“The God of the Law (Deuteronomy 4:1-40)", Will DuVal | 2/8/26
Deuteronomy 4:1-40 | 2/8/26 | Will DuVal
My daughter’s class is currently memorizing the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility… [etc.] do ordain and establish this Constitution…”
The preamble to a legal, governing document tells you a lot about not only its PURPOSE - to form a Union, establish Justice, insure Peace - it also introduces you to the PERSON behind the contract - “We the PEOPLE”. That’s the real GENIUS of America’s Constitution; LOTS of governments claimed to exist to promote justice and peace, but only ONE actually entrusted the POWER to do so in the PEOPLE.
Well this morning, in Deuteronomy ch4, we’re gonna be looking at the preamble to GOD’S “founding legal document” with HIS Old Testament people, Israel, namely, the LAW. And this preamble will indeed introduce us to the PURPOSE of the 22 chapters of Law that will follow, chs5-26 of Deuteronomy: they exist to promote LIFE for God’s people (v1), to GUIDE them (v2,), give them WISDOM and understanding (v6), to promote righteousness and justice (v8), to WARN them against disobedience (vv23-24). But even more than the Law’s PURPOSE, we are introduced to its PERSON here: “The GOD of the Law”.
You and I are prone to reduce the Law to just a list of “Do”s and “Don’t”s. But God - through his messenger Moses here - is gonna remind us why the Law is so important in the first place… and so personal: because of WHOSE Law it is. It’s HIS. And before we can fully appreciate the Law, we must first learn to appreciate the God of the Law. That’s really God’s PRIMARY purpose in giving us the Law: even more than regulating our behavior, God is REVEALING His BEING to us; He gives us a glimpse of His HEART, in His Law.
And we’re gonna learn LOTS about God in the weeks and months to come - like I said, 22 chapters worth of laws ahead of us. But this morning, in the Preface, we learn 4 vitally important - arguably the 4 MOST important - traits of God, we’re introduced to right up front here.
So let’s begin by READING it together: ch4; I invite you to STAND… Deut 4:1-40; Hear the word of the Lord:
““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?
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.
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.
25 “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, and 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 soonutterlyperish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterlydestroyed. 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.
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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.””
This is the word of God…
As I said, this Preface introduces not ONLY the Law’s PURPOSE but it’s PERSON, the God BEHIND the Law: YAHWEH. That is God’s personal name; every time you see the word “LORD” written in all caps in the Bible - as it is 29x in these 40 verses - that’s a placeholder for the name of God - YHWH - that the later translators and scribes considered too HOLY to even WRITE, or speak. But that almost obscures the whole point of this passage, in which God Himself DOES remind His people of His personal, covenantal name here, YHWH - 29 times! - because God wants to get PERSONAL with us, and REVEAL himself TO us here. And specifically, God wants us to know 4 massively important things about Him, before He ever gives us a single commandment to follow; you better know WHO you’re following first.
Who is GOD? Well, for starters, 1) The Law shows us that God is CARING. (vv1-10) He’s CARING.
And God DEMONSTRATES His care here, in these opening 10 verses, in 10 ways:
First, God shows His care by 1) SPEAKING (v1).
God SPOKE to Israel - v1 - through His “statutes and rules”, and called them to “LISTEN”, shema. So too today, God speaks to us through His word, the BIBLE.
He didn’t HAVE to speak to us at all. He could’ve created Adam & Eve and let ‘em try and figure it out on their own. God didn’t have to speak to NOAH, and tell him how to survive the Flood. He didn’t have to speak to ABRAHAM, and call him to father the nation of Israel. God didn’t have to speak to MOSES in the burning bush, and call him to RESCUE Israel. And God didn’t have to speak THROUGH Moses, to record all of it for us in the Scriptures, that WE might know Him still today. But God SPEAKS to us, because He CARES.
The only question is: “Do WE care enough… to LISTEN? Jesus urged us 8x in the Gospels: “He who has ears, let him hear!”
And the Hebrew word “shema” means more than simply “HEARING”; it means “DOING”. The NT writer James calls us to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (1:22). I heard one pastor put it THIS way: “The only part of the Bible you TRULY believe is the part you obey” (Raymond McHenry, cited in Fernando, Deuteronomy, p116).
So how much do YOU believe? How much do you OBEY?
God cares enough to SPEAK to us through His word; do WE care enough to LISTEN, to STUDY, to internalize, and to OBEY?
Second, God shows us He cares by 2) BLESSING us (v1).
He says, “I’m SPEAKING these commands that you may LISTEN… and by LISTENING, that you may OBEY… and by OBEYING you may enjoy my BLESSINGS of LIFE and LAND - v1b: “that you may LIVE and take possession of the LAND I’m giving you”.
So too, Church, does God prove His care for us by BLESSING us with even BETTER life and an even BETTER land: ETERNAL life in HEAVEN! Ephesians 1 promises that God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (v3); Jesus promised “Whoever believes in [me] has eternal life” (Jn 3:36). He said, “I am ‘going to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.’” (Jn 14:3) And of THAT place, God declares, “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor can the heart of man imagine, what God has prepared for those who love him” - “You can’t even FATHOM the blessing I have waiting in store for you,” God promises (1 Cor 2:9). That’s how much I care for you.
Third, God shows us He cares by 3) PRESERVING for us the purity of his word.
V2: “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it”
Proverbs 30 vv5-6: “Every word of God proves true; [So] Do not add to his words”.
Revelation 22:18-19 “I warn everyone who hears the words of… this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book… God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city”.
But unfortunately, there’s a LOT of adding and subtracting going on with God’s word in our day.
One party wants to ADD things like capitalism and nationalism;
The OTHER wants to take AWAY the Bible’s condemnations of homosexuality and abortion.
Some churches - who promote the “PROSPERITY gospel” - want to ADD “health, wealth, & happiness” in THIS life to God’s list of promises to you.
Other churches - of the “Attractional” ilk - want to TAKE AWAY the sting of what the Bible teaches about SIN and HELL, lest they scare away unbelievers.
But friends, God CARED enough not only to GIVE us His word, but to WARN us against taking SCISSORS or GLUE to it; we do not EDIT out OR introduce INTO the Bible, the parts that we may or may not LIKE - OUR opinions are immaterial; it’s HIS word. “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim 3:16). OUR job is simply to LISTEN and obey.
Fourth, God cares enough to 4) DISCIPLINE us, when we’re out of line.
V3: “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor”. Back in ch1, Moses reminded Israel of their fathers’ faithlessness at Kadesh Barnea, refusing to go in and fight and take the Land like God told them to in Numbers ch14. NOW, Moses skips ahead to retell the account from Numbers 25 of Israel’s “WHORING with the daughters of Moab” - intermarrying with them, “bowing down to their gods” (25:1-2). And what was God’s RESPONSE?
V3: “the Lord your God destroyed… all the men who followed the Baal of Peor.”
Friends: God LOVES us enough - He CARES enough - to DISCIPLINE us. Hebrews 12 says, “the Lord disciplines the one he loves… For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness” (vv6,10).
God is too LOVING and too GOOD to simply turn a blind eye to our SIN.
It finally warmed up enough a couple days last week that we could go out and play in the yard again. So we were throwing the ball for the dog, and at one point BO threw it too far, and it rolled out of our driveway and into the street. So I watched to see what he would do, and sure enough, he ran down the driveway, closer and closer and just before he stepped foot in the street, I SCREAMED, “BO! NO!” And he jumped about a FOOT in the air and a foot BACKWARDS, and started CRYING. He was terrified. So I hugged him, but I also reprimanded him; I explained WHY I had to scare him like that. Can you imagine how UN-loving I’d have to be, to see him running toward the street, and decide, “Eh, I don’t wanna YELL at him; that might SCARE him…”, with a car coming.
No, friends, God GIVES us boundaries for our good, and He ENFORCES those boundaries for our good.
Fifth, God shows His care by PROTECTING us.
V4: “But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.”
He disciplines those who rebel against Him, but PROTECTS those who hold FAST.
Ps 138:7 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand… and deliver me.”
Ps 5:11 “let all who take refuge in you rejoice… [you] spread your protection over them”
What beautiful PROMISES of God for us!
Sixth, God cares for us by TEACHING us (v5) & and GUIDING us through His Law (v6a; v8).
He provides TEACHERS for us, like pastors, or MOSES here: “See, I have taught you the statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me” (v5).
And God USES His commandments to GUIDE us in the way we should go; v6: they “will be your wisdom and your understanding”.
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
Psalm 23: “He leads me in paths of righteousness”; that’s v8 here: “what other nation has statutes so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”
Again, God didn’t HAVE to make MORALITY so clear to us. He didn’t HAVE to teach us right from wrong, the way of LIFE to pursue and the way of DEATH to avoid.
But God gives us His Law to instruct and guide us, because He is CARING.
#1G (guess I’ll switch over to the LETTERS to match your slides, but): God proves He CARES about us by EMPLOYING us in His wider mission to seek and to save the lost (v6b). See, God doesn’t JUST care about Israel; He cares about all the OTHER nations as well, and He wants to use His Law (and Israel’s adherence to it) as a WITNESS to them. v6b now; he says: “Keep [my commands] and do them… 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.’”
“These Christians, they might be ON to something, with this whole ‘sex is reserved for marriage’ thing, since those who KEEP it that way report the highest satisfaction rates, and they STAY married longer. What a wise and understanding people.”
“And how about that “LOVE your ENEMIES” statute; MAN, the world sure could use more of THAT these days, couldn’t it?” You know Jesus INVENTED that one! And to the extent that we, His people DO it - love our enemies - “in the sight of” unbelievers, they will SEE us as a “wise and understanding people”. Jesus said, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:16)
1H: God proves He cares by DRAWING NEAR & LISTENING to us (v7)
“what great nation is there”, v7, “ that has a god so near to it as YHWH, our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?”
James 4:8 “Draw near to God [in OBEDIENCE], and he will draw near to you.”
Ps 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him… in truth.”
And when we DO call on him in TRUTH, here is His promise: “the ears of the Lord are… open to the prayers of the righteous”, 1 Peter 3:12.
So Peter invites us to “Cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you.”” (1 Pet 5:7)
1i now - God cares enough to EXHORT us (v9a).
“take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that you’ve seen, [the commands that you’ve heard], lest they depart from your heart”.
Maybe some of US need that exhortation this morning.
Are YOU “taking care” to “keep your SOUL diligently”? We’ll keep our BODIES diligently - we count calories, count steps; we spent 68 BILLION dollars in this country last year on beauty products & cosmetics!
How about our SOULS? 1 in 5 people don’t think we even HAVE one! (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/spiritual-beliefs/ ) Did you know that the statistics for weekly GYM attendance in our country are pretty much IDENTICAL to those for weekly CHURCH attendance - only about 20% for both. Sure, go to the gym; the Bible acknowledges that “bodily training is of some value”; BUT, it emphasizes “godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for both the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Tim 4:8) You won’t be taking your BODY with you to Heaven (if that is in fact where you’re headed…); what state will your SOUL be in? So, 1 Timothy 4 exhorts us, “train yourself for godliness”. We gotta get in the SOUL gym!
85% of Americans had an annual sit-down check-up with their primary care physician or health professional last year
(https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/physician-visits.htm ); you know how many come in for check-ups with their SPIRITUAL care provider? How many West Hills members sat down with me to discuss the state of their SOULS? It ain’t 85%! And your soul is ETERNALLY more important than your body. Maybe you need a ‘tune up’; let’s talk…
Are you taking CARE of it? “Keeping it, DILIGENTLY”?
“Lest you FORGET”, Moses adds, “the things that you’ve seen”. Later in Deuteronomy Moses will remind Israel of the various FESTIVALS they’re supposed to keep annually. And each of them recalls and celebrates a different PROVISION of GOD at some point in Israel’s past: His provision of a SACRIFICIAL LAMB, that their firstborn sons might be spared - “Passed Over” - during the 10th plague in Egypt; God’s provision of PROTECTION and His PRESENCE with them, during their 40 years in the wilderness, commemorated in the festival of BOOTHS; His provision of the annual HARVEST, celebrated at PENTECOST.
All these HOLIDAYS, literally “holy days”, to make sure Israel never FORGOT all the things God had DONE for them.
And I know we’ve got Christmas and Easter and Good Friday. But Church, we need to remember and celebrate what God has done for us in CHRIST way more often than THAT, once a year. We come WEEKLY to the Lord’s table, to “take and eat… in remembrance of Him,” Jesus’s sacrifice for us.
May we not let his commands “depart from our hearts all the days of our lives.” We need to commit his word to memory; the very first thing JOSHUA is gonna do, after he takes over for Moses - Deuteronomy ends with Moses climbing Mt. Pisgah and DYING; the book of Joshua opens with God instructing Joshua to PICK UP that copy of the Law that Moses just finished transcribing, and God says “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous” (1:8).
May that be true of US, Church. May we SPEAK God’s word, MEDITATE on God’s word, DO God’s word… that our ways may be prosperous.
Lastly, for trait #1 anyway: God shows us He cares by 10) ENTRUSTING us with the responsibility of SHARING His word with FUTURE generations as well (vv9b-10).
God doesn’t just care about US, enough to give US His word; He cares enough about our CHILDREN and our CHILDREN’s children to command us to pay it forward to THEM too:
“Make them [God’s words] known to your children… how the Lord said at Horeb, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words… and teach their children so.’”
God cares enough to entrust us with that sacred responsibility, parents, grandparents; do WE care enough to DO it, to TEACH our kids. Listen: if they’re only getting it taught 75 minutes a week, when you’re here on Sunday mornings, that’s exactly how important it will be to them. 75 minutes is approximately 1% of your child’s waking hours each week. If God’s word is ONLY a “church” thing for your kids, it’ll be 1% of their life.
That’s why in a couple weeks, in ch6, Moses is gonna exhort us to “teach [these words] diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and… write them on the doorposts of your house” (Dt 6:7-9).
You shall LIVE God’s word, that your children might know: God’s word IS LIFE.
So the Law shows us that God is CARING, #1.
But it ALSO shows us, SECONDLY now, in vv11-24, that God is HOLY. (vv11-24)
What does it MEAN for God to be HOLY? THREE THINGS we see in these 14 verses: God’s holiness means He is 1) SACROSANCT, He is 2) Set APART, and He is utterly 3) SIN-intolerant.
First, God is sacrosanct. “extremely sacred or inviolable; not to be entered or trespassed upon” (v11). Hence, the BURNING, violently-shaking mountain that Moses reminds them of in v11 that HE had to climb to MEET with God to receive the Law, back in the second half of the book of Exodus, but that functioned like a giant “KEEP OUT!” sign for the REST of Israel. God said, “whoever so much as TOUCHES the mountain, other than YOU, Moses, shall surely DIE”; I’m too HOLY, and this people is too SINFUL.”
Second, God is HOLY cuz He’s “set apart”. That’s what the Hebrew word “holy” literally means: “one of these is NOT like the others”. God says: it’s ME! I’M not like ANY-one or any-THING else, in all of Creation. I am Crea-TOR. So don’t you dare try and REDUCE me to a mere created thing. That’s the thrust of vv12-20 here; God is warning us against IDOLATRY.
“I SPOKE to you at Sinai,” v12, “but there’s a REASON that you couldn’t SEE me”; you “saw no form; there was only my voice”. And the REASON is, as Moses was informed when he ASKED to see God in Exodus 33, “Sorry Moses; man CAN not see me and live! I’m too HOLY!”
“SO,” God warns us now in vv15-20, “don’t WORSHIP me like the things you CAN see and touch” - animals, birds, fish… the sun, moon, stars… don’t make “ANY carved image” to represent me; that’s commandment #2 in God’s Top Ten: no idols. Why?
I’ll quickly mention a FEW reasons, but we’ll discuss it more next week when Moses actually RESTATES the 10 Commandments, in ch5. But God hates idolatry because…
FIRST off, it elevates OTHER (created) things to a place that’s supposed to be reserved for God ALONE. That can be stone or wood figurines, if you lived 3500 years ago, or it could be your family, your work, your bank account today.
Second, idolatry inverts the created order. God created US in HIS image, that we might serve HIM; idolatry attempts to re-make god in OUR image, so that He’ll do OUR bidding. We like “gods” we can see and touch and CONTROL.
Third, why does God SPEAK but not APPEAR? Why does he give us His WORD, and not His VIDEO? It’s not just cuz the technology wasn’t there 3,500 years ago; if God had wanted us to have VIDEO of Him, I’m pretty sure He could’ve pulled it off. But why His WORD?
Because He calls to walk by FAITH, and not by SIGHT. And “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17)
Our God is SET APART. So “those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”” (Jn 4:24)
There’s so much more to say; why does v19 almost make it sound like “God ALLOTTED” things - idols - for people to “bow down” to and “serve”? It almost reads that way. There are SO many questions - I’ve been really disappointed with the “After the Sermon” questions recently, and the “Ask the Pastors” ones too - did you know we have PODCASTS here, TWO of them. If you’re only being taught God’s word 45 minutes a week, it’ll be less than 1% of YOUR life.
But third, God’s holiness, means He is utterly sin-intolerant - God will not tolerate SIN (vv21-24).
Not MOSES’s - v21: “the Lord was angry with me”, after Moses hit the rock in Numbers 20, when God had told him to speak to it; you say, “Well THAT seems harsh! To BAN this otherwise pretty great guy from getting into the Promised Land for losing his TEMPER once… to allow all of CREATION to be WRECKED because one couple took one bite of this one FRUIT…”
But friends, that’s because we don’t have one HINT of just how HOLY the Lord God truly is. He will not - CAN not - tolerate sin; “evil may not dwell with [Him]”, Psalm 5:4; Isaiah 59:2 says, “your sins have made a SEPARATION between you and God”.
Because, to bring it back to v24 here, “the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Imagine your spouse called you tomorrow and said, “Sorry, honey, I’m gonna be home late - if I come home at all! - I’ve got a hot date”. Now imagine how GOD feels every time we SIN. He is JEALOUS; God refuses to SHARE us; “my glory I give to no other”! (Isa 42:8).
And yet, how often do WE give His glory to others? That’s what Moses predicts in vv25-28 now: “you [WILL] act corruptly by making [and worshiping] IDOLS, by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord… so as to provoke him to anger”. And God promises to PUNISH sin; His holiness DEMANDS it: “the Lord will scatter you among the peoples”, v27.
But here’s the GOOD news of vv29-31: God is MERCIFUL. (vv25-31)
“But you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and all your soul… you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget [you]”.
Do YOU need that reminder this morning? Maybe you feel too far gone; “Pastor, you don’t KNOW the things I’VE done, in MY past… in my PRESENT! The sin I am CURRENTLY battling, ensnared in…” – “SEEK the Lord… with all your HEART… and you will FIND him… RETURN to the Lord… obey his voice. For He is a MERCIFUL God”.
“What love could remember, no wrongs we have done
Omniscient all-knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea, without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more”. Praise the Lord!
Fourth, and lastly this morning: 4) The Law shows us that God is FATHER. (vv32-40)
Vv32-40 sort of summarize, synthesize… EMPHASIZE everything prior. But consider with me, in closing, the PICTURE we are left with here of God: I see TEN TRAITS in these 9 verses. I know, “in closing… TEN sub-points”! But I just want to NAME them for you, in the text itself:
-God is PERSONAL (“Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking” to them… “as YOU have heard”?)
-God is COMPASSIONATE (“has any [other] god ever gone and taken a nation for himself”, adopted a people, like I did for you, Israel, in your hour of GREATEST need in Egypt?),
-God is PROTECTING (How’d he rescue them? “by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm… all of which the Lord your God did for you”),
-God is REVELATORY (“To you [all this] was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God… Out of heaven he let you hear his voice”),
-God is DISCIPLINING (we’ve covered…),
-God is LOVING (“because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them…”),
-God is PRESENT (He “brought you out of Egypt with his own presence”)
-God is GENEROUS (in order that He might “bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance”),
-God is UNEQUALED (You can only have ONE father! “the Lord is God… there is no other.”),
-And He is KIND (He wants it to “go well with you and your children after you”; He wants to “prolong your days in the land He is giving you for all time.”)
Friends, you put ALL of that together, and what’s the picture we are LEFT with here?
That is the description of a (PERFECT) FATHER.
I don’t know what your Dad was like, IS like.
-Maybe he wasn’t very personal or present; he wasn’t around much, either emotionally or even physically.
-Maybe he didn’t WATCH OUT for you, protecting you, DISCIPLINING you when you needed it.
-Maybe he wasn’t very KIND, compassionate; generous, LOVING.
But you need to know that you have a Father who IS all those things… or at least you CAN have him. “Seek the Lord… with all your heart… and you will find him… RETURN to him”. Your Father is waiting with open arms.