God’s Call to Covenant Life
The Word to Live By: The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live (Deuteronomy 30:6).
Session Truth: God continually calls us to respond in faith and obedience to His grace.
Session Goals:
1. To understand that God has given us the ability to make choices with regard to His will for us.
2. To recognize that God’s Word spells out the consequences of two eternal choices: obedience to God leading to life or disobedience leading to death.
3. To affirm that God continually calls for us to respond in faith and obedience to His grace.
4. To rejoice in knowing that God’s will for us is always abundant life.
1. To understand that God has given us the ability to make choices with regard to His will for us.
2. To recognize that God’s Word spells out the consequences of two eternal choices: obedience to God leading to life or disobedience leading to death.
3. To affirm that God continually calls for us to respond in faith and obedience to His grace.
4. To rejoice in knowing that God’s will for us is always abundant life.
In today’s passage, Moses is nearing the end of his third and last sermon. He looks beyond the rebellion he has already foretold and tells the people about a future time of God’s compassion and restoration.
THE PROMISE OF RESTORATION (DEUTERONOMY 30:1-5)
*Moses knew the people would not obey the covenant, yet he spent so much time telling them the importance of doing so. He knew the choice each one makes is personal. Moses knew that many people needed encouragement to choose rightly.
*Why is it important for Moses to continue to remind the people that God is compassionate, and that blessings will always follow repentance and obedience? (Repetition is one of the best teaching methods. He is also speaking to future generations, including ours.)
*It was important for Moses to warn the people of the curses they would incur for disobedience. Sin is serious and always has consequences. The curses were meant to be remedial and a means of bringing the people back to God.
*Moses knew the people would not obey the covenant, yet he spent so much time telling them the importance of doing so. He knew the choice each one makes is personal. Moses knew that many people needed encouragement to choose rightly.
*Why is it important for Moses to continue to remind the people that God is compassionate, and that blessings will always follow repentance and obedience? (Repetition is one of the best teaching methods. He is also speaking to future generations, including ours.)
*It was important for Moses to warn the people of the curses they would incur for disobedience. Sin is serious and always has consequences. The curses were meant to be remedial and a means of bringing the people back to God.
CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART (DEUTERONOMY 30:6-10)
*For the Hebrews, circumcision symbolized consecration to God. (Circumcision of the heart is a “metaphor for God’s work of cleansing and purifying the heart of sin”).
*Because of disobedience, the covenant relationship with God was broken. What was the only means by which they could return to the Lord and be fully restored? (vv. 2, 10) (Deuteronomy 30:2, 10) It required complete obedience-”with all your heart, and with all your soul.)
*For the Hebrews, circumcision symbolized consecration to God. (Circumcision of the heart is a “metaphor for God’s work of cleansing and purifying the heart of sin”).
*Because of disobedience, the covenant relationship with God was broken. What was the only means by which they could return to the Lord and be fully restored? (vv. 2, 10) (Deuteronomy 30:2, 10) It required complete obedience-”with all your heart, and with all your soul.)
*According to verse 10, what is the prerequisite for receiving the blessings listed in verse 9? (Obedience)
CLOSENESS TO GOD (DEUTERONOMY 30:11-16)
When the people disobeyed God, they left following after Him and His ways. The people left God; God never leaves the people.
His commandments are ever before us so that we may know them and keep them (Deuteronomy 30:14). The initiative in our salvation is always with God (Romans 5:8).
*How does a person who is lost return to God? (Deuteronomy 30:2-3) (By acknowledging his or her lostness, repenting, and ceasing to be disobedient.
*Repentance is a radical change of mind, a complete about-face, a turning around. It is a change of the will that results in a change of conduct.
*Why is there a human tendency to think obedience to God is “too difficult” or “beyond reach”? (See vv. 11-14. Compare v. 14 to Romans 10:8-10, 13.)
*How does verse 14 assure believers today that living in obedience to God is an attainable lifestyle?
*How do the contrasts in verse 15 show the foolishness of not choosing to obey God?
*How do these verses indicate that serving God is much easier than serving sin?
*The Good News for the backslider in the Scripture Focus is: God continually calls us to respond in faith and obedience to His grace.
When the people disobeyed God, they left following after Him and His ways. The people left God; God never leaves the people.
His commandments are ever before us so that we may know them and keep them (Deuteronomy 30:14). The initiative in our salvation is always with God (Romans 5:8).
*How does a person who is lost return to God? (Deuteronomy 30:2-3) (By acknowledging his or her lostness, repenting, and ceasing to be disobedient.
*Repentance is a radical change of mind, a complete about-face, a turning around. It is a change of the will that results in a change of conduct.
*Why is there a human tendency to think obedience to God is “too difficult” or “beyond reach”? (See vv. 11-14. Compare v. 14 to Romans 10:8-10, 13.)
*How does verse 14 assure believers today that living in obedience to God is an attainable lifestyle?
*How do the contrasts in verse 15 show the foolishness of not choosing to obey God?
*How do these verses indicate that serving God is much easier than serving sin?
*The Good News for the backslider in the Scripture Focus is: God continually calls us to respond in faith and obedience to His grace.
GOD GIVES HIMSELF FULLY
Deuteronomy, like the entire Bible, is the amazing account of Almighty God making himself available to undeserving, sin-bent people. A.W. Tozer described God’s generosity, commitment, and power this way: “An infinite God can give all of himself to each of His children. He does not distribute himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of himself as fully as if there were no others.”
Deuteronomy, like the entire Bible, is the amazing account of Almighty God making himself available to undeserving, sin-bent people. A.W. Tozer described God’s generosity, commitment, and power this way: “An infinite God can give all of himself to each of His children. He does not distribute himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of himself as fully as if there were no others.”
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