Deuteronomy 4:1-43, The Senses Census

Deuteronomy 4: The Commandments, the Consuming Fire, the Covenant, and the Consideration

Deuteronomy chapter 4. Hear the word of the Lord and now Oh Israel listen to the statutes and rules that I am teaching you and do them that you may live and Go in and take possession of the land of that The Lord the God of your fathers is giving you.

You shall not add to the word that I command you. Nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor for the Lord your God Destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor.

But you who hold fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules as the Lord My God commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

Keep them and do them for that will be your wisdom and your understanding In the sight of the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people for that for what great nation is there that has a God so near to It as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him.

And What great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Only take care and keep your soul diligently. Lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life make them known to your children and your children's children how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb the Lord said to me.

Gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words. So that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth and that they may teach their children so. And you came near the and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven Wrapped in darkness cloud and gloom then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.

You heard the sound of words, but saw no form there was only a voice and he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform that is The Ten Commandments and he wrote them on two tablets of stone and the Lord commanded me at that time To teach you statutes and rules that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on that day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure the likeness of male or female the likeness of any animal that is on the earth the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air the likeness of anything that creeps On the ground and the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.

And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven and when you see the Sun in the moon and the stars all the hosts of Heaven you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole of heaven.

But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron out of the iron furnace out of Egypt To be a people of his own inheritance as you are this day. Furthermore the Lord was angry with me because of you and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan and then I should not Enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, but I must die in this land.

I must not go over the Jordan, but you shall go over and take possession of that good land. Take care lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God Which he made with you and make a carved image the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire a jealous God when you father children and children's children and have grown old in the land if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the Form of anything and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God.

So as to provoke him to anger I called heaven and earth to witness against you today. That you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over to the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it but will be utterly destroyed and the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and you will be left few and number among the Nations where the Lord will will drive you and there you will serve gods of wood and stone the work of human hands.

That neither seen or heard or eat nor smell. But from there You will seek the Lord your God and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and with all your Soul when you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you in the latter days.

You will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice for the Lord. Your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. For us now of the days that are past Which were before you since the day that God created man on the earth and asked from one end of heaven to the other.

Whether such great a great thing as this has ever happened or was was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and still live or Has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself?

From the midst of another nation by trials by signs by wonders and by war by a Mighty hand in an outstretched arm and by great deeds of terror all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt Before your eyes to you.

It was shown that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no other besides him out of heaven. He let you hear his voice that he might discipline you and on earth. He let you see his great fire and you hear his words out of the midst of the fire and Because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence by his mighty power driving out before you Nations greater and mightier than yourselves to bring you in to give you their land for an inheritance as it is this day.

No, therefore today and lay it to your heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments. Which I command you today that it may go well with you and with your children After you and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan. That the man slayer might flee there anyone who kills his neighbor Unintentionally without being at enmity with him in time past he may flee to one of these cities and save his life.

Bezzar in the wilderness on the table land. For the for the Rubenites Ramoth and Gilead for the Gaddites and Golan in Bation for the Manassites. The Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word.

Hearing and Doing the Word of God

Long passage. Well, if you had to be deaf or blind. Which would you choose? In other words, which sense would you rather do without? Hearing or seeing. It's a hard choice, isn't it? Because we'd hate to be without either one.

You know one study because you know. It's hard to say which is worse. So one study said that that deaf people have higher levels of depression than blind people do. But another study showed that deaf people report higher levels of satisfaction with life than blind people do.

The fact is we need sight and sound. There's nothing like a calming voice. A beautiful music or birds singing in the waking up to that in the morning. There's also nothing like sunshine on a spring day a warm smile.

The green trees and red flowers blue skies white clouds. When you hate to be without either one. Well, the worst of course would be to be without both. Both, you know both deaf and blind without hearing and seeing because you know.

If even if you you can't see if you're blind. You can you could hear books and letters narrated to you can hear people talk to you. You might not could text without Braille or Siri, but you could you could talk to other people on the phone.

If you couldn't hear if you were deaf. You could still read you you could text other people and people could text you you could quote chat online. People could communicate with you and you could communicate with them.

But if you lost both. You would be completely shut off. That's what happened to Helen Keller at 18 months old. She got a disease that left her both deaf and blind and so for years this is early 20th century.

So for years or maybe it's late 19th century it's on that time for years. So she like the first six years of her life. She was completely cut off from all communication until a teacher named and Sullivan broke through to her by.

By making signs into her hand, you know moving her fingers and doing signs into her hand that she could feel and. Of course, it took a while to for her to Helen Keller to figure out the signs were meaning things.

Of what things were and the first word that Helen Keller learned was was water as Anne Sullivan held out one of her hands under. Flowing Helen Keller's hands under flowing water from a well and then made the sign for water Into her hand and it finally dawned on Helen that the signs into her hand.

Were about the water and then she wanted to know what everything else meant. She finally got the connection the signs were the things now other now was everything else meant after a while. She just learned the whole language that way and she was able to write books and articles and became an international celebrity.

Anne Sullivan was called the miracle worker for teaching Helen a popular play was made about them. There's good about that moment where they broke through to her at the well called the miracle worker.

It took of course having to break through Her not being able to see and hear. We're meant to see and hear if you're if you're if you were like Helen Keller and you couldn't see or hear. You would you would know you need to break through you need some help.

You need someone like Anne Sullivan. You need a miracle worker to break through the limitations to communicate to learn about the world to experience reality. That's outside of your own mind, you know, you're like her, you know, you're limited you're handicapped that you need help.

Maybe a miracle, but if if you can see and hear. You have another handicap. You might think reality is only what you can see. There's nothing beyond what can be seen. That's a handicap. You might not know which of the many voices out there You should be listening to.

You might only hear the ones. You know, you might only agree with the ones that you obey the ones that agree with the voice in your head. You might be just as constrained as Helen Keller was you just don't know it and so you too Need a miracle worker.

And we see that here in this passage Deuteronomy 4 in four major parts the the commandments the consuming fire third the Covenant and finally the consideration. First the commandments. Moses is continuing his what it's basically like a commencement address.

It's a time of year graduation time. Israel has graduated from wandering in the desert and now they've got an appetizer of the promised land and Now Oh Israel Moses says to them. This is sort of a concluding this chapter 4.

Of this first major speech of Deuteronomy now is your listen. What do you hear? Israel, what do you hear? Well, if you feel your fill your time. Listening to the world to its enticements to its advertising for the good life.

What it says is the promised land you may not be able to hear the Lord here Israel Moses says here. The statutes and the rules that I am teaching you listen to them. Listen to the listen to them not just for the comfort of the familiar.

Oh, we've heard of this all before Moses. This is all stuff we've gone through before this the soothing sounds of the old-time religion. That's you know, like some people like listening to hymns, but it doesn't change how they live.

They're still just as adulterous or materialistic or racist or whatever. They're living for the expensive vacations of the nice cars and the big houses. No listen and do them. You don't you know, you don't get any advantage.

Coming to church hearing the Word of God if you don't do it. Right. It's not just this isn't like a concert. It's entertaining words and you go away entertained. I hope you're entertained. If you're not I'm presuming too much I guess but anyway.

It's not just if you hear the word and you go away unchanged as though somehow that's an advantage to you. It's not in Fact you get in greater trouble. Because too much is given much is required. You you are to do God's Word in verse 1 that you may live.

You you have life so you can take possession of the promised land. Hear that the Word of God comes. You believe it you do it and that gives you life. You have the promised land. The Lord is giving it to you, but you need the Word of God to give you life.

So you can get it but you got to do it and You don't add to the word. Remember he says that right off there verse 2. Don't add to it. Maybe what you are sure It should say. Maybe you're so sure you think it really does say that but it really doesn't.

But you'll find a way to insert it in there. Maybe add a prohibition that you just think it's got to have. But it doesn't really contain you know like Gets all alcohol or gets all dancing or something like that.

Christians have been so sure past few generations. It just must prohibit those things. They'll find a way to squeeze out those prohibitions. Those laws out of it, even though it's not really there. Maybe they want to hear their favorite stories about the end times and it doesn't matter how many verses they have to take out of Context and string them together from one passage to another.

Jumping from one half-baked conclusion to another they're just so sure that it's there. They won't listen to anything else. They they want to hear what they want to hear and so they somehow hear that from the Word of God.

Don't do that. He says you're adding to the Word. Don't take away from the Word. What's what's not what is there? Even when it's convenient. In other words the Bible what it says is so inconvenient. You're just find it too hard to believe and so you can't you can't do that.

Can't really mean that. Be careful, by the way. Attest when you're probably hearing false doctrine some passages of the Bible that just sounds so radical and someone comes along and just Waters it down so much at the end of it.

It basically ends up meaning nothing. It's kind of like carry on. No change. They're probably taking something out of the Bible when they do that. Many churches of the last generation or two I found the instructions about church discipline to be to be too strange too hard too idealistic.

What in the world are you talking about? Treat them as a Go through these steps of confronting and all that after all who's gonna stay around and have their sins Exposed that just doesn't happen. Does it think of what Jesus says in Matthew 18?

Is anyone gonna stay around for that? Well, let's go to another church and we can't really do anything about that. Can we? But it's but you know, it's not as though that passage. Using example, it's hard to understand Matthew 8 18 verses 16 to 18 is one of the easiest passages to understand.

It's just clear step-by-step instructions. It's just hard to do. Especially as it is built on the assumption about what the church is that many Christians today don't see and Don't hear. You know, if you see the church is like a theater or maybe like a restaurant and If that's your view of the church, you can't hear what the Lord Jesus is saying in Matthew 18 because you just your vision obscured by what you What you think you see but that and everything else that says you must keep in verse 2.

Don't take away from it. Don't add to it. Keep it. These are the commandments of the Lord our God. We need to hear them and to do them. That's what you hear. What do you see? Here they saw with their own eyes what the Lord did at ball pure Americans you say bail, okay, but it's supposed to say ball or Could be Beth pure which means house of pure and that and if the story comes if you remember from the book of Numbers.

They're at Balaam suggestion. The people of Moab tried to seduce many of the Israelites into the worship of this God ball of pure. Pure is the town and the ball was the God there. Which included this of the worship of this God included sex as part of the worship of adultery probably with these prostitutes who came with?

Shrines and when they summoned God in Israelites got involved in that the Lord Had a plague breakout among them and the Lord then told Moses to hang the chiefs of Israel Who turned to Baal who went after this God hang them, you know by a rope we're talking about I guess Tree or something and then Moses told the judges to go out into the congregation Out of the nation and kill the men who had turned to Baal.

Phineas Aaron's son. When he saw an Israelite taking a pagan woman with him an open view. This is like Moses and you can imagine Moses and Aaron and Phineas are hanging around talking. This is what are gonna do with this horrible situation.

So many of our people are being seduced by this pagan God and there's this Israelite man right in front of them taking this. More of this woman this prostitute with him into his tent and the Phineas there.

It's probably young man son of Aaron. He is indignant he is zealous for the Lord and so he gets a spear and he follows them these two into their tent and he spears them to death with one strike and The Lord declared that Phileas Phineas is jealousy.

For the Lord that it that appeased God's wrath at at them at Israel. So that he didn't consume the whole nation because of what Phineas did because of his zeal for the Lord. But 24 ,000 Israelites died there and the rest of the people had had seen that Moses is reminding them of that here.

Your eyes have seen what do you see? Well, your eyes have seen what the Lord did at ball pure in verse 3. You can see what God does. You can learn what God is like by seeing what God does. He destroyed from among you.

Moses tells them those who sin. Okay, this wasn't just a disease that's happened to strike just at that time. It's a coincidence. This Phineas he's a hot-headed young man. He shouldn't have done that.

No see what the Lord did. But you held fat but you who held fast to the Lord your God by being faithful in a marriage are Still alive today and they could see that too. What do you see? In verse 5 see we're commanded to see open your eyes and see pay attention.

That we've been taught statutes and rules. We've been we've been taught that not simply that we would know them. Oh, that's interesting, you know, it's just trivia. To be knowledgeable about what the Lord has commanded but that you should do them.

I Think some modern evangelical Christians, you know, so want to prove that they're not legalistic. They're too cool to be legalistic. They understand that the gospel in this right the gospel is about God saying done not about telling us to do.

Okay, we have a lot of those and some reform people. Who want to show how sophisticated they are how smart they are now, they have all their theology their fancy theology. They have it nailed down that they can quote the Heidelberg Catechism on justification or define imputed Righteousness, they can define it perfectly.

They have fine-tuned their doctrine a lot of those miss this do. Now sure are being accepted by God becoming his children though. It is by his work that the word became flesh and gave us power to become the children of God.

That is by what God has done. It is finished. Jesus declared from the cross. He's done Our salvation, but now that that is done. That doesn't mean that we don't have to do. I See some reform people who love the reform books and the reform podcast and to talk Reform theology, but you can't get them to do anything.

Mary Mary and I went to a reformed church this way. We tried to help them. Like over ten years ago, but you know, they won't give they won't reach out. They won't be active with the church. They won't pick up some kids that want to come to church.

You know, they just want to come and talk theology. Honestly, I'd rather have an Armenian with confused theology at least on some secondary points. But who is seriously wanting to be a disciple of Jesus who wants to do everything that he's commanded.

The you know, the Lord Jesus did not commission us to go and make theologians who talk theology. He didn't he taught us to go and make disciples. There's a disciplined people of all nations. I mean, it's all ethnic groups all races.

Teaching them to. What? Observe to do to practice to live. Everything I have commanded you now that God has done. You need to do. Well, that's the situation these people were in Israel wasn't saved by keeping the law.

Were they can't you think this is legalism. No, they weren't saved by keeping the law. They were first safe from Egypt through the sea and then. After they're safe, they're given the law. Salvation comes first and then God gives us his his statutes his principles his word and we are to do it in verse 6.

Keep them and do them. Don't just talk about them. For that doing God's Word. He says will be your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the people's if you do it. People will say wow, look at these people there.

Their life is different. It's impressive people around us. See us living God's Word in our amazed. Take the scriptures for example that we pledged to in our church covenant. Think how revolutionary they would be if implemented.

We walk together in Christian love from 2nd John verse 6. 1st John chapter 1 verse 7. You know, you know, that's not just being smiley on Sunday morning and friendly and shaking hands and asking Daniel how he's doing.

It's been a while. But if a member needs something a roof repaired a lawn mowed a dog looked after where's. Mary's not here, but Wayne helped. We don't forsake the assembling, you know, that's is doing that stuff.

We don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25. We're slow to take offense. Is he talking about me? I'm going somewhere else. But always ready for reconciliation from James chapter 1 verse 19.

Matthew chapter 5 verse 23 to 26. Colossians chapter 3 verse 13 we faithfully admonish one another. Faithfully means they need. Admonish can be correcting it can be encouraging but it's it's helping each other get out helping each other be better.

You know to enable each other sins even just passively letting them slide. That's from Galatians chapter 5 verse 13 first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13. We have a steadfast love I could Ruth remember.

Chesed steadfast love that endures all things. From 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse 7. Everyone loves 1st Corinthians chapter 13 the love chapter. What is love it endures all things. I Hate to sound like I'm talking down theological precision.

The truth about God because I love sound theology. But we can have a perfectly fine-tuned theology in the world. Is it going to care? No God cares. But the world as far as in the sight of the peoples that God's talking about here in this passage the world isn't gonna care.

But here it is when we do God's Word when we put it into practice that people will be impressed. They'll say in verse 6 Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Because of what they do.

Because there's when we put God's Word into practice. That's when people around us can see as in verse 7 that God is among us. That we're not just another self-serving club, you know full of individuals.

It's all out for ourselves. They see the work of God by us obeying the Word of God. Do you get that they see people around us the work of God by us Obeying the Word of God. They see that he is near us.

He's giving us grace he's giving us power whenever we call upon him as someone said we may be the only Bible that that some people read and If what they see and hear in us is the Word of God lived out.

Then they'll know as in verse 8 that we have something that is Wow. Righteous, they'll say what a what great nation they say. People is there that has statutes and rules commandments. So righteous. So starting in verse 9 take care.

Be careful. Keep your soul diligently. Now if you want to keep your body diligently say you want to get in shape physical shape. You have to take care about your diet. You have to take care. You have to be diligent.

You can't have every treat you want. You'll have to work out often strenuously almost every day. You have to you have to do it diligently. You have to apply yourself. It doesn't come easily. So if you want to be a disciple of Jesus who observes all that he's commanded.

Take care to keep your soul diligently. That means you can't watch or listen to everything you might want. You have to apply yourself to to remember the Word of God. You should you should read it for yourself.

Listen to those who preach it soundly. Maybe listen to music that reminds you of it lest you forget what your eyes have seen. It's what a lot of this is about. That's what we're trying to do right now.

Remind you of what God's Word says. Remind you of God's Word. So you don't forget God's work and then in verse 9 make them know God's words and In his works make them known to your children and your grandchildren teach them so that in verse 10 They learn to fear the Lord to revere him to tremble at his word and that they might.

Then they will pass it on to their children. Well here these people 40 years ago and some of them were just children they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai as it burned and Smoked and clouds covered it and the Lord's voice boomed out of it.

What did they hear? The Word of God. And They trembled. What did they see? No form. They saw only what God had done the fire the smoke not the Lord himself. They heard the Word of God. They saw the works of God.

The Consuming Fire and the Danger of Idolatry

So there's the commandments. Next is the consuming fire. Therefore in verse 15 because he's made a covenant with us. With with stipulations with requirements things we are to do. To observe not just theology to know but things to do what he's done should produce our doing because of that.

Watch yourselves very carefully. He says. You know, this is it an easy believism. That it doesn't matter how you live because you know grace will cover up everything. Whatever, you know be nice of you a little better, but it doesn't matter got a little everything slide.

No grace is what gets you in a covenant with God. Reveals the Lord to you and enables you to to be very careful. And if you're not very careful. If the Bible and prayer aren't that important to you. So you hardly read it and hardly pray if church isn't so important.

So you figure you can miss. Pretty regularly and you don't even worry about making up through other means if you're not careful that suggests maybe you've never seen his work or heard his word or. You are forgetting what you saw and heard.

Here be very careful. To remember that you saw No form on the day that the Lord spoke to you. They saw no form. We see no form. So don't make an image that use in worship. Now here I'm supposed to say you probably expected me to say something like.

You know, okay, you know, we don't use idols, but we all know we don't use idols. It's just so far out of our mind. We'll never do that. So then what we're to do is don't make idols out of cars or jewelry or money or success or sports or relationships or.

Covetousness, you know covetousness is materialism greed. That is idolatry. You expect me to go right to that, right? Well true. That's all true that those things are idolatry, but we still need to be careful that we don't slip into making literal idols.

You may think that's just so far out. We'll never do that. But actually you can't drive through Dan Danville without going right by some idols right down 86. Right across from GW High School. There's several idols set up right there.

Okay, but you know, so don't think that's really so far out that'll never happen to you people have all. Throughout all history all kinds of people all kinds of cultures have people have an urge to reduce God to an image that they can see.

Just. Because we live in a mostly Protestant culture that doesn't have a lot of literal idols. Does it mean that that sinful urge has gone away? It's not just in the last few months. I've written an academic article about how the Eastern Orthodox Church Draws many evangelical Christians in to them and gets them to accept what they call their icons.

Which are really just idols. Is that article should be published in the Thymian loss. Have you say that word journal in December now the Eastern Orthodox claim to have preserved the practices of the early church.

This is their claim. They make they may very they put it out there and this is how they draw in a lot of Christians to join them because they'll say we have the practices of the early church. Preserved from the beginning unaltered.

We have never changed a thing from the day of the Apostles. Okay, they say that clearly strongly and that's their that's sort of their selling point. But they use icons in worship. And I proved in my article I think I proved it pretty clearly that the early church the early the real early church and I'm talking about the first four centuries of Christianity strictly prohibited icons.

That that is that they had no images in their worship. No likenesses of any figure the early church saw that doing that using any images in worship. Like just as Moses does here and they saw that as acting corruptly.

That's the real early church but over the centuries as Superficially converted pagan people came into the church. They brought their idols with them and eventually by the year 787 icons were accepted and.

So don't think it could happen to the early church it took 700 years. But don't think if it happened to them that it can't happen to us if we're not careful. We have to be careful. But yes as for now You need to be careful about the idolatry of covetousness of living for wealth.

The nice car the big house the newest gadgets the sweetest relationship even the idol of the family. Beware in verse 19 unless you you it says you raise your eyes to those things. That's what gives you hope.

That's what gives you truth. That's what your firm foundation is. The husband the wife the money the cash in the bank the big house the stuff. It's that stuff and you serve them so. You can't come to church on Sunday morning.

Because you got to serve the money God, you know, you wish you could do both. But but you know, you got to serve the money God so you go. You go serve that God you break your covenant to the church because the family God tells you to beware.

We heard a testimony and I'm sorry somebody missed it in Sunday school this man Nabeel Qureshi converted from Islam and he quite clearly had to make a decision between his faith in Jesus and his family and.

And we still are calling people to make that decision today him it's a radical decision somehow Christians among us still have to make that somehow many of them delude themselves that they can't and they're just compromising.

You might think that there is no price to be paid that God won't be angry after all he after all he's all about Focusing on the family, isn't he or he's so gracious so lenient and indulgent. That's what some people think grace is that we don't need to worry worry about his any any wrath from him.

But beware the Lord he says here. He is jealous. He's jealous for the affections of the people. He saved He brought Israel out of the iron furnace of Egypt in verse 20. He's brought us out of the bondage to sin Us out of the iron furnace of God's eternal wrath to be a holy Nation a people for his own inheritance to belong to him.

You can't see him. But you can see what he's done. He punished our sins on his beloved son on the cross we look at the cross. There's God's work. Look at the cross sure I mean most the time we we emphasize God's love the second person of the Trinity the Son Giving himself for our sins sure that says that we can see that in the cross.

But guess what's also there on the cross also God's wrath and the first person of the Trinity the Father is there on the he's Punishing the Son because of our sins. It's not just the Romans and the Jews and the enemies doing it is the Father Punishing the Son for our sins on the cross.

That's what you see. That's God's work on The cross and we can see the wrath of God at sin at our sin. What kind of God do you see by his works. When Moses tells them here in verse 21, look at the fact That he Moses he can't enter the promised land.

The Lord was angry with me because of you. Talked to that because of you left about that because of you part last week, but here he's not an indulgent God. It just kind of lets everything slide. See what kind of God he is but what he he's he does in verse 22 Moses says I must die in this land.