Announcer: Moses will not be able to lead them in.
Steve Webb: This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible
coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since
2004. I'm Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster. It's the law Monday.
and our reading will be Deuteronomy 29 through 31. The
website is Lifespringmedia.com. and I'll have contact
information at the end of the show. Before we read, let's
pray. Our gracious heavenly Father, we thank you for our
time together to read your word and we pray that You would bless
us as we read, teach us we ask in Jesus name, amen. Okay, are
you ready? Let's get started.
Deuteronomy chapter 29. So Moses finished telling the Israelites
what they had to do, in order to keep the agreement the Lord was
making with him in Moab, which was an addition to the one the
Lord had made with him at Mount Sinai. Moses called the nation
of Israel together and told them, when you were in Egypt,
you saw the Lord perform great miracles that cause trouble for
the king, his officials, and everyone else in the country. He
is even told you for 40 years I the Lord led you through the
desert, but your clothes and your sandals didn't wear out,
and I gave you special food. I did these things. So you would
realize that I am your God. But the Lord must give you a change
of heart before you truly understand what you have seen
and heard. When we first camp there, King sai Han of Heshbon
and King org of Batian attacked but we defeated them. Then we
captured their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben,
Gad, and East Manasa. Israel, the Lord has made an agreement
with you. and if you keep your part, you will be successful in
everything you do. Today, everyone in our nation is
standing here in the Lord's presence, including leaders and
officials, parents and children, and even those foreigners who
cut wood and carry water forests. We are at this place of
worship to promise that we will keep our part of the agreement
with the Lord our God. In this agreement, the Lord promised
that you would be his people and that he would be your God. He
first made this promise to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. and today the Lord is making the same promise to you.
But it isn't just for you. It is also for your descendants. When
we lived in Egypt, you saw the Egyptians worship disgusting
idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold. Then as we traveled
through other nations, you saw those people worship other
disgusting idols. So make sure that everyone in your tribe
remains faithful to the Lord. It never starts worshipping gods of
other nations. If even one of you worships idols, you will be
like the root of a plant that produces bitter, poisonous
fruit. You may be an Israelite, and know all about the Lord's
agreement with us, but he won't bless you, if you rebel against
him. You may think that you can get away with it, but you will
cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you. The
Lord will be furious, and instead of forgiving you, He
will separate you from the other tribes, then he will destroy you
by piling on you all the curses in the book of God's law and you
will be forgotten forever. The Lord will strike your country
with diseases and disasters. Your descendants and foreigners
from distant countries will see that your land has become a
scorching desert of salt and sulfur where nothing is planted,
nothing sprouts and nothing grows. It will be as lifeless as
the land around the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and the
boy him after the Lord became angry and destroyed them. and
people from other nations will ask why did the Lord destroy
this country? Why was he so furious? and they will be given
this answer. Our ancestors worship the Lord. But after he
brought them out of Egypt and made an agreement with them,
they rejected the agreement and decided to worship gods that had
never helped them. The Lord had forbidden Israel to worship
these gods. and so he became furious and punished the land
with all the curses in the book of God's law. Then he pulled up
Israel by the roots and tossed them into a foreign country
where they still are today. The Lord our God hasn't explained
the present or the future, but He has commanded us to obey the
laws he gave to us and our descendants.
Deuteronomy chapter 30. Everything that I've mentioned
will happen to you both the blessings and the curses. and
you will remember these words when the Lord your God sends you
away to other nations, then you and your descendants will turn
back to the Lord your God, you will follow Him with all your
heart and completely obey all his commands that I have given
you today. Then the Lord your God will be kind to you, the
Lord your God will make you free again. He will bring you back
from the nations where he sent you. Even if you were sent to
the farthest parts of the earth, the Lord your God will gather
you from there and bring you back. The Lord your God will
bring you into the land your ancestors had and the land will
become yours. He will do good to you and you will have more than
your ancestors have it, you will have more people in your nation
than they ever had. The Lord your God will make you and your
descendants want to obey Him. Then you will love the Lord your
God with all your heart and you will live. Then the Lord your
God will make all these bad things happen to your enemies
who hate you and cause you trouble and you will again obey
the Lord, you will obey all his commands that I give you today.
The Lord your God will make you successful in everything you do.
He will bless you with many children, he will bless your
cows, they will have many calves, He will bless your
fields, they will grow many good crops, he will be good to you,
the Lord will again enjoy doing good for you the same as he
enjoyed doing good for your ancestors. But you must do what
the Lord your God tells you to do. You must obey His commands
and follow the rules that are written in this book of
teachings. You must obey the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul, then these good things will
happen to you. This command that I give you today is not too hard
for you. It is not a secret hidden in some faraway land. The
command is not in heaven, so that you should say who will go
up to heaven for us and bring it to us so that we can hear and do
it. This command is not on the other side of the sea, so that
you should say, who will go across the sea for us and bring
it to us so that we can hear it and do it. No, the word of God
is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so
you can obey it. Today I've given you a choice between life
and death, success and disaster. I command you today to love the
Lord your God, I command you to follow Him and to obey His
commands, laws and rules, then you will live and your nation
will grow larger, and the Lord your God will bless you in the
land that you are entering to take for your own. But if you
turn away from your God and refuse to listen, if you are led
away to worship and serve other gods, you will be destroyed. I'm
warning you today, if you turn away from God, you will not live
long in that land across the Jordan River that you are ready
to enter and take for your own. and today I'm giving you a
choice of two ways. and I asked heaven and earth to be witnesses
of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice
will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So
choose life, then you and your children will live. You must
love the Lord your God and obey him. Never leave him because he
is your life. and he will give you a long life and the land
that He the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob
Deuteronomy chapter 31. Then Moses went and spoke these words
to all the Israelites, I am now 120 years old, and I cannot lead
you anymore. The Lord told me I would not cross the Jordan
River, the Lord your God will lead you across himself. He will
destroy those nations for you and you will take over their
land. Joshua will also lead you across as the Lord has said, The
Lord will do to those nations what he did to Sai Han and dog,
the kings of the Amorites when he destroyed them and their
land. The Lord will give those nations to you do to them
everything I told you, be strong and brave. Don't be afraid of
them. and don't be frightened. Because the Lord your God will
go with you. He will not leave you or forget you. Then Moses
called Joshua and said to him in front of the people, be strong
and brave, because you will lead these people into the land the
Lord promised to give their ancestors and help them take it
as their own. The Lord himself will go before you, He will be
with you. He will not leave you or forget you. Don't be afraid
and don't worry. So Moses wrote down these teachings and gave
them to the priests and all the elders of Israel. The priests
are the sons of Levi who carry the ark of the agreement with
the Lord. Then Moses commanded them read these teachings for
all Israel to hear at the end of every seven years, which is the
year to cancel what people owe. Do it during the Feast of
shelters when all the Israelites will come to appear before the
Lord your God. In stand at the place you will choose to gather
all the people, the men, women, children and foreigners living
in your towns so that they can listen and learn to respect the
Lord your God and carefully obey everything in this law. Since
their children do not know this law, they must hear it. They
must learn to respect the Lord your God for as long as they
live in the land. You are crossing the Jordan River to
take for your own. and the Lord said to Moses, soon you will
die. Get Joshua and come to the meeting tent so that I may
command him. So Moses and Joshua went to the meeting tent. The
Lord appeared at the meeting tent and a cloud. The clouds
stood over the entrance of the tent. and the Lord said to
Moses, you will soon die And then these people will not be
loyal to me, but will worship the foreign gods of the land
they are entering, they will leave me breaking the agreement
I made with them, then I will become very angry at them and I
will leave them, I will turn away from them, and they will be
destroyed, many terrible things will happen to them, then they
will say, it is because God is not with us that these terrible
things are happening, I will surely turn away from them then,
because they have done wrong and if turned to other gods. Now,
write down this song and teach it to the Israelites, then have
them sing it, because it will be my witness against them. When I
bring them into the land, I promised to their ancestors of
fertile land, they will eat as much as they want and get fat,
then they will turn to other gods and serve them, they will
reject me and break my agreement. Then when many
troubles and terrible things happen to them, This song will
testify against them, because the song will not be forgotten
by their descendants. I know what they plan to do, even
before I take them into the land I promised them. So Moses wrote
down the song that day, and he taught it to the Israelites.
Then the Lord gave this command to Joshua son of Nun, be strong
and brave, because you will lead the people of Israel to the land
I promised them, and I will be with you. After Moses finished
writing all the words of the teachings in a book, he gave a
command to the Levites, who carried the Ark of the agreement
with the Lord. He said, Take this book of the teachings and
put it beside the Ark of the agreement with the Lord your
God, it must stay there as a witness against you. I know how
stubborn and disobedient you are, you have disobeyed the Lord
while I am alive and with you, and you will disobey even more
after I die. Gather all the older leaders of your tribes and
all your officers to me, so that I may say these things for them
to hear, and so that I may ask heaven and earth to testify
against them. I know that after I die, you will become
completely evil, you will turn away from the commands I have
given you. Terrible things will happen to you in the future when
you do what the Lord says is evil, and you will make him
angry with the idols you have made. and Moses spoke this whole
song for all the people of Israel to hear.
Well, beloved, chapter 31 ended with these words, and Moses
spoke this whole song for all the people of Israel to hear. So
that's really ending the chapter with a cliffhanger, isn't it?
We'll read the song next week. and by the way, next week, we'll
conclude our reading of the books of the law or the
Pentateuch, or the Torah, as it is known by the Jews. But today,
I want to say a few words about chapter 31. Moses is near the
end of his life, and he's brought the people to the
threshold of the promised land, but because of his disobedience
that we read about in numbers 27 through 12, Moses will not be
able to lead the men. As a matter of fact, God is not even
going to allow him to set foot on the promised land. But after
leading these people for 40 years, Moses doesn't just fade
away. He has parting words for the people for Joshua, whom God
has appointed to be Moses replacement, and for the
priests. Now, Moses knew these people, right. But more than
that, God knew these people. and once more, Moses wrote the law
down and told the Levites to keep it beside the Ark of the
Covenant. He knew these people, and he knew that they would
stray from the law and would need to be reminded yet again,
what God requires. I think Moses felt a heavy burden of
responsibility for these people, even when he knew that his time
with them was drawing to a close and I think that's why he wrote
the song that follows this chapter. and his words here in
chapter 31, almost sounded cross, but in the final chapters
next week, he takes the edge off. Let me know what you think.
Let me hear from you send to Boostagram or call the
Lifespring family hotline or go to the comments page or write an
email. I'll tell you how to do these things at the end of the
show. Tomorrow will be history Tuesday, and our reading will be
Esther one through five.
Announcer: Today's executive producer is Roderick who came in
with his monthly $50 donation. Thank you so much Roderick. God
bless you.
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Announcer: Thanks to the team Sister Denise Michael Haner,
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bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.
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