"CHOOSE LIFE"
Intro. The children of Israel are standing on the border of the land that God has promised to them. They are ready to go in to conquer the land. Moses is telling them the conditions whereby they can remain in this good land.
I. I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY, LIFE AND GOOD; DEATH AND EVIL.
A. These were set before them that they might choose between them.
1. God has given to us the choice of life and death. Good and evil.
2. God does not force us to live the good life.
3. You can choose to do evil and suffer the consequences of death.
B. When God made man, He made man in His image, and one of the characteristics of God's nature is His self determination, so in His image we were created self determinate beings. That is, I have and can exercise my will to choose to do good or evil.
1. I can choose how I want to live.
2. Who I want to love and associate with.
3. Who I will serve.
C. Creating man with the capacity of choice would be meaningless if there weren't something to choose.
1. So God put the tree in the garden of the knowledge of good and evil and the command Adam not to eat it.
2. Thus man could choose if he wanted to obey and serve God or not.
D. The choice would not be very meaningful if the tree was not very attractive and desirable. It would not surprise me if the fruit of that tree wasn't the most luscious looking fruit of all the trees in the garden.
1. I believe that the fruit on that tree was absolutely delicious.
2. It probably had a beautiful aroma also, thus very tempting.
E. God had to let them make their choice then honor the choice that they made, or He would have invalidated their capacity of choice.
F. What does all of this mean?
1. God did not want the automatic, mechanical responses of robots.
2. He wanted the meaningful responses of love, which requires choice, free will.
G. This is still true today.
1. God wants a meaningful loving relationship with you.
2. You still have the capacity of choice, and must exercise it to have a relationship with God.
3. It is just that simple, it is a matter of choice.
a. If you desire you can choose to have this relationship with Him.
b. If you are evil, you will not want a relationship with Him, for He requires that you repent of your evil and believe on His Son.
c. Jesus said that those who refused to come to Him, did so because they were evil and knew that their evil would be exposed in His light.
H. We become the product of our choices.
1. You really can't blame God for what you have become, you are what your are as the result of the choices you have made.
I. Adam had to choose to believe God or believe Satan.
1. God said if you eat of the fruit, you will surely die.
2. Satan said, "You surely won't die."
3. Now Adam must choose, do I believe God or Satan.
4. God said, "Don't eat of the tree."
5. Satan said, "Go ahead and eat it."
6. Adam must choose, do I obey God or Satan.
7. To obey God is life, to obey Satan is death.
II. MOSES DECLARED TO THEM WHAT THE GOOD LIFE WAS.
A. Love the Lord your God.
1. God wants you to love Him preeminently.
a. He commanded that you were to have no other gods before Him.
b. He wants you to love Him first, and foremost.
c. He wants your love for Him to exceed every other love in your life. No other love to compete.
2. This is the good life.
B. He wants you to walk in His ways.
1. This is in contrast to walking in your own way.
2. We are told to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to our own understanding, to acknowledge Him in all our ways, and we have the promise that He will direct our paths.
3. Some people are saying, "Not Thy will, my will be done."
4. Jesus said, "Not My will, but Thy will be done."
5. What are you saying?
C. Keep His commandments, His statutes and His judgments.
PSA 19:7 The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple.
PSA 19:8 The statutes of the LORD [are] right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD [is] pure, enlightening the eyes.
PSA 19:9 The fear of the LORD [is] clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD [are] true [and] righteous altogether.
6. The psalmist adds, "And in keeping of them there is great reward."
D. The results will be:
1. You will live in the land that God has given you and multiply.
2. The Lord will bless you in the land He is giving you to possess.
3. Life, blessing and prosperity.
III. MOSES THEN WARNED THEM OF THE EVIL PATH THAT LEADS TO DEATH.
A. The path begins when you allow your heart to turn away from God.
1. Next you find yourself refusing to hear God.
a. You no longer read the Bible.
b. You begin to neglect coming to church.
c. You refuse to heed His warnings of the Spirit to your heart.
2. You then find yourself drawn away and you begin to worship other gods.
a. You begin to worship the gods of sensual pleasure.
b. Your love for sports begins to exceed your love for God.
c. You begin to worship the creation, more than the Creator.
d. You worship success.
e. You worship power, as you seek the control over others and over things.
3. You are guilty of serving other gods.
B. The results will be:
1. You shall surely perish.
a. The wages of sin is death.
b. The soul that sinneth shall surely die.
2. You will not remain in the land that God has given you.
a. God will remove His hand of blessing from your life.
b. God will remove His hand of protection.
c. You will be exposed to the evil that Satan desires to bring into your life.
IV. MOSES CALLED HEAVEN AND EARTH TO BEAR RECORD OF THIS FACT.
A. He had set before them life and death.
B. The blessing of God or the curse of God.
C. What was true of Moses day is true of today.
1. God has set before you life and death. Your choice.
2. To be blessed of God, or to cursed by God. Your choice.
D. It is important that you notice that it is either or. It is not a multiple choice, it is one or the other.
1. Too many are trying to sit on the fence.
2. They say, I am not really against Jesus, I just want to do my own thing.
a. Jesus said that if you were not for Him, you were against Him.
b. In trying to serve two masters, you will find yourself loving the one and hating the other.
E. Moses called on them to choose life that both they and their children may live.
1. It is not a choice that you are making just for yourself, but you will find that your children will be affected by your choice.
2. I was witnessing to a man one day in Costa Mesa, whose wife was a Christian, and he was an alcoholic. He confessed that he knew that he was destroying his life, but he insisted that it only affected him, and he had a right to choose. Both of his boys ended up in prison before they were 20 years old.
a. Look behind you dad, you will find a little boy trying to walk in your footsteps.
b. Look behind you mom, there is a little girl trying to grow up and be like you.
3. What I do, the decisions I make do affect others, especially my family and my own children.
4. Many children are suffering because of the sins of their parents. Two roads, one is good, the other is evil, one leads to life, the other to death. One will bring the blessings of God upon your family, the other will bring the curse of God upon your life which can effect your whole family.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
