1-4-26 - What Does The Lord Require From You

So after, season of Advent, this last month or so, we're back to the book of Deuteronomy. We're in the middle of chapter 10, and our text starts off with Moses asking Israel a question. The question is, what does the Lord your God require of you? Our text asks that question. It also answers that question.

And then it proclaims God's sovereignty over all creation and over his choosing of Israel. And it ends with an exhortation to the Israelites, to God's people based on God's sovereignty and their persistent rebellion, which we'll see as we go into this text. My hope this morning is that each one of us will consider our own ways before the Lord and take the exhortation at the end to heart. The goal of our study of scripture is not simply to fill our hearts, but to change our hearts, to change our lives. And so, that's my hope is that we would hear and repent and believe in Jesus.

Would you please stand now as we read the word of the Lord from Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 12 through 16. Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes, which I am commanding you today for your good. Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet on your fathers did the Lord set his affection to love them.

And he chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples as it is this day. So circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

I've told you guys before that when when I prepare to preach, I read the text and I say, I look for the friction point. The part that rubs me the wrong way. The part that I just kinda wanna move past and not address. And then I say, that's the part I think we need to to drill into because that's the part that probably will be most helpful to us. And so in this text, I think it's the question that Moses asked.

That's the part that's kind of like I don't like that question. Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? If you had to answer that question, what would you say? Scripture has many answers. Our text has one one answer, but there are other answers that are given.

But in real life, as you live it, what do you wake up in the morning? What do you think about during the day? What do you consider as you go to bed regarding what the Lord requires of you? Does he require nothing of you? How are you doing it meeting whatever it is you think he requires of you?

I think many people, many of us see the question and tend to think the Lord requires everything of me. He He requires everything of me. Everything that's good and necessary is dependent on me. I know that mothers feel that way in the care of their children, and they tend to talk about it. I also know the fathers feel that way, and they don't tend to talk about it as much.

But they feel as though everything hinges on them. It's heavy. Now, I realized that there are some here this morning who when I asked this question, you go, yeah. Maybe I don't care so much what God requires of me. Right?

You know, I I just don't think about it that much. Different problem. Your problem is not that you're overwhelmed with your responsibility before God, but that your heart's cold toward God. And you don't have concern for what he requires of you. But to the one who feels as though everything hangs on them, they can't sleep at night, they can't rest.

Joy is a concept, not a, and felt it's a part of life. The question seems to put its finger in your pain. The weight of responsibility that you feel can be overwhelming at times, and it often causes you to stumble, causes me to stumble. We despise this question because we feel as though we're always failing to fulfill whatever it is the Lord requires of us. I'm not doing enough.

Right. I didn't do it soon enough. And if even we were to say, I think I did well today, we would remember last week or last year. Or we'd worry about the future. Question that we often, often comes to us as though we're tired, and we say, just one more mountain to climb now that you're broken in and broken down.

No something more, something else is necessary. And so we're weary. And we don't like the question. Jesus says this to those who are weary. To those who hear this question and are worn out by it, in Matthew eleven twenty eight to 30, he says, come to me.

Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Fry and gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is So the first thing I want to tell you about this question and about our struggle with it is that Jesus knows your struggle. Spouse's weakness may frustrate you.

And your kids' weaknesses may frustrate you. And you may have all kinds of grumbling, fizzing frustration inside of you about them. Jesus says to you, come to me. You who are weary and heavy laden come to me. Come to me and I'll give you rest.

It isn't that what you want. Don't you want rest? From the from just the hamster wheel of life. Where do you turn for rest? To your phone?

To sports? To fantasy novels? To sci fi? To what? Food?

To drink? To porn? Where do you turn for rest? Where do you go when you're worn out and you've got nothing left and you go, you know what? I just I just need to I just need a break.

I see a break. Jesus says come to me, to his people, to those who want rest, he says come to me. You who are weary under the burden of what's required or feel as though God requires too much of you and that you're failing at it. Come to me and you will find rest. Is?

A yoke's that big wooden and leather thing that goes on the shoulders of oxen to pull a cart. It's what makes it tolerable. If they had to say, grab the the the strap or the cart with their teeth and pull it with their mouth. And so all the stuff that you're doing and all the places that you turn, Jesus calls you away from that in this question. What does the Lord require of you?

Jesus says, come to me, and I'll give you rest from the weariness. When you're tired, when you're weary, when you when you chafe at the question, that's an indication to us that we're off the path. We're off the path. We're not where we should be. And so Jesus calls us back.

Come to me. Come come back to me. It is true that in this section in Matthew that our does our serving God and the responsibilities that we have are not the only things that weary us. We also get weary from pursuing our sins, from pursuing the things I mentioned earlier. What do you where do you turn when you rest?

That's a question of what do you pursue. Remember last week I asked what are you pursuing? What do you pursue? Whatever it is you're pursuing, whether it's good or or evil or wicked, Jesus says what you need is to come to me. What I require of you is that you come to me.

If you want rest, I'm the one who gives rest. I'm the one where you will find relief. And so Jesus called all those who are weary from chasing sin as well as those who've, who are confused about what God requires of them. He says, come to me. And so Moses' question has this this same effect.

There's a question behind the question. What does the Lord God require of you? You might say, I don't know. You might say, too much. You might say, I don't care.

Or he's not allowed to require that of me. Or he's not allowed to require that of me. Or he Or he's not allowed to require that of me. Moses asked this question, and this is the same as the exhortation Jesus gives you. What does the Lord require to you?

Come to me. What does the Lord require of you? Moses says these things, to fear God, to walk in all of his ways and love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes. That's what the Lord requires of you. And you go, see, I told you.

Look at how much work that is. That's why I'm so tired. All this stuff. Fearing and loving and serving and walking and keeping. It's a whole life.

And you're right. It is. Survival around. Your life is meant. All of it.

Every square inch of it. Whether it's agreeable to you or distasteful to you. Whether it's easy for you, whether it's hard for you. It's meant to be spent in service to Jesus Christ. That's what it's supposed to be.

And I can tell you that whatever hardships or trials or giants you face along the way. And so you're without an excuse. For turning away. What I want us to see is that this answer that the Lord or that Moses gives to the people is actually quite a gracious answer. They ought to have seen this call to obedience as a great privilege that they were allowed to participate in.

And the reason I say that is you have to realize these questions are not asked in a vacuum. They're asked in a context. And so if you're asking people, what does the Lord require of you? You have to be taking into account what they've been up to. And what is it that the Israelites at this time in their history have been up to?

Keeping and loving and serving and fearing? No. No. What did they been up to? What?

Golden calves. Complaining. Strife. Fighting. They were they were a miserable people.

They were in a difficult circumstance, but they were not a cheerful happy people. They were grumblers and complainers. They threatened how many times to kill Moses. I don't remember off the top of my head, but more than once. Why did you bring us out here to not have food?

Why did you bring us out here not to have water? Why did you bring us out here to be consumed? We're gonna kill you for this. At least in Egypt, we had meat in our pots. Had they spent their time loving God and serving God and fearing God and keeping his commandments and walking in his ways.

Oh, no. They sure had not. Let me ask this question another way. Not what does the Lord require you, but what would the Lord have been just in requiring of them, given their behavior? He would have been just in requiring their life.

They were so full of sin. He would have he he could have just as easily said, what does the Lord require of you? Your head on a stake. What does the Lord require of you that you be blotted out and forgotten among the peoples of the of the world? And so Moses answer generally of obedience, more specifically to fear, to walk, to serve, to love, to keep.

These things were privileges given what they actually deserved. But if we miss that point, if we forget who they were and what they what they're what they actually deserved and how how much they had failed, we start to think, well, God is demanding so much of me. And it's like, well But he's what he's given is an opportunity. A privilege to continue to be his people, to continue to walk in his ways to rip that we're not guaranteed. They were not guaranteed.

At least not by their actions. They were guaranteed because God swore by himself to be their God. But they had not, by their own actions, secured and retained that blessing. They had forfeited it time and time again. And so obedience for them and for us is a privilege given what we actually deserve.

It's a humble thing to remember what you deserve. But Israel had no boast of faithfulness. No boast of obedience to the Lord. Isaiah said in his in 50 chapter 53 verse six, he says, all of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him, prophesying of Jesus Christ.

So what So what would the Lord be just in requiring? Payment. Payment. But Isaiah tells us that that payment was not required at the wandering sheep's neck, but at the cross where Jesus died. And so these words are true of Israel and they're true of us.

And so this idea of your own sinfulness and depravity and impending judgment if left to yourself is something that we need to plumb the depths of. Something we need to think about with regard to ourselves. It's something we're very bad at today. What we're really good at is saying, it's gonna be okay because God loves you. And I mean to tell you that's true.

And if that said out of context, it is an entirely insufficient and misleading answer. If you were asked to explain just one of your sins and how it came about, could you explain in detail what caused it? Could you explain the many ways it's expressed itself? And so I don't mean like, I was lazy this week. Sure.

Fine. What caused you to be lazy this week? Well, I didn't get enough sleep. No. Well, maybe just a little bit.

What else caused you to be lazy? Well, I got a lot of pressure at work. Alright. What else? Well, we're sick.

What else caused you to be lazy? The game was on. What else caused you to be lazy? Someone said YouTube, social media. What else caused you to be lazy?

Okay. How did your laziness manifest this week? Well, I didn't get my homework turned in on time. Well, I didn't have devotions this week. Well, list.

Right? Find half a dozen or a dozen ways it's expressed itself. Okay. How often were you were you lazy? How many times a day?

Answer that question. How did you justify it when you were preparing to be lazy? Laziness is something you prepare for. A procrastinator is just a a a more a more acceptable way of saying, I organize my life around being lazy, but try and get my work done. Procrastinator is is a terribly lazy person.

Terribly unproductive. They say, I'm very productive in these little short sprints. And I go, yes. And if you would if you would just work steadily, you would accomplish so much more in a week or a month or a lifetime. And then when the bad things do happen, it's not because I was lazy.

It's because my car wouldn't start, because I was sick, and because this other thing, it's it's never that we prepared. We, you know, we didn't prepare for it. How do you hide your laziness? How do you blame it on other people? How do you twist scripture to defend yourself?

How do you use your sinfulness and your weakness or your parents or your upbringing or your finances to justify your behavior? This isn't fun, is it? This isn't any fun. Then what do you need to do to resist that temptation? And after we've laid out all of the circumstances, just around that one sin, not because that's the only sin you've committed, but because it's just a less offensive example than ones I could I could give.

What then can be done about it? If we have a depth of understanding of our sinfulness, what then do we do about it? I hope it goes away. No. What you must you do at every point that you've already listed, what must you do to resist it?

How do you cultivate hatred for it? And to what lengths will you go to kill it? But God requires too much of us. When in point of fact, all that he requires of us is the things that are necessary for us to actually have good things. In our passage, he says all these commandments, all these commandments.

At the end of verse 13, he says, which I am commanding you today for your misery. I'm commanding you this day for your good. And we go, man, I've got good things coming out of every other quarter. Satisfy me. I just keep going after Oh, man, are we It's gross.

But the Lord, you know, but it what does the Lord require of us? He says, everything. Too much. It's too hard. But given who we are and what we're like, to even be asked the question and not have the Lord to proceed to judgment is gracious and kind.

To be told again, as the Israelites were told, not for the first time here, What the Lord requires is that you fear him and that you walk in his ways, that you serve him and love him with all your heart, that you keep his commandments for your own good. That's what he requires for you, that you act in in accordance with your own benefit. What does God get from his people obeying him? Like how does that help him? Is it good for him?

Does he need it? He doesn't need it. He doesn't need you to do the right thing to make him happy. Doctrinal or theological term for that is the aseity of God. Okay?

He is entirely complete. He is without any deficiency. And so whatever you do or don't do or whatever you think or don't think, it doesn't make him go, I don't have what I need now. And so if God commands us to do all of these things and yet he doesn't derive any benefit from us doing it, why then does he require these things of us? He tells us, for our good.

These things are required not for his good, but for our good. He shows us the path of life. Path of joy and path of blessing. And so we would do well when asked this question, what does the Lord God require of you? We would do well to ask, what do I deserve?

The whole point of getting to know your sin is not to depress you. It's not to depress you. Eric said something interesting about me. I don't know if it's true or not. He said, I'm not he doesn't think I'm actually as grumpy as I come across.

I think sometimes I am more grumpy than I come across. But I actually do think that a deep knowledge of your sin is how you will gain depth of and breadth of faith God. It is the path toward it. If you don't know yourself, you won't know God. You won't know what Jesus came and did, how costly it was, how how, expensive your salvation was.

And so you ought to make it your life study to learn two things. Just just two things. You should aim to increase your knowledge of yourself, which means your sinfulness. And you should aim to increase your knowledge of God and his holiness. All other knowledge, all other benefit, all other goodness that will come to you will come to you under one of those two heads.

Now I didn't come up with that myself. That's what John Calvin says at the beginning of his institutes. He says the most essential thing for men to for for man, the race of man to know is themselves and God who made them. And from that flows all other wisdom. So God does require things of his people, and he's gracious in requiring those things.

Because in requiring those things of people who fallen short, they are given mercy. So what does he require? He requires fear. Holy fear or reverence. What does that mean to fear God?

The first thing in the list, what does it mean to fear God? Let's just take one area. Let's take our speech and talk about fearing God and how we speak. How do you talk about God? How do you listen to others talk about God?

I know that all of us moderate our speech depending on who's around. Right? And it's seamless. When I was a kid, I used oh, man. I used to curse all the time.

It's just that's just I wasn't a I wasn't a Christian. I didn't have a dad. No one. My mom cussed all the time. So we just I mean, just all the time, constantly.

But you know who I never cussed around? My mom. It's a little I mean, little kid. You know, eight year old, 10 year old, whatever. Foul mouth.

But I never cussed around my mom. Why? Because Dawn dish soap tastes terrible. I learned it early on. Right?

I learned you don't talk that way around your mom. And without even thinking about it, it's just I'd be out with my friends or whatever and speak however I however it was came out. But around my mom, I didn't even think about it. It was just not that way. Why?

Well, because I had some fear or reverence for my mom. And I knew that she didn't approve of it. And so I just didn't do it. I just didn't do it. How would you speak if you were in a courtroom about the judge?

You'd be surprised. So the lawyer says you'd be surprised how people but but if you were if you if you if you actually thought for a second, will what I'm saying benefit or harm me? How then would you speak around the judge? Or the police officer who's pulled you over? Or your boss?

You realize in all of these areas, you'd immediately moderate your speech according to fear. Right? If I say this, it's going to make it worse for me. Therefore, I will not say that in front of them. And that's hypocrisy, but it is how we live.

It is what we do most times unless we're aware of it. And the reason is because this fear, this this this this thing we can't get a hold of with regard to fear of God, we understand it perfectly in other areas. We're like, well, yeah. It's not in my best interest. I'm afraid of bad consequences, so I don't do that.

There. When it comes to fear of God, we're like, I don't know how what that I don't think we're supposed to fear God. So is Moses wrong? He's not wrong. And what he's saying isn't past its expiration.

It didn't have a time, and now Christians aren't to fear God. This is something that is foundational to the life of a Christian, that they fear God. And that in their speech and in every other way, they make a point of demonstrating their fear. And isn't it interesting how in some areas of life that fear isn't even conscious. It's just it's just hardwired into us.

We don't do things in certain contexts because we just know it's wrong. But we have to work so hard to try to get some get a hold of something where we think it might be right, the right expression of fear and God. It is an area of of weakness, an area where we need to we need to cultivate our understanding and our knowledge of ourselves. How don't we fear God? How do we just speak however we want and say whatever we want?

How do we how do we take things that we read in scripture and say it's not true? Because I don't like it. That's one way you can you can lack fear of God. You can read the Bible and say, you know, I don't agree. I have a different understanding of that.

To which I would say a different and a wrong understanding. Right? When God speaks, our mouths ought to be shut. When God acts, we ought not to judge. Even when we read things in scripture that cut that are so contrary to our way of thinking and acting, we ought to realize that the failure is 100% on our side and not his.

And then our fear of God is not just in reading and and and silencing our our opposition to it, but then pursuing loving it and understanding it as a good and right thing because God doesn't do anything wrong. And then when it comes up in conversation and someone's blaspheming and angry, you would say, no, no, no. You're wrong. That's not that's not that's not how you we're Christians. That's not how we ought to think about this or see these things.

It's one way to fear God just in our speech. We're to love and to serve God. Did you notice how he says that we're to love and serve? You're to serve the Lord your God with what? All of your heart and with all of your soul.

Which means it's possible for you to think you're serving God, but if your heart and your soul are not behind it, it's not service to God. It's not service to God. You can do the right thing even what God commends to you. And if your heart is grumbling and complaining about it, it's not done in faith and it's not serving God. What does God say about giving?

What kind of giver does he want? A cheerful giver. Right? Okay. So what if Paul says, I sell all that I have and I give to the poor, but I have not love, what am I?

Nothing. Nothing. But I did. I gave my body to be burned at the stake. If I have not love, I'm nothing.

And so service, outward conformity, saying the right things, playing along, keeping your disagreements to yourself, it's worthless if your heart isn't tuned to God. God's not pleased with it. He's not glorified by it. He's not satisfied. He's not like, well, I'm glad they I'm glad that they just went along to get along.

I suppose that's better than than just outright rebellion. Actually, in his sight, it's not. To us it is, but to him it's not. And so our service, our keeping of his commandments is to be done with our whole heart. And when we fall short of that, God hasn't required too much of us.

We've sought him too little. We're serving God right now in in a worship service. Right now, this moment, are you attentive? Did you prepare yourselves for worship? Does God require that of you?

It's like, woah. I don't want to talk about that. I don't want anyone to think that if we show up late or if we're falling asleep or if our kids are screaming their heads off because we kept them up too late or whatever is going on. The question comes to us from God, is worship a priority? And the New Testament, worship is is a priority, a high priority, a privilege, a high privilege.

As close as you're going to get to heaven is where we're at right now. You go out of here apart away from the assembly and away from, the singing of praises in the in the communion of saints, you're further away from it. It's not you're not devoid of it, but you're further away from it. This is the high point of your and of your life. And if you don't prepare for it, did God require too much of you?

Did God require too much of you? Did God require too much of you? Did God require too much of you? No. And so we serve God by keeping his commandments, not by relabeling our desires as his commandments and then doing what we intended to do all along.

And as I said already, these commandments and these things that he gives to us, they feel burdensome to us. He gives to us for our good. Moses then moves on and he says something that's meant to humble the Israelites. Whenever you I mean, the pride of God's people in thinking that they're special and better is as old as the hills. And so when Moses says to them, behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth, and all that is in it.

What is it that he's saying? That God sovereign over all these things, that he's the creator and the ruler of it? Yes. Yes. But it is set in comparison to them.

Meaning God has far more glorious things than you at his disposal that he created. Things that don't have the trouble of sin that you do. At his disposal, testifying to him and to his glory. This is meant to humble the Israelites by pointing out that God, as I said earlier, doesn't need them strictly speaking. He doesn't need their obedience.

This is not said to discourage them, but to prepare them to receive what he says next. Moses started out in this text by showing Israel their failures, by asking, what does the Lord require of you? It's the same question that that Jesus asked the rich young ruler. Right? He says, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And he says, what does the law say? How does it read to you? They're asking, what's the Lord require? Right? And Jesus whole point in speaking to the rich young ruler was to say, you haven't done it.

You think you've done it. You haven't done it. And Moses point is the same here in saying to us, humble yourselves. Repent. God has heaven in the highest heavens, earth and all that it contains at his disposal.

He doesn't need you, which would be really discouraging if he didn't say the very next thing, which was yet on your fathers, did the Lord set his affection to love them? And he chose their descendants after them. Even you above all peoples as it is this day. That there there's there's so much in this. We could have a whole sermon on this.

Moses is is creating conflict and tension and even fear in their hearts, true and real fear, to realign their affections in their in their place. He has heaven at his disposal, yet he chose you guys. So don't ever think that he chose you because you're better than the rest. That you're special. That he saw some quality in you.

That you're less sinful. That you're more tender hearted. That you would be more that you're more obedient. Leave all of that aside. None of that none of that is built on or proceeds from the gospel.

The gospel is that wicked terrible lost sinners, God chose them, plucked them up out of death and gave them life. Not and they didn't earn it. They didn't deserve it. They didn't do good with it once they received it. And not only did he choose them, it says, he set his affection to love them.

And so if you wanna know the love of God, and you wanna rest well at night, and you wanna have something to say to your neighbor, this is what you need to know. You need to know who you are. And there's no shame in knowing who you are. And then in turn saying, as awful and terrible as I am, look at the grace and the mercy of God choosing me. And the response is not, well, I'm glad about that.

I guess I'll do how I how I was doing. But what does the Lord require of me ought to be the thing we ask. Augustine said, command what you will only grant what you command. That's the hearts cry of a Christian. You saved me from my sins, and I know who I am.

And so you've saved me. Now come in me what you're you're you're I I am yours. You've loved me. Tell me what to do. It would be my privilege and my honor to do whatever it is you require of me.

The Lord sets his affection on them to love them. He chose them and their descendants after them even above all peoples. How was it they were thinking about themselves at this moment? Like worthy people? Like we're pretty good people?

No. Pretty miserable people. Pretty sinful people. And yet the Lord set his affection on them to love them as it is to this day. Then and as it is to this day now.

They were the recipients of God's mercy and his grace and his forgiveness. He loved them, and so they were to in turn love one another. John commends the same thing to us in his in his, epistle, first John four nineteen. It says, we love because he first loved us. What does the Lord require of Israel?

Did they behave toward one another and toward their neighbors as God has behaved toward them? That's all. That's the gospel. It's the story of their sin and the story of God's love. And it's the story that's still being told today, and it's a story that's that's being lived out and worked out in every Christian's life.

It's a humbling story and it's a glorious story that you get to be a part of as a Christian because God has been so good to you. And so when he asks what's required of you, don't stiffen your necks. In fact, that's the final exhortation, isn't it? So circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. You've been resistant, and you've been calloused, and you've been like digging in, and you've been like, well, I don't know, and I'm gonna have to pray about it.

And I I'm I don't I don't think I can. If God's been so good to you, the logic is, then circumcise your hearts and don't stiffen your neck any longer. Repent. Trust God. In acts three nineteen, it says, therefore, repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away.

In order the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. That's what it means to circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. Turn away from your sins. Give them up. Stop defending them.

Confess them. Hate them. Resist them. Pray that God would help you overcome them. In doing that, you'll find rest for your souls.

You'll find times of refreshing from the Lord. This is the only right and acceptable response to the grace of God, to the gospel, to the mercy of not being destroyed as our sins deserve. Gratitude and love being expressed through repentance and renewed obedience. That's the message in this short passage. And it's my hope and my prayer that we'll take it to heart.

Let's pray.