The Lord God, Merciful | Sunday, July 19, 2020

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16)

When His people fail, God's first word about Himself is still "merciful."

An Encouragement to Shine

Before we step into the next section of Deuteronomy, I want to begin with an encouragement and commend you all as a church. This strange and historic moment presents us as the people of God with an opportunity to shine as lights in the world—precisely what Jesus taught His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount.

My prayer throughout this period has been that our church would be like a city set on a hill, shining brightly to those in need of hope, grace, peace, forgiveness, love, joy, and all the other spiritual blessings we have from the Lord. You're doing just that, and I encourage you to continue. Pray that God would give you the opportunity to do so today and this week—the eyes to see the opportunity when it comes, and the faith to seize it.

We are also halfway through July and halfway through our 31 days of prayer—keep going. Some of you have worked hard over the last nineteen days to distance from social media and the news media; a number of people have deleted their accounts. If that has helped your outlook, peace, and joy, I'd love your feedback at prayerminder.org. There are still nearly two weeks left, and you can still jump in by subscribing there.

Discipleship and Evangelism Online

For about eighteen months, Pastor Mark and I have been recording a weekly podcast called The Questions Podcast. It's been a bit spotty lately with the craziness of this season, but we're not done. As we go through the Scriptures and you have questions—about what we're learning, or other scriptural, theological, or cultural issues—text them to 760-814-1223 and we'll answer them on the podcast.

When Jesus ministered in Galilee, Jerusalem, and Judea, much of His discipleship happened through questions and answers. People would hear His messages and come to Him for deeper understanding. One of the primary ways I've grown in my faith has been bringing my questions to respected leaders in my life. Discipleship in 2020 is definitely happening online—through YouTube and podcasts—and so is evangelism.

Cross Connection, you are an amazing church. About five weeks ago I shared how we are seeking to raise about forty thousand dollars to extend our broadcast outreach, and you have contributed above your normal tithes and offerings about ninety percent of that. We are actively reaching people throughout the whole world online. You can help by sharing the content we produce, available on YouTube and at lifeinconnection.com. Paul told Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist." For a lot of people that idea can be frightening, but it is as easy as sharing what your church is doing online. If God has done a work of grace in your life, you need to share that with others.

The Statutes and Judgments of the Covenant

This morning we are in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, right about the middle of chapter four. In this section Moses is speaking about the statutes and judgments of God as he prepares Israel to enter the promised land. He is delivering his final words, reminding them of the principles, precepts, and stipulations of the covenant they have with God. This is a very important section and an essential point in Israel's history.

God promised Abraham that he would be blessed with descendants and a land, and that he would not only be blessed but become a blessing to all people. But these blessings were the result of a relationship with the one true God. This is essential to comprehend: God blesses those who are in covenant relationship with Him, and He always does so for the purpose of extending that blessing to others.

Like any covenant, there are stipulations and requirements. You and I have the free choice not to enter into a covenant relationship with God—but you cannot and will not enjoy the blessings of the covenant if you don't enter into it. The problem is, we tend to want the enjoyments and pleasures of the blessings without the covenant itself. That's not possible.

What Covenant Still Means

I may be losing you with all this talk of covenant. We don't talk about it much in 2020; there are only a couple of places the concept even comes up. First, if you have a house in a neighborhood with a homeowner's association, you probably received a notebook of CC&Rs—covenants, conditions, and restrictions—that you never looked through until you got a letter about leaving your trash cans out too long or wanting to paint your house orange.

The other place we still speak of covenant is marriage. Those of you who are married would agree there are benefits, blessings, enjoyments, and pleasures associated with the covenant—and there are stipulations and requirements, too. A lot of people in our culture want the pleasures without the conditions and restrictions, and that's a problem. Once you enter the covenant, you agree to uphold it, and if you don't, there are consequences.

So Moses is reminding the children of Israel, who were in covenant relationship with God, of the stipulations and conditions of that covenant. If they remained faithful, they would enjoy its benefits and blessings; if not, they would experience the consequences and curses. Israel wanted to experience God's blessing and extend it to the world. You and I want that too. But it's only possible by a covenant relationship with God—therefore the statutes and judgments given here are necessarily important.

In a Covenant There Can Be No Rivals

The first of the statutes we began considering in our last study, and we'll see again in chapter five, is basically this: in a covenant relationship there can be no rival relationships. All you married couples understand this. The officiant at your wedding said, "Do you solemnly swear in the presence of God and these witnesses to forsake all others and to be faithful to him or to her as long as you both shall live?" And you said, "I do."

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image of any likeness of anything. (Deuteronomy 5:6–8)

That's fair and makes total sense. God says, "I redeemed you, I brought you out of bondage, I've taken care of you, I'm giving you an inheritance in the promised land—here is My first stipulation: there can be no rivals." Why do we have a hard time with that? In our flesh we have a hard time with exclusivity and commitment. That's called sin—missing the mark of God's covenant—and we need to confess and repent of it.

But here's the problem: we know we are prone to wander. As we considered last time, we are given to the subtle seduction of idolatry, so easily led toward rivals. So I left you with a question: what can we possibly do if we happen to misrepresent God's glory through idolatry?

God Anticipates Our Frailty

When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image... you will soon utterly perish from the land... And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations... and there you will serve the gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. (Deuteronomy 4:25–28)

Yes, in a covenant relationship there can be no rivals—but God anticipates our frailty in honoring our covenant. As Israel prepares to enter the land, God reaffirms the covenant and in the same breath says: after you come into the land and a couple generations pass, you will act corruptly and do exactly what I'm telling you not to do, and you will provoke Me to anger. You made a vow before the witnesses of heaven and earth to be faithful, and if you're not, you will quickly perish. The land is a blessing for those who adhere to the covenant, but if you reject it, you will be expelled and exiled, scattered among the nations, engaged in adulterous idolatry. And then what?

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul... for the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not forsake you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. (Deuteronomy 4:29–31)

Our inability to honor God's covenant leaves us hopeless—if God is not merciful.

The Lord, the Lord God, Merciful

This brings us to one of the most important concepts in all the Old Testament, and one of my absolute favorite passages. When Moses said, "for the LORD your God is a merciful God," he was calling to mind an important memory in Israel's recent history. Nearly forty years before this message, the children of Israel first entered their covenant with God. In Exodus 19 they responded as the law was given, saying, "All that the LORD has said we will do and be obedient."

And then what happened? Less than two months after vowing obedience, Israel was dancing around a golden calf, engaged in idolatry and immorality, and God's anger was aroused.

And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." (Exodus 32:9–10)

Why was Israel not consumed by the consuming fire of God's anger? Because Moses interceded and pleaded for grace. As a result, God revealed His true nature to Moses and Israel in Exodus 34. Even more than the presence of God's glory, God gave Moses His name and explained His nature:

And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "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..." So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. (Exodus 34:6–8)

God's Default Nature Is Mercy

I have so much I want to say about these verses, and I will when we get into Deuteronomy chapter five. But here is the essential point seen throughout the Old Testament and the New: though we are frail and feeble by nature, God is merciful and gracious just the same. God's default nature is mercy. If it weren't, you and I would have been consumed long ago.

Of all the innumerable attributes of God, if you asked someone what one attribute God would place at the top of the deck, some might say His holiness, others His love. There are many answers. Yet here in Exodus 34, God tells us what He places at the very front of His attributes, how He introduces Himself: "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful." That word is so important—for me and for you—because we are all deserving of the justice and judgment of God.

One of the clearest things you find as you study His statutes and judgments, which we'll do over the next several weeks through Deuteronomy 4, 5, and 6, is that we have all fallen short of God's glory and are all deserving of His wrath. Every one of us has sinned, and the only thing that keeps us from the wrath and justice of God is His mercy and His grace. So it is good news—what we would call gospel—that God introduces Himself, in both the Old Testament and the New, as "the LORD, the LORD God, merciful."

Mercy and Grace in Jesus Christ

As we close, you may be in a place where you realize for the first time that you are in need of God's mercy. You've been trying to live according to some standard of rightness, but you will never reach God's perfect standard of righteousness. In Romans, Paul says the law was given to show us that we are sinners. When confronted with the law's perfect standard, we quickly realize we will never measure up, and we are in desperate need of God's mercy and grace.

That's exactly what Jesus came to give two thousand years ago. By going to the cross, He took your sin and mine upon Himself so He could give us His mercy and grace. Mercy is not receiving what we deserve. We deserve justice; we deserve wrath. But God in His mercy, through Jesus Christ, does not give us the wrath we deserve, because Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He absorbed God's righteous wrath as our substitute.

And He goes beyond mercy to grace. Grace is receiving the gift or reward we certainly don't deserve. Jesus gives us salvation and forgiveness by grace as we put our faith in Him. So I invite you this morning to put your faith in Jesus, to trust Him, and to invite Him into your life to forgive you of your sin by His mercy and grace.

An Invitation to Faith

Prayer is simply talking to God. If this is the first time you've ever talked to Him, all I'm asking is that you admit you have fallen short of His perfect standard and cannot save yourself, believe that Jesus died on the cross in your place and rose again to make you righteous, and confess your sin and call out to Him. Pray with me wherever you are this very simple prayer of confession and faith:

Dear Jesus, I acknowledge and recognize that I can never meet Your perfect righteous standard, and I thank You that You came to the earth to absorb wrath for me so that I could be forgiven and saved. Lord, I confess my sin to You. I pray that You would come into my life, forgive me, and save me, and help me to follow You by faith. In Jesus' name, amen.

If you did that this morning, we want very much to know about it, to send you a Bible if you need one, and to connect you to other believers so you can grow in your faith. Please go to commit.lifeinconnection and fill out the form to let us know you've given your life to the Lord for the first time or reaffirmed your faith today. We won't spam you, but we would love to reach out and pray for you.

Closing Prayer

God, thank You for Your good word, and I pray that the truths of Your mercy would compel us to share Your mercy and grace with others. There are so many people we know who are in need of Your mercy and grace, and I pray that You would stir us to extend it to others today and this week. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Father, we thank You for the time we've had in worship and in the Scriptures, and I pray that You would continue to pour out Your Spirit and blessing upon Your church—not just here at Cross Connection, but throughout San Diego County and all the world. We know Christians are gathering even though not in church buildings, united through Your word and by Your Spirit. Pour out Your Spirit and do a reviving, awakening work in our culture and our world. It is my conviction that You are the only answer that truly answers the deep, difficult questions of life in a broken and fallen world, so stir us to be bold to share those things with others. We praise You, Jesus.

Now may the Lord bless and keep you; may He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.