After the Sermon: Deuteronomy 10:1-11:7
3/16/26 | Thad Yessa | DEUTERONOMY: Remembering God's Faithfulness; Responding in Obedience
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Welcome to the After the Sermon Podcast where Pastor Thad answers your follow-up questions and we share your personal applications from the sermon for the benefit of the church. My name is Brian and I'm here with Pastor Thad. Hey everyone. This Monday morning. Thanks for preaching yesterday. I want to remind you with this podcast that sermons are not just a Sunday thing. So on this snowy Monday morning, I guess the snow has stopped. Cold
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On this cold.
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Freezing.
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Monday
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Morning. 60, 70 yesterday, freezing today. Jessica is a question. She wrote in, how do you differentiate between discipline and legalism? As someone who naturally focuses, falls more on the legalistic side at times.
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Yeah. No, thanks for the question, Jessica. I think it's a good one and helpful. So for context, for our listeners. Yesterday we walked through Deuteronomy 10 through chapter 11: seven. And looking at chapter 11, the point was remember God's work, in particular, not just his miraculous saving works for Israel, but also his discipline of the Egyptians and God's punishment towards them through the crushing them with the Red Sea, as well as the rebellion of Korah and how God opened up the earth and swallowed them as a result of their rebellion. And so God's work is discipline. And so how I would differentiate between discipline and legalism, I think discipline has a broader definition that kind of focuses in onto narrow aspects. So when we think of discipline, in some ways we can think of it as correction of God correcting us as a result of our own heiring or as a parent would discipline or correct a child for sinning, for disobeying that will result in if they lie, there is a discipline that's given as well as this aspect of what we refer to as the spiritual discipline of working, instruction, training, sort of aspect.
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And so I think as a whole, we could think of a biblical definition of discipline as moral training, instruction, and correction that leads towards spiritual growth, character development, and Christian maturity. So kind of a bigger definition of it. So how I differentiate between those is really motivation. I would say legalism, a big motivating factor for it is going to be fear of I fear the lack of God's love or I fear my relationship with God or I fear how others are going to view me or I fear you can kind of put in whatever aspect that fear is just a large motivating factor within legalism that's going to be driving you towards this. How can I find some sense of security or comfort? And I know for my own life that when I am most tended towards this desire of legalism or falling into legalism, it's a fear of where my relationship with God stands that if I do more, then God will love me more.
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He will care for me more. He will provide more for me, that it can be a lie, that we so easily are tempted to fall in. Where I would say the motivating factor for discipline, again, either for God towards us or us in our relationship towards God is really love is the greatest motivating factor that we know we are God's children by his discipline, that his loving act of discipline is pushing us towards Christian maturity, pushing us towards holiness, protecting us from greater air, as well as our own discipline towards growing more in godliness. A motivating factor for reading the Bible should be a love for knowing God more. A motivating factor for praying more should be, I want to love God more. I want to grow more in this relationship with him. A motivation for fasting would be, I want to grow in my love for God and his sustaining me even though I am hungry.
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And so discipline in that regards, I would say ultimately is a motivation of love either from God to us and how he's correcting us in our own falling away, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, bring others along to correct us or our own desire to grow in relationship with him. Whereas as I said earlier, legalism is more motivated by a fear base. And so that's how I'd kind of differentiate between those two and- Motivation. When we feel ourselves swinging more towards that legalistic side, I think it's an opportunity to ask, what am I failing to believe about the gospel right now? And for me, it's that Jesus really did all that was necessary for my salvation and that I cannot add anything to it and therefore I am secure in Christ.
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Yeah. That's good. Next one is from Victoria. She wrote in a question, an application. We'll start with the question. She wrote, should we share how God is discipling and correcting us and warned us with others? Or is that only his job?
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Yeah. Thank you, Victoria, for that. I'm going to add in there discipling, disciplining, and correcting, I think all together. And I think we should share how God is doing all of those things to us in relationship with other people. I think for the disciplining aspect of us or the correcting aspect of us, I think of James 5:16, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." Now in context of that, it continues, the prayer of righteous person is powerful and effective. You could make the application that that is when you have sinned against someone else, you go and you confess that sin to someone and that you can pray for each other and find healing.
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Those are application that she wants to find a person to create and cultivate the habit of confession.
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And so I would say that's one aspect. Someone who you've sinned against going and confessing that sin to them. But as well as in general, as we are all imperfect followers of Jesus, that one way we can encourage others and their walk with Jesus is just sharing how it is that God has been working in our own hearts and in our own lives and that is the good. Here are the blessings that I'm receiving from God. I feel really close. My relationship with him, my time in the word has just been really sweet. I've been able to spend more time in prayer. He's been providing opportunities for me to share the gospel with individuals, as well as
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A sharing of a, here's really where my sin struggle is this week. Here's where I have lusted, here's where I've coveted, here is where I have fallen short of faithfully following Jesus. And again, it's not always a big show and should never be motivated of look at me, but a cultivating, honest, really gospel culture amongst ourselves as believers that if we really truly believe the gospel, it means that we can be honest with one another, that we can share the good, the bad, the ugly. And so I think not just should we, but I think part of being a Christian is we have to, in some regards, be open and honest and sharing with one another. Now, I will say it is the Holy Spirit's job to convict us of sin, that he does that work in us. But I also think as well as taking it back to Deuteronomy, end of chapter 10 and into verse 11, Moses clearly saying, "In you, Israelites have seen these things with your own eyes, not your children, indicating that there is a application of you need to remember what has been done to you as well as communicate it with your children." Because they've not experienced this, you yourself need to be the ones to tell them so that it is not forgotten.
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Again, that's a theme continued through Deuteronomy as well as as we get into the book of Joshua at some point in the future of this passing down the truths of God's laws, they're writing it on their hearts and on their heads and on their arms, the Shema, as we looked at a couple weeks ago, God's law, but also just a telling of it to others. And so Moses implicitly implying to them, "Hey, and you need to pass this on to others." And so I think often in the church, we can find some contentment and we'll just share our testimony. And what we mean by that is God's saving work in our lives, our interaction with the gospel where we became fellow sons and daughters of God. But I think more than that, we should also share a testimony of how God is presently working in our lives because our stories are not just, it starts in eternity past, then God saves us and that's the end, but it's an ongoing testimony of God's faithfulness, of his correction, of his disciplining, of his discipling, of his growing, of his sanctifying us.
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And so I think if we're going to really give a testimony of what God has done in our lives, it implicitly means that we have to also share the hard things. I think back to when we were walking through numbers and our wilderness stories, and those weren't all very pleasant stories. Some of those individuals who shared a testimony of still being in the wilderness and it provides an opportunity for the church to lean in and care for individuals, as well as the church to celebrate how it is that God has brought someone through the wilderness. And as we view ourselves as like the Israelites as sojourners waiting to get into the promised land, we should encourage one another along the way.
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That's so good. Yeah. Yeah, the wilderness stories were such a highlight. Yeah. The witness of like, "I know God is good and I haven't seen his plan yet, but I trust him." That's a beautiful thing to share with others.That's really good. Thanks. Lastly, I had an application that I will remember God's mercy. I was just encouraged by the practical ways to remember whether it was his character, his mercy, his works from your sermon. Thank you for that. And that quote, "The place the law was kept was also where mercy was given." Did I remember that right. I'm not sure if I'd ever heard that before.
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Yeah. And
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I- Referring to the- The Arc of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat, the law kept their mercy seat there. I've never considered that.
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Same, just in spending time in the passage. And even the Moses build this arc of Acacia Wood and then knowing, well, other people also built the arc and just a really helpful pairing and thinking of the gospel connection there with Jesus on the cross and another piece of wood that God showed his mercy and law.
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Yeah. You said we're justice and mercy meet. I was like, yeah. It was finished upon the cross?
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It was
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Finished.
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Yeah.
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I love it. Well, thanks for your faithful preaching yesterday. Anything that you'd like to add or ... Yeah, thank you everybody for your questions.
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Yeah. Thank you for the questions. And I think the only thing that I would add, just as Moses called the Israelites, and we were reminded yesterday is to remember,
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Remember
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The Lord and all of his workings and doings and character and let his motivation for loving us be our motivation for loving him.
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Yeah. Amen. Let's remember him today as you seem to be changed and to love God more as you fly God's word after the sermon. So go fly the sermon, remember the Lord, continue to make disciples and Lord willing, we'll catch you right back here next week.