DEUTERONOMY 10 REMINDERS FROM THE LORD YOUR GOD2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Deuteronomy 10 Reminders From The Lord Your God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, I've titled the message here in Deuteronomy chapter 10, Reminders from the Lord your God. Reminders from the Lord your God. Last week we talked about

Don't forget to remember, right? The book of Deuteronomy is a lot of reminding. It's a lot of reminders from God, a lot of calls to remember. The word remember is used 14 times throughout the book as Moses calls the people to remember where they came from, remember what God has done. And here the book of Deuteronomy is...

a retelling of their history, as well as a retelling of the law of God. And so we're kind of summarizing many of the things that we went through in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and revisiting those things that they might be fresh in our mind, that we might be stirred up, that we might be reminded. Now, Moses is sharing this with the next generation. So these are people who were children,

during many of the events of the Exodus. And so some of these things that he's reminding them of, they had heard when they were kids, or perhaps they were born later on. And so, you know, there's younger people in the crowd, and so they haven't heard these things. And so we have the passing on to this next generation, these things that are important that took place, that they need to remember, that they need to grasp hold of, and the instruction that God has given to them. And

And so we find it for ourselves as well, important reminders from the Lord our God. Things that God wants us to not lose sight of. And there is a need for us to intentionally and purposefully keep things in our mind. Because

Well, things begin to fall out. Things begin to fade away. And so allow the Lord to remind you to stir up and to help you to kind of revisit some truths as we work our way through Deuteronomy chapter 10 this evening. The first thing for us to remember, there's four reminders that God will give us here in this chapter. The first one is found here in verses 1 through 5.

Here's reminder number one. Remember that God repairs broken things. This is an important reminder.

God repairs broken things. In this case, we're talking about the broken tablets. Verse 1 and 2 here of Deuteronomy chapter 10. Again, it 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 mountain 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. Here, God is giving Moses instruction. Now, this wasn't happening right here when Moses is declaring these things in Deuteronomy chapter 10. He's reminding them of these events and previously how God had spoken to him about these two tablets of stone. And so God says, hey, carve out for yourself two tablets of stone. And he says, make sure they're like the first tablets, right?

You remember what happened to the first tablets? Hopefully you read Deuteronomy chapter 9 and you were reminded of that. That Moses had two tablets of stone from the Lord where God had declared the Ten Commandments and recorded the Ten Commandments on these tablets as he was up with the Lord on the mountain for 40 days.

This was back 40 years ago now from when Moses is declaring these things here in Deuteronomy chapter 10. But he came down the mountain at that time and found the children of Israel immersed in idolatry. They had fashioned a golden calf. They were worshiping this golden calf. And Moses, as he comes down from this time with the Lord, carrying these first set of commandments, the two tablets of stone,

He is furious, upset over their idolatry and over their betrayal of God. And it says in Deuteronomy 9, verse 17, I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. He destroyed the tablets.

And perhaps there's a little bit of symbolism in that. In the way that they had broken God's commandments in their idolatry, Moses threw down the tablets and broke those tablets of stone that had the recording of God's commandments. And so it's been said, Moses is the only one who's broken all 10 commandments at the same time. He threw down the tablets of stone and they were destroyed. Well, God now tells Moses that,

okay moses we dealt with that situation we dealt with the children of israel we dealt with the idolatry that's taken care of good now we need to kind of reset the things that were broken you broke the tablets of stone

It's not necessarily a direct rebuke, and we can't determine from this whether or not God is upset with Moses because he broke the tablets of stone. It's possible that Moses accurately represented God in the breaking of that. But here what I find significant is that God wants to still make sure that there are these two tablets of stone that record the Ten Commandments. And so he tells Moses,

Go carve out two tablets like the first. The children of Israel rebelled against God. Moses destroyed the tablets. But God here is saying, we're not done.

I'm not giving up on the children of Israel. I'm not giving up on the Ten Commandments. I'm not changing the standard. I'm not changing the law that I gave to you. But I'm also not going to just write off the children of Israel and never deal with them again. No, God says, I want to repair these things that were broken. The children of Israel were broken.

in their rebellion against God. They were broken. They fell short of the glory of God. They were disconnected in their relationship with God. And like these two tablets, God wanted to restore and repair that broken relationship and bring the children of Israel back to right relationship with him.

He also wanted to continue to work within the nation and to deliver to them the Ten Commandments, the law. We talked about this last week. God gives us commandments because of his love for us. All of his commandments are good for us, and that's why he gives them. And if the commandment wasn't good for us, then God wouldn't give the commandment. And so here we see God really demonstrating the fact that he is the God of second chances here.

He is a God who repairs broken things. And I find this really important for us to consider and for us to be reminded of because, well, of course, there are broken things in our lives as well.

There are people that we are ministering to, like Moses was ministering to a people that had broken their relationship with God. And so if we're in that position, if we're in that role, we, like Moses, need to understand that God is able to repair that broken relationship. Sometimes there are people in our lives that they're...

Sin is great. Their relationship with us, perhaps, is so broken. Their relationship with God is so broken that we might feel like it's not repairable, that it's beyond the scope of what God can do. But here, God reminds us, through this example of Moses...

that he still is able to work in this people. He's able to bring them into right relationship. And he's still interested in investing in them his word and his law. God repairs broken things. And so there's going to be the need for us then, well, to repeat some of the things that we have done previously.

As God gives us instruction to Moses here in verse 1 and 2, we find what Moses does, the response in verse 3 through 5. It says, So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me.

Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are just as the Lord commanded me." Moses here records his obedience. He says, "God told me to do this, so that's what I did. So I made an ark of acacia wood." He began to fashion the tabernacle furnishings, the ark, the carrying case for the Ten Commandments,

He fashions that now out of acacia wood so that when he comes back down the mountain, God says, look, you dropped them last time. You need a place to put them.

So when you come back down the mountain the next time, you know, here's a box. The Ark of the Covenant was really just a wooden box. It wasn't perhaps as fancy as we might imagine, except for the covering, which had the two cherubim. I won't get into that right now, but it was just a box. It was a wooden box made out of acacia wood. And so Moses is going to come down the mountain with cherubim.

New tablets that God has recorded the Ten Commandments on, and then they'll be stored in this box. But you see Moses just being obedient, doing again something he had done previously, carving out tablets of stone, going up the mountain, spending the time with God to receive and record the Ten Commandments up on the mountain. He's done this already. He's experienced this before. He's already gone through this process.

And yet, he goes through it again. God is patient, and he is willing to repeat the things that need to be done so that the broken things can be repaired. He walks Moses through this process with him, and so Moses...

you know, goes through the same things. He makes an ark of acacia wood this time. That's different. But he has to carry the tablets up. He has to spend the time with God. He has to come back down. Like, this whole process is a repeat of what he had done previously, but was necessary to do again because it had been broken. Things had been broken.

And so this evening, I would ask us to remember, as we look at the example of Moses, God repairs broken things. And we first of all need to understand that there's the need then for us to not give up because of previous failures. Now again, we can't say for certain one way or the other whether or not Moses breaking the initial tablets was a failure.

or if that was accurately representing God. God doesn't rebuke him. We can't say that for sure one way or the other. But let's hypothetically imagine it was a failure on Moses' part. That would still fit the narrative here that God says, okay, those were broken, but Moses, all is not lost. We can redo what we did previously. Either way, the children of Israel, their relationship with God was broken, broken.

And God says, it's okay. All is not lost. We can repair this relationship that was broken. It will require some repetition. And that's important for us because God can repair broken things, but he also invites us to be involved in the reparations. And it's going to involve us being very patient like God and doing things again that we had done previously.

And so maybe the repairing of the things that need to be repaired in your life looks like having a conversation that you've had previously with someone. There's a work that God wants to do. There's a repairing that needs to happen.

But boy, that conversation was hard last time. I was climbing up a mountain with a couple tablets of stone. It was heavy, it was hard, it was long, and I was out of breath, and it was difficult. And God says, it's okay. Do it again. Even though it was broken, even though it seems like it's irreparable. I don't know if irreparable is actually a word, but if it's not repairable, it might seem that way, but do it again.

God is able to work. And so God gave him the instruction. And sometimes we kind of discount God's instruction because I tried that already, right? I tried doing that. I tried walking with God already. I tried breaking this habit already. I tried having that conversation. I tried witnessing to that person. I tried, you know, there's things that we've tried previously and the result was broken. But when God speaks and says, hey, I can repair this.

Let's remember, let's be refreshed in the reality that there is nothing so broken as

That God is not able to do a new and fresh work in. Even Humpty Dumpty, you know, God could put them all back together. Even if all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't, God could. He's able to repair the greatest disasters, to rebuild amongst the dust and the ashes of great desolation. God is able to.

to repair those things that are broken. And so trust God as he stirs up, as he leads you in things that you've done before or tried before. Don't give up before you start just because those things ended up being broken. God is able to repair and do a new thing in the midst of it. Well, moving on verses 6 through 11, we get the second reminder tonight, and that is remember that you minister to God.

Here, as we look at these verses, Moses is recounting some of their journey and the things that happened along the way. So let's read verses 6 through 11. Starting in verse 6, it says, Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Benejackin to Mozarah, where Aaron died and where he was buried. And Eliezer, his son, ministered as priest in his stead. From there they journeyed to Gadgadah, and from Gadgadah to Jatpethah, a land of rivers of water."

At that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister to him and to bless his name to this day. Therefore, Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him. Verse 10, as at the first time I stayed in the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord also heard me at that time and the Lord chose not to destroy you.

Then the Lord said to me, Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Here as Moses continues on, he records some of the journey, records some of the events, and records some of what happened with him there on the mountain.

And as he records these things, first of all, he's talking about the beginnings of their journey, but he mentions the death of Aaron. Now there's a little bit of discussion that goes into these verses because these are not all in chronological order. Verse 10 and 11 seems to be the beginning of that 40 years of what happened right there as he was...

coming down the mountain with the tablets the second time, right? And then they go in the wilderness for 38 years after that. So that happens. Aaron actually dies at the end of the wilderness journey, but it's recorded here in verse 6. And so there's a little bit of discussion about, you know, like why are these out of order? And I don't have any answers, so I'm not going to worry about trying to explain that because I don't have anything to say about it. But just to point out, if you want to look into that, some of these evangelists,

events are not in chronological order. But the thing that stood out to me as I was looking at these verses was the ministry that was being highlighted. So first of all, we see the end of Aaron's ministry. In verse 6, Aaron dies. He's the high priest, but the ministry of the high priest is not over. It's not finished. It's not done just because Aaron has died. No, God has designed his work to be

a succession. So there's a new generation that takes the baton and furthers the ministry of God. And so here is Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and he receives the baton from him. He receives the priestly garments, the high priestly garments, and he begins to serve in the role of high priest for the nation of Israel.

And this is an important thing to understand about ministry, that God passes on ministry from generation to generation. It passed on from Aaron to Eleazar. It passed on from Jesus to the disciples. It passed on from the disciples to their disciples, to their disciples, to their disciples, to their disciples. And now you have been given the baton.

And it is now our opportunity to continue on the ministry that has been passed down to us.

You can think about the Great Commission in Matthew 28. You can think about our role within the body of Christ, things that we've been talking about recently. But the point is, there is this carrying on of ministry and now the opportunity, the responsibility for us to minister today. But in that, it's important for us to remember and to understand that our ministry is not to people.

And what we're called to do, the things that we're called to do in ministering is ministry unto the Lord. And so verse 8 really highlights that for us. He says, Here he highlights the tribe of Levi.

There was the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel, but in reality there was 13 tribes because Jacob adopted Joseph's two sons. So you had 12 sons of Jacob. You subtract Joseph, that's 11 sons, right? But then you add Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's two sons, and now you have 13.

And so there's 13 tribes of the nation of Israel, but usually referred to as the 12 tribes, because the tribe of Levi did not get a portion of the promised land. And so the promised land is divided in portions of 12, one for each of the tribes, except for Levi. Levi received a different inheritance.

their inheritance was the ministry. And as we talked about a lot as we went through the book of Leviticus, there's a great parallel for us as we look at the priestly ministry, as we look at the Levitical ministry, as we look at, you know, those who are charged with doing the work of God in the Old Testament, how that really foreshadows us as believers in the New Testament. We are kings and priests in the Lord Jesus and

And again, we've been given the baton of ministry to accomplish the things that God has set before us. And so here, the tribe of Levi is a good reminder for us. Now, God highlights a few things that the tribe of Levi is to do in their ministry with their responsibility. That is, they are to bear the Ark of the Covenant. And so in that, I would encourage you in this way. Do practical things for God.

Do practical things for God. Bearing the ark, the ark that Moses was just talking about, the tablets went into that, all of the tabernacle furnishings, in fact, all of the Levites had various roles in the moving of the tabernacle from place to place. It was a lot of work. It was heavy work.

and things that had to be moved throughout the wilderness and then set up when they camped and broken down when they were setting out from camp. And so the Levites had this role, this responsibility to do very practical things, to pick up things and carry them from one place to another place. Wow.

And if you need a little bit of an example of that, come on Friday and there'll be pieces of wood that you can pick up and carry from one place and then carry to another place, right? Like very practical things that need to be done in the ministry. And so we have an opportunity, like the Levites, to do practical things for God. But another thing that we get to do, and I would say it this way, is we get to spend time in God's presence, right?

He says that they were to bear the Ark of the Covenant and also to stand before the Lord. The Levites got the awesome privilege of

of being really close to the work of God by being present in the tabernacle, being around the tabernacle furnishings. They were before the Lord in a way that the rest of the nation didn't get to enjoy because the rest of the nation, they each had their camps and they were camped at various spots. But

The Levites got to be right there next to the tabernacle, involved in the work of the tabernacle. They got to spend time in the presence of God and be part of all of the things that were going on related to God's place of worship for the nation of Israel.

And so for us, we of course have a different access to God because of what Christ has done for us. And so we don't have to be here physically, like the Levites were there physically, right? But we get to enjoy the presence of the Lord by faith in Christ. We get to have time with the Lord and we have access to the Lord in a special way. And so stand in the presence of the Lord or spend time in God's presence.

But then also, thirdly, we get to represent God to others. He says at the end of verse 8 there, to bless in his name. The Levites had the role of doing practical things, carrying equipment, moving stuff from place to place. They had the privilege of being close to God, being around the things of God, and standing before the Lord in his presence. They also had the privilege of speaking to the rest of the nation directly.

blessing people in the name of the Lord. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. That priestly blessing that we saw in Numbers. Well, it wasn't just the priests that got to bless the people, but the Levites were involved in that as well. The priests were of the tribe of Levi also. And so there was this blessing that the Levites got to be to the nation around them. Now, as

As I mentioned, the Levites didn't get a portion of land in the promised land, but instead God gave them cities that were scattered throughout the portions that were given to all the other tribes.

And so the Levites would be, you know, here's the town of the Levites amongst the tribe of Judah. And here's the town of the Levites amongst the tribe of Naphtali. And the Levites there in their presence would be a representative of God to the region around them and would be responsible to bless the people.

to communicate to God, to represent God to the nation around them. And so here we have this great example, this great reminder of the ministry. But one of the things that I haven't touched on yet, which is really important about this, is here in verse 8, he says to minister to him, that is to minister to the Lord. All of these things,

The practical things, the carrying things, moving things around, standing before the Lord, blessing others in the name of the Lord. You can think about ministry many times as like ministering to people. But God says, look, ministry, the overarching emphasis here upon it is that ministry is to me.

And it may not always feel that way. It may not always be apparent that way, but God says, they minister to me. They're carrying something heavy. Well, that doesn't necessarily look like a great, you know, ministry to people. Who's benefiting from this, right? It's not a glorious ministry, perhaps, or one that is popular, but it's a ministry to God. And so there are things that we do that are just practical things. And sometimes, you know, there's

Lifting, carrying, cleaning, a variety of things. Decorating the stage for the upcoming VBS, right? It's ministry unto the Lord. It's a practical thing that can be done and physical things that must be done. But don't forget that it's ministry to the Lord. That you're serving the Lord, you're blessing the Lord, even when it's

Maybe something we would consider mundane, practical, heavy, you know, difficult in that way. Spending time in God's presence, standing before the Lord, having that opportunity. Remember that God loves us so much and he desires to have real, close, and personal relationship with us. It's ministry to God. You know, sometimes we approach our times of devotion thinking,

And our analysis of how good that time of devotion was, was how we feel about it afterwards. Was there a verse that I remember? Is there something that impacted my day? Do I have some kind of warm, fuzzy feeling within me because of that? And we're trying to evaluate, I guess my devotions weren't that great today because I don't feel that different. I don't feel much about it. But

But spending time in God's presence, yes, it's part of the way that God works in you and you benefit from it, but it's ministry to God. You are serving God. You are blessing God, whether you feel it or not, whether you see it or not or understand it or not. When you spend time with God, you are ministering to him. And it's a blessing to him. It's a service unto him that you do when you spend time with him.

And when you represent God to others, again, you're not just ministering to those people that are there, but it's a ministry unto the Lord. Jesus tells the parable, it's recorded in the book of Matthew, about those who were in need, those who were imprisoned. And the Lord says to the people who ministered to them,

In that you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. That we get the opportunity to serve God by serving others, representing God to others. And so many of you went down to Mexico this past weekend and got to represent God to others. You weren't just ministering to those people. And again, perhaps, and although we would maybe never say this out loud, right? Some people, it might feel like a waste of time to minister to them.

Those broken causes, you know, that we were thinking about in the first point. But it's not. Because even whether or not they respond, whether or not they receive it, as you minister to others and represent God to others, you're ministering to the Lord. You're serving the Lord.

And he values it. He appreciates it. He is blessed by your service unto him. And so do practical things for God. Spend time in God's presence. Represent God to others. Remember that you minister to God. Well, I'm going to move on now, jumping down to verse 12 and 13. Here's the third reminder for us this evening. Remember what God requires of you.

Remember what God requires of you. Verse 12 and 13 says this, 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.

Moses says, all right, guys, what does God require of you? Let's stop and reflect. Let's stop and recap. Let's remember, what does God require of us? And he goes on here to list five things. And these are important things. I would encourage you to write them down and spend some time considering them. We're not going to go through all of them in depth. But the five things here are

He says you are to fear the Lord your God. Here's the first requirement that God has for you, that you would fear God. Then secondly, that you would walk with God or walk in all his ways. Then thirdly, that you would love God. Fourthly, that you would serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And then finally, to keep the commandments of the Lord.

Now, he says all of these different things, and of course there's a lot of overlap in all of these things, but saying them in this different way really helps us to identify different aspects of our relationship with the Lord and what God expects of us. And I would suggest to you that this list really is a progression of our relationship with God. That is, first,

we must come to a place of fearing God. Now, fearing God doesn't mean like running away from Him or cowering and hiding from God, right? But fear is that awe and understanding the reality of who God is, how big God is, the reality that God is the creator, the reality that God is the judge. Our first experience with God may not be to love God,

Because we don't know him yet. So, you know, it's hard to love him because we don't know him yet. But really, the first encounter with God, the first...

experience in our relationship with God is to begin to recognize that He is God, that He is the Creator, that He is everywhere in all places at the same time, you know, that He died upon the cross for us. That fear of the Lord is an important aspect in our relationship with the Lord. It's really where we start in our relationship with God, but we also need to remember that God requires this of us.

so that we don't move out of the fear of God. And sometimes we become complacent and comfortable in this area of our life.

And we don't fear God. We begin to compromise. We begin to not care so much about what God says or what God thinks or the fact that we'll stand before him in judgment. And so fear and fearing the Lord is an important thing. We need to keep in mind the reality of who he is and have an awe of God, a reverence for God in our lives. But then we also need to have a walk with God, to walk in his ways.

And to me, this really speaks about going through life with God. It begins with us fearing God and getting our lives aligned with Him. And so now we begin to develop our relationship with God. We begin to walk with Him, to walk in His presence, to seek Him and seek His ways. And it's a life of obedience that comes out of recognizing who God is,

and now endeavoring to walk in His ways, to obey Him in seeking to know Him and seeking to walk in His will for our lives. Well, that then brings us to loving the Lord, to walk in His ways and to love Him.

That the love of God flows out of our relationship with God. The love that we have for God is a direct result of having some time with God, beginning to know who He is, recognizing His love for us. We love God because He first loved us, John tells us. It's the response that flows out of walking with God, which is the response that flows out of fearing God. And now we have faith.

emotions about God. We love God in that way, but also we have this love for God in that we desire God. We have a passion for God. And so there's the fear of God that's important. This is what God requires of us. We have the walk with God. That's important. God requires that of us. We have the love for God. That's important. God requires it of us. And then we have the serve the Lord your God with all your heart.

Now we're not just talking about walking in His ways in the sense of being obedient to His commands, but now we're talking about beyond that, looking for opportunities to serve God, to bless God, to do things that bring God pleasure, that we have the opportunity to do things that will bless Him and will honor Him. Now, if you try to serve God and get these out of order...

go from fearing to serving, right? Then you're going to be bound in legalism. There's not going to be the grace. It's not going to flow out of relationship with God. Look, we have to have these components in our relationship with the Lord, to fear the Lord, to walk with Him, to love Him. Our service unto the Lord must always flow out of our relationship with God, our love for God.

And we need to keep that in mind. Remember, this is what God requires of you, that you would serve him, not as some dutiful obligation that you must do, and, you know, it's just a drudgery, but in response to your loving relationship with him, that you would then go forward and do things that bless him and that honor him.

And then finally, to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command you today for your good. Now again, there could be some overlap in these things, right? These things are all

different aspects of our relationship with god but relate to the others but but here the idea of keeping the commandments of the lord speaks to me about that ongoing endurance and the continuing of faithfulness to god keeping the commandments of the lord sometimes we can fear god and walk with him and love him and serve him and then later on down the line

We stop being obedient to God. We stop keeping the commandments. And those things that God delivered us from at one time, we've gone back to. And those things that, you know, we were obedient to the Lord at one time, we've now kind of let those things fall aside. And so that maintaining so that we finish well is important.

And so Moses says, here's what God requires of you. Fear God, walk with God, love God, serve God, and keep his commandments. Remember what God requires of you. Well, finally, verses 14 through 22 give us the fourth reminder. Here's point number four, remember who God is. Verses 14 through 17 says this, Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God. Also the earth, with all that is in it,

The Lord delighted only in your fathers to love them, and he chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe."

Here in these verses, as Moses continues on as well, he's reminding the people about who God is and how big he is. And so as you remember who God is, first of all, he says, remember that God is big. Heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God. The scriptures talk about the heavens being able to fit within the span of God's hand. He folds out the heavens like a curtain. I think it's Isaiah the prophet talks about like the...

The fullness of all the universe, all reality, belonged to the Lord, your God. He spoke it into existence. God is big. Think about, you know, the universe. You can travel hundreds of thousands of light years, you know, to distant galaxies and stars, and God's bigger than that and beyond that and holds all of that in his hand. It all belongs to him.

And so he says, God is the God of gods. There's no God that compares to God. There's no true and living God that is like God. Everything else is a false God, an idol that claims to be God, that claims to be worthy of that position. He is the God of gods and he's the Lord of lords. There is no master that compares to the Lord. He is above them all. He is the great God, mighty and awesome.

And he doesn't show partiality and he doesn't take a bribe. So he's big and you can't trick him into, you know, falling for your schemes and allowing stuff to pass. Remember who God is. You're going to stand before him and give an account. He is the God who holds all things in his hands. Moses also reminds them, God is the one who chose you. All of this, you know, that you receive from the Lord is not of your doing, right?

He says in verse 15, the Lord delighted only in your fathers to love them. He chose their descendants after them. That's you guys, Moses is saying there to the people. And for us, Paul tells us, God chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we are chosen by God. The work of God in our lives is not because of us. It is in spite of us. It is because of God's work in us. God is the one who chose you. God is big. He chose you.

We also remember in verse 18 and 19 that God is compassionate and merciful. Verse 18 says, Moses says, remember what God's like. Remember his character. Remember how he behaves. He cares about justice, right? We talked about that a couple weeks ago.

So he administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, those who can't defend themselves. He loves the stranger. And so he says in verse 19, so you do the same. Remember who God is so that you can imitate him, so that you can follow the pattern that he sets for you to be compassionate and merciful like he is. And then finally, he sums it up that God has done great things in verse 20 through 22. Here's what it says.

You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him, and to him you shall hold fast and take oaths in his name. He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt with 70 persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.

You went down to Egypt, you were just a few people, but now there is this massive multitude. God has done this great thing. You've seen God do all of these works. You've seen God provide in all these special ways. God has done great things. So fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him. He says in verse 21, he is your praise and he is your God. Praise God. He is the one to rejoice in. He is the one to celebrate in.

Because he has done these great things. He has done these awesome things which your eyes have seen. So Moses says, remember who God is. God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He's the one who chose you. He is the one who is compassionate and merciful and cares for those who are hurting and in need. And he has done great things for you and in your life. And so here we have these great reminders from the Lord your God.

Important things for us to allow ourselves to be refreshed in and renewed in. Remember that God repairs broken things. There's perhaps areas of your life that are broken. There's perhaps attempts to do things for God or things that have been tried before. Perhaps there's people in your life that are broken. It's important to know that God repairs broken things. Don't give up because of previous failures. And there might be some

Difficult repetition that will be required, but be patient like God is patient. Carve the tablets out of stone again. Go back up the mountain. As God speaks, as God leads, remember, trust Him. He can repair those broken things. Don't quit just because of previous failures. Don't give up before you even start because you don't want to be let down again.

Remember that God repairs broken things. He gives fresh starts. He allows for second chances and third chances and fourth chances. He allows for these things and repairs those things that have been broken down. Even when it's broken down because of great sin and terrible rebellion against God, still, later on, He's going to send the children of Israel back from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

to rebuild and repair a broken thing, to rebuild and repair the walls of Jerusalem. Even when there's great rebellion, God is able to repair broken things. Remember that you minister to God.

Don't let it become a burden. Even if it's a practical thing and it's a heavy thing and it's a burdensome thing, don't let it become a burden. Remember that you minister to God. It's not because Jonathan told you to carry that heavy thing and you're like, oh, Jonathan, I have to carry this heavy thing back and forth and move it over here. Don't let it be a grudging thing. You minister to God. You're serving God. When you serve in your workplace, when you serve in your home, when you serve here at church, do practical things for God.

Things that need to be done, things that must be done, things that are perhaps difficult to do and require labor and, you know, get you out of breath or get you exhausted or sweaty because it's hard and difficult. But you do it for God. You're ministering to Him. He's pleased by your efforts. Spend time in God's presence. Again, however you feel about it is not the point. You do benefit from time with God, whether you realize it, whether you feel it, whether you recognize it or not.

But also, you do it because it ministers to God. Because you're serving God. You spend time with Him. You're faithful in that because it's for Him. And then represent God to others. Even in our interactions with people, we are ministering to people. We are blessing people. But in blessing in His name, we are ministering to God. We're His agents. We're His ambassadors.

working on his behalf, and it blesses him as we do that. Remember what God requires of you. Fear the Lord. Walk with him. Love him. Serve him. And keep his commandments. And remember who God is. These are things that we need to continue to allow to be vibrant in our memories, alive and fresh in our hearts, that we would be connected with the Lord.

and steadfast in our relationship with him. And so the Lord your God sent you these reminders that you would keep yourself in the relationship with him that he desires to have with you.

We're going to finish up tonight with a little bit of worship. And so I want to encourage you to allow the Lord, invite the Lord to stir up in your mind some things. Perhaps in these different areas, there's some areas that God wants to minister and work and refresh you and remind you or maybe bring you to a place of recommitment. And so let's spend some time worshiping the Lord together and allowing him to remind us and refresh us

that we might be with Him in the way that He desires to be with us.