Deuteronomy chapter 28.
God speaks of the blessings that will occur for the Israelites if they obey him. The blessings are unlimited in number. Their lives will be wonderful beyond wonderful.
God also mentioned all the curses they would receive if they did not obey God's commands and laws. The curses are horrible and nothing that one would desire. It makes you ask why any of the Israelites would even want to disobey God?
God has for us a Promised Land called heaven that we can obtain through a relationship with Jesus. The joy and awesomeness of heaven is above and beyond what our minds could ever comprehend. God wants so much to bless us with heaven and even tells us what we have to do, come to him through a relationship with Jesus. Repent of our sins turn to Christ and let him live a holy life through us.
God also tells us what curses we will receive if we reject Jesus in our lives. Hell is our destination. A place of pain, fire, loneliness, existence without God, torture. We think how horrible that is and how could anyone ever want to go there. Why would anyone ever want to deny a life with Jesus and face such cursing in hell? It's called deception by the devil. He's slowly deceives us into thinking the pleasures of this world are okay. In I John 2:15 it says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.”
The devil deceives us into thinking that:
1. There is no God and no Jesus, therefore you can do whatever you want. Whatever brings you Joy or happiness or pleasure. There are no moral standards so you can do whatever you want.
2. The devil also deceives us into thinking there is a God and Jesus but because he loves everyone he won't send anyone to hell unless they murder or rape somebody. Therefore you can enjoy any sin or pleasure of the world as long as you think that there's a God or Jesus.
The statement in verse 10 says obey, “then all the people on Earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.”
I interpret this as saying, if we live a life of Jesus by loving and serving others, then Jesus will become real to others. So real they will feel guilty around us and fear for their lives because God's conviction will be upon them and they will be faced with a decision.
1. Repent and turn to Jesus or
2. Run away from Jesus and continue in sin.
I want my life to be so much like Jesus it causes others to want to follow Jesus!
Chapter 28 talks about how there are two ways for Israel to go. The choice is to either follow God’s ways and be blessed or disobey God and be cursed. The descriptions make me wonder why anyone would ever choose not to follow God, but yet that’s exactly what happens in Israel’s history. I was also thinking about how we have the choice to make to receive the blessings of heaven or the curses of hell.
The results of these two choices are quite different, but we may not always be able to observe those differences in our present world as we see in Matthew 10:43-48 where we are challenged to love and to be perfect. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I (Jesus) say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
We certainly can’t be perfect on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to change us. Jeremiah 17:7-10 reveals that the problem is the human heart.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Ezekiel 36:26-28 tells us how God can take care of the problem of the human heart.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
Ezekiel 36:26 is one of the Bible verses used in a sermon during one of the evening services at Family Camp at Edinboro last week. It was a great week there with families, friends and the Lord! If you missed being there, you can still listen to the messages that were recorded and put on this website.
https://edinborocamp.org/family-camp-audio/
One of the curses for those that rejected God was that they’d go mad from seeing all the tragedy around them. This reminds me that when my heart is breaking with all the tragedy around us every day … much of the world’s evil is the result of people’s failure to not acknowledge and serve God. Even so, we can continue to pray and most importantly remember that in spite of it all, God has ultimate control and will one day come back to make everything right. Thank you, Jesus!
Amen to all! Great points! Praise God and may we all be on the path to obedience!