Chapter 1: What diverse genres are found in the Bible?
The books of the Bible are diverse. There's prophecy, wisdom, poetry, and there are letters.
We have lots of other books that are much more full of the exposition of the blessings and the grace and the mercy and the goodness of God. But we need the book of Deuteronomy, too, to remind us precisely that life is serious and that these things matter, and to remind us that when the threats are most dire, there is a mediator.
As Christians today, we can sometimes misunderstand the law of God. Sometimes we so emphasize the law that we think keeping it makes us right with God. That's what we call legalism. Other times we assume that because we're saved by grace, we can live however we want, that the Lord really doesn't care how we live or if we sin. That's what we call antinomianism.
Well today on Renewing Your Mind, W. Robert Godfrey helps us understand how Deuteronomy informs how we should think about law and grace. I hope you've been enjoying this series. It's been so helpful to dive deeper into this Old Testament book.
And while we're only studying a portion of the book, you can study the entirety of Deuteronomy with Dr. Godfrey as your guide when you give a gift at renewingyourmind.org. We'll send you the DVD set, unlock the digital version in your teaching library, along with the study guide.
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Chapter 2: Why is the book of Deuteronomy considered essential for understanding faith?
Be quick as this offer ends tomorrow. So how does Deuteronomy help us understand law and grace? Here's Dr. Godfrey.
We come now to chapter 8 of Deuteronomy. We're continuing with looking at these warnings that the Lord gave to Israel, various ways in which He warned them to be careful to keep the law. And here in chapter 8, He's speaking to Israel as a nation and particularly speaking to them as the sons of their fathers and the call to be faithful to the covenant that God gave to their fathers.
And here in chapter 8, we find a particularly interesting statement. Verse 3 of chapter 8, Moses says, "...and he humbled you and let you hunger." and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God." That's a famous statement, isn't it?
That is the verse that Jesus quotes at the first temptation in the wilderness. Jesus had been in the wilderness For 40 days, fasting, not eating. And the 40 days are meant to make us think about the 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus has been in the wilderness. Jesus is the new Israel, as well as the new Moses. And here he is now in the wilderness.
And in that wilderness, he's facing the temptation of hunger. A temptation that Israel didn't face well. Israel complained about not having food to eat, not having meat to eat, not having water to drink. Think for a minute of the subtlety of the evil one in coming to Jesus.
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Chapter 3: How do Christians often misunderstand the law of God?
What's implicit in what the evil one says is to Jesus? Well, God gave His people manna in the wilderness. How could it be wrong for you to turn stones into bread? God gave bread to His people in the wilderness. Well, that's true, isn't it?
If God gave Israel bread in the wilderness despite its sinfulness, how could it be wrong for Jesus to have bread in the wilderness in light of his righteousness? Well, of course, it wasn't wrong for Jesus to have bread. What Jesus is showing is that it's wrong to take advice from the devil. The devil never has helpful advice. The devil never has advice that's genuinely encouraging.
And so Jesus quotes this verse, a verse that does indeed refer back to the manna that God gave his people. But Jesus is saying what God told us is we're to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not by bread alone. buried in the tempter's temptation was to make Jesus live by bread alone. And Jesus is not having any.
It's interesting that this Hebrew word, live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, is actually a word that usually means commandment. Every commandment that proceeds from the mouth of God is how we're to live. A commandment has direction. We're to be directed by God, not by the evil one. That's the point that Jesus is making here.
And here we show how the Old Testament can be used so profitably, so helpfully to deepen our understanding of what the Lord is doing. Some of you may have heard my lecture on Psalm 78, which is a reflection on Israel in the wilderness and then in the promised land. What we see there is there are three great temptations that Israel faces.
Temptation about food, a temptation about power, and a temptation about worship. And Israel fails all those temptations. And those are exactly the same three temptations that Jesus faces in the wilderness. One about food, one about power, throwing himself down from the temple.
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Chapter 4: What does Deuteronomy teach about the relationship between law and grace?
One about worship, bow down and worship me. And Jesus passes all those temptations because he lives by every commandment that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so here is the direction that is being given to Israel in the Old Testament for their good, but direction that is really only fulfilled in Jesus and in the perfection of his life. Jesus does not make a good effort. Jesus pulls it off.
Jesus accomplishes it. Jesus fulfills it. And we see that being foreshadowed here. I don't think it's too much to say that Jesus is alluding to Deuteronomy 8 in the Great Commission. Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. They are to live by all the commands that proceed from my mouth.
Jesus is establishing himself as Lord and God of his people and very much in the spirit of Deuteronomy 8 is saying that what he teaches is how his people are to live because he is the God in the midst of them and we are to be a holy people unto him. And so all of this, I hope, is helpful as we think about the call to serve the Lord and to honor him.
And again is the reminder in verse 17 that as they enjoy the gifts of the Lord, they are not to think that it is their own power that has given these things to them. Verse 17 of chapter 8, "...beware lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth." Maybe that's a bit of a reflection on what Jesus was thinking in the wilderness.
I'm waiting for God's timing in the wilderness to provide what I need. And remember, after the temptations are over, God sent the angels to minister to Jesus. He's depending on God and on God's power and on God's time, not on what he will accomplish on his own.
You shall remember, verse 18, the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to his fathers as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. So here is this constant, we might almost say drumbeat.
There's a rhythm to this. There's a constancy of statement, a warning the people and directing them. And again, as I said at the beginning, you'd think they might be able to remember this. It's not that hard, children. No idols. Listen to the Lord. But they are not very attentive. They are not very careful. And so in chapter 9,
Moses almost comes back to what he said at chapter five, namely, when you get into the promised land, don't forget what happened at Horeb. Don't forget the giving of the law. And then in particular, where does he focus? He focuses on the golden calf. It's interesting how often Moses returns to the incident of the golden calf.
It has to have been one of the most traumatic moments of his whole life. There he comes from fellowshipping with God in the most intimate way on the mountain, receiving from God's own hand the summary of the law and the Ten Commandments, and coming down the mountain to see the whole people of Israel, including Aaron, involved in the worst sort of betrayal of the Ten Commandments.
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Chapter 5: How does Deuteronomy chapter 8 illustrate reliance on God?
And Aaron is consenting to all of this. And Aaron offers one of the worst justifications of this that you could find almost anywhere in the Bible. I just took the gold they gave me and I threw it in the fire and out came this calf. Who believes that? Nobody believes that. It was the kind of story children tell to justify things that are clearly wrong, and the justification is clearly untrue.
But this horror, Moses holds up again here. And he says, this is why it is so important that you be careful, that you be thoughtful, that you do not allow these things to happen again. He rehearses this for the people, how the Lord wanted to destroy them for this sin, and Moses had to offer his own life, his own spiritual eternity in their place.
The Lord didn't demand that of him, but he was willing to do that as the mediator, the intercessor for this people. And here is a beautiful picture of intercession and mediation, one offering his life for another. But this is how terrible this moment was in the history of Israel and how Moses had to plead for the people and beg for them to be spared. And then it's interesting, isn't it, how
When he comes down, it's not enough for the image to be destroyed. It has to be ground into fine powder and scattered. Maybe think a little bit about the trial of the Nazi leaders at Nuremberg after the Second World War. Almost all of them were condemned to death and they were hanged. And then the Allies had to decide what to do with the bodies.
because if you bury the bodies, you run the risk of establishing a shrine where there may be pilgrimage. And so the bodies were burned and the ashes were scattered at sea, so there could never be any resting place found. for these monsters, and that's what happens here in a sense.
Not a particle of this image is allowed to remain to be a snare to the people, but it all must be destroyed so that the Lord will Bless them. The Lord will ensure they remember who they were. Verse 4 of chapter 9 is so important. I think key in a lot of ways to understanding what's going on in Deuteronomy.
Do not say in your heart, Deuteronomy 9 verse 4, after the Lord your God has thrust the nations out before you, it is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me to possess this land. Whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.
Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess the land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord our God is driving them out from before you, that he may confirm the word that he swore unto our fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Know therefore that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Anyone who wants to argue that Israel is inheriting the land because of its righteousness, because of its obedience, because the Lord is rewarding them for their goodness, Moses says that's absolutely the opposite of the truth.
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Chapter 6: What temptations did Israel face in the wilderness?
So, Deuteronomy, first ten and a half chapters. We've been looking at history, step one of our pyramid. Then we've looked at warnings, step two of our pyramid. And now we'll come to the heart of the book, the center of the book, which is an exposition of the law. And we'll see that law first in terms of the laws to love God,
and then laws relative to the leaders of the people, and laws about loving the neighbor. And so we're going to have a fair bit of law, but all of it is, I hope, we'll find interesting and spiritually profitable, and causing us to think about what does love look like, and how does love relate to commandment, and to see that love and commandment are not set against each other.
Our Lord said, didn't he, if you love me, You'll keep my commandments. These are not things in conflict, but things that should encourage us to learn more about what it really means to love God and love our neighbor. So we'll return to that third step of our step pyramid, laws about the love of God, next time.
Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. What Dr. Godfrey said is true. Many of us can pit law and love, law and grace against each other. But when we study scripture, both in the New and Old Testament, we see that loving God and keeping his commandments are parts of the Christian life.
That was W. Robert Godfrey with a message on Deuteronomy, and you're listening to the Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. In chapter 6 of Deuteronomy, we were told to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Jesus quoted these words, telling those present with Him and us today that the greatest commandment is to love our Creator.
And that commandment to love God is made clear in this series on Deuteronomy. If you'd like to continue your study in Deuteronomy, we'll unlock the entire teaching series and its study guide in the free Ligonier app. Plus, we'll send you a copy of the DVD when you give a donation at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343.
And for our global listening audience, the digital-only version of this offer is waiting for you at renewingyourmind.org slash global. Request this series today and learn more about our great and gracious God. Will I be seeing you at our national conference? In just two weeks, Christians from around the world will be joining us in Orlando, Florida for Ligonier's 2026 National Conference.
The topic will be crucial questions, and our trusted teachers will be answering questions like, What is my purpose? How should I endure suffering? And does prayer change things? I'd love to see you there, and there's still time to register. Visit Ligonier.org slash 2026 and secure your spot today. In his message today, Dr. Godfrey showed us how law and love go together in Scripture.
We'll pick up on that idea tomorrow and study laws about loving God. So be sure to join us Thursday here on Renewing Your Mind.
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