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Awesome Hands - Part 157: "The ‘choice’ of life and death?" - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – part 157

“The ‘choice’ of life and death?”

October 28, 2019

Today’s study finds us in Deuteronomy 30 with a very important topic being discussed. E-Sword has the section title labeled as, “The Choice of Life and Death”, but we know from our own experiences that “choice” can often be a confusing topic when comparing God’s will with our own will.

Though the verse containing the Hebrew word “hand” isn’t found until verse 9, this study will quickly cover the majority of chapter 30 to gather as much information about the context as possible.

Deu 30:9  And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:

Deuteronomy 30 starts off with a passing of time. This passing of time indicates that “something” has already happened. This “something” is a very significant event when it is realized what event is being talked about.

Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

The event being spoken about in Deuteronomy 30 happens to all of God’s children. God’s children are sent into captivity.

It is when both blessings and cursing are “upon thee” that the Lord will bring to your mind that He has given you commandments. This is when His children return to Him, obeying His voice with all their heart and soul.

The core question here is whether this is an ACTIVE and EXCLUSIVE choice, outside of the will of God, made on the part of the children of God?

Eze 11:14  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 11:15  Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
Eze 11:16  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Eze 11:17  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Eze 11:18  And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Eze 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Eze 11:20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Eze 11:21  But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Out of all the times that the Lord refers to Himself as “I”, how many times can that “I” be replaced with the word “you” or “myself”?

For example, as a little exercise let’s do just that. The emphasis is mine of course.

Eze 11:16  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although you have cast them far off among the heathen, and although you have scattered them among the countries, yet will you be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Eze 11:17  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; you will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and you will give you the land of Israel.
Eze 11:18  And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Eze 11:19  And you will give them one heart, and you will put a new spirit within you; and you will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Eze 11:20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and you will be their God.
Eze 11:21  But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, you will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.

To really bring this point home, can we find a second witness to this concept of the Lord doing things according to His will versus us doing things according to our separate and all-powerful will?

Eze 36:24  For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:25  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Eze 36:28  And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Eze 36:29  I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
Eze 36:30  And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
Eze 36:31  Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

2 Corinthians 3 says:

2Co 3:1  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2Co 3:2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

It appears that the Lord gives us a new heart and a new spirit to serve Him, so where is the “you” or “myself” in that equation? Where is our will in the matter?

Who is it then that gives a fleshy heart versus a stony hardened heart? Let the scriptures speak!

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

Exo 14:4  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

Exo 8:19  Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

See, events happen to us that turn our hearts one way or another. We can’t help it. We were created this way. We are results of the circumstances that happen to us from the very moment we are conceived in our mother’s womb.

I cannot choose which parents I am born to physically no more than I can choose being born to “your father the devil” or God the Father. I have no CHOICE in this matter. Therefore, I cannot CHOOSE to do the right thing in choosing to follow God UNTIL He gives me the heart and spirit to do so.

Does that mean we do not make decisions? Does that mean that we do not have choices?

Again, we shall let the scriptures speak for themselves.

Deu 30:4  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
Deu 30:5  And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
Deu 30:6  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Deu 30:7  And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
Deu 30:8  And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

The Lord DRIVES the people of God to the outmost parts of Heaven so that it is here in their distresses that they can be rescued.

It is the Lord that will bring thee in the land to possess it. It is the Lord who will circumcise your heart to LOVE the Lord thy God with all your HEART and SOUL so that we can LIVE.

We have NO CHOICE in this matter; yet, we choose what has been chosen for us.

If the Lord drives, isn’t this another way to say He LEADS?

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Why would Jesus tell us to pray in this way when we pray? It is always the Lord leading, always. However, just because the captain of the ship steers the captains wheel doesn’t mean there aren’t deck hands being used to set the sails.

The Lord sends spirits to do His biddings, both evil and good.

Deu 30:9  And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
Deu 30:10  If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

How can you hearken to the voice of the Lord with a stony heart? The answer is you can’t or else what would be the need for the Lord to give you a new heart and spirit through circumcision?

Once we have this heart, the Lord tells us to CHOOSE whom we will serve this DAY.

The choice is very easy with the right mindset, with the right heart and with the right spirit working within you.

To prove this spiritual point even more, we have verses 11 through 20 of Deuteronomy 30. In Truth, the Lord is going to make it EASY for us to CHOOSE the right path to follow as He DIRECTS our steps.

Deu 30:11  For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12  It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:13  Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:14  But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

I must ask again how a stony heart can choose to keep the commandments of God when there is such a great gulf between a stony heart and a fleshy heart?

One heart leads to DEATH and one heart leads to LIFE, but who does the leading? See Matthew 6:13.

Deu 30:15  See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Deu 30:16  In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 30:17  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
Deu 30:18  I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
Deu 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deu 30:20  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

I challenge all of you to show me where in scripture we are given a “fleshy” heart that DISOBEYS God the Father. I do not know of any scripture that speaks of such a thing.

Therefore, when the Lord says “if your heart turn away”, He is NOT speaking about a NEW HEART and SPIRIT given to you. If He were speaking of this Spirit, He would be speaking of the Spirit of God which is the spirit given to us when we are born again.

But Steven, how can that be true when this is speaking in the old testament in Deuteronomy?

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

What idolatry should we flee? Could this idolatry be “god” worship? If it is “god” worship, what “gods” are we talking about?

Psa 82:5  They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
Psa 82:6  I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Psa 82:7  But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

Isa 42:16  And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
Isa 42:17  They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Hos 14:1  O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Hos 14:2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
Hos 14:3  Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
Hos 14:4  I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

“But ye shall die like men,” found in Psalms 82:7, is what this is all about. We are sons of God which makes us gods. This is exactly why Jesus was crucified and put to death.

He worked on the sabbath and He claimed to be the Son of God thereby making Himself a god.

Though we are gods, we will DIE LIKE MEN. This tells us which heart dies and which one lives. Again, one is for LIFE and one is destined for death.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Our stony hearts belong to death. It is the work of our hands which we call gods. The “work of our hands” is just another way to say our free will.

I am FREE to WORK out my own salvation, with fear and trembling, is a FALSE god, while neglecting the Truth of the entirety of the situation, that it is “for it is who God WORKETH IN YOU both to WILL and to DO HIS GOOD PLEASURE.

There is NO freedom of choice in this, but there is certainly WORK to be DONE. It just happens to be the WORK that is done IN you, by GOD and HIS WILL, and not BY your OWN god worshipped “my own free will” hands.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work,” until it is taken out of the way and replaced with a fleshy heart.

Ecc 8:17  Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

Men who die with stony hearts cannot find out the work of God which is absolutely required to do His pleasure and keep His commandments. This is what loving God is.