In 'A Heart to Obey - Introduction to Deuteronomy', Scott Brown begins by emphasizing the transitional phase the Israelites were in as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, drawing parallels to modern believers experiencing transitions. He highlights Deuteronomy as a powerful testament to the importance of heartfelt obedience, the grace of God, and the blessings that follow from obeying God's commandments. The sermon outlines ten signs of revival and obedience evident in society today, such as a resurgence of expository preaching, an increase in biblical family life, and a greater understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture. Brown also underscores the significance of fathers in educating their children, as commanded in Deuteronomy, and the need for a heightened appreciation of obedience. The sermon explains the structure of Deuteronomy, its themes, and its place within the Pentateuch, emphasizing the book's role as a recitation of the law and its implications for governance, worship, and daily living. Key biblical characters and occurrences are referenced to illustrate the narrative of obedience and its rewards. The sermon concludes by reiterating the promise of happiness and fulfillment through obedience to God, urging believers to reject spiritual 'junk food' and embrace the true nourishment of God's word.

Open your Bibles to the Book of Deuteronomy. We begin today with a survey of this great book, the book that Jesus loved. The Book of Deuteronomy was written to a people in transition. The Book of Deuteronomy was written just on the prime end of a great and mighty operation to enter into the Promised Land. The book of Deuteronomy was written to a people just like you and I.

Here we are, members of a church, and We are a people in transition. We have been saved from Egypt. We've seen the works of the Lord. We've observed the goodness of God in the land. We've seen him do miracles.

And now we are a people in transition. There's still much territory to be reclaimed by the holiness of God. There's much to learn. There's obedience that has not been achieved. So we are like the people of Israel standing on the east side of the Jordan River beginning a great journey into a pagan land.

And like those people that Moses was addressing, we too are people in transition. I pray that God would help us to find the great and powerful messages for us here that are in this book. Deuteronomy is one of the most powerful and concentrated statements in the Bible on the importance of the grace of God toward his people, in his delivering help, in his call to obedience, in the nature of heartfelt obedience, in the practical blessings of that obedience. It's a description of all of those things. It casts a vision of the fruits of obedience.

And I'll just have to tell you, when I consider the fruits of obedience that are declared here in Deuteronomy, it makes me rejoice because I see many, many fruits of obedience and awakening in our own land. Of course, none of us are satisfied to say all is as it ought to be. But let's at least consider that there are many marvelous blessings of obedience, fruits of obedience that we're seeing today. I'm going to give you ten just at the beginning here because I think when we consider the message of Deuteronomy, what we are considering are the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. Well, there's more than that.

That is a gigantic pillar of the message in the book of Deuteronomy. I'm going to give you ten signs of obedience breaking out in our land. First, people are desiring biblically faithful church life. Isn't that exciting? There really is a resurgence of people who are desiring biblically faithful church life.

Why is that happening? I think it's happening partly because there has been another fruit of obedience and that is a resurgence of expository preaching. That's a second sign of blessing on our land. It's an obedient heart that says we will take these words and we'll deliver them the best they can with all of our hearts. There's a fruit of obedience in the land in which there is an explosion of the practice of biblical preaching in America.

It's absolutely astounding. I've been around long enough to know that there is definitely movement in this area. Number three, people are having many children. What about that? The command of Scripture is be fruitful and multiply.

There are thousands of people in America who have taken that command and said, I will do that. And now there are families that are like Catholics or something. You know, they're having all kinds of children. This is a sign of obedience. This is a sign of Revival.

People have taken a word of scripture and said, I'll do that. What a blessing that is. Number four, daughters are embracing the biblical vision of womanhood. There's been much progress in the last ten years, fifteen years in this matter. And there's a generation of young women who love the biblical vision.

They want to grow up and be mothers and homemakers, and they want to be Proverbs 31 women. A bunch of them are right here in this room. This is a sign of revival. This is a sign of the blessing of God. This is a fruit of obedience that we are going to find described here in the book of Deuteronomy.

Number five, young men, many of them are not wasting their youth like they used to. I always love to tell the story. You heard me say it a thousand times. Several years ago I went to a conference and I had never met so many 14-year-olds with business cards in all my life. There's an uprising of young men who are saying, I'm not going to waste my youth on video games and every other kind of game.

I'm going to do business till God brings me home. So there are young men who are not wasting their youth like we always did in years past. It's a sign of revival, brothers and sisters. It's a sign of obedience. It's a fruit.

And who knows what will happen as we see the fruits of these young men who are growing up and they're not wasting their youth. I'm pretty jazzed up about this. Number six, there is another sign of revival, a sign of obedience, a sign of a humble trustful heart in our women. There is an upwelling of women who say, I will not dress like Britney Spears. I will dress like God has told me to dress.

I will not dress like the world. I will dress modestly. I will have the eyes of my Lord Jesus Christ being the central function of my womanhood and not my floozy dress. There are women all over America who have awakened in the area of modesty. They're obeying God.

They're saying, what does the Bible say about how I should dress? Does God care about how I dress? Well, he absolutely does. And there are women who are saying, I will with all my heart try to fulfill what God has said regarding the way that I present myself physically in the world. Number six, there are people who have left families for the Word of God.

The gospel divides families. The sad reality is that when the gospel enters into a home and obedience is desired and faithfulness to God commands begins to be implemented, then there is rejection in the family. We have many families in America who have rejected family idolatry, and they have just done what their father wanted them to do, or their brother wanted them to do, that they are doing what God wanted them to do. And that's an exciting thing. When people are willing to obey the Word of God in spite of the enormous family pressures, they will say, there is one King, he is Jesus, and I will follow him.

Number eight, there is a slowdown in the loss of the next generation. There's a slowdown in the loss of the next generation, not everywhere. But definitely I'm seeing it in the churches that I'm associated with and I'm aware of. There is an observable slowdown of the loss of the next generation. What we have found in the last 10 years, we've just discovered that 80 to 90 percent of the young people in our most conservative churches will never return to church after their freshman year in college.

But that's not happening in many churches. It is happening in many churches that have not been reforming. This is a sign of obedience. God is blessing. In Deuteronomy, you're going to read so many staggering promises for those who would obey God.

And those Promises are for increase and establishment forever and ever, that the generations would go on and there would be faithfulness. It's an exciting set of promises. We should just take a breather here and rejoice at what God is doing. There is a slowdown in the loss of the next generation. The promises in Deuteronomy are being fulfilled before our very eyes.

And it's absolutely marvelous to watch it. Next, there's a growing understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture. Of course, this is something that is growing in the land. What does scripture mean to us in different areas of life? Well there's a growing understanding of how that applies in church life, in work life, in political life, in every area of life.

What does the scripture say? Is a question that's being asked more in my view than in previous years. So those are ten signs of revival. People are thinking biblically and want to be faithful in church life. There's a resurgence of expository preaching.

Fathers have turned their hearts for their children. People are having many children. Daughters are embracing the biblical vision of womanhood. Young men are not wasting their life. People are quitting dressing like the world.

People have left families for the word of God. The loss of the next generation has been slowed down. There's a growing understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture. That's ten. I know there's more than that.

God is moving. Well here we are in the book of Deuteronomy where the heart of the matter happens to be the blessings of heartfelt obedience. I'm going to say that is the heart of the matter in the book of Deuteronomy. It leads us to the bread that is true bread. It leads us to the commands and testimonies of the Lord that would cause us to have a blessed life before him.

There are many ways that you can live in this world. Let me liken it to these clever entrepreneurs for a moment. There are clever entrepreneurs who have created a class of material that people affectionately call junk food. It's a material that you eat and it's disguised as food. And it's sometimes called processed food stuff.

But it's really not food at all. And it doesn't really nourish, and it doesn't really satisfy, and it doesn't really strengthen, and it doesn't really get the job done. It doesn't give the kind of energy that the body would really want. Deuteronomy, in many ways, is an argument against that kind of food, spiritually, that we eat, the kind of ingestions that we maintain. It expresses the kind of food that makes you sick.

In Deuteronomy, you'll find a description of the food that makes you empty, the kind of food that makes you unholy, the kind of food that will destroy your family, the kind of food that will destroy your emotions and sink you down into a spiral of depraved depression. The message of Deuteronomy is very simple. Don't eat the pig's slop. Forget the junk food. Eat the food that satisfies.

Drink from the well of water that is sweet and it will nourish you and make your body work like it ought to work. Eat the king's food. This food will keep on blessing forever and ever and ever." So that's the beginning of understanding Deuteronomy. Now let me move to some more introductory comments about this book. First of all, we're coming to the last book of the Pentateuch.

You have an outline here, you can follow me as we bounce through these points. We're coming to the last book of the Pentateuch. Remember, the Pentateuch is one book composed of five chapters. Genesis, the testimony of the beginnings. Exodus, the testimony of deliverance.

Leviticus, the testimony of holiness and worship. Numbers, the testimony of wilderness wanderings. And now we come to Deuteronomy, which is the testimony of the blessings of heartfelt obedience. Wow. Isn't it amazing that the Pentateuch ends with this resounding explanation of the beauty of God's ways and the bankruptcy of the devils.

And of course there are many threatenings. There are some very terrifying things that are said here in this book. As we discovered as we read it last Friday night, oh, when you get to the end you just are amazed at the strength, the forcefulness, the intensity, the passion that's coming off the page. Well, this is Deuteronomy. The themes in Deuteronomy also are the themes of the other books of the Pentateuch, that there's a preparation of the people of God.

That's one theme of the Pentateuch. That's also the theme of Deuteronomy. There's the preparation of the land, the promised land. The promised land is a physical place, and it is also symbolic of heaven and the glories of heaven. There's the provision of worship.

God provides ways for his people to worship. We've seen how he's done that in Exodus and Leviticus and we'll see it even further here in Deuteronomy. And Then there is the establishment of a government. How to live in love. How would we govern ourselves?

It's not a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It's a government of the Lord, by the Lord, and for the Lord. And this government is the government of God. One of the striking qualities of our day today is nobody wants to be governed. And yet, people who do not want to be governed by God will find themselves with curses and bruises and sorrows as they walk on this earth.

But the themes that run through the Pentateuch also run through Deuteronomy. And again, I would say the blessings of heartfelt obedience are exposed. And what we find is the call of God as he says, Oh, that they have such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all of my commandments that it may be well with them and with their children forever as we read in Deuteronomy 529. So we just talked about the Pentateuch and Deuteronomy's fitness in it. Now the title, the title Deuteronomy, what a strange, what a strange name that is.

It means a copy of the law. It's a recitation of the law. It's a summary and exposition of the law. The name comes from chapter 17 verse 18 where we read that the ruler will write himself a copy of this law in the book and he shall read it all the days of his life. So it's a copy of the law that is meant to be read by God's people, particularly his civil magistrates, those who would lead.

Imagine if we had civil magistrates who would write out the law of God by hand and take the months that it would require to do that. And then they would read it every day and they would implement it every day. Think of rulers like that. Pray that God would give us rulers like that. Only vote for rulers who have their hearts in that direction.

So we've come to the title, a duplicate, a copy of God's law, sort of a second law. And then the setting is the last month of Moses' life. There's very little movement here in Deuteronomy. The first five verses in Deuteronomy, if you'll look with me there, we learn the date of the sermon, it was on the Sabbath day. We learn the place it was preached, it was preached in the plain of Moab, and the time was given.

It was before they entered into the land. The people of Israel had just defeated King Sihon of the Amorites and Og, King of Bashan. They are now there on the east side of the Jordan River, if you can picture them, and they're ready to go into the promised land. These are the last words of Moses before the people of Israel enter the promised land. They are headed into pagan territory.

How shall they live when they go? Moses will tell them. So that's the setting. The content and the structure is also important to understand. The content and the structure really is built around three sermons.

Moses delivers three sermons in this book. The message is obedience and the blessings of it and the cursings of it. I think one of the things that occurs to me as I've been reading the book of Deuteronomy is this, people don't change. The people that were standing on the east side of the Jordan River are no different than you and I. We too are a people in transition.

We are a people who have problems and areas of unholiness and bad patterns. We too are a people who have rejected God in many ways in many years of our lives. But God loves His people. God desires to lead his people by the hand and to carry them. How does he lead them?

He leads them by his commands. He leads them by his ordinances and his statutes and his judgments. This is how God leads his people. Here in the content and the structure of the book of Deuteronomy we see that Moses is addressing people just like they are people today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

There are many things that we could say about the content and the structure. It's been observed by scholars that the format of Deuteronomy follows the format of treaties of that day, treaties between kings. A stronger ruler, the suzerain, provides protection over the weaker and that the logic and the format, the very outline of Deuteronomy seems to follow these treaties between a greater King and those who are under him. So it's a covenant. It's a way that the King relates with his people and directs his people.

The message includes overwhelmingly a testimony of the doctrine of God. The name God appears around 200 times. And God speaks. He calls his people to hear. He calls his people to teach the things that he has spoken.

He calls those hears to follow and to keep and to preserve by not adding or subtracting from the law. And this responsibility to keep and teach doesn't just stay with the leaders of thousands and hundreds and tens. It's pushed down to every father. It is given to fathers through family education. When you read Deuteronomy you'll notice that God is constantly commanding fathers to be teachers.

He does it in 4, verse 9 and 10. Go ahead and turn there, 4, 9 and 10. He says, only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life and teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day that you stood before the Lord your God in horror. And then in chapter 6, he repeats the same thing. He says, and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart and you shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them when you sit in the house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up." And then he repeats it again in chapter 11 verse 19.

He says, you shall teach them to your children, speaking to them, when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So he repeats this principle of instruction, of teaching, of education. Deuteronomy contains a very distinct doctrine of education and how children should be educated Do you believe what the Bible says about education of children? Please do it's very specific And that means that you fathers are given the responsibility to teach your children all the time. I heard a Christian leader on the radio recently declare that the Bible says nothing about how often parents need to be with their children when they teach them.

That is absolutely false. The Bible says it three times right here in the book of Deuteronomy. He was using this to justify his life that is completely away from his family. Well, the Word of God is to be read, and then finally, the Word of God is sung. Toward the end of the book, when you get to chapter 31, there is this song.

So throughout the content and the structure, the message is the same. It's a consistent message. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all of my commandments that it may be well with them and with their children forever. That's what you find in the structure and the content of the book. And then you also notice the theology of salvation that exists here.

The grace of God is here. The first four chapters of the book make it clear that God's people are chosen. They are not God's people because of their righteousness. They're not God's people because they made the right sacrifices at the right time. No, absolutely not.

They were not chosen because of their size in chapter 7 verse 7, not because of their power in chapter 8 verse 17, only because He loved them, chapter 9 verse 4. Our politeness, our amiability, our reputation gets us nowhere with God. All is grace. And the book of Deuteronomy makes that very, very clear. We are beggars, we are poor, we are naked, we are blind.

Just like those people are in the wilderness, so are we today, without the Lord Jesus Christ, without a circumcised heart, which is talked about in this book as well. Salvation comes to those who receive the grace of God. Now, there are people who claim that the Old Testament is about rules and the New Testament is about relationships. The people who say that are preaching a false gospel. It's not true.

Just read the Old Testament. You'll know that that's not true. The grace of God is on every page. The Lord Jesus Christ is on every page of the Old Testament. We need to understand that the grace of God is being communicated here at the same time that the blessings of obedience are communicated throughout the content of the theology of salvation, brings that consistent message.

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all of my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. That is the heart of the salvation message that is in Deuteronomy. And it is the salvation that comes as a result of the heart turned toward God. You'll notice that the term heart is scattered all through. We'll talk about that later in this book.

And then next we see there is a broad range of issues that are covered in this book. Every imaginable human problem is laid out on the table here. Some very difficult human problems, personality problems, problems of sexuality, responsibility in the community, poverty, homelessness, debt, alcoholism, drug abuse, honesty in business, management of money, welfare, personal hygiene, marriage, sexuality, conservation, care of the elderly, human rights, child abuse, injustice, dangers of the occult, the safety of your house. So many issues are brought up here. There's just a broad, broad range of subjects here.

In the first four chapters, there's a tremendous amount to learn about leadership, about what is faithful leadership, humble leadership, shared leadership. You find testimony on so many areas here in this book. It's very broad in its range. In all of the issues that are brought to the surface, they all breathe, they all breathe this same breath, the blessings of heartfelt obedience to the Lord. In the range of all these subjects that are brought out, the consistent message is, oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

Then we see the pulse of this. I use the term the pulse of Deuteronomy because it's a very dramatic narrative. It really is. Moses is with the children of Israel on the east side of the Jordan just before they cross. And while they're there, verse five in chapter one says, and Moses began to explain this law.

Imagine that. Moses is doing exposition on the law. He's taking the heart of God and he's casting it across dozens and dozens of subjects. But he is doing exposition on the law. The passion in the book to me seems to just build in intensity as you get to the end.

The pleadings, the appeals, the threatenings that you find in particularly in the last few chapters is staggering. Passion rises. The tone indicates a really high state situation, the words are terrifying, but the narrative is constantly pulsating the blessings of heartfelt obedience. Throughout the book there's this consistent message, oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all of my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. And then there's some fascinating people to meet here.

Of course, Miriam and Aaron have now died. You don't meet them here except they are alluded to in the first four chapters when Moses tells the story of the children of Israel in the wilderness. But the characters are the children of Israel. The first generation is referred to in 1 through 4, but then after that the message is to the second generation, after those who died who had been delivered from Egypt. You meet the giants, you meet the Anakim, and my favorites, the Zamzumim.

Ah, yes children, You must know who the Zamzumim are in the book of Deuteronomy. They're very significant. You must also click on King Sihon Israel wanted to pass through they came to him in peace They delivered a message of peace God hardened Sihon's heart and he attacked them and he got his tail whooped and the children of Israel beat them. You're also going to meet Og of Bashan. Look at 311 and you'll see Aga Bishan.

Now, how many of you have ever seen a bed that's 13 and a half feet long? Aga Bishan or Bishan was so big that he needed a bed 13 and a half feet long and six feet wide. He was gigantic and he slept on a gigantic iron bed. Aga Vashon, yes indeed, God does deal with him in his own way. Even those who seem to be big are really not very big at all before Almighty God.

With every person you meet in Deuteronomy, the heartbeat continues to pulsate. It's the declaration of the blessings of God through a heartfelt obedience. And then there are some key verses. Well, we've been quoting one of those key verses, 529. I really believe that 529 capsulized the message that is consistently given in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Now, this isn't the only one. There are dozens. It's really amazing to me to study this book because there are dozens of messages that in two or three lines summarize everything in the book. Well, 529 is one of them. And let's just say it together.

Just say it with me. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. That, brothers and sisters, summarizes this book. Let's say it again. Deuteronomy 529.

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever." Notice the tenderness of this appeal. Oh, oh, that they had such a heart, There's tremendous passion and emotion invested in these words here. And then what is his focus? It's a two-fold focus. The heart and obedience.

And he speaks of the result of a heartfelt obedience. And that is that things would be well with your children forever. Do you really believe that? I hope that you believe that. I hope that you believe that your obedience to God will secure, that it will be well with your children forever.

This is a tremendous promise. And then another key text is in chapter 10, verses 12 through 16, please turn there. Chapter 10, verses 12 through 16. And now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to love him and serve the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you today, for your good.

Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord our God, also the earth and all that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your fathers to love them, and He chose their descendants after them. You above all peoples, as it is this day, therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer." These two verses really are very precious to us because they do collect up all the themes and bring them together in a very tight phrase. Isn't God kind to do that for us? He has given us a book that is not simple in one way.

In another way, it's very, very simple. The Word of God is near, it's in our mouth. We can understand what He is meaning. You can understand the meaning of this book by many summary statements. Then, not only are there key verses, there are some key words that appear regularly in this book.

You can often determine what some of the great messages are in any book of scripture by looking at the words that are repeated or have a high count. It's not the only way that it's helpful to notice the words that God uses. God strategically throws no words away. If he puts a lot of words of one kind in a text, it's because he desires them to be there, he desires them to be repeated, he desires them to be read over and over again and known. And so here are some of them.

The word heart. The word heart is mentioned over forty times in the book. He says in 4 and 9, only take heed to yourselves and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things you've seen, lest they depart from your heart. In Deuteronomy 5, 29, oh that they had such a heart in them. In 6, 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart the word heart comes over and over again obey the term obey is here over 20 times Jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments.

There's this idea that godliness is some vague feeling. It's a feeling you get when you're standing singing a song or it's a feeling you get about God. That is not primarily godliness. Godliness is not just an attitude that you might have. Godliness is connected with specific behaviors.

Godliness is connected to the way that you live, the way that you talk, the way that you dress, what you do with everything that God has put in your hands. Godliness is not just a feeling. Godliness is something that you do. And that's why James says, don't be hearers of the word and not doers, but be doers of the word. And if you're just a hearer of the word and not a doer, You're just deceiving yourself.

You're a faker who is self-deluded. So the term obey appears many times. The term careful, careful appears over 20 times. Therefore, be careful to observe them. The term careful is almost always in the same sentence with obedience to the law.

So a carefulness, a sort of a humility that is not brash but humble, but desiring to know the will of the Lord. This was really the heartbeat of the Puritan era. They desired to know what was pleasing to the Lord. They hoped to carry it out in every area of life. The term abomination appears 14 times.

Now this is not the most popular word. Abomination. It's an interesting study to document the things that are connected with abomination. And we'll do that when we go through the book. We don't have time to speak of all the things that the book of Deuteronomy calls an abomination.

Here's one in 725. You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it. For it is an abomination to the Lord your God. The wealth of the wicked when you desire.

That's an abomination. In 22.5 you might be surprised at this, that women who wear men's clothing, that's called an abomination. How's that? It's placed right in the same crazyology as idolatry. A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment.

For all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. How flagrantly this is rejected in our culture today, even in our Christian culture. It's no joke when a woman dresses like a man or a man dresses like a woman. And we find people on television shows pretending to be women. It's an abomination.

It's not a joke. My personal opinion is those things should not be in the category of humor for us at all. These things are an abomination. But we live in a culture where it doesn't matter how you dress. A girl can dress like a man and it means nothing.

Well that really is something that God calls an abomination. And then next, just by way of introduction, my last point here and just giving us some of the broad spectrum themes that are here in the book. Christ loved the book of Deuteronomy. When the devil was tempting Christ for 40 days, it's recorded in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus rejects the temptation of turning stones into bread. And he quotes Deuteronomy 8.3.

He says, man shall not live by bread alone. And then next, Jesus rejects the temptation to jump from the temple and to be amazing and to find great fame at his dramatic acts in the human sphere. He rejects this and he quotes Deuteronomy 616 and he says, you shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him at Massa. And then Jesus rejects the temptation to worship Satan by quoting Deuteronomy 6.13, which says, You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him. Jesus loved to quote the book of Deuteronomy.

Jesus quotes the book of Deuteronomy more than any other Old Testament book. When teaching about family life, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy and uses it to explain how human traditions have been waging war against God's commands regarding family life. And he's talking about the situation where children aren't taking care of their parents in their old age because they're giving all their money to the temple. And Jesus quotes Deuteronomy to say that your traditions have overwhelmed your love and your traditions have caused you to disobey the commandment of God. He said, you nicely set aside the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.

Jesus uses Deuteronomy to prove what family life ought to be like and how in that culture, in that church, there were many family destroying things going on that had their root in disobedience to God because they loved their traditions more. When teaching on oaths in Matthew 5.33, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 23.22. When teaching about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 19, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 5, 16 and speaks of the dangers of riches. Dangers of riches. Well, Jesus loves to quote the book of Deuteronomy.

When teaching about genuine love for God in Mark chapter 12, verses 28 to 34, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6-4, Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart." And he uses that in Mark 12 when one of the scribes wanted to trap him, and he uses this to explain what is the greatest commandment. I've had many people say to me, you know Scott, the commands of Deuteronomy 6 do not apply to the church today, they apply to Israel. Oh really?

What does the greatest commandment apply to? Nothing? Do we just take a few words out of what Jesus quotes? No. The whole Shema was loved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

He promotes it. To say that that is something of a different era is absolutely incomprehensible. You can make no sense of the greatest commandment if you take that position. When teaching about the resurrection in Matthew 22, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy as well. Now, let me just say something here about some of the very disturbing sections that are in Deuteronomy.

There are some very, very, very disturbing things that are said in Deuteronomy. There's capital punishment for murderers and for witches and for idolaters and rebellious sons. And there are more categories, but here's what I really want us to consider very carefully. The Old Testament might make us uncomfortable, but it never made Jesus Christ uncomfortable. The Old Testament often makes us uncomfortable, doesn't it?

It grates against the way that we think about how things should be. But the Old Testament never made Jesus Christ uncomfortable. He loved to quote it, and he loved to quote even many of the hard sayings that were there. We should really pause at that. I think it's a dangerous thing for us to have negative things to say about something that Jesus Christ has said.

Every word of the Bible is a word of Jesus Christ. And if we have something negative to say about it, we must acknowledge that it's because of our depravity, because we don't have the heart of God. And I say this as one who has many times been disturbed. And whenever I'm disturbed, I need to be reminded that Jesus Christ was never uncomfortable with the things that he said in the Old Testament. And so Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy all over the place.

So does Peter in his servant in Acts chapter 3. So does the Apostle Paul. We've already reviewed some of those that he quoted in the book of Romans to describe salvation. But Jesus is constantly quoting Deuteronomy, and so is the Apostle Paul, and so is Peter. So these first items here that we've just reviewed that Deuteronomy sits in the Pentateuch.

It has a particular setting. There's a diverse content. Its pulse is very dramatic. There are many verses and key words to understand and also we need to understand Christ's disposition toward Deuteronomy. And then now let's sort of look at the outline of the book here.

First of all, we come across Moses' first speech, and that first speech goes from chapter 1 to chapter 4. It all hangs together. Moses is reviewing the journey from Mount Sinai where the law was given to their present location. He recites the love of God all through this. He speaks of the kindness of God toward his people over and over again in this section.

He says, I carried you. In chapter 1, he makes it very clear, in all of your wilderness wanderings, in the midst of all of your fears, all of the privations that happened, you need to know that I was carrying you all the way as a father carries his son. That's really the summary of these wilderness wanderings that Moses speaks about. He recites what happened with the rock in the water, the manna in the quail, how God delivered them from all of their enemies. He also speaks of the dangers of adding and subtracting from the law of God.

And he says in 437 that he loved their fathers. He loved their fathers. He loved their fathers who were disobedient. He loved their fathers who were disobedient. He loved their fathers who were fearful.

And he still loves his people, who are fearful and who have sins. And he's made atonement for all of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. He has made us righteous in the midst of our unrighteousness. And that's the message of the first four chapters. And then the second speech begins in chapter 5, and there is an explanation of the heart of God on many matters.

Chapter 5 begins with the Ten Commandments. When we get to this section, we're going to spend one Sunday on each one of the commandments. And he begins with, Hear O Israel, which we hear a number of times. And in this section, in this second speech, we find the Ten Commandments, we find the Shema, we find instructions regarding relationships with pagan people, we hear about what it means to be very careful in our obedience, We hear about the blessings and the curses. He says, Behold, in chapter 11, verse 26, Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.

Blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. Throughout the second sermon, the second speech, are laws about worship, about false prophets, about tithing, about personal cleanliness, about various feasts and laws, about idolaters and the treatment of the Levites, avoiding the abominations of pagans, cities of refuge, what to do about landmarks, what to do about witnesses, false witnesses and true witnesses, What are the rules of bringing witnesses? How do you convict someone of a crime by using witnesses? Conduct in war, various social laws regarding innocent blood, women who are captured in wartime, the inheritance, caring for the property of your brother, like not turning your head when you see your brother's animal going off and being lost. No, you take care of your brother, you help him.

Laws concerning androgyny and cross dressing. Laws concerning new houses and new marriages. Sewing and vineyards and plowing and holiness, separation and the instruction of mixed fabrics and fringes and things like that. Various laws about sanitation and prostitution and sodomy. Laws about interest and debt are brought through here.

Laws about eating from the vineyard or the field of another person. So in the second speech there are lots of different categories that are addressed. The heart of God is communicated in every one of them. We may not understand everything about them but we must know this that God is sending us a message about his disposition about different things. And then the last speech begins in chapter 27 and goes to the end.

Moses starts out with their duties upon entering the land. And of course, you might imagine what he would say, keep all the commandments which I command you today. Keep all the commandments that I command you. Don't set any of them aside. He gives them specific things that they should do and they get on the other side.

And then he speaks in chapter 28, one of the most important passages, especially for new believers to understand. And that is the blessings of obedience and then the cursings that come from disobedience. I had the privilege of reading these things early on in my Christian life. And I really believe from the beginning that God's ways were pleasant ways and that the devil's ways were poisonous. I just always believe that as a believer.

I know that with all of us, even though we might understand that, that God still desires to wean us from the things that would cause curses to happen to us. We're in a lifelong journey in that, but when there's obedience there's blessing, when there's disobedience there's cursing, nobody beats the system, Nobody. That's what chapter 28 is all about. The covenant is repeated in chapter 30, and he makes these very dramatic statements that you have life and death before you. What is on the table regarding your obedience to God?

Life and death, that's what's on the table. It's very, very, very strong language that we find here that Moses uses. And then in the third speech, it's like the second because it just continues to breathe the blessings of heartfelt obedience. Throughout the third speech we find the same themes running, a lot of different categories and thoughts that are presented, but they all have the same summary. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all of my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

And then finally in the very last section we read of the end of Moses' life and the change of leadership. Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land, and he must pass the mantle of leadership to Joshua. And he tells him to be strong and courageous and to go into the land. And he tells him, the Lord will be with you, Joshua. The Lord will go before you.

He will not leave you or forsake you neither fear nor be dismayed what a wonderful thing to hear from your mentor do not be afraid It's remarkable to look through the Bible and read how many times God tells his people, do not be afraid. And he tells that same thing to Joshua. He says the same thing to you and I today. We are people in transition. Don't be afraid.

God has given us guidance in his word, follow the commands, keep all of his laws and his commandments, and he will bless you. And know that the heart of God toward These people in transition is just like the heart of God toward us here today. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them. There you have it. There's the book of Deuteronomy.

Much more to say about it and we'll have about a year and a half to walk through these things in detail. But let me just give a couple of words of application. I think the applications that I would like to focus on this morning for us, for we the people in transition, for we the people who are standing on the edge of the great Canaanite and pagan cities, we who have sinned in our past, we who have not always sown the right seeds, we who are a simple people in need of the grace of Jesus Christ, but we are the people of God and we are loved by God. That's the first thing I want us to remember, that God does love His people. He makes a covenant with them.

He promises that he will carry them into that land. He will fulfill all his promises toward you. I don't know what fears you have today. Everybody has a different set. I know I have my own.

But here's what we need to know. God has always been faithful to his people and he will be faithful to you. So know that that's his part and your part and my part is to carefully obey all that he has given us to do, regardless of what the pagans do, regardless of what our families do, regardless of what makes us prosperous, regardless of what makes us popular, regardless of what would give us a place at the table. So often we sell off the blessings for a place at the table. Remember the love of God.

Don't sell off the blessing. I also would like to have us consider this way of application. It's really as much a prayer as anything else for us as we study this. And that is this. I pray that God would give us sort of a heightened sense of the importance of obedience.

We live in a lawless land. We think like lawless people. Many of us were educated in lawlessness, to think lawlessly. I was. But God desires to make a people after his own name.

God desires a people for his own possession. God desires a holy people that are distinct from the rest of the nations. You will not talk like, dress like, live like, work like. You will not be like the nations of the world. I pray that God will give us a heightened appreciation for that.

And that we would, in all humility, stand before God with hearts that desire obedience. And then that we would also continue to have a heightened sense of the blessings of obedience. The truth is what Moses is saying here is that all of the enjoyments that your heart's desire are found in obedience to God's law. If people are looking for love in all the wrong places, they're looking for happiness in the places that it doesn't exist, But there is a place that it does exist. All of the pleasures of the Kingdom of Heaven are yours when you seek Him and obey Him.

And that we would just have a heightened sense of the pleasures of God. I pray that this year would be a year of a harvest of enjoyment. That we would reap a harvest of pleasure in the pleasures that God would give. That we would be found the happiest people ever. That if you would take a happiness test this morning, that That happiness factor would be nothing compared to the happiness factor in 30 days, and 60 days, and 90 days.

That the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven, the joys of obedience, and the long-term effects would affect us. We would be the happiest people that ever met because of the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven. Moses says that there is happiness there. And I pray that God would really give us a rip roaring enjoyment of all that he has given us. Because his ways truly are pleasant ways.

If anyone is kicking against the goads, if anyone's heart is stray, please let me call you back this morning. Come back. You're going to eat the pig slop. You've got the junk food on your breath. No, begin.

Drink the water of life. Take the bread that always satisfies. No, turn back. You young sister or brother, if your heart is hard toward the Lord, turn back. Turn back.

The blessings are there. And yet if you don't turn back, you will find yourself as empty as anybody ever was. And that food you will find has been junk food And it has caused your soul to be hungry. And I pray that God would just give us more joy in this time together as we seek Him. And so I think it's appropriate for us to say it again to wring out this great summary of Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy chapter 5, 29.

Let's say it all together. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever." And all of God's people said, Amen. Let's pray. Oh Lord, now to you, you alone, who's able to keep us from stumbling and to present us faultless before the presence of your glory with exceeding joy to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen.