LIFE OR DEATH—IT’S YOUR CHOICE
Deut. 30:11-20
Introduction: The Israelites were getting ready to leave the desert and enter the promised land-Canaan; the land of milk and honey. Moses had some words for his people as he was not going to be joining them but leaving them in the capable hands of his successor-Joshua. Let’s see what we can learn from these words of Moses and how they apply to us.
Deut. 30:11-20
1) Everyone can understand (11-14). Moses makes it clear that the commands of God are not too difficult-they are not too difficult to understand nor too difficult to do (beyond your reach). The commands of God can seem like they’re impossible to achieve, and they are-apart from him giving us the ability to do them. No one can be obedient to God without God giving him the ability to obey. No one can understand what God’s will is apart from him revealing it to us. But Moses is making it clear that this is what God has already done for us. He has made it so that the word of God is near us. We don’t have to wonder if we will somehow have the opportunity to hear and understand God’s will. No, God has brought his word to us so that it is close to us, not far away. God has made it possible for us to choose to place his word in our hearts so that we would obey it.
But some will choose not to understand. Rom 10:1-11. 1-4: They were zealous for God but they were not righteous before God because their enthusiasm was not based in knowledge. They didn’t know the righteousness that came from God not because they didn’t have the opportunity to know but because they didn’t want to know about the righteousness that came from God, which is salvation through Christ (16-21). They chose to not submit to God’s righteousness. Instead, they wanted to claim a righteousness that was of their own doing-of their works (law)-of their own heritage as a descendant of Abraham.
Jesus dealt with this himself. In John 8:31-37, Jesus told the Jews that if they held to his teaching they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. They thought because they were descendents of Abraham that they didn’t need to be set free. Jesus told them that because they were sinners, they needed to be set free by him. They didn’t want to accept that. Jesus told them that they had no room for his word. They could’ve made room in their hearts for what Jesus was telling them but they didn’t want to. They could’ve chose life but they chose death instead. There are religious people today who have a zeal for God but it’s not based in following Jesus it’s based in following traditions. We can understand if we want to but some are not willing to submit to God. They’re not willing to accept the righteousness offered through Christ because they are more comfortable establishing a righteousness of their own-apart from faith in Christ.
Rom. 10:5-11: here we see Paul reiterating the words Moses used in Deut. We don’t have to bring Christ back down from heaven in order to understand his gospel. We don’t have to bring anyone up from the grave to understand what happens after you die in order to understand.
Jesus talked about that in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). Both had died but while the angels had carried Lazarus to Paradise where Abraham was, the rich man went to hell and was in torment. He asked if Lazarus could be sent to warn his brothers so they didn’t end up where he was. He was told, “They have Moses and the Prophets, let them listen to them.” The rich man replied, “No, if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent.” Abraham replied, “If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets they won’t be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
There are no excuses for those who don’t choose Jesus. We have enough to understand. We don’t need to figure everything out; we don’t need to comprehend every aspect of the bible; we don’t have to experience a miracle in order to make the right choice. We just need to have faith and trust.
2) Life and prosperity (15-16). Last week I shared these verses in my sermon on living an abundant life. We can choose to have life-both eternal life and the fullness of life here and now. Jesus said in John 10:10 that he came to bring us that. And Moses explains how that is achieved (16). If we are going to have a prosperous life (and by prosperous it doesn’t mean financially wealthy it means spiritually wealthy), if we are going to live a fulfilled, successful life, we need to love God and follow his ways. We need to submit to Jesus in order to live a blessed life. Don’t get me wrong, there are people in this world who have been blessed by God who don’t care at all about God. But that just shows how loving God is-he blesses even his enemies. However, there are many blessings that you just cannot receive until you come to Christ. Many people seem like they have it all but yet they are still depressed and suicidal. We just had a reminder of that with the passing of Robin Williams. I have no idea where he stood with God but here was someone who had a lot of success and talent, a person who many people admired yet he was someone who was depressed and struggled with addiction. A person who ended up deciding that life was not worth living anymore. Many people have an abundance of money, power, fame, things like that but are empty when it comes to the more important things like peace, joy, hope, contentment and love. If you want life and prosperity then you need to love God and follow his ways-that’s the formula for success.
3) Death and destruction (17-18). However, if we want to ignore the Lord, if we want to be disobedient, if we want to live our way, thinking it is the better way, then we are on the path to death and destruction. And when Moses talks about bowing down to other gods we might think that doesn’t happen anymore. “I’m not bowing down to any gods”. But think about this-if we’re not following God then we’re following some other god. If we’re not living for Jesus we’re living for another god. If we’re not directing our lives according to the wisdom of the one, true God then we are bowing down to the wisdom of another god. We might not think that’s what we’re doing but we are. There is no neutral ground here. If we’re not following God we’re following something else. It could be literally another god like Buddha or Muhammad or it could be a person in your life who you idolize so much you believe whatever they say is true and do whatever they think you should. What about an idol? What idols do we have in our life? An idol is really anything that takes the place of God or consumes a majority of our time. It could be a relationship, work, a hobby, TV, computer, video games, your Smartphone, etc. Are we being consumed by something other than God? Are we allowing something else in our life to take the place of God? Are we following any other teaching, philosophy or idea other than what the bible teaches? If so then we are following and bowing down to other gods. If we continue this way we are doomed for destruction. That’s the sad reality. The truth is everyone is on this path until we choose Jesus and choose life and prosperity. The bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The bible also says that the wages of my sin is death. But, right after that it says the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. In living my life apart from Christ I will experience misery, despair, emptiness, hopelessness, death and destruction. Now, it might not be like this all the time. Those who don’t live for Christ can be happy sometimes, feel good sometimes, enjoy their lives to a degree but the problem is those good feelings come and go-there’s no continual state of peace, contentment or joy. No, that can only be found when we become born-again and surrender to the Lordship of Christ.
4) It’s our choice (19-20). Moses starts out by saying “This day”. It’s like he’s saying, “As heaven is my witness, today you are faced with a choice-life or death, blessings or curses; what’ll it be?” Not that there was necessarily a sense of dire urgency but the Israelites were almost ready to move forward toward the land of opportunity. Make your choice now so you will be ready. I believe he saw the importance of them making the determination now where their hearts were before they went forward. I think there’s a lesson in that for us. Once we know the choices and the ramifications of each we shouldn’t procrastinate in deciding. However, we need to contemplate the seriousness of following Christ so we shouldn’t make a hasty decision, but we shouldn’t put it off either. We shouldn’t be like, “When I get tired of living my way and I’m done having my fun then I’ll think about Jesus.” Well, if you think you have a guarantee on your future like that go ahead. But all too often it hits close to home that there are no guarantees on life; everything can change when we least expect it to.
Joshua, Moses successor, reiterated Moses’ sentiment when he said in Joshua 24:14-15, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua was like, “I know what I’m going to do-it’s a no-brainer.” Just like what Moses said, “Choose life, love the Lord, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. The Lord is your life and he will bless you.” The wise choice is choosing to serve God and be blessed.
5) It’s an ongoing choice (Deut 29:16-20). Moses said in 30:20 that we need to “hold fast to him [God].” This means the choice we make isn’t just in the moment; it’s ongoing. To ‘hold fast’ means ‘cling to’. Jesus said in John 8:31, “If you hold to [continue in] my teaching you are really my disciples.” This isn’t just a choice we need to make before we come to Christ, but after as well. Remember, Moses was speaking to the Israelites, those who were already God’s people.
Consider what he said earlier in 29:16-20. 16-18-Moses is reminding the people where they came from. He is reminding them of the detestable things they saw on their journey. He is telling them that even though these things are detestable there's a chance that they would be allured by them and choose to embrace them. We need to understand the same. We need to remember where we came from. We need to recognize that the lusts of the flesh are detestable and therefore we should remove them from our lives. But we need to consider that we may listen to their call and go back to them; we will be tempted to return to the things that once enslaved us. God wants us to make sure there is no root of poison left but rather we need to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature. We don’t just remove the weed and forget the root otherwise it will spring up again. No, we take more drastic measures; we go beneath the surface and kill the root. 19-we become baptized and think we’ve done all that was needed to punch our ticket to heaven. However, if we give no careful consideration to how we live thereafter, we run the same risk as the person in vs. 19. 20-It’s not that God will be unwilling to forgive someone if they were to repent because that would contradict God’s nature of forgiveness to those who come to him. What this pertains to is those who continue to resist repentance.
2nd Peter 3:9 says that God wishes that none would perish but for all to come to repentance. However, earlier in 2:1 he talks about the false teachers who deny Jesus and therefore bring swift destruction on themselves. Vs. 2 mentions that unfortunately many will follow their shameful ways. If I bring swift destruction on myself it means that I made a choice between life and prosperity and death and destruction. Unfortunately, although God wants everyone to come to repentance, some won’t. God wants everyone to choose life and prosperity but sadly too many will choose death and destruction instead.
But why would anyone do that? Obviously if you just posed the choice to someone and said, ‘pick which one you want’ no one in their right mind is going to choose death and destruction so why is Matt. 7:13-14 true where Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” It seems like a no-brainer yet the reality is that there will be more people rejecting life and prosperity than there will be who accept it.
Why will so many choose this broad road? Because they want to live life their way, not God’s way. Yes, God promises the fullness of life but that comes at a price. Jesus said in Luke 9 that if we are going to follow him we need to be willing to die to self daily (ongoing choice). That means we are going to have to make sacrifices. We are going to have to put Jesus’ will ahead of our own. It also means we are going to need to change. In following Jesus we are making a commitment to be like him-to think the way he does and do things the way he would. That means we need to be loving and forgiving. That means we make our life all about loving God and loving others instead of making it all about me. That means being willing to be mistreated for doing the right thing and not getting even with people when they do us wrong. People will choose the broad road over the narrow road because they are stubborn, selfish and prideful-they don’t think they need to change, they don’t want to change and they’re not going to change.
Satan hates God and he tries to deceive and manipulate people into hating God too. People hated Jesus and Jesus did nothing but love people. We might not think of ourselves as out and out hating God but the reality is that the bible says if we’re not for God we’re against him-remember-no neutral ground. The bible also says we were enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior. Apart from Christ we really don’t love God. We might think we do; that is, until something bad happens in our life and we are shaking our fist at him. Too many people fall for the devil’s lie that God doesn’t love them, the lie that they are okay-they don’t have to follow Jesus in order to go to heaven even if the bible says that they do. Satan loves telling lies-that’s who he is. He may be lying to you right now. He may be telling you that what I’m saying is not true: “Don’t listen to this guy, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” I don’t claim to know everything, but this I do know-Satan is the liar, Jesus is the truth and without being born-again I’m not going to heaven. I’ve lived the difference between death and destruction and life and prosperity. I know what I’m choosing-what about you?
