Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Chapter 8

• Deuteronomy 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. 

The whole word of God tells us truly that keeping God's commandments will result in long life, fruitfulness and power over enemies. The opposite brings with it a curse. The fields are cursed, life is shortened and when God lifts His hand of protection, enemies can steal, kill and destroy.

We see this in our promise of eternal life also. The more we yield ourselves to God and His word, the less power the enemy has to destroy our testimony before the world. The more we stay in what we call (in Christ) or (in the vine), the more we can be fruitful and abound in the things of the spirit and the spreading of the gospel. We cannot walk in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance unless we endeavor to walk in the spirit. If we do not walk in the spirit, we cannot be fruitful in the work of God. 

In order to walk in the spirit we first must come to Christ by faith by turning away from sin, changing our mind about God and acknowledge that we cannot be saved by good works apart from Christ but trust in Christ alone for our salvation. 

In saying that I want to make it clear that God did not give commandments for nothing. Jesus also did not say to keep His commandments for nothing. The teaching that once we come to Christ, it doesn't matter how we live and that we are no longer under any commandments is false teaching. If we are not under any commandments why did Jesus say,

"If ye love me, keep my commandments?"

Jesus also taught in John 15 that once we come to Him, we must abide in Him. Also in Romans and many other places both before and after the 1st coming of Jesus.

• Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

Walking in the spirit is necessary for salvation. It is vital. While we are not under the sacrificial and ritual ordinances of the law any longer because Jesus fulfilled that part of the law, any holy commandments Jesus gave us in the New Testament and the word of the apostles gave in connection with the commandments of Jesus are still in affect. 

If we read the book of Jude we can see easily that the first step in turning away from God is to stop obeying His commandments and then turning the grace of God into lasciviousness or a license to sin. The second step is to deny God's right to correct or intervene in how we live, the third step is to deny Christ as the only way to salvation and start considering that there are other paths to God. The next step would be deny Christ as savior or Son of God. The last step is to deny the existence of God altogether. This for the most part is what has happened today. In many parts of the world all the above are happening in different stages of development. 

• Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 

Keeping the commandments in love and peace, not in legalistic rituals, is the one sign that proves our love for God. 

One example that will show our commitment to God is in the matter of divorce:

Lets say we have a bad marriage and we deceive ourselves into thinking that another acquaintance that we are friends with would make a better spouse than the one we are presently married to. We think within ourselves that the person would make a more stable marriage so we try to twist the scriptures and get around God's word because we (our flesh) desires to have things better than we have it now. In the long run though it never turns out better but let us ignore that for now. We think it is going to be better. No more fighting, the new spouse will be better for the business, our homes will be more stable, and life will be great. So we ignore what Jesus says and we divorce thinking all we have to do is ask forgiveness once the deed is done and we are covered by His grace. After all didn't Paul say, we are saved by grace and not by works? Didn't that mean that it doesn't matter what Jesus said about adultery and remarriage, we are under grace? 

If we think that way, we are not only committing adultery in our hearts even if our relationship with the new person is only platonic, but we are committing idolatry also because what we desire in our mind is to have a marriage with someone else even though God's word forbids it. The desire has become an idol. An idol is an image we worship either to represent God, Mary, Jesus etc. and it is dangerous because it causes us to worship, not God but a substitute. We are literally worshiping devils. An idol also can be something invisible or anything we desire more than our relationship and obedience to God. Satan would be behind that too.

Our business can be an idol, our friends can be idols, our possessions and even an actual image if we use images in our worship instead of worshipping in spirit and in truth. Using images is in direct violation of the 2nd commandment so it is serious. It keeps us for trusting in God by faith. We are using a substitute between us and God. Jesus died to give us the real thing, we no longer need substitutes. To disobey any commandment is to place our wants and our interpretation of God's word between us and God. To commit adultery is to violate God's divine plan, one man, one woman, and one family unit. Having more than one wife was never in God's plan either. That causes hurt and rivalry. It makes the less favored wife lonely and sad. God allowed it in the Old Testament but it was never His divine will. One wife, one husband. Male and female. That was His plan for our good, not our destruction.

I know a person who decided that his wife didn't share his vision for his business and he met a woman who pretended to share his vision. She used flattery and said just the right words to boost his ego that his present wife never did. She knew the right people to help get him more contracts, so he began to search for reasons to leave his wife, break up his family and start afresh with this new person. 

This is idolatry. He put the woman, his business and his own desire ahead of his wife, his children and his God. Yet he still thinks he is okay. He has listened to the wrong people tell him that to separate is better for the kids than arguing and fighting with his spouse. Research has proven just the opposite to be true. 

God's commandments are for our good, not our evil. He does know what is best. To choose what feels good at the moment and to choose what we desire at the moment is not the best in the long run. 

We may desire a slice of a chocolate cake, then another slice, then another because it is so good. The result in the long run is to be over weight. Being over weight makes us more susceptible to diabetes, heart disease, strokes and the misery of carrying around extra weight all day. Try tying a 5 pound bag of sugar on our backs and carrying it around all day. It is tiring. What the flesh wants for the moment will cost us later on. This works in the natural as well as the spiritual. 

• Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 

They had to learn to trust God and to get their minds on His word rather than their food. God did not let them starve. Fasting and prayer will do that for us today. It gets our minds on the real food, the spiritual food that we need.

Jesus repeated that commandment to Satan when Satan tempted Jesus to turn rocks into bread when He (Jesus) was hungry. Jesus knew that the heavenly Father would provide for Him when it was necessary and the He didn't have to use His power in the wrong manner to feed Himself. 

• Deuteronomy 8:4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 

Imagine that for a moment. They didn't have to go out and buy new shoes for 40 years. They had no foot disease. Their clothes did not get old. 

• Deuteronomy 8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. 

Some people only want to hear what boosts their egos or tickles their ears. They do not want to hear correction. They do not want to hear anything negative or anything that makes them feel guilty. They want to hear upbeat type of sermons all the time. The danger of that is this, it might make us feel like we are okay with God when we are not. It brings no conviction for sin. We deceive ourselves and go on in life doing our own thing, thinking God is blessing us in whatever lifestyle we choose. Our business is great, so God must we blessing us because we are faithfully paying our tithes. Many are deceived into thinking God's blessings are material things and successful businesses. Look at the church of today though. Divorce is just as bad as those that do not go to any church. Addiction to alcohol, drugs and pornography are in the church as well as out of it. Something goes terribly wrong if preaching is never negative or convicting. We think we stand when we might not be standing. 

• Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 
• 7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 
• 8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 
• 9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 
• 10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 

God wants to give His people good things but it comes with conditions. The conditions is not just giving as many teach but giving of one's self. It is in keeping the commandments and acknowledging God in all our ways. It is showing love to our neighbors. This means a spouse too by the way. If we can't love our spouses and our children, how can we love anyone else? If we can't be kind to our own families, how can we be kind to a neighbor? 

I've known people who everyone loves. They show kindness to neighbors, church pals and put on a show of goodness to all around them but are mean and cruel to their own spouses and children. That will not do. Kindness must begin at home first. Kindness is from the heart, not in appearance. 

• Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 
• 12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 
• 13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 
• 14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 

Many times this is exactly what happens when God gives us prosperity. We forget who gave it to us. That is why our emphasis must be in the spiritual things rather than material prosperity. We mistakenly think that prosperity means we are blessed of God. Sure God originally may have blessed us with "things" but if those things have taken our heart from God and our lives are wrapped up in things, we may not be standing where we ought to be with God. 

• Paul says:
  1Corinthains 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 

God has a much better way for us to live than the world around us falsely portrays as "The good life." Seeing miracles of God restoring and saving marriages is much greater but we have to believe, work at it and trust God for the outcome.

• Malachi 2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 
• 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 
• 16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. 

We are to take heed to our spirit in all things but the first place to start is our own spouses and in some cases our children. God hates divorce. It is a tool of Satan to steal, kill and destroy our very souls. To split up our families is a very serious sin against God. I'm not saying this to condemn those that have gone down that road, repented and are trying to get back to a right relationship with God here, I'm trying to keep those that are headed into that error to reconsider. To take heed to their spirit and to get right with God without making that mistake. We need to take heed to our spirit now. Not do what the flesh desires and plan to make things right later. Believe me, it will cost us if we do it that way knowing ahead of time that we are breaking His commandments. We are in fact turning the grace of God into a license to sin when we knowingly, willingly break up our families to get someone else and then repent and trust in God's grace to cover us. That is not true repentance. 

• Deuteronomy 8:15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; 
• 16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; 
• 17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. 

When God does bless us in things of this life, we must be humble and thankful, at His word, we can lose all again. This should not cause us to despise the poor and assume that the poor have lost the favor of God. The poor are left here to see if we are going to open our hearts to them and share with them God's word as well as the things necessary for them to live. 

One of the biggest evils of today's prosperity teaching is that is encourages us to despise the poor and assume God is not with them. 

• Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. 

If God gives some wealth, we are to use it to help others and further the gospel. We are not to fleece the flock and take from those that have very little to give. Tithing in the Old Testament was for those that were prosperous to support the Levites and those that gave up secular jobs to serve the temple and do the Lord's work. Tithing was never required for the poor, the widows and the orphans. In fact a portion of the tithes were to help the poor, widows and the orphans. 

• Deuteronomy 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. 
• 20 As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God. 

This warning to Israel can apply to any nation or group of people, even the church. 

• 1Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 

Obedience to God's commandments is just as important today as it was for Israel in the days of Moses. Grace does not cancel the commandments of God. We are not saved from sin by trying to keep the commandments, rituals or ordinances of the law apart from Christ. We are saved by the grace of God that calls us out of sin, cleanses us from that sin by the blood that Jesus shed on our behalf for forgiveness of sin, and by our faith in Christ alone to have mercy upon us and save us. 

We are saved then to follow Christ and begin to keep the commandments because we no longer serve ourselves or the god of this world but we have come into a whole new way of life of walking in the spirit, not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. No one walking in the spirit can possibly sin at the same time. If we return to sin, we are not walking in the spirit. Remember Romans chapter 8 shows us that there is no condemnation to those that are "in Christ" but also those that are walking in the spirit. DC

Deuteronomy 9