The Law as a Witness and Guide

Chapter 31. All through the book of Deuteronomy, Moses has been preparing the people to enter the land of promise, the land of Canaan. Now, at the end of this, he's re-announced or presented the law that God had asked him to do. And now God said to him, I want you to write this all down. Because when you go into the land of promise, in spite of everything that I've told you, the people will not be faithful to me. And here's my remedy for this. I want you to write a song, a song that they'll learn to sing. One of the things that's different about the Old Testament, you know, in the Psalms, they have all these songs, 150 chapters or so of it. And these were songs that they learned to sing. And many of them were about their history. Many of them were about God. Because they were not necessarily literate readers. But they learned instead by memorizing songs and memorizing things that took place in the past, the law, and to memorize the songs. So this was a way by which they were reminded or communicated the truth of God to themselves. So in this story, God is saying they're going to enter the land of promise, Moses. You've given them the law. You've told them what would happen if they fail to keep it, the curses that would come. What blessings I would give them if they did live by the law that I've presented to you. And now I want you to write this song for me in chapter 31, verse 1, verse 19. Now write down for yourself this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it so that it may be a witness for me against them. Now, the idea of a witness against them is sort of a reference to the giving of the law. God said, these are the instructions I give you as to how I want you to live and how I want you to do things. And the law will tell you what's right and what's wrong. And when you read the law or hear the law read, you will understand this is what you're supposed to do. And it will allow you to recognize whether or not you're in obedience to what I want. The law is described as a witness against Israel. Now, if you're on the stand and there's a court and you're asked to testify as a witness to what you saw and you describe the accident that you saw, you would say this person is driving down the road, they came to a stop sign, they didn't stop, went straight through the stop sign and ran into someone else. Your story would be a witness against the misbehavior of the person that caused the accident. Now, the law is described by God as a witness against Israel. So, if you take any one of those commands, like you're to honor your father and mother, and if you've been dishonoring them and the law is read, it is a witness against your behavior. In other words, it's describing what's wrong with the behavior that you have. The law is intended by God to be a witness to the people of Israel as to what's right. If they've deviated from what's right, then the law will become a witness against them. This passage that Moses is going to write is sort of like a lawsuit. It's a description of the charges God has to bring against the people of Israel. So, he describes it as a witness against them. So, if they've deviated from the responsibilities that God has given them, then the song that they're going to memorize and they're going to use and they're going to sing, every time they sing it, it will be a testimony against their misbehavior, against them doing something that they shouldn't be doing. Now, you've probably experienced the very same thing. If you pick up the Bible and read it, and you're reading along, and you find that the Bible says something about maybe something in your own life that you realize is wrong. Maybe you got mad at someone. Maybe you hold a grudge against someone. Maybe you didn't tell the truth to someone. Maybe you stole something from someone. And you read where it says you're not to steal. Then what you find is, in your mind, you suddenly become aware I violated a requirement of God. So, the law then becomes a witness against you. So, you're reading the Scripture, and then when it comes up and says you're not to steal from your neighbor, and then the thought comes to your mind, oh, I remember I did take something that belonged to someone else. The Scripture then accuses you of what you do wrong. That's why it's so important for us to read the Bible. Because it allows us to find, in all the circumstances people have lived in in the past, things that allow us to see our own behavior and measure it against the standard of God. This is the standard for proper behavior. So, the Bible becomes a witness to us that we have violated what God says is the right thing to do. The Scripture then is a constant guide for us to make sure that we're on the right road, or on the right track. I read somewhere, and I've not experienced this myself, so it's secondhand, you may know more about this than I do, that whenever they land planes, some of the big planes, there's a beacon at the airport that tells the plane if its speed and its angle of descent is correct. And if it gets too high, it makes a sound. If the plane gets too low, it makes another sound. So that the pilot knows, by the sound that comes to them from that beacon, whether he's on the right glide path to land the plane correctly. The beacon is saying, here is the area of tolerance. You shouldn't get this high at the speed you're at landing, and you shouldn't get this low. So that you know, by the sound, whether you're on track. What he's saying is, the law is that guide to you. It keeps you on track. Now, if you don't read the Scriptures, you don't involve yourself in Bible study, you don't listen to teaching and preaching, then you will find yourself straying from the very guidelines God wants to have to keep you in line, or on track, so that you're doing the things that you need to do. While it sounds like here, that the Scripture being a witness to us, and accusing us, is a negative thing, it's more like saying, the Scripture keeps you on track. So that you don't stray. So that you don't do something that is damaging and destructive to you. It's more like, you're driving, and you're driving down the road, and you don't see a car, and someone driving with you says, watch out, there's someone coming from the right. That alerts you to a danger that you have, and it saves your life. So the law is a witness against bad behavior. It's a gift to us, to allow us, when we listen to it, to make sure we shape our lives the way it ought to be. The Scripture is not simply about church. It's really about life. It's about how to be able to treat people, how to treat people that are around you. It's a book about how to be able to be married, and have the kind of marriage God planned for you. It's a book about raising your children. Everything that you need to know about how to live, is contained in this book. For thousands of years, the only source of guidance that people had about all the activities of life were found in the Scriptures. It was the only thing that people had to be able to find this guidance. God placed in this book all that we need to be able to live an acceptable, successful life. So reading it, and knowing what it says, is the constant witness that God gives us. Now, the people of Israel didn't read because there weren't that many literate people. So what God is going to do, He's going to say to Moses, I want you to write a song. And in this song, it's going to contain the charges that I give them about straying away from me. And they're going to memorize this song, and they're going to sing this song at festival occasions, so that every time they gather at the festivals, and they have to sing this song, it's going to remind them of the requirements that I've given to them. And it's going to remind them of what I've said they're going to do and fail. So whenever they do stray away from God, and they come to the festival to sing this song that talks about that, it's a reminder to them. God said years ago that you would fail to be faithful to Him. Now look at yourselves. You are failing to be faithful to Him. God wanted them to have something planted in their mind that will allow them to see the direction when they strayed, and when they were not straying. So the law and the song both have the purpose of warning people to stay on track. You can read the Bible without opening your heart and mind to it. But when you open the Bible, when you're in Bible study class, when you come to church, you're beginning as you start, but you should always ask God to give you some idea of something He wants to both show you you should start doing, or alert you to something that you should stop doing. For God is interested in changing the way we think, and changing the behavior and actions and choices that we make. And Bible study is not successful unless the change of life takes place. Bible study can be simply an exercise that you do. You go to church, you sit and listen. You go to Bible study class, and you sit and listen. And now some of the Bible studies are so good that they're actually entertaining, and you enjoy watching them. And it kind of hides the reality that reading the Bible, or listening to it taught or preached, is really an exercise on God's part to say, I want to guide your life. I want to show you something that you need to do to become the person I want you to be. I want to show you the things that you're doing that are keeping you from being the person I want you to be. The Bible is a witness to us about what's right and what's wrong. And that witness allows us to adjust ourselves to the world that we face and react to it in a proper way. In verse 20 he says, When I brought them, the people of Israel, into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. They haven't even stepped across the Jordan River yet. They haven't even done one thing wrong. They're ready to go in. But he already knows the nature of the character of these people. They're a rebellious people, and I can tell that they're not going to do the things that are right. Now, God understands that our human nature is this way. In the New Testament it's written that there is none of us that are righteous. No, not one of us are righteous. God knows that our tendency is to rebellion and sin. He understands that. But even though he understands it, it didn't cause him to say to the people of Israel, I'm not going to bless you. Knowing that they were not going to be faithful, he still kept his promise. He promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. He promised that he would provide for them. He promised he would protect them. He promised he would guide them so they could win the battles when they came into this land. He promised them all of these things. And what he says in this story is, I will keep every single promise that I've made to you. Even knowing that you're not going to be able to keep those you make to me. There is a great comfort to this. God always keeps his promises. And when you read about the promises that God makes to us, it should give us confidence in every situation. We oftentimes are distressed when we come to circumstances and they don't work the way we think they should. Everybody's that way. But those who are followers of Christ should have a different approach to this. If you're out there on your own, and you're making your own decisions based on your own wisdom, you should have every reason to be a little worried about that. Because you don't know all the elements that are involved. If you're out there on your own, and you're making your own decisions about the choices you're going to make, you don't know all the elements that are there to be able to make the proper choices. If you're trying to protect yourself, you don't even know the dangers that are out there all the time. You can't make good choices in the face of danger when you don't know the dangers that are there. You can be knocked down by the simplest things. A person can stand, a big person can stand, and you can come up behind them and take your hands, even a child, and poke them in the back of their legs where their knees are, and they'll crumble. Because it's an unexpected blow. We can't prepare ourselves for all the unexpected things that are going to happen to us. But when we trust our lives to God, and we ask Christ to control us, and he gives us the Holy Spirit, he knows all of the things that we need to do. He understands more about us and the world around us than even we do. And we should be able to count on the fact that when we come to choices we need to make, God is going to help us make the right choices. We don't have to be anxious and worried about this. We don't have to be sleepless at night when we're faced with choices. We simply ask God, what is it you want me to do about this? And if you're familiar with the scriptures, you're familiar with what God wants, and you make it to the best of your ability, then he takes care of you, even if it's the wrong choice. The book of Romans on Wednesday night, or on Sunday night, Paul was talking about the fact that everything the believer does, he should do in faith. He means by that, that you ask God what you should do, and when you discover what you should do, and you make a choice based on what you actually believe God wants you to do, you might be wrong about that. But you have tried your best to make the right decision, the decision you think God wants you to make, and even if you're wrong, God will take care of you. He helps us even though we make the wrong decisions. He helps us because we are trying to make the one that's right. I mean, illustrate this in a way that maybe you've experienced before. If you're working with someone, or you have a child even in your family, and you tell them to do some kind of a job, maybe to mow the grass, or to chop the weeds, or something that they're trying to do, and they try to do the very best they know how, but they're limited in their knowledge and experience, and they may cut down some of your flowers or bushes that you really value instead of cutting down all the weeds, and you can see that they've worked hard and they're conscientious. You come out and you might be wrong, you come out and you might be upset that they've cut down flowers or bushes that are yours, but if you can see that they were trying their very best to do the right thing, you always have sympathy for them, and you try to correct them, and you try to help them. But if you go out in the yard, and they're out there, and they find your flowers, and they're just trying to cut them all down, and they know you don't want them to do it, you have an entirely different attitude toward them. If they're trying to do the right thing, you have sympathy and compassion. If they're careless and they don't care what they're doing, then you have an attitude of correction and discipline toward them. If you're trying to make the right choices, and you ask God for guidance and direction, and as best you know how, you make the choice you think God wants you to do, even if it's wrong, He understands in our immaturity, and He helps us to correct it. But if you don't ask God, and you don't try to make the decisions He wants, He says, okay, you're on your own, have at it. Your problem, you fix it. What the Bible is giving us an indication about is that God knows that we're going to make mistakes. He knows we're going to make choices that are in rebellion against Him, but He's still going to keep His promise to us. It doesn't mean that He's going to overlook our rebellion. He's going to overlook our immaturity. He's going to overlook the mistakes that we make when we're trying to do our best. And He will always keep His promise to those who are acting in faith. That doesn't mean you have to be perfect. It means that every time you're trying your best to do what you think God wants you to do, God will always keep His promise. Knowing that this was going to happen, He said, they're going to go into the land, I'm going to protect them, they're going to capture it. I'm going to give them exactly what I said, the land flowing with milk and honey. They're going to be prosperous and successful, just like I promised I would. But they're going to turn away from Me. It's a strange thing, really, prosperity is. It's the seed of rebellion against God, for some reason. Most of the people that come to talk to me are desperate, because life has caved in on them. And oftentimes, they will tell you the story, and maybe your friends do the same thing. They'll tell you the story, and they'll say, man, this has happened to me, this has happened to me, this has happened to me, this has happened to me, and I don't know what to do. When things are going great, and you don't ever hear them come and tell you their needs, because they feel like they can take care of everything. The great problem Israel has, the problem all of us have, whenever you see things going well, what happens to us is we begin to say, I can work this out myself, see how well I've done. God promised, I'm going to make you successful, you're going to take this land, and I'm going to make your crops successful, and you'll be prosperous. Everything that I promised you will come to pass, and I'm going to make it happen. Everything that I promised you will come to pass, as this began to happen, they had less and less confidence in God, and more and more confidence in their ability. And the time whenever you're really doing well, is the time whenever you quit going to church as much, quit reading the Bible as much, quit praying as much, because you don't need to. I mean, after all, everything's great. Life is great, job is great, family's great, everything's great. So in the middle of all that, we start thinking, well, everything's going to be wonderful, because I'm really doing good. And what happens is we begin to look at the pleasures around us, the interests that we have, and begin to neglect the witness of God. So we're not active in reading the Bible, talking to God about the issues we have to make. After all, I've made real good decisions up to now. I'm good at this. Look how successful I've become. I don't need to pray about this too much, because I'm really good at this decision making, farming, and all the other stuff that I'm trying to do. And so when that sets in, you exalt yourself to the place where you don't need God, and you violate the first commandment. God knew that prosperity was the greatest danger of His people, and yet He promised them prosperity. What He wants us to do is to be able to trust Him as much when we have what He promised as when we have nothing. What drives us to turn to God in our distress is that we have trusted Him and we've tried everything we know to try. We've done everything we know to do, and it doesn't work. And then in that last moment of despair, we say, I've tried everything I know. I've listened to all my friends and what they've done. I've done everything I can do, and now there's still disaster. God, please help me. You're the only one who can help me now. Look at all this stuff that I've gotten into. But when you get successful, and your family's going well, and your home's going well, and your jobs are going well, and you've got the money you need, you think, well, you know, everything's going pretty good. I can just relax, enjoy my life. I am doing well. I am doing well. God knows our inclinations. He said about these people, they're going to reject me and break my covenant. And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. He thought that maybe even a generation might go and fail to follow Him. But their children, when they sang the song, would look at their parents and say, now I know what was wrong with my parents. They made these terrible decisions in their own life, and now look at the disaster it brought to them. It is true. You can see what's wrong in my life easier than you can see what's wrong in yours. And the descendants of these people could look at their parents and tell what was wrong easier than the parents could see what was wrong in their own life. The generation that's coming up may be lost to their own rebellion, and we'll see that later on in the story. But the next generation, born in the middle of all this despair, will stop and say, where did we go wrong? And then this song will help us to know exactly what they have done that's wrong. I know what they're disposed to do even before I bring them into the land, the land I promised them on oath. So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites. I don't know how God does this, how He can put up with each of us. Maybe you feel like this sometimes yourself. How, God, do you keep forgiving me over and over and over again for the same stuff? Why can't I grow up to be mature enough to make the right choices consistently? I don't know how He does it. I do know this, that most of us don't have very much patience with the people around us who consistently make the same mistakes. We say, why don't they ever learn? God may say that, but in His graciousness, He is always, always trying to make sure that He corrects us. He gave them the law as a witness as to what they should do. He gave them the song as a witness as to what they should do. And He knew from the beginning that they wouldn't do it. But He doesn't give up. Now, we have in our time a greater advantage than them. We not only have the Old Testament, which they didn't have at that time. They didn't have the stories of all these failures of people that are going to come along. They didn't have the written book to be able to read. They didn't have the life story of Jesus to show what it's really like to live correctly. Most of all, they didn't have the Holy Spirit that you and I have. God has given us all these tools to allow us to be able to have a guide for our lives and to correct us the moment we get out of line. All of these things are given to us to provide this way of warning so that God can say, you've done something wrong. Your attitude is wrong. The words that you say are not proper. Change yourself. Do something different. And here is what you need to do. God is in constant mode of redeeming us. Straightening our life out. Bringing us to the place of righteousness and holiness. And He needs for us to listen to Him, read the Scriptures. He needs us to ask Him for direction and advice about all the things that we're making decisions and choices about. And He needs us to be disciplined and faithful to do what He asks. If you do that, all the blessings of life will come to you. But when you start experiencing these blessings, that is the most dangerous time of your life. And when you begin to feel like I've really got it made here, that's when you begin to stop and say, Lord, give me a spirit of humility. Show me inside myself the things you see that need to be changed. God knows our hearts and He knows our dangers. But He is always trying to help us grow. Would you bow your head for a moment? I want to ask you to simply ask God, what is the one thing in my life that you want to see changed? What is the one thing that you want to see changed? Stop with one. Moses had the people learn a song. We don't have to learn the song. We can simply address God through the Holy Spirit, ask Him a question, and He gives us the guidance we need. He gives us the witness to you as to what God wants to change in you. You have a choice. What will you do about it? The people of Israel ignored Him and their disasters came. Father, help us not to ignore the words of Scripture, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the witness of godly people around us. Give us a passion to be obedient to You completely. Help us not to be satisfied being better than we were yesterday or being better than the people around us. But help us to have a focus on obedience to You and being like You that we might find not only life and success and then failure, that we might grow consistently to become more and more Your people. In the name of Christ, I ask this. Amen.