly, the children, the unborn, or anyone unable to defend themselves, that should never be interpreted as spiritual progress. God values human life because humanity was created in his image. We learned that in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27 that we were all made in the image of God, which brings us to fact number five. The nation will consume Israel's possessions. Notice verse 51. Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. Their livestock would be taken, their crops would be taken, their grain would disappear, their wine and oil would disappear. Everything Israel had work to produce could be consumed by someone else. Earlier, God promised that obedience would bring abundance. Now disobedience will produce the opposite. The blessing would be reversed. This reminds us that everything we possess ultimately comes from God. Job understood this when he said, The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Job chapter 1 and verse 21. We should never become so comfortable with God's gifts that we forget the God who gave them. Which brings us to the sixth fact. A foreign nation would conquer Israel's cities. Notice verse 52. And it shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land, which the Lord your God has given you. Israel had fortified cities. They had walls, they had defenses, they had places they believed could protect them. But Moses says those defenses would not ultimately save them. The tragedy is that Israel could begin trusting the walls God had allowed them to build instead of trusting the God who had protected them. Psalm 127 and verse 1 says, Except the Lord keep the city, the washman, wicked, but in vain. See, a wall cannot protect you if God has removed his protection. Plain and simple. Money cannot protect you. Political influence cannot protect you. Human strength cannot protect you. The safest place for God's people is always walking faithfully with God. Which

Siege Horror And Family Breakdown

SPEAKER_00 13:37

brings us to fact number seven. The siege will become so terrible that people will resort to cannibalism. Notice verse 53. Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you during the siege and the distress by which your enemies shall oppress you. Now, this is one of the darkest statements in this entire chapter. Moses says, Conditions would eventually become so desperate that parents would eat their own children. Now that sounds almost impossible, yet scripture records conditions like this during Israel's history. 2 Kings chapter 6 describes cannibalism during the siege of Samaria. Actually, I was just going to um uh mention that, but let's let me turn there. Uh, you don't have to if you don't want. I'm going to 2 Kings chapter 6. I I do want to go over that. Uh, if you want to go there with me, you can, but I figure it might be a little bit quicker if I get there. 2 Kings. Because I want to make a point here. The point is that these things that they're talking about in Deuteronomy 28 actually happened to Israel. They were not future. We thousands of years later down the road prophecies. This happened to Israel. 2 Kings chapter 6. I'm reading verses 28 and 29. And the king said to her, This is uh the siege of Samaria and cannibalism. And the king said to her, What is the matter with you? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son. Also in Lamentations, chapter 4 and verse 10 describes women cooking their own children during Jerusalem suffering. See, God was not exaggerating. He was warning them about how terrible life could become when a nation continually rejected him. Sin always promises more than it delivers. Sin promises freedom, eventually it produces slavery. Sin promises pleasure, eventually it produces pain. Sin promises life, eventually it produces death. Romans chapter 6 and verse 23 says, For the wages of sin is death. Israel was being warned before these events ever happened. Which brings us to the eighth fact. Even a respectable family man would turn against his family. Notice verses 54 to 55. The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile towards his brother, and towards his wife he cherishes, and towards the rest of his children who remain, so that he will not give even one of them away, excuse me, any of the flesh of his children which he shall eat, since he has nothing else left during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you in all your towns. Conditions will become so desperate that normal family affection would collapse. A man who once cared deeply for his family will become concerned only about his own survival. That shows how severe these circumstances would become. See, sin does not only damage an individual's relationship with God, sin damages family. Sin damages marriages, it damages children, sin damages relationships. And when God's restraining and protection hand, protecting hand is removed, society can become increasingly selfish and brutal. Which brings us to fact number nine. Even a refined family woman would turn against her family. Notice verses 56 and 57. The refined and delicate woman among you who will not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for uh delicateness and refinement shall be hostile towards the husband she cherishes and towards her son and daughter, and towards her afterbirth, which issues from between her legs and towards her children whom she bears, for she shall eat them secretly for lack of anything else during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you in your towns. Moses makes the same point concerning women. He describes circumstances so horrifying that even someone who had previously lived a comfortable and refined life would become completely consumed with survival. This is the bottom line of judgment. The nation that once experienced the abundance of God would now experience starvation. The nation that once experienced security would now experience a siege. The nation that once experienced victory would now experience defeat. Why? Verse 58 explained it. Deuteronomy 58 says, If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honor and awesome name, the Lord your God. There are four issues involved. First, they would not carefully obey God's written word. God had given them his law, but they stopped treating it seriously. Second, they would not fear God. Biblical fear means reverence, awe, and recognition of who God actually is. Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Third, they would not honor God. God was no longer receiving the place he deserved in their lives. Fourth, they would no longer reverence his glorious and awesome name. Deuteronomy 28:58 identifies him as the Lord thy God, that is Jehovah Elohim. Israel had begun treating the Almighty God casually, and God's word is never presented as something his people may casually take or leave. If we belong to God, his word must matter to us. If God's people do not honor his word, who then who will? Which brings us to the second

Severe Plagues And Fragile Life

SPEAKER_00 19:34

warning. If God's people refuse to obey God, he can send severe plagues against them. We see this in verses 59 through 62. Now Moses moves from military judgment to physical judgment. And there are five facts that are emphasized in these verses. Fact number one, God can send extraordinary, severe, and lasting plagues. Notice verse 59. Then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants. These will not be ordinary difficulties. Moses describes extraordinary afflictions. Whenever we see disease or catastrophe, we must be careful about claiming that we know exactly why God has sovereignly permitted a particular event. See, we are not God, we do not know everything God knows. But scripture absolutely teaches that God is sovereign over this world. Nothing catches them by surprise. Nothing. Nothing operates outside his ultimate authority. And events that remind us, humanity, how fragile life is, it should cause us to think seriously about God. In Psalm chapter 90 and verse 12, it says, So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Fact number two God can send miserable and prolonged sickness. Notice verse uh 59. Even severe and lasting plagues. Some afflictions would not disappear quickly, they would continue. The words used here describe repeated and lasting physical suffering. This should remind us that physical health is a blessing we should never take for granted. Every morning we wake up with strength, we have experienced mercy. Every breath is mercy, every heartbeat is mercy. In Acts chapter 17, verse 25, God says, It's God that gives us all. He gives us life and breath and all things. Which brings us to the third fact that God could bring back the diseases Israel knew from Egypt. Notice verse 60. He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Now Israel had already seen what diseases look like in Egypt. Y'all remember that? God says, in effect, you remember what I delivered you from. Do not believe that continued rebelling can never take you backwards. See, God. Had delivered Israel from Egypt. They should never have wanted anything connected with Egypt again. Never. Yet, rebellion can bring them back into conditions resembling the very bondage from which God had rescued them from. And make no mistake about that. This is talking about the Egypt that God delivered them out of, the Egypt that is in Northeast Africa. That's that's the Egypt that is talking about. Fact number four. God could bring diseases they had never known. Verse 61 says, Also, every sickness and every plague which not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed. Israel knew about diseases. God knew about diseases they had never encountered. Moses makes the point that God's power extends far beyond man's knowledge. Human beings know only a small portion of what exists. God knows everything. Psalm 147 and verse 5 says, Great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite. There was no medical condition outside of God's knowledge. It wasn't then and it's not now. There was no plague outside of God's sovereignty. Not not a one. He brought them all on. Which brings us to the fifth fact. God will reduce Israel's population. Look at verse 62. Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for uh excuse me, of heaven for a multitude, because you did not obey the Lord your God. See, God had promised to multiply Israel. Remember the promise that God made to Moses back in Genesis chapter 15 and verse 5. His descendants would become as numerous as the stars. But here, God says that rebellion could reverse the blessing. Instead of multiplying, they would decrease. Instead of growing, they would shrink. Instead of abundance, they would be lost. Verse 62 says that although they had once been as numerous as the stars, that they uh would become few. Why is that? Because they wouldn't obey the voice of the Lord their God. Again, the central issue is obedience to God's word, which brings us to the third warning.

Scattering Among Nations And Idolatry

SPEAKER_00 24:11

If God's people refuse to obey him, his judgment can become so severe that he delights in bringing destruction upon them. Verses 63 through 68, we will see this. Verse 63 is one of the most sobering verses in this chapter. Earlier, God delighted to bless Israel. Now Moses says there could come a point when God would delight in bringing judgment against them. Now, this does not mean God suddenly becomes evil. God is holy. Let us always remember that. God's justice is righteous, and it always is. The same holiness that delights in righteousness must oppose persistent wickedness. Israel could continue rebelling until God's righteous judgment was fully unleashed. And there are seven final facts that I want to bring out about this. The first is that God would tear them out of their land. Notice verse 63. And it shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you. The Lord, I mean excuse me, the land Israel occupied belonged ultimately to God. In Leviticus chapter 25 and verse 23, it makes that clear. God had placed Israel there, and God could remove Israel from there. That is exactly what eventually happened. The northern kingdom was taken by Assyria. The southern kingdom was taken by Babylon. Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed, people were taken into captivity. God had warned them centuries before it had happened. Which brings us to the second fact. God would scatter his people amongst the nations. Notice verse 64. Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples. Israel would not simply lose a battle, they would be scattered. They would find themselves living throughout the nations of the world. This dispersion of Jewish people throughout history dramatically demonstrates the seriousness of this warning. They were the people connected with a particular promised land, yet vast numbers would eventually live outside that land. Moses had warned that this would happen. Disobedience would lead to dispersion, which brings us to the third fact. God will permit his people to serve other gods. Hmm. Notice verse 64. From one end of the earth to the other, end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. Now, this is especially frightening. This is a frightening form of judgment. Israel wanted idols. Eventually, God would allow them to experience the consequences of idolatry. Now, you know, I am big on saying that God will give you what you want. I have always said that to my children, and uh I say that to other people I know. God will give you what you want. You know, that has happened to a lot of us in our lives, and that's not always a good thing. You might hear that and think like, oh, well, you know, that that's not that bad, right? No, that's that's not a blessing. God will give you what you want. Sometimes you can pursue things for so long and want things so bad that God will give you the things that you want because those things are gonna destroy you, and those things ultimately can turn you back to God. See, eventually, God will allow them to experience the consequences of idolatry. There is a warning here for us. People can create a God in their image, and boy, do people do this all the time. People, that's another big thing that I like to point out that a lot of people have made a God in their own image. See, you hear a lot of people say, the Lord is good, God is good, uh, they say all these things about God, but a lot of times the God that they're talking about is the God that they made in their image. You know, I've always stressed to my family that when you're talking to someone and someone says that they believe in the Lord, you really need to be very clear of who they're talking about because people are not talking about the same God. Sometimes we watch videos of people, we listen to people. Some of you are listening to me, and what do I always say? Uh compare the things that I say with scripture. You the scripture says to compare scripture with scripture, and what do I always say? Like a good Berean, you should be studying these things every day to see if they're so. Why am I bringing this up? Because sometimes people will create their own God, they were they will create a God that they have made in their image. They uh this is what they say sometimes, my God would never judge anybody. Have you ever heard someone say that? My God doesn't care how I live, my God only talks about love, he's a loving God. My God accepts everything and everybody. The question is not what kind of God would I like to be. The question is, what has the true God revealed about himself in scripture? And that's why you need to learn the Lord in Scripture, not these people talking about the Lord told me to tell you. You need to listen to the God of Scripture. See, it is true that God is love. First John chapter uh four verse eight tells us that God is gracious. In Exodus 34 and 6, God is merciful, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4, but God is also holy. Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 3, God is righteous. Psalm chapter 11, verse 7, God is judged. Hebrews chapter 12 and 23, God is consuming, he's a consuming fire. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 29. We do not have the right to remove the attributes of God that make us uncomfortable. See, true worship requires worshiping God as He actually is, which brings us to the fourth fact.

Restlessness Fear And No Peace

SPEAKER_00 29:59

God would remove their rest. Notice verse 65. And among these nations you shall find no rest. God says they would find no ease among the nations, there would be no settled place of rest. One of God's great blessings is peace. Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse 27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. See, but rebellion produces the opposite. It produces restlessness, it produces instability, it produces anxiety, discontentment. A person can possess money and still have no peace. They can have a beautiful house and still have no rest. They can have success and still be miserable. See, peace is one of God's greatest gifts. Fact number five. Notice verse 65. And there shall be no resting place for you for the soles of your feet, but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart. Their inner life will become dominated by fear instead of confidence, trembling, instead of peace, anxiety, instead of stability, uncertainty. Isaiah chapter 57, verses 20 through 21 compares the wicked to a troubled seed that cannot rest and concludes there is no peace to the wicked. See, a life that continually runs from God will never discover true peace by simply running faster. Lord knows that is so true. The sixth fact is they would consistently fear for their lives. Notice verses 66 through 67. Uh actually we pick it back up in 65 and go through 67. But there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, uh failing of eyes, and despair of soul. So your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall uh you excuse me, in the morning you shall say, Would that it were evening, and at evening you shall say, Would that it were morning, because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. Morning would bring fear, evening would bring fear. They would wake up wondering if they will survive the day. At night they would wonder whether they will survive until morning. That is the complete opposite of the security God wanted his people to enjoy. When God's people walk according to his word, there is a subtle confidence and assurance that comes from knowing we are where God wants us to be. But persistent rebellion destroys that confidence. Instead of assurance, there is fear, instead of stability, there is uncertainty. Instead of peace, there is dread. Which brings us to fact number seven.

Returning To Egypt And Twisted Teachings

SPEAKER_00 32:59

God will bring them back to Egypt in ships. Verse 68. And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships by the way about which I spoke to you. You will never see it again, and there you shall offer yourselves for sale of your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer. This is the final and tragic reversal. Where had Israel started? They started in Egypt. You remember that? Joseph was in Egypt. There came a king that did not know Joseph, and he turned them into slaves, and they were slaves for an actual 400 years. Now, what was Egypt? They had they had bonding in Egypt, they had slavery in Egypt, they had oppression in Egypt. God had miraculously, miraculously brought them out of Egypt. Exodus 12 through 14 records one of the greatest acts of deliverance in biblical history. God defeated Pharaoh, God opened the Red Sea, God brought his people out. Yet Moses ends the chapter by saying that continued rebellion could bring them right back towards the bondage from which they had been delivered. Now that is tragic. And let me point out something here and be very clear. The Egypt that is talking about here is the Egypt that is in Northeast Africa. Some of you might wonder why I do I keep stressing that. Because there is a false doctrine that has circulated, particularly in the United States, over less than 100 years. It is very new that wants people to believe that Egypt is someplace else and Egypt represents someplace else. Moses is talking to Israel about actual Egypt, Egypt in Southeast Africa, not a not a uh symbolic Egypt, not a metaphoric Egypt, but he's talking to them about the Egypt that they came out of, the one that he split the Red Sea to bring them out of. God brings someone out of a destructive life. God gives them opportunities, God gives them truth, God gives them blessing. Then years later, because they continually rejected God's word, they found themselves right back in the kind of bondage God once delivered them from. And where was that bondage? When they were in Egypt. 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 20 through 22 gives us a sobering picture of the tragedy of returning to former corruption. In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1, it also warns us stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. What a terrible thing to be delivered and then live as though you had never been delivered. And that's exactly what Moses has warning Egypt of. One second. Thank you. I had to get a drink of water. That is exactly what they have been delivered from. Now we come to the conclusion.

Repentance Truth And The Final Question

SPEAKER_00 35:59

So, where did Israel go wrong? The answer is repeated throughout this chapter. They stopped taking the written word of God seriously. They would not carefully know it, they will not obey it, they would not fear God, they will not honor God, and they would not honestly face themselves. God had been patient, God had warned them repeatedly, God had given them opportunity after opportunity, but eventually God's patience reached the point of judgment. And before I go on, I cannot speak for you, but I know I have been guilty of that. I know God has given me many of opportunities in my life of this half a century that I have lived. And I didn't always, I'll be honest with you, I didn't always take God upon it. I didn't always praise him and thank him for that. There were times where I actually grieved the Lord and took his uh his patience as a as a weakness. But the beautiful thing about it is that once you repent, the Lord can bring you back. See, that brings us to Psalm chapter 145 and verse 18. The Lord is near unto all of them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. See, God wants truth. He doesn't want spiritual games, but he wants truth. David, he understood this. After his sin, David said in Psalm 51 and verse 6, Behold, thou desire truth in the inward parts. See, God can work with someone who will honestly say, Lord, I was wrong. And that's what we need to remember. Just said, just like David did in Psalm 51, David had committed adultery, David had a man, uh a woman's wife killed to cover up his sin, but yet and still he came to the Lord in repentance and said, What, Lord, I am wrong. God can work with someone who says, Your word is right and I need to change. God can work with someone who confesses sin instead of defending it. First John chapter 1, verse 9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. People, all unrighteousness. You did you hear that? No matter what you've done in your life, God is just and he is able to forgive if you come to him in repentance with an open and clean heart. This is not about just doing wrong and using his word and his promise as like word, you know, as word games. Oh, I'll just ask the Lord to forgive me. No, no, no, no, no. The Lord is looking for a repentant heart, he is looking for you to come and say, Lord, I'm sorry for that thing I did and I give it to you and I ask you to cleanse me. The dangerous person is not merely the person who sins because we all sin. The dangerous position is when someone sins and refuses to honestly deal with God about it. They ignore warning after warning, they explain away scripture, they justify what God condemns, they become comfortable living outside God's will, and eventually God says enough. A lot of us has done that as well. We ignore the warnings and we will explain away scripture. We will try to what we call uh isogete the scripture, isegesis. What it means is that it's when you read into the scripture what you want it to say. You ever heard someone say, God knows my heart? Or you know, uh, you know, you know, they they take scriptures out of context like, well, we all fall short of God's glory. That's what he's talking about here. People try to explain away their sin to try to make it right. Deuteronomy 28 teaches us that God's patience is enormous, but God's holiness is real, his grace is real, his mercy is real, and his love is real, but so is his discipline. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6 says, From whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth. God disciplines his people because they belong to him. So the message of this passage is not live terrified that God is waiting for you to make one mistake. The message is take God seriously, take his word seriously, take sin seriously, take repentance seriously, take obedience seriously. And when God puts his finger on something in your life, don't fight him. Don't wait until the warning becomes discipline, don't wait until the discipline becomes severe, deal with God in truth because the safest, most blessed, most peaceful place God's people can ever be is walking in obedience to the word of God and living in that word. And I have a final question. Is there anything God has already shown you from his word that you have been refusing to deal with? If there is, don't ignore the warning light. Deal with it now. Confess it, turn from it, submit yourself to God's word. Why am I saying this? Because God gives his people opportunities to face the truth, and the wise person responds while the opportunity is still there. And by still there, I mean while the Lord has still while he still has breath in your body.

Closing Encouragement And Prayer Request

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Alright, that brings us to the end of Deuteronomy chapter 28. Now, to be honest, I who knows between now, if the Lord deals with me, I was actually thinking about making a fourth part to this because that Deuteronomy uh chapter 28, verse 68 has been so taken apart, so destroyed by uh modern day people to try to get people to believe that the Israel that is talking about here is a different Israel, that God wasn't talking about the Israel of old, but he's talking about a new Israel, and that is absolutely not the case. So I'm thinking about it, people. You know what? I may do an iron sharpened iron episode and touch on Deuteronomy uh 28 one more time and break it down and tell you why um I have uh held on to this so hard and why you hear heard me saying certain things in it. But for now, that brings us to the end of Deuteronomy chapter 28. As always, I hope you got something out of this scripture. I hope that you learned something. I hope that uh this the scripture spoke to you, and I hope that I did a good job presenting it to you. As always, I ask you to pray for me. Pray for me spiritually, pray for me spiritually, pray for me physically, pray that I stay steadfast in the scripture, pray that the Lord stays a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I enjoy bringing bringing the scriptures to you and pray that the Lord keeps me on these uh that straight, narrow path. And I am doing the same for you. Listen, it means a great, great deal to me that you take time out of your morning, your afternoon, or your evening to listen to me go through the word of God. I appreciate you a great deal. I may not see you on this side of heaven, we may never speak, we may never know each other, but we will get to know each other in eternity. Lord knows I'm praying that every single person that ever listens to this Berean's Corner podcast, I pray that in eternity that we get to see each other and we get to know each other because guess what? We're going to spend eternity together. I am praying for you that you stay steadfast in the scriptures, that you stay in God's word every day. And I pray, like a true Berean, that you are studying these scriptures every day to see if these things that I am saying, that anyone is saying, are so. All right, that brings us to the end of Deuteronomy 28. It was a long chapter, but it's every bit of God's word is always worth it. And as long as you stick with me, we are not gonna skimp on any, not a single verse of this word of God. That is all for now. God bless. Thank you for listening to Berean's Corner.

Subscribe Share Review And Connect

SPEAKER_00 43:30

We appreciate you joining us as we dive into God's word and seek biblical truth together. If this episode encouraged or challenged you, be sure to subscribe, share, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. You can find Bereen's Corner on Buzz Sprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon Music, and more. Let's stay connected. If you have questions, comments, or prayer requests, reach out to us at BereansCorner.buzzprout.com where you can follow along with show transcripts and leave a message in the fan mail slot. Also follow us on YouTube at Berean's Corner and don't forget to subscribe. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep searching the scriptures like a Berean. Stay discerning, stay faithful, and God bless you.