Please remain standing for our scripture reading, Deuteronomy chapter 8 verses 1 through 8. The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness. that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you like his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let your hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you known that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these 40 years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and by fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. All right. You know, several years ago, Mark come to our church and his desire was to see if God had called him into full time ministry. And so I spent a lot of time with him during that time. And some of the things we did was, is we spent a lot of time praying together. And when you get to know somebody through prayer, it makes all the difference in the world. And I learned that this man loved Christ. And I want to love the people that Christ loves. And he's one of those guys. And so I could be somewhere else today, but I'd rather hear Mark. So God's blessing on you, brother. It is hard to get you out of the pulpit. Thank you, Pastor Bob. I appreciate that. Last week, Charlie said that Dr. Pepper, or no, Diet Pepsi, that's a means of the Holy Spirit, Diet Coke. Well, I don't drink diet anything. I don't drink Diet Coke, so that's a problem. I got to get my timer out so I know where I'm at. Please spend some time in prayer. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would speak to us through your word. It is you who speak, and we want to listen. I pray, Father, that your spirit would be gracious to us, that your word would breathe life into us. Man does not live by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And I pray, Lord, that we would be a people who are hungry for you and who can be fed by you this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, getting a little louder. Can you hear me now? All right. Moses had a very difficult challenge, a unique challenge here in Deuteronomy and I'd like to I'd like you to put yourself in his shoes and kind of think What would I do in Moses position? So in Deuteronomy and here we're in Deuteronomy chapter 8 The challenge is this this really is is kind of round two for the people of Israel and God promised that he would bring them into the land of Israel and he delivered them. He sent Moses into Egypt. They came out of Egypt. They went into the wilderness. They received the law at Mount Sinai. They entered into a covenant with him. They agreed that they were going to obey God and follow the commandments. And when they made it to the land to the time when it was time to go in. They sent the spies and they didn't like the report that the spies brought. And they rebelled against God. They said, we're not going to obey you. We're not going to trust you. And so God sent them into the wilderness for 40 years. And now here we are, the 40 years is up and it's time for round two. So Moses has a unique challenge. His goal is that they would obey and trust God. We see that at the beginning and the end of this passage, or Pastor Bob would call the head and the tail. Verse one, the whole commandment that I command you today, you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And then also in verse six, So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. So we know what Moses wants to accomplish in this extended message, but how do you go about that? It's not enough to just give them the law and the commandments even though those are good. You see, just having the law really wasn't enough for Israel. I mean, they didn't enter the land. And that's a lot of what we're learning in Romans, is that the law alone, even though it's good, it's not sufficient. You need more. than just rules. And it's interesting because rules kind of provide a sense of safety and security. Like, if we can just structure things in the right way and teach people in their mind, then we'll get the right result. But what Moses recognizes is that you don't just need rules. You need a relationship with the God who is calling you into that land. You need to trust him. And he brings them to, probably not what I would choose, to remember the wilderness. I mean, we're trying to forget. They just spent 40 years suffering in the wilderness. And now Moses is telling them, remember. Remember the way that God led you. But he has his reasons for that, and I'd like to look through those. The first reason is that he wanted to teach them humility. We see that in verse three. or actually verse two, you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that, so there's a reason he led you and he had purpose in that so that he might humble you. And again in verse three, and he humbled you. So we have to kind of think about what does it mean to be humble? And in this passage, what does it mean for God to humble them? And I think that My usual way of thinking about it is kind of to have a low view of myself. That's probably how I would want to define it, you know, something like that. And I looked at the Oxford Dictionary and it was very similar to that. It was to have a modest or a low view of one's own importance. But the issue with that definition is Israel kind of already had a low view of themselves. I'd like to look at their rejection of the land the first time. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Numbers chapter 13. Did Israel have a high or a low view of themselves? Numbers chapter 13. starting in verse 31, the spies have already come back. They've scoped out the land. They've shown the good fruit that is in the land. They've talked about the people who are in the land and the mighty men. And then Caleb kind of quiets the people down in verse 30 and says, let's go up at once. We'll occupy it. We are able to overcome it. And then in verse 31, Then the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they're stronger than we are. So they brought the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying the land to which they have gone out to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw are of great height. We saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who came from the Nephilim. And we seemed like ourselves to be grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them. And then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, would that we have died in the land of Egypt, or would that we have died in this wilderness, Why is it that the Lord is bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives, our little ones will become prey. Would it not be better for us to go down to Egypt? And they said to one another, let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt. So they actually had a low view of themselves. You know, we're like grasshoppers. I mean, the people in the land, there were still giants back then from the Nephilim. And so physically bigger, but also fortified cities and many peoples, and they saw themselves as small. So why do they need to learn humility? Why do they need to be humbled if they already have a low view of themselves? The truth of the matter is they needed a big view of God. And there's a huge difference between a small child who feels overwhelmed because of a situation and another small child who feels safe because they're next to their dad who has everything taken care of. Both of the children recognize that they don't have the ability. But what God needs to teach Israel is that He has everything taken care of and that he is their father. So Moses in this chapter in Deuteronomy 8 is leading us to relationship with God, not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge. How does he teach them this humility? If you have your Bibles, you can flip back to our passage, Deuteronomy chapter 8. So he humbled you in verse three and let you hunger. This is not necessarily parenting advice. If your kids, you know, they're, they got a little too much pride. My kid really needs to learn humility. I think I'll just not feed them for a little while. You didn't hear it here. But God's ways are not our ways. And he recognized that he needed to teach the people of Israel, they need him. And so he lets them hunger, but along with that, he feeds them. He feeds them with the manna. And he also feeds them in another way, with clothing. And that's something that we know a lot about the manna, but a lot of times this one kind of gets skipped over. When I started construction, I wore tennis shoes for a while. Then I wore winter boots. And then I was like, well, I should probably wear regular boots because these things are wearing out. And so I bought a pair of boots. And my friend, I was working with him. And he's like, hey, those are nice boots. And he's like, how are those boots, that brand? And I was like, I don't know. I just bought them a week ago. Ask me again in two years. And I'll tell you. And they've been pretty good. I've had two. I'm on my second pair, and it's been about five years. So I've been pretty happy with that. But imagine if they lasted 40 years. Your clothing did not wear out on you. And your foot did not swell these 40 years. They're still rolling on their original sandals. I mean, that's a miracle. And that's a provision. Their feet didn't swell. And mine would be swelling up like a balloon, walking out there in the sand and the heat. But this is just another demonstration of God's provision for the people of Israel. He not only brought them to a place where they needed Him, but He provided for that need. So the lesson has more to do with our dependence. To be humble really has more to do with our trust, at least in this passage, than it does our value. And really another example of that is Christ. If you want to turn to Matthew chapter four, Jesus actually quotes this passage and this lesson that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. So Matthew chapter four, verses one through four, Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness. Sound familiar? And he was tempted by the devil. And after fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, If you're the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. And he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." You see, Jesus had learned this lesson. He had exercised this obedience. And the point of Deuteronomy 8 is to depend on the Father in hard situations. You see, the hard situation brings increased temptation. And Jesus didn't lack value. He was always God. He always had intrinsic value. He was a perfect human being. But we see that he still recognizes dependence on the Father as a human being. That's what it meant for him to... So, it really isn't a... We do need a low view of ourselves, but we need to focus on God and our relationship with Him because that's really what it's about. It's not only to teach humility, but it's also to test faith. We see that in verse 2. Honestly, my Bible should just flip open to it at this point. There we go. Oh, never mind. Yeah, verse 2. That the Lord your God has led you in these wilderness to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart. So to test. And the test was going to reveal whether or not they would be obedient. There's several examples in scripture where God tests people. He tests Abraham. He tests Jesus. He tests here, Israel. He also says that he tests them in Exodus chapter 16. What's really the point of the test? Well, I don't think there's just one thing. I'm a Baptist, so I think there's three. I'm not just trying to be funny this morning. It's a suffering sermon, so I want to provide some good levity. And you know me. The first is to demonstrate faith. And again, Jesus is a perfect example of this. I'm just going to read a verse from Hebrews, Hebrews chapter four, verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet without sin." So it's the temptation that reveals the faith and the obedience that Jesus has. And if you look at the Hall of Faith, Hebrews chapter 11, you'll notice a theme. that every time we look an example and we say, hey, that person had a lot of faith. God really worked through them. Each one had a lot of difficulty involved with it, whether it be persecution or a difficult situation. And it's that difficult situation where their faith really shone through. And we have a unique opportunity. It might not always be the opportunity we want, But we have a unique opportunity to suffer in a way that brings glory to God. And that's something that we're not going to always have. I look forward to the day when we don't have to suffer. But we do. And let's suffer well. Let's put our trust in God while we're here and follow the example of Christ. It doesn't only demonstrate our faith though. Sometimes we obey. Sometimes we don't. Deuteronomy chapter 9. We see that the people of Israel, even though they were tested in the wilderness, they weren't scoring A's. They weren't really even scoring B's most of the time. And Moses wants them to remember that. He doesn't want them to gloss over that. Because it can cause a pride in their heart. Look at Deuteronomy 9, verses 6 through 8. Know therefore that the Lord your God is, he's not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you're a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget that you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness from the day that you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, and you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you." And I don't just bring this up to bash Israel. The truth of the matter is, I don't always score A's. And last year was a particularly difficult year for me and I felt like it was a year where God really showed me that I wasn't in this spot I was supposed to be spiritually. And it started with little things. The dryer wanted to kick out, but then God provided a way for that to be repaired, and the washing machine wanted to kick out. Look, I'm already starting to say washing instead of washing. Thanks a lot. But God provided provision for that. The fridge did kick out. And so we had to buy a new fridge. But that's provision as well. As a family, we'd never gone to the hospital during our marriage. And last year, we ended up being at the ER four times between me and Thomas and Haven. And so we're trying to figure out all those bills and everything, all the fun stuff. Really, that's not even the the difficult all those things are difficult they put strain on your life, and they they bring a special set of testing and temptation, but My friend taking his life at the beginning of the year was really It's rough You don't you don't always handle it the best I I'm sorry. We need to trust the Father because he does have a plan for our good. And you know, I might not have liked everything that happened. But he was teaching me, and I'm not even saying you have to understand everything God's doing. I don't, you know, but he's teaching and working in us in a way that we might not understand. But that's one of the lessons that he's teaching. He's teaching you that you need him. I know I'm usually so stoic, and then, you know, most people who know me, they've seen this. Because I care. And I would like to say, you know, reach out for help, because the leadership team in this church, we really do care. And anything that you're going through, Reach out to Pastor Bob. Reach out to me. I mean, you might not want to hear me cry again. I'll work through it. But really, reach out. We're here for you. We see in Deuteronomy chapter 8 that God did mean it for their good. Deuteronomy chapter eight, this is gonna be out of the passage that we talk about next week. Deuteronomy eight, verses 15 through 16. He led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions, with its thirsty ground, where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock. who fed you with manna that your fathers did not know that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the end. And so that was God's purpose. It wasn't just a punishment. He was teaching and working in their lives. And that's exactly what he does with us. One of the times we went to the ER was for me, and I got a splinter at work. between my fingernail and my finger. And I figured it was all out. And apparently it wasn't. My finger was kind of off and on, like, pretty much infected for probably a month. And then I was like, dude, this thing's just not working itself out like I thought it was. I was like, maybe there is something in there. And then I prayed. I'm sure I prayed for healing before that. I really prayed for the first time, God please just heal this. And he did one of the best miracles that I could imagine. He actually got me to a hospital. And I won't go into all the details. The doctor did what he had to do, and I could feel it. He put the stuff that wasn't supposed to feel it, and I was like, dude, just do what you need to do. Imagine if the nurse walked in and was like, stop hurting him. That would be crazy. I mean, the doctor, I'm so thankful for him. He actually fixed my problem. And he got that out, and it worked itself out, and my finger feels 100% within a week or two. And I was so thankful for that doctor. Why would you hurt him? I mean, that's the attitude I have towards God a lot of the time. I go through these hard things that he sends my way. I don't understand why he sends them. But I have the attitude like, why are you hurting me? You see, it's a matter of trust. It really is a matter of trust. Do we believe that God is doing it for our good? Because he says in his word very clearly, for those who love me and are called according to my purpose, everything I do is for their good. And he's surgically working through the pain. So put yourself in Moses' shoes. Would you go that direction? Do you think he did a good job? He needed to spur obedience, but he didn't want to just teach the mind. He wanted to lead us to the heart. You see, it's about the relationship with God the Father. And I don't know if you noticed, but there was a couple times in this passage where he said, the Lord, your God. The Lord, your God. which is a really cool way of putting it. He says that a ton in Deuteronomy, in just chapter 7 and chapter 8. He says it in chapter 7, verses 1, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25. Yes, he missed verse 24. The Lord your God, the Lord your God, the Lord your God. And in chapter 8, our chapter, verse 2, verse 5, verse 6, 10, 14, 18, 19, 20. The Lord your God, the Lord your God. He sounds like one of my kids. Water, water. just repeating themselves, like, hear me. Moses wants the people of Israel to know he's, hey, he's the Lord your God, because, you know, Moses knows he's not going into the land with them. He's the Lord your God. You need to have a relationship with him. Something needs to happen. Know that as a man disciplines you, the Lord your God disciplines you. As a man disciplines his son, he has that relationship with you. And you know what? The people of Israel didn't always have that attitude. First Samuel, chapter 12, verses 19, the people of Israel come to Samuel, the prophet, they've got issues. They need it fixed. And they say to Samuel, all the people say to Samuel, pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we might not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil to ask for ourselves a king." Isn't that, pray to the Lord, hey Samuel, pray to the Lord your God. That's a weird way to put it. They should be saying like, pray to the Lord our God. Or just praying to the Lord their God. You know, you can go directly to the source. That's the nice thing about prayer. In this situation, they didn't own him as their God. They didn't have that relationship. And Moses so dearly wants them to have that relationship. And I think he wants the same thing for us. The Lord, your God. And you know, we have the opportunity to have that relationship with God, that we could be his children. And I know you quote this every week, but I still don't have it memorized, John 1, 12. But to all who receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. That if you put your trust in Christ, you can be the child of God. That's one of the most amazing things. Moses doesn't only go to the head, but he goes to the heart. He says in a couple parts in this passage, he talks about the heart. He tests you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Because really, he understands that obedience reflects the heart and where we are emotionally, spiritually. And then he also says, know then in your heart, in verse five, that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. And so we don't only need the head knowledge, we need God to change us. And we need to have that relationship with the loving Father who has everything taken care of. I'd like to kind of close in Hebrews. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Hebrews chapter 3. This is a good passage of scripture because it has the same themes. And he's actually talking about the same thing. Hebrews is applying what happened with the Israelites refusing to go into the land and how we can respond to that. So Hebrews chapter three, verse 12. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ. If indeed we hold the original confidence firm to the end, As it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who's those who rebelled? Was it not those who left Egypt with Moses, and with whom he was provoked for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, and to whom he swore that they would not enter his rest? They were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter because of their unbelief. So he links that disobedience to their faith. We need to trust. Therefore, And then Hebrews is not going to say, well, that was a different time, different promises, different covenant. He's ready to say, this same thing is offered to you. The rest, the blessing, the peace that God offered to them might not look exactly the same, but Hebrews is going to press this. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest anyone should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened. My goal is the same as Moses. I want obedience. I want people to be faithful to God. The way you seek obedience is by seeking faith. We have to trust God. And we need him to change our heart. We need to have that relationship with him because that's what he works through. And when we have that, that's when we're following him. That's when we're living for him. And especially in those difficult times, we need to recognize how much we need him. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace. You are a loving, caring father, and I pray that we would just be able to trust you. I pray that you would work in each one of our lives to know you and love you. Father, we don't understand. We really don't understand everything that happens. And maybe you'll show us some of it. But God, we know that it's for our good. And we have that faith. And we pray, Lord, that you would help us to cling to your word, help us to cling to prayer, and help us to feel our dependence on you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.