OK, if you turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter eight, I'll just read the chapter and then we'll pick up that verse six. Last week we saw the the exhortation in verse one. Remember the nature of these addresses. They're on the plains of Moab. Moses is preparing the people before there as they go into the promised land. So there's going to be repetition and all good preaching. There is repetition and reminder. And several times over, Moses has told them every commandment, which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. So he gives them that exhortation. He reminds them of life in the wilderness in verses two to five. He will describe describe life in Canaan, what they would face when they come into the land in verses six to ten. And then he will warn them about forgetting God in the land. Verses 11 to 18. And then the chapter ends with the consequences of forgetfulness. If they do, in fact, reject God, if they despise God, if they forget God, then God will deal with them as he dealt with the nations whom they dispossessed from the land. So I'll just pick up reading in verse one of chapter eight. Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord, your God, led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you with which you did not know, nor did your fathers know. that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. A land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills. A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of olive oil and honey. A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today. Last, when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. who led you through that great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. Then it shall be if you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish as the nations which the Lord destroys before you. So you shall perish. because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God. Amen. Remember last week we mentioned how the wilderness was a place of testing that ended up as a place of blessing. God saw them through it. God did put them to the task. God did humble them. God did all this so that he could create in them dependence upon them. If you notice in verse 16 at the very end, it says the purpose of the wilderness was to do you good in the end. So the wilderness was a place of testing that resulted in blessing. The promised land is a place of blessing that's going to end up as a place of testing. Because of the affluence, because of the many benefits, because of the abundance, the people of God would fall prey to forgetting God. Again, that's an unfortunate reality. One man has well said that plenty or a sufficient amount breeds thankfulness, but too much will oftentimes breed forgetfulness. And that is precisely the sin that is being addressed in Deuteronomy chapter eight by way of a caution by way of a warning. Remember, they're being prepared for life in the land. God does not speak things that they don't need to hear. Certainly they would need to hear this warning as they enter into the land and they start to enjoy the many benefits and the many blessings that the land yields. Meredith Klein said the focal point of the chapter is verse 17, with its picture of future Israel at ease in Canaan, basking in self congratulations. You look at verse 17, then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. Klein says the recollection of God's providential guidance during the 40 years in the wilderness would afford the corrective for such vanity. In other words, he is reminding them about life in the wilderness and God's involvement with them so that when they get into the land, they will hopefully not forget that and then fall prey to this particular sin identified here in Deuteronomy chapter 8. So, all along the book, or all throughout the book, exhortations to obey God, the promise of blessing with reference to God, and then as well, the dangers that they will certainly encounter along the way to Canaan. So, let's look at this description, first of all, of life in Canaan, verses 6 to 10. Again, there is a reminder, another command, verse 6. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God. to walk in his ways and to fear him. Those two things go hand in hand in the book of Deuteronomy and throughout scripture, the fear of God and obedience to God. If we understand who God is, if we revere him, if we see him as the scripture set him forth, then we will most certainly fear him. And when we fear him, we will be in that particular disposition. or in that particular mode to obey him. The Apostle Paul highlights this reality in 2 Corinthians 7 1. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So these two concepts go hand in hand. You shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. So rightly understanding who God is promotes the fear of God in our hearts and in our understanding. When we have that fear of God, we will hopefully be careful to obey God, to honor God, to walk in all of his ways. It is absolutely crucial that we that we maintain a proper understanding of the righteousness and of the holiness of God. I heard an interesting observation by Carl Truman. He teaches church history at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. He said that Richard Baxter. He didn't say that. I mean, he every people know this. Richard Baxter was a puritan and Richard Baxter understood the Christian life. One problem that Baxter had was a doctrinal problem, though. He didn't have a sound and thorough biblical doctrine of justification. It's really sad. It's really, really grievous to think that, you know, the great Richard Baxter had a defective view of justification. In fact, some of the sort of teaching that follows that particular train of thought is called Baxterianism. or neo-Baxterianism. But anyways, he said, Carl Truman pointed out that Baxter, though he had a faulty view of justification, and oftentimes when you have a faulty view of justification, a problem among the people of God is legalism. In other words, if we don't understand justification by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone, legalism is a necessary byproduct because we think Our words must ultimately commend us to God. This was part of Baxter's problem. It wasn't just faith in Christ. It was our faithfulness for acceptance with God. But also another problem that suffered or that people suffered under that defective view of justification was a struggle with assurance. You can understand that as well. If it isn't Jesus Christ who pays our debt, if it isn't Jesus Christ who clothes us with his righteousness, the door is wide open for struggles with assurance. Well, Carl Truman points out that today there are people that have a defective view of justification. But interestingly enough, the people that have a defective view of justification and he's speaking in broad generalities, there could be exceptions. But the people today that have a faulty view of justification aren't necessarily promoting legalists or people struggling with assurance. And Truman says the reason why is because Baxter had a proper understanding of God's holiness. That's what's deficient today. We have people that have messed up justification, but since there's no real doctrine of the holiness of God, you don't have legalists trying to attain this standard to appease a holy God. Conversely, you don't have people struggling with their assurance because God's really not that holy and he's going to accept me just however it is. So Baxter, armed with this view of the holiness of God and a defective view of justification, creates or in his wake comes legalism or struggles with assurance. I thought that was a very interesting point that he made. The larger point I want us to understand is the holiness of God. Right. If we understand who God is. That ought to promote the fear of God in our hearts. We see that back in Leviticus chapter 10. I know that we've rehearsed that. We did an overview of Leviticus before we got to the book of Deuteronomy. I am certain that we stopped at Leviticus chapter 10. That instance where Nadab and Abihu offer up strange fire to the Lord and the Lord kills them. He destroys them. He sends fire down not to consume their offering, but rather to consume the offerers. And the take home message on that day was that God is holy and he must be regarded as holy by those who come to him. And so on the plains of Moab, that is a refrain. It is a recurring theme that we need to fear God. The fear of God promotes the pursuit of holiness. If we don't have a proper conception of who God is and his glory, majesty, holiness and excellence, we won't fear him accordingly. And when we don't fear him, we're certainly not going to obey him. We will just look at God as a great big helper to my happiness. We'll look at God as a great big. means to the end of my particular fulfillment, rather than looking at God as the goal of all things. And my role is to obey him, to honor him, to glorify him and to serve him. So what we find in verse six is repetitive. It is recurring, but it is obviously and most important or it is most important for us Whether we're in the old covenant or the new, that we are to fear God and to obey him, to walk in all of his ways. And then from there he goes on to give the promise of what they would incur or what they would receive in the land. Verses seven to nine for the Lord, your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley. of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. Imagine the people of God standing on the plains of Moab hearing this description of the land of Canaan. It was awesome. What's the first idea here? A generous water supply. They would not be in a situation where they were about to die of thirst and they would need Moses to command a rock. They would not need God to act supernaturally upon the flinty rock so that they could enjoy water for a day or for however long it sustained them. They were moving into a land where there was an abundance, a generous supply of water. I mean, look at the way it's described. The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills. Now probably that doesn't dazzle us because we can walk to that sink, turn on the water and waste it. Or we can have bottles of water and jugs of water and bathful. It doesn't really dazzle us because we're not standing on the plains of Moab in a hot climate when we've come through a wilderness where there wasn't a whole lot of water. God is pointing, or God is painting the picture of just how lush and how beautiful and how wonderful this land of promise would be. They would have an abundance of food. Notice in verse 8, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey. Again, they weren't going to be in a wilderness setting where they were collecting manna each and every day and baking it into the same cakes each and every day. I mean, that was a blessed lesson that the Lord God gave them to teach them that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It was gracious and merciful and kind for him to supply that manna for them to get their daily bread. But brethren, Standing on the plains of Moab, hearing this description of the wheat and the barley and the pomegranates and the olive oil and all of these beautiful things, probably their mouths were watering. He's describing just how abundant food will be in this particular place. And not only that, there would be precious metals. Notice in verse nine. A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. So not only do you get an abundance of water, not only do you get an abundance of food, the ground is rich with minerals. You're going to be able to engage in manufacturing tools for agriculture and weapons for defense. You're going to be able to gather these things from the land and be self-sufficient and self-sustaining. Again, this is all to sweeten the deal and show them just how wonderful it would be in the land of promise. Now, it's interesting. I think sometimes we just take it for granted. You know, we believe the Bible and that's good and I'm not suggesting otherwise, but every statement of the Bible at some time or another has been attacked. Every statement of the Bible at some time or another has been rejected. Even this claim with reference to iron and and copper being in the land of promise. The commentator Alan Harmon said, some have objected to this expression on the ground that neither copper nor iron are found west of the Jordan. And I cite this just to show us that we do have a solid book. You'll meet people in the world that say, well, there's contradictions here, there's contradictions there. This is something that people have taken exception to. There aren't these minerals west of the Jordan. Are you nuts? The Bible is wrong in this little detail with reference to topography or geography. Harmon says some have objected to this expression on the ground that neither copper nor iron are found west of the Jordan. However the east bank of the Jordan was also included in the promised land and there was certainly natural mineral wealth there. Later during Solomon's reign copper was mined and smelted in the Arab valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. So, this is God telling the people on the plains of Moab, this is the land you are going to get. Here's the response. When you enter into this land and you have the abundance of water, the abundance of food, and you begin to collect these minerals for the manufacturing of tools and weapons and all the sorts of things that men need in society, here's how you're to respond. Verse 10. When you have eaten and are full, Then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. I know in the Butler house, if one of my kids, let's say the oldest boy, if I had seen him start to eat something, if he wasn't eating with the family and I saw him start to eat without first praying, I might say to him, you should pray and thank the Lord for your food. And I think at times he would say, well, I like to thank him. I think he says, I like to take a bite and then and then pray. Or I thank him afterward. There's biblical warrant verse 10. You can eat your meal and then praise the Lord. It's a wonderful thing. Look at what God says. I'm giving you this lush land. I am giving you all this stuff. When you go into the land, here's the requirement. Yes, obey me. Yes, fear me. Yes, walk in all my ways. But appreciate me, praise me, celebrate me, delight in me. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. God's intention was never for the people of Israel to go into the land and feel guilty because they had been blessed. Sometimes, as Christians, I think we operate that way. God blesses us and we feel guilty. Thank Him, praise Him, rejoice in Him, love Him, honor Him, adore Him, and glorify Him. God gives us good gifts in order to enjoy and in order for us to bless him and thank him, not to idolize, you know, engage in idolatry, not to worship them, not to forget about him, not to be so caught up in man and our goods or worldly things that God is not in our thoughts. But when the Lord gives us good things, we're supposed to respond with thankfulness. We're to bless him. We're to praise him. We're to honor him. We're to glorify him. Perhaps you've heard of the Heidelberg catechism. The Heidelberg catechism is structured in three main categories. Guilt, grace, gratitude. That is a biblical structure, a biblical pattern. Guilt is where we find ourselves as men before God, sinners, undone, justly deserving, his wrath, his curse, his punishment and damnation. Grace, God bestows upon us a full, free salvation by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Guilt, grace, what's the third section? Gratitude. Praise Him, love Him, honor Him, glorify Him. Paul highlights this reality in First Timothy chapter four verses one to five. He says now the spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. God didn't say it's somehow holy to not get married. It's somehow holy to forego steak. No, it's holy to receive those good gifts from a gracious God and to praise him for it. You see the remedy of verse 10 in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Bless the Lord. Praise the Lord. Rejoice in those good gifts to the glory of the Lord. What will happen is if you do not bless the Lord, you will be glutted with the stuff You will end with that. You'll forget about the Lord and you'll bring his wrath and fury down upon you. The best remedy for receiving good gifts or the best response from receiving good gifts from God is to praise him for you give something to your kid. You want him to say thank you. Right. Thanks, Dad. I really love this. That was wonderful. I really appreciate it. I can't wait to play with it. You're sort of a monster if you give him that gift and you don't want him to play with it. I just gave it to you and I'm going to take it back. Hello, kids. I want the toy. You give it to him to enjoy it. You want him to, you know, delight in his father and his mother. He says for every creature, again, First Timothy four, four, Every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. So you see in this description of life in the land of Canaan, he not only tells them the promise, he not only tells them how good it's going to be. He's it's almost as if you can see them standing there. You know, their mouths are watering. They're poised for the conquest. They're ready to go in and dispossess the land. They want what that land has. Probably there's some military strategy going on here too. Your task is to go in and dispossess the land. You're not going to do it by asking them. You're not going to do it by treaty negotiations. You're not going to do it by going to Switzerland and enjoying watches and chocolate. You're going to go in there and engage in warfare. Well, what a blessed piece of military strategy to get the people to see and want the land. So he not only highlights the blessing of the land and then he then calls them to the particular response. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. Again, the grace character is certainly underlined, underscored, highlighted. You are never to forget. You're not entering into this land because you're better. You're not entering into this land because you're more righteous. You're more numerous. You're entering this land because God gave it to you. When God gives something to you, you are to express gratitude. You are to express praise. You are to bless the Lord. This is the instruction they're receiving on the plains of Moab. So that's the description. Now, notice the warning about forgetting God in the land. Here's the response and here's what you need to guard against. We don't need to go far. The rest of the book and into Joshua. and judges to see that they didn't heed the warning. They didn't obey verse 10. They didn't do what God is telling them here on the plains of Moab. Now, again, we already know sort of what's going on over here. Let's just forget that for a moment if we can. But note the warning, the danger that will happen. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today. We've already seen this warning in chapter six, verse twelve, chapter six, verse twelve. Then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Note, though, specifically here in verse eleven, the expression of forgetfulness. The manifestation of forgetfulness. How do we know a people has forgotten God? Because they disobey Him. Right? They dishonor Him. They don't do what He's called them to do. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes which I command you today. When you look at Israel in their worst moments, and you see them given over to idolatry, you see them given over to all manner of social injustice, when you see them engaged in murder, and in robbery, and in land grabbing, and in whatsoever sins the law of God condemns, you know that God is not at the forefront of their mind. Right. This is the primary way that we can see that someone has forgotten God. It is through disobedience, because the idea is, is that when we remember God, we fear God. When we fear God, we pursue God. You see how it all works together. There is a beware and a caution. Disobedience to the Lord is the expression of forgetfulness for it. We really remember him. If we really understand who he is, there will be that fear of God and there will be, hopefully, that careful obedience unto him. So Moses understands the reality of the people of God. God understands the reality. And he says, beware, take heed. cautious, make sure that you don't fall prey to this. The same concept, the same dynamic, the same idea is present in the New Covenant documents. We are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin, according to Romans 611. We're supposed to remember God. We're supposed to remember the gospel. We're supposed to remember the Lord Jesus first and foremost. And based on that reality, Paul then says, Do not let sin reign in your members. No longer present your members as instruments of unrighteousness, but rather present them as instruments of righteousness. In other words, the dynamic in the new covenant is that we need to load our minds, our hearts, our memories, our consciences with the truth of Christ gospel as the means by which or a means by which we pursue holiness. We already saw it in 2nd Corinthians 7, 1. Therefore, having these promises, let us pursue holiness, let us perfect holiness in the fear of God. It is based on the promises of God, the understanding of who Christ is, the understanding of the cross. It is that that we that we internalize that then hopefully forms the basis for which we pursue the things of the Lord God Almighty. It's a beautiful thing. In the New Testament, the theologians or the grammarians or the commentators Call it the indicative and the imperative. The indicative is what is true. Christ died. Christ rose. You are in him. That is true. That's indicative. That is reality. The imperative follows. Imperative is the command. Go, therefore, and do this. based on that reality. You see, every other religion, every other world system inverts it. The imperative comes first. Do this and then you will have the blessing, not Christianity. It is what God has done for you in and through Jesus Christ, the indicative that serves as the basis and the foundation for the imperative. Based on these realities, go live this way. Not go live this way so you can get these realities. You see, that's what differentiates Christianity. It's the grace principle. It is what God has done for us in and through Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of Paul's ethical appeal in the book of Romans. After opening up the Gospel in chapters 1 through 11, How does he begin? Chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, beloved brethren, by the mercies of God, that you do not be conformed to this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He then gets very practical in how Christians ought to live. Same thing in the book of Ephesians. God, the triune God, Father, Son and Spirit saves us, according to Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 2. Ephesians 3 is a bit of a transitions chapter where Paul highlights how he prays for the Ephesians. And then in chapters 4 to 6, what do we find? This is how you're supposed to live. So you see, back on the plains of Moab, the dynamic was the same. You can't forget God. The moment you forget God, you fall prey to sin. You fall into this danger. Nine times out of ten, brethren, you and I go into a particular sin because God is not in our thoughts, right? We exclude him, we put him on the sidelines, we put him off to the side so that we can engage in whatever our flesh desires, and then we'll repent and bring him back in to save us or to help us and forgive us. Perfect illustration in Israel's history in Hosea chapter 13. Hosea chapter 13. Yet I am the Lord your God, verses four to six. Ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but me, for there is no savior besides me. I knew you in the wilderness in the land of great drought. When they had pasture, they were filled. They were filled and their heart was exalted. Therefore, they forgot me. This is precisely what we're reading about. Deuteronomy 8. God is telling them not to do this. Hosea is saying you did this. Christians still do this when they had pasture, they were filled, they were filled in their heart was exalted. We'll see that very language of Deuteronomy eight. The heart is lifted up and therefore they forgot me. You see, this is why the Bible. This is why theology matters. The more that God is in our thoughts, the more that God is in our minds, the more that God is in us by his word and spirit, the less likely, not saying never, but the less likely we are to forget him, to reject him and to despise him. So what Moses is doing on the plains of Moab is highlighting the importance of theology for life in the land of Canaan. Notice verses 12 to 16. He's going to illustrate what this is going to look like. Verse 11 again. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today. Last, verse 12, when you have eaten and are full, and have built houses and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God." See, this is the danger. This is the temptation. This is the issue and the crux. This is what they're being warned against. The land of blessing is going to be a land of temptation. The land of blessing and promise is going to be a land of trial. You need to be on guard, not only in the wilderness when the tendency is to grumble at having nothing, but you need to be on guard in the land of promise when the temptation is to forget God. You see, a poor man has his temptations, as does a rich man, as does a middle class man. There is not one of us that is immune from these potential dangers that face us in the life that God has called us to. When your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, and notice what they forget. This is how heinous and how despicable and how wretched this really is. What are they forgetting? They're not forgetting something like a Baal God. They're not forgetting something like a Moloch. They're not forgetting something like an Asherah. They're forgetting Yahweh of Israel who did these actions in the lives of his people. When your heart is lifted up, verse 14, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You should never forget that. I mean, the exodus from Egypt ought to be lodged firmly and always in your mind and heart. I mean, that was the great redemptive event, you know, that that for the old covenant person was what we think of Calvary. I mean, do you ever get to the point where you forget Calvary, you forget the cross, you forget the gospel? Well, unfortunately, if we're not on guard, we can as quickly as Israel would forget the exodus. We can fall prey into that. We need to guard our heart. So they would forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, verse 15, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end. The exodus, the wilderness, the fiery serpents, the scorpions, the no water, the no food. All these things had a specific purpose in mind so that God could test them, so that God could humble them, so that God would create dependence upon them. And they would understand that as a father chastens his son, so the Lord chastens his people. What happens, though, is that they forget that. They get more caught up in the wheat. They get more caught up in the barley. They get more entrenched in the land of mineral. They delight in the water supply. They rejoice in the pomegranates. They get all this plenty. And what happens? Who's the first to go? God, the very one who gave them these gifts. Notice, here's the specific issue, verse 17. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. Arrogance. Pride. Wickedness. If you want to exclude God from your heart, mind, and life, be a proud person. Right? Isn't this what the Lord says in Isaiah 66? The Lord, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool, is what God says. But upon this one will I look to him who is humble and of a contrite spirit, the one who trembles at my word. The best way to exclude God from your heart and life and being is through pride. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. This is the issue. This is what they would say in their heart. My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. We see that it was flashed out, Hosea the prophet was writing to Israel at a specific historical time telling them that they were guilty of this particular sin. They go into the land, they enjoy the pastor, they're filled, they're exalted, and they forget God. That's the danger that he's warning them of. Craigie said, Though all these natural products should be gratefully recognized as the gifts of God, just as much as the supernatural manna luxury and ease would blunt the edge of Israel's awareness of God, pride would suppress the memory of humbler days of slavery, scorpions and thirst, days when deliverance and survival required divine intervention by hitherto unknown ways. You see what he's saying. When we have all of the benefit, when we have all of the plenty, we're not as dependent upon God. And as we continue in a particular trajectory of independence, what then happens? We've excluded God. When we enjoy these benefits, we then begin to reason, my hand got me these things. It was my ability that got me this. It was my ingenuity, my wisdom, my savvy, my strength that landed me in this particular position. I think studying passages like these help us to appreciate Proverbs 30. Give me neither poverty nor riches, right? If I'm poor, I'm tempted to go steal and dishonor my God. But if I've got riches, my temptation and tendency is to forget the Lord. We need to be on guard. We need to watch our hearts. We need to make sure that we don't say in our heart, notice the language to my power and the might of my hand have gained me this well. So not only are they accruing, are they taking credit for getting these things, but look where they're spending these things. Me, you notice that. Notice the conspicuous use of of my my and me in this passage. That's wrong. You know, what was the that the people of Israel supposed to be? They were supposed to be the covenant community of God, wherein his law was flashed out. not only toward God, but toward one another. They were supposed to be others minded. They were supposed to mediate the blessings of God to the Gentile nations around them. They were to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation. They were to hold forth the word of truth. They were to be that representative of God most high on the earth to show what things were like. But rather, they're taking all this stuff and all they want is for them. Christopher Wright says this, that is mine. It is mine to enjoy, to exploit as I wish. My abilities, my strength, my hard work, my cleverness, my professional skills produced it. Therefore, it is mine. Self-exaltation and self-interest underlie the claim. It's pride and it's selfishness. of vices that are diametrically opposed to the people of God. We're supposed to be humble, and we're supposed to be those who look out for the needs of others. We're to esteem others better than ourselves. We're not to only look upon our own self-interest. We're to be a benevolent people. So was the people of Israel. They were supposed to be kind-hearted, and yet they sound like a bunch of whining babies. We've got this for me. I've done this for me. This is the temptation. This is what would happen. This is what they were going to do unless they took the corrective of verse 18. Notice, you shall remember the Lord your God. For it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. I could just see the health, wealth, prosperity people using Deuteronomy 8.18 as their motto text. God gave you power to get wealth, so go make a billion dollars and, you know, walk all over people. Isn't the point? The point is when you go into that land that has been given to you and you farm and water falls on your crops and the sun shines on it and you do build things and you do harvest and you do engage in commerce. It's God who is sovereign over that. It's God the Lord who gave you the power to do that. Now I would imagine that manna falling from heaven would be an evident sign, or it would be an evident display of God's power in feeding us. But that evidence, that power is no less displayed in going to work every morning, punching the time clock, you know, doing what you're called to do by your employer, cashing your paycheck, and making your weekly trip to Superstore. Just because we don't see the man fall down from heaven and we go out and gather an omer each day doesn't mean God hasn't given us the power to drive to Wal-Mart for new shoes. We need to see that we need to appreciate that God is the first cause every blessing we have every good gift that he has given us is from his hand and we need to remember that you shall remember this is a very excellent way for us to guard against the sin of forgetting. How do we not forget we remember. The bad is to forget, the good is to remember. Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. Remember God, realize he gives power, and realize it is consistent with his covenantal faithfulness. That's another thing that's repetitious on the plains of Moab. Moses is never going to let us forget that everything good that is happening to Israel is as a result of God's promise. This is the point you need to live by the word of God. And that brings us finally to the consequences of forgetfulness. Verses 19 and 20. Then it shall be if you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods. and serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. The sin of forgetfulness leads to the sin of idolatry. Man is a religious being. He's going to worship something. He's going to worship someone. If it isn't the living and true God, it will be either Baal or Moloch or Asherah or ourselves or our possessions or whatever. Remember that Paul says that covetousness and greed is idolatry. And so when the things themselves become the end, we have become idolaters. We are not pursuing God. We are not obeying God. We are not loving God, but rather we are pursuing stuff. We are loving stuff. And ultimately, we're going to obey stuff because we're going to fight to keep it as far as we are able. So that would be the inevitable outcome if they were to forget God. And then God makes this promise. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish as the nations which the Lord destroys before you. So you shall perish because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God. Notice that the voice of the Lord your God man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Now, in conclusion, there is a fundamental difference here between the old covenant and the new covenant. Remember, one of the things that we are doing as we move our way through this book of Deuteronomy is noting some of the distinctive features between these two covenants. There is continuity to be sure. There are some similarities, but it was a different covenant made with the people of Israel. This was conditional. In other words, they were told, go into the land and obey. If you don't obey, then you'll be thrown out of the land. You'll be treated like the nations whom you dispossessed before. And you know what we have in Romans eight in the New Covenant. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, when we're in Christ, we don't get thrown out of Christ. When we're in Christ, we don't get dispossessed. When we're in Christ, we're safe and secure because Christ fulfilled the obligation of the covenant arrangement. And we are blessed by virtue of him. He did what Israel failed. He did what Adam failed in. And because of that, we have no condemnation. That is cause for holy rejoicing. What Jesus has accomplished on our behalf lasts forever and ever and ever. Now, that doesn't mean there weren't people here saved by virtue of Christ's redemptive work. But this covenant in terms of them going into the land, this covenant in terms of a nationalistic covenant, in terms of them functioning in Canaan, they did break it. They were dispossessed. They were scattered among the nations. Every curse that God promised In the latter part of Deuteronomy, most certainly did come upon them. Well, let us close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your holy word and we thank you for our Lord Jesus. We thank you for the fact that he accomplished all that the father gave him and that he lived in obedience to the law. He died to satisfy justice and he rose again and he now sits enthroned at your right hand. We thank you for grace. We thank you for the faith that you have given us. How we thank you for all of the blessings that we have in him. And our God, I pray that this would encourage our hearts and that we would learn the lessons that the people of God on Moab heard and then disobeyed and rejected. Help us not to forget you. Help us not to get enamored with the things you give us, but help us to be in love with you, Lord God, and to be obedient to you and to fear you and to walk carefully in your word. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.