Law & Grace - The big "IF" (blessings & curses - Deuteronomy 28)

Morning. I'm not standing here at this level because I'm suffering from altitude sickness. I am standing here because I'd like to ask Ruth to come up and join us here. Just kind of get an update. We had her come up and tell us what ministry she was beginning in and to pray with her. And we certainly want to continue to do that. But let me Take this little strange microphone off. Ruth, what can you tell us here? What's the update?

Okay, I had two weeks of wonderful support meetings in California. Thank you for all your prayers during that time. And my support right now is about 40%, but I'm hoping that the effects of my trip to California will push that even higher. And then I had a phone call this week asking me to help with a teacher training this coming Saturday down in Cashel Rock for two brand new Good News Clubs beginning down there. And I will be overseeing the ladies who are conducting the Good News Clubs. So just pray that I'll be able to teach the way it needs to be taught and they will be equipped to do the job in the schools down there. Total there will be five Good News Clubs in Castle Rock.

So that's awesome. Let's take a moment to pray for you. Lord, we thank you for this new opportunity that you put before Ruth here. We thank you that through it she can count on your faithfulness. We also continue to pray as she works toward raising support and look to your faithfulness for that too. We just ask these things and give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.

The verses that Brad read for us are just actually a sampling of each of the passages as he pointed out Deuteronomy 28 1 through 14 actually are the verses that contain here's what will happen if you obey the Lord and these are the blessings and then you also have as the first couple of slides and this is the second one verses 15 through 19 are the beginnings of what is a much longer section and that is here are the things that are going to happen if you do not obey here are the curses that will come upon you. And rather than going on for just 14 verses like the blessings, it goes on through verse 68.

Oh, they're long. Painfully so. But you have those. They're an introduction. We won't read them all because it's actually just a bit much. But I'll leave it to you to catch up with that. Now, no doubt a number of you have seen this device. You probably sat behind it.

I was really glad that after the optometrist put me behind one of those things that he didn't say, okay, you're going to wear this, right? These are not particularly attractive as glasses and not particularly helpful, especially if you're trying to do things like play baseball or something like that. But the point with these, and if you've been through this process at all, you know what it's like for getting glasses or contacts.

You get the question, which is better, this or this, right? Blessing or cursing is really the issue that Moses, as the Lord is speaking through him, is bringing to the Israelites. He's saying, okay, here if you obey, here are the blessings. And then if you disobey, here are the curses. Which is better, this or this, right?

That's really the question that he is wanting them to ponder. It's why he's telling them what he's telling them. He doesn't just say, obey. Why? Because I said so. He says, because if you obey, this is what will happen, and if you disobey, this is what will happen. Which do you like better? That's why he's laying it out that way.

The Law of Moses was about staying alive and doing well if you obeyed. if you obeyed it all, or dying if you broke some of the laws, or in some of the other laws, punishments of some kind for breaking the others. It was that kind of a dividing line, blessing and cursing. In that sense, the law meant, here are the rules of survival. Here's how you're going to survive. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 3, this is a ministry of death. Here's how you avoid the death part.

The Law of Moses was all about being blessed if you obey the laws and being cursed if you disobeyed them. So Deuteronomy 28, the entire chapter from verse 1 to verse 68, is all about blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience. It's very clear. There isn't anything else in that chapter. It's all about the blessings and the cursings. What's very interesting, although it's addressed to Israel, Deuteronomy 28 verses 1 through 68 does not mention the name of Israel even once.

However, immediately after, that is the first verse of the next chapter, Deuteronomy 29.1 reads this way, these are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab. That is, they were in the land just east of the Jordan River ready to cross over and to take the land beginning with the city of Jericho, besides the covenant which he had made with them at Horeb." So the introduction of the law as they were first exiting Egypt was one covenant. This, even though it was a restatement of the covenant, under the law, the initial introduction of the law, even though it's the second time he gave it, it's called a different covenant. Why? Because everything now is, this is how you're going to live in the land. This is what's going to happen to you if you don't obey or do obey in the land. What's interesting is this last verse is actually This is the final verse in chapter 28 in the Jewish Bible. They have their breakup of chapters and verses a little different. So it's coupled with all of chapter 28.

The first covenant at Horeb was the law covenant. That was the introduction to the law. It had not yet come upon them that this is how things have to be in the land because they were some years away from that and some distance too. The second covenant, the one that he is establishing now as they're getting ready to enter the land, are all about here are the rules of living in the land that you're about to take, the land that you're about to move into. So the covenant at Horeb, that's a synonym for Mount Sinai, was the foundation for the entire law of Moses.

Here's all the rules, all 613 of them. Oh, and by the way, this last Sunday, Andreana asked me, could I take a look at those 613 laws? So anyway, I emailed them to her. And if you'd like to take a look at them, I have them right here. Lots of fun. Good bedtime reading, sort of. At any rate, You're welcome to take a look at that. All 613 laws.

Now, so that set of laws was first given there at Sinai, or Horeb, the synonym. The second giving of the law is essentially the same laws, but it has to do with the blessing or cursing in the land for the people of Israel. In the land of Israel for the people of Israel. The Covenant Horeb was the Law Covenant. The one at Moab was the Land Covenant. Both were with Israel. One of the points we've been making here is this is directed towards the people of Israel. It's funny, Christians will like to go and pick and choose among the laws and it really makes very little sense. It's directed to the people of Israel. And as a matter of fact, as you look through the list, there's a great deal of it that you have no hope of ever fulfilling. Just try to bring a bull in here for me to slaughter. No, don't, please. Anyway, there's no way that you can do it.

Now you have also, as a slide in your handout, here's Deuteronomy 28, 8 through 11. What's very interesting, the blessings have two mentions of the land. And it goes like this, verse 8. The Lord will command the blessing upon you and your barns and all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord gives you.

In the land. What's the land? The land of Israel. That's where the law was intended to be lived out. Part of the difficulties that the Jews began to have, even by New Testament times, where two-thirds of them didn't live in the land of Israel. The difficulty is the law was written to be lived out in the land. If you're not living in the land, it becomes difficult because less and less of it can actually be lived out.

The other difficulty, of course, now since 70 AD is there is no temple to go to. They don't know who's of the tribe of Levi. And so the priests who are supposed to carry out the various things in the temple, are not available either. So no temple, no knowledge of who the Levites are, it's difficult to live it out.

Verse 11, the Lord will make you abound in prosperity in the offspring of your body, and in the offspring of your beast, and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to you. Where is that abundance? In the land. in the land. Very clear. Now, so blessing under the Law of Moses is in the land. Blessing is in the land, but notice the pattern. When we switch over to the curses, there are also two more mentions of the land, but notice the difference. From the land, twice in Deuteronomy 28 verses 21 and 63, as you have on the slide there in your handout. Verse 21 goes like this, The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. Now what's pestilence? It can be all sorts of things. I have a picture here of a cloud of locusts who go and eat everything up. It can be that, it can be all sorts of things.

Verse 63, farther on down, again the second mention of the land. It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you, and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it." From the land. It's interesting. Blessing is in the land. Curses are from the land. Taken from. Consumed from. Driven from. So cursing under the law of Moses is from the land. Blessing is in the land. Now chapter 28 is certainly blessing and cursing. Blessing for obedience, cursing for disobedience all the way through. from verse 1 to verse 68.

But that isn't the only place where it shows up. And I've got sort of a cursory listing, Deuteronomy 7, and I give 12 through 16, on through chapter 14, and on and on, on through verse 26, and there are more, are all blessings. So this chapter 28 is not the only place that lists them. So this is found in a number of places. Chapter 28 is the place where it's concentrated. Those are all the places where there is blessing. As for curses in other passages, here's an example of one. Again, I could give more.

Deuteronomy 29.1 is for individual Jews. Now this is interesting, where he's been talking about the Jews as a whole. For those Jews who disobey the law, notice what it says, then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel. according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in the book of the law. The Lord will point you out and single you out and target you for those curses personally, those who are in the land of Israel. And it may be that all you have is one and you're done. One guy was caught collecting firewood on the Sabbath. He's done. He's through.

Where are the blessings and curses? Not just Deuteronomy 28, but where do they take place? Now let's look at that. The entire Law of Moses and this one chapter say that the blessings and curses are in the land or from the land. In other words, the people of Israel are told that depending on what they do, they will have all earthly blessings or curses. You see that?

Because what would happen is if they were obedient, they would be blessed by, for example, no diseases. But if they were disobedient, they would be cursed by all the diseases. So it would be the exact opposite. It would be in the physical realm. If there was productivity in their crops and in their animals, That would be from blessing here on the earth.

Everything that is described is all earthly in the way of blessings and curses. The law of Moses is spiritual since it's from God. As we've mentioned, the law is not bad or evil. The law is actually good and holy and righteous. It is based on his holiness. But the blessings and curses are earthly. Spiritually founded, but they're still earthly.

Now we come to the big IF. The big IF. So on page 2 there, the rather small word IF occurs five times in those blessings verses in Deuteronomy chapter 28. It starts off like this, Now it shall be IF You diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you today." That's the first of five ifs. If, if, if, if, if. But that small word if occurs two times in the Curses verses. That rhymes. Isn't that cute? Alright. Two times in the curses verses of Deuteronomy chapter 28.

So Deuteronomy 28.15 goes like this, but it shall come about if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe, to do all his commandments and his statutes. I'm not sure if I could make this point absolutely, but the fact that there's five ifs in the blessings and two ifs in the curses sounds to me like the blessings are more iffy. Right? I don't know. Now, the word if becomes really big, however, in determining the kind of outcome one will have on earth. Whether one will live. Are you going to live or die? You decide. Now we have a question for you. The question goes like this.

Did God expect that the Israelites would keep the Law of Moses? Did he give it to them and kind of snicker and go, well, they're not really going to do this. So I'm going to have to curse them. Did God expect that they would keep it? Or did God give it to them and say, well, of course they'll be able to keep it.

It's no problem. Certainly they will. And I'll be able to bless them, and it'll be good. Well, guess what? That question is before us, and it's also answered. Right there, the next slide on page 2, Deuteronomy 31, 16 and 17 reads like this. The Lord said to Moses, Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. I don't think he was taking a nap. Okay. And this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land. Which land? The land that they were about to overtake here. Into the midst of which they're going and will forsake me and break my covenant.

So he just got through a couple chapters earlier Saying, here are the blessings, and here are the curses, and here's how you get the blessings by obeying, and here's how you get the curses by disobeying, and how are they going to do? They haven't even gone into the land yet, Moses is still breathing, and God tells them, sorry, they're going to blow it. They're going to blow it. That's the expectation. Verse 17, Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them. Now, suppose you know someone who actually wants to be under the law of Moses, in spite of any caution you've given they actually want to be under the Law of Moses. Know anybody like that? I mean, they're ready to volunteer for this stuff.

Okay? So, here's what you're going to tell them. You can tell the person that they have missed the ideal window of opportunity only by about 3,400 years. Okay? That's all. You know, you missed your best shot. Yeah, you could join it later, even at the time of Christ, as we'll see here in a couple of months.

Even as of the time of Christ, Christ was pointing the Israelites back to the Law of Moses. But it wasn't the ideal time. Well, and the person who is wanting to obey the Law of Moses and be under it, they might also be of the wrong family tree. One ought ideally to be from one of the twelve tribes of Israel, which is hard to fix after the fact. Here's a little larger illustration of the different wives of Jacob and the different heads of the tribes. And ideally someone would be a part of that. Now you can convert to Judaism. I've got a couple of sets of instructions on how to do that.

What's interesting is they don't seek converts. So the bottom line is if you want to follow the law, they don't want you. Yeah. They really actually try to, somewhere between mildly to aggressively, discourage you because they don't see converts. So if you really want to follow the Law of Moses and get with the rest of the Jews who are trying to follow the Law of Moses, they don't want you.

But anyway, you can try that anyhow. The other thing that you need to do is to tell them that God won't be happy with them for trying to live under the Law of Moses. Now brace yourself. Get ready for some extraordinary looks. People will be shocked. When you say, what? God won't be happy when you try to live under the Law of Moses? That's right. He won't. He simply won't be happy with you. And I can guarantee it. It's not a sort of a probability or, you know, it's likely. No. God won't be happy with you. It won't do any good. So the Jews won't like it, and God won't like it. So why would you want to do that?

Well, here's what Paul has to say, Galatians 3, 10-14. What I've done in order to make it simple is Paul makes a statement and then backs it up with an Old Testament verse. What I've done to make it simple is to take out the Old Testament quotes and so we have the direct statement. Let's step through Galatians 3, 10-14, which is on a slide there on page 2 of your handout. for as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse."

Anybody like to volunteer to be under a curse? Boy, there's just not any real enthusiasm for that. I wonder why. Okay, verse 11. Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident. Is it several people, a few, a small percentage? You know, the few, the proud, Attempted Jewish? No. No one. You want to be justified under the law of Moses? You know how many get justified under the law of Moses? None. Zip. Nada. Okay? Zilch. No one is justified by the law. Flat out. And here's another good one.

You ever hear this term, people of faith, which they usually use for kind of a general, you know, umbrella for people who are religious of some kind? The law is not a faith. How about that? The law is not a faith. How are you saved? By faith. The law is not a faith.

We'll get you there. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Why did Christ go to the cross? Well, that's one reason. To redeem us from the curse of the law. Do you believe in Christ? Christ died to redeem us from the curse of the law. So do you want to be under the curse of the law anyway?

Well, you could do that. I mean, you could volunteer for that. It's really interesting how people want to follow under the law, but no one's going to be justified. The law is not of faith. Christ died to redeem us from the curse of the law. And all who are of the works of the law are under a curse. So why would Christ redeem us from the curse of the law?

Verse 14. In order that in Christ the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. The blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

But the law is not a faith. You want to follow the law? It's not a faith. Sorry. You want to be saved by faith? That's faith. That requires space. There are other things you need to tell this person who really wants to be under the law of Moses. Romans 7, 4 through 6, which you also have quoted on your handout there.

On page 2 it says, Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law. That is, die in relationship to the law. Did the law die? No. You died in relationship to it, through the body of Christ. When Christ died on the cross, that's a part of what was happening.

He was redeeming us from the curse of the law. He was paying for our sins, certainly, but also redeeming us from the curse of the law. We're also made to die to the law, so that you might be joined to another, which we see Who's another? To him who was raised from the dead to Christ. We were made to die to the law in order to be joined to Christ. So if I still cling to the law, what's that saying? It means I don't want to be joined to Christ. Do you see that? Wow, that's heavy. If I cling to the law, it means I don't want to be joined to Christ.

That's what this verse is telling us. Verse 5, for while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law, that's what the law will do. You want to have some sinful passions aroused? Go ahead and follow the law. That'll do her. That'll get her done.

Which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for what? for death. See in the end of verse 4, bear fruit for God, this is bear fruit for death. You want to bear fruit for death? Got the perfect formula right there.

Just follow the law. Verse 6, but now we have been released from the law. Oh, but I want to follow it. No, you've been released from it. having died to that by which you were bound. The law binds you. Do you see that in these verses? The law binds you. We're having a tie-up party after church here, right? Everybody's going to get tied up. Are you going to enjoy that? Probably not so much.

I think I'll not volunteer for that. No. Having died to that by which we were bound. Died to the law. We were bound by the law. We've died to it so that we serve a newness of the Spirit and not oldness of the letter. Galatians 2, 19 and 20, for through the law, that is Christ's obedience to the law and his death in accordance with law, I died to the law so that I might live to God. Died in relationship to the law, just like Romans 7, 4 through 6.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. We have in the past Taken the spiritual, you know, were you there when they crucified my lord and turned it around, you know I was there when they crucified my lord. I was there when they crucified my lord. Oh Sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble. I was there when they crucified my lord If you're a believer you were there You were there with Him. And what took place there that day when Christ died on the cross? Did He take your sins? Yes, He did. And the sins of the whole world. And that's a wonderful, marvelous thing. But that is not all.

Christ died on the cross and you there with Him so that you might die to the law. Oh, not that it should end there, but live to God. And that tells us one other thing. If we cling to the law, that means we don't want to live to God. That's pretty serious. That's quite serious. There are those who will say, and you may have heard this, that if we're not under law, then we're lawless. I gave the illustration. Then we'll go hog wild. Right?

But it was God's intent That we die in relationship to the law so that we might be alive to God, so that we might be joined to another. God intends for us to be alive to Him. And if we cling to the law, that's not happening moment by moment. To the time we're clinging to the law to try to gain righteousness, to try to stay saved or get saved. God intends that we're alive to Him. That means having relationship and fellowship with Him.

Ephesians 1.3 reads like this. Notice here's a blessing but no if. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. See the if in there? No, it's not there. There is no if. If you're a believer, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Not some of them, not a few of them.

And where are they? Notice that all the Jews' blessings, if, and there were five ifs, all the blessings were earthly. It had to do with the health of your body, it had to do with how prosperous your crops were, and how prosperous the animals were, and how reproductive you were, and things of that sort. All these blessings are in the heavenly places in Christ.

No if. No if. For anyone who has been saved by grace through faith to rely on all or any part of the Law of Moses for justification, that means being declared righteousness, and or blessing is to be ignorant or deny the shared history that believer has in Christ. It's either I don't know it or I deny it.

What's interesting is Christians are born with amnesia. That is, we are spiritually born such that we don't... Do you remember when you were there with Christ and the nails were put in His hands? Do you remember that? You were there. Remember that? Well, guess what?

I don't either. It's not that we were there and remember it, it's that we learned by faith reading what God has revealed, that we know that that's true. So we are born with amnesia, we have to learn these facts by faith in what God's revealed. One of the reasons we gather here. Now, there's a chart which is the last slide on page two. I'd like to take a little bit of time with this.

If you're a prosecutor, In this country, you want for the detectives, for the police, to deliver to you motive, means, and opportunity. You want to get those things down straight so that you can carry out this conviction in the courtroom. Well, guess what?

Motive, means, and opportunity are the key points of distinction between the law and grace. And it goes like this. Under the law, blessings are on this earth if you do it, but curses if not. So the motive is sort of the carrot and the stick theory. The stick is really big. The stick is really big. And so it's the blessings if you obey, curses if you don't, and it's all earthly. The law is spiritual, don't get me wrong, but the blessings and curses are all earthly.

Matter of fact, I'm going to make what might be a surprising statement. It is possible that some of the Jews would be saved by faith and then break the law so as to be killed. Isn't that interesting? Saved by faith, but break the law so as to be killed.

I mean, all you had to do was pick up some firewood on a late Friday afternoon. And all of a sudden, you're studying geology. The rocks are getting real close to you, right? And so it's possible that someone could be saved by faith and yet break the law and die. It could even happen in the same day. That's the character of the law. The law never could save you. It could just get you killed.

Grace, however, makes us blessed in the heavenlies, in Christ now, permanently. And part of that blessing, part of that blessing, there's Ephesians 1, right after this passage we studied, 1-7, talks about when we've been redeemed, we've been forgiven as a part of our blessings. And that redemption, that forgiveness, is a reason for us to forgive. So that's when I say motive, that's what I mean. Under the Old Testament law, if you want to be forgiven, you had better forgive first or God won't forgive you.

Under the New Testament, Ephesians 4.32, forgive because you've been forgiven. See the difference there? Because you've been forgiven is the motive that Paul lays out to forgive. So we have motive. Here's the means. Under the law, as we put it last week, we showed a picture of a guy who was there in a swearing-in ceremony, handling the Bible.

And the question that the person swearing him in has is, do you swear to live the law, the whole law, nothing but the law, with no help from God? That's what the law is. You do it with no help from God. It is not a faith. No, it isn't a faith. You've got to do it. You do it. That's it. That's the law. The means, it's your job. If you blow it, you get the consequences. It's that simple.

Grace is the Holy Spirit enabled, empowered, and energized. All those three words are used in the New Testament. Not only is your motive in grace, forgive because you've been forgiven. All the things that you're asked to do are because of what you've already been given, not in order to get something. There is no blessing at risk under grace. And under the law, where it's all your job to do it all, period, under grace, the Holy Spirit enables and empowers and energizes the believer.

The means, motive, means. And now the opportunity. The opportunity under law is this. Stir up the sin nature as its instrument, there is an opportunity for curse and death. The chances that you will obey and be blessed are zero. That's it. That's your opportunity. You like it? Anybody sign up for that one? Under grace, you have an opportunity to be God's instrument, to be blessed and to live by Christ's life.

That's Galatians 2.20. It's no longer I who do the living. I think you can translate it that way to get the point across. It's no longer I who do the living, who does the living, but Christ does the living in me. And the life I live, I live by faith, not in myself, by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me."

You see, we're done here. We're through, right? If you want to look at it this way, you're fired. You know, you're through. With the law, boy, you'd better stick to it, and good luck, and that won't help you anyway. But with grace, we're done here. It's God's job to do the living here. It's no longer I who do the living. It's God's job. Christ's life. That'll pull it off. That'll do it.

So, which is better? Law or grace? Earlier we had the issue, you want blessings or curses? Which is better? That's how it was put before the Israelites. You want blessings or curses? Which one? Which is better? The choice is laid before us in scripture. Which is better? Law or grace?

I think we can see clearly it's grace. I'm still glad I don't have to wear the old man's glasses. Let's pray. Lord, it is indeed better that we have grace. Where we can rest in our forgiveness. We can rest in your love. We can rest in your faithfulness. as we move ahead, knowing and being thankful that you've enabled and empowered and energized us by your Holy Spirit, that it's up to you and your life to pull it off. And we have an opportunity before us to be used as your instrument rather than an instrument of the sin nature. And we thank you for the means and the motive. Thank you for the marvelous opportunity. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.