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Bro. Ben Mitchell
Yeah, I was joking, Ron. I was joking with Ron last week about how I'm still kind of figured out trying to figure out how I got in this position exactly. And he said, Welcome to the club. So he and I can empathize with each other at this point.
But yeah, I mean, this is this is kind of funny not to make light of it, but just like, you know, it is what it is. It's happening. So there's no going back at this point. Here, I don't know if anybody else.
I'm curious. Does anyone remember this? The whole Bible with the Word document pages in it? When dad first asked me to do this, and I like kind of knew that I said yes, it was like, I was locked in. I was like, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna go old school.
Not I know you're watching dad, not that the PowerPoint isn't great. It's especially it's especially great for our online, our online crew. But I knew I wanted to go old school. And when I did this, and I kind of missed that aspect of it.
Seeing dad in the back with his with his paper sermon, writing down notes, all the way leading up until he'd go up to preach. I actually remember as a kid driving down Highway 14 in the suburban, with him driving, and with his Word document on the steering wheel, writing notes as we were going.
So I kind of missed that. And not only do I have that I'm literally like, I'm wearing dad's shoes today. I'm wearing his tie. I've got his watch on. I've got my Parker pin. Now don't worry that I didn't go raid in your closet this weekend.
These are these were things that you gave me but trying to I don't know, maybe channel him to some degree. Not that that's what's gonna not that that's what's gonna bring the message or anything like that.
But um, all right, let's see. Well, since it's not, you know, this, this may be as close to David, at least looking like David Mitchell, as you'll get without actually being David Mitchell. But since that isn't going to be what does anything for you all today.
Let's pray really quick. Heavenly Father, Lord, I don't yet understand why you've given me this very unique opportunity. But I thank you for it. And I just ask that you please lead me throughout the day.
Throughout this morning. Lord, I just ask that every word that I say is from you. And that this blesses everybody. And for now, Lord, I don't know what else to say. So I'll say amen. And we'll get started.
Now I didn't really know. I'll take it back. So dad, dad asked me to do this. I had an idea of what I wanted to do. But I quickly, you know, started praying about it, because I certainly didn't want to do anything.
I want to have a piece about what I was doing. Like I had an idea, but I wanted to like feel really good about it. And I'll tell you what that is in a second. But I was just kind of asking for that piece asking, if you will, and it start part of that confirmation started with one of our Wednesday night Bible studies we did with Dave, which has been fantastic, by the way, for those of you haven't been able to join yet, if you are able to, they are awesome.
And one of the conversations that just kind of sprung up toward the end of it, kind of fell on this topic, and we started digging into it a little bit. And, you know, we kind of with Ron and Pam, Ash, Katie, they were started talking about a little bit.
And so that was kind of the first like inkling of like, okay, you know, I'm feeling kind of good about this, this being a topic that we can talk about. And then on the way to Waco, just a couple of days later, Ash and I were listening to a YouTube video, where John MacArthur was talking with this guy, some of you guys may know Ben Shapiro, he's a really conservative guy, he's an Orthodox Jew.
And he's really awesome. But it was really interesting hearing these two discuss Christianity, Judaism, but at one point, I don't even remember if it was it had anything specifically to do with their conversation.
But at one point, John MacArthur gave this really succinct, but really awesome quote, I'm actually going to going to quote it here just a little bit for you guys. And that was kind of another little bit of just like, yeah, this is something I feel good about talking about.
And couldn't think of a catchy title for it or anything. It's pretty practical. But the topic is just relationship with our Lord. And one of the things one of the things that made me think about this in the first place, was at the beginning of the year, Ashton had asked me to take part in Bible in a year.
I don't know if you guys have ever done that before. I had never done it before this year. Ashton did it last year. And I was kind of reluctant, not that I not that I don't think it's an awesome thing to do.
But like, I've always had this thought of just like, you know, it's cool, but why do Bible in a year, you're going through everything so fast, you know, several chapters a day in order to fit it in, you'll miss stuff.
There's so many important, you know, things. Hey, Nels to Betty, by the way, I don't think I've seen you until just now. I'm glad y 'all got to be here today. But you know, you're going through it fast, you might miss stuff, right?
That was always kind of my thought about it. But I went ahead and did it. But as I was doing it, I was like, how have I never done this before? Because what's unique about it, or at least for us is being in this particular church with Brother Bill and with dad, we go through these passages, one verse at a time, one word at a time, it's what we're used to.
So we don't miss anything like that. We don't miss any of the details. But now going through the whole Bible in the year and getting things in kind of a broad context, quickly at a time, again, several chapters at a time, you start seeing these little, not little, like the details we cover, but the massive doctrines in the detail that we're so used to hearing, you start seeing in this broader context.
And so that has been really cool, really cool for me this year. It's really made kind of an impact in that regard. But in doing this, and going through it, we're still in the Old Testament right now. But in going through it, I just started noticing all of these unique passages about the relationship that God wants to have with his people.
And so that's kind of the nature of this. This is basically, if you want to call it anything, because I certainly don't consider it a sermon, so to speak. But if you want to call it anything, it's basically a Bible study, for lack of a better term that I started, and I'm still working on.
So again, we'll see what this turns into. This may be all over the place. I'm not sure yet. So again, relationship with the Lord in terms of just being just a topic, right? It's pretty practical. I mean, it's seemingly extremely basic part of the Christian walk, but the importance of it couldn't really be overstated enough.
So what we're going to do as we go through this is we're going to take a look at how the Bible, I've got to slow down, I've got to breathe. This has happened to me before. I've only taught, there's only been a couple of times that I've actually talked in front of groups of people.
This may be only the third or fourth time ever. And in a minute, I'll calm down, but the adrenaline is so high, I forget to breathe. And then it gets really uncomfortable really fast. I also understand, by the way, which is not good for you guys, why dad has it so cold in here all the time, because he's always up here.
It like it has to be cold. I don't know if it's the adrenaline or what, but like, I would be dying right now if it was any warmer. So that's not good for y 'all because now I empathize with dad and why the temperature is always so low in here.
Okay, I think I caught up with my breathing enough. So what we're going to do is we go through this, we're going to take a look at how the Bible illustrates the importance of the relationship between between God, between Jesus, between with us, why it's and so why it's so important, not only to us, but also to him.
And some of the ways of how we as individuals, but certainly as the church must do our part in order to please the Lord. And what we'll see, as we kind of go through some of these passages that we'll look at, is, you know, being able to partake in what he intended from the beginning.
And honestly, and again, this kind of came out in some of those conversations I was talking about. And at that Bible study is what I believe may be one of the most, our most important purposes of being created in the first place.
So the word relationship, it's not found in the Bible, at least in the KJV. But a lot of the way like the concept of it, the ways that we can have relationship with the Lord, it can be found in a lot of different ways.
So it can be found in passages where, you know, we're being his friend, we're talked about as being his friend, certainly in obeying his commandments. We're going to be looking at scripture in a few minutes, kind of back up some of these ideas, seeking his presence.
This is certainly a way that we can have relationship with him, being thankful for what he's given us, right? Showing gratitude and like enormous amount of blessings that we all receive just about every day, going to him in prayer, hearing his word, a lot of examples like that.
So before we start getting into some of that stuff, though, start looking at why we should be continually seeking this intimate relationship with him and how we can do that exactly. What I want to do is I want to start at the beginning, or arguably even before the beginning, and see why this is so important in the first place.
So we're gonna be jumping around a whole lot today. We're going to start with John chapter six, verse 37. But we're certainly not going to stick around there the whole time we're going to be we're gonna be jumping around a little bit.
So let's see here. Okay, so again, we're kind of, I kind of want to just to the best of my ability, go through a few passages talking about, again, what, what could one of our greatest purposes of being created in the does that translate into this seemingly practical, you know, topic, again, relationship with the Lord, you know, got it, check, you know, we can check that off.
That's kind of, that's kind of the perception of against just, it's seemingly a basic part, but let's, let's really dig into it here. So, verse 37, here in John chapter six, it starts with all that the Father have all that the Father have given, gosh, let me start over.
Again, I've got to slow down a little bit. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, which has sent me that all of which he had given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the Son believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day.
Now, we know that this is one of the best passages regarding our eternal security, obviously, he's going to raise up everyone that's been given to him. That is a verse we go to pretty often here, regardless of the context.
It's one that that just hits a lot of bases. So we know that that's one of the best passages regarding our eternal security. It also gives us a glimpse, though, and kind of where I'm wanting to get started here from what I can tell into something, you know, pretty spectacular that took place even before creation happened.
Now, in many passages throughout both Testaments, both the Old and the New Testament, there's this unique implication and possibly even more an actual explicit mention. Dad, you may know where this is, or Brother Bill or anybody, if there is a more explicit mention of it.
But there's certainly, it's certainly implied in a lot of different passages. And that is of a great council, if you will, that took place before the foundations of the world, between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, between the Trinity, where, you know, they made the plans, you know, where this sovereign plan, which we all live out every single day, that the prophets spoke of, that Jesus himself taught, where it was determined and eventually spoken into existence.
So again, there's, it's implied that they got together and that they kind of started putting things in motion, even before it was spoken into existence. Now, I'll explain why this is so important here in just a second.
But we'll, really quick, we'll see the very first verse, where we, as again, individuals, and as God's children start coming into the picture for the first time, Genesis 1, verse 26, even though in reality, we were already there, he says, and God said, let us make man in our image.
So first of all, obviously, it's so interesting that the way that's phrased, let us make man in our image. So the Trinity, you know, the Trinity has been explicitly talked about from the very beginning.
Now, here's the John MacArthur quote that I heard just in the middle of a big, you know, like hour or 20 minute video, it's an awesome video, if you all ever, he literally presents the gospel to this, you know, Orthodox Jewish man, in a way that was like, so graceful.
And Ben Shapiro, the guy that was listening, literally just let him just talk and just present it and didn't interrupt. So it allowed John MacArthur to hit like all the points. And it was just so awesome.
But in the middle of that, he said relationship from a God, I'm sorry, relationship comes from a God who has relationship within himself. Like I said, just it's very succinct, very, very cool quote. And but we're gonna we're about to look at some passages that that back up that statement, because it sounds cool.
But we'll see kind of where he's getting that from. Okay, I just thought of something that dad, I don't think you thought of, because now I get to give my side of the story. So you guys know, you dad use this just about a couple times a month, the cool preacher thing.
Y 'all know that he always has been you back there. You know, there's a cool preacher saying he tells the story of how I, you know, dad was like, they get this by hearing it from a cool preacher. And then I step in and my dad, there's no such thing as a cool preacher.
Okay, so here's what actually happened. So in that I'm not this, you, you didn't miss you don't, you don't necessarily tell it wrong. It's just a little bit, there's a little bit more detail. So what happened was dad did say, you know, some cool preacher said it.
And in my mind, I was thinking, now, obviously, dad doesn't know what I was thinking. So that's why I'm having to fill in the story here. I was thinking, you know, while I certainly believe there are some cool preachers, john MacArthur being one of them, Arthur pink, Whitfield, Spurgeon, I mean, you go down the list, I definitely think these guys are awesome.
They are cool. But the phrase, cool old preacher sounds like an oxymoron. And so I and so I was like, Dad, that's a funny phrase. That doesn't it sounds contradictory, like it doesn't go together. And so he laughed, we had a good time and things like that.
But he took that to mean that I said, Dad, there's no such thing as a cool preacher. So just to clear that up. I do think old preachers are awesome. They are cool. Even though it does sound like a contradictory statement.
So anyways, this quote is cool. But let's kind of back it up a little bit. And so even this first passage that I read in john chapter six, all that the Father hath given me the will of him that sent me all which he hath given me.
These are some of the key phrases we're going to look at because the fact that we were given to Jesus as a love gift before the beginning before the foundations of the earth, or what is going to really set the stage for this.
So again, john MacArthur's quote relationship comes from a God who has relationship within himself, john 17, five, and we're going to be coming back to john 17, a lot, but in different parts throughout this, it says, and now Oh, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with the before the world was.
So we start to see already this, this relationship that they have had together, since before the world was even created, it is a God that has relationship within himself. Now, Colossians 115 says, who is in the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature in the context of that particular verse.
You know, Jesus was just giving thanks. I'm sorry. This is Colossians 115, the context of, you know, him being the firstborn of every creature, just prior to that, in the first verses of that book. It's giving thanks to the Father who gave us redemption through his son, the incomparable son.
And then, you know, who is made in the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And you can compare that with with Romans 829, he that might be the firstborn of many brethren. So before we were created before, before, again, time started in the way that we know it.
One, the Trinity was there and they did have relationship within themselves. As we saw in John 15, 17, five, a second ago, but they were already thinking about incorporating us into the picture and allowing us to take part in that relationship and reciprocate it.
And we'll see more of that pretty soon as well. John chapter one, one and two. I mean, again, these are passages we're all so familiar with. But in this context, I feel like it's just so awesome. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
There's relationship just between within the Trinity. From the beginning, the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John chapter five, 30 through 32. I can have my own self do nothing is I hear I judge this is Jesus talking and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the father which hath sent me.
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There's another that bears witness of me. And I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. That can't be possible without a pretty close relationship within the Trinity themselves.
Now that strong relationship, it's reaffirmed over and over again. But even just later in John chapter 10, verse 27, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them to me, which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. So again, we're looking at the passage that is incredible, not only for our eternal security, but for just reaffirming the close relationship between the father and the son and how that directly impacts us as well.
So again, we're kind of setting the stage here, just taking a look at the close relationship between the father, the son and the Holy Spirit for now. So that's where I'm kind of coming from with these particular passages.
And then he ends it by saying that passage, I and my father are one. So that's kind of the key phrase there. The relationship is strong within the Trinity. Now, this is an interesting one. I went ahead and stuck this one in.
But again, it's just reaffirming this relationship. The context of this is talking about the future reign of the father's anointed one. And this is a passage that Brother Bill has talked about numerous times in the past, but Psalm 2, just absolutely incredible Psalm, but starting in verse 7, he says, I will declare the degree.
The Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten me. So already, I mean, again, you can start seeing just how intimate this relationship is between the father and the son. Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen.
I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance in the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with the rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
So it's clear that God has relationship within himself. You know, the quote by John MacArthur, again, it was awesome, but it's backed up by a lot of verses. He is a God that has relationship within himself, and a very close, intimate one at that.
And that, again, cannot be, that can't be overstated, and it plays such a big part in everything we're talking about today. Jesus continually pointed out just how close he and the father were, but we have examples in the Old Testament as well, and we just looked at a couple of them, but it is this model relationship that sets the standard for us to follow, but also sheds light on perhaps one of the main reasons we were created in the first place, which I already alluded to a couple of times.
So now, yeah, okay, so we're still in the introduction here. So we see relationship within the Trinity. So now we're going to start taking a look at why exactly we were created, one of the main purposes we were created, and why relationship is so important, not just for our sakes, but because it's such a big part of that purpose that we need to be serving.
So we're going to look at some passages here that specifically talk about the elect being given as a love gift to the Son. We already kind of hit a couple of these, but here's a few more. So Matthew 13, 34 says, all these things spake Jesus into the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not into them.
This is super fascinating. Verse 35, that it may be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
So first of all, here we are once again looking at this idea of things being planned out before the foundation of the world, from the foundation of the world, from the beginning. And what he's saying here is he is uttering these parables, the things he is uttering through these parables are things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Now the context of that is Jesus just finished speaking a bunch of parables right up earlier in chapter 13, and one of the parables that he spoke of was the parable of the wheat and the tares, where he talks about how basically, you know, he planted his own and the enemy came in and tried to mess things up and put in a bunch of tares in there just to make it messy.
And, you know, the disciples later when he's explained the parable, I believe, is when this takes place, they ask, you know, someone asked, do we need to go harvest your wheat for you? And he says, no, or I'm sorry, should we go remove the tares?
He says, no, because you may damage one of my wheat. And then later he sends in the reapers, he puts the wheat in his barn, he burns the chaff. So one of those parables that was kept secret, one of the things that was kept secret that he later spoke through parables before the foundation of the world was us.
And there's a couple other examples of it. But that's obviously one that we talked about a lot. And it's a really, really unique one at that. John 17, to again, we're going to be coming back to john 17.
A lot, he says, is thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. So remember, right now, we're, we're trying to get a grasp on the importance of the fact that we were given to Jesus as a love gift.
Okay. And in some cases, it, it talks about how that was the case, even before the earth was created. Later, later on down, verse 17, I'm sorry, chapter 17, verse six, I have manifested my I have manifested thy name into the men, which thou gave us to me out of the world, thine they were, and thou gave us the me and they have kept thy word.
And then later down in chapter 17, verse 24. Father, I will that they also who now has given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me for thou lovest for thou love lovest me, I think he's having to say that that loves me before the foundation of the world.
So again, we see relationship there between the father and the son, but also in the context of us being given to him before the foundation of the world. Hebrews chapter two, starting verse 10, for it became him for whom are for whom are all things.
Okay. For it became him for whom are all things in by whom are all things in bringing many sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctify and they who are sanctified are all of one.
For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name into my brethren in the midst of the church, I will sing and to be. And again, I will put my trust in him and behold.
And again, behold, I and the children which God has given me. So the context there, let's see here. Yeah. The context of that passage, giving thanks to the father who gave us redemption through his incomparable son.
No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This is for the context of this next chapter. We're looking at Colossians. We're going to go back to Colossians one 15. I read that earlier, but I have it back in here for, for, uh, we're going to go a little bit further in that, but in this Hebrews, in this Hebrews passage here at the top verse 10 that we started with, for whom are all things.
And then he finishes it by once again, reaffirming the children, which God has given me. Okay. So again, us being given to the Lord as a love gift plays such an important, uh, part in this, in this whole topic here.
So again, back to Colossians one 15, we read this one earlier, but we're going to go down a little bit more. Again, it says who in the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. And so the context of this, where again, uh, the writer of Colossians is giving thanks to the father who gave us redemption through his incomparable son, verse 16 for by him were all things created that are in heaven that are in the earth, invisible, I'm sorry, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him.
And for him, we certainly fall in that basket. And he is before all things. And this is one of the coolest verses. And by, by him, all things consist. We're going to jump over to first Corinthians eight, six, just this first, but to us, there is, but one God, the father of whom are all things.
And we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things. And we buy him Titus two 14 says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself because that's what we're here for a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
We certainly want to be peculiar. Now to reiterate MacArthur's quote, relationship comes from a guy who has relationship with him himself. It's certainly true. There was relationship within the father, the son of the Holy spirit before the foundation of the earth.
Again, there's passages that imply that the great council, just of them being together and determining what we now know as the sovereign plan that we are literally living out every single day. But that's followed up with all of these passages where we are told that we were given to Jesus as a love gift.
And in a few places from the foundation of the earth. Now, now that we know that biblically God does have relationship within himself and that we were given to him as a love gift. I'm sorry, that we were given as a love gift to the son.
Specifically, we can start to see that a very important purpose we should be doing a very important purpose that we should serve. And that is having that relationship with the Lord ourselves, reciprocate the love and the focus that he gives us because as we're going to see, and what I will again, kind of reiterate later, the ball is certainly in our court.
I mean, we could, we could talk about so many examples just within our own lives here of him reaching out him wanting to give us that relationship all the time. What is the common denominator? It's us.
Well, that's the common denominator, but then what we like the next part, the reason that that makes this topic so important to talk about that it couldn't be overstated is that we do have to think about it.
We have to put forth a lot of effort as you know, in your relationships with, among friends, spouses, siblings, parents, relationships, if you want them to be solid, set on solid ground, if you want them to work, you have to put in a lot of effort, right?
So as we'll see in even more detail, without putting the focus in the right place, what we're going to see is we're not going to be in a very good position. If we don't put the focus in the right place, we are not going to be in a very good position with the one whom we should care about the most, whom we should yearn for that relationship more than any other.
And this is so crazy to me, even in the old Testament, with Moses talking, even in the old Testament, circumcision of the heart was necessary. We just got finished. We just finished up, you know, Romans chapter eight with dad, even, even nine, I think it was eight where Paul talks a lot about circumcision of the heart.
I mean, that's a theme throughout all of Romans. But in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 16, even in the old Testament with the one by whom the law was given to deliver to us, it's still necessary. Circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff necked for the Lord.
Your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward. So there you have a good dose of a couple of things. One, it's not, it's not, you have to circumcise, you have to circumcise your heart.
You have to have your heart in the right place. You have to want and desire that relationship as well as, you know, going through the motions, doing the things that he commanded us to do. And then it's followed up by saying, you know, the Lord, your God is God of gods, Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward.
That is someone that you want to be in solid relationship with, not whom you want to be ignoring. Now the context of that, Deuteronomy chapter 10, 16 through 17. Okay. So the tablets, the 10 commandments had already been destroyed by Moses because of his anger at the people who were, who were certainly not doing their part, just to put it lightly.
I mean, we could talk about that for quite a while. Moses destroyed the tablets. They've been rewritten. Moses went up to the mount for 40 days and 40 nights leading up to this verse where he says, circumcise the foreskin of your heart.
He goes up to the mount for 40 days, 40 nights, and to basically plead with the Lord not to destroy his people because of them being absolutely awful. And then they are required by God after Moses pleads with him for 40 days and 40 nights, the tablets being rewritten, Moses comes back down.
His people are then required by God to walk in his ways, love him, serve him. That's the context of that passage where he says, circumcise, therefore the foreskin of your heart coming from Moses. I don't know why I find that so fascinating.
I mean, obviously this is what Paul was quoting in the New Testament was this passage, but you know, we associate the law. We, you know, with Moses, obviously, and the law being very much a going through the motions type age, if you will.
Not that, you know, the relationship wasn't there in so many cases. That's what's unique about this dispensation we're in now is we have the ability that they have the ability then to, and Moses even told them, what you're doing over here isn't enough.
So throughout the Old Testament, we see the Lord giving his people countless opportunities, which we just alluded to, to have a relationship with him, but due to their failure and preference in just about every case for the idolatry that we read about, even self-worship, which is so prevalent today, when he sees this, he adjusts the parameters, if you will, by which they can have relationship with him.
And we'll kind of dive into this a little bit in a couple of pages, I think. But so what we're going to look at now are some passages where, again, the opportunity is given and, you know, what do they do with it?
What do his people do with it? Now, Isaiah chapter 43, verse 21, it says, this people have I formed for myself. So once again, we were created for him. And it just begs the question, just right off the bat, if we were created for him, yet before we were created, we see this very intimate relationship.
Remember the MacArthur quote, God has relationship within himself. It makes sense just on the surface level that he would, in creating us, he would want us to take part in that kind of relationship, to know what it's like, but to also, again, reciprocate what he gives us just about every day.
This people have I formed for myself. And I would argue to give him to take part in relationship with him, they shall show forth my praise. Now, here's what's interesting about it. So there's verse 21.
This people I have formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. Look at what's about to happen. This is immediately followed by Israel shortcomings, not calling on his praise, even though he just said, they shall do it.
I have formed these people for myself, verse 22, but thou has not called upon me. Oh, Jacob, thou has been weary of me, O Israel, thou has not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither as thou honored me with thy sacrifices.
I have not caused thee to serve with an offering nor wearied thee with incense. Thou has bought me no sweet cane with money, neither has thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou has made me to serve with thy sins.
Thou has wearied me with thine iniquities. And it's immediately followed by that verse 21. These people have I formed for myself that they shall show forth my praise. Again, what are we looking at here?
The opportunity and the failure on our part. Jeremiah chapter two, starting at verse five, and we'll cover a few verses in this passage. Jeremiah two, five, thus saith the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers found in me?
That they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain. Neither said they, where's the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt and that led us through the wilderness.
Let's see here, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death. Through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt.
They're not saying that even though it happened and he did it to put them in a better place. And then again, we're going to, we're going to look at a few examples of the different time periods that history where, where the Lord, we failed.
So he gives us kind of new parameters for lack of a better term in which we can have relationship with him. He brought them out of Egypt. He did these things for him. And yet, where are they asked? What, you know, are they asking?
Neither said they, where is the Lord that brought us out of the land? Go down to verse seven. And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof. But when ye entered, ye defiled my land and made mine heritage an abomination.
They're doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing. And again, what I believe they were intended to do, which is simply take part in a relationship with them. Now, you know, you can say in the old Testament, there were so many stipulations, you know, the law, and it was so complex.
The reason they were having to operate within those parameters anyways, because they didn't simply, you know, take part in a relationship in the, in the most simplest terms at the beginning. I mean, think about the garden of Eden.
All they had to do was walk with him in the cool of the day. They had one rule that they needed to keep. But aside from that, it was, everything was fair game. He was right there with them. And then the dominoes start to fall from there.
And it gets more and more intricate in just a lot of, just a lot of interesting, interesting things going on throughout the Old Testament. Obviously, relationship was there, like they had the opportunity for it.
Yes, they had to keep a number of the laws, which the Lord gave Moses, which he then gave them. But again, I mean, the reason they were even in that position is because of their shortcomings. Verse eight, that Jeremiah passage, two, eight, the priest said not, where's the Lord?
Let's see here. The priest said not, where's the Lord? Not even the priests are saying it. And they that handle the law knew me not. They are literally just going through the motions. The pastors also transgressed against me and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.
Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children, while I plead, for Passover, the isles of Chittim, and see, and send unto Kedar, send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. It's crazy looking at the contrast and what they chose despite that. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils.
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. So this is already kind of touching on something we're going to get to later, which is the results of neglecting the relationship that we are given in these many opportunities.
The results are be horribly afraid and be desolate. Let's go down to Jeremiah 15 verse 6. I'm just reading one verse here, and then we're going to hop over to Psalms. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward.
Therefore, while I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee, I am weary with repenting. So it certainly doesn't look too good when that neglect starts taking place and we start choosing things beyond the opportunities we're given to have close relationship with him.
Psalm 78 verse 40 says, how oft did they provoke him in the wilderness? This is just kind of touching base on their shortcomings, God's people's shortcomings. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert?
All the time is the answer. Yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Okay, now I have this in here. Hopefully this makes sense. So, you know, growing up in this church, you know, we've heard Dad talk about different dispensations, right?
Well, I wanted to incorporate something like to my knowledge, what, you know, what that was is, you know, the God handling people, his people differently throughout time. That's kind of how Dad has taught us.
And so I wanted to incorporate some of like maybe what those dispensations were. And I was aware of, you know, the whole concept of dispensationalism. And it's kind of like, it's a thing, you know, people with many things can move too far to one end of the spectrum.
And they, so there's this, there's this doctrine of dispensationalism. It's broken down into seven, when you look it up, they break it down into seven very specific dispensations. Again, Dad hasn't, again, from what I can remember, it's just a matter, it's just simply because we know that God's immutable.
We know that he doesn't change. What this simply is, is we'll go through these kind of these references in a second. It's just simply God dealing with his people in a different way, because they failed in the, in the, in the way that they gave him to have a relationship with him prior.
That was way too much of a mouthful. It's really hard to articulate that. It's, it's, I started that with simply, by the way, I messed that up. Okay, let me try again. Simply him dealing with his people in different ways.
So God is immutable. God doesn't change. He is simply dealing with his people in different ways, different points in human history. That's how we look at these dispensations. So I'm just going to go through these, because remember, what we're looking at here is the shortcomings and the failure that we have had time and time again, and just taking part in this relationship that we were created to take part with him in.
So the first dispensation, and this is the list, you know, I found, these are the seven, the seven dispensations. The dispensation of innocence. So Genesis 1 through 2, you have Adam and Eve in the garden.
You have them with the Lord right there, walking with them. They're innocent, totally. They have one rule, that is don't eat of the tree, of course. Aside from that, again, like I said earlier, it was fair game.
I mean, it was one of the most, it was one of the best environments that any human has ever had in having a personal relationship with the Lord. He was there with them, and they failed. They messed it up.
They sinned. So they were cast out of the garden, and a new, you know, dispensation, a new way in which the Lord dealt with his people began. And so the next dispensation on the list, it's called the dispensation of conscience, and this is from Genesis 3 through 6.
We know how that turned out. I mean, you know, with it ending in six, that's the flood, that's humans being destroyed for every thought being evil continually. So God gave them the ability to operate and to have relationship with him in, again, a pretty simple way.
You know, allow your, you know, let me have relationship with me. Let me lead you. Your conscience is there, and basically what happened was it got to a point where there was only eight humans left on the earth that were even worth saving because of how bad and how far from God everyone else got.
They certainly, again, just kind of pushed the relationship, the opportunity for relationship aside. Again, the point in me going through these is it's interesting because the fact that the people here, that God's people are pushing relationship aside is seemingly kind of what initiates the next age, the next dispensation where God starts having to handle them a little bit differently because of their failure to just simply have relationship with him in the first place.
The next one is the dispensation of human government from 8 through 11, dispensation of promise when he gives Abraham the Abrahamic covenant, and then, of course, law comes into play from Exodus all the way to the resurrection of Jesus.
We have an idea of how that plays out. The law is there. They certainly went through the motions, but where was the circumcision of the heart, as Moses said, in so many cases? We have the dispensation of grace.
We'll talk a little bit about our unique opportunities that we have, and then that follows the millennial kingdom. So the whole point in even throwing that in there because I know that may be kind of out of left field is just that a lot of the reason why the Lord had to deal with his people differently in the first place in these different, you know, dispensations, if you will, for the most part, is because we wouldn't go along with the simple act of reciprocating, of taking part in the relationship we were created to take part in, and, in fact, in so many cases doing the exact opposite of that and getting pretty bad, again, to say it lightly.
So even when his people... Now, what's interesting, though, throughout the Old Testament, even when his people rejected a personal relationship kind of as a whole, even when they rejected that personal relationship with him, he still drew near to his called men.
So in Exodus 33, 11, the Lord speaking to Moses face to face is a man speaketh unto his friend. So, I mean, we know, even though collectively his people, and even now his people, fail time and time again.
I mean, the church, a lot of what Dad's been talking about lately kind of hits on the reason we are where we're at, and most likely the reason that is setting off what will eventually become, you know, the need for his return is our absolute failure to have the relationship with him and let him lead us.
Again, we're going to talk about some of the results of why it's so important to have this, the results of actually doing that, and the results of not doing that. We'll get to more of that in a minute.
It's already after 1215. When did I start? How long have I been up here? It doesn't feel like it's been that long. I'm not even halfway done yet. This is bad. Like father, like son, I suppose. Are we even out of the intro yet?
I'm not sure. I guess so. I was not expecting this. I was expecting to get up here and talk in a million miles an hour and being done in 15 minutes. That's not happening for sure. It may have if I hadn't slowed down earlier, but then I would be on the floor because I wouldn't been breathing.
Even with time and time again, this collective moving away from the relationship, he still had a relationship with his called men, with Moses. He spoke face to face with him like a friend speaks to him.
Think about that for a second. The Lord, even on Mount Sinai, gave his people the ability for them to come and to be with him. They were too afraid to do it. Moses became the guy. Moses got to benefit from one of the most intimate relationships any human has ever had with the Lord because he wasn't afraid.
Jonah chapter 3, 8 through 10, it says, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hand.
Now, this is the king in Jonah talking to his people after Jonah witnessed to them. He's telling them, let every man and beast be covered with sackcloth, cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent? Let's hope he does is what they're thinking and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not in God. This is him stepping in. Relationship was still possible and you can see they're starting to repent and actually yearn for the relationship they should have been having in the first place.
God saw their works and they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil and he had said that he would do unto them. Okay, God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not.
So, thanks to Jonah's very unique message, gospel message to them, they did repent and they did turn away and they did start yearning that relationship and so they again kind of reciprocated the opportunity that all humans have to some degree.
I'll clarify that a little bit further and because they did, God turned away his wrath and they were able to partake in a relationship there with him for a time. It got bad again later but Nahum 1, 6 -7 says, Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him.
So, once again, you have a pretty good kind of double dose of, you know, relationship is possible. He knoweth them and that is again that intimate knowledge that we talk about so often here when you really dig into the Greek and Hebrew.
He knoweth them that trust in him. So, it is possible but you do not want to be those who refuse to take part in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
That is right before him saying he knoweth them that trust him. Be strong, stronghold, hold strong in the day of trouble. So, in the New Testament, so there's, you know, there's a couple of Old Testament examples.
In the New Testament, us today now in this dispensation of grace going back to kind of that list we were looking at, we are truly given the ultimate opportunity to have a very close relationship with him while I'm getting ahead of myself.
So, that is where we are now but looking at the New Testament when Jesus was on earth, I put we which is what confused me here in my notes. I should have been talking more past tense. In the New Testament, those who were with him when he was on earth in the flesh, they were given yet another ultimate opportunity to have a relationship with him while he was with us in the flesh, with them in the flesh.
I'm confusing myself big time. This was possibly the closest he got to any group of people in that way. Again, physically being there, communing with them, talking with them, having relationships since he walked with Adam in the garden.
And so, again, he gave like just this crazy opportunity. Of course, many did take advantage of it. But a large majority of people didn't and to the point of not wanting that relationship so much, they ended up killing him.
The common theme we keep running into time and time again, whether it be Old or New Testament, is that man's rejection of that intimate relationship that he is in Jesus wants to have with us. So, it's there.
He wants it. Yet, we constantly reject that relationship. So, at this point in history, where we're at now, which is I was getting ahead of myself earlier, where we're at now and since the church began, we have possibly the easiest opportunity to have constant relationship with him.
Those that were with him in the flesh, that was incredible. But Jesus, while he was in the flesh, wasn't everywhere at once. You had to go seek him. You had to be with him. At this point, regardless of where you're at on the planet, you have the opportunity to have that constant relationship with him.
But as I mentioned earlier, the ball is continually at our court. We have to reciprocate what he already shows us every day. So now, with that being said, introduction is over. Let's look at some ways and I won't go too crazy.
This is nuts. This part may be faster. I'm not sure. We'll see in a minute. Let's look at some ways that we can, quote, do our part, so to speak, and take part in what can be a divine relationship with the Lord that he has always wanted to have with us.
So, I know I'm not going to be able to finish now, now that I'm looking where I'm at, which I did not expect at all. Let's just cover this and then we'll see what happens after that. One of the ways we can have relationship with him, because remember at the beginning, the word relationship isn't necessarily in the Bible, at least in the King James Version, but some of the ways we can have relationship with him, obeying his commands.
So, relationship through obedience. You know, it's kind of funny because you think, yeah, we need to obey the Lord, of course, but thinking about it in line with the fact that that very obedience opens the door for a far more intimate relationship really makes it more spectacular.
I mean, I think about me with my kiddos and probably any parent with their kids. I mean, when you say something to your kids, ask them to do something, even the simplest of requests, or obviously, take it to the extreme and, you know, tell them they need to do something they wouldn't necessarily want to do.
When they obey and when they, you know, say yes, sir, and they go start doing it, it's just like, I can't even describe the amount of joy that, you know, it's just like, that is, you know, that is just an incredible feeling when they are showing me that they want to do what I asked them to do.
And the reason that's the case is because they know, you know, they are aware, even if it's subconsciously, but they're aware of the kind of relationship we have together. And through obedience, it brings an overflow of joy and love for me toward them.
And I know that's the case. I know that's the case for other parents and their kids. Obedience, again, as simple as it may sound, and as obvious it is that we need to do in conjunction with that relationship is just absolutely crazy.
So Exodus 19, 5 through 6, it says,. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, not telling Moses to tell them. So again, think about the results of, first of all, not only drawing close to him through obeying his voice, but again, him making us to be set apart, him giving us earthly blessings as well.
I mean, these are all results of, you know, that kind of really, really close relationship. Deuteronomy chapter 28 says,. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.
And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. It's one of the best ways that we can start to take part in that relationship. And, you know, again, it's one that can be the most intimate relationship that anyone can ever experience.
It can start by simply obeying his voice. First Samuel 15 .22 says,. And Samuel said,. Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Once again, is it just about going through the motions?
Are you really taking it a step further? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. Then jumping into the New Testament, Luke 11 .28 says,. But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of the Lord and keep it.
Again, it just it can't be overstated. The importance of obedience in that being a door that we have the opportunity to walk through at any point in establishing this relationship. John chapter 14, starting at verse 13, it says,.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. So there's a challenge from Jesus himself.
Obey my voice, keep my commandments. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. I mean, he's giving us a glimpse at what this relationship can look like right there with him, the things that he will do for us.
And he does, he gives us, he gives us some parameters in which we do that, keeping his commandments, loving him. Again, it's for lack of a better term, you can call them parameters is what I'm calling, calling them, but just the ways in which we can take part in this relationship.
Same chapter, but further down, John 14 at 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my father will love him. That takes it on another level to another level. My father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
There's the relationship that is possible. If a man love me, he will keep my words. If that happens, the father in me will abode with him. The father and I will abode with him. Just one chapter over, John 15, 14 through 15.
John chapter 15. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what the Lord doeth, what his Lord doeth.
But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you. That is only possible if we are his friends, if we are taking part in that relationship. First, John 3, 22 says, And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
So those are just a few examples. I mean, I feel like it's barely scratching the surface of how obedience can lead to the kind of relationship that he is certainly seeking to have with us every day. We can seek, we can be seeking it.
We just, we have to do our part through obedience is one of them. Another way we can do this is relationship through prayer. Again, it seems so simple, obviously is so practical. But coupled with the ability to have that kind of intimate relationship with him, it takes it to another level.
Mark 11, 24 says, Therefore, I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them. So prayer is a big part of it. But if we have something we desire, if we pray, if we ask him, that is our way to talk with him actively.
Now, we shall, and if we believe we're going to get him, we'll have him. But I will say this, I mean, it's one thing to pray and ask for stuff that you want. It's another to have the relationship first, to be doing our part and taking part in that relationship in order to reap the blessings that come with it.
I'm struggling with articulating what I'm trying to say there, but maybe you get the picture. It's not just praying, it's praying coupled with desiring to have this relationship with him, genuinely wanting him to be a part of it, you wanting him to be a part of the things you're asking for, not just asking for stuff.
Philippians 4, verse 6 says, Be careful for nothing, don't be anxious. In other words, be careful for nothing, don't be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, that comes back to one of the points we said, what is one of the ways that we can have a relationship with him?
Being thankful, being grateful for the blessings that he gives us. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. In the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.
It's funny, we were just in John 15. I should have put this back here, so I didn't have to have you flip back. But going back to John 15, verse 7 says, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
This is hilarious. I obviously didn't think about y 'all's end, flipping Bibles and stuff. I had John, and then 1 John, and then John again, now 1 John again. I should have put those together a little more thoughtfully for y 'all's sake.
Back to 1 John, chapter 5, verse 14, and this is confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. Sorry. Let's see, verse 15 here, and if we know that he hear us, that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
James, chapter 1, 5 through 7, some stuff that Brother Bill has just started covering, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, and giveth to all men liberally, and abradeth not, and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith. Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
If we are going to come to him, and we are, if we are going to ask him of things, it has to be in faith. Faith is certainly only possible if you really think about it. The true kind of saving faith, but also the faith that constantly gives us the confidence in our eternal security, in the things we are working toward, that only comes from a pretty close relationship with Jesus.
If we don't have that, we're wavering. We're like a wave with the wind tossing it to and fro, and that person won't receive anything of the Lord. Going back to the Old Testament, one more passage here for this particular little section, Jeremiah 29, starting at verse 11.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Again, we're just opening up the door to allow that relationship to happen. And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Man, I mean, again, it's pretty practical.
It's pretty simple, but it's certainly, because of our nature, even for those of us, even if you are saved, even if you are called one of God, because of our absolutely terrible nature, it's a lot harder than it sounds to seek Him, and to search Him with all of our heart, to hearken unto Him.
The reason, again, it's because of our nature that it's harder, and it's because of that, because of that barrier that we do have to actually put forth some effort. It's not as simple as we are now saved, and life is great from this point forward.
If we want the kind of blessings that He promises His kids, we have to have a relationship with Him, and in order to have a relationship with Him, we have to put forth quite a bit of effort, or it makes searching for Him with all of our hearts, again, way harder than it sounds.
And then, further down in Jeremiah, chapter 33, verse 3, it says, calling to me, and I will answer, and show the great and mighty things which thou knowest not. So, that ends just a little section on prayer being one of the ways that we can have relationship with Him.
Yikes. Got a number of pages here. Well, here's what we can do. I will, I'll kind of give you, I'm just going to give you a summation of kind of what we were going to go through, which I think would take way too long.
It is like 1236, right? Okay. Yeah. All right. So, the next thing we're going to look at was relationship through meditating on His word. So, you know, prayer is awesome. Prayer is awesome. That is how we talk to Him.
What about allowing Him to talk to us? So, meditating on His word is absolutely another way that we need, another thing we need to tap into, or another thing we need to do so that we can tap into the relationship that we are, we're created to have, and that we need to have.
So, we were going to look at Psalm 19, Joshua 1, some passages in Romans. Let me see here. Let me do something really quick. Leviticus, I mean, again, just a lot of different passages in Old and New Testament.
We were going to look at relationship through faith. I'll just, I'll read this one really quick because this one, you know, this is absolutely, you know, I was just talking about faith. How is it even possible for us to have not only true saving faith, but the kind of faith that allows us to operate as Christians and work for things that we have not seen.
But without faith, it is impossible to please Him. It's something we have to have. Pleasing Him, obviously, is something we need to do in order to reciprocate that relationship. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
So, seeking Him constantly, diligently, having faith certainly plays a big part of us being able to have that relationship. And then I was going to talk about the results of close relationship. So, again, so many blessings that He openly, that He gives us seemingly to no end on earth.
Earthly blessings as a result of simply keeping Him at the forefront all the time, taking part, diligently seeking Him, taking part in that relationship. When we do it, He will bless us. And in ways that, you know, go beyond our understanding in so many, in so many different cases.
One of the passages I had here, 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourselves, therefore, into the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care on Him, for He careth for you. So, He cares for us.
If we show that we care for Him as well, He will exalt us in due time. Let's see here. I have a lot of verses for this one. And so, then I go into the results of neglecting that relationship. It doesn't look too good, for sure.
I'll, let me, okay, so, I mean, this is a pretty potent one here. John 1, 10 through 13, He was in the world, the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. They did not have that relationship.
They did not have that loving knowledge, that intimate knowledge of Him. He came down, I'm sorry, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Again, they rejected relationship to the point of killing Him, when He gave them one of the utmost opportunities, one of the ultimate opportunities to have physical, face-to-face, in-person relationship with the Creator of the universe.
Verse 13, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Wait a minute. Okay, I skipped a verse. So, verse 11, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
Verse 12, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
So, you know, neglecting the relationship has certainly been a common theme. And, goodness, just not enough closure. Let me read this really quick out of Deuteronomy chapter 30, starting at verse 15. Again, results of neglect.
See, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil, and that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply.
Earthly blessings come from relationship, keeping His commandments, obviously, but having a relationship with Him. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whether thou goes to possess it. But, again, the neglect, the results of neglect.
If thine heart turns away, so that thou will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, the opposite of relationship with the Lord, going off an idolatrous nation, I denounce unto you this day that you shall surely perish.
We're looking at the results of neglect here, the results of neglecting a relationship with Him. You shall surely perish, that you shall not prolong your days upon the land whether thou, whether, I'm sorry, whether thou passest over Jordan, go to possess it.
You know, in the Old Testament, He's talking about His people, His people as a whole. Obviously, when you understand the sovereignty of God, you know, the doctrine of election, you see His people in the way they did reciprocate the relationship of the Old Testament.
Obviously, this is a pretty extreme example. You will perish, you will be drawn away, your days will not be prolonged. But there, in some of these other passages, just skimming it, I can't find one in particular, but there, I mean, there are results even as believers, you know, things that we would all agree would not be good to, you know, to happen.
Those blessings are withdrawn. If we neglect the relationship, even as believers, our blessings can be withdrawn. It opens the door, in my opinion, it opens the door to spiritual warfare. If you are not having that close relationship with Him, allowing Him to be your constant protector, which He will only do if you're welcoming Him into your life for everything else.
You can't just sit there expecting Him to protect you from bad things happening if you're not willing to let Him partake in all of the good as well. And once again, thanking Him and being grateful for the good that you have in the first place.
And so there are repercussions, there are negative results of neglect, even for us as believers as well, even though that passage was, you know, from Deuteronomy. And what's really interesting, and I'll end with this, relationship is ultimately caused by Him.
I keep talking about us doing our part, and it's certainly true. And I think this is a good example of the parallel that you can have in the sovereignty of God and our responsibility, because He wants us to play a part in it.
Again, I think it's why we were created in the first place. Relationship is ultimately caused by Him. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart. Think about that for a second. We read earlier how Moses was telling the people, go circumcise the foreskin of your heart.
Now, later in Deuteronomy, that was, I think, Deuteronomy 16. We're now in Deuteronomy 30. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart. So, I mean, you know, we play a part in it for sure. But the Lord, again, is going to be reaching out and is going to be, He's going to be constantly doing His part, again, for lack of a better term, to allow us to have a relationship with Him, because He wants it.
He created us for it. He wants us to have that relationship with Him. So He will circumcise our heart. This is in Deuteronomy, again, in the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul that thou mayest live.
Psalm 65 .4 says, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. He not only chose the man, but caused the man to want to have that desire in the first place, that he may dwell in thy courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even into thy holy temple. First Corinthians 1 .9 says, God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
So we were called into His fellowship. So after that rapid fire second half of the lesson there, to conclude, it is through constant effort, and I have constant in all caps in my notes, it is through constant effort that we have this relationship.
We have to do our part, and it does take effort, but the importance of it and the results of it could not be overstated. It is through that relationship that we have our discernment, that we are able to even know whether we're dealing with good people, whether we are listening to true teachers, discernment in every point of life.
It is only through a hand-holding relationship with Him that we have any discernment at all, that we have any testimony at all. How on earth are we going to live even close to a set-apart life or have the desire to do things that make us look different to everybody else that creates a testimony?
You're not going to have a testimony unless you have that relationship. It is through that relationship that we are holy in any sense of the word at all to be set apart. That is only possible through, again, like a hand-holding type relationship with the Lord.
It is through a relationship that we are righteous in any sense of the word, and that is because when we are righteous, when we are holy, it's actually Jesus's righteousness, His holiness, which Dad has expounded upon so many times in so many eloquent ways.
We're all well-grounded in that concept, but without that relationship, we are not ever going to be holy or righteous in any sense of the word because it's actually through Him that we have either of those things in the first place.
Then it's through this relationship that we have blessings given to us. The blessings that God has promised His people from the Old Testament all the way through, many of them, if not all, just talking about blessings here like earthly blessings, hinge upon our desire to serve Him, to be thankful, to want that relationship even in the hard times, and blessings will come.
It's interesting. We talk about cause and effect a lot. We talk about the importance of that. Many of the things that set denominations apart, split denominations up, split maybe even religions up, is trying to figure out the causes of salvation in ways in which we keep our salvation.
We know, again, thanks to Dad expounding on this and Brother Bill and Dave and Brother Myron, Brother Raj, guys that we have listened to in this very church, that many times those things are effects following the cause which was salvation.
Now, what's interesting about it is, Brother Bill, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure an effect, so you have a cause and you have an effect, an effect can in turn be a cause of, or at least a casual factor for, other effects.
Is that correct? Which lie in its future? So there's the cause, there's an effect, and that effect can be a cause for other effects. Now, as we know, our salvation is the cause of our good works, of our desire to go to church, to fellowship with each other, to learn about the Lord.
Now, obviously, you can desire to go to church for reputation purposes, but the true desire to go to learn about the Lord, you know, that's an effect, the desire to get baptized, the desire to profess our faith.
I'm almost done, Vern, I promise. Those are all effects. Those are all effects. However, if you want to get even more specific than that, you can look at it like this. So you have salvation, the ultimate cause.
The effect of that is the ability, okay, trying to be as specific as possible here, the ability to have relationship with the Lord. What follows after that is, or at least could be, a relationship with the Lord.
So first, we have the ability to have it, and what can follow that is actually having it, and what follows that are the good works, the good testimony, the desire to be set apart, the desire to profess our faith.
All of those things are great, and all of those follow the ultimate cause, but all of those effects, while they absolutely rest on the ultimate cause, which is our salvation, they also rest on the first effect of our salvation, which is the ability, and I hope I'm making sense here, the ability to even have relationship with the Lord in the first place.
Now, what's interesting about that is that it's not necessarily a static or stationary effect. It has to be replenished by our part, like the side of it that we need to do, us reciprocating. What I'm getting at here is that if you look at that kind of order of ultimate cause and then effects, is that if you take out that very first effect, the ability to have a relationship with Jesus in the first place, you take that one out, all those other effects start to disappear.
You are not going to be doing that many good works, if any. You're not going to have a good testimony, if at all. You're not going to have any desire to be set apart. You're not going to have any desire to profess your faith.
You go out and be bold, and so we have to tap in to our ability. Through our salvation, we have the ability to have that relationship with Jesus. We have to tap into it, because without it, it's a mess.
As we know, he is willing and always desires that intimate relationship himself. As I've said a couple of times already, the ball is continually in our court, right? We got to do our part, and it's so important.
I'm sorry I had to rush through the second half of all of that. Hopefully, it made some sense afterward. This was a lot of fun. I enjoyed this. Obviously, I couldn't ask for a better church family to do something like this with.
Again, this is just a Bible study, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface on this. I'm still going through this whole Bible in a year, mixed with other passages that we hear at church, and have been putting this together in my mind, just the importance of it and how obviously it's so practical, but the many levels of the concept of being able to have a relationship with the Lord.
Hopefully, that was enjoyable to some degree or helpful to some degree, but it was certainly fun getting to be asked to do this. I can't wait till you're back though, Dad, because yeah, I mean, this is...
No, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, you already heard the conclusion, so I don't know. Again, obviously, this could, I'm sure if you go through the whole Bible, you could find a book's worth of passages that reaffirm this concept of the importance of the relationship.
So I'll leave it at that for now, and I'll go ahead and close with prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, again, I thank you so much for giving me this unique opportunity today and for just allowing us to have the absolute best church environment and family that, speaking for myself, I could ever ask for.
Just allowing us to get together, feel the love, feel the peace, the harmony, and the ability to kind of do this in a way that just feels like we're talking to friends and family, which is absolutely the truth, which may be unique to many, many other churches out there.
And so thank you, Lord, for putting me individually right in the middle of that and my family and allowing us to get to grow every Sunday with this group of friends and family. Lord, thank you again for your many blessings and your constant protection and guidance for us.
I ask that you please continue to be with us the rest of the day, this coming week. Please be with mom and dad as they finish up their travels and rejoin us next week and coming home tomorrow. And thank you for this good food we're about to have, the fellowship we're about to have together, and we ask all these things in your name.
Amen.