"Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood."
Deuteronomy 29:18
Part 4
Yesterday: Beware of Letting Your Life and Family Drift
“Whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God” (a).
There is a great danger to the child of God who “goes with the flow!” Christianity is not passive, but active, walking with Christ daily.
Today: Walking Away from God
“Whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God” (b).[1]
The Children of Israel were firmly warned by God not to turn away from Him.
“Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).
God Does Not take Abandoning Him Well.
For Israel, much of God’s blessing was attached to the Promised Land that He provided for her. When they honored and served Him, things in the land went well, but if they disobeyed and defamed Him, things did not go so well for them. For their disobedience, God gave them a lack of rain, crop failures, and even insect swarms that decimated their harvests. Sometimes God sent Israel’s enemies to chasten them. Eventually, Israel’s disobedience in breaking this covenant led to her captivity and removal from the land of promise for many years.
In our lives today, much of God’s blessing is spiritual in nature (Ephesians 1-3), rather than just prosperity or physical benefits. Those who choose to follow Jesus only for their own “health and wealth” follow a flawed theology. Jesus said this about the essential blessings of sunshine and rain,
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
Under God’s “common grace,” even the heathen experience some of God’s elemental blessings. Believers know that Jesus does bless us in tangible ways by providing “our daily bread,” and meeting our need for clothing and shelter. We are taught to pray for our needs to be met. When we put Jesus Christ, His righteousness, and His Kingdom first, He meets our necessary needs and much more (Matthew 6:33). He is so good at caring for us! But note, none of our blessings are tied to the “land” we live in, as Israel’s were. His blessings to us result from our relationship to His Son, Jesus, by His grace.
The Temptation to Leave God
Every believing “man, woman, and family” needs to take to heart these words about leaving the Lord. There have been too many who have walked away from the truth of the Bible.[2] This temptation to turn away from the LORD and follow other “gods” was not just the Children of Israel’s problem. If we are honest with our own hearts, each believer has been tempted at one time or another to simply walk away from what we know and believe. If this were not so, then why is there this warning?
“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).
Paul, the apostle, saw “believers” in his day, who walked away from the truth and wrecked their lives. He counseled Timothy to be tenacious in his faith.
“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
And in these last days, we live in “dangerous times” (2 Timothy 3:1ff). Jesus said that in the end times because of the rise of sin, “the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12). Anytime we allow our love for Him to cool down, there is danger, and it puts harmful pressure on the relationship.[3]
In each Christian household, we need to exhibit loving faithfulness to Jesus Christ for our children to see and learn from our daily walk with the Lord. We are to keep our hearts warmed by His Word daily. Here is another reason we need to be consistent in our local church. By the constant teaching and preaching of the Word and fellowship with the brethren, we are challenged each week to keep the fire hot! Let’s pray that our children will catch on to this principle from watching our love for Christ.
What are some results we might see in our families if our relationship with God seems phony and if our children get a glimpse of hypocrisy in us? With a degree of uneasiness, tomorrow we will go there. Please come back and look at God’s Word with us.
Quotes:
“If our faith in Jesus Christ isolates us from those who need Him, there’s something wrong with our faith – and our love”[4] (Warren W. Wiersbe).
“Give me 100 men that hate nothing but sin, and love Jesus Christ, and we’ll shake England for God”[5] (John Wesley).
[1] We are borrowing thoughts and applications from the Mosaic Covenant repeated for the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy 29.
[2] This “walking away from the truth” is called apostasy. God’s Word tells of dire consequences to apostates.
[3] This is true of our love for God and of a husband and wife’s love for each other.
[4] Wiersbe’s quote is borrowed from wisefamousquotes.com.
Downloaded: Thursday, February 4, 2021. From: https://www.wisefamousquotes.com/quotes-about-love-jesus-christ/.
[5] Wesley’s quote is taken from wisefamousquotes.com. Ibid.