AND THE HEART OF HIS LAW
Deuteronomy 10:1-5 and 10:12-13
INTRODUCTION
Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
In Acts 15, Mark was invited by his cousin Barnabas to go on a trip with him and Paul. Paul and Barnabas had planned this trip because they wanted people to experience the salvation that is in Christ.
In Acts chapter 2, Peter preached on Pentecost, and thousands of Jews came to profess faith in Jesus. Jesus came to His own, but many of His own did not accept Him. Yet there were people who were well-versed in Old Testament Scripture who were saying, “This is it. He is the Messiah.”
Peter later preached the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He had with the Jews. They went out and shared the gospel, telling others that Jesus had come to this earth, that He is the Son of God, and that He lived a sinless life.
Do you know what it would take to get into Heaven by doing good works? Absolute perfection. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Though the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), Jesus still went to the cross.
He had been beaten mercilessly before He got there. As He carried the cross, He fell beneath its weight, and a man from the side of the road was tasked with carrying it the rest of the way. On that cross, Jesus died and paid the penalty for all sin.
After His death and resurrection, His followers went out into the world to share the gospel. That is exactly what Paul and Barnabas were doing when they planned their trip.
Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul remembered that Mark had abandoned them on their first journey. When they planned to return and visit the churches they had started, Barnabas wanted to give Mark another opportunity, but Paul refused because he considered him unreliable. Barnabas believed Mark simply needed some help along the way.
The contention between them became so great that they could not agree. Paul went with Silas, while Barnabas took Mark and went another direction.
Whatever they should or should not have done, the result was that two groups of people went out to spread the gospel.
Even today, churches sometimes split over reasons that should never have caused division. But when tempers settle and people move past their hurt, they often continue serving the Lord, whether they return to their old church, find a new one, or start one themselves.
Churches are sometimes started out of contention. Yet if people truly repent of their sins and seek the Lord, He can come in and begin to work through them, and the gospel begins to go out from there.
That is exactly what happened with Paul and Barnabas.
GOD OFTEN GIVES SECOND CHANCES
Deuteronomy 10:1-5 says:
“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountains and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’”
The Lord often gives second chances. The people had sinned against God while Moses was on the mountain. When he came down with the Ten Commandments and saw what they were doing, he was so angry that he broke the tablets.
But God gave them another chance.
Paul later wrote in 2 Timothy 4:11, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.”
Mark had been at the center of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, but the relationship between Paul and Mark had been restored. Mark had proven himself faithful, and Paul now said he was useful to him for ministry.
There was a second chance.
Have you ever needed a second chance? Second chances are a wonderful thing.
That is what God was doing here in Deuteronomy chapter 10. The first generation had passed away. They were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. The only ones left from that generation were Joshua and Caleb, who had said, “Let’s take the Promised Land” when they first heard about it.
Now this next generation had the opportunity to enter it.
GOD GIVES THE HEART OF HIS LAW
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 is where we learn the heart of the law:
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?”
In seminary, one of my professors came into class singing, “God is good!” Someone answered, “He answers prayer!” Someone else said, “He is coming again!” The answers continued until the professor said, “Let’s sing, ‘He gives us rules!’”
A lot of people do not appreciate being given rules. God, however, was gracious in giving us the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments use the words, “thou shalt not.” Some might say that is too negative, but when God tells us what not to do, there is still so much else that we can do.
So yes, there are rules, and yes, it is good that God gives them to us. These verses ask one question: What does the Lord your God require of you?
First, we are told to fear the Lord our God. We often redefine that word by saying it means to have an awesome reverence toward God. I believe that is one way we can fear God, but I also believe there is another meaning. The Bible tells us to be afraid.
Matthew 10:28 says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
That verse tells us to fear God. Why?
God is love, and Jesus died for us. If you believe in Him and call upon Him for salvation, you do not have to fear God. But if you plan to shake your fist at God, you ought to be afraid.
Fear God. Do not rebel against God. You will not win. It may look like it for a while, but ultimately you will lose.
By fearing the Lord, we are to walk in all His ways and love Him with all our heart. Sometimes a child has such a loving parent that they want to emulate them. They want to please them.
That is what God wants us to do. We should want to walk with Him and please Him.
Good works will not get you into Heaven. You cannot do enough of them. You will fail somewhere along the way. But we do want to do good works because God loves us and we love Him. We want to please Him out of gratitude for what He has done for us.
Matthew 22:36-40 tells us that Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?”
His answer was similar to these verses in Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” He then added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Everything in the law fits into those two categories: loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself.
HE DOES THIS FOR OUR GOOD
Deuteronomy 10:13 says to “keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good.”
The laws God has given us are for our own good.
There is a stop sign coming into town that I used to complain about because I had never seen anyone come from the north when I was at that stop sign.
One morning, the police came up behind me with the lights flashing. The officer came to my window and said, “Sir, you know why I’m stopping you, right?”
Honestly, I did not have a clue.
Maybe all those years of griping about that stop sign caused me to subconsciously ride through it that morning. I told him I was hoping he would just give me a warning, and thankfully, that is exactly what he did.
I am much more conscious now of stopping at the one coming into town.Laws are for our own good, especially the law of God.
John 6:28-29 says, “Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’”
You cannot live life with 100% perfection, but Jesus did. He died on the cross and became our sinless substitute. If you put your faith and trust in Him, you can claim the gift of eternal life.
The works that need to be done to get into Heaven were already done by Jesus Himself.
CONCLUSION
Jesus said in John 6 that the work of God is that you believe in Him whom He sent. Jesus is saying, “Believe in Me.”
You have probably done things that are irreversible. But if you believe in Jesus, you do the work of God. That is the good news that Paul, Barnabas, Mark, and Silas went out into the world to share.
The fact is, you must trust Him with all your heart and all that is within you.
Have you come to that point in your life? Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world, that He died on the cross, and that His death was sufficient to pay the penalty for your sins? Have you yielded to Him and said, “Here I am, Lord. Please forgive me”?
If you haven’t, take a moment and call upon Him today. If you have wandered away from God and desire to come back, take time now and call upon Him today.