Based on Deuteronomy 28:15-47 (New King James Version)
“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ‘Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you. You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land. The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.”
Today’s message is easy to explain but difficult to accept, especially considering the times. We live in a time where the great majority of people that say that believe in and know the Lord are simply doing as they please. Unfortunately, sin within God’s so-called people abounds. Many would say that they believe. Many would say that they obey. And many would say that they even serve God in some way, but that is not what the world sees, and far less, what God is witnessing. And I really don’t know what Bible they are reading that they believe that in some way everything will be fine, especially in eternity. I don’t know how people can believe that their opinion will somehow control reality, and that what they decide to believe or accept is what shall be, especially when giving an account before the throne of God (because every person will give an account).
We read today how God tells His people Israel what will happen if they disobey and not keep His commandments. This applies to us because we were added to the people of Israel through the Lord, and in Christ we were reconciled with God so that we can do as He commands. God did not send His only begotten Son to die on the cross so that we could do as we please, sinning against the God that saved us. And we know that we owe everything to the Lord, from our existence, all of our abilities, all that we have, and of course, to what is most precious: the salvation that was given to us only through His grace, through the death and resurrection of the Lord. We read very clearly that disobedience will not go unpunished. God’s judgment will come upon those that disobey the Lord, if there is not a complete and genuine repentance and conversion. The Lord will only forgive when there is a genuine conversion, and when He is treated as the Lord He is.
Some might say: “You are referring to something written in the Old Testament that no longer applies because we are in grace, and God forgives whatever we do.” And I have to say that they are very mistaken if they think that what is written no longer applies because Christ came to fulfill the law and the prophets, especially to fulfill it within us, when precisely treating the Lord as He needs to be treated so that there can be salvation. If you doubt this, let’s see the following: “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’” 2 Peter 2:20-22. And it is also written: “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” Revelation 22:14-15. Nothing in grace justifies the practice of sin before God, by not loving God with everything we are and by not loving our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore, my counsel would be to repent with a whole heart and fear and love the Lord as He deserves. So then, are you disobeying the Lord or are you following Him as the Word commands? Lord bless! John