“Rightly Responding to the Lord (Deuteronomy 26-27)", Will DuVal | 6/7/26
Deuteronomy 26-27 | 6/7/26 | Will DuVal
We were in DC for a family wedding last weekend, and as our friend was dropping us off at the airport to fly home, I was reminded of one of my favorite bits from one of my favorite comedians, Brian Regan, cuz our friend said, “Have a nice flight”, and I instinctively replied, “You too”. “You too; you have a nice flight too, in case you ever fly someday…
The waitress brings your meal: “Hey, enjoy your meal” – “You too! …If you DO eat, enjoy it when you EAT it, if you have a BREAK or something, later…” (“Brian Regan Live”, 1997).
This morning, we’re talking about “Responding RIGHTLY”, and specifically, “to the LORD”. We are at a transition point in the book of Deuteronomy, which we’ve been studying together since January, and which divides up into three sections:
1) In chs 1-4, God called Israel to REMEMBER His (past) faithfulness;
2) In chs 5-27, God calls Israel to RESPOND to His (present) commands; and…
3) In chs 28-34, God’s gonna call them to RELY on His (future) promises.
So this morning, in chs 26 & 27, we’re wrapping up this largest middle section of the book concerning the LAW, by considering now how God wants His people to RESPOND to His Law.
And while the primary emphasis, we’ll see, is on OUR response, we can’t forget that the only reason our response is even POSSIBLE is because of GOD’S gracious, initiating goodness towards us in the first place.
And I do mean “US” - Deuteronomy may have been written TO Israel, but it was written FOR US as well. And we are equally - and actually, even MORE so! - the recipients of God’s grace and kindness, so we TOO ought to RESPOND to Him, therefore, “rightly”, in SIX WAYS.
We’re gonna see SIX BLESSINGS that God bestows on His people here, and in response, six expressions of gratitude that we are beholden to. What do you do when you receive a gift? You say “THANK YOU”. And we’re gonna see six different WAYS that God invites us to do that - to THANK Him - this morning… BECAUSE OF all that HE’S done for US.
First, let’s READ it together; I invite you to STAND with me, as you’re able… Deuteronomy ch26-27; hear the word of the Lord:
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.
5 “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed ANY of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. 18 And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, 19 and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”
ch27:1 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. 2 And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; 6 you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”
11 That day Moses charged the people, saying, 12 “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:
15 “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
16 “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
17 “‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
18 “‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
20 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.’[c] And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
21 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
22 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
23 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
24 “‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
25 “‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
26 “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” This is the word of God…
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#1- First blessing and response:
Because God GIVES GENEROUSLY, we GIVE BACK. (26:1-4)
V1: “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you…” - God is graciously… GENEROUSLY giving the land of Canaan to His people as “an inheritance” - v2: and “you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which… the Lord gives you…” - not ONLY does God give them the land; He brings the RAINS which bring the harvest, the FRUIT-fulness of the land, as Israel’s sustenance as well.
And what does He ASK of them in return?
To give BACK to Him their FIRST-fruits. Put it in a basket, and bring it to the priest, who will “set it before the altar of the Lord”, as their tangible “THANK YOU”.
All of us THINK we’re thankful to God, but our BANK statement reveals exactly HOW thankful we really are. I know I’ve quoted it many times, but it’s like Michael Scott says: “Presents are the best way to show someone you care. It’s like this tangible thing that you can point to and say, ‘Hey man, I LOVE you… THIS many dollars worth.” (The Office, “Christmas Party”)
And how many “dollars worth” does God ASK of us, in response to all that He’s given us?
10%. Skip down to v12: “When you have finished paying all the tithe”; tithe literally means “tenth”. Now, in Israel’s case it was actually MORE than that, because there were actually three DIFFERENT “tithes” they were commanded to bring: 1) a TENTH to support the Levites and priests (Num 18:21), 2) ANOTHER tenth to finance their annual FESTIVALS and tabernacle/temple upkeep (Dt 12:17-19), and 3) a THIRD tithe that we hear about here in vv12 & 13, every THREE years for the POOR. So all total, 23.3% of their income was to be given back.
And while the New Testament doesn’t explicitly command US to “tithe” today, Jesus did COMMEND the Pharisees for tithing (Mt 23:23), and the closest thing we have to a New Testament MODEL of giving is the first church in Jerusalem, who sold ALL “ their possessions and belongings and distribut[ed] the proceeds to ALL, as any had need” (Ac 2:45); not 10, not 23.3… but ONE HUNDRED percent!!
I’m not suggesting that’s necessarily how we’re supposed to give today. But there are at least PRINCIPLES here in Deuteronomy 26 for us to consider when it comes to our giving: SIX of them in vv13 and 14; six subpoints:
First of all, we give DEFERENTIALLY. “Showing submissive respect”. V13: “you shall say… ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house”. Commentator Ajith Fernando explains (Deuteronomy, 571): “The idea is of something that ‘specially belongs to God’... that sticks out as not belonging in [one’s] home… If someone were to SEE it in our home, she might ask, “This belongs to God; what is it doing here?” [Then Fernando offers a personal application] …I sometimes delay giving my monthly gift to our church because I often travel on the weekends. I realize that I need to feel UNEASY when that money is still in my house (, in my bank account).”
Back in September, we asked you to pledge toward our building renovation project. We believe the Lord is calling us to expand and improve our physical building, so that HE can continue to expand and improve our CHURCH, the PEOPLE God is bringing and BUILDING through our ministry. However much you PLEDGED - and of course not everyone is gonna be able to give it all in one lump sum; we purposely gave an 18-month window, to allow for MORE giving over TIME - but like Fernando, we ought to feel just a little “UNEASY” about our outstanding balance, the GAP between what we pledged, and what we’ve actually given; that “sacred portion” that we set apart as “specially belonging to the Lord”, but haven’t yet “removed” from our “house” - our bank - to GIVE to Him… ought to make us feel a bit uneasy.
God takes this seriously. In Malachi 3, God equates our giving financially with our giving SPIRITUALLY; our generosity with our OBEDIENCE; He calls on Israel to, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ [God’s answer: TITHE! He says,] You are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into… my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (3:7-10) So we give DEFERENTIALLY.
Second, we give COMPASSIONATELY; v13b: “moreover… GIVE it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow”, the most vulnerable, at-risk members of society. We’ll return to this point later with blessing #3.
Third, we give OBEDIENTLY: “according to all your commandment ”, I have given. And we’ll return to THAT one with blessing #5.
Fourth, fifth and sixth now; let’s just wrap these subpoints up quickly so we can move ON from giving, but v14: “I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead” – I won’t go into the specifics of these restrictions, but let’s note the PRINCIPLES behind them: we ought to give 4) JOYFULLY, 5) PIOUSLY, and 6) EXPECTANTLY.
Remember “there’s no crying in baseball”, from A League of Their Own? Well Moses says here in v14, “there’s no crying in GIVING”; don’t MOURN while you’re bringing the tithe. “God loves a CHEERFUL giver” (2 Cor 9:7).
He also loves a HOLY giver; “I didn’t set aside my tithe”, v13, “in a state of UNCLEANNESS”.
Finally, God loves an EXPECTANT giver. Offering gifts to the DEAD was a common pagan practice. And they DID it because they thought it might curry some favor with the gods in the afterlife. But Yahweh says, “I am not a God of the DEAD, but of the LIVING” (Mk 12:27). And you don’t have to WAIT for my blessing, superstitiously, because I have PROMISED to “multiply… [to] increase the harvest of your righteousness… [and] enrich [you] in every way to be generous”, 2 Corinthians 9:11. So we give EXPECTANTLY, trusting God not ONLY to bless us, but to bless OTHERS THROUGH our giving.
#2- Because God WORKS WONDERS, we WORSHIP. (26:5-11)
Listen to the audible response God invited Israel to make when they OFFERED their tithes: “‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a great nation.”
Israel’s NAMESAKE, their forefather “Israel”, aka Jacob, was a fugitive outcast - he had to flee to Aram after cheating his brother Esau out of his birthright - he was a fugitive outcast turned lowly REFUGEE - he “went down to Egypt… FEW in number” to escape FAMINE - but God MADE of this outcast, sojourner a “GREAT NATION”.
Why? Because Jacob was a good guy? No, because the LORD is a good GOD! And He loved and CHOSE Jacob, before He was even BORN, Paul tells us in Romans 9: “When Rebekah had conceived children… though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad— but in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of [human] works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older [Esau] will serve the younger [Jacob].” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”” (9:10-13)
A lot of people get hung up on God “HATING” Esau, but the REAL “wonder” is that God loves and CHOOSES ANYONE! Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… Paul, you, ME. “He chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself… through Christ Jesus… to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph 1:4-6).
And their corporate testimony continues on; v6: “And the Egyptians treated us harshly… Then we cried to the Lord… and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction… And [He] brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand”. Not only did God graciously CHOOSE us, He has mercifully REDEEMED us as well, RESCUED us. Colossians 1: “God RESCUED us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption,” (1:13-14) FREEDOM from our OWN bondage; our slavery to SIN.
Third, we are not just “graciously CHOSEN”, not just “mercifully RESCUED”; we are also GLORIOUSLY DESTINED. V9: “And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Now remember: Moses is giving them these instructions BEFORE they’ve actually ENTERED the Promised Land. So too, Church, does God invite US to worship Him for the PROMISE of our better land to come - HEAVEN - even BEFORE we’ve entered into it, because we know that a promise from GOD is as good as DONE. “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again [that’s PAST TENSE; already accomplished! We’ve been born again] into a living hope [that’s FUTURE PROMISE] through the resurrection of Jesus Christ… to an inheritance… kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet 1:3-5).
Church: our God has worked WONDERS for us! And having been graciously chosen, mercifully rescued, and gloriously destined, what is our “right RESPONSE” to God?
V10: “you shall… worship before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given you”.
Let me offer you three - there are ENDLESS possibilities, but I’ll highlight - THREE simple, practical ways we might apply this call to worship in our OWN lives.
First, I know “worship” is MORE than just “singing to God”, but it’s certainly not LESS than that; it ought to INCLUDE that. So I want to encourage you: the NEXT time you sing to God, and EVERY time you sing to Him, let’s sing like we MEAN it.
Like you really BELIEVE that “God is FOR you”...
That He will never “abandon or forsake” you…
That “even when you STUMBLE, God’s love is still SURE”.
Sing like God has DEFEATED Hell and Death for you and now NOTHING can separate you from His love!
That’s not even HALF of the glorious truths we sang in just ONE of our great worship anthems this morning. Why not start EVERY day this next week with a different song of praise? We’ve got a West Hills playlist, of all the ones we sing here; if you get our weekly newsletter, we’ll make sure (Brian) to re-share it with you this week, for ideas.
Second, before you leave today, I want to ask you to submit a prayer request, specifically for a prayer of PRAISE, for “all the good that the Lord has given you”; maybe not “ALL” the good, but pick ONE thing. Listen: it’s an honor, as your pastor, to PRAY for you every week, those of you who submit weekly prayer requests. But I’d be especially blessed this week to “REJOICE” with you in “all the good” the Lord has done for you. I’ve been here 10 ½ years now and I don’t think we’ve ever had a Sunday where the prayers of PRAISE outnumbered the prayers of PETITION. Petitioning - ASKING God for things - is GREAT; He invites us to do THAT too (as a matter of fact, we’re coming BACK to it in point #4 below). But we should also PRAISE the Lord for all that He’s ALREADY given us, done for us.
And THIRD, I want to encourage you to keep the praises GOING, by “rejoicing in all God’s blessings” collectively together with your friends and family this week. Instead of just taking “prayer requests” - petitions - in your life group this week, take PRAISE requests as well. When you pray together as a family before bed, or before dinner this week, try going in a circle and taking turns praising God for one of His “good” blessings; you can make it a GAME, and see how many rotations you can make it through before the food cools off to that perfect eating temperature: yet ANOTHER blessing! 🙂
God is SO good. He is the giver of “every good and perfect gift” (Jas 1:27).
And BECAUSE of it - Because God BLESSES US, #3 - we in turn BLESS OTHERS. (26:12-14)
ESPECIALLY those in greatest NEED: “the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow”. God commands Israel here to offer a tithe every three years “so that they may eat within your towns and be filled”. Obviously they’re not JUST eating every third year; the idea is that they’d collect enough to then be able to care for the poor for the OTHER two years as well.
This passage is often cited, unsurprisingly, by those in favor of state-sponsored social welfare programs - SNAP, WIC, CHIP, SSI, Medicaid, etc. But regardless of your POLITICS, your view of the GOVERNMENT’S role in caring for “the least of these”, what we can ALL agree on - here in the CHURCH, anyway - is that WE are called to care for them; the CHURCH has a role to play. “I was hungry ,” Jesus said, “and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger [a FOREIGNER] and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you [cared for] me… As you did it for one of the least of these my brothers, you did it for me.’” (Matt 25:35-40)
I tend to believe the politicians encroached on the CHURCH’s territory, in “caring for the least of these”, but in their defense, if we’d been doing our JOB, there wouldn’t BE any hungry, thirsty, naked, sick foreigners LEFT for the government TO care for. But now the state-sponsored programs have sadly only further exacerbated the church’s COMPLACENCY; “We don’t need to run food pantries or free clinics anymore,” we think, “that’s why we pay TAXES…”.
But that might not be true. In April, “Missouri House [Representatives] voted to prohibit thousands of legally present immigrants from receiving federal food assistance… and excluding most refugees and asylees from Medicaid” (Missouri Independent, Apr 10, 2026, https://missouriindependent.com/2026/04/10/missouri-house-votes-to-bar-certain-legal-immigrants-from-food-aid-restrict-purchases/ ). Soon, thousands of those who are most vulnerable of ALL - people who fled here, in many cases, to escape WAR, famine, religious persecution; we learned about an Iranian family that Oasis International is working with who came to St Louis because their Christian faith put their LIVES at risk in Iran, but now they’re at risk HERE; they are being KICKED out of their apartment, they’re LOSING their food stamps and Medicaid coverage… - and the question for US, Church, is “What are WE gonna DO about it?” Will we step up, and stand in the gap (the gap that was SUPPOSED to be OUR job in the FIRST place)?
God blesses us… that WE might, in response, bless OTHERS.
#4- Because God PROVIDES, we PETITION. (26:15)
V15: “Look down from your holy habitation, [Lord,] from heaven, and bless your people and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’”
The God who BLESSED them with the land, and who DECIDES whether or not to bless them with the RAIN, He invites His people to PETITION Him, to ASK Him, to DO it. “Bless us, Lord.”
““Ask, and it will be given to you,” Jesus said, “…For which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Mt 7:7-11)
God DELIGHTS to bless His children. So “ASK me”, He invites us, “and then TRUST me to provide”.
#5- Because God CHOSE US, we CHOOSE OBEDIENCE. (26:16-19; 27:9-26)
V16: ““This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Why? V18: Because “the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession… and he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations… and you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God”.
God says, “I chose YOU; now YOU choose ME; choose ME… AND choose OBEDIENCE to me.” v17: “You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways… and obey his voice.”
“Choose this day whom you will serve, [who will you WORSHIP and OBEY]... As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”” (Josh 24:15)
HE chose me; so I’m choosing HIM.
And I’m choosing OBEDIENCE… which STARTS with LISTENING. Ch27, v9 now: “Then Moses and the priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel…”. That is the “right RESPONSE”, when GOD is talking: we shut UP and LISTEN. When we open our Bibles, we PRAY, and ask the Lord to quiet our minds and hearts, to shut OUT all the other voices and noise around us, that we might HEAR from HIM; HIS voice is infinitely more important. We want to hear Him clearly… that we might OBEY Him unswervingly.
“This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.” God CHOSE you. V10: “Therefore, you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments…”
And then in vv11-26, Moses outlines for them this ceremonial, corporate CALL to obedience that God wants Israel to perform once they’ve “crossed over the Jordan” and ENTERED the Promised Land: SIX of the 12 tribes of Israel are gonna “stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people”, and then the OTHER six - “Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali” - are gonna “stand on Mount Ebal for the curse”.
But interestingly, TELLINGLY, all we actually HEAR about them reciting here, in this “call and response”, corporate call to obedience, are the CURSES; no blessings, just the CURSES. TWELVE of them here in vv15-26 (“Cursed be the IDOLATERS”, “Cursed be the DISHONORERS of father or mother”, “Cursed be THIEVES, who ‘move their neighbor’s landmark’, their property line, to steal his land.”).
And we won’t rehash all twelve - perverting justice, sexual immorality, premeditated murder - because we’ve examined ALL of them over the past 3 or so months now, in chapters 12 thru 25, Moses’s recap of God’s LAW from Mt. Sinai.
So all I want to draw your attention to THIS go round is the peoples’ required RESPONSE, repeated 12 times here, at the END of every commandment reminder: “And all the people shall [RESPOND] and say, ‘Amen.’”
Warren Wiersbe explains (Old Testament Commentary, p360): “When the people said, “Amen” (or “so be it”) after each statement, they were calling upon the Lord to send these curses on them if they turned away from Him… Their “Amen” was their acceptance of the terms of the covenant.” And they DID. Israel ACCEPTED God’s “terms & conditions” by performing this ceremony once they entered the land, in Joshua ch8.
But let me ASK you: our theme of the morning is “responding to the Lord”, right; what do you imagine was the HEART response of all those Israelites, standing on the two mountains that day, in Joshua 8, as the Levites declared all these CURSES, culminating in v26: “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’” ALL of them! You think ANYONE standing there, listening to all 613 of God’s OT commands read off, with THAT concluding CURSE at the end - “Now obey them ALL… or ELSE!” - you think they were jumping for JOY by the end? Or trembling in FEAR?!
In Galatians ch3, the apostle Paul quotes this verse from Deuteronomy to TELL us the “right response” to God’s Law: “all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Law, and do them.” So it is evident that no one is justified before God [“counted as RIGHTEOUS before God”] by the law, but “The righteous shall live by faith.”... Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”.
Simply put, God’s Law, though it’s GOOD, isn’t good NEWS for US, cuz we fail to KEEP it. God’s Law is good, but WE are NOT. We’re sinful. So we deserve to be CURSED.
But the GOOD news, the GOSPEL, is that Christ REDEEMED us from our curse by BECOMING a curse FOR us on the CROSS; he died in our place to pay the penalty of our sin, and offer us forgiveness and FREEDOM instead… for all who would simply BELIEVE, put their FAITH in Jesus.
Friends, God has UPDATED His “terms & conditions” ; there’s a BETTER covenant we get to say “AMEN!” to this morning, and his name is JESUS! “Everyone who calls on Him - who says “AMEN!” to Jesus; “Lord, I don’t understand WHY you love me so much, WHY you’d willingly lay down your life for me, but Jesus, “SO BE IT!” “Amen!” - everyone who trusts in Him will be SAVED” (Rom 10:13).
And lastly, #6 in RESPONSE, Because God REWARDS, has GIVEN us such a salvation, we REMEMBER it always. (27:1-8)
For Israel, vv1-8 of ch27, the reward, the blessing, was that they’d get to stay in the land of “milk and honey”, if they obeyed. So God instructed them to “set up large stones and plaster them with plaster… and write on them all the words of this law” (vv2-3).
And I had a bunch of interesting notes I had to cut for time, like…
- WHICH laws they were to write; all 613? Or just the 10 Commandments?
-How’d they make PLASTER back then?
-How’d they set up the stones “on the day they crossed over the Jordan”, v2, if they’re supposed to do it on “Mount EBAL”, v4, which was further inland; they had to fight a bunch of battles first?
-Why’d God tell ‘em to build the altar out of “UNCUT stones… You shall wield no iron tool on them”?”
-What’s the significance, the symbolism of the “burnt offerings” and “peace offerings” in vv6 & 7?
SO many interesting questions I’d be happy to discuss more on our “After the Sermon” podcast tomorrow, for those interested enough to tune in. But let’s not lose the forest for the trees here in conclusion; the MAIN point is that God REWARDS, so WE are called to remember.
God promised to REWARD Israel’s obedience to His Law, therefore, He called them to erect this monument out of STONES - symbolizing PERMANENCE - to serve as a perpetual REMINDER of God’s blessing.
And every time they DID remember, what was their SECONDARY response, v7? “You shall rejoice before the Lord your God.”
[CONCLUSION]: So in closing, I ask you, Church: If God’s LAW was so good that it deserved to be written in STONE, to be remembered always, to be REJOICED over with GIFTS and WORSHIP and obedience… How much MORE ought you and I today remember… rejoice… and respond to God’s SON!
We have received a GREATER covenant, a greater hope, a greater reward, a greater SALVATION. May we ALWAYS remember, always REJOICE, & always respond in joyful obedience.
Let’s pray…