Deuteronomy 29:18

Deuteronomy 29:18 says, Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;  Moses called on the entire nation to enter into a covenant relationship with God, so that no one's heart would be tuned away from Him and lead others to follow other gods.  I don't believe that once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord that we can ever lose our salvation, but someone can profess to without really doing so and try to lead others away from Him.  Verse nineteen adds, And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:  Moses said that they needed to take the curses seriously unless they should say in their heart that they would have peace even in disobedience.  We should never fool ourselves into believing that we will have peace without being a follower of Christ.   Verse twenty continues, The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.  Moses said that anyone who felt this way would have all theses curses fall upon him and his name would be blotted out from under heaven.  If we reject Jesus Christ in favor of other gods, so will our name. Verse twenty-one states, And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:  Moses said God would separate anyone who failed to keep His covenant from the rest of Israel, and one day He is going to separate those who put their faith in Jesus Christ from all others.  If the plague of idolatry began to rule Israel, other nations would see the plagues that had befallen them fall on the nation of Israel if they turned away from their covenant relationship with Him.  Verse twenty-two adds, So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;  The plagues would begin with sickness that the LORD would place on them.  Verse twenty-three continues, And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:  The plagues would grow to be like those sent on Sodom and Gomorrah, or total destruction.  Total everlasting punishment or destruction is what awaits those who refuse to put their faith in Jesus Christ today.  Verse twenty-four continues, Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?  Moses said other nations would ask why God had done this to those who were supposed to be His people.  The answer would be because they had failed to do so.  Verse twenty-five says,Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:  As just stated, the answer would be because they had failed to live up yo their covenant relationship with God.  We cannot be a Christian nation without living up to our covenant relationship with Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty-six adds, For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:  The answer would also include the fact that not only did they fail to put their faith in God, but that they also served and worshipped other gods.  As Christians, we need to make sure that we don't begin to worship the things of this world more than we worship Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:  Moses said because of their disobedience, the world would see God send plagues upon the people of Israel.  Verse twenty-eight states, And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.  Moses said that because of their disobedience to God that the people would be rooted out of the Promised Land and once again be scattered throughout other nations. Verse twenty-nine adds, The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.  Moses said that we will never totally understand the things of God, but we know enough to put our faith in Him.  We are also to seek to know more about God, though we should never think that we will ever know everything. .