Deuteronomy Chapter 10. We begin our study in this last
week. I want to review just a little
bit, not really review, but we want to go just a little bit
more in what we were studying last week. We looked at chapter
10, verses 1-5, and verses 12 and 13. Let me read this to us
again, and then we'll go on in the remainder of the chapter.
In Deuteronomy chapter 10, and look back in verse 1 again, At
that time the Lord said unto me, Moses speaking, Hew you two
tables of stone, like unto the first, and come up unto me and
to the mount, being an ark of wood, and I will write on the
tables the words that were in the first tables, which you broke,
which you broke. And you shall put them in the
ark, and I made that ark of shittom wood, and hewed two tables of
stone, like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having
the two tables in my hand. And he wrote on the tables according
to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord
spake unto you in the mount, out of the mist of the fire.
in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them to me, I turned
myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in
the ark which I made, and there they be, as the Lord commanded
me." And then we looked in verse 12 and verse 13. Let's read that. 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, to love Him, to serve the Lord thy God
with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments
of the Lord and His statutes which I have commanded thee this
day for thy good." Now, from the perspective that we've been
looking at this last week, we looked at it as Moses was seeing
Christ. He saw Christ in these things,
in all of these ceremonies and these incidences that took place. He was looking to the time when
the Lord Jesus Christ would come to this earth, take to Himself
our humanity, and redeem His people. That's what he was looking
at. And I think we titled the message last week, something
that Moses loved for Christ. Why he kept talking about the
Lord Jesus and rehearsing all these things, He saw Christ in
these things. And we quoted the verse to you
last week. Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning. These things are written for
you and for me that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures. These Scriptures do two things
for us. One, they comfort us. When we look at these, we must
see more than just the laws and the rules and the ceremonies,
we must see something here that comforts us. We, through the
comfort of the Scriptures, and secondly, it gives us hope. It
gives us hope in our hearts. The hope of salvation when we
read these passages. Now, Moses and these Jews, I
don't know for sure how much they understood of what was going
on. I'm sure Moses understood it
to a great deal. And there was probably many of
these Jews whose heart the Lord opened, and they understood that
what they were doing represented to them Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, and redemption by Him. It didn't have so much to do
with them as it does Christ and redemption by Him. When they
first crossed the Red Sea, remember when they came to the waters
and they couldn't drink of them? The waters were so bitter. Remember
what they did to make the water sweet where they could drink
of it. They cut down the tree. God showed Moses a tree and he
cut the tree down and cast it into the waters and they drank
of the waters. The waters become sweet. I wonder
how many saw the cross in that. I bet Moses saw the cross in
that. When they were starving for water, And the Lord told
Moses to take his rod and smite the rock. And the rock split. And rivers come gushing out of
that water, out of that rock of flint. And they drank and
their thirst was quenched. I wonder how many of them saw
in that water Christ who is the water of life. I bet Moses saw
that. When they were hungry and the
manna would come down, they ate angels' food. God supplied them
food from heaven. Every morning they'd get up and
collect that manna as they're due from heaven. I wonder how
many saw in that Christ coming down from heaven and giving His
body a ransom for us. The bread of life. The bread
of life. So see, these things are more
than just incidents that happen to them. They teach us spiritual
lessons. They comfort us. And the Bible
says they give us hope. I imagine all of these Jews that
were believers, they saw Christ in these things, at least to
some degree. If God opened their hearts, I
know they saw Christ in them. If He gave them grace to believe,
I know. They said, there's Christ. That bridge is Christ. That water
is Christ. When they hung that serpent on a pole, when they
were dying, and Moses said, Look. Look. And everyone that looked
at that serpent and lived. How many saw Christ in that?
You and I see Christ in that, don't we? Because Christ said,
That's me. That's me. As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. So here they were in the wilderness. And you know what they were looking
for? They were looking for Christ. They were waiting and looking
for the coming of the Son of God to this earth. Those who
had faith, those whose hearts the Lord opened, that's what
they were doing. Looking for the coming of the Redeemer. In
Luke chapter 2, remember when Christ was taken up to the temple?
Eight days old and they took Him up there to circumcise Him
and name Him. Remember the prophetess, the
old widow lady by the name of Anna? She spoke of Him to all
that looked for redemption in Israel." See, these men were
looking. That's why they kept rehearsing
these things, and that's why they were so careful when they
offered these sacrifices. Because they realized what these
sacrifices typified to them. They were looking for the Savior.
Listen to Hebrews 11 and 13. These all, Adam and Eve, Abel, Abraham,
Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, a host of those Old Testament
saints, these all died in the faith, not having received the
promise. What promise? The promise of
His coming. They never received the fulfillment of those promises,
but listen to this, having seen them aforeall. See that? They had seen them. They were
persuaded of them. And they embraced them and said,
we're pilgrims and strangers on this earth. We're looking
for the coming of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. What was
the significance here in Deuteronomy 10 in verses 1-5? What's the significance of these
two tables? The first one was given. Moses
broke it. And then he gave it again. And the second one he put in
the ark and kept it safe. What's the significance of these
two tables? Really and honestly, in and of
themselves, they have no lasting significance. If we just come
here and all we see is these two tables that's broken and
him having to give the law again, where are those tables? We don't
know, do we? And it don't matter. They had
no lasting significance anyway. But the spiritual lesson that
they teach us, that's what's significant. And that's what's
lasting. And I want to comment on this
just a little bit again this afternoon. And what does this
mean? What does this mean? The giving
of this law and Moses breaking them and the giving of the law
again. This teaches us this. And we looked at this last week.
If Israel had any hope, of being right with God on the grounds
of this covenant, these Ten Commandments, all hope was taken away. For
here that covenant lay, shattered, broken at the foot of the mountain. I tell you, there is a word here
We looked last week, but I didn't emphasize this, but here in verse
2, you talk about a word that must have laid heavy on Moses'
conscience. And as these other people heard
him rehearsing this, when he said there in verse 2, rehearsing
what the Lord told him, I will write on the tables the words
that were in the first tables which thou breakest. Can you imagine the weight upon
his conscience, upon his heart, when the Lord spoke to him and
said, Which thou breakest." You've broken the covenant. You've broken
the commandments. You've broke my laws. Now listen to this. What was
the first one? Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Remember that one? The very first
one. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And what did
these people just say? What had they just said before
Moses came down from that mountain? These be thy gods, O Israel.
Was that their gods? They broke that covenant, didn't
they? The second one, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image. And right there at the foot of
these broken commandments stood that dumb calf that they had
made out of their earrings and their nose pieces. How they broke
this law. And this covenant, once broken,
could never be mended, could it? I mean, you grind. You grind that cask of powder.
You scatter the dust on the little brook that's running out of the
mountain. You vow that you'll never do it again. You make promises
that you're going to mend your life. But that will avail nothing. Why? Well, look there at Moses'
feet. The covenant's done. broken. And any morality that's promised,
any amendment of life or vows that one could make, it's just
built upon a broken covenant. The covenant is broken. And all
they could do now would avail nothing. It's broken. The covenant
has been broken. And what does the Scripture tell
us? This law had to be given again.
That's what this tells us, isn't it? The Lord said, come back
up, Moses. You broke these. I'm going to
give you a brand new set of commandments. I'm going to write them with
my hand. I want you to put them in this box, in this ark. And Moses said there in verse
5, there they be. There they be. Isn't that a wonderful
statement? There they be. He means by that, there they
are safe. There they are unbroken. There they are kept. They're
preserved. They're in that ark. Now, this teaches us a valuable
lesson from the spiritual aspect of these things. And here's what
it teaches us. By the deeds of the law, by our
obedience to the law, no flesh can be justified in God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. A man may be moral. He may make
many promises to God. He may attempt to do many wonderful
and good deeds. But any man who is trying to
justify himself before God and work his way into God's presence
and work out a righteousness to be accepted in, then look
under his feet. What's he standing upon? A covenant
that has already been broken. By the deeds of the law, no man
can be justified in God's sight. Why is that? Because the covenant
of works has already been broken, hasn't it? Go back yonder in
the Garden of Eden when God said to Adam, You can eat of every
tree of the garden except this one. Don't eat of that tree. If you eat of that tree, you'll
die. And not only did he die, but
all his progeny. Why are we all dying today? Why
is everybody dying? We're sin, isn't it? We're on
a broken covenant. And now to be saved by our doing,
to be saved by our own obedience to laws and ceremonies and all
of these other things that we could ever do. It will never
work because the covenant has already been broken. But the
Scripture says, and Brother Larry quoted this Sunday, I think it
was, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, listen
to this, made of a woman, made under the law. He was made under
the law. He was subject to the law, just
like you and I was. But here was the difference.
He said, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me, I delight to do your will, O my God, yea, thy law is in
my heart. I just love to read that. I love
to think about that. You talk about a safe place for
the law. You talk about a safe place for God's holy commandment
in the very heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first time
we hear Him say anything is when He was 12 years old. And the
first words out of His mouth is this, Don't you know that
I must be about my Father's business? Twelve years old and His heart
is so full of zeal He can't contain Himself, seeking
to do His Father's will. The next time we see anything
from Him, He's being baptized. The Holy Spirit comes down upon
Him in the form of a dove. He's driven out into the wilderness.
For 40 days, He fasts and prays. And then the devil comes to Him
and says, if you be the Son of God, then command these stones
that they be made bread. You can do that. You can do that.
You're the Son of God. You say you are. You claim to
be. You just got this witness from heaven that you are. Now
turn these stones to bread. Boy, wasn't that a temptation?
You talk about a temptation. But you know He said there's
something more important than me turning these stones to bread.
And that's God's glory. And remember what He said to
Satan? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
of God. How He honored His Father above
Himself. Satan took Him up to the temple
and set Him on this pinnacle and said, if you be the Son of
God, cast yourself down because God has promised to give His
angels charge over you. And they will hold you up unless
you dash your foot against a stone. Remember how He answered them?
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. It was all about God
to him, wasn't it? About us, what's it about? Selfishness. Sin. Lust. Disobedience. But not with our representative.
And then Satan, the ultimate temptation. Here's what he said
to Israel. Here's how he got Israel to make
that gag. He tempted them to make the gag. He tempted Jesus
Christ. Bow down and worship Me, and
I'll give you all of the glory of this world." And what did
the Lord say to him? It's written. Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Everywhere
he was put to the test, he passed it. Why? He loved God with all
of his heart, all of his soul, all of his mind, and all of his
strength. The law was in His heart. You want to see the law fulfilled?
Then look here on the right hand of God. You want to see the law
kept in the Old Testament? You can't see it. You've got
to believe it. Because it was in that little
box in the most holy place. We weren't allowed in there,
you see. But on the authority of Moses, riding on the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, He said, I'll tuck it in there and that's
where it is. And it's there to this day, safe
and sound. Well, this is something you and
I believe. We can't see into the heart of
the Son of God, but we believe this, that He fulfilled the law
in the days of His flesh. He magnified the law. He honored
it. He glorified it. He kept it.
Every jot and tittle. I came not to destroy the law,
but I came to fulfill it. And that's what He did. And now
He turns to you and He turns to me and this is what He says.
Believe on Me. Believe on Me. And you are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Believe on Me and you will have
life. Believe on Me and I will forgive
all your sins. Believe on Me and I will be merciful
to that remnant of sin which remains in you. And this is the
grounds that I'll do it on. Not according to that covenant
of works which has already been broken, but according to a merciful
covenant. According to the covenant of
grace. Now you hold here on me and look
right quickly at Hebrews chapter 8. Look in Hebrews chapter 8. If the covenant has already been
broken, and it has, and you and I have got to be
justified that it's going to have to be another way besides
that covenant of works, and that's what those verses are teaching
us. Look here in this chapter. Let's
just read this chapter. Hebrews chapter 8, and look in
verse 1. This is speaking of these very
things. Now the things which we have spoken, this is the Son.
We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in the heavens. And I tell you, he worked
his way there, didn't he? A minister of the sanctuary and
of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices.
Wherefore, it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also
to offer. For if he were on earth, he should
not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer
gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things. As Moses was warned of God when
he was about to make the tabernacle, for see, saith he, that thou
makest all things according to the pattern shown to thee in
the map. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry. But
how much also is he the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises? For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with him, he said, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah." Now look at
this, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers.
in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of
the land of Egypt, because they continued not in My covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put My laws into their
mind. I will write them in their heart. I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to Me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, They shall all know me from the least of the greatest,
for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith a new
covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." A new covenant. Salvation by a completely different
means. Someone else doing for us what
we could not do for ourselves. I read it to you in our text
in Deuteronomy chapter 10. I read it to you there in verse
12. What does the Lord thy God require of thee? And when you
and I read this, brothers and sisters, we have to first and
foremost see Christ in this. What does the Lord your God require
of thee but to love Him? and to walk in all of His ways
and keep all of His statures with all your heart. And we must
first and foremost see Christ in this, standing in our place
and meeting for us all that God requires of us. And when you
see that, I tell you, you will have a tendency to win your heart,
to woo your heart, to love Him and follow Him. It's all about
motives, isn't it? It's all about motives. When
the Apostle Paul, before the Lord saved him, he was looking
to his own obedience. He was trying to justify himself
by this very covenant that had already been broken. Trying to
justify himself by it. He was hateful. Man, was he ever
hateful. Hateful is an understatement,
isn't it? He was mean. He was outright mean, a murderer.
That's the way self-righteous people are, aren't they? They're
mean. They appear beautiful outward
and so religious and kind, but boy, you cross them. Man, they
can be mean. The Apostle Paul admitted it.
He said, I was mean. I was hateful. I was hateful. But when he saw the Son of God,
the wonderful Lord of glory, he calls Him, coming down from
heaven, and doing for Him what He could never do for Himself.
You know what had happened to that apostle Paul. That completely
changed that man. It changed him. What the law
could not do for him, when he saw that Christ had fulfilled
the law, that completely changed that
man. And he said, the life I now live, I now live, I live it completely
different than I used to live. Now that I've seen Him, dying
for me and living for me. Oh, he said, now I love. Now
I'm a good man. Now I'm kind. Now I'm generous.
Now I'm gracious. Now I love God. I love the law
of God now. I love His people. I tell you,
when we see the Lord Jesus Christ doing everything for us, it will
change us. It will change us. told us a parable about those
who trust in themselves that they're righteous. And he said
they despise others. They trust in themselves and
they despise others. You know if you're looking to
yourself and you think you're a pretty good fellow, you're
going to look down on everybody else. If you're better than everybody
else, you're going to be mean to everybody else. And you're
going to want them to come up to your standards. And they'll
never be able to. So you're going to be mean and
hateful. He spake this parable to those who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous, and they despised others. He said, Lord, I thank You that
I'm not like this sorry, low-down publican. I'm not like him. Well, here stood this poor publican
over there smiting on his chest. And what was he saying? God be
merciful. God be merciful. You know what
he was seeking? He was seeking another way of
salvation. A salvation that had the grounds
of mercy to stand upon. I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness. Here that Pharisee was and he
was looking to the law. I thank you I'm not like other
men. I've never committed extortion. I've never committed adultery.
I've never lied. I've never stole. I've always
been a good man. And here was that poor publican
that realized what a sinner he was. He said, God be perpetuous
to me. Be merciful to me. And you know
what the Lord Jesus said? He obtained mercy. And He went
down to His house justified. I wonder how that affected that
man. I just wonder how that affected that man. We're told how it affected
another one of those publicans. He said, half of everything I've
got, I'll give to the poor. If I've cheated anybody, I'll
pay them back double it. Poor folks. I tell you, it will
change a man when he sees. when he sees what the Lord Jesus
has done for him. It'll change a man. It'll do
for you what nothing else will do for you. It'll make you kind. It'll make you generous. It'll
make you tender and forgiving. I don't know how all this works.
I'll be honest with you, but I just know it does. One of the
greatest motivating forces for our loving God and living for
His glory is gratitude. It's gratitude. It's admiration. It's adoration. We feel in our
hearts for Him. What we see in Him. And when
we see Him condescended to love us and be gracious and merciful
to us. I tell you, that will win our
hearts, won't it? Look back over here in my text and let's go
on. We can see that. Look here in chapter 10 of Deuteronomy
and look in verse 14 and 15. Look at this right quickly. He went on to tell up here in
verse 14. Behold the heaven, and the heaven
of heavens is the Lord's, thy God. The earth also, with all
that therein is. Only the Lord hath a delight
in your fathers to love them, And He chose their seat after
them, even you, above all people, as it is this day." Now, what
a statement this is. And He said this to win their
heart, that they may look up with admiration and humility. Can you imagine this? Go outside
tonight, it's probably clear, and look up in the sky. And look
at the stars that's innumerable. Who made those? And who counts them? And who
calls them all by their names? And you look around you in all
the world, the deep seas and the high mountains and the fertile
plains and all the creatures and all the people. Who made
all of these things? Who fills them and who possesses
them? This one God. This one God. And can you imagine that God,
as great as He is, loving you? Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine this God choosing you? Above all people, He passed by
fallen angels and chose you? He passed by mighty men and rich
men and great men and chose you. Isn't that amazing? Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God,
has chosen me and died for me and called me and revealed Yourself
to me? Me above all people. I tell you, when we see who He
is and His greatness, and then think that He has loved us and
chosen us. Do you wonder at that? And I
tell you, as we see this, it just fills us with admiration
and humility and love for Him. And that's the motive by which
we serve Him. What manner of love, John said,
the Father has bestowed upon us that we, It should be called
the sons of God. That He would ever look in our
direction is amazing. That He'd ever condescend to
sympathize with us is astounding. But there you have it. And that's
the very motive He gives them for verse 16. Look what He says
in verse 16. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin
of your heart, and be no more stiffed-necked. If anything will
break our old hard hearts, it's sin, who God is, and how He condescended
in His dear Son to love us and to save us and call us to Himself. If anything will win and woo
our hearts, it has to be that. Circumcised. How can you and
I be rebellious to our God once we see what He's done for us
and how He's condescended to love us? Look what he says now in verse
17. He goes on. For the Lord your God is God
of gods. He's God of gods. He's God of
angels, isn't He? God of devils. God of kings. He's Lord of lords. He rules
over all lords. He sets them up, pulls them down.
He's Lord of lords. He's a great God. We've looked
at Him in His greatness of His attributes. He's eternal. He's
perfect in all of His attributes. There's nothing besides Him.
There's nothing like Him. He's a great God. He's a mighty God. He's mighty. You can witness
that in your own soul. He's delivered you from the power
of darkness, hasn't He? Put you in the kingdom of His
dear Son. He's done that because He's a mighty God. And He's a
terrible God. He's terrible to His enemies.
I tell you, devils tremble in His presence. And look at this. "...which regardeth not persons,
nor taketh reward." He regardeth not persons. What does He mean
by that? It's very much akin to that verse
we read in the New Testament. He has no respect of persons.
He regardeth not persons. You can't go up to Him and say,
look how rich I am. You can't go up to Him with a
wallet full of money, that don't impress Him. That won't cause
Him to look upon you with any favor at all. He's no respected
person. He don't look at the king and
respect him because he's a king. And He don't look at the poor
and have respect to them just because he's poor. There's nothing
in us, unless maybe it's our misery, that draws anything from
God. He don't need anything we've
got. Everything we have is His anyway. He's no respective person. And He taketh not reward. He don't take any reward. What
can you buy anything from Him with? We don't have enough to
buy. He's too rich to sell, somebody says. We're too poor to buy.
He don't need it, does He? And look what He says in verse
18. He doeth execute the judgment of the fatherless and the withers,
and He loveth the stranger in giving him food and raiment. Here's three groups of people
you better be careful if you have any dealings with. You better
be careful with a fatherless. You don't have a father to care
for him. Be careful when you deal with little children who
have lost their father. And with the widow who has no
husband. Be careful when you deal with
a widow. Don't cheat the widows. You've
heard some of these people that watch the obituaries, and if
they find out a man dies, and they'll go tell his widow, your
husband owed me some money. Boy, I tell you what, I won't
be in that man's shoes with you. God pleases the cause of the
widow. And the stranger, the stranger, he loveth the stranger. But you know this has a deeper
meaning than this does. It has a spiritual meaning. Who
are orphans? Old Ralph Barnard used to say,
go to God in heaven and tell Him that you have no father.
And if He won't be a father to you, you'll die as an orphan
because you've denied all others. God is a father. If we have no
father, then He'll be our father. If we're orphans, He'll be a
father to us. And with us, what does the Bible
teach about us? We're with us. We're with us. All of us in Christ, we're with
us. Our first husband has died. The law has died. And now we're
married to another. And now our husband will never
die. We've got a good husband now,
haven't we? He won't abuse us like the first
husband did. Our first husband was mean. He
was strict. He cursed us all the time, didn't
he? Because we didn't continue in all things. And He just accused
us and cursed us. And He kept us beat down. But
now He's gone. And we have a new husband. And
He's so pitiful. And so loving. And so forgiving. And I tell you, I wouldn't go
back. I wouldn't leave this husband and go back to my first husband
for nothing, would you? No. We're a widow. We're married
to Christ. We're orphans. We have God for
our Father. And we're strangers. We're strangers. You just go out in this world
and you start talking to people about some of these things, and
you'll find out right quick what a stranger you are to this world.
We're pilgrims and strangers here. And I tell you, God loves
the strangers. If you're a stranger to this
world, and this world's a stranger to you, this world may not like
you very well, but I tell you what, you've got a friend in
heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ. He loves the strangers. Love you, therefore, the strangers.
for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.