Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP210042S
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00:01 Hello, I'm Jill Morikone,
00:02 and we just want to welcome you 00:04 to another edition of 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:05 We're on lesson number three of our journey 00:08 through the Book of Deuteronomy. 00:09 This lesson is called God's Everlasting Covenant. 00:12 I want to remind you 00:14 if you don't have your own quarterly, 00:15 you can get it one of two ways, 00:16 you can go to the following website, 00:18 absg.adventist.org. 00:22 That stands for AdultBibleStudy Guide.adventist.org 00:27 or we always encourage you 00:29 to visit your local Seventh-day Adventist Church 00:32 and they'd be happy to give you a copy of the quarterly. 00:35 I want to encourage you right now 00:36 to grab your Bible and your pens and your papers, 00:39 and get ready for this edition 00:40 of 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 01:11 I'm so excited about this study 01:12 as we open up the Word of God 01:14 especially talking about the everlasting covenant. 01:16 Just a couple quarters ago, 01:18 we had the entire quarter on the covenant. 01:20 And now we have another day on that. 01:22 So we're excited about that. 01:23 We're glad that you've joined us 01:25 that you're a part of our 3ABN family 01:27 and we have our family here on the set. 01:29 Let me introduce them to you at this time. 01:31 They need no introduction. 01:33 My pastor, Pastor John Lomacang, 01:35 always love to hear what God gives you to share. 01:37 You know, Praise the Lord, 01:38 we did cover the covenants for a whole quarter. 01:41 So we might go over some of the similar ground 01:43 but we'll let you know what that is. 01:45 But this is going to be an exciting study. 01:46 Amen. 01:48 To your left my sister Shelley Quinn, 01:49 student of the word, word warrior. 01:51 Glad you're here. 01:52 Well, even if we do repeat we learned through repetition. 01:57 So this is a beautiful study. It is. 02:00 And Shelley is the queen of the covenant, 02:02 we say around here. 02:03 To her left is Pastor James Rafferty, 02:06 and we're delighted to have you here 02:07 on the Sabbath School Panel. 02:09 It is a blessing to be here. 02:10 And I am also blessed by the learning that 02:13 we get right here on the set 02:15 and thankful that our viewers are joining us. 02:17 Amen. 02:18 Last but not least, 02:19 singer in Israel, Pastor Ryan Day, 02:21 just so glad to have you here. 02:23 You're not just a singer in Israel, 02:24 but you're a student of the word. 02:26 So thank you. Amen. 02:27 I love to learn, 02:28 I love to expand my knowledge of God's Word. 02:30 And that's what we're going to be doing today. 02:31 Amen. 02:33 Before we go any further, 02:34 we want to go to the Lord in prayer. 02:35 And, Pastor John, would you pray for us? 02:37 Sure. 02:38 Loving Father, gracious Lord, 02:39 we thank You so much for the privilege, 02:41 yet deep responsibility of opening Your word. 02:44 And we ask for Your Holy Spirit to come now, 02:46 to be the power that's active in our minds, 02:49 in our hearts, and in our lives, 02:51 bridge the connection 02:53 between what is said and what is done. 02:55 And we pray that all the glory 02:57 will go only to You in Jesus name. 03:00 Amen. Amen. 03:01 As we look at the everlasting covenant, 03:03 this lesson specifically looks at the covenant in the light 03:06 of the Book of Deuteronomy. 03:08 Although the Bible speaks of covenants in the plural, 03:10 there is really only one covenant, 03:13 one basic covenant of salvation all throughout Scripture. 03:17 The blessings and salvation of God are given by God, 03:21 not earned by human beings. 03:23 Humanity, we respond in faith and obedience. 03:27 The heart of this covenant is God's, steadfast love. 03:31 The plural covenants, just simply means that 03:34 God advances His saving purpose by restating His covenant 03:38 in various ways to meet the needs of the people 03:41 at different times and in different settings. 03:43 You know, if you look through the Word of God, 03:45 we have the Adamic Covenant established with Adam in Eden. 03:49 And we have Christ the Seed, who would conquer the evil one. 03:53 We have the Noahic Covenant 03:56 established with Noah after the flood. 03:58 And we have the promise of grace and life 04:01 and the rainbow as the sign. 04:04 We have the Abrahamic Covenant established 04:06 with Abraham through his seed, 04:08 particularly one seed that's Jesus Christ. 04:12 The entire world would be blessed. 04:14 Of course, the sign of that covenant is circumcision, 04:18 the sign of the fact that 04:19 God had already brought His people 04:22 into right relationship with Him through faith, 04:24 and we'll study that more today. 04:26 We have the Sinaitic Covenant, which is established 04:28 with the children of Israel at Sinai. 04:31 And we see the law 04:32 is the central focus of that covenant, 04:34 but yet it's still a covenant of grace. 04:37 We have other covenants, 04:39 but we have of course, the final one, 04:40 the New Covenant, first appears in Jeremiah 31. 04:45 And it's really a renewal of the same covenant that 04:48 God established from the beginning. 04:50 As the children of Israel broke the Sinaitic covenant, 04:54 and that brought them into exile, 04:55 so the remaking of that covenant preserves them 04:59 and their hope for the future. 05:00 So let's read our memory text, we are in Genesis 17:7. 05:06 "And I will establish my covenant between me and you 05:09 and your descendants after you 05:11 in this generation in their generations, 05:14 for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you 05:18 and your descendants after you." 05:21 On Sunday, we look at the covenant 05:22 and the gospel, 05:24 the essence of the gospel is covenant. 05:27 And the essence of the covenant is the gospel. 05:30 You know, so many people get confused 05:31 between the Old Testament 05:33 and the New Testament, do they not? 05:34 They think the Old Testament is law, 05:36 but the New Testament is a grace. 05:38 The Old Testament is legalism and the New Testaments love. 05:42 The Old Testament is a God 05:43 who's harsh and vengeful and vindictive. 05:46 But the New Testament features Jesus 05:49 who's loving, but yet the God of the Old Testament 05:51 is the God of the New Testament. 05:53 We see salvation by faith in the blood of Jesus 05:56 in the Old Testament and we see that 05:58 in the New Testament. 05:59 We see justification by faith in the Old Testament 06:02 and we see it in the New Testament. 06:04 We see righteousness by faith in the Old Testament 06:08 and we see it in the New Testament. 06:10 And we see grace in the Old Testament 06:13 and we see it in the New Testament. 06:16 You know, if you look at works versus grace, 06:19 work say what I do has bearing on who I am. 06:23 Grace says who I am has bearing on what I do. 06:27 Work say actions are more important than motive. 06:31 Grace says motive informs my actions. 06:36 Work say I am what other people around me perceive me to be. 06:41 Grace says I am who God says I am. 06:45 So let's look at the Abrahamic Covenant. 06:47 We're going to go to Genesis 12. 06:49 The first giving of the covenant 06:51 is in here in Genesis 12. 06:53 And we're going to pick it up. 06:54 I think, Pastor John had this on a previous lesson. 06:57 Verse 1, we see Abraham's call, "Get out of your country." 07:02 In Hebrew, instead of get out it just says, Go, go. 07:05 "Get out of your country, from your family, 07:08 and from your father's house to a land that 07:10 I will show you." 07:12 And then we see these covenantal promises 07:15 given in Verses 2 and 3. 07:17 What are those promises? 07:18 "I will make of you a great nation. 07:20 I will bless you. 07:21 I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. 07:24 I will bless those who bless you. 07:26 I will curse those who curse you. 07:29 And in you all the families of the earth 07:31 they will be blessed." 07:33 We look at Genesis 15, the covenant comes up 07:36 again with Abraham in Genesis 15:1-6. 07:40 And Abraham's descendants were promised to be, 07:43 what, as the stars of the heavens 07:45 for number, for multitude. 07:48 And then Verse 6 is the crux of our passage here, 07:51 which is where we find justification by faith 07:55 in the Old Testament right here. 07:57 Genesis 15:6, "And he believed in the Lord," who's he? 08:01 That's Abraham. Abraham believed in the Lord. 08:05 And He, who's he? 08:07 That's the Lord, accounted it to him for righteousness. 08:11 So Abraham believed at the promise, 08:13 Abraham believed God, 08:15 Abraham accepted it by faith, and what happened? 08:18 God, I counted it to him for righteousness, 08:22 that weren't accounted 08:24 because Chashav means to impute or to reckon. 08:27 This is where we see justification 08:29 by faith taking place. 08:32 Now a couple chapters over, we come to Genesis 17 08:35 and what happens there, 08:36 circumcision is introduced as the sign of a covenant. 08:40 Remember, when we get down to the Jews. 08:43 This is the time of Jesus and after Jesus, 08:46 there's this whole controversy, 08:47 and the New Testament Church, 08:50 about whether you're saved by grace, 08:53 and that's it, 08:54 or whether you're saved by grace plus works. 08:57 And the works that they were seeking to add 08:59 was circumcision for the Gentile believers. 09:03 Remember, there was this whole criticism, 09:06 can they be saved by faith in the Messiah, in Jesus? 09:09 Or do they have to be circumcised 09:11 in order to be saved? 09:13 Now we say, what does that have to do with anything? 09:15 But it's a critical point because what it says is, 09:18 are we saved by grace in the blood of Jesus? 09:20 Or do we have to add somehow works to that grace 09:25 in order to be saved? 09:26 That was the controversy that was taking place. 09:30 If you'd studied the Book of Galatians, 09:31 you see this, the Judaizers coming in. 09:34 And you see what happens in the Book of Galatians 09:36 and Paul seeking to combat that false teaching. 09:40 In fact, in Galatians 5:4, to me, 09:43 this is one of the saddest verses 09:45 in the Book of Galatians. 09:47 He says, "You have become estranged from Christ." 09:52 Separated. 09:53 "You who attempt to be justified by law, 09:56 you have fallen from grace." 09:59 If we think there's something 10:01 we can do to earn favor with God, 10:03 if we think there's something 10:04 we can do to somehow have Him look at us more kindly, 10:08 the Lord Jesus while we were yet in trespasses and sins, 10:11 He died for us, He loved us, 10:13 He gave a way of salvation, His blood covers your sins. 10:18 You don't need circumcision to add to that, 10:20 in order to be safe. 10:22 Now today, we wouldn't say that, 10:23 but we would add all number of regulations 10:26 and rules and things that we think we have to keep 10:32 in order to earn salvation. 10:35 I was 19 years old, before I ever understood 10:40 and discovered that it was Jesus, 10:42 who could cover me. 10:44 I remember, I was raised 10:45 in a Seventh-day Adventist home, 10:47 I was raised knowing you would think believing this. 10:50 We were standing, 10:51 it was the closing hymn in church, 10:54 the organ is playing Cover With His Life, 10:56 "My life of scarlet, 10:58 my sin and woe cover with His life, 10:59 whiter than snow." 11:01 And I remember I was 19. 11:02 And I thought, "God, You mean You can cover me? 11:05 You mean I don't have to try to be good enough 11:07 to somehow earn Your favor? 11:09 God, You can cover me?" 11:11 That is justification by faith. 11:13 It's 2 Corinthians 5:21, I love that Verse. 11:18 Let's look at that real quick, 2 Corinthians 5:21 11:21 because what it says, 11:23 I call it the double imputation. 11:25 God made Jesus who knew no sin, 11:27 to be sin for us, that you and I might be 11:30 the righteousness of God in Him. 11:32 So what does that mean? 11:33 My sin is credited to Jesus account, 11:36 and He gives me His righteousness in its place, 11:40 and it's credited to my account. 11:44 So the New Testament Church argued over this. 11:46 Do we need the Gentile Christians 11:48 do they have to be circumcised in order to be saved? 11:51 In fact, the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15, 11:54 discussed this whole passage again, 11:57 and they came to the conclusion that you did not need 12:00 circumcision in order to be saved. 12:02 In other words, we're saved by grace through faith. 12:04 We don't need to add works. 12:06 Paul tackles this as well, in Romans 4. 12:08 We see this discussion of Abraham, 12:12 in Romans 4, we see was he justified, 12:14 and he brings it up in verses 9 and 10, 12:16 Romans 4:9-10. 12:18 "Does this blessedness," that's justification, 12:21 "come upon the circumcised or," the Jew only, 12:24 "or upon the uncircumcised?" 12:26 Also, that's referring to the Gentile. 12:28 "For we say that faith 12:30 was accounted to Abraham for righteousness," 12:32 or credited to his account. 12:35 "How then was it accounted? 12:36 While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? 12:39 Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised." 12:43 So justification by faith, 12:45 it does not require works on our part, 12:47 the blood of Jesus is imputed 12:49 or credited or reckoned to my account. 12:54 It just requires faith on 12:55 our part to reach out and accept, 12:57 faith on our part to say, "God, would You forgive me?" 13:00 And we know 1 John1:9, "If we confess our sins, 13:03 He's faithful and just to forgive us, 13:04 and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 13:07 There's one more verse in the Old Testament 13:09 I want to look at in my time, 13:10 this is Psalm 32:1-2, again, 13:13 we see this justification by faith 13:16 or this crediting to our account 13:18 in the Old Testament. 13:21 This is Psalm 32:1-2, 13:23 "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, 13:26 whose sin is covered. 13:28 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute," 13:31 there's our word to stop, "does not impute iniquity, 13:34 and in whose spirit there is no deceit." 13:37 So the beautiful thing about the gospel is that 13:39 when we come to Jesus, when you come to Jesus, 13:42 and you say, "Would You forgive me? 13:44 Would You cleanse me?" He does instantly. 13:47 And the blood of Jesus covers you, 13:49 He covers you with His righteous white robe. 13:52 And the Father looks at you as if you have never sinned. 13:56 And then there's another garment, 13:57 we don't have time to get into it 13:58 but that is the imparted righteousness of Christ that 14:01 He gives and close you 14:03 with this as the sanctification process, 14:06 as we walk with Jesus hand in hand abiding with Him. 14:10 Pastor John. Wow! Jill, I tell you... 14:13 Praise the Lord. 14:15 Thank you for the wonderful beginning. 14:16 And now I have Monday The Covenant and Israel. 14:21 As you pointed out, and I think I alluded to that 14:24 to that we have done 14:25 an entire quarter on the covenant. 14:27 So when I saw that word Covenant and Israel, 14:30 I thought, "Wow, didn't we do that before?" 14:32 But you know, as we said earlier, 14:34 there's always something more to learn. 14:36 I want to begin with Deuteronomy 9:5, 14:39 and I have it here in front of me, 14:40 the Covenant and Israel. 14:42 Couple of things I want to point out 14:43 as you're turning to the passages, 14:45 the covenant has never been withdrawn 14:49 but some things have changed. 14:51 The Covenant has never been withdrawn 14:54 but some things have changed. 14:55 And I want to make the point very clear, 14:57 the things that have changed is not on God's part. 15:01 God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 15:03 He hasn't changed. He doesn't change. 15:06 But we're going to find out what changed. 15:08 But let's start with Deuteronomy 9:5. 15:12 "It is not because of your righteousness 15:15 or the uprightness of your heart, 15:17 that you go into possess the land, 15:21 but because of the wickedness of these nations that 15:24 the Lord your God drives them out 15:27 from before you, and that He may fulfil the word 15:31 which the Lord swore to your fathers 15:33 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." 15:35 The word there is covenant. 15:38 He swore that covenant was not based on... 15:41 And I want to make it very clear, 15:42 it was not based on Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob's goodness. 15:46 It was based on the goodness of the Lord. 15:48 That's why the Apostle Paul says, 15:50 "It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance." 15:54 So when you look at the covenant promises 15:56 that are made to Israel. 15:58 Israel, first of all, is a spiritual term. 16:00 As you know, Jacob, when he wrestled with Christ, 16:02 when he wrestled with God during the night, 16:05 and he refused to let Him go. 16:07 He knew that this was an opportunity 16:10 that I couldn't let pass me. 16:12 And he held on until the Lord blessed him 16:14 and because he prevailed with God and man, 16:18 the Lord changed his name from Jacob to Israel. 16:20 So the term Israel is more of a spiritual term 16:24 than a literal term of a people 16:26 that is born in any specific place. 16:29 Now I give you an example of that. 16:31 Let's go to the Romans 9. Look at Romans 9:6. 16:35 All right? 16:36 Romans 9:6, about the word Israel. 16:40 And it says, Romans 9:6-7, 16:44 "But it is not that the word of God 16:45 has taken no effect for they are not all Israel 16:49 who are of Israel, nor are they all children 16:53 because they are the seed of Abraham, 16:56 but, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called.'" 17:00 And so when we talk about that, verse 8, 17:02 "That is, those who are born of the flesh, 17:06 these are not the children of God, 17:08 but the children of the promise are counted as the seed." 17:15 And the word they're counted, by the way, is imputed. 17:17 They get the credit 17:18 for something they had nothing to do it. 17:20 It's amazing how some people's generations 17:23 later become benefactors 17:25 of something they had no idea of... 17:27 I've been officiating a lot of funerals 17:30 and sometimes I hear people say, 17:32 "You know, I'm going to buy a house next month." 17:34 And I said, "You're only 27 years old." 17:36 They said, "You know, 17:38 my relatives left me a bit of change." 17:42 They were in the will of a family member. 17:45 They were in the will. 17:47 And so as we are in the will of the Father, 17:49 we are benefactors of something we have nothing to do with. 17:52 But the one that I smiled mostly about 17:54 and this is about inheritance. 17:56 I saw a long motorhome driving down 57 18:02 and on the back of it, it says, 18:03 "I'm spending my children inheritance." 18:06 It says I am not living anything to anybody. 18:09 You know, the beautiful thing about that the Lord 18:10 doesn't spend His children's inheritance. 18:13 He says, "Come here, blessed my Father, 18:15 inherit the kingdom prepared for you 18:18 from the foundation of the world." 18:19 And, Jill, when you were going through 18:21 all the different covenants, the Adamic Covenant, 18:22 the Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, 18:24 Mosaic Covenant, then I was thinking, 18:26 "Okay, now I don't think I mentioned that one." 18:28 But there are many, many covenants that 18:30 I don't know if you meant that. 18:31 Did you say the Davidic Covenant? 18:33 I did not. 18:34 Well, the Lord made a covenant 18:35 and then you talked about the New Testament Covenant. 18:37 But what I want to point out is, 18:38 these covenants were 18:39 from the same covenant giver, God. 18:42 The covenant didn't change it 18:43 just from generation to generation, 18:45 it became a generational application. 18:50 It was imputed from generation to generation. 18:52 So if the great grandfather left money 18:56 for his great-grandson, 18:58 and the father of the grandson died, 19:00 it still applies. 19:01 That's the key. God never dies. 19:04 You see, the one who created the covenant, 19:06 the covenant is good, as long as he lives, 19:10 but in this case, the covenant was good, 19:12 even when Jesus died because His death ratified, 19:17 signed, and made the covenant of effect. 19:21 Now we know about that the Bible talks about 19:23 as long as they live when they die. 19:25 And the writer of Hebrews does a very wonderful job 19:29 in dealing with that particular picture. 19:32 But I want to point out a couple of other things 19:33 about the covenant. 19:34 Let's go to Genesis 9:12 because you find... 19:38 This is one of the first covenants, 19:40 the post-Antediluvian world covenant, 19:44 going all the way back. 19:45 This is part of the Noahic Covenant. 19:48 But notice what Genesis 9:12 points out, 19:51 and that's why when I see... 19:53 And I'm just going to be very candid. 19:54 When I see the rainbow today, 19:56 use in a derogatory terminology in a derogatory way, 19:59 I say, "That's not what God 20:01 ever intended it to be use for." 20:03 But the Bible puts it in the proper light. 20:06 Genesis 9:12. 20:07 "And God said, 20:09 'This is the sign of the covenant, 20:11 which I make between Me and you, 20:13 and every living creature that is with you, 20:16 for perpetual generations.'" 20:18 And what did He do? 20:20 He put a rainbow on the sky. 20:22 So every time you see a rainbow, 20:23 it's an assurance that the world will never be 20:26 destroyed by a flood. 20:28 Even though we had a lot of close calls recently, 20:30 with all this rain, the world will never be 20:33 destroyed again by a flood. 20:34 But you have to ask yourself the question 20:37 because I talked about the covenant 20:39 and His blessings are conditional 20:41 but look at one of the reasons 20:42 why many of the inhabitants of Earth cannot receive 20:45 the blessing that God intends for them to receive. 20:50 Isaiah 24:5. 20:52 Isaiah 24:5. 20:54 Matter of fact, I want to read a little bit more of it. 20:57 So I'm going to go there and turn very quickly. 20:59 Isaiah 24:5. 21:03 Okay, I'll start with verse 4. 21:06 "The earth mourns and fades away, 21:08 the world languishes and fades away, 21:11 the haughty people of the earth languish," 21:13 who it is? 21:14 "The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, 21:18 because they have transgressed the laws, 21:21 changed the ordinance, 21:23 broken the everlasting covenant." 21:26 And look at the result. 21:27 "Therefore," in verse 6, 21:29 "the curse has devoured the earth, 21:31 and those who dwell in it are desolate. 21:35 Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, 21:37 and few men are left." 21:39 So the Lord is talking about the negative impact. 21:41 Notice it says, they change the covenant. 21:43 Now I just said a moment ago, the covenant can't be changed. 21:46 Well, what actually changed? 21:49 Because they could not live up 21:51 to the conditions of the covenant, 21:54 so the blessing changed. 21:56 Because the covenant, I think, 21:57 in one of our lessons, we talked about this, 21:59 the covenant is also based on obedience. 22:02 Now a child does not receive the blessings of a parent. 22:05 If the parent says, 22:07 "Don't do this," and they do that. 22:08 The parents not going to say, "Well, you know, 22:10 since you're my children, I'll give you the card anyway." 22:12 No, it's based on an obedience factor. 22:15 So they did not fulfill the promise of the covenant 22:20 to be obedient with what God had required of them. 22:23 Therefore, the covenant was broken on their side, 22:25 but never on God's side. 22:27 God never breaks His covenant. 22:30 And then you find also in 1 Chronicles 16:15-17... 22:34 Look what the Bible says about the covenant. 22:36 Once again, looking at 22:37 the broad scope of the covenant, all right? 22:40 1 Chronicles 16:15-17. 22:43 He says, "Remember His covenant forever, 22:47 the word which He commanded, 22:50 for a thousand generations," 22:53 that shows the perpetuity, 22:55 the everlasting nature of the covenant that God makes. 22:59 "The covenant," Verse 16, "which He made with Abraham, 23:03 and His oath to Isaac, 23:05 and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, 23:08 to Israel for an everlasting covenant." 23:12 So you have to ask yourself the question, 23:14 what happened when Jesus says, 23:16 when He said to Israel, 23:17 "Your house has left unto you desolate?" 23:19 Well, once again, the term there, 23:21 they took it as it was ours, solely ours 23:25 because we are the children of promise. 23:29 But the Lord made it very clear once again, 23:31 the condition of obedience. 23:32 If you don't respond to the conditions of obedience, 23:36 you can't be a benefactor. 23:37 And then He said, 23:39 "Because you broke the covenant, 23:40 your house has left to you desolate." 23:42 But I want to segue on this point, two points. 23:45 What about the covenant? 23:46 What kind of Covenant has God made? 23:48 Psalm 89:34, "My covenant I will not break, 23:53 nor alter the things that is gone out of My lips." 23:57 And finally, Leviticus 26:42, 24:01 "Then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, 24:05 and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham. 24:08 I will remember, I will remember the land." 24:12 When God makes a covenant He never forgets. 24:15 Our benefit is to be obedient to the covenant He has made. 24:19 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor John. 24:20 Aren't you grateful that 24:22 we have a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God? 24:25 We're going to take a break, we'll be right back. 24:32 Ever wish you could watch 24:33 the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again 24:35 or share it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? 24:39 Well, you can by visiting 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com. 24:44 A clean design makes it easy 24:46 to find the program you're looking for. 24:48 There are also links 24:50 to the Adult Bible Study guide so you can follow along. 24:53 Sharing is easy. 24:55 Just click share and choose your favorite social media. 24:58 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 25:02 Welcome back to lesson three, 25:04 as we continue our study on God's Everlasting Covenant, 25:07 we're going to kick it over to Shelley, and she has Tuesday. 25:09 Oh, I love that everlasting covenant of God. 25:14 Hebrews 13:20 says that, 25:18 Jesus Christ's blood is the blood 25:21 of the everlasting covenant. 25:22 What is the everlasting covenant? 25:25 Revelation 13:8, "The Lamb who was slain 25:28 from the foundation of the earth." 25:30 God has had this covenant in place, 25:34 before even created us. 25:36 I grew up in a New Testament Church, 25:38 we didn't study the Old Testament. 25:41 I was taught The Ten Commandments 25:42 had been nailed to the cross. 25:44 And when God called me to full-time ministry, 25:47 He told me, "Forget what you think, 25:48 you know, sit at My feet, I will teach you." 25:51 He started me on a study of this sanctuary, 25:53 which was just fascinating to me. 25:56 But when I found out that 25:59 there was a scroll, that was an aside pocket, 26:03 while The Ten Commandments, were on the inside of the ark. 26:08 I knew something was up and I began to study. 26:12 And I want to share this with you. 26:14 It was life-changing for me, could be life-changing for you. 26:18 The Book of the Covenant 26:21 is first introduced in Exodus 24:7. 26:26 And we're not going to read there right now, 26:28 but we'll go into a minute. 26:29 But here's my point, God gave Moses 10 Commandments 26:33 or he actually spoke 26:34 Ten Commandments to all the people. 26:36 Moses goes up the mountain 26:39 and God speaks this covenant to him. 26:42 Moses comes back down the mountain, 26:46 he speaks it to the people, he writes it in a book. 26:50 And then Exodus 24:7, well, let's do turn there 26:54 because it's just a great point. 26:56 Exodus 24:7 is telling us about 27:00 this Book of the Covenant. 27:03 And what it says is, 27:06 Exodus 24:7 27:11 is somewhere here in my Bible. 27:14 And it says this. 27:17 Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant, 27:20 he's built an altar, 27:21 he's got to sacrifice already slain. 27:25 "He took the Book of the Covenant 27:27 and read it in the hearing of the people. 27:29 They said, 'All that the Lord said 27:31 we will do and be obedient.' 27:33 And Moses took the blood 27:35 and sprinkled it on all the people." 27:37 And in Hebrews, it says, he sprinkled the book as well. 27:40 "He said, 'This is the blood of the covenant 27:45 which the Lord has made 27:47 with you according to all these words.'" 27:49 Well, what was this covenant? 27:51 When God gave the Ten Commandments, 27:53 that's the Bill of Rights for God's government. 27:56 But then after the Ten Commandments, 27:59 when Moses went up, He gave him civil laws 28:02 that are based on the moral law, 28:05 the Ten Commandments. 28:06 He gave him ceremonial laws. 28:09 And so we seen that the Book of the Covenant, 28:11 Moses wrote all of this down. 28:14 And it was the civil, moral because the Ten Commandments 28:18 was the heart of the covenant, and the ceremonial laws. 28:22 Now we get to Deuteronomy. 28:25 Deuteronomy is an expansion of the Book of the Covenant. 28:30 It's called the Book of the Law, 28:32 the Book of the Covenant. 28:35 It's a covenant document. 28:37 What Moses is doing is he's elaborating on that. 28:41 And, you know, in the Old Testament, 28:44 the word for covenant is Brit, 28:46 it means to bind or to obligate, 28:49 but the same word is used 28:51 for both God and man's covenant. 28:54 But when the translators, 28:58 70 Jewish Hebrew authorities, 29:04 when they translated the Old Testament, 29:08 into Greek, it's called the Septuagint. 29:11 They chose one of two Greek words 29:14 that really distinguishes 29:16 and helps us to understand what God's covenants all about. 29:19 The words aren't important 29:21 but let me tell you what their meanings are. 29:23 One Greek word means a covenant 29:26 is described as a contract between two parties, 29:31 where both parties are obligated, 29:34 they enter in and they're obligated 29:36 to making promises to one another. 29:39 But the other Greek word is always used 29:43 for a will or a testament. 29:46 It's when one party is making all of the promises, 29:51 but you got to be kin to that party to begin, 29:53 to get the inheritance. 29:56 And, you know, those Greek scholars, 29:59 use the word that is in the Greek, 30:03 a will or a testament all throughout the Septuagint 30:07 but also always in the New Testament. 30:11 The Greek word about 30:12 God's covenants is it's His will, 30:16 His testament, hence the Old Testament, 30:19 the New Testament. 30:20 So it's so fascinating to understand, 30:24 God's point has always been in, 30:26 as Jill said, what we're seeing, 30:28 it's the same everlasting covenant. 30:30 The Lamb slain 30:32 from the foundation of the world, 30:33 introduced in Genesis 13... 30:36 3:15. 3:15. 30:38 I'll get there, Genesis 3:15. 30:40 And it's just a progressive 30:43 unfolding of the revelation of God's covenant. 30:48 Now the Ten Commandments, you know, 30:51 the syntax shows its commandments. 30:53 So we do that the syntax, 30:56 the order of the words, known that, 30:59 hey, these are to be obeyed. 31:01 So we translate that into English as commandments. 31:04 But both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, 31:07 the Ten Commandments mean the 10 words, 31:10 but Decalogue, 10 words. 31:13 And it is so interesting to me... 31:15 Let me read this 31:16 because this is where most people believe that 31:20 the Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant. 31:24 Listen to Deuteronomy 4:13. 31:28 Deuteronomy 4:13 says, "He," God, 31:33 "declared to you His covenant, 31:36 which He commanded you to perform, 31:38 the Ten Commandments, 31:40 and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." 31:44 So are the commandments a covenant? 31:46 I think you could say, "Yes, they are." 31:48 Because they're written in future tense, 31:51 it's God saying to you, 31:53 "If you're living in covenant relationship with Me, 31:56 this is what it's going to be like for you." 31:58 But it is not the Old Covenant. 32:03 The Old Covenant, it was written inside a scroll. 32:08 And Moses was expanding it, 32:13 he wrote it in the book of the law 32:15 and put it on the side pocket. 32:17 So here's what we want to look at. 32:19 In Exodus, let me see, I'm going to... 32:22 I'm skipping all over here. 32:25 In Deuteronomy 5:29, 32:30 I want you to hear what God says. 32:32 Because see, when God calls us 32:34 into covenant relationship, and that's what it's all about. 32:38 It's a relationship of love. 32:41 God is saying, "I will be your God, 32:44 you will be My people, come to Me." 32:47 And so, would He calls us 32:49 into this covenant relationship? 32:51 He's the one making all the promises, you know. 32:55 I mean, all God's promises are yes and amen in Christ. 32:59 But what He asks is that we are loyal to the covenant. 33:05 And what He's asking of us is that 33:07 we would love Him with all of our heart, 33:09 soul, mind and strength. 33:11 And motivated by that love, 33:14 we would walk in loyalty 33:17 to His principles of His government. 33:20 But listen what He says, this is God's heart. 33:24 Deuteronomy 5:29, he says, 33:29 he's talking to Moses, and he says, 33:31 "Oh, that they," the people, "had such a heart in them, 33:35 that they would fear Me, respect Me, 33:38 honor Me and always keep all My commandments." 33:44 Why? 33:45 So that, "It would go well with them 33:48 and with their children forever." 33:51 And then he tells Moses, 33:52 "Go tell them to return to their tents. 33:55 But as for you," Moses, 33:56 "stand here by Me, 33:58 I'll speak to you all the commandments, 34:00 the statutes, and the judgments, 34:03 that you shall teach them, 34:05 that they may observe them in the land 34:07 which I am giving them." 34:10 So that's what Moses does. 34:12 He listens to the Lord, he writes all this down. 34:16 And in Deuteronomy 31:26, 34:21 once he's finished writing all of God's commandments, 34:24 His covenant, commandments, and statutes, 34:28 he writes them in this Book of the Law, 34:29 and he says, "Hey, go put this Book of the Law beside 34:34 the ark of the covenant, 34:36 that it may be a witness against you." 34:40 So this Book of the Law contained blessings. 34:46 This is what God's heart was. 34:48 Oh, that you'd hated my commandments 34:50 so that your piece would have been like a river, 34:54 but it also contained the curses. 34:57 You know, God's love is expressed in a positive way, 35:01 but God's wrath is also an expression of His love, 35:05 because He will do away with evil. 35:07 Amen. Praise God. 35:08 So we have in Wednesday's lesson, 35:12 the title His Special People. 35:14 And this is something that 35:17 we see in the context of the Old Testament. 35:19 God designed that His people, 35:22 the Hebrews, who were stiff neck, 35:24 just like everybody else, 35:26 who were wretched, just like everybody else. 35:29 There was no difference between them. 35:31 God designed that His people would become 35:34 the covenant people through the promises 35:37 He was making to Abraham, to Isaac to Jacob, 35:40 to the whole world in Jesus Christ. 35:43 So we're going to start our lesson here 35:45 in Deuteronomy 26, 35:48 and we're going to read Verses 16 through 19. 35:51 Deuteronomy 26, this is what the lesson 35:53 brings out Verses 16 through 19. 35:56 All right. 35:57 So Deuteronomy 26:16 reads, 36:01 "This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee 36:05 to do these statutes and judgments, 36:08 thou shalt therefore keep 36:10 and do them with all thine heart, 36:13 and with all thy soul. 36:16 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day," 36:18 Verse 17 says, "This day to be thy God..." 36:22 Excuse me, "Thou hast avouched 36:25 the Lord this day to be thy God..." 36:29 Let me just reread that, I'll get it right. 36:31 "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God," 36:33 So the people have vouched the Lord 36:35 this day to be thy God, 36:36 "and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, 36:39 and his commandments, and his judgments, 36:41 and to hearken unto his voice. 36:43 And the Lord," Verse 18, 36:45 "hath avouched thee this day to be his..." 36:48 Excuse me. 36:49 "And the Lord hath avouched thee this day 36:51 to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, 36:55 and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments." 36:57 Verse 19, "And to make thee high above all nations 37:01 which he hath made, in praise, and in name, 37:03 and in honor, and that thou mayest be 37:05 an holy people unto the Lord thy God, 37:07 as he hath spoken." 37:08 So just one point 37:11 before we get into these verses, 37:15 the Hebrews were no different than any other nation, 37:18 the Hebrews were no different 37:20 than any other human being. 37:22 They were as far as broken as we all are. 37:24 And sometimes as Christians, 37:26 we start thinking that we're special, 37:28 that we're better, we're not, 37:30 probably the most broken. 37:31 And God is reminding us that He has chosen us. 37:37 He has vouchsafed to us, 37:39 He has chosen us to be the special people. 37:41 He's the one that is doing that. 37:43 It's not us. 37:44 But it's Him that is doing that. 37:46 He is the motivator, He's the motivation for that. 37:50 But He also wants us to respond. 37:52 So here are the questions that 37:53 the quarterly brings out that I think are so significant. 37:56 The first question is asked here 37:57 in the quarterly is, 37:59 how is the covenant relationship 38:01 between God and Israel summed up in these verses? 38:04 And the way that it's summed up in these verses is, listen, 38:08 I've vouchsafed, I have called you to be My people, 38:12 and I want you to be obedient to Me, 38:14 and to keep My judgments and My commandments and my law. 38:17 That's how it's summed up in these verses. 38:20 And then the second question is asked is this, 38:22 how should their faithfulness to the covenant be manifest 38:26 and the kind of people they would have become? 38:27 They were going to be different from all the other nations, 38:29 they weren't going to be like all the other nations. 38:31 They were going to be obedient to God, 38:33 they were going to walk in His laws 38:34 and His statutes and in His judgments. 38:36 And then the third question 38:37 that's asked here in the lesson study is, 38:40 what lessons can we take from there for ourselves today? 38:46 And the main lesson, I think, 38:47 the main takeaway, we can take from this 38:49 because we've already covered all this, 38:50 we've already studied all this, 38:52 we've been talking about it is, 38:53 it's impossible for us to walk in God's law, 38:56 walk in God's commandments, keep all of His judges, 38:58 it's not possible for us to do that. 39:00 That the idea that is brought out of these verses 39:03 is that this is an agreement 39:06 that we would be peculiar people, 39:07 this is an agreement, 39:09 not for us to do in order to become but for us 39:14 to agree for God to do in order to become. 39:18 And that's the difference between the old 39:20 and the new covenant. 39:21 It's not an issue of Old Testament, 39:22 New Testament 39:24 because Paul brings out quite clearly in Galatians 4, 39:27 that the old and new covenant are alive 39:29 and well today in the early Christian church. 39:33 And he gives the story of Abraham 39:36 and Ishmael, his first son, 39:39 compared to Abraham and Isaac, his second son, 39:42 as types of the Old and the New Covenant. 39:44 The way that operates, the way that works. 39:46 And the way it operates is this. 39:49 In these verses, if God says to us, 39:51 "I want you to be My people, 39:52 I want you to keep My commandments," 39:54 and we say to Him, "Okay, we'll do it." 39:55 That's old covenant. 39:57 But in these verses, God says, 39:58 "I want you to be My people and to keep My commandments," 40:01 and we say to Him, "But we can't really do that, 40:06 how is that going to work?" 40:07 And He says, "Well, I'm going to show you 40:08 how it's going to work, I'm going to do that in you." 40:10 Then we stepped into New Covenant, 40:12 we haven't experienced now that 40:14 is so different from the experience 40:16 that God's people had in that 40:18 Old Covenant time and time again. 40:19 But that experience that God wants us to have that 40:22 New Covenant experience 40:24 is not just a New Testament type of experience. 40:27 Because in the New Testament over and over again, 40:30 in the early Christian church, 40:31 and the late Christian church and the mid-Christian church, 40:33 and the later Christian church 40:35 and our present Christian church, 40:36 the Old Covenant is alive and well. 40:39 Legalism is alive and well. 40:40 And one of the greatest dangers that we face to entering 40:44 into legalism is found in Philippians 3, 40:48 and I just want us to look 40:49 there really quickly in Philippians 3. 40:52 Paul here is talking about his pedigree. 40:55 Paul's pedigree is probably greater better than 41:01 a fourth-generation Seventh-day Adventist, okay? 41:04 We're just going to get right to the point here, right? 41:07 Paul here speaks 41:08 and he starts out the chapter by saying, 41:10 "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord," 41:13 rejoice in who? 41:14 The Lord. "In the Lord. 41:15 To write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous, 41:18 but to you it is safe. 41:20 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, 41:22 beware of the circumcision." 41:23 He's talking about being aware of legalism here. 41:26 And then he goes on, he says this, 41:28 "For we are the circumcision." 41:29 Why? 41:30 Because God has cut away the flesh 41:33 that is the dependence 41:35 on our human flesh for obedience. 41:37 "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit 41:40 and rejoice in Christ Jesus, I have no confidence," in what? 41:44 The flesh. Zero confidence in the flesh. 41:46 Now I don't know how long it takes us to get there... 41:48 Abraham 25 years to get there. 41:50 It took him 25 years to get to the place, 41:52 we had zero confidence in the flesh. 41:54 And finally, he gave up on himself on his flesh. 41:57 And God fulfilled his promise to him with Isaac. 41:59 "Though I might also have confidence," 42:01 in Verse 4, he says, "in the flesh. 42:02 If any man thinketh that he hath there 42:04 where he might trust in the flesh, I more. 42:06 I was circumcised," Verse 5, "on the eighth day, 42:09 of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, 42:12 an Hebrew of the Hebrews, 42:13 touching the law, I was a Pharisee. 42:16 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church," 42:17 Verse 6, "touching the righteousness 42:19 which is in the law, I was blameless. 42:23 But what things were gain to me, 42:25 those I counted, loss for Christ. 42:28 Yea doubtless, I count all things, but loss..." 42:32 I want to stop right here. 42:33 There are two words here 42:34 that are used for the word loss, 42:37 and one of them is damage. 42:39 I count them damaging. 42:41 In other words, Paul here is talking about his pedigree, 42:44 he's talking about his attainments, 42:46 not his failures, 42:47 he's talking about his blamelessness in the law. 42:49 And he's saying, not only do I count that loss, 42:51 but I also count that as dangerous. 42:55 I count that as something that damaged me, 42:57 it's damaging for us. 42:58 It's damaging for the Laodicean Church 43:00 because the Laodicean Church thinks, 43:02 it's rich and increased with goods 43:03 and need of nothing. 43:05 Our greatest, the greatest enemy 43:08 of our love for Christ are our works for Christ. 43:11 And so Paul says, you know what we need to do 43:12 with our works for Christ, we need to forget them. 43:15 We need to forget them. 43:17 A lot of people quote these verses, you know, 43:18 in Philippians 3:13, "Brethren, 43:21 I count not myself to have apprehended, 43:23 but this one thing 43:24 I do forgetting those things which are behind!" 43:26 You know, when we say, 43:27 all the sins and all the failures, 43:29 the context of that is not talking about 43:31 sins and failures. 43:32 The context of this is talking about attainments. 43:35 And this was the problem with Israel. 43:37 This continued to be the problem with them 43:39 as they got into 43:40 the New Testament times as Jesus came. 43:43 Jesus was the Promised Messiah. 43:45 Daniel 9:24, you've got to do away with sins 43:49 and make reconciliation for iniquity 43:51 and get rid of transgressions, you know. 43:54 And they looked at that 43:55 with Old Covenant glasses and say, 43:57 "We got to do this, you know, before the Messiah comes." 43:59 But if you look at Verse 25, you know, you've got 70 weeks, 44:03 490 years to do this, Messiah is coming in 483 44:06 because Messiah is the one 44:08 that removes transgressions and iniquities. 44:10 Messiah is the one that brings in everlasting righteousness. 44:12 Messiah is the one that fulfills the covenant. 44:15 And so someone brought this up, 44:17 I can't remember who now but it's 1 Chronicles 16, 44:20 and it says here in Verse 15, 44:22 "Be mindful always of His covenant, 44:24 the word which he commanded to thousand generations, 44:26 even the covenant which he made with Abraham, 44:28 and his oath to Isaac, and he has confirmed 44:31 the same to Jacob for law for Israel 44:32 for an everlasting covenant. 44:34 Saying, Unto thee I will give you 44:36 the land of Canaan." 44:38 Remember this, be mindful, God has made the promises, 44:41 God is going to give you the land of Canaan, 44:43 God is going to put His law in your hearts and minds. 44:46 God is going to do away with sins, 44:48 iniquities and transgressions. 44:49 God is the one. 44:50 And what is the agreement we need to make with Him? 44:53 I agree to let You do that. 44:56 I agree to let You do it. 44:58 We want the obedience we need. 45:00 Remember, the judgment's come to the house of God, 45:03 and what will be the end of those 45:04 who obey not the gospel. 45:05 The obedience we need to is to obey the gospel, 45:08 the everlasting covenant and to say, 45:09 "Yes, God, I want to let You do that. 45:11 Amen. Amen. 45:13 I can give you a couple more minutes if you need. 45:15 That was really good. 45:17 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 45:18 Wow! 45:19 Thursday's lesson is entitled Other Images. 45:22 When I first saw this title, I thought, "What in the world? 45:24 How does that relate to 45:25 all this covenant conversation?" 45:26 When you get into the lesson, 45:28 you can see exactly how it relates. 45:29 I'm going to take the just a portion 45:31 of the opening of the introduction 45:33 to Thursday's lesson, 45:34 I'm going to read this to kind of set it up. 45:36 It says, the idea of a covenant a legal agreement 45:39 between two parties with rules 45:40 and stipulations and regulations 45:42 can seem so cold and formal. 45:44 And again, we really get into the language of it all, 45:46 it's kind of like, you know, little dry, 45:50 it can be a little formal to a certain extent. 45:52 But it goes on to say, though, that element must indeed exist 45:55 because obviously God is the lawgiver, 45:58 it's not broad enough to encompass the depth 46:01 and breadth of the kind of relationship 46:03 God wanted with His people. 46:06 Hence, Other Images, 46:08 this is where our title comes in, 46:10 other Images are used in Deuteronomy 46:12 to help portray the same idea as the covenant between God 46:16 and Israel but just to give it added dimension. 46:20 So we're looking at other images now to depict 46:23 and to see what the fullness of God's plan 46:25 to get a glimpse into that of what God wanted 46:28 between Him and His people. 46:29 Our journey is going to begin in Deuteronomy 8. 46:31 So let's go there. 46:33 And we're going to kind of bounce around 46:34 and read a few passages here from the Book of Deuteronomy, 46:37 just to kind of see these other images 46:39 that help amplify and open up this greater plan. 46:43 What was it that God really wanted 46:44 between Him and His people 46:46 that may not be clearly depicted 46:48 within this covenant language. 46:49 So Deuteronomy 8:5, 46:52 and this one I really can relate to... 46:55 Notice what it says. 46:56 It says, "You should know in your heart 46:59 that as a man chastens his son, 47:02 so the Lord your God chastens you." 47:06 Now notice the picture here that we're seeing God 47:09 is literally liking his relationship, 47:11 his covenant relationship 47:12 between Him and Israel, liking into a parent 47:15 and his son or a parent and their child, 47:17 and when I read that my mind just went back 47:19 because I remember growing up, 47:20 I grew up with some old school parents. 47:23 You know, I've never met a child 47:24 that didn't need discipline, okay? 47:26 Didn't ever met a child 47:27 that didn't need some type of chastening. 47:29 It just depends on the type of method you might use, 47:32 a parent might choose to use depending on the, you know, 47:34 the temperament and the character 47:36 of the particular child, 47:37 but I was one of those kids that just... 47:39 I got whippings, okay, except in our house 47:41 they were called whipping. 47:42 There's a difference between a whipping in the south, 47:44 you get whipping, I got lots of whippings. 47:46 And as I was reading this, you know, 47:49 you should know in your heart that is a man chastens his son 47:51 so the Lord, your God, chastens you. 47:54 This is relationship language. 47:57 This is a God's saying, 47:58 "I'm your parent, you're My child." 48:00 And so, you know, I remember, you know, years ago, 48:03 I had a friend, we're outside playing basketball. 48:05 This was not a very good friend, 48:06 I probably shouldn't be friends with this kid. 48:08 But anyways, we were playing in the front lawn, 48:10 and I remember, we were out there shooting hoops. 48:12 My dad flings open the front door of our house 48:14 and he yells out the door. 48:15 He says, "Ryan, son, you know, trash needs to be taken out, 48:18 get in here and get it out here, okay?" 48:21 And I remember I dropped the ball, 48:22 I turned to walk into the house. 48:23 And this friend of mine, 48:25 he tries to say, "Dude, what are you doing?" 48:28 I was like, "I'm going to take the trash." 48:29 He was like, "Dude, no, that's lame, man. 48:31 Like, you could do it later, we're playing the game." 48:34 And in my mind, 48:35 I remember thinking to myself all the time, 48:37 because this kid, he didn't have discipline. 48:39 He talked back to his parents very disrespectful. 48:41 And I remember turning to him 48:42 and saying, "Look, man, I'm from the wish a kid wood. 48:47 Okay, I'm from the wish a kid woods. 48:49 My parents are of the model that 48:51 I wish a kid wood disrespect me or tell me no." 48:53 Because I remember him telling, 48:55 he's like, "Just tell your dad no, 48:56 that you'll do it later." 48:57 That's not how it works in a family house. 48:59 There was a certain respect there, 49:01 there was an understanding that that's my parent. 49:03 And my mom and dad, they demanded respect. 49:06 And they called for respect. 49:08 And that's exactly what God is portraying here 49:10 in a godlike sense, in a loving relationship sense, 49:13 I'm the parent, you're the child, 49:14 and as a parent chastens his son, so the Lord, 49:16 your God, chastens you also. 49:19 So God in a sense of setting up this family relational image, 49:24 He wants us to understand that He is our Father, 49:27 we are the children. 49:28 Let's go to Deuteronomy 14, 49:29 we're going to read verses 1 and 2. 49:31 Deuteronomy 14:1-2, we see the same thing here. 49:36 He says, "You are the children of the Lord your God, 49:38 you shall not cut yourselves 49:40 nor shave the front of your head for the dead. 49:43 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, 49:46 and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, 49:49 a special treasure of all the peoples 49:52 who are on the face of the earth." 49:54 God is again, He's portraying 49:55 this beautiful family imagery here, 49:57 in the sense that He's saying, "Look, I'm your protector, 50:00 I'm your leader, I'm your guidance. 50:02 And in this sense, you are My holy people, 50:06 and I want you to be different. 50:07 I want you to be set apart 50:08 from all of the other heathen nations around you, 50:10 where in the world that they get the idea 50:12 of cutting themselves 50:13 and shaving the front of their head." 50:15 It certainly wasn't from God, 50:16 it certainly wasn't God's rules or regulations that 50:18 He put out there for them. 50:19 They were getting this 50:20 from the other paganistic practices, 50:22 and then hedon nations around them. 50:24 In other words, the world was rubbing off on them, 50:26 and God saying, "No, no, no, no, 50:27 if you're going to be My people, 50:28 you're going to be My special children, 50:30 you know what, get rid of that because you are My people. 50:33 I want you to be different. 50:34 I want you to be sanctified, 50:36 set apart from the rest of the world." 50:37 So again, we get this sense of a family relationship. 50:41 God is our father. 50:42 We are the children and He wants us to follow Him. 50:45 Notice Deuteronomy 32:6. 50:48 Deuteronomy 32:6, he says, 50:51 "Do you thus deal with the Lord..." 50:52 He's asking the question here. 50:53 "Do you thus deal with the Lord, 50:55 O foolish and unwise people? 50:56 Is He not your father who bought you? 51:00 Has He not made you and established you?" 51:02 God is asking the question, he's saying, 51:03 "Have you forgotten who I am? 51:05 Do you remember who I am? I am your God." 51:08 As I was reading this passage here, 51:10 it brought me back to that sense of almost rebuke that 51:13 God gives to Job in Job 38. 51:16 We all need a little bit of a Job 38 moment 51:18 every once in a while, just to be reminded, you know. 51:20 And this is essentially what He's saying, 51:21 "O foolish and wise people. 51:23 Is He not your father who bought you? 51:26 Hey, have you forgotten who I am? 51:27 Have you forgotten that I am your father, 51:29 I am the God of the universe?" 51:30 Brought me back to Job 38. 51:32 Job 38:4 and 12. I love this. 51:34 He says, "Where were you 51:35 when I laid the foundations of the earth? 51:37 Tell Me, if you have understanding. 51:39 Have you commanded the morning since your days began, 51:41 and caused the dawn to know its place?" 51:44 Every once in a while we need that 51:45 Job 38 experience, we need to be reminded that 51:48 God has the world in His hands, 51:50 He is in charge, He is our Father, 51:52 we are the children. 51:53 He is the potter, we are the clay. 51:55 And that's essentially 51:56 what this lesson is bringing out 51:58 is a family relational God. 52:00 We see it in these other images 52:02 throughout the Book of Deuteronomy, 52:03 as well as other books of the Bible, 52:05 that we don't have to just look in the covenant to try to find 52:08 this beautiful relational language 52:10 or picture we can look 52:12 elsewhere throughout the Scripture. 52:13 And it's hidden behind every little corner, 52:15 every little detail of all the scriptures 52:17 throughout the entire Bible. 52:18 God has placed images there for us to see 52:21 to get a glimpse of the plan that He has for us, 52:24 the beautiful family relationship 52:26 that He so desires. 52:27 Deuteronomy 32:18-20. 52:30 Again, this great reminder, 52:32 he says, "Of the rock who begot you, 52:34 you are unmindful and have forgotten the God 52:38 who fathered you. 52:39 And when the Lord saw it, 52:40 He spurned them because of the provocation 52:43 of His sons and His daughters." 52:45 So again, it's this, you know what, 52:46 almost like a parent again, that is, it's upset. 52:49 That's a little disappointed 52:52 in the dishonor of the daughter who has forgotten Him, 52:55 who's forgotten the will of the Lord, 52:56 who has forgotten the ways of the Lord. 52:58 And this is essentially what we see that 53:00 behind the beautiful character 53:02 and the beautiful loving mind of God is a loving parent 53:05 there who wants to see His children succeed. 53:08 So what we see happening over and over through 53:10 the Old Testament, 53:11 and even into the new to a certain extent 53:13 is we see God's people, 53:14 we see them failing to realize that 53:16 they truly can trust and know that 53:18 God is there for them, 53:20 that even through their failures, 53:22 when those doors are open, even through those failures, 53:24 God is there for them, 53:25 to catch them to lead them to guide them. 53:27 And in a sense, 53:28 that's what God is saying here in Deuteronomy 32. 53:30 He's saying, "Look, I have begotten you, 53:32 you are mindful and begotten the God who fathered you." 53:35 So God wants a special, 53:37 spiritually intimate relationship 53:40 with His people like that have a close relationship 53:43 between a parent and their children. 53:45 I'm going to read just a couple of more texts 53:47 really quickly here together, 53:48 and also Deuteronomy 32:9. 53:53 It says, "But the Lord has taken you and brought you 53:56 out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, 53:58 to be His people, an heritance, as you are this day." 54:03 God. 54:04 Well, God says, "What is mine, I want to be yours. 54:07 I am your father, and I love you 54:08 and I want to see you succeed. 54:10 What is mine is yours 54:11 and I've brought you out of bondage, 54:13 because I want you to be free." 54:15 Deuteronomy 32:9, says, 54:17 "For the Lord's portion of His people, 54:20 Jacob is the place of his inheritance." 54:22 There's that language again. 54:23 God wants a deep, close, 54:26 tight family relationship with His people, 54:29 which in reality is the deepest of bonds. 54:32 What is deeper? 54:34 What is stronger than family, right? 54:36 That was instilled with me as a child. 54:38 Family comes... Obviously, God comes first. 54:40 But then family, family comes but there's nothing, nothing 54:43 stronger than a family bond. 54:45 There was a gentleman who spent two weeks in a cabin 54:49 in the mountains of Colorado. 54:51 He wanted to read the Bible through for two weeks. 54:53 His name is Philip Yancey, he's a famous Biblical writer. 54:57 And it's interesting that he... 54:58 Not a Biblical writer, but a Christian author, 55:00 that's what I meant to say. 55:01 But he spent two weeks studying the Bible, 55:02 just a bird's eye aerial view, 55:05 he wanted to know for two weeks 55:06 so that's he read through the Bible, 55:08 these reoccurring themes that were coming about. 55:10 And this is what he came away with. 55:11 He could boil the scripture down into this. 55:13 He says, "The whole Bible can be 55:15 boiled down to one after another of God 55:19 seeking to restore a broken relationship 55:21 with man." 55:22 God is a family man, 55:24 will you let Him be your father? 55:25 Amen! 55:27 Thank you so much, Pastor Ryan, 55:28 Pastor James, Shelley, and Pastor John, 55:31 incredible study, everlasting covenant. 55:33 I want to give each one of you a moment to share 55:35 something about your day or something else. 55:37 Well, the covenant mine was the covenant that God made, 55:41 which is an everlasting covenant, 55:43 and it is for all of those of us 55:44 who accept Christ. 55:46 Galatians 3:26, "For you are all sons of God 55:49 through faith in Jesus Christ. 55:51 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ 55:53 have put on Christ. 55:54 There is neither Jew nor Greek, 55:56 there is neither slave nor free, 55:57 there's neither male nor female, 55:59 for you are all one in Christ. 56:00 And if you are Christ, 56:02 you are Abraham's seed and heir, 56:04 according to the promise." 56:06 Amen. Amen. 56:07 I just want to say Deuteronomy is a covenant document. 56:11 It is the renewal of the commitment. 56:16 It's a covenant renewal 56:18 that Moses is taking the new generation 56:22 through before they go into the Promised Land. 56:25 It is the Constitution of the nation of Israel. 56:29 Amen. 56:31 God wanted us, has wanted us to be His special people. 56:34 And that means we're different 56:36 from all the other nations, 56:37 all the other nations are self-sufficient, 56:39 all the other nations rely upon fallen human nature, 56:42 and not upon God. 56:43 So the new covenant is all about people, 56:46 that rely upon God 56:47 instead of relying upon themselves 56:49 that believe in His promises, 56:50 that believe in His Word, and that trust Him to do 56:53 for them what they can't do for themselves. 56:55 And this is the day when that dawns on us, 56:58 this is the day this is the moment, 56:59 this is the time for us to take a hold of that truth 57:03 and allow it to be the lenses through which we see 57:06 everything in the Old and the New Testament. 57:08 Amen. 57:10 2 Chronicles 7:14 comes to mind, 57:11 "If My people will humble themselves 57:14 and pray and seek My face, right?" 57:16 Are you humbling yourself before the Lord? 57:18 God is your father and He says, 57:20 "Humble yourself before Me, 57:21 and I will forgive your sins, and I will be your God." 57:24 Amen. 57:25 I learned so much from the study today. 57:27 Thank you for your insight and knowledge into God's Word. 57:29 I want to leave you 57:30 with this verse in Jeremiah 31:33. 57:34 "This is a covenant that 57:36 I will make with the house of Israel 57:37 after those days, says the Lord. 57:39 I will put My law in their minds 57:41 and write it in their hearts, 57:43 and I will be their God and they shall be My people." 57:48 What an incredible privilege is ours, to be God's people, 57:51 to accept Him into our hearts, and to have Him write, 57:55 His law in our hearts and in our minds. 57:58 Join us next week for lesson number four, 58:00 to love the Lord your God. |
Revised 2021-10-14