The Word Is Very Near You (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

Beginning with the Gospel of Luke Chapter 16 through 17, we have studied the Book of Joshua Chapter 1 through 6, the Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 1 through 8, the Gospel of Luke Chapter 18, the Epistle to the First Corinthians Chapter 9 through Chapter 10 Verse 13,, the Book of 1 Samuel Chapter 1 through 2 Verse 10, and the series of searching the mind of God from the Book of Job, the Prophecy of Habakkuk, the Book of Ruth, the Book of Numbers Chapter 13 through 14, Ephesians Chapter 4 Verse 13 through 14, the Prophecy of Isiah Chapter 42 Verse 1 through 9, and Joshua Chapter 24, and the Epistle to the Colossians Chapter 1 Verse 26 through 27 and Chapter 3 Verse 1 through 17. In addition, the survey study of the Scriptures like Isaiah, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Hebrews were studied. Also, the study of the Book of Genesis Chapter 9 through 22 and the Book of Revelation Chapter 9 through 12 were done. In two occasions, a lecture on the New Testament Pentateuch – the Four Gospels and Acts with the title, “The Presentation of Life” and another on Apostles’ Epistles with the title, “Life Heard, Seen, Touched, Witnessed, and Explained” were served. A sermon in a Sunday evening service at a church in my hometown with the title, “Why Must We Leave from Our Home Country, People and Father’s Household?” was preached.

Surely, all Scripture is written by the inspiration of God and is most effectively useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (1 Timothy 3:16-17). My bible student told me that he didn’t want to research on the Scriptures because only he needed was the general knowledge like Christ saved him from sin and he became a Christian. Not so. Our God is the Eternal Being in whom we’re growing in the knowledge of him and being thoroughly equipped for every good work. Furthermore, there is an enemy, the devil, lurking behind the invisible curtain and looking for a chance to devour us like a roaring lion at any moment. For example, after a long day of work, we are tired and desire of rest which mostly deprives the mind of opening the Scripture. That’s how cunning and crafty the devil is. So, the psalmist says that there is a prerequisite for meditating the law of the Lord day and night, which is not to walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers (Psalm 1:1-2). This is the age of confusion and delusion and deception. But the word of God is light, shining to see the right and wrong out in the darkness. That’s the reason the psalmist says, “but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

However, Christianity is not merely adding one knowledge another, but transforming people, the church of Christ. It’s not making a religious person, but a man that God intended man to be before the creation of the universe. “…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) A mature man is what God intended man to be. That man is whole, holy, blameless in the sight of God, not because he did something credited for but because he was washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ Jesus through the faith in him. A transformed man in Christ is now capable of being like our Lord Jesus Christ even in the midst of daily and normal living on this earth. That’s the good news. Our Lord Jesus has demonstrated a life not as God but as man in whom the Father indwells. Being born again in Christ Jesus through his blood shed on the rugged cross of Calvary means just that. It’s not at all an automatic cruise-like life though. The transformation is a life-long progress but guaranteed in the promise of God because Christ died for our sins in our place once for all and because God’s call is irrevocable. “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30)

Growing in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is the two step process—first, put to death our old self and second, put on the new self in Christ (Ephesians 4:22-24). Moses and Joshua fully understood the way to be continuously blessed by the Jehovah God. The way is to obey all the laws and decrees given through Moses blamelessly and denounce the useless and worthless idols of the foreigners like the Amorites and the Canaanites. They could have entered the promised land of Canaan without having been wandered in the wilderness for forty years if they obeyed the Lord who commanded them to enter into the land and take possession of it. Instead of taking the land by faith in obedience to the Lord, they grumbled against God because they feared of the death of their wives and children by the hands of the Canaanites and the Amalekites (Numbers 14:1-3). They rebelled against the Lord who brought them out of Egypt and decided to go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). After the long forty years of dreary and wearisome and void life in the wilderness, the new generation of Israel crossed the Jordan River led by Joshua and conquered the whole land beginning with the city of Jericho. It is not by their hands but by the hand of God that they conquered the land and its people. They followed and obeyed the command of the Lord, which led them a great victory one after another. Entering the land of promise is the symbol of entering God’s rest, which means the complete and total reliance on the Lord God from the beginning to the end because there is nothing for them to depend upon. To choose to obey God is always required for us not to follow and worship the idol first as our Lord Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Where does power come from to obey all the laws and decrees of the Lord blamelessly? The motivation is not enough. The determination is not enough. The dedicated heart and mind will soon be drained because it is not the source of authentic power. Crying and enduring in the flesh are not either. Whatever depending on our flesh is no avail in fulfilling life, which comes only through the perfect obedience to the law of God. Robert Lowry wrote a hymn entitled, “Working will not save me.” “Working will not save me; Purest deeds that I can do, Holiest thoughts and feelings too, Cannot form my soul anew; Working will not save me.” The power is our Lord Jesus Christ who lives within us. Our flesh has no value at all no matter what and who. It is hostile to God and contrary to the Spirit. The flesh and the Spirit are in conflict each other. The flesh doesn’t work but Christ is our all power. Apostle Paul prays for the saints in Colossae to be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that they may have great endurance and patience (Colossians 1:11). This is the resurrection power of God who raised Jesus from the dead on the third day in that quiet resurrection morning. This power has no rivals for it is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come (Ephesians 1:21). Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him.” (John 14:6) The way is the crucifixion on a cross. The truth is the death to sin. The life is to all who believes in him. In Christ, we’ve been clothed with the resurrection power for we died to sin with him and rose again from the dead with him. That’s what we are in Christ. Remind the facts what’s happened in Christ and take hold of it by faith in the midst of troubles and difficulties. Our God demands us to obey him in perfection and at the same time provides all power to do it. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

How do we do it? Moses answers that it is not too difficult or beyond our reach because the word of God is near us in our mouth and in our heart so we may obey it. Apostle Paul quotes Moses in the Epistle to the Romans Chapter 10 Verse 6 through 8 regarding the righteousness by faith. Paul continues, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) Jesus is our Lord and Master and we are his servants. So, we fix our eyes on Jesus in our daily routine lives now and forevermore. The mystery of God is this: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We are his temple bought at a price, so we are not our own but the chosen vessel for every good work. Whenever the Father opens the door, we may offer our body as the living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). This we will do in the year to come. May God bless us through the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff

that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.” (Psalm 1:1-6)

December 29, 2016

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