FBC Morning Light (3/2/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We're reading this weekend in Deuteronomy chapters 1 through 8. And Deuteronomy itself means giving again of the law. And so most of Deuteronomy is Moses addressing the people as they're about to go into the promised land.

And so as you think back at the people of Israel and Moses and their last 40 years together, what would you say as Moses to the people that were going into the promised land? So what I'm going to do is talk for a little bit about some of the major points from chapters 1 through 8, and then go back and give you what I think is the most important point in chapters 1 through 8 of the book of Deuteronomy.

So let me begin. They had just defeated the two kings of Sihon and Og, and so Moses recounts that. He recounts the time when the leaders were appointed in each tribe to help alleviate all the judging that Moses had to do.

He recounts the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea. That was a very important turning point in the last 40 years where they had sent spies into the land while at Kadesh Barnea, and two spies came back and gave a good report, and 10 spies gave a bad report, and the people believed the bad report.

And the Lord punished them for believing what was false, and they were not allowed to go into the promised land because of believing or because of their unbelief. Well, it also talks about how Moses is forbidden to go into the promised land.

He's not allowed to lead the people into the promised land after now at the end of his 120 years of life. He spent his first 40 years in Egypt, the next 40 years in the land of Midian, and then the last 40 years leading the people of Israel through the wilderness.

Joshua is foretold to be the one who will lead the people into the promised land, a very, very important concept. Moses recounts the Ten Commandments with the people while speaking to them in Deuteronomy chapters 1 through 8, also very, very important.

The fact that the Israelites are the chosen people of God and that they are encouraged to remember this all throughout Deuteronomy and later in Joshua, it's a very important point that they remember. They are to set up stones after they cross the Jordan in the book of Joshua, where they were set up stones so that your children and your children's children could be reminded of what God had done to lead the people into the promised land.

Yet, in all of those things, might I suggest to you that the most important thing that is stated out of all of these very important things, none of them to be discounted, of course, is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

The Greatest Commandment and the Shema in Deuteronomy 6

Before I go to Deuteronomy chapter 6, let me read to you Matthew chapter 22, verses 36 through 38. 36 says, "'Teacher,' addressing Jesus, "'which is the greatest commandment of the.

Law?'.

Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.'". So where does that come from? That comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6, and this is called the Shema.

The Shema, the word itself, means hear, listen. And so this verses 4 and 5 of Deuteronomy chapter 6 say the following,. "'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 I would suggest to you that that command is an impossible threshold for us to achieve on our own. It is only something that can be done with the Lord's help. It is something that we are dependent upon the Lord to be able to do.

Loving God by Grace and Dependence on the Lord

And so let's take a moment this morning and reflect on that, and in our prayers, let it be that we ask the Lord to help us to do the Shema. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to ask that you would give us your grace to be able to love you with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength.

That can only be done through what your Son accomplished on the cross. Help us to rely on your strength and your grace to be able to do these things. It's in your Son's name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.