Through the Bible - Deuteronomy — Zac Poonen

Okay, we can begin. Let's turn now to the fifth book of Moses, the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means a second law, and there's a lot of repetition here. It's a repetition of the law, many important aspects of the law which is already given, and also a review of God's dealings with his people.

The Structure and Threefold Message of Deuteronomy

And this book, we can divide it in two ways. We can divide it as three speeches that Moses gave. The first one from the first four chapters, one to four, and the second long speech that he gave from chapter five to twenty-six, and the third one from chapter twenty-seven to thirty.

And after that, you read of the song of Moses in chapter thirty-two, the blessing of Moses on the tribes in chapter thirty-three, and the death of Moses in chapter thirty-four. So that's basically what the book of Deuteronomy is all about.

The other way you could divide it is, we could look at these as messages that make us look in different directions. Just in a broad way, we could say it looks like this. There are six messages here, and the first two, chapters one to eleven, make us look back at God's faithfulness.

The Lord Moses urged the Israelites to look back, think of God's faithfulness to you through all these forty years in the wilderness. See, this is spoken at the end of this wilderness journey. And the next two messages, chapters twelve to thirty-one, speaking of God's laws, we could say, make us look upwards at God speaking his laws to us.

And when God speaks his laws to us, we see ourselves. It makes us look inward too. But we should never look inward without looking upward. There are a lot of people who have the habit of looking inside.

It's not good. We must look at Jesus, and as we see his glory, we see our need. That's the best way to see it, otherwise you'll be discouraged. And the last two messages, we could say chapter thirty-two to thirty-three, the prophecies that Moses made look forward to the wonderful things that God is going to do for us in the future.

Now, all of us need these three looks. That's one of the things we can learn from the book of Deuteronomy, that we should never stop having these three looks in our life, no matter how old you are. There are many times in my life that I look back over the last forty-one years that the Lord has led me as a believer.

And that encourages my faith. Many times when I'm in a very difficult situation and it looks as if there is no way out, the thing that strengthens my faith, yeah I know all the promises in the Bible, I listen to what people say, but the thing that encourages me more than anything else, I look back over forty-one years and the Lord says to me, have I ever let you down even once so far?

And I say, no Lord. And He says, I won't let you down now. That's the thing that encourages me. Have you fallen? Look back and see the number of times that the Lord forgave you. Didn't He forgive you then?

Didn't He know that you would fall again? Was it a surprise? He'll forgive you. Look back with gratitude. And that will strengthen your faith. And be thankful. Extremely thankful. And when you look at all your failures in the past, that's the thing that Moses reminded the Israelites.

Look back at your failures and you will be very merciful to other believers around you who fail. So looking back is very important. In a good way. There's another way in which we must forget the things that are behind.

Looking Back Without Discouragement or Pride

Paul said forgetting the things that are behind. If I look back in the wrong way, for example, I look back and I get discouraged. Oh, I'm such a failure. I'm good for nothing. I wasted so many years of my life.

Let me give you a message for those who wasted so many years of their life. Jesus told a parable about people who did not work for eleven hours out of twelve in a day. In the eleventh hour, a man went and called them and said, will you come and work in my vineyard?

How many hours did they work? One hour. And they got their reward first. And the other fellows who worked for twelve hours got it last. I hope that's an encouragement whenever we think of, oh, I wasted so many years.

So that's we should not look back in discouragement. Neither should we look back in pride. Oh, see what I've accomplished. See the number of things I've done for the Lord. Forgetting the things that are behind that relates to discouragement and pride.

Anything that discourages you or makes you proud, forget it. But we need to look back with gratitude to God for what he has done. That's the backward look I'm talking about. Peter says that those who have forgotten that God has purified them from their sins, they are blind or short sighted.

Second Peter one. So the other look we need is upward and you may must never stop looking upward. Say, Lord, give me light. I want to see the glory of Jesus. I've seen a lot of Jesus in the scriptures through all these years.

But even today, when I go to this book, I say, Lord, open my eyes. I want to see wonderful things out of your law. Like David prayed in Psalm 119. Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law and we will see the glory of Jesus in ways that we have never seen before.

I believe there's a lot of the glory of Jesus I have still not seen after so many years. And I want to look upward and see more and more, because that's the image into which the Holy Spirit is seeking to transform me.

And as I see him, I get humbled because I see my own need. And I believe this is the greatest secret of remaining in humility till the end of your life. It's very easy for a servant of God whom God has anointed and used mightily.

If a day comes like that in your life, it's very easy for you to become proud. And I've seen a lot of preachers like that because God has used them. They are so proud and so distant from people. What's the thing that can keep us in brokenness and humility till the end of our life?

Only one thing. The Lord taught me that more than 40 years ago, that the whole secret of the Christian life was looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And I find that when I look at Jesus, it is impossible to be proud.

A man becomes proud when he has stopped looking at Jesus. He started looking at other people, and he thinks he's better than them, more anointed than them, more used than them, better than them in 101 ways, and he becomes proud.

If only he could turn his look upwards and look at Jesus, he will fall to his face in the dust like John did in the Isle of Patmos, and he'll keep his face in the dust forever. I want to recommend that to you, all of you young people and older people.

Keep your face in the dust all your days. That's the place God uses us. If you want God to use you till the end of your life, look upwards. And as you look upwards, you will see your own need and your own shortcoming.

Looking Forward in Faith

The third look, as I said, is looking forward. We need to look forward in faith. God's got wonderful things ahead of me, and he's got a great job for me to do. I don't know when I'm going to die or whether the Lord is going to come, but the grave is not my goal.

You know, sometimes you see older people say, oh, I'm just waiting to die and things like that. Well, I'm never going to wait waiting to die. Even if I lived to 90, I'm not going to expect that. The sky, not the grave, is our goal.

We sing in one English song. The sky is our goal, not the grave. The rapture, the coming of Christ. We look forward in faith that before the Lord comes, we're going to do something for the Lord. In India, I have faith for that.

That before the Lord comes, we're going to do something for him. We're going to accomplish something for him in our local towns where we are. Look forward in faith. That's how God told Moses to tell these people, look forward to the time you're going to Canaan and see what you're going to do.

And look forward right into the future. Moses prophesied a long way into the future for the 12 tribes. So if you keep these three things in mind, I believe that you got a gist of the book of Deuteronomy.

Repetition as a Means of Spiritual Instruction

Okay. The other thing I want to mention here is that don't be disturbed by repetition. Deuteronomy has got a lot of repetition of what is already covered in earlier books like Leviticus and others. But repetition is necessary.

Why do we have one and two Kings and one and two Chronicles? You know, there's a lot of repetition in Chronicles of what is already written in Kings. There must be a reason. Why are there four Gospels?

There's a certain amount of repetition in those four Gospels too. And you take Ephesians and Colossians. There's a lot of similarity in certain sections of Ephesians and Colossians, almost similar words.

From what I learned from that, and even the writings of different apostles, there's a lot of repetition of what was written earlier. What I learned from that is that the apostles were not ashamed to repeat.

Now, sometimes preachers are afraid to repeat a sermon on the same subject. Do you know why? Because they lose their reputation before people. They are more concerned about what people think about them than the need of the people.

I'll never forget the story I heard of a great evangelist who conducted a seven-day crusade somewhere, seven-day meetings. I think they were called meetings in those days, many years ago. It's probably in the last century.

And every day his subject was, you must be born again. So there was one unconverted man who had been attending that meeting and he got a bit tired of listening to this every day. And he came up to the evangelist on the last day and said, why do you always preach on you must be born again?

He said, because you must be born again. That's it. That's the answer. So why does God have to repeat that you need to get victory over sin? Because you need to get victory over sin. Why does God have to repeat that you should not love the world?

Because you should not love the world. So I for one, take my example, not from these modern day preachers who are afraid and ashamed to speak on the same subject again, but from the prophets in the Old Testament who repeated and repeated and repeated because Israel needed to hear that.

You know, the number of times Jeremiah more or less said the same thing. They repeated their messages because people had to hear it. Sometimes a person has to hear something 10 times before it sinks in.

So the book of Deuteronomy teaches that don't be afraid of repetition. If you are seeking your own honor, you will not repeat. If you are seeking the good of the people, you'll be willing to repeat until they have understood.

If they are not born again, you'll keep on telling them that till they are born again. If they haven't got victory, you'll keep on preaching on victory till they get victory. If they are not understood how to build the body of Christ, they will keep on preaching that till they build the body of Christ and many other truths like that.

Deuteronomy 1: The Danger of Delayed Obedience

Okay, now we turn to chapter 1. I just want to go through this book and point out a few important passages. In Deuteronomy chapter 1, we read in verse 2, it is 11 days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kedesh Barnea.

11 days from the time they got the laws in Horeb to Kedesh Barnea, which is what we considered in the last study in numbers was the point from which they were to enter the land of Canaan. But they did not enter and that journey of 11 days finally took them 38 years.

I told you yesterday how you can cover first standard to 10th standard in 10 years or you can cover first standard to 10th standard in 15 years or 20 years. That's up to you. And you can cover a journey of 11 days in 11 days or you can cover it in 38 years.

That's up to you. 11 days and 38 years. What a difference. Well, we can always ask God to forgive us. You know, if you live 38 years outside God's will, doing what you want, living for yourself, making money, seeking honor, living for pleasure, and at the end of it say, Oh God, please forgive me.

I wasted 38 years of my life. You think he'll forgive you? He certainly will. But do you think he can give you back those 38 years which you wasted? No. Even Almighty God cannot give you time back. Can God give me 1999 again?

No. How can he give me 1999 again? That's over. He can give me another year, but he can't give me 1999. The opportunities I had in 1999 are gone forever. That is why it's very important that if God wants to do something in your life in 11 days, it should not take more than 11 days.

This was two years after they left Egypt that they were to enter the promised land. But we read in Deuteronomy chapter 2 in verse 14. The time that it took for us to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Brook Zirid was 38 years.

Until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp as the Lord had sworn to them. 38 years what should have taken only 11 days. Let's move on to verse 13 of chapter 1. When the Lord wanted to, when Moses was giving advice concerning leadership for the people of Israel, I want you to see the type of qualities he said you must look for.

Wisdom, Discernment, and Experience in Christian Leaders

Just three things, very little, but three very important qualities. He said when you choose people as your leaders, first of all see that they have wisdom. Now wisdom is different from knowledge. Knowledge is study.

You can have knowledge if you got a clever brain. But you may have a clever brain and no wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge to practical situations in life. And you may have a lot of Bible knowledge and no divine wisdom.

If you read the book of Proverbs, we'll come to that later. You see the emphasis is on wisdom, not on knowing scripture as much as knowing God. This is a means, this book is a means by which we get wisdom and know God, but we mustn't stop with knowledge.

A lot of people when they study the Bible, and you could even go through this study and just acquire knowledge. I'm scared of knowledge. The tree of knowledge brought death. I don't want it. I want the tree of life which is wisdom, which teaches me how to live, how to react in practical situations.

So wisdom is the first requirement for a leader. The second is discernment. I believe one of the greatest needs today in leadership is discernment. To discern between what is godly and what is ungodly.

Not just between what is godly and demonic. That's easy. But between godly and what is human. Sometimes we say, well, after all, I'm only a human being. Well, Paul said to the Corinthians, why do you walk like human beings?

He said in 1 Corinthians 3. Aren't you walking like men? That's one of the things he told him. You shouldn't be walking like men. You should be walking like Jesus Christ. He who says he abides in Christ must walk as he walked.

1 John 2 .6. So we see, that is discernment. To discern between a spiritual man and a soulish man. Not between a spiritual man and a carnal man who is living in sin. That's easy. But a spiritual man and a soulish man who lives by his human abilities.

When you listen to a man speak, you should be able to discern whether that man is speaking from his heart or from his head. What comes from his head will only come to your head. And it won't help you.

What comes from his heart will come to your heart. Jesus always spoke from his heart. There's a lot of preaching today which is from the head. It doesn't change people's lives. Learn to preach from your heart.

We need to discern. It's one of the great needs, particularly in leadership today. The Bible was not written for our head. It was written for our heart. What does David say in Psalm 119? Thy word have I hid in my head?

No. In my heart that I may not sin against thee. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against thee. I think it's verse 9 or 11 anyway. There are only 176 verses in that psalm. You can find it.

In our heart. God's word is in our heart. That's where it should be. Discern. The third requirement is experience. See, we can have wisdom. We can have discernment. But all of you who are young need to recognize that you also need experience.

You know, that means you have practiced God's word in different situations and you've got some experience. You've been through trials and in those trials you've been crushed and God has taught you a few things and you can speak from that experience.

That's how Paul spoke. You read in 2 Corinthians 1 .4 The strength I got in my trials. That's what I can give to other people. So in the Living Bible it's translated as reputation. That's also important.

Men of good reputation. A good testimony. So it's very simple. But if you can keep those three things in mind which Moses with his years of experience said these are the qualities in leaders. If you want to be a leader look for these things in your own life.

Impartiality and Fearlessness in Leadership

And we read further in verse 16 and 17 some practical wisdom to these leaders. He says when you judge cases where 17 you must not show partiality. You must hear the small and the great alike. Very great requirement for preachers.

Don't show partiality in your congregation to a rich person. Don't make a distinction between the rich and the poor. God is my witness that for 40 years I have tried my best never to make a distinction between a rich man and a poor man whenever I preach the word of God in any church in any place.

Most of the people have been offended by my preaching are rich people and they have left our church and I praise God that it will be so. A lot of rich people got offended when Jesus preached. Never make a distinction.

Don't try to flatter the rich. Never make a distinction. Don't show any partiality the small and the great people with great influence. Let me just tell you something that I saw as a young man in Christian work when I was very young.

I moved around many different churches and I saw one thing that if a man was a very influential man in society IAS officer or senior police officer or rich businessman. He was always on the board of that church.

And I said Lord what's this? Are all the spiritual people always these people in big administrative posts? And I decided as a young man I said Lord if I ever build a church if you give me grace for that that will never be true in any church I build.

We will look for spiritual men. And that's how through the years in our churches we have had peons in offices who are elders in the church. People who sell what is in the street on a cycle elders in our churches and bus drivers and various people elders in our churches and sitting listening to them will be PhDs and bank managers and all that.

Make no difference between the small and the great. When you build a church if you want to build the body of Jesus Christ that's how God is. And you shall not fear man middle of verse 17. That's very very important.

If you want to be a leader you must not fear man. Don't be afraid of any man's face because the judgment is God's. And if a case is too hard for you the last part of verse 17 go to a more godly brother humble yourself and say I can't handle that.

Let me go to someone who's got more experience than me and let him help me there. OK. We got to move on. We read in a review in that chapter about all the things which they did. And we finally see in chapter 2 and verse 2 and 3 the Lord spoke to me saying you have circled this mountain long enough.

The same thing in chapter 1 verse 6 you have stayed long enough in this mountain. But the way this expression verse 3 of chapter 2 you have gone around in circles long enough. Does the Lord have to say that to any of you?

You're always in the same place. You're moving but there's no progress. Do you know that movement is not the same as progress? If I want to go from this town to another town if I keep going around in circles I'm going to be in the same place even after 10 years.

Moving Forward in Spiritual Growth

A lot of Christian activity is like that. You have gone around in circles long enough the Lord says. Move forward. You should be going in. You should not be defeated by the same sins that you were defeated by 10 years ago.

You should not be in the same losing your temper the way you did 10 years ago. You should not be lusting like you did 10 years ago. You're moving around in circles. You have lived long enough in this type of Christian life.

Move on. That's the message of Deuteronomy. In chapter 4 we read in verse 2. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding nor take away from it. Do you know that even the small commandments are important?

We will not take away the great commandments. What are the temptations that we have in relation to God's word? It's not in relation to the great commandments. All of us will keep all the great commandments.

But it's in the small commandments. Jesus said if anyone cancels the smallest commandment he won't go to hell but he'll be called the smallest in God's kingdom. But he who keeps the smallest commandment and teaches other people to keep the smallest commandment will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

According to Matthew 5 .19 any of you can become great in the kingdom of heaven. How? By keeping the small commandments. All of us keep the big commandments. How do you test the obedience of a small child?

Supposing my little five-year-old boy is going to school one day and I tell him the big commandments. Okay my son on your way to school don't murder anybody. On your way to school don't commit adultery with anyone.

And on your way to school don't rob a bank. And he comes back and says dad I obeyed all your commandments today. Is that where you test his obedience? No. I'll tell you where I test that five-year-old's obedience.

Okay son you have played enough. Now come inside and help mommy. Wait daddy. That's where you test his obedience. It's not in the big commandments. How does God test your obedience? Is it in the big commandments?

No. The small ones. It's the small ones that we take away. What does it mean to take away from the word of God? Oh that's a small thing. It's not a small thing. Has God said it? Have you heard a commandment which is written in God's word and you say oh that's a small thing?

I tell you there are so many believers who have neglected to obey commandments in God's word which they say are small. This is what's happening particularly in western countries. Neglecting God's commandments.

It's happening in India too gradually because some of these western influences come unfortunately into our churches too. Neglecting God's small commandments. Secondly how do you add to the word of God?

There are many people who tell people to do things which are not written in scripture. God has not said that they should do that but churches make laws. For example you must always wear white or full-time workers must wear white.

When I was a young Christian I also tried that but I found it was very expensive because my clothes got dirty pretty quickly so I couldn't afford it. Rich people can. I wasn't rich so I couldn't do it.

But who gave you this idea that if you wear white clothes you become spiritual? I wish it were so easy but it is not. You don't become spiritual by wearing white clothes. See these are all commandments that are added to God's word.

That if you are in full-time Christian work you should not try to support yourself by any means. Paul did it. Are you better than Paul? Some people say if you are a full-time worker you should not get married.

Peter was married. All the apostles were married according to 1 Corinthians 9 except Paul and Barnabas. Many many things which are added to God's word. You can't have this and you can't have that. You can't touch this and you can't touch this.

You must do this and you must do that. Even fasting. I believe in fasting. But when you command people that you must fast like this and like this and like this and compel them. Jesus did not. He made it optional.

There are many many things like this which Christians do. They don't realize they are adding to the word of God. They are trying to become more spiritual than God himself. And the end result is they become less.

You know when the devil came to Eve and said what has God said? Eve added and subtracted to God's word. Eve said God has told us not to eat and not to touch this tree. God never said anything about touching.

He only said about eating. But Eve tried to be more spiritual. We won't eat and we won't touch. What is the end result? They both touched and ate and did everything. That's usually what happens with people who try to add to God's word.

The second thing she said was God said lest you die. That means you may die. No that's not what God said. God said you will surely die. She subtracted the intensity of that word. Sometimes you can subtract the intensity of a certain commandment.

These are ways in which we can reduce God's word and when we have either subtracted or added to God's word we have nullified it. Because as it says in chapter 4 verse 24 God is a consuming fire. The Lord your God is a consuming fire.

This is quoted in Hebrews as well. We don't like to hear that and I'll show you how I believe that we don't like to hear it. I get letters from some people sometimes on top it's written God is love. You get letters sometimes like that from somebody?

Have you ever got a letter where it's written on top God is a consuming fire? I've never got a letter like that once. Maybe some of you will write to me like that to prove that you do. But I hope you realize we don't like to hear that.

I've seen verses in walls God is love. Have you ever seen a verse on a wall God is a consuming fire? I got a sticker like that once and put it up in my room. Because we don't like to think of God as a consuming fire.

But that's the balance. God is love but that love is a fire. Remember that. And at the same time the Lord your God is merciful verse 31. He's a compassionate God. The glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ full of grace and truth.

He was merciful and he was fiery. And a true godly man in one sense he'll be like a consuming fire and on another side he'll be tremendously compassionate. And if you're going to be a spiritual leader you got to be like God.

That is immensely compassionate at the same time like a consuming fire. A lion in the pulpit and a lamb outside. This is how Jesus was. And this is what I believe is a true servant of God. He's a lion and a lamb.

His words are like a burning fire. And his words are tremendously compassionate. Now we can know all this in theory. But we must demonstrate that in our life. Don't think that the spiritual man is only the man who's always compassionate.

No. Such a man is an imbalanced man. And don't think the spiritual man is the man who always thunders and is fiery in the pulpit. Such a man is also imbalanced. The glory of God is seen full of grace and truth.

Seeking God With the Whole Heart

With all our heart and all our soul. Now that's repeated again in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13. With all your heart when you search for me, Jeremiah says, reminds the people, you will find God when you search for him with all your heart.

A lot of people don't find God the way other people have found him because their seeking is half-hearted. They seek for God like they seek for a ten paisa coin which they have lost in the grass at night.

How long will you search in that grass for a ten paisa coin? Maybe a beggar will search long but I don't think anybody here will. How eagerly do you seek to overcome your anger? How eagerly do you seek to be pure in your eyes?

How eagerly do you seek to study the scriptures, to know God? How eagerly do you seek God so that you can be an effective servant of God? How eagerly do you seek God for the anointing of the Holy Spirit?

Not just once but every day to be anointed afresh, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You will find when you search with all your heart, like Jesus said, when you knock and knock and knock and knock and knock and don't give up till it is opened.

That's a principle that Moses told Israel right at the beginning. Now we move on to chapter 5 where we find the Ten Commandments are repeated again. We already saw that in Exodus 20 but there is a need to hear it again from verse 6 onwards up to verse 21.

The Sabbath as Rest and Trust in God

The Ten Commandments are repeated with a little more amplification on not worshipping idols in verse 9 and a little more amplification on the Sabbath in verse 14 and 15. Another reason is given for keeping the Sabbath and that is in verse 15 that you were a slave and the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand therefore you must observe the Sabbath.

What does that mean? That means remember that you did not deliver yourself by your own power. See the Jews worked on the Sabbath many times disobeying God to make more money. They tilled their land in the 7th year when God said don't till your land in the 7th year because in the 6th year I'll give you abundance, double.

But they said we get the double in the 6th year, we'll also till in the 7th, then we get three times. What is the purpose of the Lord teaching them to keep the Sabbath? It was trust in me, rest in me.

It was I who brought you out of Egypt, not your ability. You tried for 430 years, you did not get free. But when I set you free, I set you free in one night. That is the message of the Sabbath according to verse 15.

The man who trusts in God, who rests in God accomplishes more than the man who is restless in activity. We who have believed enter into rest. It says even as God rested from his works, we have to rest from our own activity in Hebrews chapter 4.

So that's very important to understand what the Sabbath is described in verse 15. It's a very important principle in the Christian life. And you read in verse 29 of chapter 5, God's great longing. You find this very rarely that you find this word oh.

When God says oh, this verse begins with that oh, oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me says the Lord and keep all my commandments always so that it may go well with them and with their sons forever.

God gives his commandments that it might go well with us. This book is the manufacturer's instructions. When you get an electronic gadget, that electronic gadget will come with a manufacturer's instructions.

If it is a cheap gadget, you usually don't get any instructions. But if it's a very expensive electronic gadget, there will always be a book of instructions, whether it's a computer or a washing machine or anything.

And what do you do? You follow those instructions exactly. In fact, the manufacturer says don't switch your machine on till you have read the instructions. Who manufactured us? God. Here are the instructions in this book.

Don't switch the machine on till you read the instructions. You don't know. And if you spoil your machine because you did something which you thought is right and you messed up your life, you mess up your marriage because you don't do it according to God's way.

Who can you blame? You can't blame the manufacturer. You got to blame yourself. A lot of Christians have messed up their life because they don't follow the manufacturer's instructions. Do you want it to go really well with this machine?

Follow the manufacturer's instructions. Even physical health. I believe that health is more important than healing. When the Lord says I am your healer, He says I am your health. We need to be healthy to serve God.