One of Satan’s lies about God, is that He loves us too much to judge us; in the last sermon, it was that God hates us.
In the following 25 minute sermon, Dr. Patrick Ramsey, expounds Deuteronomy 1: 34ff.
Bulleted highlights:
- Satan attempts to convince us that God loves us too much to judge us
- Both strategies are aimed at making us rebel against God’s covenant requirements of us
- Deuteronomy is Moses review of what transpired since the Exodus from Egypt; therein, Moses talked about why the former generation of Israel had been punished
- God will judge His covenant people for disobedience and rebellion
- Moses talked about when Israel refused to believe God’s promises by not entering into the land to receive it [see Numbers 13:25 through 14:45 for a review]
- Many in the current church believe God is love and would not judge them; perhaps they envision Him asking what they would have Him do…
- However, God punished them. Yes, God is love; but as in proverbs 3 and Hebrews 12, He disciplines the ones He loves to make them holy: Pro 3:12 For the LORD corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.
- Hebrews also (see 12:18 – 29) Heb 12:25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!
- God punished the adults by making them wander in the wilderness until they died; He brought their children into the Land
- God’s covenant promises to us are also conditional: His promise of salvation does not nullify our responsibilities: repentance; believing via faith; taking up our cross and denying ourselves; working out our salvation with fear and trembling; running the race with endurance (see link about the race at end of post)
- God’s judgment is mixed with mercy [see psalm 130, e.g.] that we might be moved to repent for our rebelliousness and come back to God via His mercy, and obey via His grace
- That means that we will benefit if we view God’s temporal judgment properly: owning our sin, repenting to God and seeking Him via the mercy He bestows
- Those Israelites that persisted in rebellion, did not enter the Land: Heb 4:1 God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. Heb 4:2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
- God is not a Teddy bear; He is also not a harsh taskmaster; but His judgment is mixed with mercy to move us to repent and again seek Him
- Yet, there is an end to His patience, as seen in scripture: Rom 11:22 Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in His kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off.
The following link is a commentary about running the race: 1 Cor. 9:24 – 27: One of the emphases of this sermon and the last is to persevere in the Christian race. The following commentary has the best explication of that scripture that I have come across.
I recommend reading point 3 first then reading the entire passage:
Below is a document I wrote for the first post in this blog, it is a 22 page document about the redemptive plan of God the Father which talks about the covenants of the Bible. Although this document needs much refinement, it provides readers with an overall account of the biblical redemptive plan. It also provides an overview of the Bible, facilitating Bible reading comprehension:
Covenant with Bible refs.pdf 4.2.20
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
To hear other sermons by Dr. Ramsey in this blog, see: Archives:
- May 3, 2020 – Dealing with Fear;
- April 26, 2020 – Godly Instruction for Dealing with Sin and Guilt;
- October 2019: The Lord’s Supper; and
- July 8, 2019, Saving Faith.
- June 9, 2020 The Holy Spirit
- June 7, 2020, Ascension of Christ
- May 24, 2020, Faith is NOT
Dr. Ramsey can be heard at sermonaudio by clicking the following link:
https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SourceOnly=true&currSection=sermonssource&keyword=nashuaopc