Episode Details

The sermon audio cuts off about 30 minutes in- here is the conclusion of the message: "While the world might try to convince us that it isn't nice, kind, or even Christian to be so exclusive, to be so committed to holiness, to be so exacting and precise about the revelation of God in His Word, to call people to repentance and faith, to be firm, resolute, unshakeable and immovable in our devotion and obedience to God- the truth, as Deuteronomy makes clear, is that "...the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him..." [Deuteronomy 4:35] and the gods of the nations are in fact, "...demons that are no gods..." [Deuteronomy 32:17] and that allegiance to false gods and idols provokes the LORD to anger as Deuteronomy 32:21 states.  

All that God speaks and reveals in Deuteronomy will, I hope, compel and inspire us to leave off caring about the pressures put on us by the world to give in, to conform, to celebrate its idols- and help us to be more aware of the ways the world has already conformed us into its image in so many areas, from the hyper-sexual clothes many of us wear, to the idolatry of self we simply assume our right, to the many other compromises we've made with the world to fit in. 

I pray that our time in Deuteronomy will embolden you and I to be the separate, distinct, holy, uncompromising, sojourners and exiles God calls us to be during our time here. So, now, with all of that said, let's spend the rest of our time looking at the opening lines of the book to situate the author, the occasion, the place, the style and the content of Deuteronomy. 

We begin in vs. 1, "These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Disahab." [1] A few introductory points of note here. The author of the book, the first 33 chapters anyway, is Moses. Chapter 34 is a postscript describing the death of Moses after all these things. 

If you don't know about Moses, let's just say he is a towering figure in the Bible, and among Christians and Jews even up to this day. Scripture has much to say about this man. Moses was the man to whom God called out from the burning bush, Moses is the man to whom God first revealed His covenant, personal Name- YHWH. 

The LORD worked through Moses to deliver the people of Israel out from slavery in Egypt- as he announced to Pharaoh each of the ten plagues or strikes, and ultimately led the nation of Israel through the Red Sea after God parted it for their sake. It was to Moses that God revealed the Ten Commandments after calling Him up Mount Sinai to speak with Him there. 

Moses led the people as they wandered through the wilderness, and interceded on their behalf when they rebelled and the LORD threatened to destroy them all and restart everything with Moses. Moses was a man loyal to God's word, who faithfully spoke and preached that word to God's people, God allowed Moses to see a glimpse of His glorious goodness in Exodus 34 as God placed him in the cleft of the rock. 

The Word of God says such things as this about Moses, "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the people who were on the face of the earth." [Numbers 12:3] 

After his death Deuteronomy described Moses saying, "...there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Phar