“ Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord ” (Deuteronomy 9:7, NKJV).
“ But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29, NKJV).
“ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live ” (Deuteronomy 30:19, NKJV).
The law is God’s standard of holiness and righteousness, and violation of that law is sin. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4, NKJV). And because we all have violated that law—“but the Scripture has confined all under sin” (Gal. 3:22, NKJV)—it’s only God’s grace that can save us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8, NKJV).
The first three chapters of Deuteronomy was basically a history lesson, reminding the people of what they had been through up to that point. By the time we get to chapter 4, the history lesson shifts more into a sermonic mode. The recounting of events wasn’t just for history buffs; instead, it served a purpose, showing the people the power and grace of God working among them, and that even though they messed up, the Lord was still going to honor His covenant with them.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’ ” (Mark 12:31, NKJV). No commandment greater than these? Jesus linked love for God and love for one’s neighbor into one commandment, and that commandment was the greatest of all.
