Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20130120.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Deuteronomy: Moses' Great Appeal For Israel To Obey God For Blessing
Part II: The Treaty Preamble: A Lesson On Faith Via Israel's Lost Years
(Deuteronomy 1:1-4)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    There is a big temptation today to be anxious about a wide variety of issues relative to our welfare:

    (1) Dorothea V. DiCecco of Litchfield had her letter to the editor printed in the January 14, 2013 Republican-American, p. 6A, and it voiced such anxiety when she claimed: "Growing numbers of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction . . . our nation is headed . . . opportunities for good-paying, stable jobs are scarce, mainly because of . . . outsourcing . . . The rising cost of higher education is denying our youth a secure future. We live with a fragmented health-care system and escalating premiums . . . The family unit, so important to the well-being of our young and our nation, is breaking apart . . . It's difficult not to feel dispossessed and powerless."

    (2) This feeling is seen among academics, too: Andrew Morriss, holder of the D. Paul Jones Jr. and Charlene A. Jones chair in law and professor of business at the University of Alabama, on the same page had his op-ed, "Ethanol scam drives up prices" printed where he complained: "(S)pecial interests have persuaded Congress to mandate Americans buy ethanol, whether they want to or not. As a result, 40 percent of the U. S. corn crop now is used for ethanol rather than food. The ethanol mandate means ordinary Americans pay more for poorer quality automobile fuel and more for groceries . . ."

    (3) The same day's issue of USA TODAY, p. 7A considered the question, "[Is] college still a good investment?" in its editorial section, and the answers reflected this anxiety: Facebook responses included Sal Esman's claim, "I think college is a giant waste of money for lots of kids and parents" and John Hipp's words, "A good diesel mechanic or HVAC technician will make many times what most college grads make these days," while a host of Twitter replies included a tweet from BigSerenaVeeFan that held, "Yes, paying for college is still worth it," and brymell2 took the other view to state, "No. Unless one is planning on being a doctor, teacher or lawyer, go to a tech school and get a skill," andwillcook4change added, "I regret going to college. I can't find a job using my degree."



    Accordingly, we ask, "What can I DO about the temptation to feel anxious about various issues regarding my welfare?!"



    Need: "How can I handle the anxieties I face regarding my welfare?"

  1. Israel experienced FORTY WASTED YEARS in the wilderness due to FAITHLESS ANXIETY over her WELFARE:
    1. We before learned that Deuteronomy was written in the form of a second millennium B. C. suzerain-vassel treaty, B. K. C., O. T., p. 260, with Deuteronomy 1:1-4 being the PREAMBLE, a preface with an overview of the SAD REASON WHY the treaty was MADE, Ibid.
    2. This PREAMBLE reveals the TRAGIC failure in Israel's PAST that the treaty was meant to COUNTER for FUTURE BLESSING:
      1. Moses noted it was only an 11 DAYS' journey for Israel to go from "Horeb," that is, Mount Sinai, north to Kadesh-Barnea that is located on the southern border of the Promised Land, Deut. 1:1-2.
      2. However, tragically, it had been 40 YEARS since Israel had left Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1), and she was only east of the Jordan River, STILL NOT IN the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 1:1, 3.
    3. Viewing her HISTORY shows these LOST YEARS were the result of Israel's SINS of FAITHLESS ANXIETY over her WELFARE:
      1. When Israel had first reached the border of the Promised Land, she had sent 12 spies into the land to report on it, Numbers 13:1-25.
      2. However, ten of the spies gave a faithless report of fear over the Canaanites, where two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, urged Israel to trust God to defeat the Canaanites, Numbers 13:26-33; 14:6-9.
      3. Israel in faithless anxiety held to the majority spies report (Num. 14:1-4, 10a), so God judged that entire faithless generation to die in the wilderness over the next forty years, Numbers 14:33-34.
      4. This judgment came not only for Israel's accepting the ten spies, but for 10 failures to trust God due to anxiety (Num. 14:22-24), and we list them ( Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Num. 14:22):
        1. Israel doubted God's help at the Red Sea, Ex. 14:11-12.
        2. Israel doubted God's help with the bitter water in Ex. 15:22-24.
        3. Israel doubted God's help regarding famine in Exodus 16:1-3.
        4. Israel doubted God's continued help over famine in Ex. 16:20.
        5. Israel doubted God's preservation of the manna in Ex. 16:27.
        6. Israel doubted God's deliverance from thirst in Exodus 17:1-3.
        7. Israel doubted God's presence and guidance in Ex. 32:1-7.
        8. Israel doubted God's help in a bleak desert in Num. 10:33-11:3.
        9. Israel doubted God's quality of food supply in Numbers 11:4-6.
        10. Israel doubted God's aid in defeating Canaan, Num. 13:31-14:4.
    4. Even MOSES later faithlessly disobeyed God, striking instead of speaking to the rock, so GOD judged HIM to DIE OUTSIDE the Land with the FAITHLESS generation, Num. 20:1-13; Deut. 3:23-27.
    5. Thus, the Deuteronomy 1:1-4 preamble shows Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy in a startling suzerain-vassal treaty format to spur Israel's new generation to realize God required them to trust Him versus anxiously distrusting Him if they would enjoy His blessing!
  2. What made the judged generation's loss of blessing so great was that it was avoidable had they heeded God's Biblical guidance signals:
    1. Israel should have heeded God's Biblical past precedents: God had proved His commitment to provide for Israel in her travels by the ten plagues He had brought on the Egyptians to free her from bondage and equip her to spoil the Egyptians of their goods, Exodus 6:1-12:36.
    2. Israel should have heeded God's ongoing Bible circumstantial signs:
      1. All during Israel's wilderness travels, God led her by a cloud by day and a fiery pillar by night, Exodus 13:21-22; Numbers 9:15-23.
      2. These symbols recalled God's Biblical smoke and fire symbols in Genesis 15:17 where He unconditionally promised Abraham to take Israel from bondage to the Promised Land, Genesis 15:13-21.
      3. These ongoing Bible circumstantial signs made any anxiety Israel had about her welfare in her wilderness journeys inexcusable!
      4. Then, once God began to give Israel manna so she could follow His cloud and pillar, He kept on doing so daily for 40 years until she got to Canaan (Ex. 16:35; Jos. 5:12), another ongoing divine circumstantial sign in line with the Biblical cloud and pillar!
    3. Israel should have heeded God's written Scriptures:
      1. The cloud by day and pillar of fire by night recalled God's signs of His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:17, which signs were given specifically with God's SPOKEN Genesis 15:17-21 WORD to give Israel victory over the nations in the Promised Land.
      2. Israel should thus have recalled God's Scripture promises.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God, John 1:11-12; 3:16. (2) Then, may we heed God's past precedents, ongoing Biblical circumstantial signals and Scripture to trust God's help versus sinning in unbelief due to anxiety!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 God had a lesson for my wife and me in the realm of Biblical circumstantial guidance on budgeting via our daughter's wedding.

In planning for Joanne's wedding, we knew of the 1 Peter 3:3 and Genesis 41:29-36 principles that God did not want us to put on an extravagant celebration by wasting our savings. We thus set a modest budget, Joanne did a great job with it, and we ended up under budget!

Yet, we would not have been able to end up under budget if God had not circumstantially signaled His strong support for a modest budget by His repeat, HUGE, cost-cutting PROVISIONS:

(1) When Mike and Cathy Brunetti who supervised the food for the reception found that buying cooked, sliced roast beef would cost a prohibitive $10 a pound, their son, Nate suggested they buy the meat raw, cook it and slice it themselves. Mike recalled he had a meat slicer in his basement that someone had put out for disposal and Nate had brought home to turn in for scrap metal. Mike retrieved it, cleaned it up, found it worked perfectly well, and used it as Nate suggested. Amazingly, we then learned the slicer had been put in Mike's basement prior to Joanne's even becoming engaged! The Lord had gone before to provide cost-cutting help before we set the wedding budget!

(2) My niece Angela and her husband Chris, photographers from California, offered to travel to Connecticut and take the wedding pictures for free if we paid for their plane tickets and stay in a motel.

(3) We ended up paying only for their motel needs as a family in our Church offered to provide the plane tickets! This all cut our costs by thousands of dollars.

(4) Also, the Church let us use the Fellowship Hall for free, saving us an enormous amount in costs, and (5) Joanne received two significant discounts at the wedding dress shop.

(6) As a result of these divine signals of God's strong approval of our intent to be frugal in the wedding budget, Nadine and I have reviewed our regular monthly expenditures to see if we should trim them more! We have been surprised to learn of major ways we can cut our regular monthly budget costs, so we plan to do so, expecting God to provide for us there as well!

May we learn to see God's Biblical precedents, His ongoing Biblical circumstantial signals and written Scripture as the bases for trusting His help to offset anxiety regarding our welfare!