Remember these warnings in Deuteronomy
Chapter 8: "...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them... your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God. ... you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’"...if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods... you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 8:10-20
Chapter 18: "When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire [sacrificing a child to the Canaanite "god" Moloch to gain his favor], or practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out... You shall be blameless before the Lord your God...." Deuteronomy 18:9-14
Chapter 28: BLESSINGS: "...it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.... that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. ...Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds.... The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face.... The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail.... if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God."
CURSES: “But... if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God... all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.... The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.... The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust... "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies.... The Lord will strike you... with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.... "Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed.... You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land. “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.... "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar.... And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed... "If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book [remember, the Levitical laws were fulfilled in Christ, but the moral law is as relevant now as then], that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.... And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess...." Deuteronomy 8:1-63
The Old Testament judgments also apply to us today:
"Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them.... Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:6-13
"They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, The judgment of their God.I will go to the great men and speak to them, For they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.' But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; A leopard will watch over their cities." [Interesting reminders at a time when leopards are "restored" to Florida and wolves and bears to other parts of our country -- and people are being slaughtered] Jeremiah 5:4-6
The response that leads to victory in Christ: Faith and Repentance (A humble acknowledgment before our holy God that
(1) I have sinned against Him and deserve judgment, and
(2) I trust in His grace and the forgiveness I have in Christ by faith)
Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14
“...unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:3, 5
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord...." Acts 3:19
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