Deuteronomy 4:1-43
The Senses Census

I. Deafness and Blindness
1. If you had to be deaf or blind, which would you choose? Be without sight or sound?
2. The worst would be to lose both hearing and seeing, like Helen Keller. She became deaf and blind.
3. Ann Sullivan was called “The Miracle worker” for breaking through to her.
4. Another handicap is thinking reality is only what you can see, not knowing who to listen to.
II. The Commandments (4:1-14)
A. Listen and Do (4:1-8)
1. You do God’s Word “that you may live.” You must “keep” it all (like Matthew 18:16-18).
2. Don’t add to the Word your favorite prohibition or take from the Word, even when it’s convenient.
3. They saw, with their own eyes, what the Lord did at Baal-peor. He “destroyed” those who sinned.
4. We’re commanded to see that we’ve been taught statutes and rules “that you should do them.”
5. The Lord Jesus commissioned us to go and make disciples teaching them to do everything.
6. Now that God has done, you need to do. Salvation comes first and then God gives us His statutes.
7. When we put the Word into practice, people will be impressed. They see God is among us.
8. We maybe the only Bible some people read. They’ll see that we have something “righteous.”
B. Keep Your Soul Diligently (4:9-14)
1. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, take care to keep your soul diligently. Apply yourself.
2. Teach God’s Word to your children so they learn to fear the Lord and pass it on to their children.
III. The Consuming Fire (4:15-24)
1. Because He’s made a covenant with us with stipulations watch yourselves very carefully.
2. Remember that “you saw no form.” People have an urge to reduce God to an image.
3. The early church strictly prohibited icons but by the year 787, they were accepted. Be careful.
4. Be careful about the idolatry of covetousness, of living for wealth and the idol of the family.
5. Beware, the Lord is jealous for the affections of the people He’s saved.
6. He’s brought us out of bondage to sin, from the iron furnace of His eternal wrath.
7. In the cross we also see God’s wrath in the Father punishing the Son because of our sins.
8. What kind of God do you see, by His works? He even punishes Moses. Here’s the conclusion.
9. What you can see about God from what He has done: “the Lord your God is a consuming fire.”
10. If the God you see, in your mind is not a consuming fire; a holy God then you’re blind.
IV. The Covenant (4:25-31)
1. Covenants bind us to Him, or Him to us. If we act corrupting by serving an idol we break the covenant.
2. Covenants had typical parts: witnesses, stipulations, penalties for breaking them.
3. The Lord is the Great King and Israel is the nation He is covenanting with. Now we are His holy nation.
4. If they break it, they will not live long; they will be scattered and left few in number.
5. But that tribulation (trouble) will result in them seeking the Lord and being found by Him.
6. The Lord Jesus gave us a new covenant. That’s what we remember in the Lord’s Supper.
7. Tribulation causes them to seek the Lord and so He finds His sheep. His sheep hear voice.
8. The Lord has made a covenant to save His people because “the Lord your God is a merciful God.”
V. The Consideration (4:32-43)
1. Review what the Lord has done in the past. “Ask,” about what God has done.
2. He might be invisible but what He does is visible. He shows us who He is so that we can see it.
3. The Word of God came from heaven and became flesh and dwelt among us.
4. He chose Israel first and then brought them out of Egypt. He chose us first.
5. Consider that you must not just be a spectator of God’s actions or a hearer. You must “keep” His Word.
6. Israel was supposed to have select cities that were refuges if someone accidentally killed someone.
7. So the three cities of refuge are proof that Israel has already begun to enter the Promised Land.
8. We have victories now because we’re in the Promised Land and others can see it.
VI. Invitation: Life comes from God’s Word. The Word became flesh so that we could see Him. We could see that He was full of grace and truth, both a consuming fire and gracious, loving us, making a covenant with us before we ever lived. He is the miracle worker who reveals Himself to us deaf and blind sinners. If you want to see what God is like look at the Word, the Son. And if, having seen Him and heard Him, you believe Him, observe everything that He’s commanded. Be His disciple and follow Him into the Promised Land.