But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you. Sermons
I. LAW IS THE VERITABLE VOICE OF GOD; the manifestation of his thought; the mirror of his mind. "The Lord spake unto you." "Out of the midst of the fire" the flame of holiness and zeal - issues every command. If man's moral nature has an open ear, it may often detect the imperial voice of Heaven. 'Tis not to sight God reveals himself, but to the ear. His messengers are emphatically "a voice." "Faith comes by hearing." II. LAW, IN ITS SPHERE, IS PERFECT. Over every work of his hands God pronounces the verdict "Very good;" and Law, being the instrument with which he works, is "holy, just, and good." For unrighteous man there may be something more precious than Law; but when restored to God, Law is his delight. In the domain of belief we cannot augment or diminish God's Law without self-injury. Perfection cannot be improved upon. In the sphere of practice, to halt short of the line of duty, or to go beyond the line, is alike an offence. Self-mutilation, or blemish, is the effect. III. THE VERACITY OF LAW ATTESTED BY ACTUAL EXPERIENCE. Every honest minded man may discover whether or not the written Word embodies a Divine Law. If a genuine Law, its authority is ratified by an honest conscience; as sanctions, whether of commendation or curse, are witnessed by every clear-sighted eye. Every truthful man is a witness that God's laws (whether written in external nature, in man's constitution, or in Scripture) bring life to the obedient, death to the transgressor. Not a Law is revealed in the Scriptures, but it tends to righteousness, happiness, life! IV. DIVINE LAW ASSERTS ITS AUTHORITY OVER THE WHOLE MAN. 1. Over the intellect, for it demands attention, investigation, comparison, and discrimination. 2. Authority over the affections, for it demands reverence, esteem, choice, and love. 3. Authority over the moral faculty; for it demands assent, response, and loyalty. 4. Over the active powers, for it requires watchfulness, self-restraint, uninterrupted deference, and uncompromising service. V. LAW IS THE PATHWAY TO TRUE EMINENCE. Every successful application of science to practical life is simply a treading of the pathway of law. So long as man finds the footprints of God's Law, he moves onward. There is no real progress in any department of human life, except along the line of God's Law. To find that, and to follow it, is success. This is equally true in the spiritual province. This is the quintessence of wisdom - the stepping-stone to eminence! What men - what nation - have ever reached to permanent greatness, save they who have trodden the path of Divine Law? VI. LOYALTY TO GOD'S LAW BRINGS US NEAR TO GOD. As when we follow up the footprints of a man rapidly enough, we at length come up with the man himself; so, as we pursue the pathway of Law, we come soon without the hallowed precincts of God's presence. We see the working of the heavenly machinery, the movements of God's thought and purpose. We move with it, and ever come nearer to the central light and love. It is a narrow path, and few they are who find it. VII. A SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE IS SELF-PROPAGATING. Like plants in the garden, every righteous man bears seed after his own kind. Without formal teaching, the beauty of his life will be a living lesson - the fragrance of his deeds will be contagious. They who love God's Law will be zealous to teach God's Law, and to commend it to others. A fine trait in Abraham's character comes into view when God said, "I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him." Every man bequeaths to posterity a large legacy of blessing or of bane. VIII. THE LAW OF GOD B DESTINED TO HAVE PERMANENCE IN HUMAN LIFE. There was high significance in the fact that the Decalogue was written, not in rays of light upon the sapphire firmament, nor in legible characters upon parchment, but on stone. The stone of Sinai is said to belong to one of the oldest formations - the granite period. The forms and modes of law may undergo change to meet the growing necessities of men; but the inner sense - the kernel - of every law still abides. "Heaven and earth may pass away," all material stricture may undergo radical change - but the words of God can undergo no change. What is true once is true always! What was right a myriad of ages since, retains all its authority today, and will be obligatory world without end. The sum and substance of moral law is writ by the finger of God, and graven on the solid rock! - D.
But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God. Moses spoke like a father during the closing days of his life to those who "were then alive." There is a reference here to the multitudes who had fallen in the desert because they did not cleave, etc. They cared not for Him who had delivered them. Moses reminds them of the declension of many to the idolatry of Baal Peor, to which they were tempted by those who wished to bring a curse on Israel. He recalls the terrible punishment which overtook the sinners (Numbers 25). But those who cleaved to the Lord remained in life. This was to be an example to the people to whom Moses spoke, when they realised in this how truly the Lord is a jealous God.I. THE SPECIAL REGARD OF JEHOVAH FOR THOSE WHO CLEAVE TO HIM. 1. He watches over their temporal existence, and does not permit it to be snatched away like that of many stoners, unexpectedly and before the times. 2. True, we do not now think that an early death is a punishment for falling away from God. With us it is not the same as with Israel. Their reward was first the earthly Canaan. To us is the promise of a heavenly inheritance. Then to die was to lose the promised land; now it is the way of entrance to the heavenly country. Therefore the Lord often takes some of those who cleave to Him early from earth, as if they were His specially favoured ones. 3. Still, one has often the impression that some are called hence sooner than should have been. And this may seem either a mark of favour or the reverse — of favour, since the poor sinner is saved from further sinning, and may be brought to himself before death's solemn advent; or of unfavour, since it seems as if it ought to have been otherwise. II. THE SPECIAL HELP AND DELIVERANCE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO CLEAVE TO GOD. 1. Those who cleave to Him experience deliverance from sickness, from trouble and death; in war and pestilence, so that they are not suddenly snatched away; whilst many others — although we dare not judge who — who are accustomed to live according to their lusts, have little safeguard. 2. At all events, what Moses says in regard to this life applies to us in regard to the future life. There It will be declared, None is lost who have cleaved to the Lord, 'they are alive every one this day.'" 3. Whereas those will not be found who have never sought after God or His Son Jesus. 4. If we would live in time and eternity, then we must cleave to the Lord, "flee from idolatry" and all the abominations that cleave to it. (J. C. Blumhardt.) People Amorites, Baalpeor, Bezer, Gadites, Israelites, Manasseh, Manassites, Moses, Og, Reubenites, SihonPlaces Arabah, Aroer, Bashan, Beth-baal-peor, Bezer, Egypt, Gilead, Golan, Hermon, Heshbon, Horeb, Jordan River, Mount Sion, Peor, Pisgah, Ramoth, Sea of the Arabah, Valley of the ArnonTopics Adhered, Alive, Cleave, Cleaving, Cling, Faith, Fast, Held, Kept, To-dayOutline 1. An exhortation to obedience41. Moses appoints the three cities of refuge on that side of Jordan 44. Recapitulation Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 4:3Library February the Sixteenth Crowding Out God"Lest thou forget." --DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13. That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can live as though He were … John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year Deuteronomy Political and Religious Life of the Jewish Dispersion in the West - their Union in the Great Hope of the Coming Deliverer. Of the Cities of Refuge. That the Devout Soul Ought with the Whole Heart to Yearn after Union with Christ in the Sacrament The First Covenant The Unity of God The Northern Coasts of Galilee. Amanah. The Mountain of Snow. Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices. Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory . The Second Commandment "They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. " A Reformer's Schooling Second visit to Nazareth - the Mission of the Twelve. Covenant Duties. Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements. Wisdom and Revelation. Links Deuteronomy 4:4 NIVDeuteronomy 4:4 NLT Deuteronomy 4:4 ESV Deuteronomy 4:4 NASB Deuteronomy 4:4 KJV Deuteronomy 4:4 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 4:4 Parallel Deuteronomy 4:4 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 4:4 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 4:4 French Bible Deuteronomy 4:4 German Bible Deuteronomy 4:4 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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