Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19

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Have you ever heard of the word Triune or Trinity before? If so, you’ve maybe connected it to the Christian church. You maybe know that it’s a way that the Christian church uses to describe God as triune, or that he is the Trinity.

What does that word or what do those words even mean? I’ve often described it in this way to little kids. I’ve told them to picture a tricycle, and I asked them how many wheels are on a tricycle? And they say, well, three. And then I ask them, well, do you know what a unicycle is? And maybe some of them do, maybe some of them don’t. Then I asked them how many wheels are on a unicycle. And they will say one if they know what a unicycle is.

I make the point that if you take the first part of each of those words tricycle and unicycle, you really kind of get that word triune, right? And so it shows us what that word means. It means 3 in 1. We think about the word Trinity. It means a unity of three. And that’s a good term that we use to describe God.

Fun fact though, did you know that the word triune and the word Trinity are not found anywhere in the Bible? Maybe wonder where did they come from and why do we even use them? Well, they were words that were made up centuries ago by early Christians. They’re good words for us to use, even though they’re not found in the Bible, because they describe what the Bible teaches about God. In Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four. It says this

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God. The Lord is one! (Deuteronomy 6:4)

There is one God. There isn’t a multitude of gods, but only one God. Then we think about Jesus own words in Matthew chapter 28 as he instructs his disciples.

Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in[c] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19)

It seems a bit odd, doesn’t it, that Jesus instructs his disciples to baptize not just in the name of the Father, but of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He really gives the Son and the Spirit equal footing, equal honor with God the Father. And there are many other places in Scripture that testified to the fact that the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God as well.

And so that term has been used in the Christian church to describe the God of the Bible, that he is a Trinity, or that he is Triune, three persons and one divine essence.

Now, that doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense for us as human beings. It’s something that we can’t fully comprehend or understand that God is three in one. For our human brains we want to say, well, which is it? Either he’s three or he’s one. He can’t be both. Right? And this is certainly a mystery, but it’s a mystery that we accept because God declares it in his Holy Word. And it’s a mystery that’s essential for us as Christians too.

We might wonder, can’t I just believe in a Creator God that there’s one Creator God such as the Muslims? We think about Jesus own words that he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Think about how we need to know who Jesus is, and we need to know and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, because only the Son of God, only his payment on a cross for us, could actually atone for our sins.

We also need to believe in God, the Holy Spirit, because he’s the one that brings us faith to believe in Jesus Christ. And so this is a precious teaching of Scripture. Not an easy one, certainly, but we believe firmly that God is Triune or the Trinity. We know that he is the God of our eternal salvation. Praise God, the Triune God of the Bible, for revealing himself to us, and that he is the only God of forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.

Deuteronomy 8:1-10

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There’s a psychological phenomenon that I think that we’re all a little bit susceptible to. It’s called rosy retrospection. It’s this idea that when you look at the past and what happened to you before, that you remember the good things about what happened. But you kind of forget about the hard things, the difficulties.

And one example of this is when I was in college each year I would take a trip to the Boundary Waters, northern Minnesota, just south of the Canadian border in the month of February. We’d get out of the van and the temperature would be about 40 degrees below zero. And I’d instantly think, Why did I do this? But the next year, when it came time to sign up again, I would look back and I remember how beautiful it was to be snowshoeing through the wilderness. I would remember the fun times in the lodge with the people I went with. I do remember the laughs and I would sign up again. And given the choice, I’d probably do it again still today.

Now, in God’s Word, the Israelites were susceptible to this as well. They said, Remember the good old days when we were slaves in Egypt? I wish we could go back to that. They’ve forgotten about all of the terrible things that happened to them there. So now it’s 40 years later and they’re about to enter the Promised Land. And their leader, Moses, knows these people. He knows their spiritual weakness. And so here in Deuteronomy chapter eight, he gives them this warning and this encouragement.

Be conscientious about carrying out the entire body of commands that I am giving you today so that you may thrive and increase and you may go in and possess the land that the Lord promised by oath to give to your fathers. Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. So he humbled you and allowed you to be hungry. Then he fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known before, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes you wore did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore you are to keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by revering him.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of gullies filled with water, a land with springs and groundwater that flows out into the valleys and down the mountains, a land with wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil, and honey, a land where you can eat bread and not be poor, where you will not lack anything, a land whose rocks are iron and from whose mountains you can mine copper.

Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

This Thanksgiving season, remember. Remember how blessed you are to live the life that you have. Remember that as you look back at the good old days, the simplicity sounds so good and so wonderful compared to what we live in right now because of rosy retrospection. But remember that the complaints about the past have led to the conveniences that we enjoy today. That you can have anything that you need in your life delivered to your house and in a matter of two days. Remember the luxury and the surplus of our culture and our world. And remember that we have done nothing to earn that. We’ve done nothing to deserve it.

Remember that every good thing in our life is God’s gift to us. That He is the one who is responsible. As you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal, remember that it is God who made the rainfall, who made the sunshine so that grain can grow. That grain that feeds the turkeys and us. Remember that it is God who made sure that there were farmers there who could harvest that grain. Who could raise those turkeys. That there were people there to butcher those turkeys and truckers who would transport all of these goods to the grocery stores. Remember that he’s the one who provides the people to work in those stores to stock those shelves. That he’s the one who has given you a means of an income so that you can go to the store and buy your feast, your bounty, for this year. Remember that all of this is the work of God. It is his blessing, his providence that makes this possible.

And even more than the physical blessings we enjoy in this life, remember the spiritual blessings, the spiritual gifts from our God. In this text, Moses might as well be talking to us. Remember God’s Word that we may live and enter the land that has been promised to us the land of Heaven. Remember how he has led us through the wilderness of this life, the wilderness of this world, in our journey towards that promised land. Remember how God sent Jesus to live for you perfectly, to die innocently, for you on the cross, to win for you. Forgiveness. To open up access to your promised land of heaven. The win for you an eternity in a place where we will truly lack nothing. So, yes, on this Thanksgiving Day feast, enjoy the turkey, enjoy all of the food, eat until you are satisfied knowing that all of this good stuff comes from our God. Not just the food, but all of it. Every good and perfect gift comes down from our Heavenly Father. When you have eaten and when you are satisfied, remember. Remember to praise the Lord your God for all the good that He has given you. Amen.

We pray. Lord, we thank you for the blessing of every good and perfect gift. We ask that through your word. You would continue to remind us of your goodness, enabling us to live lives of thankfulness and praise in response. We praise you as our Lord and our God for all the good you have given us. Amen. The Lord’s peace be with you.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18

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Sometimes we’re tempted to think that we are self-made people. I have earned this. I have done this. Or sometimes we feel like I have to do this if I want this. The Bible’s clear, though, about especially material possessions, how these things around us are things that are are given to us.

Moses, he talked about this. In Deuteronomy chapter eight. Moses wrote,

You might say in your heart, “My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.” But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)

We’re tempted to say, I did this, I earned this. But who is it that gave you the ability to even work in the first place? God, it all goes back to God. God is the one who puts life in the seed. God is the one who gave you life. God is the one who gives us all the things around us so that we can keep this body and life. God also gives us the opportunities to make a living. In these ways, He provides for us. It all goes back to God.

That should help us not get a swollen head. We don’t want to get beyond ourselves thinking that I’m the one who’s doing all this for myself. We want to give all glory and thanks and praise be to God, of course. But the same thing goes also spiritually. You and I, we are not self-made when it comes to spiritual wealth. It all goes back to God. And that’s a comforting thing. If it were left in our hands, we would totally fail. We would lose it all. We would waste it all. But thanks be to God. He’s the one who has true spiritual wealth. And he shares that with you and me.

That spiritual wealth, of course, comes from our Savior, Jesus, through the life that he lived, the perfect life of righteousness that He now shares with you and me. It counts as our own, as we now stand before God, but also that precious forgiveness of sins Jesus won upon the Cross, all of our sins placed upon Him. We now stand before God completely forgiven. Sins are washed, wiped away. And also we have the spiritual wealth of Easter. Jesus has risen from the dead and all who believes in him will also share in that eternal life.

It all goes back to God. We are not self-made people. He’s the one who shares it with us. How comforting that is for us. We are not self-made people. It’s not the the power or the ability of my hand to earn these things for me. No, it all goes back to God and he freely shares it with you and me. Glory be to God for that.

Thank you, Lord, for sharing the spiritual wealth of our Savior Jesus with us so that we know our sins are forgiven and that heaven is our future home. Amen.

God’s peace be with you.

Deuteronomy 27:1b,26a, Genesis 15:6

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Are there two different ways of salvation? Number of years ago, I was talking to a coworker of mine when I was in the service and we were discussing the way you get to heaven. I told him that the only way to get to heaven is through trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior. However, he stopped me, said, Well, wait a minute, what about the children of Israel? Weren’t they saved in a different way than trusting in Jesus as their Savior? I asked him what he meant. He went on to explain how God had given the commandments to his people at Mount Sinai and God had told them if they obeyed his commands, they would be his people and he would be their God. It really got me wondering, was there by chance a different way to be saved other than through faith in Jesus Christ?

Well, I knew that I couldn’t be so, after all, Moses himself said in Deuteronomy chapter 27, he instructed the people,

Keep the entire set of commands that I am giving you today. (Deuteronomy 27:1b)

and the people in that context, responded

Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by doing them. (Deuteronomy 27:26a)

Moses clearly instructed the people do everything that God’s law says and the people themselves, said, cursed, are you if you don’t obey what God’s Word says. So how could anyone be saved by obeying the commands of God?

Well, the Apostle Paul really explains this question for us, whether there was a different way of salvation in the Old Testament as opposed to the New. In his letter to the Romans, also his letter to the Galatians, he points to Abraham. He takes us back to Genesis chapter 15, verse 6. What is recorded there?

Abram believed in the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

The Apostle Paul makes the point that Abraham was righteous in God’s sight, not by his obedience to the law and not by following God’s commands, but by believing, by having faith in the God of the promise. The Lord.

And so that’s really the answer to the question. The Old Testament believers weren’t saved in a different way, they weren’t saved by obeying the law. They too were saved by faith. But how could they be? They didn’t know Jesus, did they? But they did, you see in the Old Testament they look forward to one who is referred to often as the Messiah. He is the same one that we refer to as the Christ today, Jesus.

They trusted in Jesus, even though he had not yet come, even though they didn’t fully know his name. They trusted the one that God would send as their Savior from sin, the one who would obey God’s law perfectly in their place only through him could they have eternal life. Jesus himself says,

I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes of the father except through me.

There is not another way. If it’s up to us and obeying God’s commands, we will fail every time. The only way to truly have life is through Jesus. That is the only way that we get to be with God, the father forever in heaven. And so God invites us believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Amen.

Deuteronomy 9:6, Zephaniah 3:17

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So I don’t know, I don’t know if I’m, if I should do this. Like I know, I know I made a lot of videos for church before and people tell me they’re pretty, they’re really good, but I just they don’t know, like, I’m not actually, it’s not, they’re not as good as people say they are. I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I shouldn’t make this video. Or if I do, I need to make sure I got to get it down. I got to get it, I got to get everything word for word, perfect before I can do this.

You ever thought like that? You know, if you have an opportunity in front of you and ever thought that, OK, I don’t know if I’m gifted to do it, even though, even though people have told you and you’ve had success. Or if you ever thought, OK, there’s an opportunity in front of me, but I just I got to make sure it’s perfect before I can do it. If you’ve had thoughts like that, you’ve had thoughts that are typically associated with something called imposter syndrome.

It’s this belief, this being certain that there’s something about me that isn’t quite good enough. And even though people have said or even though you’ve had great successes, you’re still convinced that you’re not good enough. Maybe you’ve been able to fool people into thinking that you’ve been pretty good, but you’re afraid that people are going to find out that you’re really not that good. Or you’re really not good enough. And so what happens with this often is, procrastination or you kind of hold back because you don’t want to try it. Because what if people find out you’re not that good or the other side is perfectionism, where you just have to have it be perfect because people can’t find out that you’re not perfect.

We don’t have time to get into all the details of what imposter syndrome is. But one of the great things about God’s word is that we can really get right to the core of some things. And so we’re going to spend here a few videos and we’re to have God’s word speak right to the core of what’s going on with imposter syndrome.

Why do we feel like there’s a part of us that isn’t good enough, that doesn’t measure up? Well, because naturally none of us do. When our parents, Adam and Eve, turn away from God, when they sinned, they started missing the mark. Missing the mark of what? Of God’s law. And why is God’s law what it is? God’s law is what it is because of God’s law tells us how we were meant to live, what we were created to be. And all of us now are born into sin, which means we born missing the mark of what we were meant to be.

Yeah, naturally we’re not enough. And so, like Adam and Eve, what did they do afterwards? They went, they hid from God, they hid from each other. Because when you know you’re not enough, you’re terrified people are going to find out. But when you realize that we’re not enough, here’s something to bring some encouragement. And it might seem kind of strange at first of a place to go, but we’re going go to Deuteronomy 9:6. God is talking about the people of Israel. And he says,

Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, because a stiff-necked people is what you are. (Deuteronomy 9:6)

It doesn’t seem very encouraging. It’s not because of your righteousness. You’re stiff necked. But here’s why I find it comforting. When God chose the people of Israel, he didn’t, he wasn’t fooled. He didn’t have some false idea that they were going to be this great people. He knew totally what he was getting himself into. He knew they would be stubborn. He knew that they would turn away, but he still chose them. And he chose them by grace. And these same stiff neck people, he also says in Zephaniah 3, he says,

The Lord your God is with you as a hero who will save you. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

See God is such a God of grace that he knows our flaws. He knows our sins completely and yet loves us fully. Now, if God knows you completely, could there be anything that you would need to hide from him? He knows everything about you and he loves you fully. He loves you so much. He delights in you so much that Jesus became one of us to live that perfect life. We were meant to live, but don’t. To lay down his life, to die on a cross, to rise again, to give us new life with God so we could be declared right with God.

If God knows you fully and God loves you completely, what is there to hide?

How could you be an impostor?

Things are good. If we step back and take a view at the big picture of what’s going on in our country today, in general, things are pretty good. The stock market is up, crime is at an all-time low, unemployment is at an all-time low, things are good for us and for our family, for our communities.

It is during such times though, that we can forget about our God. To forget that God is the one who gives us such blessings. God provides for our needs. The children of Israel, as they were heading into the Promised Land, needed a reminder about this from God. God reminds them in his word in Deuteronomy chapter 8 of these truths:

When you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. –Deuteronomy 8:12-14

How easy it is to forget our God during such times of blessing. To forget it’s God who provides these things for us. God also reminds his people:

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. –Deuteronomy 8:17-18

How important it is for us to remember during even times of great wealth and blessing and it’s God who has given us such gifts. To turn our attention to him especially in Thanksgiving and praise for all he grants us, not the least of which is sending us his son Jesus who provides us what we need most of all: eternal salvation in him.

Our attention during good times and bad be ever drawn to our Lord and all he has done for us. Amen.

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