Understanding Deuteronomy and Its Challenges
Very few people understand Deuteronomy or read Deuteronomy, much less understand it. It’s a difficult book for most and very few actually even bother to try. The usual story is you start with Genesis; it’s interesting, but it gets difficult as you come to the book of Exodus. You read about the tabernacle, the rituals, the law, and you start to yawn, but you say, “I got to be a good Christian. So let me go on to Leviticus.” And when you come to Leviticus, you realise you are in trouble. You have no idea what this is all about. All those seemingly boring details about sacrifices and rites. And maybe you are a persistent kind; you push through and you come to Numbers, and that’s where you die with Israel in the wilderness. Very few people actually even bother then to pick up Deuteronomy. Or even if they do, they quickly flip through the pages and say, “Well, it’s like Numbers. It’s like Leviticus. I can’t understand. So let’s skip that altogether.” Well, I hope that as we have gone through Leviticus and Numbers in recent months or years, we will be able to help you in also understanding this wonderful book, Deuteronomy.

I watched a video some time ago about this lady, Michelle, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer when she conducted or held a living funeral, something I’ve never heard of before. But I understand this to be a funeral that you conduct, not after you die but before you die, so that you can share your love and appreciation for those who have been significant in your life. And for those who have been significant and important in your life to also encourage you and share their love to you. So Michelle conducted this living funeral so that she may connect with her loved ones for one last time. This is a very popular video. It’s a Singapore video, 4.9 million views. It’s quite a lot for any Singaporean video. And then I realised that this is quite a thing nowadays. In ChannelNewsAsia, there is this article, “Commentary: Living funerals help the dying and their loved ones live more meaningfully”. The author, Kristen Juliet Soh–she wrote, “They (living funerals) help us all to live more meaningfully, not just in the face of death, but in every precious moment we have.” So this is important, not just for the dying, but it’s also important for the living. So this living funeral is good for those who are dying. It encourages them, it gives them an outlet to express their thoughts and feelings. But it’s also important for those who attend. And the dying can bring a blessing to the living.

Moses’ Final Speeches and Their Significance
We come to the fifth book of the Bible, of the Old Testament, of the Torah, the first five books of Moses. This is the last book of Moses, and it also contains the last words of Moses. This is written in about 1406 BC, in the winter months. And Moses would speak, I think, over a span of 40 days. And after that, spoiler alert, Moses will die. He will die at a ripe old age of 120. The people of Israel will then mourn for him for 30 days, and then they will cross into the Promised Land. So Moses here gathers, before he dies, he gathers the people of Israel and gives them his final speech, or speeches. You could say, this is Moses’ living funeral. He wants to bless them. He wants to, as the ChannelNewsAsia article says, “help the living live more meaningfully”. I think this must be a very special moment for Israel, particularly momentous and memorable, because, after all, they are listening to one of the great men of history.

Moses’ Life and Leadership
Moses is a great guy. He is called the meekest man on earth. He is called the man of God in Psalm 90; Pastor Sinon preached it last week. He is a faithful prophet unto God. He is the great leader of the people of Israel. And the Bible gave us a lot of details about his life. His first 40 years were lived in Egypt. He was the prince of Egypt, being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as her son. And then he learnt humility in 40 years of shepherding in the wilderness, and that was to be interrupted when God appeared to him out of the burning bush, commissioning him to be the man who will lead Israel out of Egypt. There in Egypt, he would confront Pharaoh with amazing signs and miracles, and he would also inflict the 10 plagues upon Egypt, so that Pharaoh would let Israel go. And of course, who can forget the iconic scene when God used Moses to part the Red Sea and deliver Israel out of Egypt’s clutches.

But that’s not all, because we read about how Moses would be the man credited with how Israel would have victory over the Amalekites in Exodus 17. Moses would be the one who would go up to Mount Sinai and receive the 10 Commandments, the two tablets. And the Bible tells us his face shone with God’s glory. So he is a special man, isn’t it? He would also perform miracles, bringing water out of the rock, and he would lead Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. So Israel gathers before their, if I may say, father, before their grandfather, before their great grandfather, in a sense. Because he’s like 120 years old. Most of them are 40 years and below, and so they gathered to hear him speak for one last time.

Now I want to remind you that this audience here, they are the Israelites, but they are not the same people who came out of Egypt. The people who came out of Egypt, together with Moses, have pretty much all died, except for Caleb and Joshua. They all died because they were an unbelieving people. They refused to trust God. They would not obey Him. And so God in His anger allowed their carcasses to die in the wilderness. And now the people gathered are the second generation–40 years, generally and below. Some may be 50, 60, because 20 years and below, they were spared. But they were a people who were not familiar with Mount Sinai and what God said there. They were a people who may not be familiar with how they, Israel, disobeyed God at Kadesh Barnea. So Moses gathers them to tell them all that has happened. They are now gathered at the plains of Moab. The plains of Moab are near the River Jordan and the city of Jericho in Canaan. They would soon cross over the river and possess Canaan, but they are now strategically positioned right outside. Before they will enter Canaan, before they will start their conquests of the land, Moses, the grand old prophet and general, would now speak to them.

The Structure and Purpose of Deuteronomy
What would he say to them? What would be the last words? What would be the big idea of his living funeral? Would he tell them, “Sharpen your weapons. Prepare your shields. Brush up on your military tactics.” Would he do that? No, because the whole emphasis of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. What’s the big idea of Deuteronomy, you say? It’s actually a very simple two-words phrase, simply to “obey God”. What is Deuteronomy about? Moses saying to Israel, “Guys, obey God.” And he’s going to do that via three segments of speeches. The first segment is Chapters 1 to 4. In general, you can say it’s four, up to 4:44. But let’s keep it simple. Chapters 1 to 4–first speech. Second speech is a lot longer–Chapters 5 to 26. And the third speech will be Chapters 27 to 30. Now there are still some other chapters: 31, 32, 33, 34. But those are more or less, if I may say, some administrative responsibilities, like the appointment of Joshua, writing a poem, pronouncing a blessing and then how he dies. But in essence, Deuteronomy–these 30 chapters–are about the speeches that Moses would give. The main thing is Chapters 5 to 26 where there are the rules and the statutes. These are what Israel are to obey in. In Chapters 1 to 4 and Chapters 27 to 30, Moses will write about why you need to obey. So it’s almost like a typical preacher, isn’t it? A preacher stands up and tells you why you need to do something, and then tells you what you are to do, and then ends off with encouraging you again as to why you need to do it. So this is the structure of Deuteronomy.

It’s not very difficult to grasp. For the first four chapters, Moses is going to say, “Obey God. Why? Because look at how He has blessed you last time. Look back.” And then in the last few chapters, Moses is going to say, “Obey God, because God will bless you when you obey. And also, conversely, God will judge you if you disobey.” So you look back in Chapters 1 to 4, you look forward in Chapters 27 to 30, but that is so that they may look up to God’s Word and obey Him right here, right now. So the book of Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law. The word “deuter” is two. “Nomos” is law. So Deuteronomy is the second law. But mind you, it’s not a second set of laws. It’s just a second giving or stating of the law. It’s the same law, same principles, same 10 Commandments that God gave Moses 40 years ago at Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai.

The Book of Deuteronomy is a very important book, at least to the biblical authors. To modern Singaporeans, maybe not. We don’t esteem it well, but the biblical authors do. It is said that Deuteronomy is quoted 445 times. I did not count them. Scholars do. It’s quoted 445 times–350 times in the Old Testament, 95 times in the New Testament. But most significantly, Jesus quoted the most from Deuteronomy, in particular when He was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, when He responded to Satan’s attacks, He responded all out of the book of Deuteronomy. So we today join Israel sitting at the feet of Moses, because Moses here will give his final speeches. It’s his living funeral. And his goal, I think, is to help the living live more meaningfully. He’s going to help you and I live more meaningfully. And I hope through the course of these few months–it’s going to take months. These few months, we would be able to learn from Moses, to glean his wisdom, and may the Holy Spirit teleport us or allow us to go some time-travel back to the plains of Moab and learn from him.

The Importance of Obedience to God
So what do we understand from this overview? Well, I’d like us to remember that the whole book of Deuteronomy, again, is about obedience to God. That’s the most important thing. Can you do something for me? Can you turn to the person beside you and say, “Obey God.” Make sure you say, “Obey God” not “Obey me”. The wife or the husband may be tempted to do so: “Obey me”. No, no, no. Obey God. That’s the most important thing. Some of you today are encumbered with cares and affairs. Will I get my job? Will I get my promotion? Will my sickness go away? Will my son turn out right? You have many questions in your head, but let me say this, the most important thing, according to Scripture, is to obey God. It really is. See, that’s how Moses writes in this whole book. Deuteronomy 11 says, “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep His charge, his statutes, his rules…” Loving God is very much tied to obedience. Many people think that they love God because when they come for church services, when they sing, when they pray, they tear, they cry. Now it’s good that we are emotional. It’s good that there is an emotional response. But what I’m saying is, if you only cry, you only shed a tear, but you do not obey, I say you do not love God. As Jesus Himself would later on, say, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Real love is always expressed in obedience to God: “So Israel, would you love Me? Well, it will be seen in the way you obey, or not obey, My laws and statutes.” Mind you, God is calling not just for a mechanical obedience on the outside, He is calling for love. Why? Because God first loved them. God was the One who chose them when they were small people, and God is the One who saved them out of Egypt, God is the One who provided and protected them all these 40 years in the wilderness. So Moses says, “Love God because He has been good to you, and obey Him.”

Of course, that famous passage in Deuteronomy 6: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This is elevated by Jesus to be the first and great commandment in the New Testament. You need to hide God’s words in your heart. Teach them to your children and obey them. Why do we obey? Because it is good for you; because it will make you a wise and understanding people. God’s desire is for Israel to be a light to the nations, to be a glorious example of righteous, wise, good living. So God says, “Obey, because My laws are good. And the whole world looking at you when you obey, will say, ‘Wow, what a wise and understanding people. The Law of God is a great law.’” The law of God is that which gives you good. We see that in Deuteronomy 10: “You fear God, you love God, you will keep His commandments, and it will be for your good.”

The Role of God’s Laws in Blessings and Protection
There are a lot of people who think today, Christians are boring people. Christians are very restricted people. Christians cannot do this. Christians cannot do that, that people who live by the book are stick in the mud. We are deprived of so many good things in life. The reality is we are the blessed ones. We are the privileged ones. We are the ones who would have good because God’s Word is good, and God blesses people, His people, when they obey. Now not that we earn these blessings, because at the end of the day, every blessing is ultimately a gift of grace, but it is that God has ordained that blessings would come to those who obey.

Just a few days ago, I read about this Italian tourist in Romania. He saw bears. Mother bear with some of the cubs. And he was so excited that he wanted to take a selfie with them. And he took photos of the bears. So cute, so beautiful. This almost looks fake, right? Like someone in a costume, but it’s a real bear. He took the photos and he appeared in the news because, tragically, “Tourist took selfie with bear before being mauled to death”. The next day, he was dragged by the bears down a 60-feet slope and mauled to death there. So some people may look at these signs: “Aiyoh, why so restrictive? Can’t we have some fun? Bears are so cute. Why can’t I play with them?” And we say that the government, we say that the authorities, are boring, restrictive. They are killjoys. But the reality is, though bears look cute, they kill. And though sin looks fun, they destroy. And it is wise that God gives us laws to prevent us from being killed by “bears”. The psalmist has a very different attitude to the Bible. People today laugh at the Bible, but the psalmist says, “Your word, O God, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Without the Word of God, I’d be living in pitch darkness. I’d be lost. I’d be miserable. But thank God for Your Word.

And so Moses is talking about something very important: “Israel, it’s not about your weapons, it’s not about your defence, it’s not about your strategy. It’s about your allegiance to God. It’s about your loyalty to God.” So Moses calls for Israel’s loving obedience, and he’s going to do that by essentially talking about three things. Number one: he’s going to talk to them about their experience of God’s provisions, how God has blessed them. As I’ve mentioned, Chapters 1 to 4 focuses on looking back–how God has brought them out of Egypt, sustained them and given them victories over their enemies. So God says in Deuteronomy 4: “And because He loved your fathers and chose their offspring (i.e. all of you) and brought you out of Egypt… therefore you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today.” So why Israel, O Israel, should you obey this God? Because this God has been so good to you. See, this is the Christian faith. Many religions tell you, you love God, you sacrifice to God, you do your religious duties to God, and if you do enough of that, your God may love you. But do you know Christianity is the complete opposite? It’s not “I love God first, and then maybe God will love me because he sees that I’m a good boy”. It’s the complete opposite, because the Bible tells us God loves me first. God loved Israel first. And in the light of God’s love, God’s blessings on you, love God and obey God.

The Role of Grace in Christian Living
It’s the same in the New Testament for the church. Of course, this is a well known verse: “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” The apostle Paul is urging his readers, “Give your life to God.” The question is, why? He tells you why with this phrase, “by the mercies of God”, by the goodness, the grace, the love of God. And what are the mercies of God, you say? That’s all that is written in Chapters 1 to 11. Romans 1 to 11 speaks of how while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God loved us while we were His enemies, and in the light of this mercy that we are now spared hell, spared judgment, spared the wrath of God. Let us then be grateful, love Him and give ourselves to Him. You see, it’s not “Love God, then God loves you”, but “God loves me, and now I can love Him”. Every religion operates on this operating system–sinners, you and I, we need to be saved, so we try our very best to be Mr. Good Boy, so that if I do enough good, avoid enough wrong things, I may finally arrive at “God”. God may look at me and say, “You are good. I will save you.” Every religion operates like this. It’s an operating system where one has to earn, where one has to prove his worth, where one has to operate based on self-righteousness. That being right with God on our own efforts. Every religion operates this way, but the shocker when you read the Bible is that this is a wrong way. This is barking up the wrong tree.

Why? Number one: no one, no one can be perfect. No one can keep the whole law perfectly. And that is God’s standard–absolute perfection. So we are doomed from the start if we think that we can obey enough to earn God’s favor. Number two: even if you try to obey and you do it very well, you never obeyed it because you truly love God. You obeyed it because you wanted to save yourself. It is still a self-salvation project. You love yourself, not that you love God. So this is barking up the wrong tree. The amazing thing about the gospel, the amazing thing about the Bible, is that it offers a totally different operating system of how you can get right with God. It doesn’t start with a sinner. It doesn’t start with you, but it starts with God Himself.

What did God do? The Bible says that when Adam and Eve sinned against God, God immediately revealed the plan. The plan is that from one of Eve’s descendants will come someone who will crush the serpent’s head. So from Eve will come the serpent-crusher, who will defeat Satan and save us from our sin. So God’s plan from the start is not man trying to earn his way to God. God’s plan from the start is “I will give you a Saviour”, and later on, we realise that this Saviour is like a lamb. This Saviour would be sacrificed on the cross. This Saviour would die to pay for your sins. He is going to live a perfect, blemish-free life, and He offers that up to give you His perfect record, and He takes on our sinful record, and He suffers and dies in our place so that we may be saved. This is grace–God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. No man can save himself. God sent His Son to save us.

Now, if you really understand this, if you really understand the love of God, then clearly, according to the Bible, when Paul says, “I beseech you, I appeal to you by the mercies of God, give yourself as living sacrifice”. He is saying that we will be grateful. The love of Christ constrains us. We love Him because He first loved us, and our love and gratitude unto God is not just mere feeling, but it will be expressed in obedience and in godliness. Why do we want to live godly lives? Because of grace, because of Jesus, because He died for us, and this response of godliness truly then glorifies God. So self-righteousness is every other religion’s operating system. The Bible’s operating system is the gospel, and it is predicated on grace, and this grace is what motivates you and me, you and I, to love God and to worship Him.

I read yesterday that there was this lady. Please don’t do this, but there was this lady who forgot her baby in a car during a shopping trip. I guess shopping can be very intoxicating, to the degree that you’ll forget something so important. We laugh at this, but isn’t it true that you and I sometimes can also forget? We are so absorbed with our shopping trip in this world, our careers, our hobbies, our goals and dreams, that we forget the most precious of it all: how God gave His Son to save us from our sins. So we need to regularly remind ourselves of the gospel. We regularly need to read and to hear the preaching of God’s Word about the gospel, so that our hearts are filled with this love, that obedience to Him is now no more a chore but a delight and a joyful, willing response. So Moses wanted to do the same thing. He wanted Israel to be loyal to God, to express loving obedience to Him by reminding them how good God has been, provided for them, protected them all these days.

The Consequences of Disobedience
But secondly, Moses wanted to do that by reminding them of the punishments that are to come. You see, God is not a “Santa Claus”. God is not an indulgent old grandfather who says, “It doesn’t matter how you live, I’ll love you and be good to you.” Oh no, oh no, because if you are someone who keeps on sinning, it may be that you were never saved in the first place. Now we must be very clear, we do not obey in order to be saved. We do not obey the 10 Commandments in order to be saved. Because we are saved by Jesus’ perfect obedience, we believe in Him. He gives us His perfect record. But the reality also is that when one believes in Jesus Christ, God gives them a new heart. He’s a new creation, and so though he does not obey to be saved, those who are saved will obey. And if you are someone who doesn’t obey at all–you may be in church, but you are not in Christ, and soon, if you die, you will be in hell. And God gives warnings of punishments to Israel so that they will not disobey.

I read recently about this man who killed cats by throwing them off HDB blocks. He was sentenced originally to half of 27 months, but the prosecution appealed and he was given a heavier sentence. The judge says that his acts of inflicting violence on animals were among the most heinous cases of animal cruelty, and he emphasised that animal cruelty has no place in a just and humane society and will be met with the full force of the law. And the reason why the sentence has to be severe is so that it can serve as a deterrence. The punishment is needed so that people will not do it next time. Why do I buy so many canes at home last time? Because they are cheap? Well, that’s one. If they are expensive, I may not buy so many. I buy a few because they are important to serve as deterrents to disobedience. And it is the same in Deuteronomy, God via Moses said, “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord.” Why? Look at the last part: “…for the Lord, your God is a consuming fire”. That’s right in the beginning in Chapter 4. But when we go to the end of Deuteronomy, we will be reminded of this dramatic scene that they are to act out when they enter the Promised Land. They are going to do this in the book of Joshua. But God said, “When you enter the Promised Land, half of you go to Mount Gerizim on your left, half of you go to Mount Ebal on your right. And on Gerizim, you pronounce all the blessings when you obey, and on Ebal, you pronounce all the curses and judgments when you disobey.”

Now this concept of punishing disobedience is nothing new, because the whole of Israel has been punished for 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness. So God is saying very clearly through Moses in his living funeral speech, “Guys, make sure you obey God, because God has been so good to you, and if you disobey Him, you will be punished.” Now, Israel serves as an example for you and for me. How? We don’t have to guess because the New Testament authors make it clear: “Nevertheless, with most of them”–that is speaking of the Exodus generation–”God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness, and these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did.” So Paul is writing to the people in church, the Corinthians, but he doesn’t assume that everybody in church is in Christ, because they may be church-goers, but if they desire evil like the Israelites did, then God will also judge them and punish them, and they will be thrown into hellfire. Because they may be in church, but they may not be in Christ. And that lifestyle of disobedience will be judged. It’s the same in Galatians. I’m referring to verses that we have spoken of in recent months. We have looked at Galatians, and there God says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.” The word “corruption” is destruction, because it is to be understood in contrast with eternal life. So Paul there in Galatians says, “When you love your brethren, when you support the weak, when you restore a brother, when you are doing the deeds of love, you are sowing to the spirit. Those are evidences. Those are the works that prove you belong to God. You will have eternal life. But if you don’t, but you indulge in the flesh, you walk according to the lusts of the flesh, then all you will end up with–because that’s the habit of your life–all you will end up with is destruction. Don’t be deceived. Whatever you sow, you will reap.” So if you continue to disobey, you will only be punished. You may be in church, but you are not in Christ, and you will be judged. Talk about an evil and unbelieving heart to a people who are in the so-called Christian community. And the Hebrews author would go on to say, “If you go on sinning deliberately, then all you can expect is judgment and a fury of fire.”

Now let me again be very clear, we are not saying anybody earns his salvation with his obedience, but everybody evidences whether he is saved by his obedience or disobedience, and disobedience will be severely dealt with. This is Moses’ theme in his living funeral: “Guys, obey God. Be loyal to Him. Love Him, because God has been good to you, and God will judge you.” And finally, at the same time, though God will judge the disobedient, He would also bless the obedient. As we have said, that Mount Gerizim is where blessings are pronounced when one obeys, and God is clearly communicating that when God’s people obey, though they do not earn the blessings, God does want to give the blessings as a gift of grace to the obedient ones. And so he tells us, “You shall keep His statutes and His commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children.” It’s good for you and your children. Don’t teach people to throw away the Bible. Tell them the Bible is good. The laws are good. They are for their blessing, for their protection. But of course, they may not have the power or the will to do it. Nevertheless, it’s important to tell your children God’s word is good. Let me address the power and desire later on. But for those who love God, for those who know God, you will know that when you keep the commandments, it’s for your good. It’s repeated again here and again in Chapter 30, “the Lord will bless you”. The law is good.

The Promise of a New Heart
But the question now is, “I know it’s good, but actually, I can’t do it. I can’t stop myself from lust and anger and pride and covetousness. If I’m honest with myself, I know that the law is good, but I’ve never found the power or ability or even desire to do it.” Maybe that’s you. You think Christianity is very, very onerous. It’s very cumbersome: “I can never do what God wants me to do, so I absolutely give up, and I don’t want to hear about God or Jesus or the gospel.” Actually, I’m glad you think that way, because at least it shows you understand how high are the requirements of God and how hopeless and helpless we are. And so I want to tell you one promise above all other promises in Deuteronomy. It’s like a diamond in the dust. It’s hidden there. Most people don’t see it, but when you dig a little and you lift it up, it’s beautiful, it’s sparkling. And this may be what makes the difference for you, and that promise is a promise of a new heart. Ah, for those who have been in Gospel Light for some time, you are familiar with this “promise of a new heart” idea that we have been speaking about. And we all know that this promise of the new heart is given very explicitly in later times by the prophet named Jeremiah and the prophet named Ezekiel. They spoke about how God will take away the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. How this heart of flesh would have the laws written within, how God would put His Spirit within you, and how God will sprinkle you with water, cleanse your old heart. So we are very familiar with this beautiful promise of a new heart. But do you know that this promise of a new heart is not only spoken of in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which is centuries later, but it’s spoken of in the Torah, in the first five books of Moses. In Deuteronomy, because in chapter 30, God says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God.” God is saying, “I know you don’t love Me. I know you can’t love Me, but let Me tell you, if you are willing, you come to Me and I will give you a new heart.”

You know, that’s how gracious God is? We can’t do anything at all, you know that? We are so corrupted by sin, we are so damaged by sin that no one will seek God, no one can seek God. But God says, “If you only are willing, you come to Me, you say in your heart, and I will give you a new heart.” Jesus–further on, centuries after Jeremiah and Ezekiel–would meet with this religious ruler, Nicodemus, and say to him, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” What is this water and the Spirit? Oh, it’s obvious–not to you and I–but it’s obvious to Nicodemus. Jesus is talking about Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the sprinkling of water and the giving of the Spirit. Jesus is saying, “Nicodemus, if you want to be saved, God has got to be the One, not you.” Because Nicodemus came saying, asking, wanting to ask, “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus says, “Nothing.” What an answer, right? What must I do to be saved? Nothing, because everything has got to be done by God. You must be born from above, not by yourself, Nicodemus. But, but, but at the same time, about 10 sentences later, Jesus also said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I think what Jesus is saying is number one, you cannot save yourself. Nicodemus, there’s nothing more that you can do. You must humble yourself, because only God can save you. But at the same time, number two, Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “Yet there’s something you can do. You need to believe that I am the Messiah, the Saviour, the promised serpent-crusher.” So as we transport ourselves to Moab, we join in a living funeral, where Moses is going to help the living live more meaningfully. And he says it’s all found in these two words, “obey God”. Be loyal to Him. Love Him. Why? Because God is good. He has blessed Israel, and today, for you and me, He has given His Son. Obey God, because if you don’t, severe judgment will come in hell. Obey God because He has promised good to those who would believe. And in particular, He has promised to give a new heart to those who would simply come. This morning, the Bible is not teaching man self-righteousness. The Bible is teaching grace, and we hope you will come to Jesus Christ. Not just sit at the feet of Moses, but let’s sit at the foot of the cross and look to the Saviour.

Let’s bow for a word of prayer together. Father, we are thankful today for the Scriptures, because left to ourselves, we will only and always arrive at the operating system of legalism or self-righteousness. But thank You–You save by grace, so that all the glory belongs to You. For those who are saved by grace, I pray they will evidence their gratitude in godliness, and those who have not yet believed, we pray You will humble them to help them now come to the foot of the cross. Thank You for these words by Your servant, Moses. Give us patience, hunger, desire for the weeks and months to come that we might benefit richly. We pray at the end of this living funeral, we would be a people who would lovingly, loyally obey You for Your glory. Thank You. Teach us to trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Thank You in Jesus’ name. Amen.