The Book Of Deuteronomy

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The passage that Barry read reminds us of how Jesus started his ministry right after his baptism
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And he's tempted by the devil, and then we heard the beginning of the
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Sermon on the Mount His kingdom manifest or the coming of the king as you know this was his first coming
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And he's going to come back again and rule the way people Thought he would when he came the first time sovereign on the throne ruling with power and authority
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But the reason I wanted Barry to read that is I want you to be thinking about the coming
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King Jesus as we look back in Deuteronomy and see how the people were eagerly
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Anticipating to get into this land that God had promised this geographical kingdom as it were that they would now belong to that Lord would rule over them and so While we're going to be going through the book of Deuteronomy, I want to keep this parallel View of the nation of Israel God's promises to Israel how he brings them to the promises promised land
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And how he's going to govern them and while at the same time as we as a church ought to be thinking of God's promise of eternal rest and security in heaven and how his kingdom that has begun here will one day culminate
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And I'm hopefully I'll be able to tie them for us as we go through the book of Deuteronomy But before we do that, let me open us for the word of prayer dear heavenly father as we open up this book
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I Pray that you would be exalted through these very pages as you reveal yourself to us
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O Lord as faithful and loving and holy and I pray father that as we walk as we hear your word your spirit would
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Bring those words to bear in our lives that we would be a people who are Awakened quickened by the spirit to respond in love
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To you that we would hear your word and that we would love you with all our heart soul mind and strength in Jesus name
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We pray Amen so my purpose as with each of these books is to give you a broad outline so you can have some mental pegs as you're
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Reading through the book. How many of you got to read this book in the recent past? I Have a couple of hands and But I said
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Leviticus how almost everybody raised and I I didn't know how to respond That was that was very nice that some of you did read the book coming ahead.
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But when you read this book afterward Hopefully it'll give you some pegs through which to walk through and while I go through this book
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I want to bring out some highlights that We want to just spend a few moments on But I also want to point to Jesus Christ how he?
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Either is prefigured in this book or text here that point to something in the New Testament So we may be going back and forth a little bit because while we see the law as it is given to Israel I want us also to be reminded of the law of love that believers you and I have and how
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If you continue reading through the book of Matthew chapter 5 you get to see what Jesus says for the church today
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So with that said let's look at Deuteronomy Deuteronomy, so if you are here in the morning pastor
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Mike explain Deutero, this is a Latin term Latin term I'm sorry.
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It's a Greek term from the Septuagint and Deutero is to Norma's law Second law is how some people would interpret it
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But that's not really it's not a second law distinct from the law that was given in the book of Exodus but it's an explanation of the law and there are some additional laws that are given as This generation is ready to enter the promised land
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So the way you want to be thinking of it is this we have Genesis Genesis 12 on you have
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Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph and God has placed his affection upon this one person whose family comes into Egypt and then in Exodus Leviticus and numbers we get to see how
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God rescues The nation that has grown from this one family the
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Hebrews the Israelites and then he is now bringing them He is redeeming them. He is giving them his laws in the book of Leviticus and in the book of Numbers We see how while God is faithful These people are not and there is judgment in the wilderness and God is
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Having the first generation those who witnessed his power his mighty hand will not inherit the promised land
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But it'll be the second generation everyone who's 20 years old and younger Who God will bring and deliver to the very place where their parents said they will not be able to so If you look at Exodus and the law that is given there that was given to the first generation here in Deuteronomy This is the next generation and maybe some of them those were
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Maybe 40 to 60 years old because they wanted for 40 years in the wilderness They have seen some of these things as little kids and their memory is kind of faint
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And now just before they are ready to enter this land. There is a reaffirmation
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There is a reproclamation of God's Word his law and how they need to be a people that belong to the
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Lord as they get into this new land and you can imagine from the people's perspective 40 years all they've seen is the wilderness and here is the promise on the cusp of entering a
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New home is all we are familiar with but this is a new land a new nation Wonderful place flowing with milk and honey.
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It is also going to be a place where they will need to Battle you can just imagine here is the in Moab in the plains of Moab in the end of numbers
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We saw these people standing and the king of Noah Moab was terrified. That's why he called Balaam and Here they are
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Right on the east of the River Jordan Ready and poised to enter in and that's when this word comes to this people
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If you want to look at it from Moses perspective what would you say when you have just a few more weeks to live and These people that you have seen
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Maybe I don't know how many of these kids Moses held in his hands Who are now the leaders and the people who are walking through he has seen their fathers being unfaithful
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He has seen the people time and time and time again It's like these little children that just wouldn't listen and he has seen this faithful God and here as he is
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Unable to enter this promised land because of his of his own sin here with this tenderness and with this
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Pastoral spirit as Barry said he here is giving this Heartfelt Exhortation to the people that he has seen grown in the wilderness as they are ready to go because he will not be with them
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But he is to communicate the word of the Lord to these people as they go in Now if you want to think of an outline you can think of three parts
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Essentially Deuteronomy is a series of speeches as Moses is giving God's law to these people and exhorting them to trust in God to love
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God to follow him and to obey him But if you want to break it down broadly in three groups, you have an opening speech from chapters 1 through 11
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And then in the end you have his closing speech a very tender speech with some warnings in chapters 27 to 34 and right in the middle from chapters 12 to 26 you have a series of laws that just reveal the character of the
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God that they must worship and the importance of trusting in him and Following him rather than the idols and the gods of the land and their own sinful desires
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So you can think of it as his opening speech is the laws that are given and through the bulk of the book and then the closing speech but One of the commentators that I was reading he actually made a very interesting analogy and I'll just mention this in passing
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He said During these times there was something called a suzerain treaty and a suzerain treaty a suzerain is like a high king
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And he has vassals or little kings in the land and so there is a treaty that the big king makes to these little kings in the place and The structure of this treaty has many aspects it talks about who's the people the king the suzerain and the vassal the history of their relationship the
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Covenant that they're going to make the witnesses to this covenant the blessings and the curses that will happen if there's a breakage of this
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Covenant and so forth. There are many elements which you can actually see in this book. So it is also written pretty
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Treaty wise covenant like in Communicating that God is our high king your high king
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You're going to go into this land and you need to be under his laws as you inherit the land that he's going to give you once again this book is the last of the
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Torah the first five books the Pentateuch and All of these are penned by Moses before he dies
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So with that let's get into the first section the opening speech of Moses so if you can turn to Deuteronomy chapter 1
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I want to read a little bit As we get started chapters 1 2 & 3 are a history a recounting of what
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God has done for this people Once again think second generation here are these people 40 years wilderness desert
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Grumbling seeing the judgment you saw in the book of Numbers and that's what they have Foremost in their minds and for the for those of you are 40 years or older you can try to remember
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Some significant event 40 years ago Here is a reminder. Here is the hand of God that was faithful in your midst
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So let me read verses 1 through 8 as we get started. These are the words in fact, the first few words, these are the words is the
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Hebrew title of this book Devarim. This is The words that Moses spoke to all
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Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness of the Araba opposite souf between Paran and Tophel Laban Hazaroth and Dizab is
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Ahab. It is 11 days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Bernia In the 40th year in the first day of the 11th month
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Moses spoke to the people of Israel According to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them
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The book of Deuteronomy is about a month long. That's the period that this covers
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After he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon and all king of Bashan who lived in Ashteroth and in Edry Beyond the
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Jordan in the land of Moab Moses understood Undertook to explain this law
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Saying the Lord our God said to us in Horeb You have stayed long enough at this mountain Turn and take your journey go to the hill country of the
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Amorites and to all the neighbors in the Araba in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and By the seacoast the land of the
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Canaanites and Lebanon as far as the great river the river Euphrates See, I have set the land before you go in and take possession of the land that the
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Lord Swore to your fathers to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to give them and to their offspring forever
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Verse 10 talks about how God had given this promise to Abraham and now they are as Numerous as the stars of the heavens as God had promised to Abraham his descendants will be here is a fulfillment of the promise 400 years later in the nation of Israel ready and poised to enter their parents when they were poised to enter
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Rebel and returned but these people will enter and take the land Now if you look at the rest of this first three chapters you get to see verses 19 through 33 how the parents did refuse you get to see the rest of chapter 1 the
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Penalty of such a rebellion these this next generation is reminded you ought not to be like that Chapter 2 you get to see the wilderness and how they went through the land and as the very end of their journey
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God granted them victory in these battles against our King Sihon and King Og and Then we come to the end of chapter 3 and I want to read a little bit here as we look at what happens with Moses Verse 23 of chapter 3 and I pleaded with the
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Lord at that time and said Oh Lord God you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand
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Can you imagine that you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand? He has seen this hand and he is just in love with this
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God whose glory he has beheld and whom he loves For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
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Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan that good hill country and Lebanon But the
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Lord was angry with me because of you remember, this is Moses speech opening speech to the people and And would not listen to me and the
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Lord said to me enough from you do not speak to me of this matter again Go up on the top of Mount Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward
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Look at it with your eyes for you shall not go over this Jordan, but charge
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Joshua Encourage and strengthen him for he shall go over at the head of this people and he shall put them in Possession of the land that you shall see so we remained in the valley opposite Beth Peor You know when
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Moses actually entered the promised land There you go so it took a little while for Moses to actually get to see with his feet on the ground as you as it were but Here was this land to which
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God had appointed this Moses this little baby Who ought to have died as an infant whom
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God raised and equipped and got to show him his hand and then Moses here right there At the very end we'll get to see the land
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But he will go instead to be with his Lord in heaven So that's the opening in chapter 1 2 3 which is just a recount in chapters 4 through 11
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There are some very key elements of what Moses is speaking to the people so Right in chapter 4 there is a command for obedience and he talks about two aspects one is
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Watch out for idolatry. Do not Worship the gods of the lands that you are going to enter because that is the reason they get kicked out and on the other
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Hand focus and this is really the bulk of this book the Lord your God 250 times
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Moses repeats in this book He just wants them to just get a good glimpse of their God and in the end of chapter 4 he says
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Did my people ever hear the voice of God speaking out in the midst of the fire as you have heard and still live he just Exalts this
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God that they ought to fix their eyes on as they enter this land and that's chapter 4 But when you move into chapter 5 you get to see the 10
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Commandments reiterated here and in some places expanded in other cases very briefly stated and as You read verses chapter 5 verse 6 through 21
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You get to see the elaboration once again remember the first generation had that in Exodus 20 right as they came out of Egypt and now here as the people are entering the
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Promised Land once again a reiteration of these foundational laws upon which the rest of the laws would come from big built on so every other law you can find its root in one of these 10
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Commandments and Moses reiterates them to these people these need to be in the
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Roof of your the fabric of who you are as you think of your God and what pleases him What are things that he loves what are things that he hates and detests?
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And what are those values that need to undergird your thinking as you come into this new land in fact when you think of some?
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of those Let me State that a little later You need to be thinking of what kind of a people these are these were slaves in Egypt and now
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God has blessed them They are multiplied They have coming here with their possessions into this land
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And they're going to inherit a land that was Owned by others built by others developed by others and they need to be thinking differently
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About what it means to be possessors of this land possessors of all the goodness that God has kept to the given to them
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And they need to be looking at it as stewards of God's blessings rather than somehow
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Delude themselves into thinking that they have attained these these things selfishly belong to them they need to know how to handle with care what
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God is giving them and how they need to relate to one another in terms of Property and relationships and so forth and that's why there's going to be these other laws that are given on The basis of this that will help these people think rightly about the
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God who delivered them So turn over to chapter 6 and I want to dwell a few moments in The Shema let me read for you verses 1 through 9 of chapter 6
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You remember when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment and this is what he quotes
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Now, this is the commandment the statutes and rules of the that the Lord your God commanded me.
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This is Moses to teach you Second generation Israelites that you may do them in the land to which you're going over To possess it that you may fear the
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Lord your God and your son and your son's son By keeping all his statutes and commandments, which
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I command you all the days of your life that your days may be long Here therefore
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Oh Israel and be careful to do them that it may go well with you that you may multiply
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Multiply greatly as the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you in a land flowing
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With milk and honey and then verse 4 Here Oh Israel the
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Lord your God The Lord is one you shall love the
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Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and These words that I command you today shall be on your heart
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The word heart is just repeated over and over and over again in this book There is something about the people's heart that is fundamentally wrong and Moses knows it very well
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And he's going to talk about how the Lord is going to deal with this heart later in this book But he reminds them.
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This is what ought to be flowing from your being the center of who you are you shall teach them diligently to your children verse 7 and shall talk of them when
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You sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down when you rise You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as front lit between your eyes you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates and Then he goes on to talk about how they must live in this land by Resting upon the
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Word of God that has been given to them Now, let me just go back to verse 4 and 5 here.
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Oh Israel here Shema it's not just just Open your ears and listen here.
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It has this connotation of listening attentively with a Intent to do what is commanded of you.
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So this ought to be the kind of Words that you are listening to your general while you are ready to get into battle.
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You don't want to just say I'm just listening to something and then I'm just gonna sit around here because if you are in the wrong direction
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You'll get bombed. You need to be in the right place doing the things with the general ahead of you
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These are life and death to you You need to pay close attention to what you are hearing.
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This is vital This is your life the Lord your God. Like I said, this is repeated so many times in this book
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Lord capital L -o -r -d Yahweh in None in Exodus 3 pastor
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Harriton was referring it to it this morning how that in the
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Exodus 3 passage it is used in close connection with I am who I am to be which is the verb which is very similar to Yahweh and The self -existent one is what pastor
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Harriton? Called him and that is true. There is this God in whom all
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Things exist. He is the source of all life and he is this God was placed as affection
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He's this covenant -keeping God who is the one who rescued them out of Israel.
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Remember Exodus 20 that was a fundamental a Beginning point of the Ten Commandments Why all these commandments because he is the one who has placed his affection and rescued you and therefore you respond in love
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To him the Lord is one the land you're going into many small
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G guards, there is only one God and You must be one in your devotion to this
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God You cannot have divided loves for the gods of this land You shall love the
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Lord your God love Isn't and many of you know this this is not just a feeling, you know,
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I just feel like I'm loving It involves that there is a deep devotion to this God.
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It involves a commitment with every fiber of our being to this one person when
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I'm when I couple get engaged there is really very little that can
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Turn the attention of the one from the other there is this wholehearted Love for one another where you're looking for the well -being of the other you want to hear and obey and listen and do the things
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That would please the other and that's the kind of love that must be for the Lord your God and that that has to encompass everything your heart from which
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You think you'll your you emote all of those should be single -mindedly
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Focused toward this God your heart your soul and your mind apply yourself wholeheartedly to him and Let me just take a moment.
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I was going to say this later, but I'll say this now If you're gonna enter a strange land
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Deal with people who are much bigger than you who in whose eyes you are like grasshoppers You'd be thinking how sharp are my arrows and how?
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Swift armor is my arm. How much can I bench press? What is it that this people of God have as they enter into this land?
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God and his word it is the Word of God that they have and that's what Moses is giving them
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He's not giving them a nuclear bomb. He's not giving them. You know f -16s, or I don't know the latest F That is out there.
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He is giving them God's Word. You know, this is what you need fix your eyes on him
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He's the one who's bringing you into this land You need to be devoted to the one who rescued you and who is bringing you to where he promised
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He will deliver you you are right on the verge of entering this land all right, so that's the
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Section in the Shema that I wanted us to focus a little bit on but let's move on to chapter 7 and I want to read a few verses here chapter 7
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There is a interesting passage that many of us may be familiar with versus 6 to 10 He says for you are a people holy to the
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Lord your God because he has just given them instructions What must you do when you come into the land how you must not follow the idols and worship?
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But rather destroy these idols that are there before you why because you're a people holy you heard holy this morning
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God is transcendent different apart and God has called this people to be apart
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And that's really the crux of the book of Deuteronomy where the laws are given Not because these people will keep them and be this stellar model for the nations
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But rather these laws as they observe them will distinguish them as a people that are unique and different and as the people look at Them they say you know they belong to a different God They belong to the
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Lord God Almighty the maker of heaven and earth So as these people are to obey these laws they will be distinct and different from the rest, but in verse 6
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The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured position out of all The people's who are on the face of the earth there are many nations and kingdoms
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But there is Abraham and his descendants the Israelites here It is it was not because you were more in number than any other people that Yahweh had set his love on you and chose you for you were the fewest of all peoples
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But it is because the Lord Loves you and is keeping the oath which he swore to your father's that the
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Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and Redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt know therefore that the
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Lord your God is God the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love to those who love him and keep his commandments to a
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Thousand generations and repays to their face those who hate him by destroying them
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He will not be slacked with the one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.
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I Want to remind you again the covenant that was given to Abraham which we saw in Genesis was
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Unconditional and the and the commands that we're going to be seeing here the Mosaic covenant that we've been seeing is a
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Conditional one I'm going to walk you through some of the commands that are given here and we'll wrap when as we wrap that up We look at the new covenant that we have as believers today and how the
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Lord has In this redempt in this stage of redemptive history Worked through the nation of Israel that Paul later in Galatians will refer to and say, you know
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Here is the purpose that God was working through with the law in order that one day we will see what we inherit by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ the only one who would have who kept the law fully faithfully and completely and The one who will inherit our sin as the sinless sin bearer so When you look at the first 11 chapters what you should be thinking of is we have a
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God who is unchanging He made the promise to Abraham and 400 years later He is
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Delivering exactly what he promised to his to Abraham right into the promised land.
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He never changes He always fulfills what he promises He is unchanging but the people that he chose will be a people that are fickle and God is the one who will bring them to where he
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Said he would so that's the first section the opening speech chapters 1 through 11 now, let's
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I'm sorry. I didn't Quickly run through the rest of the 8 9 and 10 so in 8 and 9
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There is a reminder once again of the history of what has happened the golden calf
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There's new tablets of stone that were given but in the end of chapter 10, there is in verse 16
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Circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer Stubborn and as I mentioned this earlier there is this
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Desperate wickedness that is bound in the heart of man that Jeremiah would later talk about and this is going to come through in the book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy this
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Pastoral Moses as he knows the people and the struggles that they will have with obeying the law of God is going to remind them
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That they need to be a people that look up to God and later he will say God will in fact do this down the road and we'll look at that as we close and and in chapter 11, there is this exhortation to love and to Obey and serve the
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Lord Now with that we come to the section in the middle of chapters 12 through 26 where we have these various laws that are given
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And I want you to be remembering We are looking historically back. This is even before Israel came into the nation what was the commands that God had given to the nation of Israel at this point in time and What were they to do?
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In order to fulfill the The law of God and to please him
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When they loved him and obeyed him Obeyed the commands that he gave to them These were reflective of the character of God in terms of his goodness his holiness his justice these were communicating to this
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Specific people in the specific time and place how they must act that they may be holy. They may be separate.
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They may be distinct among the nations that they live and how they may reciprocate that love to their
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God by Obeying and keeping the law that God had given to them. So that's
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The command to the nation of Israel and I want to just give you a little caution and we'll spend some time on this at the end there are many who try to Take these laws and Theocratize our
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Christian churches so you can try to somehow find some ways to Bring these laws into the church or into the nations that we serve today
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You want to be very careful to remember the purpose that this law has for this nation of Israel And I'm going to bring for some comparisons as we go through this book as you look at some of the text in the
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New Testament, but I want you to remember The law that you and I as believers are under and I'm not going to give you the answer now
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But when we finish hopefully that will be clearer so as you're trying to apply I want you to first and foremost look at it historically at the
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Purposes that the law was given for the nation of Israel as it reveals the character of God I want you to look at and say
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God is good God is a God who is loving faithful and just So as you begin you see the first two chapters it begins with worship
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How must the people of Israel worship you're going to go into a new land and God says there is going to be a place where you must come and sacrifice you've heard the laws in the book of Exodus and in the book of Leviticus now how where must you execute these
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These sacrifices I will give you a place if you look at chapter 10 and actually verse 11 when
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You go over the Jordan and live in the land He when he gives you rest from your enemies and when you're in safety
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Then to the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell there there You shall bring all that I command you your burnt offerings your sacrifices your tithes and the contributions that you present and all your finest
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Wow offerings that you vow to the Lord and there is this
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Careful directions in terms of how you must worship your God in an acceptable manner
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You can't just saunter into the presence of God God has provided for you for atonement for your sin And you need to be careful and do it in the way that he has prescribed and that's chapter 12
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And then when you look at chapter 13, this is the do this is how you come before God and these are the don'ts do
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Not worship the idols do not worship these gods because you There will be divine judgment for idolatry, this is the reason why these people are being brought out
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Displaced as the Nation of Israel is coming into Canaan So you see worship in chapters 12 and 13 and then in chapter 14
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I'm actually just have chapter 12 and 13 and for for for us who would
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Be thinking, you know, there is this very common saying where You know people try to divide
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Deuteronomy or the Pentateuch into these Religious laws the social laws the moral laws we say, okay these things, you know
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Maybe Jesus has fulfilled we saw in Matthew 5 and maybe the moral laws are the ones that are applicable I don't believe that is what the scriptures it's hard for you to extricate these three from one another
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Jesus reiterates The New Testament reiterates for the church the commands the moral
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Commands that would be sinful for you to disobey as a believer when you look at these religious social and moral laws that are given they they reflect the character of God and you want to worship the
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God that Reveals them to you. You can see the principles that undergird these laws, but these are not commands that are upon the church today
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So a good example is chapter 14 Once again before we go to chapter 14 12 and 13, so John chapter 4
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What is it that Jesus tells the Samaritan woman the Samaritan woman says? Oh, yeah. I see you're a prophet, sir
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Oh should we worship on this mountain or that mountain? Where is it that God said this place is that you should worship and that's exactly the contention from from the
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Pentateuch because the Samaritan said it's only the Pentateuch that we have we don't have any of the other books and Jesus said believe me woman.
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The time is coming and now is when Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem Will you worship?
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Because the father is seeking those who worship in spirit and truth Jesus has come to tear the veil into you have now access into the throne room of God Directly by the finished work of Jesus Christ.
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There is no longer an animal sacrifice and a and a symbol of the
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Worship of God here on earth because Jesus is tabernacled you heard this morning Jesus has come here and revealed his glory and we have access straight into the throne room of God Back to Deuteronomy chapter 14 you see here the clean and unclean animals once again from Leviticus reiterated here with emphasis for the new generation
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Entering as they would be a distinct people observing these food laws that show them to be different from the rest
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And as you're thinking of these food laws, once again, you were probably remembering what? Jesus talked about it is not what goes into your mouth that Makes defiles you but what comes out of your mouth so there is a purpose for the food laws given to the
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Nation of Israel and Jesus talks about the fulfillment of the law in him and what it is that he
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Expects from those who would follow him. He does not Abolish the law he fulfills it and then we see in chapter 14 a very interesting passage
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And I want to take a few moments from end of chapter 14 14 Chapter 14 verse 22 to the end of chapter 15 you get to see something about giving.
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What is it that God? How what is how does God view? giving in the life of his people so you have the type that comes from here a tenth of what you have and this ought to come as to the
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These are to be given to the Lord But in verse 28 if you look every three years you shall bring out all the type of your produce and lay it up in your town and the
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Levite because he has no portion or inheritance with you and the sojourner These are the
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Best of my exit xenophobia, right? Xenos, I guess the strangers the people you don't know who are in the land the fatherless the widow who are within your towns
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Shall come and eat and be filled and the Lord your God that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do so one tenth every year and one tenth every three years for the provision for those who are needy in your midst and including the
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Levites and There is this sense again You remember here are these people who are slaves who are coming now who are going to possess a lot of things that the
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Lord Has bountifully given to them and their first and foremost thought should be God has given this and I honor him with what he has
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Given me I'm going to give back to him I'm going to be generous in giving to the people who do not have Because that is how
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I have received from the Lord and I need to be a person who gives freely now again Remember, this is the context of the
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Nation of Israel coming to settle this ought to characterize who you are as a people who are generous as your
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God is generous and The sabbatical year continues that trend, you know, you you forgive debts you let things go
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So there is this idea that we are just sojourners here on this land
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We don't hold fast to these things as if we but we own these these are given to us freely and we do we deal with?
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Our positions according to the character of the God who has given them to us Now, let's just shift gears a little bit and I'm doing this deliberately because it's easy for us is easy for me
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I can tell you this last week as I'm going to Deuteronomy. I'm like, okay, what should I be doing? Let's do a 10th in the third, you know ratio.
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This should be what should be governing my life and I'm like, huh? Here I am teaching and I'm not applying this well, so I don't want you to do the same mistake
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Which is why I want to bring some New Testament text to remind us of how we ought to be thinking
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I constantly heard the word tithes in giving Now if someone's a new believer doesn't know anything about giving and they want to give a tenth and they say, you know
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What I see the Israelites do this and I want to honor the Lord the same way. That's fine You know nothing wrong with giving a tithe
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But many of the people that I speak to Seem to see this as a law in the
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Old Testament that is binding on the people in the New Testament What would I say to them? What would
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I say to myself? What is the Bible the New Testament talk to the church about giving the
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Lord loves a cheerful giver the Lord wants you to give Sacrificially I the Lord, you know, don't stop at a tithe.
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That's big God has given you much give give back to the ministry of the church
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Give give to the people who are in need do not be a person who is tight -fisted But one who is generous like the
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God who has blessed you in all these different ways James talks about this You know, we not we need to be a people who are giving and if we save we love them
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But we don't give there is something wrong with the faith that we have John talks about it Our spleen must kind of get tight when we see there is a need we ought not to be a people saying oh, you know
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I've given my tithe. I'm all set. I don't have any more to give we need to be a people who are moved with compassion for those in need and For the ministry of the church to the work of God in our midst
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It's not about our lives and our possessions But it's about God and his kingdom and how we will be a people who are giving back to Deuteronomy chapter 16, so We've seen giving the laws now
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We see the Passover and the festivals and once again We saw this in the book of Leviticus how the festivals were
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Intended to reinforce in the mind of the people year after year after year, you know
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You did not get out of slavery by yourself. It is God who did this He destroyed all the firstborn and he rescued you
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Remember every time you come to the Passover festival of weeks Festival of booths and here are these provision of God for you and you want to be remembering and thanking and being
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Grateful to the God who has done so much for you and these are Instituted in order that the people as a nation may remember wherever they are.
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They come together and worship their God And when you think of festivals once again, you probably want to be thinking of Colossians 2 16 and 17 where let me
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Maybe just read that briefly Therefore let no one pass judgment on you.
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Once again, you have to remember in the New Testament Church. We are not talking just the Jews we are talking about Jews and Gentiles where the middle wall of division has been broken let no one pass judgment on you in questions of Food and drink or with regards to a festival or a new moon or a
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Sabbath why? These are a shadow of things to come but the substance belongs to Christ We already saw how the
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Passover it should remind us of how Christ is our Passover lamb that was sacrificed on our behalf
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So again, you see the laws of the festivals and then in chapter 17 and 18 you get to see the governance What are the kind of leadership that God is going to bring into his people and he gives them laws
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We see the priests the judges the Kings the Levites and then in the end of chapter 18, we have this wonderful section
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We'll take a few moments to read this In verse 15 chapter 18 verse 15 the
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Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me This is Moses speaking from among you from your brothers.
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It is to him. You shall listen Just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said let me not hear again
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The voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire Anymore, lest I die and then verse 18.
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I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers This is what the Lord said.
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I Will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him and whoever little will not listen to My words that he shall speak in my name.
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I myself will require of him Jesus is our
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Prophet priest and King and this is the prophecy to the in one sense
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There are going to be prophets who are going to come that are sent by the Lord But this is the capital P Prophet Jesus will come and who will do the will of him who sent him who will speak the words
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That are given to him because he is he and the father. He he is here to fulfill the will of the father in his
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Earthly ministry and to glorify him as he was called to do Chapters 19 through 26 this large section has many laws some of those laws are social laws
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You can see the cities of refuge, how do you deal with? justice and treating dealing with homicide voluntary involuntary many of our social our judicial codes are based upon the principles that are given here and How do you deal with witnesses?
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How do you deal with war? What are what is just war? How do you? Not desecrate the land during the time of war
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Chapter 21 policing, you know, how do you handle? Unsolved murders, how do you deal with the?
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pollution the uncleanness the the blood that is spilt in the land while you do not have the mystery of the murder resolved
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You have a family laws What kind of relationship should be governing within the family within when sexual relationships clean and uncleanness?
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Divorces so there is this the people of God must reflect the character of God in Everything they do whether it is within their nation as a society within their family units within With other nations in their war and that's basically what is revealed to them in these chapters leading up to chapter 26
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So this middle section chapters 12 to 26 Provide us this these laws
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Which these second generation Israelites getting into this land need to be reflecting upon and in fact, we're going to see this in a moment they need to be reading this and observing this and Remembering the character of their
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God as they are going to be living in this promised land That God is bringing them to and it is all about the character of God the holiness of God Reflected in the lives of the people of God now.
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I do want to read one section Chapter 21 verses 22 and 23 and there we read
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If a man it is if a man has committed a crime punishable by death
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And he's put to death and you hang him on a tree his body shall not remain all night on the tree
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But you shall bury him the same day for a hanged man is Cursed by God you shall not defile your land that the
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Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance I turn with me very briefly to Galatians chapter 3 as we look at you know when you look at this law in its immediate context, you'd like okay, you know, this is there's a criminal
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Deserving death penalty. There's about 16 different cases. You can see through the Torah where death penalty was valid and Someone dies and in terms of how you deal with the body
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This is how you must do it and we know when Jesus died on the cross
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His body was also Taken down at Sun before at the end of the day and buried but Galatians 3 10 to 14 will give us a little more insight into how to Look at how
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Paul uses this very text in his exhortation to the Galatians and you had to remember
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Galatians is a good book to read when you're thinking of the Old Testament law because these people were consumed by circumcision and how
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Trying to observe the Old Testament law in order for justification would damn them rather than make them pleasing
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Before the God who gave this command to a particular people in a particular time Galatians 3 10 for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse for it is written
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Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law for the righteous shall live by Obedience No by faith, but the law is not of faith rather the one who does them shall live by them
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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus the
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Blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith
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Remember in you all the nation shall be blessed and here Abraham's descendant
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Jesus would go past this period of conditional covenant and Fulfill the law all its righteous requirements and then make this provision of righteousness free for any who would trust in him by Have by himself becoming sin on our behalf and the sinless one dying on the on the on the tree
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On our behalf and being cursed in our stead instead All right.
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So with that, let's move to the last section the closing speech and this is from 27 to 34 and Chapter 27 and 28 are very interesting.
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I just want you to scan through them as you look at it so if you look was 15 and Following cursed be cursed be cursed be here are the things, you know, there is a very
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Straightforward Commandments these are things you do these things you will be cursed and chapter 28 the beginning chapter verse 3 blessed shall you be blessed shall be the fruit blessed shall you be and then
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If you do not keep these the end of chapter 28 you shall be cursed
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Now blessings and cursings when it comes to the law it is obedience and Disobedience that bears your blessing or your curse, but then in verse chapter 29
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We come into a covenant and I want you to just focus on what we see here chapter 29 verses 1 through 9
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We get to see let me just read Verse 4
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Verses 2 and 3 he says you've seen all these things that God has done But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear
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I have led you 40 years in the wilderness and what has happened your clothes have not worn out on you
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Your sandals have not worn off your feet You have not eaten bread. You have not drunk wine or strong drink that you may know that I am the
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Lord your God When you came here, they came to battle these Kings you defeated them. We took their land
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Therefore verse 9 keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do
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So there is a reiteration of the covenant made in Horeb ever that we see earlier and then there is this new covenant that is
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Pre -visioned if you will in chapter 29, there are things that God is going to do some would call the
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Palestinian covenant as they come into this land as God is going to bless them, but there is a There is a forward looking into the new covenant of the new heart that God will provide of That we see in Jeremiah 31
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Pre -visioned here. So but let me just move on. We're since we're running short on time verse 29
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The secret things belong to the Lord our God But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law
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So here is this law given to these people the people are meant to Reflect the love their love for God by observance of the law but there is a grander purpose because there is this heart of man that God needs will continue to work on as he
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Circumcises their heart and gives them a new heart a regenerate heart that we will have Through the finished work of Jesus Christ So as we move further
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Well, Moses is talking about these blessings and cursings I know you you're gonna have trouble keeping these because you
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I've observed what you've done these past 40 years and when you do sin, you can repent and Come back and that's what you see in the beginning of chapter 30.
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There is restoration for the people as they would Come back to this
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God and I'm not going to read this But if you look at verses chapter 30 verses 11 through 20, let me just maybe read verse 6
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The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your Offspring so that you will love the Lord your
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God with all your heart with all your soul that you may live and this is the prevision that I was talking about and then in verses 11 through 14 you get to see
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Let me read that for you for this commandment a command is not too hard neither is it for off It is not in heaven that you should say who will ascend to heaven to bring it to us that we may hear it and do
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It neither is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go with the sea for us to bring it that we may Hear it and do it, but the word is very near you
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It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it and in fact in Romans 10 Paul will take these very verses
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Romans 10 5 to 13 when you can read this when you go home and How he he talks about how in Christ we have this for us this very truth made alive in our lives and then in Chapter 31 verses 9 through 13 you get to see how the reading of the law is meant to be done for the people to remember the character of the
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God who rescued them out and then in chapter 31 and And in chapter and the last chapter we get to see this handover so Moses here is coming to the finishing of his
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Proclamation to the people and he is no longer going to be their leader. He has been the leader for the last 40 years
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But he's going to pass the baton on to Joshua God would bring him and he's commissioned and he's going to take this forward chapter 32
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You have the song of Moses and it is just a wonderful tender song reflecting upon the character of God Who is faithful and the
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God who will also be just and then chapter? 33 you get to see this blessing almost like Jacob blesses in the end of the book of Genesis But a much very rich blessing on each of the twelve tribes of Israel And then in chapter 34 as we come to the very end you get to see the death of Moses And it is just such a short chapter and I if I would encourage you to read this when you go home how he goes up into this mountain sees everything and in verse 5 the servant of the
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Lord died in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord and He this is God buried him in the valley in the land of Moab Opposite Beth Peor and no one knows the place of his burial to this day
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Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes was undimmed and his vigor unabated verse 10
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Well, and there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel since Moses whom the Lord knew face to face
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Unlike him for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh And to all the servants and to all this land and for all the mighty power and the great deeds of terror
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That Moses did in the sight of all Israel as the penitent closes
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We get to see the promise that was given to Adam Take shape in the promise given to Abraham and the redemptive work in the nation of Israel as they are standing to enter
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Canaan and that's how this book closes and as we Reflect upon the work of God in the life of the people of is in the nation of Israel We want to remember that the fulfillment of this redemptive history
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Which we've just seen a small section of we will continue to see through the next few weeks Is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
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He is the ultimate Prophet he is the king to come and he is the priest who provided for our atonement and we as a people
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Love him with all our heart soul mind and strength because he loved us and gave his life for us
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Let us pray we thank you
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Lord. We thank you for loving us when we were rebellious and Runaways, thank you for sending us
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Jesus to die on our behalf and take our sin
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We thank you for giving us new hearts that we can repent and believe in your finished work
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Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes to your goodness your love and your justice
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That we would reflect your character while we have breath here on earth by faith in Jesus Christ our