Schoolmaster to Christ
DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 4

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 4 (KJV)

"Now therefore hearken O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you."

Here we have the special characteristic of the entire book of Deuteronomy. "Hearken," and "do;" that ye may "live" and "possess." This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple obedience to the holy commandments of God. We see this throughout the Holy Scriptures, from cover to cover. God has given us His Word, not to speculate on it or discuss it, but that we may obey it. Only by yielding a hearty and happy obedience to our Father's statutes and judgments as we tread the bright pathway of life can we enter into the reality of all that God has treasured up for us in Christ. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

It would be a mistake to suppose that all believers enjoy the privilege spoken of here. They are not. Only those who yield a loving obedience to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ enjoy it. It lies within the reach of all, but all do not enjoy it, because all are not obedient. It is one thing to be a child, and another to be an obedient child. It is one thing to be saved, and another to love the Savior and delight in all His most precious precepts.

We see this continually illustrated in family circles. For example, there are two sons, and one of them thinks only of pleasing himself, doing his will, gratifying his own desires. He takes no pleasure in his father's society; takes no pains to carry out his father's wishes; knows hardly anything of his father’s mind, and what he does know he often neglects. He is ready to avail himself of all the benefits that accrue from his relationship to his father; accepting clothes, books, and money – anything the father gives. But he never seeks to gratify the father's heart by a loving attention to his will. The other son is the direct opposite. He delights in being with his father; he loves his society, loves his ways, loves his words; he is constantly looking for ways to carry out his father's wishes, to do something he knows will be agreeable to him. He loves his father, not for gifts but for himself; and he finds rich enjoyment being in his father's company; doing his will.

Surely we can understand and see how differently the father will feel toward those two sons. True, they are both his sons and he loves them both with a love grounded on their relationship to him. But, beside the love of relationship common to both, there is the love of complacency peculiar to the obedient child. It is impossible that a father can find pleasure in a willful, self-indulgent, careless son: such a son may occupy much of his thoughts; he may spend many a sleepless night thinking about and praying for him; he would gladly spend and be spent for him. But such a son is not agreeable to the father; does not possess his confidence; is not the depository of his thoughts.

This demands consideration of those who desire to be acceptable or agreeable to the heart of our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We may rest assured that obedience is grateful to God; and "His commandments are not grievous;" no, they are the sweet and precious expression of His love and the fruit and evidence of the relationship in which He stands to us. And He graciously rewards our obedience by a fuller manifestation of Himself to our souls and dwelling with us. With great fullness and beauty, this comes out in our Lord's reply to Judas not Iscariot; whose question we may be thankful,

"Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (Jn. 14).

Here we are taught that it is not a question of the difference between "the world" and "us," because the world knows nothing of either relationship or obedience, and therefore does not contemplate our Lord's Words. The world hates Christ, because it does not know Him. Its language is, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." "We will not have this man to reign over us."

Such is the world, even when polished by civilization. Underneath all the polish, there is a deep-seated hatred of the Person and authority of Christ. His sacred, peerless Name is tacked on to the world's religious organizations; but behind the drapery of such religious profession lurks a heart at enmity with God and His Christ.

But our Lord is not speaking of the world in John 14. He is shut in with "his own," and it is of them He is speaking. Were He to manifest Himself to the world, it could only be for judgment and eternal destruction. But, He does manifest Himself to His obedient children, to those who have His commandments and keep them, to those who love Him and keep His Words.

We need to keep in mind that when our Lord speaks of His commandments, His Words, and His sayings, He does not mean the Ten Commandments, or Law of Moses. No doubt, the Ten Commandments form a part of the whole canon of Scripture, the inspired Word of God; but to confound the Law of Moses with the commandments of Christ would be simply turning things upside down; it would be to confound Judaism with Christianity, law and grace – the two are as distinct as any two things can be.

We are sometimes led astray by the mere sound of words; and hence, when we meet the word "commandments," we instantly conclude that it must refer to the Law of Moses. But this is a great and mischievous mistake. Any who are not clear and established on this, should consider the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, and the whole Epistle to the Galatians – reading them calmly and prayerfully, with a mind freed from theological bias and the influence of previous religious training by men. There one will learn that the Christian is not under law in any way, either for life, for righteousness, for holiness, for walk, or for anything else. In short, the teaching of the entire New Testament establishes beyond question that the Christian is not under law, not of the world, not in the flesh, not in his sins. The solid ground of all this is the accomplished redemption in Christ Jesus. By virtue of His redemption, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit – united to and inseparably identified with a risen and glorified Christ. Because of this the apostle John can say of all true believers, all God's dear children, "As he [Christ] is so are we in this world" (emphasis added). This settles the whole question – those content to be governed by Holy Scripture.

We have digressed from the immediate subject, hopefully to meet any difficulty arising from a misunderstanding of the word "commandments." We cannot too carefully guard against the tendency to confuse the commandments spoken of in John 14 with the commandments of Moses in Exodus 20. And yet we reverently believe that Exodus 20 is as truly inspired as John 14. Before turning from this subject, let us consider a piece of inspired history that strikingly illustrates the difference between an obedient and disobedient child of God – Genesis 18, 19. This presents a contrast that is instructive, suggestive and practical. We are not going to dwell on it now, having done so in the study of Genesis. In these two chapters, we have the history of two saints of God. Lot was as much a child of God as Abraham. Is he among "the spirits of just men made perfect," as is Abraham? We believe he is, because the inspired apostle Peter tells us that Lot's "righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked."

But there was a grave difference between the two men. The Lord Himself visited Abraham, sat with him and readily partook of his hospitality. This was a high honor, a rare privilege – a privilege that Lot never knew, an honor he never attained. The Lord never visited him in Sodom. He merely sent His angels, His ministers of power, the agents of His government. At first, even they sternly refused to enter Lot's house or to partake of his proffered hospitality. Their withering reply was, "Nay, but we will abide in the street all night." And, when they did enter his house, it was only to protect him from the lawless violence that surrounded him – to drag him out of terrible circumstances into which he had plunged himself for worldly gain and position. Could contrast be more vivid?

But, the Lord delighted in Abraham, manifested Himself to him; opened His mind to him; told him of His plans and purposes; what He was about to do with Sodom. He said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."

We could hardly have a more telling illustration of John 14:21, 23, although the scene occurred two thousand years before the words were uttered. Is there anything like this in the history of Lot? No. It could not be. He had no nearness to God, no knowledge of His mind, no insight into His plans and Purposes. How could he? He was sunk in the low moral depths of Sodom – how could he know the mind of God? How could he see into the future when blinded by the murky atmosphere that enwrapped the guilty cities of the plain? No; if a man is mixed up with the world he can only see things from the world's point of view; he measures things by the world's standard, and thinks of things with worldly thoughts. Hence, in its Sardis condition the Lord’s church is threatened with the coming of the Lord as a thief, instead of being cheered with the hope of His coming as the bright and morning star. If the church sinks to the world's level, then she can contemplate the future only from the world's point of view. Obviously, this would account for the feeling of dread one might have regarding the subject of the Lord's coming. Such are looking for Him as a thief, instead of the blessed Bridegroom of their hearts. Comparatively speaking, there are no doubt few professing Christians who love His appearing – finding their type in Lot rather than Abraham. Sadly, man's organized religious institutions have departed from the church's proper ground; going down from her true moral elevation and mingling with a world that hates and despises the Lord.

Thank God, there are still "a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments" – a few living stones, amid the smoldering ashes of lifeless profession – a few lights twinkling amid the moral gloom of cold, nominal, heartless, worldly Christianity. And not only so, but in the Laodicean phase of the church's history a still lower and more hopeless condition of things is presented. The whole professing body is about to be spued out of the mouth of "the faithful and true witness" – even at this advanced stage of failure and departure, those gracious words fall with soul-stirring power on the attentive ear, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with him."¹ Thus, in the days of professing Christianity, as in the days of the Patriarchs and in New Testament times, we see the same value and importance attached to a hearing ear and an obedient heart. In the plains of Mamre, Abraham, the pilgrim and the stranger, the faithful and obedient child of God, tasted the rare privilege of entertaining the Lord of glory – a privilege that could not be known by one who had chosen his place and his portion in a sphere doomed to destruction. So also, in the days of Laodicean indifference and boastful pretension, the truly obedient heart is cheered with the sweet promise of sitting down to sup with Him Who is "the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." In other words, let the condition of things be what it may, there is no limit to the blessing of the individual soul who will only hearken to the voice of Christ, and keep His commandments.

Let us remember this; let it sink into the deepest depths of our moral being. Nothing can rob us of the blessings and privileges flowing from obedience. This truth shines before our eyes throughout the volume of God. At all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, the obedient soul was happy in God and God was happy in him. Whatever the dispensational character, it always holds good that, "To this man will I look, even to him who is of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word." Nothing can ever alter or touch this. It meets us in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, in the opening words of this section.

"Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements which I teach you, for to do, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you."

It meets us in those precious words of our Lord in John 14: "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me . . ." And again, "If a man love me, he will keep my sayings."² It shines with peculiar brightness, in the words of the inspired apostle John, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him" (1 Jn. 3:21-24).

Passages could easily be multiplied, but there is no need. But, in the clearest and fullest way possible, those already quoted set before us the highest motive for obedience: it is agreeable to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ – well pleasing to God. True, we owe a hearty obedience on every ground. "We are not our own; we are bought with a price." We owe Him our life, peace, righteousness, salvation, everlasting felicity and glory; nothing can exceed the moral weight of His claims on us for a life of whole-hearted obedience. But, above and beyond His moral claims stands the marvelous fact that His heart is gratified, His spirit refreshed when we keep His commandments – when we do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Can anything exceed the moral power of a motive that thinks only of being privileged to give pleasure to the heart of our beloved Lord? What sweetness, interest, preciousness, and holy dignity every act of obedience imparts – to know that it gratifies the heart of our Father. In every phase and feature, this is far beyond; is a contrast to legalism. The difference between a legal system and Christianity is the difference between death and life, bondage and liberty, condemnation and righteousness, distance and nearness, doubt and certainty. We should never attempt to amalgamate these two things – to put them into one system as though they were simply two branches from one stem. What hopeless confusion must be the result of such an effort; how terrible the effect of seeking to place souls under the influence of both. We might as well attempt to combine the sun's meridian beams with the darkness of midnight. Looked at from a divine and heavenly standpoint, judged in the light of the New Testament, measured by the standard of the heart of God, and the mind of Christ, there could not be a more hideous anomaly than that which presents itself to our view in religious efforts to combine law and grace. Only the judgment-seat of Christ can declare the dishonor done to God; the wound inflicted on the heart of Christ, the grief and despite offered to the Holy Spirit, the damage done to the truth of God, the grievous wrong perpetrated on the beloved lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ, the terrible stumbling-block thrown in the way of both Jew and Gentile, and the serious injury done to the testimony of God during the last nineteen centuries. What a declaration His judgment-seat will be – too tremendous to contemplate.

But, throughout the length and breadth of the professing church, there are many pious souls who conscientiously believe that the only possible way to produce obedience, attain practical holiness, secure a godly walk, and keep our evil nature in order, is to put people under law. They seem to fear that moral order would end if souls were taken from under the schoolmaster's rod and rudiments. In the absence of the authority of law, they look for nothing but hopeless confusion. In their judgment, taking away the Ten Commandments as a rule of life removes those grand moral embankments the hand of God has erected to stem the tide of human lawlessness.

Their difficulty is understandable. In one way or another, most of us have encountered it. But we must seek to meet it in God's way. In the face of the plainest and most direct teaching of Holy Scripture, it is of no use to cling with fond tenacity to our own notions. Sooner or later, we must give up all such notions. Nothing will; nothing can stand but the Word of our God – the voice of the Holy Spirit; the authority of Scripture – the imperishable teachings of that peerless Revelation that our Father has put into our hands. To that we must listen with profound and reverent attention. To it we must bow down with unquestioning and unqualified obedience. We must not presume to hold a single opinion of our own. God's opinion must be ours. We must clear from our minds all the rubbish and influence of mere human teaching, and have every chamber thoroughly cleansed by action of the Word and Spirit of God, and thoroughly ventilated by the pure and bracing air of the new creation.

We must also learn to implicitly confide in every Word proceeding out of the mouth of God. We must not reason; we must not judge; we must not discuss; we must simply believe. We must judge when man speaks because man has no right to command. We must judge what he says, not by our own opinions or by human standard, creed, dogma, teaching, or confession of faith, but by the Word of God. However, when Scripture speaks, all discussion is closed.

This is an unspeakable consolation. It is not within the compass of human language to adequately set forth the value or moral importance of this great fact. On the one hand, it completely delivers the soul from the blinding power of self-will and subjection to human authority; on the other, it brings us into direct, personal, living contact with the authority of God – this is life, peace, liberty, moral power, true elevation, divine certainty, and holy stability. It puts an end to doubts and fears, to all the fluctuations of mere human opinion that is always so perplexing to the mind and torturing to the heart. We are no longer tossed about with every wind of doctrine, every wave of human thought. God has spoken. This is quite enough. Here the heart finds its deep and settled repose. It has made its escape from the stormy ocean of theological controversy, and cast anchor in the blessed haven of Divine Revelation.

Therefore, if we would know the mind of God on the subject before us – if we would know the ground, character and object of Christian obedience, we must listen to the voice of Holy Scripture. And what does it say? Does it send as back to Moses to teach us how to live? Does it send us back "to the palpable mount in order to secure holy living? Does it put us under the law to keep the flesh in order? Hearken and ponder what it says. Take the following words from Romans 6 – words of emancipating, holy power. "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace."

May these words enter the depths of our soul. In the simplest and most emphatic manner, the Holy Spirit declares that Christians are not under law. If we were under law, sin would have dominion over us. Invariably we find "sin," "law," and "flesh" linked together in Scripture. The fallacy of the whole legal system is that a soul under law cannot enjoy full deliverance from the dominion of sin. It is delusion to seek holy living by putting souls under the law. To do such puts them into the very place where sin can rule them with absolute sway. It is hopeless to produce holiness by law?

Let us briefly consider Romans 7: "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also [and all true believers, all God's people] are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (emphasis added).

It is plain that we cannot be "dead to the law" and "under the law" at the same time. It might be argued that the expression, “dead to the law” is merely a figure. But, if that is so, we ask, "A figure of what?" Surely it cannot be a figure of persons under the law – but a figure of the very opposite.

Note that the apostle does not say, the law is dead; nothing of the kind. The law is not dead, but we are dead to it. By the death of Christ, we are passed out of the sphere in which the law belongs. Christ took our place; He was made under the law; and on the cross, He was made sin for us. But He died for us and we died in Him. Thus, He has taken us completely out of being under the dominion of sin and law, introducing us into an entirely new position in living association and union with Him, so that it can be said, "As he is, so are we, in this world." Is He under law? No, and neither are we. Has sin any claim on Him? None whatsoever, and neither has it any on us. Regarding our standing in the presence of God, we are as He is. Therefore to put us back under law would be a complete overturning of the entire Christian position – a flagrant contradiction of the plainest statements of Holy Scripture.

How could holy living be promoted by removing the very foundation of Christianity? How could indwelling sin be subdued by putting us under the very system that gave sin power over us? How can flying in the face of Holy Scripture produce true Christian obedience? Can anything more thoroughly preposterous be conceived? Surely a divine end can only be gained by pursuing a divine way. God's way of giving us deliverance from the dominion of sin is by delivering us from under law; and hence those who teach that Christians are under law are plainly at issue with God. This is a tremendous consideration for a teacher of the law.
 
Consider further the words of Romans 7. The apostle goes on to say, "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, being dead [or having died] to that wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."³

Again, all is as clear as a sunbeam. What is the meaning of the expression, "When we were in the flesh?" Does it, can it mean that we are still in that condition? No. If one says, “When I was in London,” would anyone understand it to mean, "I am still in London"? The thought is rather absurd.

But what does the apostle mean by the expression, "When we were in the flesh"? He is obviously referring to a thing of the past – to a condition that no longer exists. Are true believers in the flesh? – Scripture emphatically declares it so. Does this mean they are not in the body? Certainly they are in the body regarding the fact of their existence; but they are not in the flesh regarding the ground of their standing before God.

In Romans 8 we have the most distinct statement of this point. "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Here we have the statement of a solemn fact – the setting forth of a precious, glorious privilege. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." They may be moral, admirable, religious, and benevolent; but they cannot please God. Their entire position is false. The source from which all the streams flow is corrupt; the root and stem from which all the branches emanate are rotten – hopelessly bad. They cannot produce a single atom of good that God can accept. "They cannot please God." They must get into an entirely new position; they must have a new life, new motives, and new objects – they must be a new creation. Let us weigh this solemnly and thoroughly and truthfully determine if we understand the apostle's words.

On the other hand, consider the glorious privilege of all true believers. "Ye are not in the flesh." Such believers are no longer in a position that does not please God. They have a new nature, a new life – their every movement and every outflow is agreeable to God. The feeblest breathing of a divine life is precious to God. The Holy Spirit is the power of this life, Christ the object, glory the goal, and heaven the home. All is divine and therefore perfect. True, a Christian can err, is prone to wander, and capable of sinning. In his flesh dwells no good thing. But his standing is based on the eternal stability of the grace of God, and his state is met by the divine provision that grace has made for him, in the precious atonement and all-prevailing advocacy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus we are forever delivered from that system in which the prominent figures are, "Flesh"; "Law"; "Sin"; "Death"; most surely a melancholy group. In Christ we are brought into that glorious scene in which the prominent figures are, "Life"; "Liberty"; ''Grace"; "Peace"; "Righteousness"; "Holiness"; "Glory"; "Christ."

"For ye are not come to the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. (For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly, the church of the firstborn [ones] which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than Abel" (Heb. 12).

We have endeavored to meet the difficulty of a conscientious student who, up to the moment in which he opened this volume, had cherished the conviction that it is only by putting believers under the law that practical holiness and true obedience can be attained. We trust he has followed us through the line of Scripture evidence presented. If so, he will see that to place believers in such a position is to do away with the foundations of Christianity; to abandon grace; to give up Christ; to go back to the flesh where it is not possible to please God, once again living under the curse. In short, man’s legal system is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the entire New Testament. It was against this system and its upholders that during his whole life the apostle Paul testified. He abhorred and continually denounced it. Teachers of the law were always seeking to sap and undermine Paul’s labors, and subvert the souls of his beloved children in the faith. His burning sentences in the Epistle to the Galatians and the withering references in his Epistle to the Philippians, clearly demonstrate the intensity of his abhorrence of the whole legal system of the law-teachers. Bitterly he wept over the ruins of the testimony so dear to his large, loving, devoted heart. Also, how could any serious student of Holy Scripture miss the solemn inspired warnings offered by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

But it is possible that notwithstanding the full tide of Scripture evidence offered, one may still feel disposed to ask, "Is there not a danger of unholy laxity and levity if the restraining power of the law is removed?" The reply might seem overly simple: God is wiser than we are. But, He knows best how to cure laxity and levity – how to produce the right sort of obedience. He tried the law and what did it do? It worked wrath, causing the offence to abound. It developed "the motions of sins." It brought in death; was the strength of sin; and deprived the sinner of all power – It slew him. It was condemnation, and cursed all who had to do with it – "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." All this was not because of any defect in the law, but because of man's total inability to keep it.

We trust that it is now plain that life, righteousness, holiness, or true Christian obedience can ever be attained under law. Surely, no one who is willing to bow to the teaching and authority of the New Testament can adhere to the legal system.

However, before we turn from this weighty and important subject, we will offer a passage or two of Scripture in which the moral glories of Christianity shine forth with peculiar luster, in vivid contrast to the Mosaic economy.

First of all, let us consider that familiar passage at the opening of the eighth of Romans, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (vv. 1-4).

We must bear in mind that verse 1 presents the standing of every Christian – his position before God. He is "in Christ Jesus." This settles everything. He is not in the flesh; he is not under law; he is eternally "in Christ Jesus." There is – there can be, no condemnation. The apostle is of course not speaking of, or referring to, our walk: or our state. If he were, he could not possibly speak of "no condemnation." The most perfect Christian walk that was ever exhibited, the most perfect Christian state that was ever attained, would afford some ground for judgment and condemnation. There is not a Christian on the face of the earth who does not, or should not, daily judge his state and walk – his moral condition and practical ways. How then could "no condemnation" ever stand connected with, or be based on, Christian walk? Seems impossible. In order to be free from all condemnation we must have what is divinely perfect, and no Christian walk is, or ever was that. Even a Paul had to withdraw his words (Acts 23:5). He repented of having written a letter (2 Cor. 7:8). A perfect walk and a perfect state were only found in One – Christ Jesus. In everyone else – even the holiest and best, failure is found. So, the law brings condemnation because it points out, stimulates, and condemns sin. But "in Christ Jesus" the Christian is no longer "under law" (Rom. 6:14). We are united with Him, as explained in Romans 6:1-10. "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11, NASB).⁴

In Romans 8:4, it is a question of walk; a question of fulfilling "the righteousness of the law," A person who walks in the Spirit (as every Christian should) fulfils the righteousness of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law; and love will lead us to do what the Ten Commandments could never effect – to love our enemies. As lovers of holiness and advocates of practical righteousness, we need not be afraid of losing anything by abandoning the legal ground, and taking our place on the elevated platform of true Christianity, by turning from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion; passing from Moses to Christ. No, we are not loses, because "in Christ" we reach a higher source, a deeper spring, a wider sphere of holiness, righteousness and practical obedience.

Someone may feel disposed to ask, "Does this line of argument tend to rob the law of its characteristic glory?" Actually, the law was never so magnified, so vindicated, so established, so glorified, as by that precious work which forms the imperishable foundation of all the privileges, blessings, dignities and glories of Christianity. Early in Romans, the apostle anticipates and answers this very question: "Do we then make void the law through faith. Far be the thought; yea, we establish the law." How could the law be more gloriously vindicated, honored and magnified than in the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Will anyone seek to maintain the notion that putting Christ under the law magnifies it? Surely not.  All such thoughts must be abandoned by those who are privileged to walk in the light of the new creation; who know Christ as their life, and Christ as their righteousness – Christ, their sanctification, Christ, their great Exemplar, Christ, their model, Christ their all and in all. Those whose motive for obedience does not come from fear of the curses of a broken law, but in the love of Christ, according to those exquisitely beautiful words, "The love of Christ [not the law of Moses] constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Cor. 5; emphasis added).

Could the law ever produce anything like this? No. But, "What the law could not do [not because it was not holy, just and good, but] in that it was weak through the flesh [the workman was all right, but the material was rotten and nothing could be made of it; but] God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who [as risen with Christ, linked with Him by the Holy Spirit, in the power of a new and everlasting life] walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (emphasis added).

This is true, practical Christianity. In the second chapter of Galatians, we find another glowing statement of the inspired apostle that sets forth the special glory of Christian life and walk. It is in connection with his rebuke of the apostle Peter, at Antioch, when through a characteristic weakness that beloved and honored servant of Christ had been led to step down from the elevated moral ground on which the Gospel of the grace of God places the soul. Every sentence is filled with spiritual power.

"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face [he did not go behind his back to disparage and depreciate him in the view of others, even though] he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law; for by works of law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor [for, if the things were right, why destroy them? And, if they were wrong, why build them again?]. For I, through law, am dead to law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live [not by the law, as a rule of life, but] by the faith of the Son, of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by law, then Christ is dead in vain [or has died for nothing]" (Gal. 2:11-21; emphasis added).

This is one of the finest statements anywhere to be found of the truth regarding practical Christianity. But, our present attention is focused on how the Gospel of God opens up the true believer's path between the two fatal errors of legality on one hand, and carnal laxity on the other. Galatians 2:19 offers God's remedy for both these deadly evils. To any who would put the Christian under law, the apostle proclaims to the ears of dissembling Jews with Peter at their head, and as an answer to law-teachers of every age – "I am dead to law."

The law has nothing to say to a dead man. The law applies to a living man; it curses and kills him because he cannot keep it. It is a grave mistake to teach that the law is dead or abolished. It is nothing of the sort. It is alive in all its force, in all its stringency, in all its majesty, in all its unbending dignity. It would be a serious mistake to say and believe that the Law of America against murder is dead. But if a man is dead, then the law no longer applies to him, because he has passed completely out of its range.

But how is the true believer dead to law? The apostle replies, "I through law am dead to law." The law brought the sentence of death into his conscience; as we read in Romans 7, "I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."

But there is more. The apostle says, "I am Crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Here is the Christian's triumphant answer to those who say that because the Mosaic law is abrogated, there is no longer any demand for the legal restraint under which the Jews were called to live. To those who seek liberty for self-indulgence, the answer is, "I am dead to law," not that I might give a loose rein to the flesh, but "that I might live unto God."

There is nothing more complete, more morally beautiful than the answer of true Christianity to legality on one hand, and licentiousness on the other – self-crucified; sin condemned; new life in Christ; a life lived to God, a life of faith in the Son of God – the motive spring of that life, the constraining love of Christ. What can exceed this? In view of the moral glories of Christianity, will anyone contend for putting believers under the law, putting them back into the flesh; back into the old creation; back to the sentence of death in the conscience; back to bondage, darkness, distance, fear of death, condemnation?

Is it possible that anyone who has ever tasted the heavenly sweetness of God's most blessed Gospel can accept a wretched mongrel system, composed of half law and half grace, offered by some organized religious institutions of the 21st Century? How terrible to find children of God, members of the body of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, robbed of their glorious privileges and burdened with a heavy yoke that, as Peter says, "Neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." We earnestly entreat the serious student to consider this. Search the Scriptures; and if these things are found to be so, then forever fling aside the clothes wrapped around the deluded votaries of religious organizations, and walk in the liberty and freedom found in Christ. Pray that we all may be able to tear off the bandage covering the eyes of men, and gaze on the moral glories shining with heavenly brilliancy in the Gospel of the grace of God.

Then, by a holy, happy, gracious walk and conversation, let us prove that grace can do what law never could. In the midst of the scenes, circumstances, relationships and associations in which we are called to live, let our practical ways from day to day be a convincing reply to all who contend for the law as a rule of life.

Finally, let it be our earnest, loving desire and aim to seek and lead the children of God into a clearer knowledge of their standing and privileges in a risen and glorified Christ. May the Lord send out His light and truth in the power of the Holy Spirit and gather His beloved people to walk in the joy of His salvation, in the purity and light of His presence, and to wait for His coming.

Some may think this too lengthy a digression of the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. However, from the first verse of the chapter, we have the urge to focus on this needed line of practical truth – to concentrate on the weighty question of obedience. If Israel was called to "hearken and do," how much more are we who are so richly blessed – yea "blessed with all spiritual blessings, in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." We are called to obedience, the obedience of Jesus Christ as the apostle Peter puts it: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." We are called to the same character of obedience as that which marked the life of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Of course, in Him there was no hindering influence, as there is in us – but the character of the obedience it is the same.

This is a great privilege. We are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked." In pondering the path of our Lord, considering His marvelous life, there is one point that demands our profound and reverent attention; a point that connects itself in a special manner with the Book of Deuteronomy, i.e., the way He always used the Word of God – the place He always gave to Holy Scripture. This is truly a subject of great importance in this age. It holds a prominent place throughout the book we are presently considering; it characterizes the book and separates it from the three preceding books preceding it in the divine canon. As we pass along, we will find abundant proofs and illustrations of this. We find throughout its pages that the Word of God has a paramount place as man's only rule, only standard, and only authority. It meets him in every position, every relationship, every sphere of action, and in every stage of his moral and spiritual history. It tells him what he should and should not do. It furnishes man with ample guidance in every difficulty. As we will see, it descends to the minutest details. In fact, we are filled with amazement that the Mighty Eternal One, the Omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of the vast universe could be occupy with and stoop to legislate about a bird's nest (Deut. 22:6).

Such is the Word of God, the peerless Revelation, and the perfect and inimitable volume that stands alone in the history of literature. One special charm, one peculiar feature of interest in the Book of Deuteronomy is the way it exalts the Word of God – the way it enforces on us the holy and happy duty of unqualified and unhesitating obedience.

What wholesome words – unqualified and unhesitating obedience. Words that need to be sounded in the ears of Christians throughout the length and breadth of earth. We live in an age marked by a high level of dependency on man's reasoning, man's judgment, and man's will. We live in what the inspired apostle calls, "man's day." On all hands we are encountered by lofty and boastful words about human reason and the right of every man to judge and reason and think for himself. The thought of being absolutely and completely governed by the authority of Holy Scripture is treated with sovereign contempt by many men who are leaders, guides and teachers of organized religious institutions. For anyone to assert a reverent belief in the plenary inspiration, the all-sufficiency, and absolute authority of Scripture, is sufficient in this age to stamp him as an ignorant, narrow-minded man. In our universities, colleges and schools, the moral glory of God's Book is fast fading away, and instead our young people are led and taught to walk in the light of science, the light of human reason. The Word of God is impiously placed at the bar of man's judgment, and reduced to the level of human understanding. Everything that soars beyond man's feeble vision is rejected.

Thus, the Word of God is virtually set aside. Without a doubt, if Scripture is reduced to human judgment, it ceases to be the Word of God. It is the height of folly to think of submitting a divine and therefore perfect revelation to any tribunal whatsoever. Either God has given us a revelation, or He has not. If He has, that revelation must be paramount, supreme, above and beyond all questions – absolutely unquestionable, unerring, and divine. We must bow to its authority without a single question. To suppose that man is competent to judge the Word of God, able to pronounce on what is or is not worthy of God to say or to write, is simply to put man in God's place. This is precisely what the devil is aiming at, although many of his instruments are not aware that they are assisting his designs.

But this question often arises: "Can we be sure that in our English Bible we have the bona fide revelation of God?" Certainly, God can make us sure of it. If He does not, no one can. If He does, no one need. This is our ground; and we deem it unassailable. Here is another question: "If God cannot give us absolute certainty that in our common English Bible we possess His precious, priceless revelation, then where are we to turn?" Of course, in this weighty matter on which momentous and eternal consequences hang, a single doubt is torture and misery. If we are not sure of possessing a revelation from God, we are left without a single ray of light for my path. We are plunged into darkness, gloom and mental misery. What are we to do? Can man help us by his learning, wisdom or reason? Can he satisfy our soul by his decision? Can he solve our difficulties, answer our questions, remove our doubts, and dissipate our fears? Is man better able than God to give us assurance that God has spoken?

The idea is monstrous. Here is the plain fact, if God cannot give us the certainty that He has spoken then we are left without His Word. Why do we say this? Because, if we must turn to human authority (call it what you please) in order to guarantee the Word of God, then that authority is higher and greater, safer and more trustworthy than the Word it guarantees. Blessed be our God, such is not the case. God has spoken to our hearts by giving us His Word, and that Word carries with it its own credentials. It stands in no need of letters of commendation from a human hand. Accrediting the Word of the living God by turning to man is a ridiculous thought. Apply to a worm to give us the assurance that our God has spoken to us in His word? Away forever with such a blasphemous notion, and let our whole moral being – all our ransomed powers adore the matchless grace, the sovereign mercy that has not left us to grope in the darkness of our own minds, or to be bewildered by the conflicting opinions of men; but has given us His own perfect and precious Revelation. The divine light of His Word guides our feet into the path of certainty and peace; enlightens our understanding and comforts our hearts, preserves us from every form of doctrinal error and moral pravity. Finally, it conducts us into the rest, blessedness and glory of His heavenly kingdom. Praise His Name throughout the everlasting ages.

But, bear in mind that the marvelous privilege of which we are speaking is the basis of a solemn responsibility. If it is true that in His infinite goodness God has given us a perfect Revelation of His mind, then what should be our attitude regarding it? Are we to sit in judgment on it? Are we to discuss, argue or reason? Those who do so will find themselves on dangerous ground. The only true, proper, and safe attitude for man in the presence of God's Revelation is obedience – simple, unqualified, hearty obedience. This is the right thing for us; and is the only thing that pleases God. The path of obedience is the path of privilege, rest and blessing; and can be trodden by the babe in Christ, as well as by the "young men" and the "fathers." There is one straight path for all. Yes, it is narrow; but it is safe, bright and elevated. The light of our Father's approving countenance always shines on it; and in this blessed light an obedient soul finds the triumphant answer to all reproaches by those who speak in high sounding words about breadth of mind, liberality of thought, freedom of opinion, progress, development, and such-like. As obedient children of God, we can easily afford to put up with all this, because we feel and know, we believe and are sure that we are treading a path indicated for us by the precious Word of God. We do not need to explain or apologize, feeling assured that those who object, oppose, and reproach are themselves incapable of understanding or appreciating our explanation. Actually, it is not our duty to explain or defend. Our duty is to obey – let us refer objectors and opposers to the Master; and leave them there.

This makes everything simple, plain, and certain. It delivers the heart from thousands of difficulties and perplexities. If we were to set about replying to all who raise questions or start difficulties, our whole life would be spent in that profitless task. We may rest assured the best possible answer to all infidel objectors, is the steady, earnest, onward path of unqualified obedience. Let us leave infidels, skeptics and rationalists to their own worthless theories; while with unswerving purpose and firm step we pursue the path of childlike obedience. In this way our minds will be kept tranquil – the peace of God that passes all understanding will garrison our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. When the eternally settled Word of God is hidden deep in our hearts, there will be a calm certainty, a holy stability, and a marked progress in our Christian career that will afford the best answer to the gainsayer, the most effectual testimony to the truth of God; and the most convincing evidence and solid confirmation to every wavering heart.

The fourth chapter of Deuteronomy abounds in solemn exhortation to Israel, grounded on the fact of having heard the Word of God. Thus, in the second verse, we have a sentence or two that should be deeply engraved on the tablets of every Christian's heart. "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it."

These words involve two grand facts regarding the Word of God. It is not to be added to because there is nothing lacking. It is not to be diminished, because there is nothing superfluous. Everything we want is there; and we cannot do without anything there. "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." To suppose that anything can be added to God's Word is to deny that it is God's Word. On the other hand, if we admit that it is the Word of God, then it necessarily follows that we cannot afford to do without a single sentence. If a single clause were dropped from its place in the canon, there would be a blank in the Bible that no human hand could fill. We have all we want and need – we must not add. We want and need it all; we must not diminish.

All this is deeply important, especially in this age of human tampering with the Word of God. How blessed to know that we have in our possession a book so divinely perfect that not a sentence, not a clause, not a word can be added to it. Of course, we are not speaking of translations or versions, but of the Scriptures originally given by God – His own perfect Revelation. To this not a touch can be given. On the morning when all the sons of God sang together, a human finger might as well have dared to touch the creation of God as to add a jot or a tittle to the inspired Word of God. On the other hand, to take away from it a jot or a tittle is to say that what the Holy Spirit penned is unnecessary. Thus, Holy Scripture is divinely guarded at both ends. It is so securely fenced that no rude hand should ever touch its sacred contents.

Perhaps one might reply, "Are you saying that every sentence from the opening lines of Genesis to the close of Revelation is divinely inspired?" Yes; that is precisely the ground we take. We claim Divine origin for every line between the covers of the Volume. To question this is to attack the very pillars of Christian faith. A single flaw in the canon would be sufficient to prove it not of God. To touch a single stone in the arch is to bring down the whole fabric in ruins around us. "All scripture is divinely inspired; and [being so, must be] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect [artios], throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3; emphasis added).

On no account, should this stronghold be surrendered. No, in the face of every infidel assault it must be tenaciously held. If it is given up, all is hopelessly lost. We have nothing to lean on. Either the Word of God is perfect, or we are left without a Divine foundation for our faith. If there be a word too much or a word too little in the Revelation that God has given us, then we are left like a ship without compass, rudder, or chart, drifting about on the wild, tumultuous ocean of infidel thought. In short, if we do not have a perfect Revelation, we are of all men most miserable.

Perhaps one may still seek to offer a challenge with a question such as this, "Do you believe that the long string of names, those genealogical tables in the opening Chapters of 1 Chronicles are divinely inspired? Were they written for our learning? And, if so, what are we to learn from them?" We unhesitatingly declare our reverent belief in the divine inspiration of all these; and we have no doubt whatsoever that their value, interest, and importance will by-and by be fully proved in the history of that people to whom they specially apply.

Regarding what we are to learn from those genealogical records, we believe they teach a precious lesson regarding Jehovah's faithful care for His people Israel, His loving interest in them, and in all that concerned them. He watches over them, from generation to generation. He knows all about "the twelve tribes," and in due time He will plant them in the land of Canaan, their destined inheritance according to His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

All this is full of instruction and comfort for our souls. It is confirmatory for our faith to observe God's gracious pains-taking, His minute care and vigilance pertaining to His earthly people. Should not our hearts be interested in all that interests the heart of our Father? Are we not to have an interest in something other that what directly concerns self? Does not a loving child take an interest in all his father's concerns, delighting to read every line that drops from his father's pen?

Let no one misunderstood. We are not attempting to imply that all portions of the Word of God are of like interest and importance to us. For instance, we do not assert that we are to hang with equal interest over the first chapter of First Chronicles and the seventeenth chapter of John or the eighth chapter of Romans. However, what we do assert is that each of the above Scriptures is divinely inspired, one just as much as another. We further assert, that 1 Chronicles 1 and like passages fill a niche that John 17 cannot fill; and do a work that Romans 8 cannot do.

Above it all, remember that we are not competent to judge what is and what is not worthy of a place in the inspired canon. We are ignorant and short-sighted; and the very portion that we might deem beneath the dignity of inspiration may have some very important bearing on the history of God's ways with the world at large or with His people in particular.

In short, it resolves itself into this: along with every pious soul, every spiritual mind, we reverently believe in the divine inspiration of every line in our precious Bible, from beginning to end. We do not believe this the ground of any human authority whatsoever. To believe in Holy Scripture because it comes to us accredited by any authority on earth, would be to set that authority above Holy Scripture, because that which guarantees has more weight and more value than the thing guaranteed. Therefore, we should no more think of looking to human authority to confirm the Word of God, than we should of bringing out a flashlight to prove that the sun was shining.

No, we must be clear and decided regarding this. In the judgment of our souls, the plenary inspiration of Holy Scripture must always be a great cardinal truth that we hold dearer than life itself. By so doing, we will have wherewithal to answer the cool audacity of modern skepticism, rationalism and infidelity. We do not mean to say that infidels will be convinced. What we do say is this: God will deal with them in His own way – in His own time, He will convince them with His unanswerable arguments. Arguing with infidels only produces loss of labor and time. We are persuaded that the most dignified and effective answer to infidelity is found in the calm repose of a heart resting in the blessed assurance that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." And again, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope," The former of these precious quotations proves that Scripture has come from God; the latter, that it has come to us. Together, they prove that we must neither add to nor take from the Word of God. There is nothing lacking and nothing superfluous. The Lord has given us this solid foundation truth – thank You Lord, for all the comfort and consolation that flows from it to every true believer.

We now proceed to quote a few of the passages in this fourth chapter of Deuteronomy that emphatically set forth the value, importance and authority of the Word of God. As throughout this book, in them we see that it is not so much a question of any particular ordinance, rite, or ceremony, but of the weight, solemnity and dignity of the Word of God itself, whatever that Word may set before us. "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it [their conduct was to be ruled and formed, in all things, by the divine commandments; immense principle for them, for us, for all]. Keep, therefore, and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people" (emphasis added).

Let us specially weigh these words. Their wisdom and understanding consisted in simply keeping and doing God's statutes and judgments; not by learned discussion or arguments, but by child-like, unquestioning obedience. All the wisdom was in God's statutes and judgments, not in their thoughts and reasoning. The profound and marvelous wisdom of God was seen in His Word, and this was what the nations were to see and admire. The light of God's judgments shining in the conduct and character of His people was to draw out the admiring testimony of surrounding nations.

How differently it turned out. How little did the nations of the earth learn about God and His Word from the actions of Israel. Yes, through their ways His Name was continually blasphemed. Instead of occupying the high, holy, and happy ground of loving obedience to God's commandments, they descended to the level of the surrounding nations, adopting their habits, worshipping their gods, and walking in their ways; so that instead of those nations seeing the lofty wisdom, purity, and moral glory of God's statutes, they saw only the weakness, folly, and moral degradation of a people who made their boast in being the depository of those oracles that condemned themselves (Rom. 2:3).

Even though His people may fail to carry it out, still, His Word will forever stand. His standard is perfect, and therefore must never be lowered, If the power of His Word is not seen in the ways of His people, it will shine in the condemnation of those ways – it will always abide for the guidance, comfort, strength and blessing of any who (however feebly or falteringly) desire to tread the path of obedience.

In this fourth chapter, the lawgiver seeks to faithfully set before the people God's standard, in all its dignity and moral glory. He does not fail to unfold the true effect of obedience, while solemnly warning them against the danger of turning away from the holy commandments of God. Hear his powerful pleadings: "What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law, which I set before you this day?"

No matter the time, no matter the place, here is true moral greatness for a nation, a people, a household, or an individual. To have the living God close; to have the sweet privilege of calling on Him in all things; to have His power and mercy always exercised toward us; to have the light of His blessed countenance shining approvingly on us in all our ways; to have the moral effect of His righteous statutes and holy commandments seen in our practical career from day to day; to have Him manifesting Himself and making His abode with us.

What human language can adequately explain the deep blessedness of such privileges? Yet by infinite grace, they are placed within the reach of every child of God on earth. This does not mean that every child of God enjoys them. But they are reserved for those who through grace render a loving, hearty, reverent obedience to God's Word. The secret of the whole matter lies here. It was true for Israel of old, and it is true for the church now; it was true for the individual soul then, and it is true for the individual soul now – divine complacency is the priceless reward of human obedience. Further, we may add that obedience is the bounden duty and high privilege of God's people, particularly each one individually. Come what may, implicit obedience is our privilege and duty, divine complacency our present reward.

But the human heart is prone to wander; and many influences are always at work to draw us away from the narrow path of obedience. Therefore, we should not marvel at the solemn and oft-repeated admonitions addressed by Moses to the hearts and consciences of his hearers. To the congregation he holds so dear, Moses pours out his heart in glowing, earnest, soul-stirring accents. "Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons."

These are weighty words, setting before us two things of unspeakable importance: individual and domestic responsibility – personal and household testimony. With all diligence, God's people of old were responsible to stay close to the Word of God. They were also solemnly responsible to instruct their children and grandchildren to do the same. With all our light and privilege, are we less responsible than Israel of old? Surely not. We are imperatively called on to give ourselves to careful study of the Word of God – to apply our hearts to it. It is not enough that we hurry over a few verses or a chapter, as a piece of daily religious routine. This will not in any way meet the responsibility. We want to make the Bible our supreme and absorbing study; that in which we delight, in which we find our refreshment and recreation.

It is to be feared that so many of us read the Bible only as a matter of duty, while finding delight and refreshment in the newspaper, television, movies, light literature, etc. Need we wonder at our shallow knowledge of Scripture? How could we know anything of the living depths or moral glories of a volume we take up merely as a cold matter of duty, reading a few verses with yawning indifference, while the newspaper or sensational novel is literally devoured?

Perhaps it might be said in reply, "We cannot always be reading the Bible." Would those who speak in such a way also say, "We cannot always be reading the newspaper or the novel"? We would further inquire what must be the actual state of a person who can say, "We cannot always be reading the Bible"? Can such a person be in a healthy condition of soul – really love the Word of God – have a sense of its preciousness, its excellence, and its moral glories?

Consider the meaning of the following words to Israel, "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes!" The "heart," the "soul," the "hand," and the "eyes" – all engaged with the Word of God. This was real work. It was to be no empty formality, no barren routine. The whole man was to be given up in holy devotion to the statutes and judgments of God. "And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates."

No doubt, the most important question is this: do we enter into such words as these? Has the Word of God such a place in our hearts, our homes, and our habits? Do those who enter our homes or come in contact with us in daily life see that the Word of God is paramount? Do those with whom we do business see that we are governed by the precepts of Holy Scripture? Do our children see that we live in the atmosphere of Scripture; that it governs our conduct and forms our whole character?

These are searching questions for the heart. Let us not put them away. We can rest assured there is no better indicator of moral and spiritual condition than that afforded by our treatment of the Word of God. If we do not love it; love to study it; thirst after it; delight in it – long for the quiet hour when we can hang over its sacred page, and drink in its precious teaching; meditate on it in the closet, in the family, and in the street. In short, if we do not breathe its holy atmosphere; if we accept the sentiment: "We cannot always be reading the Bible," then undoubtedly we have an urgent need to look deeply into our spiritual state – it is sadly in poor health. The new nature loves the Word of God, and earnestly desires it. As the apostle Peter stated: "As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."

If the sincere milk of the Word is not sought after, diligently used, and eagerly fed on, then our soul is in a low, unhealthy, dangerous condition. There may not be anything outwardly wrong in our conduct; we may not be publicly dishonoring the Lord; but gross neglect of His Word grieves His loving heart. It is the height of folly to talk of loving Christ, if we do not love, and live on His Word. It is a delusion to imagine that the new life could ever be in a healthy, prosperous condition when deep and secret study of the Word of God is habitually neglected.

Of course, we do not mean nothing else except the Bible should ever be read – but nothing should demand greater watchfulness. All things are to be done in the Name of Jesus and to the glory of God; and this is among the "all things." We should read nothing that cannot be read to the glory of God, and for which we cannot ask God's blessing.

This entire subject demands the serious consideration of God's people; and we trust that the Spirit of God may use our meditation on this fourth chapter of Deuteronomy to stir up our hearts and consciences regarding what is due the Word of God, both in our hearts and homes.

If the Word of God has its right place in the heart, no doubt it will also have its right place in the home. But if there is no acknowledgment of the Word of God in the family, it is hard to believe that it could ever have its right place in the heart. Heads of families should seriously ponder this matter. We are fully persuaded that in every Christian household, there should be a daily acknowledgment of God and His Word. Perhaps some may look on having regular family worship as bondage, legality, or religious routine. We would ask such objectors, is it bondage for the family to assemble for a meal? Are family reunions ever regarded as wearisome duty – dull routine? No, if the family is well ordered and happy. Then why should it be regarded as burdensome for the head of a Christian household to gather his family and read a few verses of the precious Word of God, and breathe a few words of prayer before the throne of grace? We believe such to be a habit in accordance with the teaching of both the Old and New Testaments – a holy, blessed, edifying habit; gratifying the heart of God.

What should we think of a Christian who never prayed, never read the Word of God in private? Could we possibly regard him as a happy, healthy, true Christian? No, we would seriously question the existence of divine life in such a soul. Prayer and the Word of God are absolutely essential to healthy, vigorous Christian life: so that one who habitually neglects these must be in a spiritually dead state.

If such is true regarding an individual, how can a family be regarded as being in a right spiritual state when there is no family reading, prayer, and acknowledgment of God or His Word? Can we conceive a God-fearing household going on from Lord's Day morning to Saturday night, without any collective recognition of the One to Whom they owe everything? Day after day rolls on – domestic duties are attended to – the family assembles regularly for meals, but there is no thought of summoning the household around the Word of God, or around the mercy-seat. What is the difference between such a family and that of a household of unbelievers? It is sad and deplorable to find professing Christians, taking their places at the Lord's Table, yet living in gross neglect of family reading of God's Word and worship.

Let us search our hearts and see is we have declined from God, from His Word and His ways. Do we read and pray in private? Do we love the Word and prayer? Do we find delight in them? If so, how is it we neglect them in our household? Perhaps we seek to excuse ourselves on the ground of nervousness and timidity. If so, look to the Lord for help to overcome the weakness. Let us cast ourselves on His unfailing grace, and gather our household at a certain hour each day, read a few verses of Scripture and breathe a few words of prayer; or if at first we cannot do this, just let the family kneel for a few moments in silence before the throne of God.

In short anything resembling a family acknowledgment, a family testimony; anything but a godless, careless, prayerless life. Let us not hinder the word of exhortation regarding this matter. But rather, let us entreat one another to begin looking to God for help. He most assuredly will help, for He never fails a trusting, dependent heart. Let us no longer neglect God and His Word in our family circle. Let us never allow arguments about bondage, legality, or formalism to hinder our reading of the Word of God – may we fearlessly glory in it.

May we be able to say with Joshua, "Let others do as they will, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." No one should imagine that the mere act of family reading takes in all that is comprehended in the sentence, "We will serve the Lord." No, that takes in everything belonging to our private and domestic history. It takes in the minutest details of practical daily life. All this is true and invaluable. But we are persuaded that nothing can go right in a household that habitually neglects reading and family prayer.

In this age, there is a growing lack of household testimony – of common practical righteousness in families and in the economy of our homes. There is but little of the white raiment – the fine linen that is the righteousness of saints. We seem to forget those words of the inspired apostle, in Romans 14: "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Some seem to think that whenever we meet the word "righteousness," it must mean the righteousness of God in which we stand, or righteousness imputed to us. This is a mistake. We must remember there is a practical and human side of this question – the subjective as well as the objective; the walk as well as the standing; the condition as well as the position.

These things must never be separated. It is of little use to set up or seek to maintain a family altar amid the ruins of family testimony. It is nothing short of a hideous caricature to begin and end a day characterized by ungodliness and unrighteousness, levity, folly and vanity with so-called family worship. How unsightly and inconsistent – spending an evening singing worldly songs, playing charades and other light games, and then closing with a contemptible bit of religion in the shape of reading a verse or two and prayer.

Such action is deplorable. It should not be found in connection with the Holy Name of Christ, His assembly, or the holy exercises of His Table. We must measure everything in our private life, domestic economy, daily history, actions, and in all our business transactions, with one standard: the glory of Christ. Regarding everything that comes before us or solicits our attention, there is only one grand question: "Is it worthy of His Holy Name?" If not, let us not touch it; let us turn our back on it with stern decision, and flee from it with holy energy. Let us never listen to the contemptible question, "What harm is there in it?" Nothing but harm if Christ is not in it. A truly devoted heart would never entertain, much less ask, such a question. Whenever we hear anyone speaking in this way, we may conclude that Christ is not the governing object of that heart.

Though we hope the serious student of God's Word is not weary from all this homely, practical truth. We believe it is called for in this day when so many of us fail to consider our ways, to contemplate the real state of our hearts; and there lies the true secret of the whole matter. If the heart is not true to Him, nothing can be right – not in private life, not in the family, not in the business, not in the assembly, not anywhere. But if the heart is true to Him all will be, must be right.

Therefore, no marvel that when the blessed apostle reaches the close of that wonderful Epistle to the Corinthians, he sums all up with this solemn declaration, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." In the course of his letter, he deals with various forms of doctrinal error and moral pravity. But, when he comes to the close, instead of pronouncing his solemn sentence on any particular error or evil, he hurls it with holy indignation against anyone, no matter who or what, who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Love to Christ is the grand safe-guard against every form of error and evil. A heart filled with Christ has no room for anything else; but if there is no love to Him, there is no security against the wildest error or the worst form of moral evil.

Let us now return to the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy.

The attention of the people is specially called to the solemn scenes at Mount Horeb – scenes that should have deeply and abidingly impressed their hearts. "Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words." The grand and all-important point for Israel of old, for the church now – for each, for all, at all times, and in all places, is to be brought into direct, living contact with the eternal Word of the living God, to this end: "that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children."

It is beautiful to note the intimate connection between hearing God's Word and fearing His Name. It is one of those root principles that never change, never lose their power or intrinsic value. The Word and the Name go together; and the heart that loves one will reverence the other, and in all things bow down to its holy authority. "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings." "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected" (John 14:1; John 2). Every true lover of God will treasure up His Word in the heart, and where the Word is treasured, its hallowed influence will be seen in the whole life, character and conduct. In giving His Word, God's object is that it may govern our conduct, form our character, and shape our way. If His Word does not have this practical effect on us, it is vain to speak of loving Him. In fact, it is nothing short of mockery.

Particularly note the solemn responsibility of Israel regarding their children. They were not only to "hear" and "learn" for themselves; but they were also to teach their children. This is a universal and abiding duty that cannot be neglected with impunity. God attaches great importance to this matter. We hear Him saying about Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him" (Gen. 18).

These words are important. They set before us God's estimate of domestic training and family piety. In all ages and under all dispensations, God has given expression to His approbation of the proper education of the children of His people – faithfully training them according to His Holy Word. Scripture does not sanction children being allowed to grow up in ignorance, carelessness, and willfulness. Under the influence of a certain school of theology, some professing Christians seem to think that to instruct their children in the truth of the Gospel and the letter of Holy Scripture is an interference with the sovereignty of God, with His purposes and counsels. They consider that children should be left to the action of the Holy Spirit, which, if indeed they are of God's elect, they are sure to experience in God's own time. If not, all human effort is perfectly useless.

In all faithfulness to the truth of God, we must bear the clearest and strongest testimony against this one-sided view of the great practical subject before us. There is nothing more mischievous, nothing more pernicious in its effect on the conscience, heart, life, the whole practical career, and moral character, than one-sided theology. It does not matter what side we take, as long as we only take one. It is sure to produce what must be termed a spiritual malformation. We cannot too strongly and earnestly warn against this evil – it leads to disastrous results. Regarding its effect on the training of children and the management of households, it is mischievous in the extreme. The most deplorable consequences follow the carrying out of this line of reasoning. Many of us have no doubt known and have seen children of Christian parents grow up in ignorance of divine things, in carelessness, recklessness, and even open infidelity. To such, when a word of admonition is offered, it is usually met by arguments based on the dogmas of a one-sided divinity – and the one side turned the wrong way. It has been said, "We cannot make Christians of our children, and we must not make them formalists or hypocrites. It must be a divine work or nothing. When God's time comes, He will effectually call them, if indeed they are among the number of His elect. If not, all our efforts are useless."

We reply that if carried to its fullest extent, this line of argument would prevent the farmer from plowing his ground or sowing seed. It is plain that he cannot make the seed germinate or fructify. He could no more cause a solitary grain of wheat to grow, than he could create the universe. Does this prevent his plowing and sowing? Does it cause him to fold his arms and say, "I can do nothing. I cannot by any effort of mine make corn grow. It is a divine operation. Therefore, I must wait for God's time." Does any farmer reason and act like this? No, every sound-minded person knows that plowing and sowing must go before reaping; and if the former be neglected, it is the height of extravagant folly to look for the latter.

It is the same regarding the training of children. We know God is sovereign. We believe in His eternal counsels and purposes. We fully recognize the power of the Holy Spirit – we are as thoroughly persuaded of them as of the truth that God is or that Christ died and rose again. Further, we believe that the new birth must in every instance take place – in the case of our children as well as others; we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Spirit through the Word, as distinctly taught in our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus in John 3, and also in James 1:18; and 1 Peter 1:23.

But does all this touch the solemn responsibility of Christian parents to diligently and faithfully teach and train children from their earliest moments? Certainly not. Woe to parents who, on any plea or ground whatsoever, be it one-sided theology, misapplied Scripture or anything else, deny their responsibility or neglect their plain duty in this holy business. True, we cannot make our children Christians; and we should not make them formalists or hypocrites. We are not called to make them anything. We are simply called to do our duty by them, leaving the results to God. We are instructed and commanded to bring up our children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." When is this "bringing up" to commence? When are we to begin the sacred work of training little ones? The very moment we enter on a relationship, we also enter on the responsibility that relationship entails. This cannot be denied. We cannot shake it off. We may neglect it and in various ways reap the sad consequences of our neglect. It is a serious thing to stand in the sacred relationship of parent – no doubt, interesting and delightful; but serious because of the responsibility involved. True, God's grace is sufficient, in this as in everything else; and "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." In this weighty matter, "we are not sufficient of ourselves" to think or do anything – our sufficiency is of God; and He will meet our every need. We simply need to draw on Him for exigency of every hour.

But we must do our duty, though some do not like the homely word, "duty." They think it has a legal ring about it. We trust the serious student does not think so, for to think that way is truly a mistake. We look on the Word as sound and morally wholesome; and we believe that every true Christian loves it. One thing is certain, only in the path of duty can we count on God. To talk of trusting God when out of duty's path is a both a conceit and delusion. In the matter of parenting, to neglect our duty is to bring down disastrous consequences.

We believe the whole business of Christian education is summed up in two brief sentences: count on God for our children; and train our children for God. To take the first without the second is antinomianism; to take the second without the first is legality; to take both together is sound practical Christianity – true religion in the sight of God and man.

It is the privilege of every Christian parent to confidently count on God. But, there is an inseparable link connecting this privilege with a solemn responsibility with respect to the training of children. For a Christian parent to speak of counting on God for the salvation of his children and the moral integrity of their future career in this world, while neglecting the duty of training is simply a delusion.

We urge this on all Christian parents, but especially on those who have just entered into parenthood. There is danger of shirking our duty to children, of shifting it to others, or neglecting it altogether. Perhaps some shrink from the constant worry because they do not like the trouble. But we will find that the trouble, worry, sorrow, and heart-scalding arising from neglecting our duty will be a thousand times worse than all that might be involved in discharging it. To every true lover of God there is delight in treading the path of duty. Every step taken in that path strengthens our confidence to press on. When keeping His commandments, we can always count on infinite resources available in God. His exhaustless treasure of grace, wisdom, and moral power to help discharge the holy functions of our relationship, is available morning by morning and hour by hour. "He giveth more grace." But if we neglect our duty, seeking instead neglecting it, then we are laying up a store of sorrow that will accumulate rapidly and one day fall on the heart with great weight.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6).

This is the condensed statement of a great principle of God's moral government – a principle of universal application, one that applies to the subject before us with singular force. In the matter of educating children, as we sow so we shall assuredly reap: There is no way out of this.

Let no Christian parent be discouraged or fainthearted. There is no reason whatsoever for this. On the contrary, in God there is every reason to be joyfully confident. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." When we tread the path of duty with a firm step, we can confidently count on God for the need of each day. And, in due time, we will reap the fruit of our labor according to the appointment of God – in pursuance of the enactments of His moral government.

We do not attempt to lay down rules or regulations for the training, because we do not believe in such. Children cannot be trained by dry rules. Who could embody in rules all that is wrapped up in that one sentence, "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"?

This is a golden rule, taking in everything from the cradle to matured manhood. We say from the cradle, because we are persuaded that true Christian training begins at the very beginning. Some have little idea of how soon and how sharply children begin to observe; and how much they take in by gazing at us through expressive eyes.

Children are marvelously susceptible of the word atmosphere that surrounds them. Here is the moral atmosphere that constitutes the grand secret of family training. From day to day, our children should be permitted to breathe an atmosphere of love, peace, purity, holiness, and true practical righteousness. This has an amazing effect in forming character. It is a great and powerful thing for children to see their parents walking in love and harmony – in tender care one for the other; in kind consideration for others; and in love and sympathy for the poor. Who can measure the moral effect on a child of the first angry look or unkind word between father and mother? How are children to grow in an atmosphere where daily life is one of unsightly strife and contention – father contradicting the mother and the mother disparaging the father?
 
It is not within the compass of human language to express all that is involved in the moral tone of the entire family circle – the spirit, style, and atmosphere of the whole household; living room, bed room, dining room, nursery, kitchen, etc. It is not a question of rank, position, or wealth, but of the grace of God shining throughout. We urge on fathers and mothers, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, the necessity of training children in an atmosphere of love and peace, truth and holiness, purity and kindness. In this way, their households will be the practical exhibition of the character of God; and all who come in contact with them will have before their eyes a practical witness to the truth of Christianity.

Before turning from the subject of domestic government, there is an important point to consider, one often neglected by Christian parents in this age – the need of inculcating on children the duty of implicit obedience. This cannot be too strongly insisted on, because it not only affects the order and comfort of our households; but infinitely more important, it concerns the glory of God and the practical carrying out of His truth. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." And again, "Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord" (Eph. 6; Col. 3).

This we consider consolatory at all times, but especially at a time like the present, when the Lord's church seems to be sinking into worldliness; when those who earnestly desire to walk in obedience to the Word of God find it difficult to maintain a testimony. In spite of all this, personal and family piety can still be maintained; the Christian heart and home can be a constant stream of praise ascending to the throne of God – a stream of active benevolence flowing out to a needy, sorrowful, sin-stricken world. May God be glorified more and more in the hearts and homes of His beloved people.

We now consider the solemn warning against the terrible sin of idolatry addressed to the congregation of Israel – a sin to which the human heart is, in one way or another, always prone. Since it is possible to be guilty of the sin of idolatry without bowing before a graven image, it behooves us to seriously weigh the words of warning that fell from the lips of Israel's venerable lawgiver. They are written for our learning.

"And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness [solemn and suited accompaniments of the occasion]. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire [how differently He speaks in the Gospel of His grace]. Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude only a voice [faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God]. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me, at that time, to teach you statutes and judgements [not that they might discuss them, sit in judgment upon them, or argue about them, but] that ye might do them [the grand old story, the Deuteronomic theme of obedience] in the land whither ye go over to possess it" (emphasis added).

Here lies the foundational appeal against idolatry. They saw nothing. God did not show Himself; did not assume a bodily shape that could be formed into an image. He gave them His Word, His holy commandments, so plain that a child could understand them – wayfaring men need not err therein. Therefore, there was no need for them to imagine what God was like – the very sin against which they were warned. They were called to hear God's voice, not to see His shape – to obey His commandments, not to make an image of Him. Superstition vainly seeks to honor God by forming and worshipping an image. On the contrary, faith lovingly receives and reverently obeys His holy commandments. The Lord God says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words" – not make an image and worship it. This makes it simple, safe, and certain. We are not called to work up our minds forming a conception of God. We simply have to hear His Word and keep His commandments. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Jesus is declared to be the brightness of God's Glory – the exact impression of His substance. He could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." The Son reveals the Father; and it is through the Holy Spirit – through the Word that we know anything of the Son. Therefore, attempting to conceive an image of God or Christ by the workings of man’s imagination is idolatry. Endeavoring to know God or Christ in any way except by Holy Scripture is mysticism and confusion – putting ourselves directly into the hands of the devil, being led by him into wild, dark, and dead delusion.

Therefore, as Israel at mount Horeb was shut up to the "voice" of God and warned against any similitude; so we are shut up to Holy Scripture and warned against everything that would draw us away from that holy and all-sufficient standard. We must not listen to suggestions of the mind. We must absolutely and sternly refuse to listen to anything but the voice of God – the voice of Holy Scripture. Here is true security, true rest. Here we have absolute certainty, so that we can say, "I know whom [not merely what] I have believed; and am persuaded that he . . ." (emphasis added).

"Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day."

A weighty truth is here set before us. The people are taught that in making any image and bowing down to it, they were lowering and corrupting themselves. So, when they made the golden calf, the Lord said unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves." It could not be otherwise. The worshipper must be inferior to the object of his worship. Therefore, in worshipping a calf they actually put themselves below the level of the beasts that perish. Well might God say, "… thy people … have corrupted themselves; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

What a spectacle; a whole congregation led by Aaron the high priest, bowing in worship before something formed by a graving tool out of ear-rings taken from their wives and daughters. Think of it; a number of intelligent beings, people endowed with reason, understanding, and conscience, saying of a molten calf, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." They actually displaced Jehovah by an image graven by art and man's device. These were the same people who had seen the mighty works of Jehovah in the land of Egypt. They had seen plague after plague falling on Egypt and its obdurate king. They had seen the land shaken by successive strokes of Jehovah's governmental rod. They had seen Egypt's first-born laid in death by the sword of the destroying angel. They had seen the Red Sea divided by Jehovah's rod and they had passed through on dry ground between those crystal walls that later fell in crushing power on their enemies.

Even though all these things had passed before their eyes, still, they could say of a molten calf, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Did they really believe that a molten image had made the land of Egypt tremble, humbled its proud monarch, and brought them out victoriously? Did a calf divide the sea and lead them majestically through its depths? It is amazing what people will say when the eye and heart are turned away from God and His Word.

Perhaps one may ask, "Has all this a voice for us? Are Christians to learn anything from Israel's molten calf? Do the warnings addressed to Israel against idolatry convey any voice to the ear of the church? Are we in danger of bowing down to a graven image? Is it possible that we, whose high privilege it is to walk in the full-orbed light of New Testament Christianity, could ever worship a molten calf?"

A reply might begin in the language of Romans 15:4, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime [Exodus 32 and Deuteronomy 4 included] were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (emphasis added). This brief passage contains our chartered right to range through the wide field of Old Testament Scripture, gathering up and appropriating its golden lessons, feeding on its "exceeding great and precious promises;" to drink in its deep and varied consolation – profiting by its solemn warnings and wholesome admonitions.

Regarding our being capable of, or liable to, the gross sin of idolatry, we have a striking answer in 1 Corinthians 10, where the inspired apostle uses the scene at mount Horeb as a warning to the church of our Lord. We cannot do better than quote the entire passage. There is nothing like the Word of God. May we love, prize and reverence it more and more each day.

"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud [those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, as well as those who reached the land of promise] and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ [how strong, solemn, and searching is this for all of us]. But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our ensamples [let us carefully mark this] to the intent we should not lust after evil things [things in any way contrary to the mind of Christ] as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters [so professing Christians may be idolaters] as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are met. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (emphasis added).

Here in the plainest manner we learn that if not kept by the mighty power of God there is no depth of sin and folly, no form of moral pravity into which we are not capable of plunging. Our only security is in the moral shelter of God's presence. We know that the Spirit of God does not warn us against things to which we are not liable. He would not say to us, "Neither be ye idolaters," if we were not capable of being such. Idolatry takes various shapes. Therefore, it is not a question of the shape of the thing, but of the thing itself; not the outward form, but the root or principle of the thing. We read that, "covetousness is idolatry;" and that a covetous man is an idolater. In other words, desiring to possess more than God has given, makes us idolaters – guilty of Israel's sin when they made and worshipped the golden calf. What the apostle said to the Corinthians can be said to us, "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." Why be warned to flee from a thing to which we are not liable? Are there any idle words in the volume of God? What is the meaning of those closing words in the first epistle of John, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols"? Do they tell us that we are in danger of worshipping idols? Assuredly they do. Our treacherous hearts are capable of departing from the living God and setting up some other object beside Him, and what is this but idolatry? Whatever commands the heart is the heart's idol – money, pleasure, power or anything else. So, we can surely see the urgent need for the many warnings given by the Holy Spirit against the sin of idolatry.

But, in Galatians 4 we have a remarkable passage; one that speaks in impressive accents to the Lord's church. Like other Gentiles, The Galatians had worshipped idols; but after receiving the Gospel they had turned from idols to serve the living and true God. However, Judaizing teachers had come among them, teaching that unless they were circumcised and kept the law they could not be saved.

The apostle unhesitatingly pronounces this as idolatry – a going back to the grossness and moral degradation of their former days, after professing to receive the glorious Gospel of Christ. Thus, the moral force of the apostle's inquiry: "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."

This is striking. The Galatians were not outwardly going back to the worship of idols. It is not improbable that they would have indignantly repudiated such an idea. But still the inspired apostle asks, "How turn ye again?" If they were not going back to idolatry, then what does this inquiry mean? And what are we to learn from the whole passage? Simply this: circumcision; getting under the law and observing days, months, times, and years more or less represented going back to their old idolatry. Observance of days and worship of false gods were both a turning away from the living and true God; from His Son Jesus Christ; from the Holy Spirit; from that brilliant cluster of dignities and glories that belong to Christianity.

This is peculiarly solemn for professing Christians. It is unlikely that the full import of Galatians 4:8-10 is truly apprehended by the majority of professing believers of the Bible. We solemnly press this whole subject on the attention of all whom it may concern. We pray that God's people will carefully study this portion of His Holy Word – that the hearts and consciences of His people will seriously consider their position, habits, ways, and associations; inquiring how far they are following the example of the assemblies of Galatia in the observance of saints' days and such-like – things leading away from Christ and His glorious salvation.

But, however slow we may be to admit our tendency to fall into the sin of idolatry, it is plain that in Israel's case, Moses felt the deep need of warning them against it. In solemn and affecting terms, he makes his appeals to them; reiterating his counsels and admonitions in a manner so impressive that it left them without excuse. They could never say that they fell into idolatry from lack of warning or because of a lack of gracious and affectionate entreating. Take such words as, "But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day" (v. 20).

Could anything be more affecting than this? In His rich and sovereign grace and by His mighty hand Jehovah brought them out of the land of death and darkness, a redeemed and delivered people. He had brought them to Himself, that they might be to Him a peculiar treasure above all the people on earth. How then could they turn away from Him, from His holy covenant and from His precious commandments?

They could and they did. They made a calf; and said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Think of it; a calf made by their own hands – an image, graven by art and man's device had brought them up out of Egypt. A thing made out of earrings had redeemed and delivered them. Holy Scripture tells us that this has been written for our admonition. But why would it be written for us if we are not capable of, and liable to, the same sin? We must either admit that God the Holy Spirit has penned an unnecessary sentence, or admit our need of an admonition against the sin of idolatry – our needing the admonition proves our tendency to the sin.

Are we better than Israel? No. We have brighter light and higher privileges than they; but we are made of the same material, have the same capabilities, and the same tendencies. Our idolatry may take a different shape; but idolatry is idolatry, no matter the shape it may take; and the higher our privileges, the greater our sin. Perhaps we may feel disposed to wonder how a rational people could be guilty of such egregious folly as to make a calf and bow down to it, after having such displays of the majesty, power, and glory of God. Let us remember that their folly is recorded for our admonition; and that even with all our light, all our knowledge, all our privileges, we are warned to "flee from idolatry."

We need to deeply ponder all this and profit by it. If every chamber of the heart is filled with Christ, then we will have no room for idols. This is our only safeguard. If we slip away from our precious Savior and Shepherd, we are capable of plunging into the darkest forms of error and moral evil. Light, knowledge, spiritual privileges, church position, and sacramental benefits are no security for the soul. In their right place and rightly used they are good; but in themselves they only increase our moral danger.

The only thing that keeps us safe, right, and happy, is having Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith. When we abide in Him and He in us, the wicked one cannot touch us. The higher our position the greater our danger and the more disastrous our fall, if personal communion is not diligently maintained. There was not a nation beneath the canopy of heaven more favored and exalted than Israel, when they gathered around mount Horeb to hear the Word of God. Yet, when they bowed before the golden calf, an image of their own formation, there was not a nation on earth more degraded or guiltier.

Let us now consider a fact of deep interest presented in verse 21 of this chapter. For the third time, Moses reminds the congregation of God's judicial dealing with him. As we have already seen, he spoke of it in Deuteronomy 1:37; 3:26; and here he says to them, "Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan; but ye shall go over and possess that good land."

We may ask why a threefold reference to the same fact? And why in each instance the special mention of Jehovah's angry with him on their account? One thing is certain; it was not for the purpose of throwing the blame over on the people, or of exculpating himself. We believe the simple object was to give increased word force to his appeal, more solemnity to his warning voice. If Jehovah was angry with such a one as Moses for unadvised speaking at the waters of Meribah, if he was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, then it must be truly needful for them to take heed. It is a serious thing to deal with God – no doubt blessed beyond all human expression or thought; but most serious, as Moses the lawgiver was called to prove in his own person.

We believe this to be the correct view of the above question as a result of these words: "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."

We need to allow this statement to have its full moral weight with our souls. We must not attempt to turn its sharp edge aside by a false notion of grace. We sometimes hear it said, "God is a consuming fire to the world." By-and-by He will no doubt be so; but now He is dealing with the world in grace, patience, and long-suffering mercy – not in judgment. But as the apostle Peter tells us, "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God." So also, in Hebrews 12, we read, "For our God is a consuming fire." He is not speaking of what God will be to the world, but of what He is to us. Neither is it, as some put it, "God is a consuming fire out of Christ." We know nothing of God out of Christ. He could not be "our God" out of Christ.

No, Holy Scripture does not need such twisting and turnings. It must be taken as it stands. It is clear and distinct; and all we have to do is hearken and obey. "Our God is a consuming fire," "a jealous God," not to consume us; but to consume the evil in us and in our ways. He is intolerant of everything in us that is contrary to Himself – contrary to His holiness; therefore contrary to our true happiness, our real, solid blessing. As the "Holy Father," He keeps us in a way worthy of Himself – He chastens us in order to make us partakers of His holiness. He allows the world to go on its way for the present, not interfering publicly with it. But He judges His house and He chastens His children in order that they may more fully answer to His mind and be the expression of His moral image.

This is an immense privilege of the highest order – a privilege flowing from the infinite grace of our God Who condescends to interest Himself in us, and occupy Himself with even our infirmities, failures, and sins, in order to deliver us from them, and to make us partakers of His holiness.

In the opening of Hebrews 12, there is a passage bearing on this subject that is of immense practical importance. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees."

There are three ways of meeting God's chastening: First, we may "despise" it as something commonplace, something that may happen to anyone. We do not see the hand of God in it. Second, we may "faint" under it as something too heavy to bear, something beyond endurance. We do not see the Father's heart in it or recognize His gracious object in it – to make us partakers of His holiness. Lastly, we may be "exercised by it." This is the way to reap "the peaceable fruit of righteousness, afterward;" We dare not "despise" a thing in which we trace the hand of God. We need not "faint" under a trial in which we plainly discern the heart of a loving Father Who will not suffer us to be tried above what we are able; but will with the trial make an escape, that we may be able to bear it; and Who also graciously explains His object in the discipline, assuring us that every stroke of His rod is a proof of His love – a direct response to the prayer of Christ in John 17:11, wherein He commends us to the care of the "Holy Father," to be kept according to that Name and all that Name involves.

Furthermore, there are three distinct attitudes of heart in reference to God's chastening: subjection, acquiescence and rejoicing. When the will is broken, there is subjection; when the understanding is enlightened regarding the object of the chastening, there is calm acquiescence; there is rejoicing when the affections are engaged with the Father's heart and we can go forth with glad hearts to reap a golden harvest of the peaceable fruit of righteousness to the praise of Him Who, in His painstaking love, undertakes to care for and deal with us in holy government, concentrating His care on each one as though there was only one to attend to.

All this is wonderful; the thought of it should help in all our trials and exercises. We are in the hands of One Whose love is infinite, Whose wisdom is unerring, Whose power is omnipotent, Whose resources are inexhaustible. How could we ever be discouraged? If He chastens us, it is because He loves us and seeks only our good. We may think the chastening grievous. At times, we may feel disposed to wonder how love can inflict pain and sickness on us; but we must remember that God's love is wise and faithful, and inflicts pain, sickness or sorrow only for our profit and blessing. We must not always judge love by the form in which it clothes itself. Look at that fond and tender mother applying a blister to the child she loves as her own soul. She knows that the blister will cause her child pain and suffering; and yet she unhesitatingly applies it, though her heart feels keenly having to do so. But she knows it is absolutely necessary; humanly and medically speaking she believes the child's life depends on it. She feels that a few moments' pain may restore the health of her precious child. So while the child is only occupied with the transient suffering, the mother is thinking of the permanent good; and if the child could but think with the mother, the blister would not seem so hard to bear.

It is this way in the matter of our Father's disciplinary dealings with us; and the remembrance of this would greatly help us to endure whatever His chastening hand may lay on us. It may be said that there is a wide difference between a blister and years of intense bodily suffering. No doubt there is; but there is also a wide difference between the results reached in each case. When we see a beloved child of God or servant of Christ called to pass through years of intense suffering, we may feel disposed to wonder why; and perhaps the beloved sufferer may also feel disposed to wonder; at times ready to faint under the weight of the long protracted affliction. He may feel led to cry out, "Why is this happening to me? Can this be love? Can this be the expression of a Father's tender care?" "Yes," is the bright and decided reply of faith. "It is all love – all divinely right. I would not have it any other way. I know this transient suffering is working eternal blessing. I know my loving Father has put me into this furnace to purge away my dross, and bring out in me the expression of His own image. I know that divine love will always do the very best for its object, and therefore this intense suffering is the best thing for me. Of course, I feel it, for I am not a stick or stone. My Father helps me to feel it, just as the mother helps the blister to rise, because it would do no good otherwise. But with my whole heart I bless Him for the grace that shines in the wondrous fact that in this way He occupies Himself with me to correct what He sees wrong in me. I praise Him for putting me into the furnace; and how can I not praise Him, when in infinite grace and patience I see Him sitting over the furnace to watch the process, lifting me out the moment the work is done."

This is the true way; the right spirit in which to pass through any kind of chastening, be it bodily affliction, sore bereavement, loss of property, or pressure of circumstances. To read the Father's heart, to recognize His object in it all, we must trace the hand of God. In the furnace of affliction, this will enable us to vindicate, justify and glorify God. It will correct murmuring thoughts and hush fretful utterances; filling our hearts with sweet peace and our mouths with praise.

Let us now turn to the remaining verses of this chapter. In them we will find some touching and powerful appeals to the heart and conscience of the congregation. In deep, true, and fervent love, in order to move the people to the all-important point of obedience, the lawgiver makes use of solemn warnings, earnest admonitions, and tender entreaties. If he speaks to them of the iron furnace of Egypt, out of which, in His sovereign grace, Jehovah had delivered them; if he dwells on the mighty signs and wonders done on their behalf; if he holds up to their view the glories of that land on which they were about to plant their foot; or if he recounts the marvelous dealings of God with them in the wilderness – it is all for the purpose of strengthening the moral basis of Jehovah's claim on their loving and reverent obedience. The past, present, and future are brought to bear on them – made to furnish powerful arguments in favor of their whole-hearted consecration to the service of their gracious and Almighty Deliverer. In short, there was every reason why they should obey, and no possible excuse for disobedience. From first to last, facts of their history were calculated to give moral force to the exhortation and warning of the following passage.

"Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly Perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell."

What solemn and faithful warnings. Heaven and earth are summoned to witness. How soon and how completely all this was forgotten. And how literally all those heavy denunciations have been fulfilled in the history of the nation.

But, thank God there is a bright side to the picture. There is mercy as well as judgment; and our God is something more than "a consuming fire and a jealous God." True, He is a consuming fire because He is holy – He is intolerant of evil and must consume our dross. He is jealous because He cannot allow any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it; He alone can fill and satisfy it forever. And if His people turn away from Him and go after idols of their own making, they must be left to reap the bitter fruit of their doings, proving by sad and terrible experience, the truth of these words, "their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another."

But notice how touchingly Moses presents the bright side of things to the people – a brightness springing from the eternal stability of the grace of God and the perfect provision that grace has from first to last made for all His people's need. "But [how lovely are some of the 'buts' of Holy Scripture], if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice [what then? 'A consuming fire?' No, but] the Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them" (emphasis added).

Here we have a remarkable look into Israel's future, their departure from God and consequent dispersion among the nations; the complete breaking up of their polity and the passing away of their national glory. But, blessed forever be the God of all grace, there is something beyond all this failure, sin, ruin and judgment. When we get to the far end of Israel's melancholy history – a history summed up in that one brief but comprehensive sentence, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself," we are met by the magnificent display of the grace, mercy and faithfulness of Jehovah, the God of their fathers Whose heart of love reveals itself in that added sentence, "In me is thy help." Yes, the whole matter is wrapped up in these two vigorous sentences, "Thou hast destroyed thyself" – "But in me is thy help." In the former, we have the sharp arrow for Israel's conscience; in the latter, the soothing balm for Israel's broken heart.

Holy Scripture here embodies truth regarding Israel's past, present and future. Note how their past is vividly portrayed: "When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger."

This is precisely what they had done. They did evil in the sight of Jehovah their God, provoking Him to anger. That one word, "evil" takes in everything, from the calf at Horeb to the cross at Calvary. Such is Israel's past.

Many are familiar with the words of the inspired apostle in Romans 11; however, we may have missed or forgotten their true import and moral force. Speaking of Israel in connection with the olive tree of promise he says, "And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in; for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou were cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed in your mercy that they also may obtain mercy."

In other words, instead of coming in on the ground of law or fleshly descent, they should come in on the ground of sovereign mercy, just as the Gentiles – "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

We simply cannot refrain from quoting the following Scripture. It is a splendid doxology bursting forth from the overflowing heart of the inspired apostle as he closes his epistle: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him [as the source] and through him [as the channel] and to him [as the object] are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (emphasis added).

As is true with all Holy Scripture, the foregoing passage is in keeping with the teaching of the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. Israel's condition is the fruit of dark unbelief. Israel's glory will be the fruit of God's rich sovereign mercy. "The Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other. Whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and lived Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee, and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire."

Here is revealed the object of God's actions on behalf of Israel – that they might know Jehovah is the one true and living God; that there was and could be none beside Him. In a word, it was God's purpose that Israel be a witness for Him on earth; but they failed, causing His great and holy Name to be blasphemed among the nations.

But there is another truth revealed in this fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The love of God's heart is engaged in Israel's blessedness; and comes out with touching sweetness in the following words: "And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day."

Thus the truth of God's Word, the glory of His great Name, and the love of His heart are involved in His dealings with the seed of His friend, Abraham; even though they have broken the law, dishonored His Name, despised His mercy, rejected His prophets, crucified His Son, and resisted His Spirit – although they have done all this; are scattered, peeled and broken, and have passed through unexampled tribulation – yet, will the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob glorify His Name, make good His Word, and manifest the changeless love of His heart – "Nothing changeth God's affection." Whom He loves, He loves to the end. For Israel of old, for Israel today, and for all – obedience is the key.

"Even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice the Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them."

"Scripture cannot be broken." "All the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen, unto the glory of God." God pledged Himself to the seed of Abraham. He promised to give them the land of Canaan, forever: "His gifts and calling are without repentance." He never repents of His gift or His call. Anyone attempting to alienate His promises and gifts or interfering with their application are a grievous offence to Him. Such attempts seek to mar the integrity of God's truth, deprive us of all certainty in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and plunge the soul into darkness, doubt and perplexity.

Moses' powerful appeal summing up his address in this chapter demands profound and reverent attention. "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever" (vv. 39, 40).

The moral claim on their hearty obedience is here grounded on the revealed character of God and His marvelous actions on their behalf. In other words, they were bound to obey – bound by every argument that could possibly act on the heart, conscience, and understanding. The One Who, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, had brought them out of the land of Egypt; Who, by stroke after stroke of His judicial rod, had made that land tremble; Who had opened up a pathway for them through the sea; Who had sent them bread from heaven, and brought forth water for them out of the flinty rock; all this for the glory of His great Name, and because He loved their fathers – surely He was entitled to their whole-hearted obedience.

This is the grand argument so eminently characteristic of Deuteronomy. If Israel were morally bound to obey God, how much more are we? If their motives and objects were powerful, how much more so are ours? Do we feel their power? Do we consider them in our hearts? Do we ponder the claims of Christ on us? Do we remember that we are not our own, but bought with a price – the infinitely precious price of the blood of Christ? Do we realize this? Are we seeking to live for Him? Is His glory our ruling object, His love our constraining motive? Or, are we living for self? Are we seeking to get on in the world that crucified our blessed Lord and Savior? Are we seeking to make money? Do we love money in our hearts, either for its own sake or for what it can procure? Does money govern us? Are we seeking a place in the world, either for our children or ourselves? Let us honestly challenge our hearts in the light of God's truth; what is our real, governing, cherished, heart-sought object?

These are searching questions that should also be weighed in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ. In this age, there is a fearful amount of sham; and in nothing is this sham more apparent than in so-called religion. A pen that never colors has sketched the days in which our lot is cast. "This know also, that in the last days perilous [or difficult] times shall come. For men shall be lovers of there own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection truce-breakers, false accusers incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more [rather] than lovers of God" (emphasis added).

Also note the crown put on this appalling superstructure by the apostle – "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

Here we have a terrible picture of infidel Christendom – as we have superstitious Christendom in 1 Timothy 4. In the latter, we see popery – in the former, infidelity. Both elements are at work around us; but the latter is yet to rise into prominence, though advancing with rapid strides. In our age, it is not uncommon for leaders and teachers in organized religious institutions to attack the very foundations of Christianity – unashamed and not afraid to call in question the integrity of the five books of Moses, and with them the whole Bible. Why? Because, if Moses was not the inspired writer of the Pentateuch, then the entire edifice of Holy Scripture is swept from beneath our feet. The writings of Moses are so intimately bound up with all the other grand divisions of God's Holy Word, that if they are touched, all is gone. We boldly affirm that if the Holy Spirit did not inspire Moses to write the first five books of the Bible, we have not an inch of solid ground to stand on. We are positively left without a single atom of Divine authority on which to rest our souls. The pillars of Christianity are swept away and we are left to grope our way amid conflicting opinions and theories of infidels in hopeless perplexity without so much as a single ray from inspiration's heavenly lamp.

Does this seem too strong? How can anyone who believes in the inspiration of the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament, believe that we can listen to the infidel denier of Moses? Such a person needs to ask himself what the following passages mean, and what is wrapped up in them? Speaking to the Jews – who, by the way, would not have agreed with anyone denying the authenticity of Moses – our Lord says, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5:45-47).

Think of this. One who does not believe in the writings of Moses; who does not receive every line as divinely inspired, does not believe in Christ's Words, and therefore cannot have faith in Christ Himself; cannot be a Christian. This makes it a serious matter for anyone to deny Divine inspiration of the Pentateuch; and equally serious for anyone to listen to or sympathize with such a person. We often hear talk of Christian charity and liberality of spirit. But it is not charity or liberality to in any way sanction a person who has the audacity to sweep from beneath our feet the very foundations of faith. To speak of such a person as a Christian teacher or minister only makes the matter a thousand times worse. We can understand a Voltaire or a Paine attacking the Bible. We do not look for anything else from them. But, when those who call into question the inspired writings of Moses assume to be the recognized as ordained ministers of organized religious institutions, we might well ask, "What has religion come to?"

Consider another passage. It is the powerful appeal of the risen Savior to the two bewildered disciples on their way to Emmaus: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

And, again, to the eleven and others with them, He says, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me" (Luke 24:25-27, 44).

Here we find, in the most distinct and positive manner, that our Lord recognizes the law of Moses as an integral part of the canon of Inspiration, and binds it up with all the other grand divisions of God's Word in such a way that it is impossible to touch one without destroying the integrity of the whole. If Moses is not to be trusted, neither are the prophets nor the Psalms. They stand or fall together. And not only so; but we must either admit God's authenticity of the Pentateuch or draw the blasphemous inference that by quoting as the writings of Moses what Moses never wrote, our adorable Lord and Savior gave the sanction of His authority to a set of spurious documents.

Again, consider the following weighty and important passage at the close of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: "Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:29-31).

Finally, if we add to all this the fact that in His conflict with Satan in the wilderness our Lord quotes only from the writings of Moses, we have a body of evidence sufficient not only to establish Divine inspiration of Moses beyond all question, but also to prove that the person who calls in question the authenticity of the first five books of the Bible has no Bible, no Divine revelation, no authority, no solid foundation for faith. Such a person may call himself, or be called by others, a Christian leader, teacher or minister; but in solemn fact, he is a skeptic, and should be treated as such by all who believe and know the truth. We cannot understand how anyone with a spark of divine life in his soul could be guilty of the awful sin of denying the inspiration of a large portion of the Word of God, or asserting that our Lord Christ could quote from spurious documents.

Some may deem such writing as severe. Calling one who openly denies the Holy Word of God as "Christian" does appear to be the fashion in this age. It is a popular notion that provided people are moral, amiable, benevolent, charitable and philanthropic, it is of little or no consequence what they believe. We are encouraged that life is better than obedience to God. While this may sound plausible; we may rest assured that the direct tendency of such manner of speech and line of argument is based on getting rid of the Bible – getting rid of the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God – getting rid of all that the Bible reveals to our souls. Let us bear this in mind and seek to stay close to the precious Word of God. Let us treasure that Holy Word in our heart; and study it more and more. Thus we will be preserved from the withering influence of every shape and form of skepticism and infidelity; our soul will be fed and nourished by the sincere milk of the Word, and our whole moral being is continually kept in the shelter of God's presence. This is what we need. Nothing else will do.

We now close our meditation on this marvelous chapter. But before doing so, let us glance at the remarkable notice of the three cities of refuge. To a cursory reader, it might seem abrupt; but, as we might expect, it is far from that. It is in perfect and beautiful moral order. Scripture is always divinely perfect; and, if we do not see and appreciate its beauties and moral glories, it is due to our blindness and insensibility.

"Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; that the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of those cities he might live. Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites."

Here we have a lovely display of the grace of God rising, as it always does, above human weakness and failure. In choosing their inheritance on this side Jordan, the two and a half tribes were stopping short of the proper portion of the Israel of God that lay on the other side of the river of death. But, notwithstanding this failure, God, in His abounding grace, would not leave the poor slayer without a refuge in the day of his distress. If man cannot come up to the height of God's thoughts, God can come down to the depths of man's need; and so blessedly He does so. In this case, the two and a half tribes were to have as many cities of refuge on this side Jordan, as the nine and a half tribes had in the land of Canaan.

This truly was abounding grace – so unlike man's way. How far above mere law or legal righteousness. In a legal way, it might have been said to the two and a half tribes, "If you are going to choose your inheritance short of the divine mark, if you are content with less than Canaan, the land of promise, you must not expect to enjoy the privileges and blessings of that land. The institutions of Canaan must be confined to Canaan; and hence your manslayer must try and make his way across the Jordan and find refuge there."

Law might speak in this way, but grace spoke differently. God's thoughts and ways are not ours. We might deem it marvelous grace to provide just one city for the two and a half tribes. But our God does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think; and thus the comparatively small district on this side Jordan was furnished with as full a provision of grace as the entire land of Canaan.

Does this prove that the two and a half tribes were right? No; but it proves that God was good; and that He must always act like Himself, in spite of our weakness and folly. Could He leave a poor slayer without a place of refuge in the land of Gilead, though Gilead was not Canaan? No. This would not be worthy of the One Who says, "I bring near my righteousness." He took care to bring the city of refuge "near" to the slayer. He would cause His rich and precious grace to flow over and meet the needy one just where he was. Such is the way of our God, blessed be His holy Name, for evermore.

"And this is the law which Moses see before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, on this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt: and they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; from Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon; even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, and all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah."

Here this marvelous discourse closes. The Spirit of God delights to trace the boundaries of the people, dwelling on the minutest details connected with their history. He takes a lively and loving interest in all that concerns them – their conflicts, victories, possessions, all their landmarks, everything about them is dwelt on with a minuteness that by its touching grace and condescension fills the heart with wonder, love, and praise. In his contemptible self-importance, man thinks it beneath his dignity to enter into minute details; but our God counts the hairs of our heads; puts our tears into His bottle; takes knowledge of our every care, every sorrow, and every need. Just as there is nothing too great for His power, there is nothing too small for His love. He concentrates His loving care on each one of His people as though He only had to attend to that one. There is not a single circumstance, no matter how trivial, in our day to day private history in which He does not take a loving interest.

For our comfort, may we always remember this; and with a more artless faith may we learn to better trust our Father's love and care. In the assurance that He cares for us, He tells us to cast all our care on Him. He would have our hearts as free from care as our conscience is free from guilt. "Be careful for nothing; but, in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7).

It is fearful to realize that so many of us know so little about the real depth, meaning, and power of such inspired words as these above. We read and hear them; but we do not take them in – we do not make them our own. We do not digest them and reduce them to practice. How little do we truly enter into the blessed truth that our Father is interested in all our little cares and sorrows – that we may go to Him with all our little wants and difficulties. We imagine that such things are beneath the notice of the High and Mighty One Who inhabits eternity, and sits on the circle of the earth. This is a serious mistake; one that robs us of incalculable blessing in our daily history. We should always remember that there is nothing great or small with God. To Him all things are alike – He sustains the vast universe by the Word of His power, while at the same time taking notice of a falling sparrow. It is as easy for Him to create a world as to provide a breakfast for a poor widow. The greatness of His power, the moral grandeur of His government, and the minuteness of His tender care all-together command the wonder and worship of our hearts.

We pray for strength in order to seek after living nearer to God in our daily walk. We pray God will help us to lean more on Him; to use Him more; and go to Him for all our needs, forsaking mere mortals. "My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." What a source – "God." What a standard – "His riches in glory." What a channel – "Christ Jesus." It is our privilege to place all our need over against His riches, losing sight of the former in the presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to us, in all the love of His heart. In the artless simplicity of faith, may we draw on it – never having occasion to look to a creature stream or lean on a creature prop.

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