Deuteronomy 1:28 - “Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.”

Near the end of their 40-year journey Moses rehearsed before Israel the principle events that had brought them within sight of the promised land. One of those principle events that is forever recorded “for our learning” (Romans 15:4) is that the people were discouraged. The reference is to that day on which the 12 men sent to spy out the land had returned and made their report (Numbers 13-14). They told of beautiful country and fruitful fields, but they discounted that great blessing when they saw the defenses of the cities, and the size of the people living there. We all have that tendency to see the obstacles to success as larger than the goal itself, or than the ability and help that we have for achieving. When the goal is desirable enough most of us, if left alone, would find the courage to face the giants and forge ahead. Jesus said that there will always be offenses, “but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Matthew 18:7). Those who discourage people from obeying God have a great debt to pay in the Judgment, but Moses in this text condemns those who allow themselves to be discouraged from going when God says, “Go” (Matthew 28:18-20). No giant, nor any city wall, is too hard for God who goes before us.

Deuteronomy 4:2 - “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

By what authority does anyone today propose ignoring or modifying any word of scripture, or adding a single syllable to it? Granted, there may be errant translations, but correcting faulty translations is not changing scripture. Granted, some of the commands and promises are not for anyone living today, but failure to obey such commands is not ignoring scripture. Every word of the Bible has a purpose, a meaning and a message for every soul who will ever live. Failure to comprehend that meaning - or to learn and apply that message - deprives the soul of the blessings of at least that portion of knowledge and fellowship with God that the Creator offers to all. And it may forfeit God’s fellowship altogether. If there is something in the Bible that you don’t know - because you haven’t read it - how can you be certain that your faith, words and deeds are completely pleasing to God? How can you know that you are saved? True, the warning of this verse is directly to ancient Israel. Yet, the same warning is given to all who would know wisdom (Prov. 30:6), and to all to whom is preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and the promise of Heaven (Rev. 22:18-19). Read your Bible to know your Creator, Savior and Judge. Read it to know yourself and the purpose of your life. Then live it every day.

Deuteronomy 4:9 - "Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;”

As he faced death, and as Israel was about to enter their promised land, Moses gave final admonitions to the people he had led for 40 years. As the people whom God had chosen and caused to grow were about to begin life as a sovereign nation on bordered land, Moses spoke to them of the greatness of God (7) and the righteousness of His law (8). Knowing whose they were and what was His law was fundamental to their identity. It was also fundamental to their distinctiveness in the world. But the greatness of God and the righteousness of the law were of no benefit to them if they did not take heed to themselves and keep their souls diligently. God must be believed - His law must be obeyed - if man is actually to receive the blessings he seeks. When we fail to pay attention to ourselves daily - fail to ensure that we are walking according to the Word - the knowledge of the word and the memory of its blessings departs from our hearts. The prevention is to be sure that we teach the Bible to our children and grandchildren. They aren’t taught once, nor once per week, but diligently and continually until they, too, are consistently walking in the light. It’s for our salvation and theirs.

Deuteronomy 5:2-3 - :The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.”

Something new from God was introduced in the days of Moses. Until the Israelites were rescued from Egypt, God had spoken directly to His servants. He had talked with Adam in the Garden, instructed Noah to build a boat, upbraided Job, called Abraham, and directed Moses. At Mt. Sinai God revealed a system of life and worship that none of those earlier saints had known. God’s friend Abraham hadn’t made annual treks to the tabernacle. Righteous Noah never heard a ritual of peace offerings, drink offerings and sacrifices for sin. Patient Job had known nothing of a sabbath day of rest. Israel in Moses’ day would have been rebellious against God had they argued, “We don’t need all this; we want to worship and be saved like Abraham our father did.” God had given Abraham his instructions, and now He had given Israel a different law. Just so, He replaced that Mosaic law when Jesus came. God once spoke to the world by the law and the prophets, but now He speaks by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2). Today God does not require visits to the tabernacle. He does not accept animal sacrifice, the burning of incense or the lighting of lamps. Looking back to a time before the revelation of the gospel (Acts 2) will not show us how to serve or worship God today. Read and heed the NEW Testament.

Deuteronomy 5:29 - “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!”

This was God’s response to Moses after He had heard the people’s plea and promise. When the voice of God had thundered from Mt. Sinai, the people had trembled (Exodus 19:16). They had asked Moses to hear God for them, and relay to them His words, but to excuse them from hearing God directly. But they had promised that when Moses should repeat God’s words, “we will hear it, and do it” (Deut. 5:27). Not many tremble at the words of God today. Most refuse to hear them. Others refuse to recognize them as God’s words. Even among the saved many have such a familiarity with the sound of the Bible that they don’t take notice of the significance of the words. The desire of God expressed in this verse is not so much the trembling as the commitment to “hear it, and do it.” It is only as we hear and do that we can expect “that it might be well with” us and our children. “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). God wants to have you in Heaven, and He wants to bless you along the way. Give your heart to Him, and know the joy and the hope that He will give in return.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 -“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?”

And yet there remain those who would ask, “which commandments?” There are those who would say, “But that’s what He said to Israel; we are not Israel.” There are those who would say, “That’s what Moses commanded; we are under the law of Christ.” From the beginning of history there have been people who have tried to rationalize away the clear and direct word of God^1. Through it all the authority of God’s word never changes^2. The everlasting gospel^3 will confront us when our earthly time to learn and do comes to an end^4. The Old Testament - the word written by Moses and the prophets - has indeed been replaced as a law^5. The New Testament tells us that we now have the Old as a teacher by which we learn the importance of adhering to whatever law God does give to us^6. Those who would excuse themselves from obedience cannot show a single occasion of God’s having said, “I Know that I said that, but you don’t have to believe it or do it.” They argue against it simply because they don’t have faith in God. ^1 - Genesis 2:17; 3:6 *** 2 - Malachi 3:6; Ezra 5:6 *** ^3 - Revelation 14:6 *** ^4 - II Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:12 *** ^5 - Colossians 2:14 *** ^6 - Galatians 3:24; Romans 15:4

*Deuteronomy 12:13-14 - “Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest: But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.”

An Israelite could kill and eat an animal in any place he cared to do so. However, if he wanted to kill the same animal and offer it in worship to God, it had to be done in the one place God designated. God has always had specific requirements for acceptable worship, and He does still today. For example, a person may sing for pleasure or entertainment either with the instrument, or without it. If his song is to worship God, however, God specifies that it be sung without the instrument (Ephesians 5:19). Unleavened bread and grape juice may be eaten any time and any place. When it is eaten as the communion of the body and blood of Christ (I Corinthians 10:16), it is to be eaten only on the Lord’s day (Acts 20:7). Worship must be sincere, from the heart, and not just the outward activity (John 4:24). God will not accept just anything a person may wish to offer or just any manner of offering. His own appointed priests learned that lesson the hard way (Leviticus 10:1-2). Learn from the error of others. Don’t tempt God; worship Him in spirit and in truth.

*Deuteronomy 12:28 - “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.”

There always will be, I suppose, those people who travel around the world to do what could have been done in less time and with less effort simply by crossing the street. It seems that some are determined to “re-invent the wheel” in every task they undertake. Many just cannot bring themselves to read the instructions - or to follow them if they do read them. You are probably familiar with the famous quotation from the American philosopher, George Santayana: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The Bible describes laws of God and events among men over a period of more than 5,000 years. How many times does it show the suffering and punishment of a generation that had not learned from the past, and just follow the Book?! A cursory reading of the book of Judges alone - which reading shouldn’t require more than an hour of your time - should be enough to teach anybody that God means what He says, and that walking in the light of His word is the only sure way to peace and success in life. The Bible is an instruction manual for life, and nobody can write a better one. Are you observing all the words of God?

Deuteronomy 28:58, 59 - “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.”

The words of the Bible are important. The Bible was not given so we could get some good ideas from it, but so we would know exactly what is right behavior and what is not. God warned Israel “to do all the words.” They were not just to hear the words, but to do them. They were not to do the words of just any book, but the words “that are written in this book.” They were not to do some of the words, but all the words. However, they were not to exalt the Bible to the status of an idol itself. Rather, obeying it was to teach them to “fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God.” If they failed so to do and learn, God would make their plagues severe and long-lasting. They failed, and they suffered long and severely. Now these words have been kept for our learning (Romans 15:4) and our admonition (I Corinthians 10:11). What are we to learn? To what are we admonished? We must learn that God expects us to know and do all His commandments, and we are admonished not to fail in this most serious responsibility.

Deuteronomy 31:4 - “And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed.”

Students of the Old Testament are familiar with references to “Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan.” We read that God will do to an upcoming enemy as He did to those two. But what did He do to those two kings? Fifteen times the Bible refers back to the destruction of those kings. You can read it in Deuteronomy chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 29 and 31, in Joshua chapters 2, 9, 12 and 13, in Judges 11, in Nehemiah 9, in Psalms 135 and 136, and in Jeremiah 48. It was a big deal in Israel’s history. So, what was it? What did Israel do to Sihon and Og? Did you miss it in your reading? That wouldn’t be hard to do, for the entire record of the confrontation between Israel and Sihon is given in just 4 verses of Leviticus, and the battle itself is confined to a single verse (Lev. 21:21-24). Only one verse in the Bible, but the event it describes is important enough to have been mentioned by five other writers over about 900 years. Important statements in the Bible are not written in large, bold fonts. The power of God against the Amorites was a lesson to Israel throughout their history. Perhaps the best lesson in this to us that we should read the word of God carefully, paying attention to every word. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable...”

Deuteronomy 32:7 - “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.”

God gave Moses a song (Deut. 31:16 - 32:43) that he should teach it to Israel. The song reminded them from whence they had come, and how they came to be established upon the land. Its purpose was to keep the minds and practice of the people anchored in their roots: the purpose of their existence and the principle that was to their conduct. It warned of the consequences of departing from the law once given by God. Those who disdain the Bible as an ancient book for a people far away, and deny its role as a law for those of us living here and now, are simply rejecting the words and purpose of God Himself. God intended from the beginning that later generations would learn from the Book to follow Him as He expected those to do who were living when the word was first given. Read the Bible. Heed the Bible.