Life is a Series of Choices… | Sunday, November 20, 2022

These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. (Deuteronomy 29:1)

Closing the covenant at Moab, Moses calls Israel—and us—to choose life, which is found in the faithful, merciful God who never abandons His own.

The Downhill Sprint of Deuteronomy

We have come to the final leg of our long study in Deuteronomy. We have been in this book since January of 2020, and now only about five chapters remain. Moses' presentation of God's law and his reaffirmation of the covenant effectively ends with Deuteronomy 29:1: "These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb."

That verse closes out all the statutes and judgments in this second telling of the covenant. But in referencing both the covenant at Moab and the earlier covenant at Horeb, Moses gives us a veiled reference to the revelation of God's grace.

God Is Merciful—In the Old Testament Too

Many people imagine that God in the Old Testament was mean and brutish, that He had a hair trigger and would fly off the handle and smite anyone who upset Him. That is not how God is revealed in the Old Testament. And God did not suddenly change when you turn the page into the New Testament; He did not become nicer during the 400 years between the testaments. He is merciful and gracious in both.

The previous generation, who received the covenant at Mount Horeb (Sinai), failed to keep it and forsook the Lord—and they did so very quickly. Three times, in Exodus 19 and 24, they said, "All that the Lord has commanded we will do." Yet within about a month and ten days they broke the first three commandments and many others when they danced around the golden calf. According to the statutes and judgments of the covenant, God had every right to destroy them. But He didn't. Instead, God was gracious, because that is His nature.

"The Lord, the Lord God, Merciful and Gracious"

After that generation broke the covenant, God revealed His true nature to Moses, who saw some aspect of God's glory. In Exodus 34:6—a passage I absolutely love—God announces His name, and in the Old Testament a name is synonymous with the character of the one who holds it:

The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6–7)

Of all the innumerable attributes of God, He chooses to introduce Himself first as merciful. That sinful generation experienced the consequences of their sin—they did not taste the blessings of the Promised Land—but they were not destroyed. As Lamentations says, it is because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassions fail not.

God did not start over with Moses. We do not know Israel today as the children of Moses; we know them still as the children of Israel, even though they broke His covenant and would break it again. He continued to carry along with them, and now He reaffirms His covenant with their children and grandchildren on the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan, right at the border of blessing.

You Will Fail—and He Will Still Be Merciful

Remember this: you are going to fail this week. You are going to fall short of God's perfect, righteous standard—perhaps even in a big way, perhaps before the sun goes down today. And even still, the Lord, the Lord God, is merciful, gracious, patient, and abounding in goodness. He doesn't overlook sin, but it is because of His mercies that we are not consumed; His mercies are new every morning. This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, and that truth is something to be grateful for.

So after more than two years working through this book, here is the key point: God is always faithful to His covenant, even when we are not. As 2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself."

You Saw the Miracles, but You Missed God

Moses could have ended his whole discourse at 29:1, but he gives Israel a bit more, becoming reminiscent and philosophical:

You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt... Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you... Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. (Deuteronomy 29:2–9, condensed)

It is as if Moses says: God has done amazing things before your eyes for forty years, and you've missed it. You've lived as if all these miracles were normal. God redeemed you from slavery, defeated Egypt's armies, parted the Red Sea, kept your clothes and shoes from wearing out, gave you manna every day, brought water from rocks, defeated your enemies, and covered you with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. And yet they were blinded to it.

One commentator observed: "You've seen all the miracles with your mind, heart, and eyes, and still you did not see God's hand in all these miracles, much less have gratitude for them." They saw the acts of God but somehow missed God. From this we learn an important truth: God continues to work in spite of my ingratitude or my lack of acknowledgement of His works.

The Root of Unhappiness Is Ingratitude

It is fitting that we consider this the Sunday before Thanksgiving. As one commentator notes, the root cause of unhappiness is ingratitude. One thing Israel was expert at in the wilderness was grumbling, complaining, and murmuring—even while walking under the shadow of the Almighty's actual presence, experiencing daily provision, protection, and deliverance.

As much as I would like to think I am better than they were, I am not. I confess that I often fail to acknowledge the Lord, to give Him glory and thanksgiving for His provision, protection, grace, and goodness. Thankfully, God continues to remain faithful. He keeps working even when I take no notice and even when I lack faith. And yet, my success is linked to my faith in God and my faithfulness to His commands. That is why Moses says, "Keep the words of the covenant and do them, that you may prosper."

Equality Under the Law Begins with God

All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes... all the men of Israel, and your little ones and your wives, and also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts the wood to the one who draws your water—that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 29:10–13, condensed)

Notice that this covenant applied to all Israel, from the very top all the way down. No one was excused or exempt. The same stipulations, commands, and judgments applied to leaders and elders, but also to women, children, and even the foreigner in their midst. The priests and elders did not get watered-down requirements, and they also did not receive greater blessing. As one commentator noted, there is no room for snobbishness among those who believe all people are created in God's image.

Out of this comes an important truth we still hold dear thousands of years later: the ideal of equality under the law. It begins with God. It did not begin with the 14th Amendment in 1868, nor with Nebraska's state motto in 1867, nor at the Constitutional Convention, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, or the Magna Carta. In Numbers 15:15–16 we read: "One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you... one law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you."

It has taken more than 3,000 years of slowly and progressively applying this concept to reach the level of equality we have in the West today. This divine ideal is like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings that eventually changes weather halfway around the world. Do we do it perfectly? No—not in the least. Because we are innately sinful, human communities default to unequal balances of justice, where the haves enjoy a different justice than the have-nots. But Proverbs 20:23 says, "The Lord detests double standards. He is not pleased by dishonest scales."

Individual Responsibility and Corporate Responsibility

We expect equality and justice—and that expectation doesn't arise from nothing. It comes from growing up in a Judeo-Christian society and, I believe, from God planting in us a desire for justice. So here is the observation: our success as a culture and community requires equal administration of the law and uniform justice.

Earlier I said my personal success is linked to my faith and faithfulness. Now I'm saying our corporate success requires uniform justice. I have an individual responsibility and we have a corporate responsibility. You have a personal responsibility to walk out God's commands—not to be saved, but to live rightly before God. Corporately, we have a responsibility to uphold justice. As Micah says, "He has shown you, O man, what is good... to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

If your culture is failing and falling apart, it's your fault. Personalize it all the way down. Here I wholeheartedly agree with Jordan Peterson—though he is really just highlighting a sacred truth from Scripture. He may be the most vocal person, with the largest platform, saying this: if your culture is failing, it's your fault, and you could set the world in order if you would start at the small, local level. That's the "clean up your room" meme. Take care of the small things you can take care of now, set them in order, and then move out to help the community move in a right direction. A community fails when the individuals who make it up are not remaining faithful to God and walking according to His statutes.

A Perpetual Covenant for All Who Will Come

I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today. (Deuteronomy 29:14–15)

This is a perpetual covenant. It extends not only to those standing with Moses on the plains of Moab 3,400 years ago, but to every person who will join themselves to the people of God afterward—and to those who break the covenant and then repent and return to the Lord. Again, this reminds us of the mercy and grace of God.

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you... and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice... that the Lord your God will bring you back from your captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations... And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:1–6, condensed)

If Israel forsook the covenant, they would taste its curses and be exiled. But when they returned to the Lord and called out to Him, He would bring them back from captivity, have compassion, gather them, prosper them, and circumcise their hearts. Here is a simple but profoundly good truth: God is faithful to forgive unfaithfulness and to accept us again when we repent and return to Him.

Choose Life

For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it too far off... But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil... I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. (Deuteronomy 30:11–19, condensed)

I love that. Choose today what you are going to do. Choose life, that you and your descendants may live. The choice is yours.

I will never forget a message I heard about 25 years ago, when I was 17. It was so long ago it was on an audio cassette. What amazes me now is that neither the man who gave me that cassette nor the pastor who preached the sermon on it is walking with God today. Both have turned completely away from faithfulness to God's commands. Yet the core message that impacted me so deeply that I still remember it at 42 was this simple statement: Life is a series of choices. Choose life, that you and your descendants may live. I listened to that message probably twenty times.

The pastor who preached it was Bob Coy—an incredible Bible teacher who pastored one of the largest churches in America—who ended up committing adultery with multiple people and is no longer in ministry. And the man who gave me that cassette is serving multiple life sentences today for assault and murder. I cannot express how those two lives drive home this essential truth: life is a series of choices. Choose life, that you might live.

Life Is Found in Christ

Ultimately, that life is not found in the law but in Christ—and a life more abundant than the law could give. He is the one who fulfills the law on our behalf and fulfills it in us, working in us to will and to do God's good pleasure as we follow Him by faith.

Here is the awesome part: if those two men—the one out of ministry for moral failure and the one serving life sentences—would return to God in repentance, He would accept them. He would not undo all the consequences of their sin, but He would be gracious and receive them. That is gospel; that is good news. Some of you are convinced God wouldn't accept you because of something you did. But if He would accept those two men if they returned, you can be certain He will accept you as well.

So you have a choice. I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Death and cursing are found in this world if you continue on your present path; but life and blessing are found in Christ. Choose life—the life that is in Christ—that you might live a life that is abundant and eternal.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would help us to be thankful, to have gratitude today because of Your faithfulness to Your covenant, and because You continue to do Your good work in the world even when we don't acknowledge it, even when we are not thankful. Lord, help us to trust You, to have faith in You, and to be faithful to You, knowing that as we follow You by faith and as You work in us to will and to do Your good pleasure, we experience Your prosperity in this world.

And Lord, I pray for our communities and our nation. We see so many ways our culture is failing, and it comes all the way back up to us. What are we doing? What do we need to change by Your grace and the enabling power of Your Spirit to set things in order? Maybe that starts with turning back to You in repentance. Even if we feel we've done something we can't return from, we certainly can. If we turn to You, You will forgive our unfaithfulness and restore us to the place of blessing.

So God, I pray for anyone who watches this, whether today or months or years from now, that You would bring them to that place of turning to You in faith and repentance, calling out to You for Your grace—because in You and You alone is life, abundant and eternal. We praise You and thank You for that here in this week of Thanksgiving. It's in Your name we pray. We love You, Jesus. Amen.