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[0:00] Deuteronomy 28. You remember, we transitioned last week in Deuteronomy chapter 27 from a major portion of the book of Deuteronomy, which is just that central section there, which is kind of the telling and the proclaiming of all these laws and various things that you shouldn't do and you should do, and the way you should act and the way you shouldn't act, and how you really, how the law affects or influences every aspect of your life.

[0:24] And then when we get into Deuteronomy chapter 27, there's this really great ceremony that takes place in the book of Joshua, that one of the things that we see in the book of Deuteronomy that actually we can go read of it happening, because there's a number of things that we read that we don't know if they ever happened historically.

[0:42] We don't know if these things took place or not, but that ceremony there in Deuteronomy chapter 27, we can read where Joshua leads the nation to do that, and they come into the promised land, and they have the two mountains, and they're there, and they're really just, they're in Shechem, the land of Shechem or the area of Shechem where God met Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and made Abraham a promise that his descendants would inherit the land that he was walking on, and when they finally get to that place and the descendants are there, there's this great ceremony where they come and they recount their past, and they recall who they are, and they recall all that God has done, and they write the law on these whitewashed stones, these stones covered in lime, and it says to write it clearly so that they can read it so it's accessible.

[1:27] They see exactly what God is requiring them. This is their covenant, right? This is how they are to live as a nation. They are to live as these people, as God is their king.

[1:37] He is, Yahweh is their ruler. He is both Lord and Savior. He is the ruler over them, and this is the covenant standard to which they would live, and they were to pronounce the blessings and curses in kind of this general form.

[1:53] Well, when we get to Deuteronomy chapter 28, we're beyond general, and now we're specific, and as some Bible translators or commentators will tell you, and I think it's very clear, that no longer are we looking at what they're going to do over here in the promised land.

[2:08] And it's almost like in Deuteronomy 28, Moses steps back and he addresses an issue that they do right there when Moses is with them. The event that takes place in Deuteronomy 27, Moses is not there.

[2:21] And if you remember, Moses and the leaders or the elders of the nation proclaim that they should do these things. That was important because the elders or the leaders would be those who led the nation to do it in actuality.

[2:34] So we see that in the book of Joshua. Here is Moses declaring what God says, and these things take place, as we see in Deuteronomy 29, verse 1, in the plains of Moab.

[2:45] So this is something that would be happening before they go into the promised land. Okay? Not a ceremony that takes place after they inherit the land. This is kind of this last jolt, if you will, this prodding to be God's people.

[3:00] So we've looked at this, the reality that the book of Deuteronomy presents itself as what many believe a covenant treaty or agreement between a ruling authority over a lesser authority, or I don't want to say lesser, but a ruling authority over its subjects, right?

[3:23] This is how you are to act. And as was the custom in many of the ancient Near Eastern texts, we see those that quite often those kings would kind of end that covenant agreement, that fine print that's on any contract you sign.

[3:38] That if you do this, this becomes null and void, and this is what you can expect, right? That failure to pay, all these are the consequences for that. And many of those covenants would end with this, as long as you fulfill the requirements and the regulations of this covenant, this is what you can expect from your king.

[3:56] At the moment you do not fulfill your obligations, then these are the consequences you will receive from the king. Deuteronomy 28 kind of presents itself that way.

[4:09] Okay? Which doesn't surprise us. God can use something that is familiar with mankind to resonate his truth to his people. Right? And we need to understand that because the Bible tells us that ruling authorities are of the Lord, right?

[4:27] That they are in place because he put them there. We see that Old Testament and New Testament. We see it resonating with us. And God is in control of all those things.

[4:39] So when we read this text, keep that in mind. God is just kind of clearing us out. One last pride to be faithful, to obey, to live in the land.

[4:50] Okay? Deuteronomy 28, just stay with me. It's a very lengthy text, but we'll read it straight through and then we'll come back and hopefully expound it. Now it shall be if you diligently obeyed the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments, which I command you today.

[5:07] The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country.

[5:19] Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts and the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

[5:31] Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.

[5:44] The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to. And he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself as he swore to you.

[5:56] If you keep his commandments as the Lord your God and walk in his ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they will be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity and the offspring of your body and the offspring of your beasts and the produce of your ground and the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

[6:15] The Lord will open for you his storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and bless all the work of your hand. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

[6:28] The Lord will make you the head and not the tail and you only will be above. You will not be underneath. If you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today to observe them carefully and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today to the right or to the left to go after other gods to serve them.

[6:47] But it shall come about if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes with I charge you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

[6:57] Cursed shall you be in the sea and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall you be your basket and your kneading boat. Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

[7:09] Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion and rebuke and all you undertake to do until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds because you have forsaken me.

[7:24] The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until he has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation, with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew and they will pursue you until you perish.

[7:39] The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze and the earth which is under you iron. The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust from heaven. It shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

[7:50] The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will go out one way against them but you will flee seven ways before them and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms in the earth. Your carcasses will be food to all the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth and there will be no one to frighten them away.

[8:07] The Lord will smite you with the bulls of Egypt, with the tumors and with the scab and with the itch from which you cannot be healed. The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart and you will grope at noon as a blind man gropes in darkness and you will not prosper in your ways but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually with none to save you.

[8:24] You shall betroth a wife but another man won't violate her. You shall build a house but you will not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard but you will not use its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes but you will not eat of it.

[8:35] Your donkey shall be torn away from you and will not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies and you will have none to save you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually but there will be nothing you can do.

[8:51] A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see.

[9:03] The Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore bowls from which you cannot be healed from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known and there you shall serve other gods wood and stone.

[9:19] You shall become a horror, a proverb and a taunt among all the peoples where the Lord drives you. You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little for the locusts will consume it.

[9:30] You shall plant and cultivate vineyards but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes for the worm will devour them. You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil for your olives will drop off.

[9:44] You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours for they will go into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher but you will go down lower and lower.

[9:58] He shall lend to you but you will not lend to him. He shall be the head and you will be the tail. So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and his statutes in his command which he commanded you.

[10:16] They shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever because you did not serve the Lord with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things. Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you in hunger and thirst and neckedness and the lack of all things and he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

[10:36] By the way just when you think he's through he starts again. Right? Then the Lord will bring a nation against you from afar from the end of the earth as the eagle swoops down a nation whose language you shall not understand a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old nor show favor to the young.

[10:54] Moreover it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed. Who also leaves you no grain, new wine or oil nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

[11:07] It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trust it come down throughout your land and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you.

[11:19] Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you during the siege and distress by which your enemies will oppress you. The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile towards his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and towards the rest of his children who remain so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat since he has nothing else left during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.

[11:47] The refined and delicate woman among you who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else during the siege and distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.

[12:09] If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book to fear this honored and awesome name the Lord your God then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants even severe and lasting plagues and miserable and chronic sickness.

[12:24] He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt which you were afraid and they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which not written in this book of this law the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.

[12:38] Then you shall be left few in number whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven because you did not obey the Lord your God. It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you and to multiply you so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.

[12:56] Moreover the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth and there you shall serve other gods wood and stone which you or your fathers have not known. Among those nations you shall find no rest and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot.

[13:11] But there the Lord will give you a trembling heart failing of eyes and despair of soul. So your life shall hang in doubt before you and you will be in dread night and day and shall have no assurance of your life.

[13:21] In the morning you shall say would that it were evening and at evening you shall say would that it were morning because of the dread of your heart which you dread for the sight of your eyes which you will see.

[13:32] The Lord will bring you back to Egypt and ships by the way about which I spoke to you. You will never see it again and there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves.

[13:43] But there will be no buyer. Deuteronomy chapter 28. I told you it's a text you have to take a deep breath after reading, right? One of those texts that kind of makes you go, wow.

[13:57] Hopefully we see the application of it as we kind of try to flesh it out with one another. Now that we've read it in its detail, let's look at it in its entirety and I want you to see the choice before his people.

[14:12] The choice before his people. The event which we see in Deuteronomy chapter 27 is a renewal of the covenant. They reaffirm their covenant agreement. They state it, they write it out, they look at it and they say, yes, this is it.

[14:24] These are the blessings. These are curses. And it is this reaffirmation of, yes, we now possess what God has promised us and this is according to the very word of God. Here are the words of God in the covenant and we are reaffirming the fact that we will live according to them.

[14:40] Deuteronomy chapter 28, rather, before they go into the promised land is this ultimate choice, right? It is this choice that they know that they're going to inherit the land because it is not a matter of if or not a matter of they may.

[14:53] It is that they will go into the land. And Moses is here empowering them to go into the land having made the choice that they need to make. This is really the detailed list of the blessings and curses.

[15:04] Some commentators say that the reason why the listing of curses is twice as long, if not more than twice as long as their listing of blessings is because it is a matter of settled fact.

[15:15] We understand these things do come about. We'll see that in just a minute. Historically, we see these things being played out for us in the rest of scripture. We see them coming. And the fact that God spends so much time on them, declaring them and stating them in such detail, really should not only cause us to pause and consider, but also cause us to stand in amazement, right?

[15:36] Because God is the God of all things. He declares what will happen. Even if something as simple as you and your king, because they were not to have a king. God was to be their king.

[15:46] But he declares to them here that they and their king will be led into captivity. Very detailed accounts of how God interacts with his people. But we're looking here at the choice before his people.

[16:00] Because Moses in the plains of Moab, before they cross the Jordan River, before they go into the promised land, before Moses is called to glory and buried, no man knows where. Before he ascends Mount Pisgah's lofty heights, as we sing about.

[16:15] Here we understand that he sets before the people a choice. A choice of living in blessings or a choice of suffering the consequences. And we see this really very clearly laid out for us.

[16:27] And it appears as we read the text, man, that would be an easy choice to make, right? It seems like, oh, well, this is a no-brainer. Well, sure, I need to do these. And if I do these, these things will happen. But we understand it.

[16:39] Historically, it didn't happen. And hopefully, we'll get to the understanding of that here in just a moment. One thing you need to understand before you really dive into the text is that many of the blessings, if not every one of the blessings, I would probably say each and every blessing which God declares that would rest upon his people are specific blessings, okay?

[16:58] We don't need to flesh them out. We don't need to name it and claim it, right? We're not hearing that prosperity theology where we're going to say, I'm claiming that blessing. We want to claim the promises of Scripture.

[17:08] But we don't want to sit here and go, well, these are things I'm claiming. These are specific blessings which God is promising his people at a particular time. And the reason is, each one of these blessings that God declares to his people were things that the inhabitants of Canaan relied upon Baal to provide, okay?

[17:28] Baal was a god of prosperity. Baal was a god of the heavens and the rain. Baal was a fertility god. And all their sacrifices and all their rites and everything that they did was hopefully to appease Baal so that they could get pregnant or hopefully to appease Baal so that it would rain.

[17:47] And what God is saying is, if you live in covenant relationship with me, I'll provide you everything man is looking for. So if we want to name it and claim it, this is what we need to say. God has promised to provide us everything that the people around us are looking for in his ways, according to his time.

[18:06] And we understand that, that we don't go looking and searching for these things. He is the central provider of this, right? So this is that really specific where we need to confine it to its historical setting because this is what God is speaking to people at a particular time, in a particular place, with a really particular set of circumstances around them.

[18:29] Now, can we still trust tonight if rain pushes through? The reality is, is that God opened up the storehouses, his storehouses of heavens, and provided rain, right?

[18:40] We understand that, that God is the God of the weather. Now, sometimes that makes us scratch our head when the weather doesn't go the way we think it should, when there are storms and disasters and all this other stuff.

[18:51] Ultimately, Scripture tells us that he tells the lightning bolt which direction to go. He tells the storm where to go. He tells the surge of the sea which way it should travel. He opens up the storehouses of heaven and it rains.

[19:01] So he is a God over creation. We get that. So there's some of these things that are still applicable to us, but not each and every one of them. But we see really the application and the choice that they make.

[19:13] First and foremost, we see the responsibility of the nation. And it's repeated throughout the passage, right? So we have to kind of jump around. Really, this grand theme of responsibility.

[19:24] It is stated at the very beginning where it says, Now it shall be if you diligently obey. If you diligently obey. That word obey just keeps repeating itself throughout this passage.

[19:37] If you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments, which I command you today. So here we see this responsibility of diligently obeying. Verse 15, it says, But it shall come about if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe, to do all his commandments and the statutes, which I charge you today.

[19:56] So again, this is responsibility of obeying. And then we go over to verse 45. And it says, So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments.

[20:09] And then verse 47 says, Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things. We just have this theme being repeated. Verse 58 tells us, If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law, which are written in this book, to fear and to honor this awesome, or his honored and awesome name, the Lord your God.

[20:33] So we see this theme repeated. The responsibility of the people is to live in faithful obedience. Right? Very simple.

[20:44] Obey the Lord your God. Obey. It is not to bring a particular sacrifice that you would hope would please him.

[20:54] Most bell worship was maybe this is what he wants right now. They would go to the extent of human sacrifice. Right? If that's what the need required. God very clearly defined the expectation for his people.

[21:08] There were sacrifices, but God told them what sacrifice to offer at what time. Right? And all God's asking is, You obey me. Right?

[21:19] Live in faithful obedience to everything I've asked you to do. Sounds pretty simple, but this is the responsibility of man. To obey the Lord your God.

[21:29] And it says to do it diligently, which means to do it meticulously or to do it with great ability or the utmost effort to be accurate in your obedience. And again, if we remember, because we want to kind of compare this with New Testament truths as well, the law is not in order to make one righteous.

[21:49] The law does not lead one to righteousness. But we understand that the law is just allowing one to live in a relationship with the Lord his God. Right? And we see this.

[22:00] But what God is asking his people to do is live in obedience. That's their responsibility. And that's their only responsibility. Man has but one responsibility.

[22:11] Obey the Lord your God. And it's very clearly laid out for them there. Now, this obedience is kind of set on a higher plane, especially as we look at the curses.

[22:23] And it seems like the curses are so long and so extensive and to such depth and detail. And we wonder why it's so much so there. It is because of this second truth. The responsibility of the nation is to obey him.

[22:35] The second thing we see is their representation of him before the peoples. God had called the nation of Israel to be a representation of him to everyone around them.

[22:47] And we see this truth throughout this passage. The reason the stakes are a little bit higher, if you will, the reason the requirement stands a little bit greater is because they are the billboard that a watching world is looking at to see what it looks like to live in a covenant.

[23:05] A diligent relationship with Yahweh. And he reminds them of that here. He tells them if they walk in faithful obedience, if they are diligently to obey him, then all the peoples, verse 10, so all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord.

[23:21] And they will be afraid of you. So a diligent obedience leads to the reality that everybody hears. You are called by my name. Right? You are my people.

[23:32] And because they hear you are my people, then I will put the fear of you in their hearts and in their lives. And they will flee from you. And they will not be there. So by living in obedience, people don't get to hear about, oh, little so-and-so down here.

[23:46] They don't hear about, oh, you know, oh, Abraham or Enoch or any of these people, what they hear about. And I know those are names that we find throughout Scripture that we hear about. But, you know, they don't hear about these individuals. What they hear is that you are my people.

[23:59] So really the grand scheme is obedience leads to a witness. Right? Their obedience leads to a public representation not of themselves but of their God.

[24:13] And as they walk in obedience, all the nations, he says, will hear that you are my people. And people are watching and seeing. And so with that in mind, he says, if you do not obey me, then I will make you a spectacle among all peoples.

[24:31] Because he goes on to tell them in verse 25 and following, he says, you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. If you disobey, you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

[24:48] And then he goes on in verse 37, you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt. Among all the people where the Lord drives you. Here's the reality. They are a representation among the peoples of the earth for good or bad.

[25:05] And one truth we need to understand here, when we look at the severity of the curses, is God will not be mocked. God's people are a representation of him.

[25:17] We will either represent him and they will either represent him in their blessings or they represent him in their chastisements. God will not be mocked.

[25:29] Because all peoples will hear, that's the people of God. Those are the people who claim Yahweh as their Lord. Those are the people that God is the king over.

[25:39] And as the nations look upon them, God will not be mocked. And if their representation is not fitting of him, then he will chastise them and discipline them so that all the world will still know he is holy.

[25:56] Right? Because by their behavior they are to represent a holy God. And if in their behavior they cannot represent a holy God, then in their punishment they will represent a holy God.

[26:09] This is a principle that remains today. God will not be mocked. And this is the whole thing that really, that Paul's theme inside the churches is just resonating with.

[26:21] Right? That our behavior should not be a mockery to the name we represent. It should never cause a stumbling or a cause of offense.

[26:34] And this is why Paul tells the church at Corinth, you know, Paul says, I can eat anything. There's believers in Corinth and they're asking this question, can we eat meat that's been sacrificed to idols? I love Paul's answer to that.

[26:44] Paul says, what is an idol? He said, I know there's a lot of things that people call gods. He said, but I know in all of my heart and all of my mind there is but one God. I don't care who calls anything a God.

[26:55] I know it's not a God because I know there's only one true God. So Paul says, with that knowledge I can eat anything I want to. I don't care if you tell me that this steak has been offered to a little God because that little God doesn't exist.

[27:06] So I'm going to thank the big God, my God, for providing this steak and I'm going to eat it. Now that was a valid question because meat was hard to come by and it was a very expensive thing unless it was secondhand meat. It's kind of weird for us to think about it, right?

[27:18] But if it had passed through a paganistic temple first and then taken from before the altar of that God and then put up for sale, it's kind of a discounted rate. So if you wanted to buy meat on sale, you bought meat that was once offered to an idol.

[27:30] And Paul says, that's the meat I would buy because I don't care about that little God. Paul says, I'm free from all things. But then Paul stops and he says, but if by eating that meat I cause an offense to someone, I'll never eat meat again.

[27:47] Paul says, I am free of all things. But if I ever call someone, he doesn't even say believer. He says, if an idol worshiper sees me eating that meat and gets confused because he doesn't understand my freedom, I will never eat meat again.

[28:05] Even though I'm free to do it, I won't do it. Why? Because the representation of the name is more important than the rights of the individual.

[28:18] Let's just go ahead and say, that's a hard thing for American believers to swallow. It really is. It really is. Because we live in an individualistic society rather than the representation of the name.

[28:37] And this is what we see. The reason that the discipline is so severe, they represented God's name to the people. And God would not be mocked.

[28:50] And God wanted the peoples of the earth to know he is holy. He is other than. And if he had to display that in their discipline, then he would.

[29:02] He also was given them the opportunity to display that in his blessings. But the choice was theirs. The choice was theirs. And we see this resonating throughout Scripture.

[29:15] There is this responsibility of obedience, but their obedience really is connected to their representation. Christ has called us to walk in faithful obedience to him, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind.

[29:29] And the reason is we are called by his name. Called by his name. Right? We no longer represent ourselves.

[29:41] We represent him. And we see this truth resonating in Scripture. The third thing we see, as we really just look at it, is the rewards that they have for faithful obedience.

[29:55] God gives them the rewards. Their choice is balanced here, right? He tells them what he requires. He tells them, you know, what their representation will be. And he shows them what the rewards.

[30:06] And as we've seen, these rewards are really all-encompassing. Every aspect of life is really a blessing, right? They will be blessed in the country. They will be blessed in the city. They will be blessed when they go out. They will be blessed when they come in.

[30:17] They will be blessed in their basket. That's when they go out to gather their fruit. They will be blessed in their kneading bowl. That is, when they are preparing food. They will be blessed in every measure. They will be blessed with children. They will be blessed in the produce of the ground.

[30:28] They will be blessed in the produce of their livestock. Every aspect of their life will be a blessing. They will be blessed when they go to war, because they'll go out, the enemies will come to them one way and they'll flee seven ways.

[30:39] We see this over and over and over again, this reward for faithful obedience. Again, this is not naming and claiming. God is just saying, this is what it looks like to live as my people. The blessings of the Lord resting upon them, right?

[30:52] He didn't say he would take them away from work. They still had to go to war, right? He didn't say he'd take them away from work. They still had to take their basket out to the field and gather in the harvest. But he said the blessings of Yahweh will rest upon you.

[31:05] And these are all encompassing to every aspect of life and they're really testimonial to the people watching. They are, as I said in the opening, everything that the people in Canaan were looking for in the wrong places.

[31:19] Everything that the people around them were desiring. And all of a sudden God is saying, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put you on display and I'm going to raise you up. I'm going to make you look.

[31:31] I'm going to make the blessings that others are seeking for rest upon you so that people will be drawn to you. And there's these rewards that God puts them out there and he very clearly tells them what they can expect, right?

[31:46] All throughout Scripture, believers are made these promises of God, of expectations we can have of God, walking in faithful obedience. It may not get us in the highest realm of this earth and the highest realm of mankind around us, but God maintains his blessings upon his people.

[32:08] We see this. The fourth and final thing we see is the ruin as a result of the consequences of disobedience. The ruin which is a consequence of disobedience.

[32:21] But this is the majority of the Scripture because just as the blessings of God are all encompassing and the rewards which he promised them encompass every aspect of life, so does the curses.

[32:35] Cursed will you be in the city. Cursed will you be in the country. Cursed will your basket be. Cursed will your needing bow be. Cursed will you be when you go out. Cursed will you be when you come in. Cursed will you be when you go to war.

[32:47] You will go one way. You will flee seven ways. This whole picture of being the head and the tail, you are blessed as a head, means you have the place of preeminence. You are cursed as a tail, which means you have the place of being subject to someone else.

[32:59] All these things, they correlate with one another, but then God takes it further because it's not that you just don't get the reward by living in disobedience. It's not that you just miss out on everything God wants to give you, right?

[33:10] Because it's not, oh, I'm just missing out on what he wanted to provide. I guess life's going to be a little harder. No. Disobedience leads to ruin. Because while all these curses are here, then he dives further.

[33:24] And he starts talking about their future. And he starts talking about being subject to other kings and being indebted to people, going into captivity.

[33:37] He starts speaking of the ruin of being caught up in a city and resulting to cannibalism, which seems so difficult for us to read. And then when we actually see it happening in Scripture, it is equally as difficult to read.

[33:52] And he starts speaking of really their despair and their misery and all the actions that await them simply because they didn't do what God expected them to do.

[34:03] You say, well, that seems harsh. Until we understand this reality, he says, because you rejected me. Disobedience is a rejection of Yahweh.

[34:15] To intentionally disobey is to reject Yahweh from being Lord and King of an individual's life. I reject your lordship here at this point.

[34:30] Where I want to disobey, where I choose to do what I know I shouldn't do, or when I choose not to do what I know I should do, what I'm doing is I'm rejecting his right to rule me at that point.

[34:44] And it is a rejection of his lordship. And that rejection leads to ruin. We see this being played out in Scripture.

[34:56] We see the captivities of the northern kingdom, the Assyrian captivity, and then sometime later, a little bit over 100 years later, we see the fall of the southern kingdom to the Babylonians.

[35:10] That king that would swoop in like an eagle is really described as King Nebuchadnezzar. In other portions of Scripture, that's a Babylonian exile. We see them surrounding the cities.

[35:21] We see these things happening. We actually see them being carried to Egypt in ships after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. So historically, these things happen.

[35:33] A Roman historian recorded the reality that after Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70, many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were shipped off to Egypt, that place where God said they would never go.

[35:44] So everything that God tells them will happen as a result of their rejection comes about. Their dispersion among the nations, their suffering among the nations, their hunger, their famine, their misery, their children being carried away, all these things come about.

[36:03] And just that sad final statement where he says, you will put yourself up for slave for a slave sale, right? You'll put yourself up for auction to be a slave, but no one will buy you. I mean, that's the lowest of the low.

[36:17] You'll say, I'll be anybody's slave, and no one will buy you. And that really is a picture of total ruin. But the reality, what we're seeing, is not the history of the nation of Israel played out for us.

[36:30] What we see in the latter half of Deuteronomy 28 is the reality of man's existence because of the rejection of God. This is the ruin of every man.

[36:44] God requires man to obey Him. And when man cannot obey, we cannot live up to our responsibility of diligent obedience.

[36:57] The ultimate end of that is ruin, right? It is ruin to a place of despair and misery. It is this place of, we can't keep this standard.

[37:09] There's no way we can live according to this covenant. When we read the covenantal standard of the book of Deuteronomy, I look at that and I say, there's absolutely no way I can say that I could diligently obey this in every part and every portion.

[37:24] And because of that, the expectation I should have in my life is the latter half of Deuteronomy 28, a life of ruin. I'm going to get to the place where nobody will even buy me as a slave.

[37:36] Then we turn the pages in our Bible and we read that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us.

[37:50] The outcome of our efforts ultimately leads to the ruin of our life. But the grace and the mercy of the Lord God intersects that outcome.

[38:04] And while we are on the path to ruin and despair, Christ died for us. This is not just the history of the nation of Israel, though we see these things coming about.

[38:16] This is the end result of all man. This is the end outcome of all mankind. We can't live up to our responsibility. We will fail to be a perfect representation of His name.

[38:30] There's no way in the world we could ever experience all these promised rewards. So the only thing that we could expect is a life of ruin, but for Jesus Christ.

[38:41] And passages like this cause us not only just to really look at it with wonder as a nation of Israel and go, oh man, how sad, but really to turn that sad countenance and look to the cross and say, that's what I deserve, but for the price of Calvary.

[39:01] But for the price of Calvary, I don't have a life of ruin, a life of redemption and forgiveness and grace and mercy.

[39:12] And it helps us to see the cross in so much better light. Because this is where we're headed. This right here. Because the nation of Israel, I'll just go ahead and let's go ahead and say it.

[39:25] The nation of Israel, as we have in the Old Testament, they're not better than us and they're not worse than us. And they couldn't do it. And neither could we.

[39:37] Neither could we. And that's why we need a Savior. That's why we need a Savior hanging on the cross for our sins. Because this is what we deserve.

[39:48] A life of utter ruin. But through His sacrifice, we get a life of restoration. Deuteronomy chapter 28. The choice before His people.

[39:58] Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you.

[40:48] Thank you. Thank you.

[41:48] Thank you. Thank you.

[42:48] Thank you. Thank you.

[43:48] Thank you. Thank you.

[44:48]  Thank you.