Deuteronomy 26:16-19 Bible Study | Episode 942

May 20, 2025

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

Deuteronomy 26:16-19  Bible Study | Episode #942

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 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 would 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. We are in Deuteronomy, chapter 26, verse 16 through 19.

And it's a special, well, special edition, special Friday edition. We're trying to get through Deuteronomy so we can get some things set up as we headed to the book of Joshua.

So as we come to the end here in Deuteronomy, as we get to the end, we're going to see a lot about Moses and Joshua and the changing of hands, the changing of leadership.

But right here at the end of verse 20, at the end of chapter 26, we have a passage that's just one of those simple passages that gives us the outline.

The outline we find throughout the Old Testament.

The outline we find that throughout the New Testament is said many different ways,

said many different contexts, is given to us in ways we don't recognize, we don't realize,

in context that we don't know.

But this outline is a powerful, powerful outline.

This outline is a outline that is the outline of what I'm going to call sanctification or salvation.

Now remember,

in order to have a relationship with God, God has to do all the work. You can't do any.

But once you have that relationship, once that connection's made,

once you've been made in his image, born again,

then you participate in the relationship. Because obviously, if you have a relationship, both sides have to participate or there is no relationship. And so understanding how that works is very, very important.

It's, it's.

Well, it's just the key to. It's the key to walking with God.

And because it is really the thing that God desires of us, the thing that God glorifies himself with,

it is probably the most important understanding to have.

And having that understanding is,

is what causes us on our daily basis, having, having that,

that idea or mindset helps us walk in the way we should walk. It helps us. It helps us figure out how we should live each and every day.

And so when I read a passage like this,

it's just so obvious. It just pours out to me.

I want to just show you how.

There it is.

In verse 16, it says, the Lord this day, the Lord your God commands you to observe the statutes and judgments.

Therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

Well, right there is the.

Well, it's kind of the beginning. It's the. It's kind of the key right there.

God gives us direction. You can call them statutes, judgments, laws, precepts,

commandments.

You can call them instructions, direction.

All these words are used throughout the Bible.

And what they relate to is,

is they relate to a knowledge of God's will. God revealing, revelatory,

revealing knowledge of his will.

Right? And that's easy and simple. Okay.

God reveals himself. Now,

God's primary revelation is his son, King Jesus. Jesus is the revelation of God.

He is the full revelation of God.

And the Word of God is the full revelation of Jesus. It is the revelation of Christ.

All right,

So I have the word of God,

and I have.

I have Jesus himself.

And in those two,

because they are in essence one.

In those, I have the full understanding of God from his precepts, to commandments, to judgments, to statutes, to all that stuff.

Whatever you call it, however you call is God instructing me on how I should live my life.

He says here in verse 16,

I've given you those. And he has. It's the, it's the Pentateuch. It's the first five books of the Bible.

It's, it's the kicking off of the explanation of God's word.

All right?

And then he gave them to us to. What does he say at the end of verse 16?

To observe with all our heart, with all our soul.

Well,

when I see that, I think,

what is that?

Why, why that? Why, why,

why that? Well,

and then we understand that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Well, that seems to tie off to that. That seems to parallel that,

right?

We. We're to love God. And, and, and Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments or you'll do what I say.

So obviously Jesus says, if you love him, you'll keep his commandments.

God says, I've given you my commandments.

You're to. You're to observe them with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Which is to your participation.

Participation in the relationship with God, which is to love God. You said, if you love me, you'll do what I say.

God says,

I've given you everything to observe you. You. You observe them with all. All that you are.

And basically, he's saying, you're loving me.

Today, you've proclaimed to the Lord, the Lord to be your God. Now, that's a confessing that God is God and that he's your Lord.

Now, that makes perfect sense. I. If I love Him, I'm gonna do what I say and I'm gonna confess him as my Lord, right?

So he says, you've. You've confessed me, and you will walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments that you'll obey his voice. Notice just a bunch of different ways of saying,

I'm. I'm hearing you, God.

I'm listening to you. I'm listening to what you got to say.

I want to hear your revelation.

Notice he says his ways that you will walk in his ways.

All right, how do I know his ways?

Keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments,

and you will obey.

I'll be obedient, not obedient based off of the rules, not obedient based off of the judgments or stuff like that. Obedience based off of my love for God.

Now, that's. That's a whole different motive.

There's a whole different motive there. Remember, we've already discussed, you know, you'll observe them with all your heart, with all your soul, which is a. Which is how we're to love God.

Jesus told us that.

Well,

the reason I obey his verse 17,

his ways, his statutes, his commandments, his judgments.

The reason I obey those things is because I love God.

Because I love God,

not because he told me to.

It's more than that.

First I hear it. I do it because he said so.

But later on,

as we do with all.

As we do with all people that we grow to love, respect,

honor.

Maybe our parents, maybe our grandparents, maybe teachers, coaches,

a boss, a leader, somebody like that. Whoever it is that we grow to love,

we first do what they say because of their position.

But as we do what they say, we realize what they say,

what we're being obedient to is because they love us.

And then we begin to do it.

Not because they said do it. We do begin to do it because we love them.

Now you see how powerful that can be. And that's what God's explaining right here.

Powerful to do things not because God told me to.

Although it is because God told me to.

But because God told me to. And I did it for so long.

Now I do it because I love Him.

Now because now I do it because I love him.

Very powerful.

Verse 18.

Also today the Lord has proclaimed to you to be a special people.

Now, what God's saying is. Look,

the whole reason for this is that you're my special people.

Ah. You're. You're.

You're who I want, you're who I desire. And he says that. He says it just as he promised you that you should keep all his commandments.

I. He's saying you're my special people because I've told you.

I've revealed to you my will.

I've revealed myself to you. I've let you know who I am. I've revealed myself in my commandments,

my precepts, my.

My statutes,

my. My judgments, my. My.

Whatever.

But I've also revealed myself to you. And my son,

I've revealed myself to you literally in the flesh as God, as. As a human being.

I've revealed myself.

And the reason I have is because you're my special people.

And so you have the full revelation of God.

Not partial,

not minor. You got the full.

And he will set you on high above all the nations which he has made in praise, in name and honor.

Notice he said, I'm going to set you. I'm going to set you above the nations. Why?

Because I love you.

And I'm. I'm going to set you higher than them in praise.

Your name is going to be greater. Your honor is going to be greater. That you may be a holy people to the Lord your God,

just as he has spoken.

See,

by you honoring God and obeying his commandments because he told you to,

and then obeying his commandments because you love him.

And then walking in those things,

he.

Well, what he says here is,

I'm going to proclaim that you're my special people.

And I'm going to set you up high.

I'm going to glorify myself by setting you up high so that those people can see you. I'm going to make you known so that I can be known.

And really, that's what the whole book is about. What book? The Bible, all of it.

That's really what it's all about.

Now,

what part do I play? Well, I obey him because he told me to.

And as I obey him because he told me to, I realize that what he's telling me is everything I've ever needed to know.

Then I begin to love him.

I love him with everything I have and then I obey him just because that's who he is and God magnifies me so that he might magnify himself to others.

And really that's what the gospel is all about.

That's that's the plan. That's what salvation or sanctification's about. Now when we pass away we're glorified before him. That's the final process.

First process is justification. We don't do anything for it.

But in sanctification I join him. I'd first join him by hearing his voice and trusting him and believing him and acting upon it.

And then I trust him because I love him and I know him and then others trust him because they can see it in me.

And that's really what the gospel is about.

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.