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Deuteronomy 9-11
Part 1
!
Introduction
The summer after my first year of Bible school I worked for a company that installed windows.
I got the job not because I had experience or a proven track record or because I was known to be a good worker, but because my dad was a friend of the owner of the company.
It was not my skill or ability that got me the job, but compassion and friendship.
Sometimes people ask me to put in a good word with God so that the weather will cooperate.
They think that because I am a minister, I have pull with God.
You have probably seen the TV preacher that guarantees that if you send money to his ministry - the more sacrificial the better - that you will experience your money multiplying.
Have you ever thought, "I have been a faithful worker, haven't done anything wrong and try to have my devotions every day.
Because of that, I expect God to give me health and happiness."
All of these scenarios are built on the belief that we receive good things from God because of the good things we do.
If we display righteousness, then God will bless us.
When we succeed, it is because we have lived with integrity.
In what ways do you and I live by that hope and understanding?
Is it true?
If it is, why don't more people receive the blessings they want?
If it is, what are the things we need to do in order to guarantee success and prosperity?
If it is not true, why do so many people think so?
If it is not true, why do we receive blessings and success from God? What does the Bible have to say about this?
! I.
Not By Our Righteousness!
!! A. OT
We are studying Deuteronomy and have noted several times that Israel was standing at the edge of the Jordan River and was about to enter into the promised land.
They were about to engage in a great adventure of conquest and victory.
By the power of God, they were about to succeed in conquering and settling a land that was lush and beautiful.
The conquest would not be an easy thing because the land was inhabited by strong and powerful people and cities that were well fortified.
Yet they were going to succeed in taking the land because God was goi gto be with them.
Deuteronomy 9:1-3 describes the promise of this conquest and as we read Joshua, we know that Israel did conquer the land and receive these blessings.
In Deuteronomy 9:4ff, Moses warns them about the way they might be tempted to think after they had gained this great victory.
Notice what God tells the people through Moses.
Three times in verses 4a, 5, 6 he tells them, you are not getting this land because you are good.
In fact, Moses goes on to remind them about who they really are.
In verse 6 we read, "you are a stiff-necked people."
That is not exactly good news.
Who wants to be told that they are stiff necked?
Who wants to hear that they are stubborn and rebellious?
Yet as Moses reminds them in 9:7-29, their own history reveals what is really in their heart.
In these verses, Moses reminds them of five incidents which prove this accusation.
The first and worst which he presents in some detail was the incident of the golden calf.
God had brought them out of Egypt, he had brought them through the Red Sea and provided water and manna for them.
Then He had personally, verbally spoken to them and given them the ten commandments.
While Moses was up on the mountain praying, fasting and getting further details from God, the people of Israel were in the valley making a golden calf in order to worship it.
Verse 12 is pointed when it says, "you turned away quickly."
What Moses is doing is reminding them that they were not a righteous people but a people who quickly rebelled against God.
In verses 22-24, Moses identifies 4 other occasions when Israel rebelled against God.
At Taberah, which is described in Numbers 11, they had complained against God because of their hardships in the desert.
At Massah, described in Exodus 17:1-7, they grumbled against God because they lacked water.
At Kibroth Hattaavah, in Numbers 11:34, the people grumbled because all they had was manna to eat and they wanted some variety in their diet.
Kadesh Barnea, Numbers 13,14 was the place where they refused to enter into the promised land.
The evidence was quite clear.
They were not a righteous people.
They had not desired God's ways!
They were not a people of integrity.
When they would succeed in the promised land, they were to remember who they were and that it was not their righteousness or integrity that moved God to give them the good land.
!! B. NT
As I read this, I just can't help thinking how similar we are.
Why has God chosen us for salvation?
Is it because we have done well?
Is it because we have been faithful and righteous?
We sometimes think so, but we know the answer to that and the Bible reinforces the answer.
Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," We receive God's gift of salvation not because we are good or have done all the right things.
Our lives give evidence of that.
We know this and understand it, but we sometimes forget that we do not succeed as Christians because of our righteousness and integrity.
Yet we are often prone to this kind of thinking.
Someone always wins in the games we play and they tell us it is "because they live right."
When our children do well, we think it is because we have lived right and done all the right things.
When a ministry succeeds, we think it is because of our righteousness and doing things right.
When we gain victory over a temptation, we pat ourselves on the back for our good deeds.
When business does well and we prosper, we think it is because we have been faithful and done well.
Is that true? James 2:10 is a sobering reminder of the reality of our spiritual condition, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."
I have never murdered, but I have been guilty of hating people.
I have never committed adultery, but I have lusted.
I have never made an idol, but I have desired lots of things besides God.
I have never rejected God, but I have grumbled plenty of times about the conditions of my life.
Like the people of Israel, I am not as good as I sometimes think I am and as a result, I have to admit that I have not succeeded because of my righteousness or integrity, because in fact, it isn't there.
The thinking that God's good gifts are ours and our success is ours because we are good is an enemy of the soul.
It promotes pride of self, it diminishes God.
It is self centered and deposes God from the throne.
We must confess that we are prone to this kind of thinking and that we have no right to do so.
pause...let it sink in
! II.
Promise, Love and Choice
And yet, in spite of being a "stiff necked people" Israel was blessed by God with redemption and a land...Why?
!! A. OT
The text gives four reasons.
1.The Wickedness of the Nations 4,5
We notice that in 9:4, 5 the first answer to that question is given.
They were not victorious in conquering the land because they were good, but because the nations that were there were bad.
They were wicked nations and as a result, God judged them and destroyed them.
Israel was simply the instrument of God's judgement.
2.God Promised 9:5
Of course, that does not fully answer the question.
They conquered the land because of those nations wickedness, but why should they, Israel, who were also not righteous be the recipients of this gift of the land.
The answer to that question is found in 9:5.
They received the land because God had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Already many years earlier, God had told Abraham, then Isaac and then Jacob that their descendents would inherit the land.
Now that promise was finally being fulfilled.
Even though Israel was faithless, God was faithful and carried out his promises.
In the story that follows when Moses reminded them of their sin at Mt. Sinai when they had made the golden calf, He reminded them that they had broken covenant quickly.
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