Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP210051S
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00:01 Hello, friends,
00:02 welcome to our 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:04 My name is James Rafferty, 00:05 and we are so excited, so glad that you could join us. 00:08 We are studying the Book of Deuteronomy. 00:10 Present Truth in the Book of Deuteronomy, 00:12 and we are in lesson number 12, 00:14 Deuteronomy in the New Testament. 00:16 Now still not too late. 00:18 If you'd like to get the Sabbath School quarterly, 00:19 it's been an excellent study, 00:21 so it'd be great to have it to study later if you need to, 00:23 you can go to absg.adventist.org 00:27 That's absg.adventist.org 00:31 or you can visit your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:33 They probably have a few leftover 00:36 that they will gladly give to you. 00:38 Anyway, again, we're just so happy 00:39 you've joined us and we look forward 00:41 to continuing our study in lesson number 12. 00:43 Glad you've joined us. 01:15 Hello, friends, we're so glad 01:16 you've joined us for our Sabbath School lesson, 01:18 Present Truth in Deuteronomy. 01:20 We are in lesson number 12 and that is entitled 01:23 Deuteronomy in the New Testament. 01:25 So we're going to be moving to the New Testament. 01:27 My name is Pastor James Rafferty, 01:29 or I should say I am Pastor James Rafferty 01:31 and we have four more presenters here 01:33 on the Sabbath School Panel with me. 01:35 Our first one is Pastor Kenny Shelton. 01:38 It's good to be here. 01:40 I got an interesting title, Lifting up Faces. 01:45 Wait and see what that means. 01:46 That's all about. 01:49 Next to Kenny Shelton is our own Jill Morikone. 01:53 Thank you, Pastor James, I have Cursed on a Tree. 01:57 That's going to be interesting, so. 01:59 And next to Jill Morikone is Pastor Ryan Day. 02:03 Man, I'm excited. 02:04 We're in lesson number 12. 02:06 But today, Wednesday's lesson, A Prophet like unto Thee. 02:09 A Prophet like unto Thee. 02:10 Okay, and finally we have Shelley Quinn. 02:15 I have A Fearful Thing, but there's good news in it. 02:20 Yeah. All right. 02:21 Wonderful. 02:23 So that's the outline of our lesson titles. 02:24 My lesson is titled It Is Written. 02:27 We're starting here, in Deuteronomy, 02:29 in the New Testament Sabbath afternoon. 02:32 We got a lot of verses to read, 02:33 but the memory text for this lesson is, 02:37 "It is written, 02:38 man shall not live by bread alone, 02:40 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 02:42 And that's Matthew 4:4. 02:45 So we're going to take a little moment to pray 02:47 and then we're going to find out exactly 02:49 what this is all about 02:50 and what kind of connection this has in Matthew 4, 02:53 with the Book of Deuteronomy. 02:55 Shelley, would you like to pray for us? 02:56 I would love to pray. Thank you. 02:57 Father, we are so grateful to You, 03:00 for Jesus Christ, Your Holy Spirit, 03:02 and Your Word. 03:03 And, Lord, we know Your Word is life to us. 03:06 We know that we need to live by every word 03:11 that is implanted in our souls can save us. 03:16 And so, Father, we ask in the name of Jesus, 03:18 that You will send Your Holy Spirit 03:20 to be our teacher in Jesus' name. 03:22 Amen. Amen. 03:25 It's interesting, 03:26 when you read the Book of Deuteronomy, 03:28 that there is so much connection 03:29 with the New Testament. 03:31 I didn't realize how much connection there was 03:32 with the New Testament. 03:33 And that's why we have over and over again reminded you 03:36 that Deuteronomy was one 03:38 of the most quoted books by Jesus Christ. 03:41 And we're going to see that more than ever 03:42 here in Matthew Chapter 4. 03:44 He is tempted three times and he goes back 03:47 to the Book of Deuteronomy time and time again. 03:49 Now, this temptation took place in the wilderness. 03:53 Deuteronomy takes place in the wilderness 03:56 just before they enter into the Promised Land, 03:58 so there's a connection that has been made there. 04:00 And, of course, we understand 04:01 that God's people in the wilderness failed 04:04 to keep covenant with God, 04:05 they failed to keep their end of the bargain. 04:06 But guess who didn't fail in the wilderness 04:09 to keep their end of the bargain? 04:11 Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the one who stood in our place 04:14 and accomplished for us 04:16 what we couldn't accomplish for ourselves. 04:17 So we're going to see this over and over again as the lesson 04:19 quarterly brings out in the Sabbath School lesson 04:23 on the Sabbath day, it brings out over 04:25 and over again there we see the New Testament 04:28 quoting the Book of Deuteronomy, 04:30 some good stuff right there, 04:31 but we're gonna jump right into Sunday's lesson, 04:33 which is entitled It Is Written. 04:35 And we've quoted Matthew 4:4, Jesus Christ here, 04:39 just to set us up is in the wilderness. 04:42 He's been tempted of the devil on the lust of the flesh, 04:45 the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, 04:47 the three leading temptations. 04:49 1 John 2:15-17 tells us 04:52 that all the temptations that come to us 04:54 come out of these three leading temptations. 04:56 Well, Jesus Christ is called to be tempted in all points 05:00 such as we are, and these are the three points 05:04 because there's no other temptation that comes 05:05 to us that doesn't come to one of these three leading points, 05:09 so in order for Jesus to sympathize with us, 05:11 to empathize with us, 05:12 to be able to relate to us in our temptations, 05:14 He has to be tempted in these three points, 05:16 but not just in His day-to-day activity. 05:19 He's taken out into the wilderness, 05:21 He's taken out into a place where He fast for 40 days 05:25 so that He can feel the frailty, 05:26 the weakness of human nature such as we do. 05:30 In that context, He finally is left alone, 05:34 you know, He's in converse with God, 05:36 He's connected with God for those 40 days 05:37 and 40 nights, but then finally 05:39 the presence of God is pulled away, 05:41 and Jesus is left there, 05:43 like we are in our sin and temptation, 05:45 feeling like God has abandoned us, 05:47 feeling like where is God? 05:49 And in comes Satan. 05:51 And what is Jesus going to do in this kind of situation? 05:54 Well, again, He's been tempted like as we are, 05:56 He's going to trust like 05:58 we need to do on the Word of God. 06:01 That's where He needs to turn. 06:03 He needs to turn to the Word of God 06:04 and that's what He does over and over again. 06:06 I love this. 06:07 It's such a powerful interaction 06:10 that takes place here between Satan and Jesus. 06:13 Let's just read a bit of it in Matthew Chapter 4, 06:16 and let's just go down here in Matthew 4:3, 06:21 "When the tempter came to Him, that is to Jesus, 06:23 he said, 'If thou be the Son of God, 06:28 command the stones to be made bread.'" 06:31 If thou be the Son of God. 06:33 Devil ever said that to you, Shelley? 06:36 If you're a Christian, if you're a believer, 06:38 if you're a child of God, prove it by what you do, 06:43 prove it by your obedience, prove it by your actions. 06:48 The devil ever come and say that to you? 06:50 And this is exactly 06:51 what the devil is doing with Christ. 06:53 He's coming to Him and he's saying, listen, 06:54 if you're the Son of God, 06:56 not remembering those words 06:58 that were just spoken in Matthew 3, 07:00 just spoken at the baptism of Christ, 07:01 just spoken there at the Jordan, 07:03 remember those words? 07:04 Yeah. 07:05 This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. 07:07 Satan doesn't want us to remember 07:08 the promises of God, the words of God, 07:10 the blessings of God. 07:11 He doesn't want us to remember the gospel of Jesus Christ 07:13 that's spoken into us. 07:15 He wants to blank all of that out 07:16 and he wants to get us focused 07:18 on proving that we're God's children 07:20 because of what we do, 07:21 because of our actions, because of our obedience. 07:23 Do this and I'll believe that you're a child of God, 07:26 but Jesus resists as we need to do. 07:30 He resists this temptation 07:32 by going back to the Word of God. 07:34 He resists this temptation by placing His feet 07:37 firmly on the Word of God. 07:39 It is written, is what He says and I love this, it is written. 07:43 Verse 4, "But He answered and said, 07:45 'It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, 07:47 but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" 07:52 Now, it's really interesting 07:53 when we look at this temptation, 07:54 you know, Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread. 07:57 Jill, when was the last time you attempted to turn 07:59 stones into bread? 08:00 Never. 08:03 What kind of temptation is that for us? 08:05 How does Jesus relate to us in that kind of a temptation? 08:08 Right? 08:09 Well, we need to remember that Jesus was God man, 08:11 Jesus was divine-human. 08:14 He laid aside His divinity, but it was still there. 08:16 He could have turned stones into bread. 08:18 And let me tell you, it was hard for Him 08:20 not to respond to this, because you can imagine 08:23 He's got the divinity in Him, 08:24 He doesn't have to run down to the store to sin, right? 08:26 He doesn't have to go around the corner. 08:28 He doesn't have to do anything, but just speak, even blink, 08:31 perhaps, and those stones will be turned into bread. 08:34 Can you imagine that kind of temptation, 08:36 with that kind of power that He has within Him? 08:38 But if Jesus would have done that, 08:40 He would have relied upon Himself, 08:42 instead of relying upon God. 08:43 He would have relied upon His divinity 08:45 instead of relying upon God's divinity. 08:47 And that would have left us hopeless because the only thing 08:51 we can rely on is the power of God, 08:53 the divinity of God, the Word of God. 08:56 And so Jesus came to give us that example, He says, listen, 08:59 I'm not even going to parley with you Satan, 09:00 I'm not even going to think about it for a second, 09:03 it is written, man does not live by bread alone, 09:06 but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 09:09 And then the devil comes at Him again. 09:11 You ever notice how the devil comes at us again, 09:12 you know, and again, right? 09:14 He comes out to Him again and again, 09:16 and that's why it's so important for us to recognize 09:19 that Jesus Christ is our example 09:20 because He's taking all the assaults of the devil, 09:23 one after another, 09:24 and He's telling us what we need to do 09:26 when we are attacked by the devil, 09:27 we need to go to the Word of God. 09:29 And so He says, here, the devil, of course, 09:31 says here in verse 5, 09:33 "And the devil takes him up into the holy city, 09:36 he sets him upon a pinnacle of the temple, 09:37 and he says to him, 'If thou be the Son of God..." 09:40 Here we go again, right? Okay. 09:42 I already have had this temptation 09:45 to disbelieve that I'm God's child. 09:47 I've already had this temptation because, 09:49 you know, I look at what I'm doing, 09:50 and I don't see it there but again, 09:53 the devil comes at us and he says, 09:54 if you're a child of God, if you're a Son of God, 09:56 if you're a daughter of God, he's coming at us 09:59 right there where it matters the most. 10:00 If you're the Son of God 10:02 cast yourself down, for it is written. 10:06 That's right. Yeah. 10:08 Satan will use the Word of God against us. 10:10 Satan will use the commands of God against us. 10:12 Satan will use what we ought to be doing in the Word of God 10:14 against us. 10:16 He'll try to crush us, oh, he'll just come at us 10:17 with the word, hey, you know, 10:18 it's written right here, you know, 10:20 isn't this what you should be doing? 10:21 Isn't this what should be identifying your life? 10:24 And when he does that, 10:27 because Satan always takes the Word of God out of context. 10:29 He always takes the Word of God to extreme. 10:32 When he does that, 10:33 we need to come back with him the way that Jesus did. 10:36 Because Satan's quoting scripture, 10:37 "He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, 10:39 in their hands they shall bear thee up, 10:40 lest thy dash, thy foot against a stone." 10:42 And by the way, that's Psalm 91. 10:44 Powerful Psalm that we need to claim for ourselves. 10:47 Jesus said unto him, verse 7, you ready for this? 10:49 "Jesus said unto him, 'It is written...'" 10:51 What's the next word? Again. 10:53 "It is written again." 10:55 You see, we've got to go to the Word of God. 10:57 Sometimes we just need 10:58 the weight of evidence of God's Word. 11:00 You know we've got to saturate our minds with the Word of God, 11:03 you know, we've got to get that gospel sandwich, 11:06 we need to be filled with God's Word, 11:09 so that we can resist the assaults of Satan 11:11 as he comes against us, promoting our weaknesses, 11:14 promoting our failures, pointing to the things 11:16 that we're not doing that are in harmony 11:18 with the Word of God. 11:20 And so Jesus says, in verse 7, "It is written again, 11:22 thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 11:25 Again, you get that word, right? 11:27 Again, the devil comes in, he's relentless, isn't he? 11:30 He's relentless in his attacks. 11:32 "Again, the devil takes Him up 11:33 into an exceedingly high mountain, 11:34 he shows him all the kingdoms of the world, 11:36 the glory of them and he says to Him, 11:38 all these I will give you, 11:39 all these things I will give you 11:40 if you will fall down and worship me." 11:42 That's what he really wants. 11:44 He really wants worship. 11:45 Satan wants to put himself in the place of God. 11:48 He wants to be in the sides of the north. 11:50 He wants to be in the Mount of the Congregation. 11:52 He wants to receive the worship that belongs only to God 11:55 and get us that and so many subtle ways. 11:57 I mean, here he's quoting the Bible. 11:59 But Jesus says unto him, get the hint, Satan. 12:03 Why can he say this? 12:05 Why can Jesus say this, for it is written, 12:08 thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 12:09 and Him only shall thou serve? 12:12 You know this is so powerful. 12:14 This is so powerful because Jesus doesn't let Satan define 12:18 who He is and neither should we. 12:22 We are who God says we are, 12:24 not who Satan tempts us to think we are. 12:26 The greatest temptations that come to us aren't those things, 12:29 you know, to lust after. 12:30 The great temptations that come to us are the temptations 12:34 to insecurity. 12:35 And when we're insecure about ourselves in our relationship 12:38 with God that's when temptations have 12:40 their way with us. 12:42 We need to get into that secure relationship with God. 12:45 He is our Father. We are His children. 12:47 He loves us. 12:48 He's forgiven us, He's justified us. 12:50 We are saved by His righteousness. 12:51 And when we have that assurance, 12:55 Ephesians 2:9-10 says, 12:57 we become his workmanship, His poiema, 13:00 we become his workmanship, 13:01 we're created of the good works, 13:02 and we just bathe in those good works. 13:05 We love those good works, because we have this assurance 13:07 that we're God's children, 13:09 we have this assurance that God is with us 13:10 that He's walking with us that He's talking with us. 13:13 So in summary, 13:14 remember you are not who the devil tempts you to be, 13:18 you are not who the devil tempts you to think you are, 13:22 you are not the summation of your greatest temptations. 13:26 You are who God says you are. 13:30 You are a prodigal returned to the fold. 13:33 You are a sheep brought back to the fold. 13:37 You are a publican justified. 13:39 You are a sinner forgiven 13:42 and ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 13:44 Amen. Amen. 13:46 Praise the Lord. 13:48 I let you a little extra time there, Kenny. 13:49 Come on. I love it. 13:51 He got every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 13:54 Thank you for emphasizing that. 13:56 And I have Monday's lesson. 13:58 And that's such a good foundation which to build upon. 14:00 This kind of a transition really looking at, 14:04 you know, this part, but we need, Lifting up Faces. 14:06 What could that possibly mean lifting up faces on Monday, 14:10 but in Deuteronomy 10, Moses, 14:11 I like the word you talked about again, right? 14:14 Moses, again, was recounting Israel's history and again, 14:17 use these accounts 14:19 and admonished people in their faithfulness. 14:22 So we want to look in Deuteronomy 10:17-19. 14:31 Notice the Word of God, I love to say, 14:33 this is what the Word of God says. 14:34 This is what God says in His Word. 14:36 Seventeen, notice it says, 14:38 "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, 14:42 a great God, a mighty and terrible, 14:46 which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. 14:50 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless 14:52 and the widow and loveth the stranger, 14:55 and giving him food and remnant, 14:57 and love ye, therefore, 14:59 the stranger for ye were strangers in the land 15:02 of Egypt." 15:03 So, again, we go back and we look at again 15:05 God said these are some of the reasons why we love God. 15:08 He's supplying all of our needs. 15:10 I know He's been supplying all of your needs 15:11 as He has mine throughout my life. 15:13 So really, why should I worry when times really get tough? 15:15 He's been there all the time. 15:16 He'd been there for years, I've never been forsaken, right. 15:18 He said, "I've never seen the righteous forsaken 15:20 nor the seed begging bread." 15:23 Praise God for that. 15:24 It's the central message for today, Lifting up Faces. 15:26 And so we look at that. 15:28 He says, which regardeth not, 15:29 there's a phrase in there that regardeth not in verse 17, 15:32 regardeth not persons. 15:34 So this is kind of interesting, 15:36 regardeth not or show no partiality, 15:38 I think that's what we're seeing in these verses. 15:39 There'll be several more we can share here 15:41 as we go along. 15:42 It's translated from the Hebrew figure of speech, 15:45 it means literally, that he does not lift up faces. 15:49 And what does that mean? 15:50 I know our lesson kind of brings it out too, 15:51 and you do a little more study on it. 15:53 It comes from a kind of like a legal background 15:56 setting for many years ago, 15:58 where you had a judge or you had a king, 16:01 you know, they'd pass sentence. 16:02 They'd bring somebody before them 16:04 and if they were a man of means, 16:06 you know, if they were somebody big in the community, 16:10 you know, somebody that may be carried 16:11 a little extra weight, he looked at their face, 16:14 or what they had or their position, 16:16 and therefore he would pass sentence. 16:20 You say, well, surely we haven't gone that far today? 16:22 Surely, we wouldn't do anything like that? 16:25 Well, maybe we went a little bit backward 16:27 rather than going forward here. 16:29 I'm glad that God doesn't judge us that way, 16:33 about how we look, or maybe our education 16:36 or our background where we were raised. 16:38 But you know, even in this country, 16:40 we find some things that went on in the 1800s 16:43 that you're thinking, they really did. 16:46 It bled over into the 1800s 'cause they did... 16:51 I wanna say this nicely. 16:52 Now, come on, somebody stay with me, 16:54 you know because they had ugly laws on the book. 16:59 Ugly laws? 17:01 Ugly laws, 17:02 and a lot of had to do with whether you were disabled, 17:06 or you were poor or you were a beggar, or no, 17:10 I don't wanna say but you go to Wikipedia, 17:11 you'll find that out .org, 17:13 you'll find out that these laws. 17:14 If your face was a little bit, you know, you'd be fined. 17:20 So you didn't want to get out during the daytime. 17:22 And listen, you think that's really interesting. 17:24 Listen, Chicago had it on the books, 17:27 legislative books, 17:29 and it was in operation until 1974. 17:32 Finally, they threw it out. Think about it. 17:35 To me ugly laws, first one was at 1867, 17:39 California, New York, Denver, and Oregon, 17:41 so on had these laws. 17:44 If your looks were bad, you could be fined. 17:48 You know, we were thinking during our time 17:50 you could see it. 17:51 I want to relate more back in the time of the judge 17:53 or kings way back then that again, 17:55 they were looking out for themselves and so on. 17:57 But why would these kinds of laws be on there, 18:00 you know, 1883, 1867, 1881, 18:03 and stay on for 90 years in Chicago? 18:07 The last time they repealed it 1974 so anyway, 18:12 I'm thankful we have a God that doesn't look on the, 18:14 you know, outside of man. 18:16 He looks on the inward that He looks at the heart 18:19 and looks in the mind and so I praise God for that. 18:22 Acts 10:34, we'll go on because we want to match up 18:25 with what we read in Deuteronomy 10:17 here. 18:28 Notice what Peter said here. 18:30 Acts 10:34, 18:31 "Then Peter opened his mouth and he said of a," what? 18:35 "Of a truth, I perceive that God 18:37 is no respecter of persons." 18:40 Praise God that we serve one who's no respecter of persons. 18:44 No one has an advantage over the other. 18:46 God loves everyone the same. 18:48 And I don't know that we can say that for ourselves. 18:52 We're partial, and maybe sometime 18:54 we should be in a right balance. 18:56 You're partial to your wife, 18:57 you're partial to your children, 18:58 and so on and so forth but God says 19:00 we're to love everyone. 19:02 We get to heaven, we're going to love everybody the same. 19:05 Man, that's kind of interesting thought, everyone the same, 19:07 no one's gonna be put above another. 19:10 And that's the way God looks at us. 19:11 I'm thankful for that. 19:12 Desire of Ages, page 639, you have a chance to look at, 19:15 I'm going to read it for you 19:16 but in case you gonna do some study on it. 19:18 It says angels of heaven, praise God for the angels 19:20 of heaven, that are passing throughout the length 19:23 and the breadth of the earth. 19:24 Right? 19:25 Those angels just coming and they're going 19:27 and usually a lot for me, 19:29 I know because I need extra help all the time. 19:31 So the angels are coming and going 19:32 and getting message from the Father and so on. 19:34 They're seeking to comfort those who are sorrowing. 19:37 So if you're sorrowing today and to protect the imperiled 19:40 and to win hearts of men to Christ. 19:43 Angels are busy people. 19:44 Praise God for our angels. Okay. 19:46 Not one of us is neglected or passed by. 19:48 I love that not one. 19:50 Remember, it's not God just looks on the face 19:52 or he looks at his face and said oh, they don't, 19:54 their education you can't, no you can't, 19:55 you don't know, you're disable you're blah-blah-blah. 19:58 No, God looks at us right here. 19:59 Not one is passed by, God is no respecter of persons. 20:03 He has an equal care for all souls that he has created. 20:08 I mean, really that challenges 20:10 my thinking because we're used to everything 20:12 is here little laws going your love, 20:13 you have a little partiality. 20:15 In Desire of Ages 638 says this, I like this, 20:18 well, kind of a one-liner. 20:19 "Not to any class is Christ love restricted. 20:24 Not to any class is it restricted. 20:27 When you and I may go down the street 20:28 and we restrict our love. 20:30 And what we might do we see somebody 20:32 we think maybe he's not. 20:33 Well, you know what I'm talking about here? Yeah. 20:35 He identifies himself with every child of humanity. 20:39 I'm thankful that he does that he hasn't forgot us 20:41 or the little poor Shelton Boy 20:43 who was born 812 West Warden Street. 20:45 I'm thankful that God didn't look on the faces 20:47 of the wallet, you know, He still dwelt 20:50 and still worked with us as He does everyone. 20:52 Romans 2:11, this comes in our lesson. 20:56 Romans 2:11. 20:57 Again, just reiterating once again, 20:59 for there is no respecter of persons with what? 21:03 With God. 21:04 Prophets and Kings, 369 says this, 21:07 "No distinction on account of nationality, 21:10 race, or caste is recognized by God. 21:14 He is the Maker of all mankind. 21:16 So somewhat going over some of the same things 21:18 but I think sometimes we need that 21:20 because in this world that we're living in right now, 21:22 there's a lot about race, 21:23 there's a lot about nationality. 21:25 There's a lot about this group and that group and what so. 21:27 God is no respecter of person, He loves everybody the same 21:31 and He wants us to love man too. 21:33 I give you a example here quick, 21:34 couple of examples of it that God loves 21:36 and gives everyone equal opportunity. 21:39 In Exodus 12:31-32, 21:42 we're not going to read that there 21:43 but you'll know this is dealing with pharaoh. 21:45 Right? 21:46 Pharaoh finally said, after you know, 21:47 all this came to him, let my people go, 21:49 let my people go, finally he said what? 21:51 Go serve your Lord, right, and bless me also. 21:56 He was feeling that tugging of the Holy Spirit even on him, 21:59 he said, and bless me also. 22:02 Go serve your God. Joshua 2:11. 22:04 In Jericho, the heathen woman said, 22:06 "The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above 22:10 and on earth beneath." 22:14 God was working on her also. 22:16 Rahab you remember that in Hebrews 11:31, 22:20 by faith Rahab perished not with them that believe not. 22:24 God's giving everybody a fair shake, 22:25 you're getting a fair shake. 22:27 God's got his eye on you. 22:28 He got his eye on the sparrow, right? 22:29 He knows everything about you. 22:31 He's not gonna take his eye off of you because He wants 22:32 to help you and He wants to help me. 22:34 Prophets and Kings, 370 says this, 22:36 "All men are of one family." 22:38 I like this. 22:39 If we really believe that, I think we might treat 22:40 each other just a little bit differently than we do. 22:43 We're family by creation and all through one, 22:47 through redemption, 22:49 we're all part of the family of God, 22:51 We're all kin. 22:53 I like that. We're all related. 22:54 Isn't that wonderful? 22:56 Could we call it a blood relation here too 22:58 from very beginning? 23:00 Yes. 23:01 And if you do you always say, well, my aunt, my uncle, 23:03 my mom, my dad, my brother 23:05 we're all part of the family of God 23:06 so when you look upon your brother and sister 23:07 part of the family of God. 23:10 Galatians 2:6, Paul speaking, 23:11 but of these who seemeth to be somewhat, 23:15 whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me. 23:19 Some people seem like they're some because they think 23:21 they're walking in tall cotton. 23:22 Have you seen somebody like that? 23:24 They're dressed fit to kill they talk about, 23:26 and they think they're something. 23:27 Paul looks down, he says right. 23:29 They seem to think they're somewhat. 23:31 But he said to me, it doesn't matter to me. 23:35 And that said doesn't matter to God. 23:36 God accepteth no man's persons. 23:39 Well, praise God for that. 23:41 That gives us all hope, gives us all encouragement, 23:43 regardless of what side of track that you came on, 23:45 or wherever you're going, or wherever you're headed, 23:47 God's headed there with you. 23:48 He did not take his eyes off you. 23:50 He loves you and I know He's coming back 23:51 with invitation, be ready. 23:53 Amen. Praise the Lord. 23:55 God is good. 23:56 I love that, Pastor Kenny. 23:57 We are all one family. 23:59 We're gonna continue to understand 24:01 this beautiful theme. 24:02 So don't go away. We'll be right back. 24:08 Ever wish you could watch a 3ABN 24:10 Sabbath School Panel again, or share it on Facebook, 24:13 Instagram or Twitter? 24:14 Well, you can by visiting 24:17 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com 24:19 A clean design makes it easy 24:22 to find the program you're looking for. 24:24 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 24:28 so you can follow along. 24:29 Sharing is easy. 24:31 Just click share and choose your favorite social media. 24:34 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 24:38 Hi, friends, and welcome back to our Sabbath School study 24:41 Present Truth in Deuteronomy. 24:43 Deuteronomy in the New Testament, 24:44 we are moving to Tuesday's lesson. 24:46 Thank you so much, Pastor James and Pastor Kenny, 24:49 what an incredible foundation. 24:50 What an amazing lesson study. 24:53 I'm Jill Morikone and I have Tuesday's lesson, 24:55 Cursed on A Tree. 24:57 You probably know where we're going. 24:59 We're going to the Book of Galatians. 25:01 Galatians and we're going to look at the connection 25:04 between Galatians and Deuteronomy 25:06 and the verses that were quoted, 25:08 that Paul quoted in Galatians from Deuteronomy. 25:10 Of course, Paul wrote the Book of Galatians, 25:13 probably one of his earlier letters. 25:15 And one of the issues that he addressed in the early 25:18 Galatian Church was that of grace and works, 25:23 that of how we are saved. 25:26 Circumcision was a big deal in the early Christian Church 25:30 at that time, namely, did Gentile Christians 25:33 once they accepted Jesus as Messiah did they need 25:36 to be circumcised in order to be saved? 25:39 In other words, were they saved by grace plus 25:42 the outward work or outward act of circumcision 25:45 or were they just saved by grace through faith? 25:49 Paul addresses this in the Book of Galatians. 25:52 It's also addressed in Acts Chapter 15 25:54 at the Jerusalem Council. 25:56 You know, Galatians offers a uniquely Christian reading 26:00 of the Old Testament. 26:02 It explains the differences in the traditional 26:04 Jewish understanding of the Old Testament 26:07 and the church's new understanding 26:10 of the Old Testament. 26:12 Paul argues that the promises given to the Jews 26:15 were now extended to the entire world. 26:18 And that salvation for the Gentiles 26:20 is also found in the Old Testament too. 26:22 You know, the Jews fell, it was very exclusive 26:25 and Paul opens up their understanding 26:28 and expands our understanding. 26:29 So we're looking at Galatians 3:1-14 26:34 that's what the lesson has this read. 26:35 We're not going to read them all, 26:37 but we're going to read portions of that. 26:39 And, Pastor Ryan, I have six takeaways from this passage. 26:42 Galatians 3:1-14. 26:45 Let's pick it up in verse 1. 26:46 Oh, foolish, Galatians. 26:48 Now, when you read that in English, that's pretty strong. 26:51 My mom used to say, don't ever call someone stupid, right? 26:55 Don't ever call someone foolish. 26:57 And yet he says, oh, foolish, Galatians. 27:01 The word foolish in Greek is even stronger than in English. 27:04 It means mindless and stupid. 27:08 "Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? 27:11 This is the gospel 27:13 before whose eyes Jesus Christ 27:16 was clearly portrayed among you, as crucified." 27:19 Jump down to verse 3. 27:21 "Are you so foolish? 27:24 Having begun in the spirit are you now being made 27:27 perfect by the flesh?" 27:29 And, of course, the flesh he's referencing that circumcision. 27:32 If you were saved by grace, do you need outward works 27:37 to add to that salvation? 27:40 Takeaway number one, 27:41 salvation is by grace through faith, 27:44 works cannot add to our salvation. 27:48 Works are clearly evidence of our salvation, 27:52 but they cannot add to our salvation. 27:56 Takeaway number two, 27:57 it's easy to be walking in works yet think you 28:01 walking in grace. 28:03 Have you ever discovered that? 28:05 It's easy to think I'm saved by grace through faith 28:08 and I truly believe that, and I'm walking in that, 28:12 and you're not even be walking in at all. 28:15 Jeremiah 17:9, what's the Word of God say? 28:17 The heart is deceitful above all things, 28:19 and desperately wicked, who can know it?" 28:22 We can be spiritually deceived, 28:25 thinking that we're walking in grace 28:28 when we're actually walking in works after all. 28:30 You know, Greg and I talk about this 28:32 a lot and that is the term balance. 28:36 What is balance? 28:37 What is balance spiritually? 28:39 And we talk about this a lot. 28:41 I could say, we could say we're balanced. 28:44 We only say that because there are some people 28:46 who lean more to the right than us 28:48 and some people who lean more to the left than us, 28:51 but is that balance? 28:53 And the person who leans maybe more to the right says 28:55 I'm balanced because there's people 28:57 who lean more to the left from them, 28:59 and people who still lean more to the right from them. 29:02 So it's easy for us to be walking in grace 29:06 and think we're walking in grace, 29:08 and yet we're spiritually deceived. 29:10 We don't even know our own hearts. 29:12 Let's jump down to verse 5. 29:14 Galatians 3:5, 29:15 "Therefore, He who supplies the spirit to you, 29:18 and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works 29:21 of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" 29:25 Just as Abraham believed God, 29:28 and it was accounted to him for righteousness, 29:32 to pass to one's account, 29:33 it was imputed to him for righteousness. 29:38 Now was Abraham justified by faith or by works? 29:41 Clearly, he was justified by faith 29:44 even prior to the circumcision 29:46 that took place there in Genesis Chapter 17. 29:51 Paul brings this out, we won't look it up. 29:53 But in Romans Chapter 4, he says, 29:54 was Abraham justified before circumcision 29:56 or after circumcision? 29:58 Meaning, are we saved by grace 30:00 and then we have to add some works to it, 30:02 or we saved by grace through faith? 30:04 And Paul makes it very clear, Abraham was justified. 30:08 Abraham was accepted by God as righteous, 30:11 even though he was still uncircumcised 30:13 before the works took place. 30:16 Takeaway number three, 30:18 we are justified by the merits and blood of Jesus alone. 30:22 Works don't add to our justification 30:24 to our standing with God. 30:25 Works don't earn favor with God. 30:29 You know, what's interesting to me 30:31 is that sometimes we take this gospel truth 30:34 found in the Book of Galatians, 30:35 which to me is incredibly liberating. 30:38 We are saved by grace through faith, it's amazing. 30:40 But we can take it, Pastor Kenny, 30:42 and we can tip it on the other side. 30:44 And then we can say, oh, it's all about grace. 30:48 I'll sit back and rest because Jesus has done everything 30:51 and it doesn't matter how I live, 30:52 doesn't matter what I think, it doesn't matter how I speak. 30:56 But that's not what the Word of God teaches. 30:58 You know, in Galatians Chapter 5, 31:00 we have the works of the flesh, right? 31:01 And the fruit of the Spirit. 31:04 And it's so clear, if I do not walk in love, 31:08 if I do not walk in joy, in peace, 31:10 in patience toward others, I am not converted. 31:14 I do not know Jesus. 31:17 Works automatically follow salvation. 31:20 They follow our justification process. 31:23 Let's keep going, verse 7. 31:24 "Therefore, know that only those who are of faith 31:28 are sons of Abraham. 31:29 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify 31:32 the Gentiles by faith, 31:33 preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, 31:36 saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.' 31:40 So then those who are of faith, these would be the Gentiles, 31:44 are blessed with believing Abraham.'" 31:47 Those who were justified before circumcision. 31:50 Takeaway number four, all have access to the gospel. 31:54 All have access to salvation, the Jews and the Gentiles, 31:58 circumcised and uncircumcised. 32:00 All have access to the gospel. 32:02 All can be justified by faith and made righteous with God. 32:07 Takeaway number five, 32:08 be careful when you limit 32:10 who you think God is gonna save. 32:12 When you become a respecter, Pastor Kenny, of persons, 32:18 the gospel is not a club. 32:19 It is for everyone. 32:21 James 2:1, "My brethren, 32:23 do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, 32:25 the Lord of glory, with partiality." 32:28 Now let's get to verse 10. 32:29 "For as many as are of the works of the law." 32:32 These are the Jews or those who depend on the law 32:35 to make them righteous. 32:37 They are under the curse or separated from God. 32:40 For it is written now we quote from Deuteronomy 27:26, 32:46 "It is written, cursed is everyone 32:50 who does not continue in all things 32:52 which are written in the Book of the law to do them," 32:55 referring to Deuteronomy. 32:58 Takeaway number six, be careful not to place 33:00 a wrong interpretation on the role 33:03 of the law in our lives. 33:06 The law is important. 33:07 Romans 7 clearly say the law is holy, just and good. 33:10 The law points our sin and our need of a Savior, 33:13 but the law does not change us. 33:14 Now we get to cursed under the law, verses 11-13, 33:18 "But that no one is justified by the law in the sight 33:21 of God is evident, 33:23 for the just shall live by faith. 33:24 Yet the law is not a faith, 33:26 but the man who does them shall live by them. 33:29 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, 33:32 having become a curse for us." 33:34 We quote again from Deuteronomy 21:22-23, 33:40 "For it is written, cursed is everyone 33:43 who hangs on a tree." 33:45 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. 33:47 You and I were sold under sin. 33:50 Romans 3:23, 33:51 "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God 33:54 and the wages of sin is death." 33:56 Christ took my sin. 33:58 Christ took your sin, our penalty on the cross. 34:02 He hung on the cross. 34:05 He died in our place that is called 34:07 substitutionary atonement. 34:09 The Lord Jesus took our sin on him on the tree. 34:15 He was not guilty, yet He took my shame. 34:18 He took my guilt. 34:20 He bore the curse for me, so that I could be righteous, 34:25 so that I could be justified, 34:27 so that I could be brought back into right standing with God. 34:31 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made Him who knew no sin, 34:35 to be sin for us, 34:37 that we might become the righteousness 34:40 of God in Him." 34:41 Galatians 3:14, 34:43 why was he cursed on the tree? 34:45 "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles," 34:48 that's you and I, "in Christ Jesus, 34:50 that we might receive the promise of the Spirit 34:52 through faith." 34:54 Amen. Wow, praise the Lord. 34:57 It's amazing to see how flooded the Bible is especially 35:00 the New Testament with that what many people consider, 35:03 old look, right, Old Testament book, 35:06 Deuteronomy, we're seeing that the gospel 35:08 is all through this book. 35:09 And it's just such a blessing. Thank you, Jill, for that. 35:11 I'm Ryan Day. 35:13 And I have Wednesday's lesson entitled 35:15 A Prophet Like Unto Thee. 35:17 And we are indeed going to learn how God's speaking 35:20 to Moses told the people, you know, 35:23 after a summation of different things 35:25 that he encouraged them to practice or not practice, 35:29 obviously, He says, look, after Moses, 35:31 I'm going to send another prophet like unto thee. 35:33 We'll get into that in just a moment. 35:35 But the blessing brings out over and over that the Lord 35:37 had warned Israel not to follow after the practices 35:41 of the nations around them. 35:42 On the contrary, they were to be a witness to those nations. 35:46 And, of course, we see that in Deuteronomy 4:6-8, 35:49 God wanted them to be a blessing 35:51 to the rest of the world, that beacon of light 35:53 to everyone else. 35:54 And, of course, in Deuteronomy Chapter 18, 35:56 which is what we're going to be reading from now. 35:58 Deuteronomy 18:9-14, 36:02 Moses again warns them about their specific practices, 36:05 which were an abomination to the Lord. 36:08 And, of course, we see this in Deuteronomy 18:12, 36:10 more specifically, 36:12 but in that context then he tells them 36:14 that they must be blameless before the Lord your God. 36:18 We're gonna see that here in verse 13. 36:20 So again, right now, 36:22 we're going to read that passage, 36:23 Deuteronomy 18:9-14. 36:26 There are some interesting notes here that we can take, 36:28 and I'm going to highlight a few things before 36:30 we get to that specific passage later on, 36:33 that talks about the prophet like unto thee. 36:36 So Deuteronomy 18:9-14. 36:39 Notice what the Bible says. 36:41 It says, "When you come into the land 36:42 which the Lord your God is giving you, 36:45 you shall not learn to follow 36:47 the abominations of those nations. 36:49 There shall not be found among you anyone 36:52 who makes his son or his daughter 36:53 pass through the fire, 36:55 or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, 36:59 or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 37:03 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, 37:06 or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 37:10 For all who do these things are abominations to the Lord. 37:14 And because of these abominations 37:17 the Lord your God drives them out from before you." 37:21 And then verse 13, 37:23 "You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 37:27 For these nations which you will dispossess 37:30 listened to soothsayers and diviners, 37:33 but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed 37:37 such for you." 37:39 Now, my question is, before we get into the theme 37:42 of this particular study, 37:43 why in the world would the Lord not want them 37:47 have to do with these particular practices? 37:50 Well, there's an obvious reason, right? 37:52 But I want to look at just a few texts 37:53 to that kind of summarize this. 37:55 Back up here in verse 9 37:58 and starting into the beginning portion of verse 10, it says, 38:01 "You shall not learn to follow 38:03 the abominations of the nations." 38:04 And then notice verse 10, near the beginning, 38:06 it says, "There shall not be found among you, 38:08 anyone who makes his son or his daughter 38:10 pass through the fire." 38:11 You read this a lot throughout the Old Testament, 38:14 you know, evil kings, you know, of the 43, 38:18 kings of Israel and Judah. 38:19 So the above total, 38:21 there were only seven righteous kings 38:23 that did right in the sight of the Lord. 38:25 And there were other ones that the Bible says 38:26 did right in the sight of the Lord but they ended up 38:28 doing evil in the latter portions of their days, 38:30 but only seven from beginning to end out of the 43 kings 38:34 of both Israel and Judah. 38:35 And the majority, 38:37 the vast majority of them 38:38 practiced these certain practices, one of which, 38:41 which is mentioned here, making their sons 38:43 and their daughters pass through the fire. 38:44 What in the world does that mean? 38:45 You know, you probably see some of the pagan practices. 38:48 I've seen, you know, video footage of people 38:50 walking on coals and stuff like that. 38:51 That's actually not what this is referring to. 38:53 Well, that is a pagan practice and you shouldn't do it 38:55 for those false spiritual reasons. 38:58 Literally, these evil kings, one of which we're going 39:00 to read about now in 2 Kings 16:2-4. 39:04 Ahaz was an evil king. 39:06 Ahab was an evil king, Omri was an evil king, Jeroboam, 39:10 you know, Jehoiachin all of these different, 39:12 Manasseh, all of these different kings, 39:14 they were evil kings. 39:16 But interesting, 2 Kings 16:2-4 speaking of Ahaz, 39:20 notice what it says, "Ahaz was twenty years old 39:22 when he became king, 39:23 and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, 39:25 and he did," notice, 39:26 "He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, 39:28 as his father David had done. 39:30 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, 39:33 indeed he made his son," there it is, 39:35 "pass through the fire, 39:36 according to the abominations of the nations 39:38 whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. 39:41 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, 39:45 on the hills, and under every green tree." 39:47 These were false gods and making their children 39:50 the sons and their daughters pass through the fire. 39:52 What were they doing? 39:53 They were literally sacrificing their children alive, 39:55 burning them alive for these false gods, 39:58 and it's a horrible thing to think of. 40:00 And that's what God saying here to them. 40:01 He said look, 40:02 that's what all these heathen nations do around you. 40:04 You're my people, I'm gonna give you this lamp, 40:08 you're gonna be a light to the world. 40:09 You can't be doing 40:11 what these other nations are doing, 40:12 you know, sacrificing their sons 40:14 and their daughters to these false gods 40:17 who don't even exist. 40:18 And really what they're doing 40:19 is they're taking the lives of their sons 40:21 and their daughters for the devil himself. 40:22 That's exactly what they're doing. 40:24 He goes on to talk about communication 40:26 with the dead, right? 40:27 We just read about that about the soothsayers 40:28 and the mediums and the spiritist. 40:30 1 Samuel 28, again King Saul, 40:34 God had told His people not to practice these things. 40:38 But notice what we find in 1 Samuel 28, 40:40 we're gonna read verses 3, 13 and 14, it says, 40:43 "Now Samuel had died, 40:44 and all of Israel had lamented for him, 40:46 and buried him in Ramah," 40:48 and then it goes on to say, "in his own city, 40:50 and Saul had put the mediums 40:51 and the spiritists out of the land." 40:53 So he knew the truth, right? 40:55 He heard what God had told him, don't practice, 40:58 don't contact these people, 41:00 don't have anything to do with them, 41:01 because they're not of Me. 41:02 But what does that brother going do? 41:04 Verses 13 and 14, he goes and meets with the Witch of Endor. 41:08 And verse 13, it says, and he said, 41:10 "And the king said to her, 'Do not be afraid, 41:12 what do you see?' 41:13 And the woman said to Saul, 41:14 'I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.' 41:16 And he said to her,' What is his form?' 41:17 And she said, 'It's an old man, it's coming up, 41:19 and he's covered with a mantle, 41:21 and Saul, notice, perceived that it was Samuel.'" 41:24 Notice and he stooped his face to the ground and bowed down. 41:28 What was Saul doing? 41:29 He was automatically disobeying God's command by going 41:33 and communicating with a medium, the spiritist. 41:36 And notice, it's interesting here, 41:37 he actually thinks he's now 41:39 so deceived into believing that he's communicating 41:41 with Samuel because it says here he perceived 41:45 that he was communicating with Samuel, 41:46 he wasn't communicating with Samuel, 41:48 he was communicating with a demon. 41:49 And this is what God is trying to protect them from. 41:52 1 Chronicles 10:13, tells us, 41:55 it says, "So Saul died for his unfaithfulness 41:57 which he had committed against the Lord because," 41:59 notice, "he did not keep the word of the Lord 42:01 and because he had consulted a medium for guidance." 42:04 So why does God not want them to communicate 42:07 with all of these spiritists and these different soothsayers 42:11 and sorcerers. 42:12 1 Timothy 4:1-2, 42:15 now the Spirit expressly says that in latter time, 42:17 someone depart from the faith 42:19 giving heed to deceiving spirits 42:22 and doctrines of demons. 42:23 Revelation 16:13-14, 42:26 "And I saw three unclean spirits 42:28 like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, 42:30 out of the mouth of the beast, 42:31 out of the mouth of the false prophet, 42:32 for they are the spirits of demons, 42:34 performing signs 42:36 which go to the kings of the earth 42:37 and the whole world." 42:39 1 John 4:1, 42:40 "Beloved, believe not every spirit but test the spirits, 42:43 whether they are of God, because many false prophets 42:46 have gone out into the world." 42:47 God did not want them communicating with these, 42:49 these spiritists, these sorcerers, 42:51 the soothsayer, these mediums, 42:53 and all of these different avenues because they're not 42:56 communicating with real dead people. 42:59 The dead sleep in the grave, the Bible says, 43:01 and they await resurrection, 43:03 they're communicating with demons. 43:05 That's why God says, don't do it, don't do it. 43:07 And yet these people often did that, 43:09 and the Lord would correct them for it. 43:11 Let's go into Deuteronomy 18:15-19. 43:15 It says, "The Lord your God will raise up for you 43:18 a prophet like me from your midst, 43:20 from your brethren, him you shall hear, 43:23 according to all you desire of the Lord your God, 43:26 and Horeb in the day of the assembling, saying, 43:28 Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, 43:31 nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die. 43:34 And the Lord said to me, what they have spoken is good, 43:37 I will raise up for them a prophet, 43:39 here it is, I will raise up for them 43:41 a prophet like you from among their brethren, 43:45 and will put my words in their mouth 43:46 and he shall speak to them 43:49 all that I have commanded them 43:50 and it shall be that whoever will not hear my words, 43:53 which he speaks in my name, 43:54 I will require it of him." 43:56 What God is saying is look don't go 43:57 to all these other nations 43:58 and listening to their spiritists 44:00 and their mediums and all their sorcerers and, 44:02 you know, all of these witches. 44:03 No, no, no, look, I'm gonna raise a man of God 44:06 from among you just like you Moses 44:08 down the line if they want to hear from me, 44:10 I'm going to speak through my prophet 44:12 shouldn't surprise us, because through Amos 3:7, 44:16 we see very clearly here it assuredly 44:18 the Lord does nothing 44:20 unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. 44:25 Peter quotes the same point 44:28 when he was referring to Jesus. 44:30 In Acts 3:22, it actually says, 44:33 for Moses truly said to your father's, 44:34 the Lord your God will raise up you a prophet like me 44:37 from among your brethren. 44:39 Again, he was referring to that Prophet being Jesus. 44:41 Jesus was that Prophet in His day, 44:44 to rise up to point people back to God, 44:46 even Stephen, as he's rebuking 44:48 the Sanhedrin right there in Acts 7:37, 44:51 he gives them the history of Israel, 44:53 and he quotes the words of Moses. 44:54 My friends, we don't need to listen to the outside world. 44:58 We just listen to God's Word. 45:00 Listen to God's prophets. 45:02 Don't mess with any spiritists, 45:03 don't mess with any spiritualists. 45:05 Listen to the Lord, listen to His Word, 45:08 and His prophets will lead you unto God. 45:10 Amen. Praise the Lord. 45:12 Well, I am Shelley Quinn and the lesson for Thursday 45:16 is my assignment. 45:17 It is called A Fearful Thing. 45:20 You know, when I read 1 John 4:18 that says, 45:25 "There is no fear in perfect love, 45:28 but perfect love casts out fear." 45:31 Doesn't that make you feel good? 45:33 You know, and that's the way I feel about the Lord. 45:36 I don't have that dreaded fear, 45:42 but there's a different kind of fear that I do have. 45:47 And that is the word that is meant to respect, 45:52 to honor, and to submit to his authority 45:56 as a parent with a child. 45:58 Here's the scripture that I used to agonize 46:01 over this scripture. 46:03 And it's in Hebrews 12:28-29. 46:08 Hebrews 12:28 says this, 46:12 "Let us have grace, by which we may serve 46:17 God acceptably with reverence 46:20 and godly fear." 46:22 So far, so good, verse 29, 46:27 "Our God is a consuming fire." 46:32 Mercy. 46:34 I used to think whoa! 46:37 Now, how can you see that 46:40 and how do you match that up 46:43 with the feeling of 1 John 4:18, 46:45 no fear in perfect love? 46:47 If you think about God being a consuming fire, 46:51 let me tell you something. 46:52 God is love. 46:56 God is perfectly sinless. 46:59 Love consumes sin. 47:02 Love cannot commit sin, that's why God is holy. 47:06 His nature is love. 47:10 So love consumes sin. 47:12 You know, God can't do anything 47:16 that is not of love. 47:18 I mean, even God's wrath is His, 47:23 His judgment, His holy righteous judgment, 47:26 and it is Him handling sin 47:30 that's done in love. 47:33 It is love. 47:34 So when we think 47:38 about the reason 47:41 we can't stand in the presence of God 47:45 without the robe of righteousness by faith, 47:48 the righteousness of Jesus Christ 47:51 is because no sin can stand in His presence. 47:54 He's a consuming fire. 47:56 If Shelley Quinn went into the presence of the Lord 47:59 without the robe, 48:00 I would be like a little dry kindling for that fire, 48:03 because he'd consume. 48:06 So that's why he gives us the robe of righteousness. 48:09 And you know what Clifford Goldstein points out, 48:12 our author. 48:14 I just want to read real quick. 48:15 He said the Book of Hebrews 48:17 is just one long exhortation to Jewish believers in Jesus. 48:20 And what it's exhorting them to do is this, 48:24 stay faithful to the Lord. 48:26 This faithfulness, of course, 48:27 should stem from our love for God of who he is, 48:31 His character, and His goodness, 48:33 most powerfully. 48:36 That love most powerfully expressed the cross of Christ. 48:41 And He said, sometimes, though, 48:42 human beings need to be reminded 48:44 of the terrible consequences of falling away. 48:48 And that is, we need to remember, 48:51 in the end, if we didn't accept 48:54 what Jesus has done for us, 48:58 in having paid the penalty for our sins. 49:02 If you don't accept that, guess what? 49:05 You have to pay the penalty yourself for your own sins. 49:10 I want to turn to Hebrews 49:12 and we're going to look at how the writer of Hebrews 49:15 whom I believe was Paul, but some disagree, 49:18 but the writer of Hebrews uses Deuteronomy. 49:22 Hebrews 10:26-31. 49:26 This applies to us all, 49:29 not just to that exhortation to the Jews. 49:32 Hebrews 10:36 says, 49:34 "If we sin willfully 49:36 after we've received the knowledge of the truth..." 49:39 That means if we deliberately are disobeying God, 49:42 this is not a sin of ignorance. 49:44 This is a sin of choice. 49:46 "So if we sin willfully 49:48 after we've received the knowledge of the truth, 49:51 there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin." 49:54 Verse 27, 49:56 "But a certain fearful expectation of judgment 50:00 and fiery indignation 50:02 which will devour the adversaries. 50:05 Now, verse 28, he's gonna quote 50:08 Deuteronomy 17:6 he says, 50:12 "Anyone who has rejected Moses law 50:16 dies without mercy on the testimony 50:19 of two or three witnesses." 50:21 Now, I want to point out, 50:23 not every violator of the law died. 50:26 That's why God put the sacrificial system into place. 50:30 But there was for certain capital offenses, 50:34 what Deuteronomy 17:6 says 50:37 that it couldn't be just hearsay, 50:39 it had to be on the basis of two to three witnesses. 50:44 And let me read this to you because I love this. 50:46 Numbers 15 talks, 50:50 and I'm not going to read the whole thing, but 27-31. 50:54 If there was an unintentional sin, 50:57 they brought a female goat as a sin offering 51:00 and the priest made atonement for their sins 51:03 if it was unintentional, 51:06 but Numbers 15:30. 51:08 Listen, what this says, 51:10 "The person who does anything presumptuously, 51:14 whether he is native-born or stranger, 51:18 that one brings reproach on the Lord." 51:21 So when you're deliberately sinning, 51:24 he shall be cut off from among His people, 51:26 because he's despised the Word of the Lord. 51:29 He's broken His commandment, 51:31 that person shall be completely cut off. 51:34 There is no atonement for that. 51:36 It says, "His sin shall be upon him." 51:39 So defiant rejection 51:42 of God's law 51:44 is apostasy. 51:48 What is the punishment for rejection? 51:52 Well, in the Old Testament, it was death by stoning. 51:55 So let's look at what Hebrews 10:29 says, 51:58 "Of how much worse punishment do you suppose 52:01 will be thought worthy, 52:03 he who has trample the Son of God underfoot, 52:07 counted the blood of the covenant." 52:10 Remember, in the Old Testament, and Exodus 24, 52:13 that when Moses had written the Book of the Covenant, 52:16 he built an altar, he sacrificed, 52:19 and he ratified the covenant with blood. 52:24 But Hebrews 13:20 tells us it is Jesus Christ. 52:28 It is His blood of the eternal covenant of God. 52:34 It is Jesus who ratified the new covenant 52:38 with His blood. 52:40 So it's counted the blood 52:41 of the covenant by which he was sanctified, 52:44 a common thing and insulted the Spirit of grace. 52:49 When we reject Christ, 52:51 when we count His precious blood is no big deal. 52:55 He died on the cross. 52:58 If we reject His Spirit, 53:02 I'll tell you what? 53:04 The Spirit is one who testifies of him. 53:06 There are our two witnesses against us. 53:09 Yeah, I'll tell you. 53:11 So if we treat them with contempt, 53:14 we're guilty of apostasy. 53:17 Now, I want to, I'm gonna have to... 53:20 I just want to say this word 53:22 and then I get to the next one real quick 53:23 because I want to show you in Deuteronomy. 53:27 Those who sin defiantly are rejecting 53:32 the free gift of salvation by grace. 53:36 Now we go on and I'm rushing through this, 53:38 but Hebrews 10:30, once again, 53:41 we see that Paul is going to buttress 53:45 one of his arguments 53:46 of what he is writing with a quote from Deuteronomy. 53:51 Hebrews 10:30 says, 53:53 "We know him who said, vengeance is mine, 53:56 I will repay, says the Lord. 53:59 And again, the Lord will judge His people." 54:04 Then he says, "It's a fearful thing 54:06 to fall into the hands of the living God." 54:09 So it's Deuteronomy 54:13 32:35-36, that he's quoting here 54:17 because God says vengeance is mine. 54:19 He never gave that prerogative to anybody else, 54:21 because He's the only one that knows everything. 54:24 And He says, in verse 36, 54:28 the Lord judges people, 54:31 and I have to tell you real quickly, 54:33 this one goes on to say 54:35 and have compassion on his servants 54:38 when he sees that their power is gone. 54:42 Judgment is a two-sided coin. 54:45 On the one side, 54:47 God judges the evil. 54:51 He judges and He assigns vengeance to those, 54:56 punishment for their sin, but the flip side 55:00 is that there's God's judgment on the righteous, 55:05 and its further vindication, 55:07 He has compassion for those who love Him 55:13 and obey Him. 55:14 And He judges in favor of them. Amen. 55:19 That's right. 55:20 Present truth in Deuteronomy, 55:22 and Deuteronomy in the New Testament, 55:24 some closing thoughts from each one 55:25 of our presenters. 55:27 You know, I was thinking about this quickly 55:29 about loving one another as Christ love us. 55:31 And I found this in My Life Today, 187, says, 55:34 "We shall have to face one another in the judgment, 55:38 and behold a record of our thoughts 55:40 and our words and our deeds, 55:42 not as we have viewed them, 55:45 but as how they were in truth. 55:48 Amen. Yeah. Lord have mercy. 55:50 As I look at Tuesday's lesson, Curse Under A Tree, 55:52 I'm reminded over and over again of our God, 55:56 the Creator God, the God who made everything, 56:00 willing to humble Himself and take my curse, 56:03 take my shame, take my punishment, 56:06 so that I could live forever with Him. 56:08 That's love. That's right. 56:09 Amen. 56:11 We read this earlier, 1 John 4:1 it says, 56:13 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit 56:15 but test the spirits, try the spirits, 56:18 whether they are of God because many false prophets 56:20 have gone out into the world." 56:21 How do we test the spirits? Well, we use the Word of God. 56:24 That's why Isaiah 8:20, says, 56:26 "To the law and to the testimony 56:28 if they do not speak according to this word, 56:31 it is because there is no light in them." 56:34 Our God is a consuming fire. 56:37 He burns the dross of sin off of us, that's the process 56:40 of sanctification but when it comes to judgment, 56:43 Romans 8:1 56:44 is one of my favorite scriptures. 56:46 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those 56:50 who are in Christ Jesus 56:52 who do not walk according to the flesh, 56:55 but according to the Spirit." 56:56 I love it. I love it. 56:58 Each one of the points you made, 57:00 Kenny, God loves everyone. 57:02 We are one family, Jill, 57:10 the gospel is not a club, it's for everyone. 57:12 I can't read my writing, I should have been a doctor. 57:15 Ryan, God wants to protect us from deception. 57:17 Shelley, God's grace makes us fireproof. 57:21 Deuteronomy quoted by Jesus three times 57:24 when he was tempted. 57:25 What a powerful book it's been. 57:27 Don't go away because, well, 57:29 you can go away for now but join us for our next 57:31 and final lesson number 13, 57:33 which is Deuteronomy in Present Truth, 57:35 The Resurrection of Moses. 57:38 Amen. Amen. |
Revised 2021-12-09