Call to Decision

Deuteronomy 30: 1-20

The Great Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Max A Forsythe

Introduction:  It is not often in the in the aftermath of the coming of Christ, that mere mortals receive a personal revelation, and then as we should always be careful to understand – it will be confirmed in and through the sacred word of scripture.  Earlier this week as I was reading the news I chanced upon an obscure article printed in remembrance of ANZAC day down-under.  There a gentleman by the name of Harold-Taylor Herewini told the story of his grandfather, who stopped a bullet in the Great War.  His life was saved by a pocket Bible.  “The bullet came to rest under the Maori words ‘Kia Manawanui, Ko Ahau Teni,’ which mean: ‘Be stout-hearted. It is I, Be not afraid.’” More than any of my commentators, this news report gets to the heart of the text before us today:  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.”  

The war story reminds me of another man, in my neighborhood, who was struck by lightning not once, but twice.  I chanced to meet him at a funeral where I presided for a veteran of a later war.  Closer to home, the deacon in a local church, who is elderly, wanted to share his experience with me so that I might use it whenever appropriate.  I asked him why, like Martin Luther and Alvin York – he didn’t get religion after the first near miss of being called home.  His voice saddened and he admitted that he was a slow learner.  So too may we understand the whole sorry history of the nation of Israel.  Also a history replayed time after time by the New Covenant Church.

In our following of the Roman Church’s ongoing scandal, I had thought that the present problem would be the opportune time to highlight the worldly enamoration with their darling popular sinners and the choicest of their sins.  After all, the media has repeatedly castigated the Boy Scouts for taking preventative measures against the very crime so many Sodomite priests are guilty of!  And yes, as the statistics bear out, 40% of all such sexual child abuse is accomplished by the 1% to 2% of the population whose deviancy is so fashionable in our day!

The immediate reaction of the American Cardinals is too limited to satisfy the ancient revealed law of God.  These contemporary criminals deserve death, not a second chance to sin.  However, in the light of Chapter eight of the Gospel of John, we must be content to leave that final punishment to the good Lord.  However, there is more than enough scriptural evidence that such creatures should at the very least be put out of the church at the time of their sin.  And should they ever be readmitted to any Christian fellowship because of sincere and proven repentance, they have no claim whatsoever on any position of responsibility and leadership any more!

Even the House of David paid a price for its continuing adulterous moral morass throughout the reign of Solomon.  The financially exhausted kingdom was divided after the death of Solomon.  But, that is another story; let us return to the foundation of Israel to hear the challenge delivered to the people by the prophet Moses.

Old Covenant Milieu:  Dr Kline's summaries of the two divisions in this chapter are appropriate.  For verses one through ten, he notes:  “Beyond the curse of exile opens the prospect of restoration.  The redemptive program does not fail in the fall of those who were of Israel yet were not Israel.  A remnant out of Israel together with the remnant of the Gentiles are to be restored to the covenant Lord in his kingdom of glory.”   Then in verses eleven through twenty he reminds us:  “The section of the treaty concerned with covenant ratification closes with the call for decision, in which Moses reminds Israel that they cannot plead ignorance of God’s demands and warns them that the alternatives set before them in the covenant curses and blessings are those of life and death.”

Dr Brown goes one division further by including the last verse of chapter twenty-nine:  “Moses goes on to remind the people of three truths about God which were part of the covenant’s eternal message – his wisdom, mercy and word.”  So let us listen once again to the closing thought from last week:  “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

What Moses is saying here is that the Church does not have a complete revelation until the Son returns at the end of the age.  There are many things we would like to know and understand, but even as the New Testament Apostle understood “now we see in a mirror, dimly.”  Would that we knew better “how all things work for the good of them who believe.”  And yet, in the knowing – thereby we would be lesser stewards of that which has been given to us.  Yes, indeed the game of life is indeed fixed upon a certain end, yet from the scriptural record you would not know it from the behavior of the Lord’s own Old Covenant team!  Neither has the New Covenant team triumphed completely over the worldly spirits descended directly from Satan.   It is good in such a circumstance that we not know if it is the bottom of the ninth inning or the top of the third.  The game can be called at the pleasure of the owner and we must labor carefully with all that has been given to us.

In the first ten verses of the chapter we read of the infinite mercy of the Creator God.  Martin Luther once asked how he would treat miserable sinners if he were the Almighty.  He answered simply that he would blot them all out as so many premature flies.  So would we all, that is why God is God and we are limited in what we are able to accomplish.  I have been reading through the excommunication texts and the Book of Church Order, to share with a situation outside of our fellowship.  The disciplinary application of the “Go to Hades” clauses, as I will call them, is to be done only when every means of discipleship are exhausted.  We must all learn from the patience of God when it comes to the forgiveness of sin and its regular repetition.

Certainly, there are fairly stable parameters based on scripture, which may inform us as to the expected behaviors described in this Great Covenant and the whole commentary of scripture upon it.  However, as these verses before us explain it, God the Lord does indeed know the future and has mercifully prepared a means to make His covenant good in spite of human frailty.  Dr Brown divides these ten verses into three points:

  1. “God’s forgiveness is conditional                 (1-2)

  2. God’s forgiveness is guaranteed                 (3)

  3. God’s forgiveness is generous                              (4-10)”

The condition for entry into fellowship with God is the same as it always has been:  since penitence, or repentance as we say it today.  The prodigal servant of Jesus’ parable is typical of every sinner who comes to the Lord seeking forgiveness.

The great tragedy is that the vast majority of mankind prefers their life of sin and was it not for the often gentle calling of the Spirit, there would we all remain.  We have to remember that true conviction is the work of the Spirit.  Twenty-three years ago, I taught summer school.  One of my charges was quick to apologize, and ask forgiveness for every offense, but he never ever made any necessary change in habit or conviction.  Halfway through the course of study, I called his mother in and bluntly told her I didn’t want to ever hear him say he was sorry again.  I wanted to see results, assignments and better behavior – or he could stay in ninth grade English until he was eligible for social security!

The Lord is more patient than I am, I am sure – but look at the promise of verse three for all of those who do indeed repent of their predilection for sin:  they will learn “that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.”

God’s forgiveness is thus always assured.  Late one evening I once witnessed to a mechanic who had finished fixing my car.  Because of the “lemon color” of the vehicle, I had gotten to know him quite well, and occasionally we could touch on serious issues.  That night I asked him, why he didn’t go to church, since his attitude, kindness and hard work had always impressed me.  And were it not for the language problem I would never have doubted his conversion and the regular application of scripture.  He didn’t tell me all of the details, but he admitted that sorry didn’t even begin to cover the miserable life of sin he had fallen into.  God, he said could never forgive anyone like him!  I spent the better part of an hour and a half sharing the Good News, since he obviously understood the bad!  I couldn’t get that close again to his problem and since the station closed within a few months – I do not know how his life afterwards turned out.

A few years ago, I had mentioned in passing that there were rumors coming out of the former Soviet Union that before he died Nikita Khrushchev had repented of all his terrible doings.  I stirred up a little storm of protest, and yet God’s grace is sufficient for every sinner who is brought by the Holy Spirit to truly seek forgiveness.

The last seven verses in the first ten detail the amazing abundance of grace realized.  God’s forgiveness is generous indeed.  There is even a prophetic element here described by Dr Craigie:  “The prophetic element becomes clearer in verses six – ten, which anticipate in many ways the teaching of Jeremiah on the “New Covenant” and Ezekiel’s teaching on the “new heart”.  God’s vision is eternal and His work from beginning to end is perfect.  What a great new world is opened up when we confess our sin and realize the righteous covering of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, in moving into the next section of this chapter, too many people dwell on the reasonableness of keeping the outward appearances of the law of God.  Yes indeed, the Mormans, the Jews, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other cultic religionists do indeed impress the world with a form of piety – yet they miss the clarifying verses in twelve and thirteen.  Our Geneva Bible informs us with these words:  “Recalling his words in 6:6, Moses maintains that the commandment God revealed through him and the righteousness it required were readily accessible to and attainable by Israel.  He anticipates however, that those with uncircumcised hearts and ears will raise questions denying these truths, and will seek to establish a righteousness of their own.  Moses rebukes such stubbornness, insisting that the word of righteousness is found ‘in your mouth and in your heart’ – in the mouth and heart that speak not in the unbelief and rebellion of their own righteousness, but in the faith and humility of the Lord’s righteousness.  …  The commandment that Moses proclaimed here was a word calling for faith, and the righteousness it reveals is a righteousness attained by faith.”

Verses fifteen and sixteen, we began with – yet their challenge is the substantive theme of this whole chapter.  This is no grand altar call similar to those by which the fee-will Churches manipulate the masses.  No indeed, this is an invitation to consider seriously the inward call of the Spirit.  See Moses’ allowance for the refusal of an all too common fallen humanity in verse seventeen?  “But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.”

Now, let me not disparage those who in having accepted an altar call, having gone on to grow in grace and knowledge.  “Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, and you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him”

Dr Brown again outlines three points in this second section:

  1. “God’s word informs the mind                 (11-14)

  2. God’s word challenges the will                 (15-18)

  3. God’s word moves the heart                     (19-20)”

God is at work here in every aspect, and that is all we are saying in the Calvinist connection.  To Him alone is the glory in Christ and in His Church. 

New Covenant Continuum: Turn with me now to Paul’s letter to the Romans (10: 5-9):  “Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law.  “The man who does those things shall live by them.’  But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above), or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).  But what does it say?  ‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Paul, laboring under the new covenantal administration of Jesus Christ explains more fully the original and earlier teachings of Moses.  The children of the promise are the very ones in every age who come to Christ through the power and intent of the Creator God.  If we move back to verse eleven in chapter nine, we read the foundational basis for our beloved Reformed faith: “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls.”

Contemporary Application:  Earlier this week, Joe shared with me, for my evaluation – an expensive corporate program for learning how to develop a photographic memory.  There were some obvious new age elements that I highlighted.  There was also an Arminian educational premise that everyone and anyone could learn and apply the mysteries of the photographic memory phenomenon.  In my life, I have only met a few people who had that specific gift, and it was not something that they learned or could share.  It was a providential grouping of genes; interest and intellectual calling that brought the gift to the surface.  Certainly, the program in question could very well help a person so endowed to strengthen their gift.  However, the vast majority of us would not profit from the program.

Years ago, I did a little work with speed reading and yes, if the book were right, my interest peeked and the environment conducive I could and still can read a page a minute. Unfortunately the specialized book did not improve my performance in any way.  However, the materials subject to that ability must be background literature or history only – since the complexities of theology and God’s word require a more thorough consideration.

Now, let us take those examples of God’s gifting and fallen man’s theoretical application of every good gift to any and every student – and apply it to the text and consideration that has occupied us thus far this morning.

Moses is not speaking clearly to every person who ever lived.  Certainly – we understand that anyone who reads Moses and by implication: any part of the scriptures may very well spiritually understand and respond to the pointed lessons of law and grace.  However, anyone is not everyone, a sad fact that the whole history of Israel proves beyond a shadow of doubt.  The vast majority could not, or rather would not obey the law if their life depended upon it.

However, and this is an important however, there were enough pockets of believers to salt the congregation of Israel down through the millennia – to prove that God’s plan and purpose was indeed on track.  He was, and still is, who is gathering a people to Himself and wherever those whom He has called take the Great Covenant seriously, thereby they stand out in the common crowd and bring attention to the fact that God is gracious and all powerful to accomplish thereby His means and purpose.

It may take a bullet that nearly misses, it may take lightning or something just as dramatic, but it may also take His still small voice to call us to Himself.  Once we are called, we have only to acknowledge His suzerainty and give the covenant rules of His kingdom our best attention.  May we be so empowered and may the challenge of Moses lift you up and bring you closer and further into the kingdom of Christ.  Amen.

Resources Used:   

Copyright (C) 2002                             Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America)                                     

                28 April 2002                       Box 13926 - Columbus, Ohio 43213-8049

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