Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP210050S
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00:01 It is time for another Sabbath School Panel
00:03 and we're excited you are joining us. 00:05 This quarter we have been studying 00:07 Present Truth in Deuteronomy. 00:09 And I can't believe 00:10 we're already to lesson 11, but we are 00:13 and it is Deuteronomy in the Later Writings. 00:16 You know, Bible writers often alluded 00:18 to earlier Bible writers to make a point 00:21 and this day, 00:22 we're going to look at how they used the Book 00:25 of Deuteronomy in the later writings. 00:28 You know, it is not too late for you 00:31 to get an Adult Bible Study Guide. 00:35 You can go to absg.adventist.org 00:38 and download it. 00:39 Or we would prefer that you go by your local Seventh-day 00:43 Adventist Church, tell them we sent you 00:45 and study with them. 00:47 Join us in just a moment. 01:20 Oh, we're so glad you're joining us today 01:22 because you're the reason we do this 01:25 and we're so happy you're part of our 3ABN Family. 01:29 I'm Shelley Quinn, but let me introduce 01:31 the rest of the 3ABN Family that's here with me. 01:36 We have Ryan Day. Amen. 01:38 I'm excited to be here again. 01:40 Once more, lesson number 11, 01:42 on Monday's lesson going to be talking about 01:43 the Heaven of Heavens. 01:45 And then, of course, our dear brother, 01:48 Kenny Shelton. 01:49 Yeah. Always good to be here. 01:50 Study the Word of God together, 01:52 we're going to be looking at Deuteronomy 01:53 in Jeremiah, interesting. 01:55 Very. Sister Jill Morikone. 01:59 Thank you, Sister Shelley. 02:00 I'm looking at what does the Lord require? 02:02 Excited about the study. 02:03 It's going to be exciting study, 02:05 and Pastor James Rafferty. 02:07 Hi, Shelley and the panel. 02:08 We are going to be looking, in Thursday's lesson, 02:10 at the connection between Deuteronomy 02:12 and Daniel Chapter 9. 02:14 Ooh-ooh, that's going to be a good one. 02:17 Our memory text, 02:19 I'm going to read the memory text, 02:21 then we're going to pray. 02:22 The memory text is one of my favorites, 02:25 Deuteronomy 4:29, 02:27 "From there you will seek the Lord your God, 02:31 and you will find him if, 02:33 if you seek Him with all of your heart, 02:38 and with all of your soul." 02:40 We want to do that, just let's seek the Lord. 02:43 Jill, would you like to have our opening prayer? 02:46 Holy Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus, 02:48 grateful for the study in the Book of Deuteronomy, 02:51 grateful for the privilege we have of reading 02:53 and opening up Your Word. 02:55 And we ask just now for the anointing 02:57 of Your Holy Spirit that You would teach us what we need. 03:01 And we thank you in Jesus' name. 03:03 Amen. Amen. 03:04 Amen. Amen and amen. 03:06 I am just going to jump right into Sunday's lesson, 03:09 which is called The Book of the Law. 03:13 And we have to remember, 03:16 we get so confused 03:17 if we don't look in context at what the law is. 03:21 People refer to, and the Bible refers 03:24 to God's Ten Commandments as the law. 03:26 The Law of Moses, 03:29 when the Bible says Law of Moses, 03:31 it's talking about the first five books of the Bible, 03:34 when it is talking about the law and the prophets, 03:37 that's all of the Old Testament. 03:39 It gets most confusing, I think, in the New Testament, 03:42 when we're talking about the law. 03:43 You have to read in context 03:47 what law is being referred to. 03:50 But the Book of the Law, 03:53 and I'm going to quote 03:55 directly from our Sabbath School quarterly. 03:57 It says, "Scholars have long concluded 04:01 that the Book of the Law was Deuteronomy, 04:06 which apparently had been lost 04:09 to the people for many years." 04:13 The Book of the Law, 04:15 what Moses wrote, 04:17 as they were standing at the edge of promise 04:19 getting ready to go into the Promised Land, 04:23 what he spoke, the sermons that he spoke 04:25 to the second generation, 04:28 the children of the one that didn't make it 04:31 into the Promised Land. 04:34 This is a repeat and enlarge, if you will, 04:38 of the Book of the Covenant that God gave him 04:43 in Exodus on Sinai. 04:46 So let me give you the backstory 04:49 to how the book was lost and how it was found. 04:52 We're going to look at, 04:55 I'm going to choose, I've chosen a parallel account 04:58 to 2 Kings 22, 05:00 because if we go to 2 Chronicles 34, 05:03 there's just a few more details 05:05 as it introduces King Josiah. 05:10 2 Chronicles 34:1, 05:15 "Josiah was eight years old 05:18 when he became king and he reigned thirty-one years 05:21 in Jerusalem. 05:22 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. 05:26 He walked in the ways of his father David, 05:28 he did not turn aside 05:30 to the right hand or to the left. 05:33 For in the eighth year," 05:35 that means he would have been 16 years old, 05:37 "the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, 05:41 he began to seek the God of his father David." 05:45 And it's referring to David as his forefather, actually. 05:48 "In the twelfth year, 05:50 he would have been 20 years old, 05:51 he began to purge Judah, Jerusalem, high places, 05:55 these would have been the Canaanite worship centers 05:57 that Israel had taken over the wooden images, 06:00 the carved images, and the molded images." 06:04 And then, by his 12th year, 06:06 he initiated a purge of pagan religion, 06:10 and he tore down the high places, 06:12 he tore down the altars of veil, 06:15 the fertility god of Canaan, 06:18 and the Asherah, which were, 06:21 "objects that were associated with Baal worship." 06:24 So in 2 Kings 22, 06:27 it's talking about his 18th year. 06:30 He's 26 years old, 06:32 and Josiah has now ordered 06:36 repairs for the Temple of Yahweh God. 06:40 So let's look at 2 King 22:8. 06:45 You know what happens? 06:46 As they begin to repair the temple, 06:49 the high priest finds 06:52 the Book of the Law. 06:54 And this is what he says, 06:55 "I have found the Book of the Law." 06:59 Now, and this is a covenant document. 07:01 This is the Book of Deuteronomy that contained 07:03 the blessings for obedience, 07:05 and the curses for disobedience. 07:08 So as Clifford Goldstein has told us, 07:12 scholars have long concluded that the Book of the Law 07:15 was the Book of Deuteronomy. 07:17 And it's mentioned in a number of places in Deuteronomy, 07:21 but most specifically, Deuteronomy 31:26, 07:25 after Moses wrote down, 07:27 that he repeat and enlarge 07:29 of the Book of the Covenant from Exodus 24. 07:32 Moses says, "Take this Book of the Law 07:35 and put it beside the Ark of the Covenant 07:37 of the Lord your God, 07:39 that it may be there as a witness against you." 07:44 That's interesting. 07:46 Now, how could a scroll, 07:48 the Book of the Law would fit on the scroll rolled up, 07:51 put in the side pocket, 07:54 the Ten Commandment Law of God was inside the Ark, 07:57 written on stone by the finger of God to show permanency. 08:01 It was, the Ark was His throne. 08:04 So the Ten Commandments are, 08:07 you could say the foundation of God's government 08:10 and the mercy seat was over, wasn't it? 08:14 But how could a scroll so important be lost? 08:20 When you think about this, it's amazing. Yeah. 08:22 But you have to remember Josiah, 08:26 good King Josiah was the son of King Amon, 08:31 who was the son of King Manasseh. 08:36 So these were two 08:37 of the most wicked kings in Judah's history. 08:42 And they did grotesque pagan practices. 08:46 They had no interest in the Book of the Covenant, 08:49 the Book of the Law. 08:50 So it condemned their practices, right? Right. 08:54 So they ignored it, they set it aside, 08:59 perhaps it was even hidden until Josiah's time 09:04 when the high priest finds it. 09:06 He brings it to the scribe of Josiah 09:09 which would be the secretary of the king. 09:11 And, boy, a scribe reads it and he goes, 09:16 he takes it to Josiah, 09:19 he reads it to Josiah and Josiah, 09:23 his response, we see it in 2 Kings 22:11-14. 09:28 But what is his response? 09:30 He has a heart that is sensitive to the Lord. 09:33 He has never heard the words of the Book of the Law. 09:36 And he is mortified. 09:39 He's thinking about the condition of his kingdom. 09:42 He knows they've broken covenant with the Lord. 09:45 He tears his clothes, 09:47 which was a sign of grief and repentance. 09:51 He humbled himself before the Lord. 09:54 Josiah, though, 09:57 I think did something really smart. 09:59 He wanted confirmation of his understanding? 10:03 Have you ever studied something? 10:04 I know we do it, 'cause we'll study something, 10:07 and we'll come and say, 10:08 "Now this is what I'm seeing, what do you think? 10:11 Am I seeing this right? 10:13 "Josiah wanted confirmation. 10:15 So he gets this little delegation 10:17 of people together that he really trusted 10:19 his spiritual leaders, 10:21 and he sends them to a highly respected prophet as Huldah. 10:25 And when he goes to Huldah, they go to Huldah, 10:29 she confirms the bad news. 10:31 You are covenant breakers. 10:33 This is Josiah's worst fear, 10:35 hey, God is going to bring disaster on your nation. 10:40 You're guilty of idolatry and spiritual abandonment of God. 10:46 I mean, this was a bad nation. 10:48 And we know that the Bible says God opposes the proud, 10:52 but He gives grace to the humble. 10:54 And I just have to throw this scripture in 'cause I love it. 10:57 Isaiah 66:2 says, 11:00 God, this is who God esteems, 11:04 the humble and the contrite in spirit, 11:08 and the one who trembles at His word. 11:10 Amen. 11:12 And, you know, Josiah was trembling at God's word. 11:16 And so God esteemed him. 11:18 And you know what He says to Josiah? 11:20 I'm not going to bring all of this tragedy in your day. 11:23 You're going to go to your rest in peace. 11:27 But it is inevitable afterwards. 11:29 So we look at 2 Kings Chapter 23. 11:32 Josiah is determined 11:34 he's going to lead a reformation 11:36 and he vowed that he is going to honor God 11:40 with all of his heart, 11:41 that he's going to walk in God's ways, 11:43 and he's going to bring his nation 11:45 back into covenant compliance. 11:47 So he arranges a very solemn 11:52 covenant renewal ceremony. 11:54 He reads all the words of Book of the Law to the people. 11:57 And he then gets the people 12:02 to make this commitment. 12:05 As Moses had instigated this same type 12:07 of thing right at the edge of the promise, 12:10 so he cleanse the temple. 12:12 He's purging it of all the objects of paganism. 12:16 And I've got to let you know 12:18 a few of the things this is including. 12:20 In 2 Kings 23:7, this is appalling. 12:25 The living quarters 12:27 of the male shrine prostitutes for pagan gods 12:32 had been constructed right inside God's temple. 12:36 Can you imagine that? 12:38 2 Kings 23:10. 12:41 He destroys the shrine 12:43 where the people had been sacrificing by fire, 12:48 in the fire, their children to the pagan god Molech. 12:53 2 Kings 23:12. 12:55 The pagan altars had actually been erected in the two courts 13:01 of the Lord's temple. 13:03 So what does he do? 13:04 He destroys all of these pagan things. 13:08 And here's what I love, 2 Kings 23:21. 13:14 "Then the king commanded all the people saying, 13:17 'Keep the Passover to the Lord your God.'" 13:20 They're still under the ceremonial system 13:22 of the Old Covenant. 13:24 But listen to what he says, 13:25 "As it is written in this Book 13:29 of the Covenant." 13:32 See, so we see it's called the Book of the Law, 13:35 but it's also called the Book of Covenant. 13:39 Now have to read our Sabbath School quarterly quote, 13:42 says, "People strayed far from God's Covenant 13:45 of love and truth that He entrusted to them. 13:48 But instead of remaining 13:50 the holy people they were supposed to be, 13:52 they compromised with the world, 13:55 even though they often thought, 13:58 'Well, we're just fine with the Lord. 14:01 Thank you very much.'" 14:03 What a dangerous deception. 14:06 Let us all examine ourselves. Amen. 14:09 Take heed lest we think we stand we fall. 14:12 That's right. Amen. 14:13 Thank you so much. Beautiful lesson. 14:15 I'm Ryan Day, 14:17 and I have Monday's lesson entitled The Heaven of Heavens. 14:21 And we're going to be looking at a couple of verses. 14:22 This is based upon 14:24 the original sources in Deuteronomy Chapter 10. 14:27 And we're going to be reading verses 12 14:29 through 15 to start off. 14:30 But, of course, this is going to take us into a couple 14:32 of other passages 14:34 where we see this repeated not once, not twice, 14:36 but three other times in Scripture by three other 14:38 different Bible writers. 14:40 So obviously, we find its source here in Deuteronomy, 14:43 but you're going to see the Psalmists writes about it, 14:46 Nehemiah writes about it, and obviously, 14:48 Solomon is quoting this as well in his prayer in 1 Kings. 14:52 We'll get to that in a moment. 14:53 Let's go to Deuteronomy Chapter 10. 14:54 We're going to read verses 12 through 15. 14:56 This is what the Bible has to say. 14:59 It says, "Israel, 15:00 what does the Lord your God require of you, 15:03 but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, 15:06 and to love Him, 15:08 to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, 15:10 and with all your soul, 15:12 and to keep the commandments of the Lord 15:14 and His statutes 15:15 which I command you today for your good." 15:19 Indeed, this is verses 14, 15:20 "Indeed heaven and the highest heavens 15:24 belong to the Lord your God, 15:26 also the earth with all that is in it. 15:29 The Lord delighted only in your father's, 15:32 to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, 15:36 you above all peoples, as it is this day." 15:40 I love that. Yeah. 15:41 Indeed, Heaven and the Highest of Heavens, 15:45 of course, the lesson brings out that you know, 15:47 this, you know, we're not quite sure 15:49 what this heaven of the highest heavens 15:50 or heaven of heavens means. 15:52 It's not absolutely clear, 15:54 and at least in this immediate context 15:55 of which we're reading it, 15:56 but Moses is pointing to the majesty, 15:59 or seems to be very clearly pointing to the majesty, 16:01 the power, the grandeur of God and who He is. 16:04 Obviously, this is not only, you know, heaven itself, 16:08 but the heaven of the heavens. 16:09 So when I read this, when I first read this, 16:11 I thought of, you know, heaven of heavens, 16:13 I'm thinking of God's kingdom, you know, 16:14 where the heavenly sanctuary is, 16:16 where God's very presence is, 16:17 where you find the Father seated on His throne, 16:19 and Jesus there as well, you know, 16:21 doing the work of our High Priest. 16:23 But obviously, the lesson brings out 16:25 that it's most likely an idiomatic expression 16:27 that points to God's complete sovereignty 16:29 over all of the creation, the heaven of heavens, 16:34 God is, in course, the leader, the ruler of all the heavens 16:38 and the earth, and even the heaven of heavens. 16:40 And so what a beautiful way to express that. 16:42 We find this mentioned in three other places of Scripture. 16:46 Let's go to 1 Kings Chapter 8. 16:48 And, of course, 1 Kings Chapter 8, this is Solomon. 16:50 He's in prayer, and he's praying to the Lord. 16:53 And notice what he says here in verse 27. 16:56 1 Kings 8:27, 16:58 this is the next mentioning of this. 17:00 It says, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? 17:04 Behold," here it is, 17:06 "heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. 17:10 How much less this temple which I have built." 17:13 I love that. 17:15 He's acknowledging the fact of God's majesty, 17:17 God's grandeur, God's, you know, 17:20 complete power over all, and everyone, 17:23 the fact that he's built this temple, 17:25 and of course, biblically speaking, 17:27 historically speaking, Solomon's temple historically 17:30 is known as the greatest of all the temples 17:32 that was ever built. 17:33 And even Solomon who was the head 17:34 of building that building project, 17:36 he looks at it and he says, "Lord, 17:38 not even this great temple, 17:40 which I built can contain you because you are the God 17:42 of the heaven of all the heavens," right? 17:45 We also see this mentioned again in Nehemiah 9:6. 17:50 Nehemiah, again, is calling out to the Lord. 17:52 So Nehemiah 9:6 says, "You alone are the Lord. 17:56 You have made heaven," and here it is, 17:58 "the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, 18:01 the earth and everything on it, the sea, 18:03 and all that is in them, and you preserve them all, 18:07 the host of heaven worships you." 18:09 So also pointing back to this reverential awe of God 18:13 as creator of the universe, creator of the cosmos, 18:17 even the heaven of heavens, as Nehemiah 9:6 says. 18:21 And then, of course, the Psalmist writes this 18:22 as well in Psalm 148:4, 18:25 if we go there, we'll see it again, very quick, 18:27 very simple, very short, but he says, "Praise Him." 18:30 I love that. 18:32 "Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, 18:35 and you waters above the heavens." 18:38 I love that, praise Him, you heavens of heavens 18:40 and water above the heavens. 18:41 So it's again acknowledging God 18:43 as the sovereign God that He is. 18:46 So this is, again, this lesson brings out 18:48 a very interesting expression 18:49 to communicate God's sovereignty, His glory, 18:53 who He is as creator of the universe, 18:55 but in the time remaining that I have, 18:57 because as I was going through, 18:58 oftentimes, we're preparing these Sabbath School lessons, 19:00 I'm just going to be candid with our viewers, 19:02 you know, oftentimes, you know, 19:03 when they're writing these lessons, 19:05 they make, they put maybe a scripture or two in there, 19:08 they make their quick point, 19:09 and then they move on to the next lesson. 19:10 There's no any way you can get 10 minutes 19:12 of content out of that. 19:13 So as I'm working through this, and I saw, 19:15 I could probably get about five minutes of content out of this, 19:17 what am I going to do with the remaining 19:19 five minutes of my time? 19:20 Well, you know what? I have to ask an important question. 19:23 We can talk about the heaven of heavens all day long, 19:25 and we know that God is indeed the ruler, 19:27 the sovereign ruler of all the cosmos, 19:29 even the heaven of heavens, but how can we make sure 19:32 that we will be with our Savior in that heaven of heavens? 19:35 That's what I want to ask, because actually, 19:37 it's implied in the verses we read at the very beginning. 19:40 Let's go back to Deuteronomy Chapter 10. 19:43 And I have to just, the reason why this was put in here, 19:45 and I believe it's worth mentioning that before Moses 19:50 writes about this again, 19:52 the heaven of the highest heavens belong 19:53 to the Lord your God. 19:55 In verses 12 and 13, 19:56 he sets the groundwork for how what is required of us 19:59 to be able inherent that. 20:00 And so notice verse 12, again, "And now, Israel, 20:02 what does the Lord God require of you, 20:05 but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways 20:07 and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God 20:09 with all your heart and with all your soul, 20:11 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes 20:13 which I command you today for your good?" 20:16 Now I want to go back here and I just want to add, 20:18 the two things that I pull from that 20:20 is just simply from those texts, 20:21 I'm not going to go there's a whole lot more 20:23 complexity we could web out from this. 20:25 But I'm just going to stick to those two main principles 20:27 that I find in those texts there. 20:29 In other words, the Lord is saying, 20:30 I need you to respect Me, I need you to fear Me. 20:33 Fear the Lord your God, Deuteronomy 10:12, 20:35 we just read it. 20:36 And now Israel, 20:38 what does the Lord God require of you, 20:39 but you fear the Lord your God. 20:41 That doesn't mean, 20:42 you know, we need to be tucking our tails 20:43 running in the opposite direction 20:45 and shaking in our boots because we're so terrified 20:48 of our Creator. 20:49 No, it's not that kind of fear, 20:50 because God is not pushing us away. 20:52 He's not running us away in fear. 20:54 He's drawing us to Him. 20:56 We should fear Him in the sense that we should respect Him. 20:58 Shelley did an entire section on this in a few weeks past. 21:02 Go back and watch that again 21:03 where it talks about fearing God, 21:04 a reverential, awe, respect, an honor, 21:07 an homage given to God that nobody else deserve 21:10 because only He truly deserves it. 21:12 Amen. 21:14 Proverbs 9:10, 21:15 I'm going to go faster through these, 21:16 so there's no way you're going to be able 21:18 to follow along with me. 21:19 I'm going to hit it quickly because I have two 21:20 and a half minutes. 21:22 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom 21:23 and the knowledge of the Holy One 21:25 is understanding, Ecclesiastes 12:13, 21:28 that really could sum, 21:29 really that, both of those texts 21:31 that we just read in Deuteronomy 10:12-13. 21:33 Ecclesiastes 12 brings both of those together in one text. 21:37 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, 21:39 fear God and keep His commandments 21:42 for this is man's all. 21:43 That's the New King James outline. 21:44 I just love the King James, though. 21:46 For this is the whole duty of man. 21:50 I love it, fear God, 21:51 and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty 21:54 of man. 21:56 Wisest man in the Bible penned those words. 21:57 And I'll tell you right now, my friends, 21:59 he knew a little bit of something about 22:00 what it means to be prepared and to prepare you, 22:03 if he juiced, I believe he juiced all 22:05 of his wisdom down in that one text. 22:07 This is all of man's all right here, this is, 22:09 the whole duty of man is to fear God 22:12 and to keep His commandments. 22:13 Psalm 33:8, 22:15 "Let all the earth fear the Lord, 22:16 let all the inhabitants of the world 22:18 stand in awe of Him. 22:21 Shouldn't we, when we stand in God's presence, 22:24 I don't believe we're just going to be, 22:25 you know, flailing around as if we're just, 22:26 you know, I believe we're going to be standing, 22:28 when I first see Jesus, I don't really know 22:29 how I'm going to act. 22:31 But I can imagine I'm just going to stand in awe like, 22:33 "Oh, well, it's Jesus, 22:35 the Creator, the God of the universe. 22:39 He's really here standing before me." 22:41 I can't wait for that day, right? 22:42 Amen. Amen. 22:43 First angel's message, Revelation 14:7, 22:46 "Fear God and give glory to Him, 22:48 for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him 22:51 who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, 22:53 and the springs of waters." 22:54 Why is He Creator? 22:56 He deserves worship, because He is Creator. 22:59 Revelation 4:11, hey, the 24 elders get it. 23:02 They got it. 23:03 And Revelation 4:11, it says, "You are worthy, 23:05 oh, God, to receive glory and honor and power, 23:07 for You created all things, and by Your will they were, 23:10 they exist and were created." 23:13 My friends, we have to fear the Lord. 23:14 And, of course, we know this as well, 23:16 as a second component to that we need to obey Him, 23:18 because we respect Him, because we honor Him, 23:21 because we give Him that reverential awe 23:23 that He deserves, the fear of the Lord, 23:25 we want to obey Him that should be the response of that. 23:27 Deuteronomy 10:12-13. 23:29 We just read it earlier, "To walk in the ways 23:31 and to love Him." 23:33 Notice we obey Him, why? 23:34 Because we love Him. Amen. 23:35 Because we love Him, because He first loved us, right? 23:38 To serve the Lord your God with all your heart, 23:40 with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord. 23:43 That's what it says. 23:44 And again, I can, there's a whole lot 23:46 more scripture, but I got to go back to Ecclesiastes 12:13. 23:49 Because not only does it say to fear the Lord, notice, 23:52 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, 23:53 fear God and keep His commandments, 23:56 for this is the whole duty of man. 23:59 My friends, if we're going to be in the heaven 24:01 of heavens with our Creator, may we learn to fear God, 24:04 keep His commandments and serve Him. 24:07 We serve the God of the universe. 24:08 He's not just any mealy-nealy, little God, 24:10 like all of these other false pagan gods of the world. 24:13 Yes. 24:14 He is the God of the universe, and He deserves our awe. 24:18 Amen. Well done. 24:19 Glory to God. Praise the Lord. 24:20 We have a lot more wonderful study coming. 24:24 We're going to take just a quick break 24:25 and we'll be right back. 24:27 Amen. Amen. 24:32 Ever wish you could watch 24:33 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again, 24:35 or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 24:38 Well, you can by visiting 24:41 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com 24:44 A clean design makes it easy to find the program 24:47 you're looking for. 24:48 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 24:52 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 Now we're going to continue our study with our dear pastor, 25:07 Pastor Kenny Shelton. 25:09 Thank you. 25:11 Well, Tuesday's lesson talking about Deuteronomy in Jeremiah. 25:13 So you know what a blessing that is. 25:15 And we'll see, I'm gonna use in our lesson guide 25:18 that we have here is couple of paragraphs, 25:20 'cause it tells a story about a young man said, 25:23 an agnostic and with passionate secret for truth. 25:25 And we love passionate seekers for truth. 25:29 Just to find them, you got to go out and beat 25:31 the bushes sometime, but praise God, they're there. 25:34 The truth that led him you know, 25:36 let him actually to Jesus Christ. 25:38 Eventually he came, notice this, 25:39 not only to believe in God, the Father, the Son, Jesus, 25:43 but also accepted 25:45 the Seventh-day Adventist message. 25:47 Notice as it goes on. 25:48 His favorite verse in the Bible is Jeremiah 29:13. 25:51 We've read that several times in this study, 25:53 this quarter, praise God. 25:54 It's always good. It gets better every time we read it. 25:57 It says, "And you will seek Me and find Me 25:59 when you search for Me with," what? 26:01 Oh, I like that, "With all your heart." 26:04 Years later, however, studying his Bible, 26:06 he found the verse again. 26:08 But way back in the Book of Deuteronomy, 26:11 that is, Jeremiah got it from Moses. 26:15 I mean, that to me, that's just powerful when you look at it. 26:18 And then our lesson guide, you know, our study says, 26:20 go back to Deuteronomy 4. 26:22 Well, bless our hearts. 26:23 We've been there a lot of times, but you know, 26:24 is maybe the first time that you've joined us, 26:26 and so you don't know about it. 26:27 And so I think it's good we go back to Deuteronomy 4, 26:31 sorry, and then read verses 23 through 29. 26:34 We could probably go over 26:36 and just hit some high points on it, 26:38 but somebody might miss them. 26:39 I'm always afraid somebody is going, misses it, 26:42 but somebody is going to miss something here 26:43 if we don't read it. 26:45 So I just pray by the grace 26:47 of God that we'll have our ears open and listen to this. 26:50 I'll start with verse 23, shall we? 26:52 Go through verse 29. 26:55 It says here, "Take heed unto yourselves, 26:57 lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, 27:00 which he made with you, and made you a graven image, 27:03 or the likeness of anything, 27:04 which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. 27:07 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even," what? 27:11 It says, "Even a jealous God. 27:13 And when thou shalt beget children, 27:15 and children's children, ye shall have," notice this, 27:18 may remembered, "remained long in the land, 27:21 and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, 27:24 or the likeness of anything, 27:25 and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, 27:27 to provoke him to anger: 27:29 I call heaven and earth 27:31 to witness against you this day, 27:32 that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land 27:36 whereunto you go for over Jordan to possess it, 27:39 ye shall not prolong your days upon it, 27:41 but shall utterly be destroyed." 27:44 Verse 27, "And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, 27:47 and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, 27:50 whither the Lord shall," notice, "lead you." 27:53 Verse 28, "And there ye shall serve gods, 27:56 the work of men's hands, wood and stone, 27:59 which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell." 28:01 Verse 29, 28:02 "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, 28:06 thou shalt find him, 28:08 if you seek with him with all your heart, 28:10 and with all your soul." 28:12 After I read these verses, 28:13 and I read them this morning, again, 28:15 we've read them several different times, 28:16 it really touched my heart afresh. 28:19 You know, that's the way it should be. 28:20 It was, it's fresh every morning 28:22 if we really get into it. 28:23 And I was reading this, especially verses 28 and 29, 28:28 that God is saying, "I know what you're going to do. 28:31 I know what you're going to do in advance." 28:33 And He said, "How could this," 28:36 I'm trying to put my mind like, 28:38 above what I'm thinking that God love a universe. 28:42 Yeah. 28:43 He looks down, and He says, 28:44 "You're going to be worshiping these things of wood, 28:48 things that men make with their hands that they can't see, 28:50 they can't eat, they can't hear, 28:51 they can't do anything for you. 28:54 There's nothing, they can't eat, 28:55 they can't smell, they can't do anything." 28:58 And basically, He's telling He could do everything for us, 29:01 and yet we exchange these things that can't smell, 29:04 that can't do, that can't work any miracle, 29:06 we exchange them for the God of the universe. 29:09 And then He says, "Kenny, 29:12 when you get done playing with those little wooden gods, 29:17 those little strange gods that can't do you 29:19 any good at all, when you get tired of that, 29:23 when you're ready to give it up." 29:26 He said, oh, verse 29, He said, 29:29 "And then if you seek me, call." 29:32 Before you call, I like that before you call, right? 29:34 Yes. Amen. 29:36 When you call, He said, 29:37 "I'm going to be there for you." 29:39 Yes. Wow. 29:40 Just kind of mentioned in our thought as humans. 29:43 I tell most people, "No, I won't be there for you 29:45 because of what you've done. 29:46 That's not the godly way to handle it." 29:49 We're given an example here. 29:52 If you call, so pause it, 29:53 if you call you're going to find me. 29:55 Please get that, if we get nothing else out of this, 29:57 these the less than the whole quarter, 30:00 if we've strayed, if we've got other gods before Him, 30:02 and we decide to put them away and God, 30:04 can you come back in my life? 30:06 Oh, I definitely will. 30:08 You seek me, you'll find me, 30:10 but you've got to do with all your heart, 30:11 Kenny, because part of that heart 30:13 and that mind has been contaminated by the junk 30:16 that you've been taking in by some 30:17 of these other things. 30:19 So there's needs to be a cleansing, 30:20 need to put the Word of God in heart that I might not sin 30:23 against Him. 30:24 And so, you know, I read then I thought, 30:26 "Man, that's just so good that He's going 30:28 to always be there for you 30:30 if you call and you seek Him with all your heart." 30:32 I think some time with my mind, 30:35 you may think everybody's mind is different. 30:38 That sometimes we say, "Boy, I just don't know, 30:41 I forget things too easy." 30:43 We say sometime we forget. 30:45 And you know what our lesson brings this out 30:46 if we had time to go into a lot more into this here, 30:50 that if you talk about a memory problem, 30:52 we're talking about a bad memory, 30:54 I've noticed for bad memory, if someone says to me 30:58 and pulls me aside, four things we can go into 31:01 and think we have time to do it. 31:02 But if somebody pulls you aside and says, 31:05 "I'm going to tell you something, 31:06 I don't tell anybody." 31:09 All of sudden my memory becomes real good. 31:12 I think about it. 31:14 When I was younger and growing up 31:17 and somebody would say something, something dirty. 31:20 Right. 31:22 Something that wasn't right. That's true. 31:23 That's true Why? This world did it, just stay in there. 31:26 Right. 31:27 You know, 40, 50 years later, I still remember I know, 31:30 we're supposed to cleanse it all out, but I'm saying, 31:32 why a bad memory turns into, 31:37 we can remember these things. 31:39 He's telling us here 31:40 we need to be concerned about getting those things out 31:43 to watch for those things that come our way 31:46 that take our mind off of Christ. 31:49 You know, whatever it might be, put it aside. 31:51 And when somebody comes to say, 31:52 "I've heard, did you hear?" 31:55 You ought to say, "Get behind me, Satan. 31:56 I don't want to hear that." Ain't that right? 31:58 And some people will say, "Well, you know, 32:00 let's use some caution here, 32:02 when it's opened needs to be dealt with." 32:04 The enemy could be speaking, 32:06 you know, we have a work to do for God. 32:08 Make sure and watch, you know, let's be careful. 32:10 People have you to watch things you shouldn't be watching 32:12 and doing what you shouldn't be. 32:14 And those are the things you just, 32:16 the enemy just tries to keep them in your mind. 32:18 Moses said to the people just turn it, flip it over. 32:22 He said, "Let's examine the greatness of God, 32:24 let's examine the goodness of God. 32:27 These things will help us to reevaluate." 32:31 And now we've kind of discussed that a little bit 32:33 about evaluate or reevaluate ourselves in our relationship 32:37 with Christ. 32:38 Reevaluate His greatness, His goodness, 32:41 His longsuffering, His glory, and His willingness to forgive. 32:44 And when I seek Him with all my heart, 32:46 soul and mind, He will be found, 32:48 we can find Him. 32:49 Yes. You know, we're dealing with... 32:50 Yeah, we're dealing with the only true God. 32:53 I think you brought that out beautifully a while ago. 32:55 A living God, an infinite God, an eternal God, 32:58 a God that's there, 32:59 and why would we want to trade Him for some little... 33:01 Well, would carve things, 33:04 right little idols in which we do. 33:05 All powerful, yet if we reach out, 33:08 this just simply says here, we call upon Him, He says, 33:11 "I'm going to be there." 33:12 Amen. 33:14 And He reminds the children of Israel over 33:15 and over and over, "Let's be careful, 33:17 we don't offend God, He's a consuming fire. 33:20 He's a jealous God. 33:23 "And I read that as a child younger and I still, 33:25 you know, somebody saying I look at, 33:27 it's not the kind of jealousy that we think about. 33:29 When we say jealous here in human, 33:31 we're envious of somebody else, 33:33 we could do blah-blah, you know, 33:35 God says I'm jealous, He wants us to come to Him. 33:38 He wants to save us in His kingdom 33:41 when He comes. 33:42 And I've often said this, 33:43 and I mean it with my whole heart, 33:45 "If I miss heaven, 33:46 number one it will be my choice. 33:49 It will be my own choice. 33:50 But if I miss heaven, 33:51 I've missed my purpose for being here." 33:53 What other purpose could there possibly be to endure 33:56 the mess that we're in and going 33:58 to endure other than prepare for heaven? 34:01 That's good. Right. 34:02 My brother said, yes, we did a little program, 34:04 he used the word, he said, 34:05 "This is what we need to do to get ready for Jesus." 34:07 And we know what he said, prepare, prepare. 34:10 And it kept coming out, prepare. 34:12 I thought, man, he's right. Yeah. 34:14 Prepare for the coming of Jesus. That's right. 34:16 And that is reevaluate ourselves 34:18 and our relationship with Him. 34:21 Hebrews 10:27, but a fearful, 34:23 now a certain fearful looking for a judgment 34:26 and fiery indignation, 34:28 which shall devour the adversaries. 34:31 Those that go against God, I like this here, 34:34 fire consumes, notice this, only that which is fuel for it. 34:40 I don't want to be fuel for that, that fire, do you? 34:44 So it behooves us to get ready for the coming of Jesus. 34:48 It behooves us to call upon Him. 34:50 It behooves us right now to get rid 34:53 of anything that would cause division 34:55 or separation right now that separate us from God. 34:58 If we ever need to be close to Him, 34:59 I really believe it's right now. 35:02 The judgments are falling in the land. 35:03 He says, "Get ready, get ready, because I'm coming back 35:05 and I just beg you, by the grace God, 35:07 get ready, He's coming back." 35:10 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Kenny, each one of you. 35:13 I feel like I'm having church. Glory. 35:15 Don't you feel like church? Yes. 35:16 That's right. 35:18 Opening up the Word of God, 35:19 and the Holy Spirit is convicting my heart, 35:21 I know that. 35:22 So I'm so grateful for the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. 35:25 I'm Jill Morikone, and I have Wednesday's lesson, 35:28 which is, What Does the Lord Require? 35:31 We're going to the Book of Micah. 35:34 Pastor Kenny had Jeremiah and Deuteronomy, Pastor Ryan, 35:38 Nehemiah and Deuteronomy, 35:40 and I have Micah and Deuteronomy. 35:43 You know, Deuteronomy if we look at it 35:45 as you're turning to Micah, 'cause Micah 35:46 is a hard book to find as you're turning them. 35:49 Deuteronomy is the reaffirmation, 35:51 you could say, of the covenant. 35:53 The people are standing on the borders 35:55 of the Promised Land, and God reaffirms His end 35:58 of the covenant with the people. 36:00 And the people are clearly reminded, 36:03 they need to keep their end, their portion of the covenant. 36:08 When we get to the Book of Micah, 36:09 of course, he's a prophet to Judah, 36:11 and he prophesied under Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. 36:14 The message of the book is that God hates 36:17 and condemn sin, whether it's religious, 36:20 economic, social, and how we treat other people. 36:25 And because of that sin, judgment is coming. 36:29 And yet, in this book, 36:31 we see that God still is merciful. 36:34 God still is longsuffering. Yes, He is. 36:38 God still is extending hope to the people of Judah, 36:42 and by extension to you and I today. 36:44 So we're in Micah 6, 36:46 we're going to read the first eight verses of Micah 6:1-8. 36:51 This is, we talked about this a couple lessons ago. 36:55 This is a reeb, Pastor Kenny, it's a Hebrew word, 36:59 but it means a covenant lawsuit. 37:01 This is God's covenant lawsuit against the people of Judah. 37:07 God's taking legal action, 37:09 because they failed to keep their end of the covenant. 37:13 Our lesson talks about it being reeb, 37:15 but also if you study Deuteronomy 26, 37:17 we see a reeb there, Deuteronomy 4, 37:19 I'm sorry, 4:26, God calls heaven and earth 37:23 as witnesses against the people. 37:26 If you read Isaiah Chapter 1, we find another reeb, 37:31 another covenant lawsuit. 37:33 In that case, God calls heaven and earth to listen. 37:37 If you read Acts Chapter 7, we find another reeb. 37:41 This is Stephen, of course, he recounts the history 37:45 of the children of Israel, and then what does he say, 37:47 "You stiff necked people." 37:50 And here comes the judgment 37:52 against the nation of Israel. 37:56 So in this case, in Micah Chapter 6, 37:58 it's not heaven and earth called as witnesses, 38:01 it's the mountains and the hills 38:03 called as witnesses. 38:06 So let's look at it, we'll look at the reeb, 38:08 this is the first couple of verses, 38:09 then we look at the appeal, and finally we get the answer. 38:13 So let's look at the reeb, this is verses 1 and 2. 38:16 Here, now what the Lord says, 38:19 "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, 38:22 and let the hills hear your voice. 38:25 Hear, O you mountains, the Lord's complaint." 38:28 That word in Hebrew is reeb, the Lord's complaint. 38:32 And you foundations of the earth, 38:34 for the Lord has a complaint," there's reeb again, 38:37 "against His people, 38:40 and He will contend with Israel." 38:42 Now the name Israel, one of its meanings is what? 38:45 One who contends with God. 38:47 But in this case, 38:48 they're not contending with God, 38:50 God is contending with them. 38:53 Good. All right. 38:54 This time of the children of Judah was a time 38:57 of upheaval and crisis. 38:58 If you look at Ahaz's leadership, 39:01 it's probably one of the most evil kings of Judah, 39:03 He sacrificed His own children in the fire, 39:07 and he placed idol worship within the precincts 39:11 of the temple. 39:13 The people had clearly violated the covenant. 39:16 They were in apostasy, they were in lethargy, 39:19 they were in hypocrisy, and their treatment 39:22 of their fellow Israelites violated 39:25 the covenant pre-principles that they had 39:28 promised to uphold. 39:29 There's idolatry taking place. There's perversion of justice. 39:34 Let's look at the appeal. 39:35 This is verses 3 through 5, we're in Micah 6:3-5. 39:39 Oh, my people, God's talking to the people. 39:41 "O My people, what have I done to you? 39:45 How have I wearied you?" 39:50 I don't know about you, but that gets me. 39:52 How have I wearied you? 39:56 Do you not think we've wearied God? 39:58 Do you not think the children of Judah, 40:00 the children of Israel had wearied God by breaking 40:03 the covenant, and yet God comes to them and says, 40:06 "My people, how have I wearied you?" 40:10 I remember when I was young, 40:12 the strongest discipline 40:13 I ever received was not a spanking. 40:16 And I got more than my fair share of spanking. 40:19 I deserved them clearly. 40:21 But the strongest discipline I ever received, 40:23 I'll never forget it. I was probably 10 years old. 40:25 My mom came in the bedroom and I was standing by the bed, 40:28 and I knew I was keeping my backside away 40:30 'cause I knew I was about ready to get it. 40:32 And she said, she knelt down, and she began to cry. 40:35 And she said, "God, Jill is rebellious. 40:39 I don't know how to get through to her. 40:42 I want her to follow You, but she's not following You." 40:46 That was the best discipline I ever got. 40:48 Absolutely. 40:49 How have I wearied you? 40:52 God says, "What have I done?" Right. 40:55 And then He says, "Testify against me." 40:58 And He goes on to proclaim how He has kept His side 41:01 of the covenant, even though the people they broke theirs. 41:04 He says, "I brought you up from the land of Egypt. 41:08 I redeemed you from the house of bondage." 41:10 He reminds them what He did to them. 41:14 "I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 41:17 I gave you good leadership My people." 41:20 Remember now what Balak, King of Moab counseled? 41:23 And what Balaam, the son of Beor answered him. 41:26 What is he saying? 41:27 That Balaam was supposed to curse the children of Israel. 41:32 And what does God say? 41:33 "I turned it into a blessing. 41:35 I would not lay him curse 41:36 when I protected you from that." 41:38 It says, "And from Acacia Grove to Gilgal," 41:41 those were two cities on either side of the Jordan. 41:44 So what is He saying? 41:45 "I'm the one who brought you over the River Jordan. 41:48 I'm the one who brought you into the Promised Land." 41:51 Why did He do all this? 41:52 That you may know the righteousness of the Lord. 41:57 Awesome. God wanted them to know Him. 41:59 God wanted to reveal His righteousness to them. 42:01 He reminds them that He kept His portion of the covenant. 42:06 And now we see the answer, in verses 6 and 7 42:08 the people answer, and then God answers. 42:11 It says, "What shall I come with 42:13 what shall I come before the Lord, 42:15 and bow myself before the High God? 42:17 Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, 42:19 with calves a year old? 42:21 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 42:24 ten thousand rivers of oil? 42:26 Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, 42:30 the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 42:33 What's going on? 42:34 The people are saying, "God, what do you want? 42:36 Do you want more sacrifice? 42:38 Do you want more rams? 42:40 Do you want child sacrifices like Ahaz had engaged in? 42:44 What are you looking for?" 42:45 God is not interested in religious ritual. 42:48 God is not interested in your hypocrisy. 42:52 God wants worship that is not centered on outward show. 42:57 Amen. 42:58 It's time that we were done as a people with legalism. 43:01 It's time that we were done as a people with hypocrisy. 43:04 It's time that we were done as a people with outward show, 43:09 and we get to the heart of the matter. 43:11 And what is the heart of the matter? 43:13 It's in verse 8. 43:14 He is showing you, oh man, what is good. 43:18 What does the Lord require of you? 43:20 Three things, but to do justly, to love mercy, 43:26 to walk humbly with your God. 43:30 What is God's answer? 43:31 He just says, "I want you in covenant. 43:33 I want you to walk in covenant obedience with Me 43:38 as My children." 43:39 We are to respond to God's forgiveness, 43:42 respond to His deliverance, respond to His love, 43:46 respond to His grace. 43:48 It's the same verse. 43:49 This is similar, this verse, 43:51 to what Pastor Ryan had talked about in Deuteronomy 43:54 Chapter 10. 43:55 Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? 43:57 It's the same thing coming back here again in Micah 6:8. 44:03 That threefold answer to do justly. 44:05 We are to act with justice toward other people. 44:09 This is how we treat people. 44:11 This is our, you could say horizontal relationship 44:14 with how we treat our brothers and sisters, 44:17 whether they know God or don't, 44:19 whether they're in the church or not, 44:20 whether we like them or not, we're to treat people justly. 44:24 Number two, we are to love mercy. 44:26 This word mercy hesed, Shelley, 44:29 I love that God's covenant to loyalty, 44:31 His loving-kindness. 44:34 We're not just to treat people fairly and honestly 44:36 with justice, we're to love other people. 44:39 This is horizontal. 44:40 We are to extend mercy to our brothers and sisters. 44:44 And number three, 44:46 we are to walk humbly with our God. 44:49 This is vertical. 44:50 This is our relationship with God to walk in humility. 44:55 You see, true biblical faith, 44:58 it affects every aspect of our lives. 45:01 Faith is not just something we proclaim, 45:03 I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian 45:05 or I'm whatever denomination, no. 45:07 It is lifestyle, it enters into every fiber of our being, 45:13 and it changes who we are. 45:15 Amen. Amen. 45:17 Praise the Lord. 45:18 That was really powerful, Jill, 45:20 and every one of you guys have all just knocked it 45:21 out of the park. 45:23 I'm James Rafferty, and I have Thursday's lesson, 45:26 which is Daniel's Prayer. 45:29 You know, Christian experience is based on God's Word. 45:33 And Daniel's Christian experience was stellar, 45:37 especially in Daniel Chapter 9. 45:39 And that's because Daniel's experience 45:42 was based on the Word of God, specifically, 45:45 it was based on Deuteronomy 4:30-31. 45:50 And we just want to look at those two verses 45:52 as we open up our lesson study here on Daniel. 45:55 I don't know if you realize, 45:57 I didn't realize 45:58 how significant of a connection there was 46:00 between Daniel Chapter 9, and the Book of Deuteronomy. 46:03 But here it is, Daniel's in captivity, 46:05 his whole nation has been in apostasy, 46:08 they've been taken captive by Babylon, 46:10 all the promises have failed, and Daniel is beside himself. 46:14 He doesn't know what to do, what to think. 46:16 He's just been given this 2300 day prophecy, 46:19 the 70 years are over, he's thinking, 46:20 "We've got to go back. 46:22 What's going on?" He's confused. 46:24 And what does he do? 46:25 He turns to the Book of the Law. 46:27 He turns to Deuteronomy Chapter 4. 46:30 Look at these two verses and tell me they don't describe 46:32 Daniel's experience in Daniel Chapter 9. 46:35 Deuteronomy 4:30, "When thou art in tribulation," 46:38 oh, yeah, they were in tribulation, 46:40 "when these things are come upon thee," 46:42 oh, they've really come upon them, 46:43 "in the latter days after all these kings rose and fell, 46:47 if thou turn to the Lord thy God, 46:51 and shall be obedient unto His voice." 46:52 That's what Daniel is doing. 46:54 He's turning to Lord, he's been obedient unto his voice. 46:56 Verse 31, "For the Lord thy God is a merciful God. 47:00 He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, 47:03 nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, 47:06 which he swear unto them." 47:08 This is what Daniel is doing. 47:09 Daniel has this amazing experience in Daniel Chapter 9. 47:13 I'm just going to summarize Daniel 9:1-19. 47:16 And by the way, this happened in the first year of Darius. 47:19 The first year of Darius is also 47:21 when Daniel got thrown into the lions' den 47:22 because he refused to stop praying. 47:24 Guess what he's doing right now. 47:26 He's praying and who knows? 47:28 Maybe in lions' den when he was praying, 47:30 we don't know. 47:31 But we know prayer is important. 47:32 It's vital for us to be in prayer. 47:35 Daniel realizes this. 47:36 So he's willing to put his life on the line as he prays. 47:39 Now, the reason Daniel is praying 47:40 is because he's just been given this prophecy, 47:42 this 2300 day prophecy in Daniel Chapter 8, 47:45 specifically verse 14, 47:47 and he doesn't know what it means. 47:48 So Daniel goes to prayer, 47:51 and he goes to the Book of Jeremiah. 47:54 He goes to the Bible, and he goes to the Lord 47:56 and he prays, and he says, "Lord, I don't get it." 47:59 I mean, if you read Daniel 8:27, 48:00 he admits that. 48:02 You know, sometimes, as preachers, 48:03 I've been in ministry for 37 years, 48:05 and I don't want to admit 48:06 so readily that there's something I don't know. 48:09 Daniel is an old statesman at this time, 48:11 a politician and a man of God, 48:13 and he's ready to admit he doesn't know something. 48:15 He doesn't know something about 48:17 what we all know something about, right? 48:18 We all know about the 2300 day prophecy, 48:20 you know what I mean. 48:21 He doesn't know it. He doesn't understand. 48:22 He says, "Lord, I don't get it. 48:24 I don't understand it." 48:25 Daniel has intellectual humility. 48:29 Yes. Intellectual humility. 48:30 Amen. 48:31 And then we see Daniel, he fasts and he prays, 48:35 he humbles himself before the Lord. 48:38 He's following an outline that we find 48:40 all through the Old Testament. 48:41 Daniel has behavioral, 48:44 behavioral humility. 48:47 And then we see Daniel, he has this attitude, 48:50 and it begins in verse 5, 48:51 he has this attitude that so often 48:53 is missing in the Christian experience. 48:55 Has this attitude of confession that involves 48:58 a corporate confession. 48:59 Right. 49:00 He doesn't say they, those guys, that church, 49:02 those people, he says we, we have sinned. 49:05 Now, he's including himself with the apostasy 49:07 of his entire nation here. 49:09 He's doing something that Jesus does. 49:12 It's a corporate relationship, 49:14 a corporate responsibility that Daniel 49:16 is taking on for everyone else, we have sinned. 49:18 And He says this over and over again, once, twice, 49:21 three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 49:23 all the way through Daniel 9:5-11. 49:26 All the way through there, 49:28 he has this relational humility. 49:31 Relational humility, the way he relates to people, 49:34 relational humility, 49:35 so he has intellectual humility, 49:37 behavioral humility, and relational humility. 49:40 And then, as he gets down to the last verses, 49:43 verses 17 to 19, he tells God 49:46 why it is this he's asking all these things. 49:47 You know why he's asking all these things? 49:50 Not so we can have this big name and glory and fame, 49:53 and look what we're doing, and look 49:55 what we've accomplished, 49:56 and look at all the things that... 49:57 He is praying this for God's name's sake, 50:00 for God's glory, 50:02 that His name would not be reproached 50:03 among the Gentiles. 50:05 He is more concerned about 50:06 God's glory than he is about his own glory, 50:08 and we could call that motivational. 50:12 That's good. 50:14 He's motivated by the glory of God. 50:15 He's motivated by the love of God. 50:16 What a prayer? 50:18 What a corporate prayer? 50:20 What a powerful prayer? 50:21 And this powerful corporate prayer brings 50:23 a corporate answer. 50:25 That's what it does, it brings a corporate answer. 50:26 And we're going to get to that in just a second. 50:28 But I want us to read the quarterly here, 50:30 the lesson quarterly says, 50:31 "Daniel's prayer is a summary of exactly 50:33 what the nation had been warned about in Deuteronomy 50:36 regarding the fruits of not keeping their end 50:38 of the covenant." 50:39 Twice, Daniel referred back to the Law of Moses, 50:41 Daniel 9:11-13, 50:42 which certainly included Deuteronomy, 50:44 in this case, might have been specifically 50:47 referring to it as Shelley mentioned. 50:49 As Deuteronomy has said, 50:51 they were driven from the land, 50:53 see Deuteronomy 4:27-31, and Deuteronomy 28, 50:56 because they didn't obey exactly 50:59 what Moses had been told would happen. 51:02 They didn't obey, and that's what Moses said 51:03 was going to happen in Deuteronomy 31:29. 51:06 How tragic too that instead of the gnash nations 51:09 around them, saying, "Surely, this is a great nation 51:12 and a wise and understanding people, 51:14 Israel became a reproach to those same nations," pause. 51:20 God's promises never fail. 51:23 And even if the entire nation says no, 51:28 if one person says yes, and that would be Daniel, 51:32 God's promises are sure. That's right. 51:34 They became an... 51:37 What does it say here? 51:40 An amazement, an astonishment to the nations 51:43 around them through Daniel and his friends 51:47 who stayed faithful to God. 51:48 Amen. 51:49 We don't have to worry about the apostasy of others, 51:51 because Jesus is our Savior and His Word is true. 51:54 We need to be faithful in what God has given us 51:57 to be faithful in and God's promises will be fulfilled. 52:00 So we can see Daniel, in a sense, 52:03 as a type of Christ, because Daniel Chapter 9 52:07 is what covenant faithfulness looks like in the life 52:10 of a believer. 52:12 Now Daniel Chapter 9 doesn't end there. 52:13 We close out here in the last few minutes 52:16 that we have together in verses 24 to 27. 52:19 Here is the prophecy of Jesus, 52:20 its prophecy was death upon the cross, 52:22 but it's not just the prophecy of His death upon the cross. 52:24 Look at these verses with me 52:26 and recognize that this is also a prophecy 52:30 of what Jesus Christ would accomplish 52:32 as the covenant giver. 52:36 Jesus Christ is the covenant giver. 52:38 Jesus Christ is on the upside of the covenant. 52:40 But Daniel Chapter 9 is telling us that Jesus Christ 52:43 is also on the downside of the covenant. 52:46 Jesus Christ is a covenant giver, 52:47 and Jesus Christ is a covenant fulfiller. 52:51 He's on both sides. 52:52 And because He's a giver, and because He's a fulfiller 52:55 of the covenant as God and as man, 52:57 we have Daniel's. 52:59 We have people in the Bible, 53:02 who accept the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 53:04 they actually live out the very principles of the covenant, 53:07 because they scratch that Old Testament effort 53:10 which led to apostasy 53:11 and they scratch that New Testament effort 53:13 which led to legalism, 53:14 and they put their trust totally in the righteousness 53:17 of Jesus Christ. 53:19 Now look at this in Daniel Chapter 9, 53:20 beginning with verse 24. 53:22 It's so powerful. 53:24 Daniel 9:24, 53:26 we have a covenant prayer that's going to get 53:27 a covenant answer and that covenant answer 53:29 is Jesus and Jesus is coming, excuse me, 53:31 a corporate prayer that's going to get a corporate answer, 53:34 Jesus is coming to do what only He can do. 53:36 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people 53:38 and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, 53:40 and to make an end of sins, 53:41 make reconciliation for iniquity, 53:43 bring in everlasting righteousness, 53:44 seal up the vision and prophecy, 53:46 and anoint the most Holy." 53:47 That's seven tasks. 53:48 Seven tasks that had to be accomplished. 53:50 Did Israel accomplish these tasks? 53:52 That's a trick question. Yes. 53:55 Because Jesus Christ was Israel, 53:57 and Jesus Christ came to fulfill these tasks. 53:59 In fact, in verse 25, God makes it very clear, 54:02 Gabriel says to Daniel, "Know therefore and understand, 54:06 that from the going forth of the commandment 54:07 to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah 54:09 the Prince shall be..." 54:11 Seven weeks. 54:12 "Three score, seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." 54:14 That's 69 weeks. 54:16 "Daniel, you and your people have 70 weeks 54:18 to get your act together." 54:19 Yes. "But don't be worried. 54:21 This is New Covenant now, 54:22 get your New Covenant glasses on," right? 54:24 Right. 54:25 The Messiah is coming in 69. Right. 54:27 Wow. 54:28 After 69 weeks of failure, 54:30 you're going to get one last resurrection hope 54:34 and it's going to be Jesus. 54:35 And He is going to make an end of sins, 54:36 and He's going to bring in all righteousness 54:38 and He's going to finish transgression. 54:40 He's going to make reconciliation for iniquity. 54:42 He's going to anoint the Most Holy. 54:44 Jesus Christ is the fulfillment. 54:46 Jesus is the giver of the covenant 54:49 and Jesus is the fulfiller of the covenant. 54:51 Jesus is on the upside of the covenant 54:53 and Jesus is on the downside of the covenant. 54:55 And because of that, we have Daniel's. 54:58 Because of that, we have hope. 55:00 Because of that we too can in our 55:03 lives be stellar examples of the love 55:08 of Jesus Christ because that's what Daniel did. 55:11 Daniel prayed for his miserable, 55:14 apostate fellow Christians. 55:19 And that's what God is calling us to. 55:21 That's the ultimate end of the law, is it not? 55:23 To love God with all heart, mind and soul, 55:24 to love your neighbors. 55:25 Amen. Amen. Beautiful. 55:27 That was great. 55:28 If you want to hear some more of this teaching on Daniel, 55:31 you can watch Salvation in Symbols 55:35 and Signs on 3ABN, 55:37 where our dear brother James is going verse by verse 55:40 through Daniel. 55:42 Well, we have had church, Jill, we have. 55:46 Let's just take each of you a few seconds 55:49 and give us a little point from you today. 55:52 You know, Jeremiah 29:11, God says, 55:55 "Don't tell me what to think about you. 55:58 I already know what I think about you." 56:00 He says, "For I know the thoughts 56:02 that I think toward you," says the Lord, 56:03 "thoughts of peace 56:05 and not of evil to give you a future and a hope." 56:07 God has a plan for you. 56:09 Don't tell Him what to think about you. 56:10 He already knows what He thinks about you. 56:12 He loves you, He died for you, and He wants to save you. 56:15 Amen. Praise the Lord. 56:16 You know, reading the Bible is like 56:18 me speaking right dropping ideas into the brain. 56:21 And when you do that, there should be a reaction. 56:25 And if there's not a reaction, then there's no brain. 56:28 Well, let's leave that food for thought. 56:32 Micah 7:18, 56:34 "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity, 56:37 passing over transgression of the remnant of His heritage? 56:40 He does not retain His anger forever, 56:42 for He delights in mercy." 56:44 God delights in you. Yes, He does. 56:46 Amen. Amen. 56:47 Daniel Chapter 9 56:50 is what covenant faithful looks like in the life of a believer 56:53 who trusts in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 56:55 Amen and amen. 56:56 We, in my day, we were looking at King Josiah 56:59 who followed the Lord with all of his heart, 57:01 soul, mind and strength. 57:03 And 2 Kings 23:25 says, 57:07 "There's never been another king like him not before him 57:10 or not after him." 57:12 God considered him 57:14 the greatest king that ever ruled 57:18 until King Jesus. 57:20 Oh, thank you so much for joining us. 57:23 We, I should have looked, 57:24 we're going to be coming back for lesson 12 next week, 57:29 Deuteronomy in the New Testament. 57:32 It's one of Jesus' most favorite books 57:34 because He quoted it most often. 57:36 Join us then. Amen. |
Revised 2021-12-09