Today we are looking at the last paragraph of chapter 5, from verse 23 to verse 33. Do we understand the meaning of it?

When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.” The LORD heard you when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! “Go, tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.” So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:23-33 )

This is to tell us that the Ten Commandments are the bottom line and we cannot cross the line.

The beginning of chapter 5 is talking about the Ten Commandments and it sets the ground rules on what we can and can't do. The Lord told us to not do what was commanded, we would die otherwise. However, you may wonder why you don't live a good life even though you have obeyed all the commands. The Ten Commandments is only a baseline and it's far from living prosperously. The exciting thing is we are in a new era where the gospel will thrive! The main subject of verses 23 to 33 is talking about living and prospering. Not only do we live, but we will be prosperous! We will prolong our days in this land! It means we cannot lay a finger on God's word. Or you will die!

Don't be Self-righteous

The Israelites thought they would die if they heard the voice of God. The worst thing was they did not confirm this with the Lord themselves! This is a serious problem. When the Israelites came out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, God issued the Ten Commandments. Although the Israelites could not see the Lord, they could however hear the Lord talking to them. Their reaction is a total surprise to me.

And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? (Deuteronomy 5:24-26)

It was not bad at the start when they said," God had shown us His glory and His majesty, and we have heard His voice from the fire". So you know what happened after that? They soon changed their attitude, "today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them". Would we due if we speak with Him?

For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? (Deuteronomy 5:26)

What is this all about? It completely contradicts each other! Those leaders did not die of hearing the voice of God. If they did not die this time, how could they die after that? Both the leaders and elders thought they knew God. They never pondered over what was said, and what they thought was not from God.

Dear brothers and sisters, don't ever think you know our God! Many people don't know our God which they believe they do. And this is very sad! Self-righteousness is despicable!

A sister who was very self-righteous and believed there was nothing wrong with her mindset. Is that possible? If our mindset cannot match completely with the Lord, then there are problems. Therefore, we need improvement and change. The only way to improve is to understand what you lack. The knowledge of God is limitless, and changing our behaviours never stops, until we become mature and attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ! Obtaining the knowledge of God is through knowing the word of God! What does God want?

Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:33)

All He wants for us is to live and prosper and prolong our days in the land! He doesn't want to destroy us with fire!

A sister who has been with us for three years, and what bothers her has not changed a slight. What she asks now is the same as when she first started. " Pastor, after studying the book of Deuteronomy, all I get from it is a deep self-accusation. To me, God is a cruel God, all He wants is for me to die." It startled me with the word that came out of her mouth.

I don't know how many of us still have the thought " we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer". But, we must completely get it out of our minds!

Both the book of Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:4 clearly stated that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord! God wants us to live, He does not want us to die! He is compassionate and gracious, He wants us to live on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord!

Nevertheless, what deceived the Israelites? It was the spirit of the Dragon! The spirit did not need to enter the human body, it only needed to plant the thought into the mind. Once you have accepted it without examination and practice, believing you know God, you will be deceived by the spirit of the Dragon!

After the Israelites were deceived by the Dragon spirit, their logic was difficult to understand and full of contradiction. They did not die the first time when they heard the voice of God, but why would they die next time if they heard the voice of God? Even if this was true, what about Moses? They had such doubt in their mind and they could have asked God if this was the case. I'm confident that God would tell them otherwise.

Don't Have "Second-hand" Mentality

Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.” (Deuteronomy 5:27)

We must not have the "second-hand" mentality! You cannot outsource your faith in God! Today, we need to listen and obey whatever the Lord tells us. If you're a second-hand Christian, you don't examine the word of God, you don't pray, and you don't obey, once the devil deceives you, you will know it! If you're a first-hand Christian, you won't be deceived easily by the devil. Every one of us needs to be someone who prays in the name of Jesus Christ! This is the only way! We are the children of God, not guests! No one can replace you if you read the Bible and pray, do as God commands.

As a Christian, you should never have the mindset of a second-hand! After hearing the word of God and putting them into practice, then you will know whether you indeed understand them. If you don't put them into practice, you will never understand! That's why we must get first-hand experience with God, and we must exercise them! Our God wants to build a direct relationship with us. We want our brothers and sisters to take part in various activities such as healing and deliverance. This is to enable them to exercise the word of God, and understand many other things, building a direct relationship with God!

You Will Receive Whatever You Believe

The LORD heard you when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. (Deuteronomy 5:28)

If you believe you are a second-hand Christian, you will be a second-hand in the Kingdom of God! Then, the Lord will say to you, "whatever you say, you merely a second-hand !"

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29)

God feels helpless as He cannot decide for us. He could only say, " if that's what you believe, then let it be". However, a second-hand Christian cannot enter the promised land and take possession of the land. To say "I wish" is a helpless reaction from God is an understatement.

I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. (Jeremiah 24:9)

The second hand will live under a curse, as they cannot carry the word of God! Hence why we must get rid of the second-hand mentality! Because when you have such a mentality, God will let you experience what you believe. If you don't believe in "by his wounds, we are healed", then it will be difficult for you to be healed as you don't believe you will get healed. On the contrary, you will believe the illness comes from God and so be it!

Our faith is built on the word of God, not on our false understanding. It's very strange to divide Christianity into different denominations, such as Evangelism and Charismatics. The Evangelicals believe the Bible is truth, they however are very selective in what they preach. They don't accept everything that is written in the Bible. Because to them, the signs may not accompany those who believe. Only the Charismatics perform miracles. How ridiculous is it? We must heed the word of God more than ever! And we must also put them into practice! This is called sound doctrine!

We must study the Bible with all our hearts! False understanding brings false perception, it will derive false evidence as a result. It will be stupid if we don't break this vicious cycle. We must exercise the word of God as per His instruction! We always need to revise the way we exercise when we realize we don't do it correctly until we get it right! Then we will see the signs and wonders in our life! The entire history of the Israelites only shows us one thing: they were enslaved by a second-hand mentality!

“Go, tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.” So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:30-33)

Do What God has Commanded You

There is a common scene going on amongst Christians. They either don't exercise the word of God at all, or they exercise partially. I often hear the saying "we are in a very different era, some of the words don't work in this era".

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)

This is extremely important to us! This means that man lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord is the same as doing what the Lord has commanded you! We will lay down our lives for it! This is our destiny!

"Put it into practice" needs to become second nature in us, we cannot do it half-heartedly. The most salient subject of the New Testament is to build a victorious church! A victorious church can pass on grace and blessings to the public, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and set the oppressed free! There are no cutting corners! I often hear people saying, " I don't have the gift of casting out demons, so I don't do it". However, this is what it says in the Bible:

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:17-18)

This is to tell us that casting out demons is a fundamental requirement for every Christian. In our church, Healing and Deliverance as well as some other foundation courses are fundamental training for everyone. You may not be a Chinese teacher, but you still need not speak Chinese, you may not be a teacher, and you still need faith in God. The Apostle Paul also cast out demons. We need to understand that some things are a foundation, which doesn't need to be divided in detail. Some things are built on the foundation and need to elevate to the next level and need to better divide the work. Only when we obey what the Lord has commanded us, and put it into practice, will we live and prosper, and prolong the days in this land. This is what we call the Fundamental Principle!
Amen!