Deuteronomy 4:41-43 Bible Study | Episode 850

January 10, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Deuteronomy 4:41-43  Bible Study | Episode #850

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God will open up.

His word to you and allow you.

To see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. Had to move our studio, I guess it's what you call it, from the guest bedroom to my bedroom. Daughters come home for the week. And so it is. It is in here. And we just failed to move the light so that it'll look a little bit more natural. But we've got the sun at our back with the windows open, and we've got. We've got a form of light this morning. We are in Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 41 through 43. It's a very simple passage. It's nothing. There's nothing really exciting about it. There's nothing really, really that catch your eye other than. Other than a principle, a principle of the Christian life, I think. A principle of how we should live. And that principle is that when God tells you to do something, there shouldn't be any time wasted in getting that done. You should get it done when you should, when it's possible, when you can make that happen. When the door opens, go through the door. When the opportunity avails itself, step up and take hold of the opportunity. And that's what Moses does as a part of the law. God had told Moses to set aside cities of refuge. And we talked about this. We talked about it in Leviticus, we talked about it in numbers and Deuteronomy here. This idea of a city of refuge, I think, is actually just in numbers. But this idea of the city of refuge is an idea of when a person accidentally kills someone. And that means they accidentally killed him. And in fact, it kind of spells it out. Here it says that Moses set apart three cities on the side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun that would be toward the east, that the man slayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in times past. And that by fleeing to one of these cities might be. Might live. What it is, is it's a place to be delivered from the consequences of an unintentional act, meaning an action that was taken that killed somebody, but you weren't trying to kill them. In fact, you had no intent to kill them. And we talked about, when we were talking about this, that is an important principle of. Of our criminal justice system in the United States. Whether attack, Whether an act is intentional or not, Most crimes have to be intentional. There are some crimes that don't have to be intentional. They're strict liability crimes. There's certain things that if you do it, it doesn't matter whether you intended to do it or not. You are liable for those things. But for the most part, a crime requires that you act intentionally and that your action be. Be actually a criminal act. So I have to intend to do it, and then what I do has to actually, actually be intent, a criminal act. Moses was told by God to set these cities up. And so if a person killed someone and the family was so upset that they wanted him dead, he could flee to these cities. And these cities would have a trial. And in that trial, they'd figure out whether or not this was a murder, which would be an intentional act or an unintentional action that somehow caused someone to die. And then once that was determined, if it was an intentional act, then the old Testament law would be in place for murder. And that would be a life for a life. And then if the act was unintentional, then the person could stay in that city for 20 years. And then once the 20 years was up, they could leave without fear of being murdered by someone. Because if they, if they were killed by the family after that, then that family would be. Would well have committed murder and forfeit a life for a life. And so that's what the law was. And God said, I want you to make cities for that. Now, Moses is not taking them into the promised land. Moses is not taking them into. Into Canaan. He. He's not doing that. Joshua's doing that. Now, have they taken territory on the other side of the Jordan river? Yes, they've taken territory on the other side of Jordan river. Was that territory promised to them? Yeah, it was promised to them. And that territory was given to a couple of tribes to live in. And then they would, with their armed men, would go into Canaan and help. Help take the rest of the promised land. That's the plan. That's. That was the plan from the beginning. And so what did Moses do? Well, as he's getting prepared for the end of his life, which he knows is coming, he is going to do the things that are necessary to make that happen, to make not only the end of his life happen, but to fulfill the law, to fulfill what God had told him to do. Now, did Moses have to do this? No. Was it necessary for Moses to do this? Absolutely not. It wasn't necessary for Moses to do this, but God told him that this is what should happen. And when the opportunity availed himself to set aside these cities, these cities of refuge, these pictures of God's providence, his pictures of God's mercy, when. When he had the opportunity to set aside cities for that purpose, he did it. He did it. He didn't wait for somebody else to do it. He didn't sit back and say, will this person or that person get this done? He didn't do that. That's not how he acted. He did what was necessary in the moment that the opportunity was available. And that's not that big a principle. It's not. It's not a. It's not one of those things that you go, Hm, But I will say this. It's a cumulative principle. And what I mean by that. Well, when. When you think about this. Sure. Are there things that I don't do that God clearly wants me to do today and I wait till tomorrow to do it? Sure. And is that a form of disobedience? In some ways? Jesus even tells a parable about the two sons. And he says he went to one son and a father went to one son and said, please go out and work in the field. And the. And the son complained, but then he thought better of himself and went out and worked in the field. And then they. Then the. The. He told the other son to do the same. The other son was. Was open and said, I'm. I'm willing to go. I'm going right now. And then didn't go. And then. And then Jesus asked, who did it? Who did his father's will? And the one obviously who complained and put it off did his father's will. And the one who acted like he was and didn't. Didn't do his father's will. There's a great. That's a great principle. Both in. For both sons in there. But the truth is, is that. Is that the son who went out in the field and did what his father said did not do his father's will in its completeness. He just did it. He did what his father asked him to do, which Was true. Which is a laudable. It is something to be applauded by us that you do your Father's will. But there's an element of it that's, that's qualitative for you, that's good for you. Okay, what I mean by that. Well, when you do your Father's will with, with joy in your heart, with, with. With a desire to, to glorify God, to glorify your heavenly Father. When you do that, there, there's great reward that comes from that. And when you put things off, even though you do them, you put them. Oftentimes you either delay God's outcome, not, not in that God is not going to get things done in his time, but you delay His. His outcome in your life, his fullness in your life. And over time, the common, the, the, the cumulative effect of that, how much it takes me to figure out how to do God's will and to do it, do it immediately and to do it as well as I can over time, that effect can be very devastating. It can be such that you go and say, I feel like things aren't working quite the way they should because they're not. You're not doing your Father's will immediately when the opportunity avails itself. And you're not doing it with joy, and you're not doing it with a desire to glorify God. You're doing it out of a sense of, well, duty. Let me say this. You do have a duty to serve God. There's no doubt about that. But when we do things out of a sense of duty, that, that removes the relationship that makes a. Our relationship with God a mechanical relationship, a structural relationship that's not intimate and close. It causes us to, to live our lives in such a way that we're not really truly walking in the full spirit and power that God desires us to have. Serving God is oftentimes difficult, but it should always be something that we look for an opportunity to do. And when you see someone doing that, it's refreshing. We have people in church all the time that are eagerly awaiting opportunities to serve God. And when the opportunity comes, they eagerly accept it and eagerly run after it. Well, but if you don't do that, and you do see people who are that way, who do things out of a sense of, well, they just something I gotta do. Oftentimes, eventually they quit doing it at all. And that's a, that's a red flag for the Christian life. You serve God, you serve God, you serve God and then troubles come and you quit. You quit serving God. And I would just say to you that. That. That a joyful heart, a desirous heart, is what God wants. He wants you to want to be with him and want to be a part of his plan. I pray that you'll be that. I pray that that'll be a part of who you are. An excitement about what God's doing. Excitement. See God at work in your life. And excitement to see him finish the race for your life. That you. That you run the race in his fullness, in all phases, all phases, at all times. And then an excitement to know that God's working it out for you as you go today. I pray that the Lord will bless.

You and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today. In Jesus name.