August 7, 2022 – Sunday Service Live Stream

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Join the congregation of Ascension Presbyterian Church for our livestream of this week's worship service. This week, Pastor Christopher Brenyo is preaching on Deuteronomy 30. Visit us: https://www.ascensionpresbyterian.com/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AscensionPre... Follow us on Gab: https://gab.com/ascensionchurchlongwood

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Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our
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God, please stand I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help
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My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth He will not allow your foot to be moved.
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He who keeps you will not slumber Behold he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep
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The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand The Sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night
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The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul
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The Lord shall preserve you're going out and you're coming in from this time forth and even forevermore
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Therefore come now. Let us worship him Please pray with me
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Father Son and Holy Spirit. We boldly approach the throne of grace because of Christ We take delight that you have called us to be your people and we ask that our
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Humble worship would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight today For the glory of Christ and the good of your people.
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We ask these things in Jesus name Amen Please kneel for the corporate confession of sin
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Let us now with one voice confess our sins together Gracious God our sins are too heavy to carry too real to hide deep to undo
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Hearts can no longer bear what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment
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Set us free from a past that we cannot change Open to us a future in which we can be changed and grant us grace to grow more and more
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In the likeness and image through Jesus Christ the light of the world
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Amen. Amen, please stand My little children these things
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I write to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins we have an advocate with the
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Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only
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But also for the whole world. Oh people of God take heart today. If you be in Christ your sins are forgiven
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Amen Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 57 Hallelujah praise
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Jehovah The exclamation marks tell me that we must sing heartily this hymn number 57
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Hallelujah praise Jehovah Please take up the insert and find
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Psalm 131 This is somewhat unfamiliar to us. So Alyssa is going to play through one time
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Please remain Standing for the reading of the word from Jeremiah chapter 25
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Word of the Lord the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jeroboam the son of Josiah King of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah?
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And to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying from the 13th year of Josiah the son of Ammon king of Judah seven
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Even to this part king of Josiah son of Ammon king of Judah even to this day
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This is the 20th or 23rd year in which the word of the Lord has come to me
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And I have spoken to you Raising early and speaking, but you have not listened
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In the Lord has sent to you all the servants the prophets raising
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Raising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear
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They said repent now everyone of his evil way in his evil doing
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In dwelling in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever
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Do not go after other gods Do not serve them and worship them and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands
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And I will not harm you Yet you have not listened to me
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Says the Lord that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt
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Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts because you have not heard my words Behold, I will send and take all your families of the north
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Says the Lord and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant and will
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Bring them against the land against the inhabitants and against those these nations
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All around and will utterly destroy them and make them in an astonishment a hissing a perpetual desolations
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Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of blindness voice
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Of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the sound of the millstones in the light of the lamp and this who
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This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years
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Then I will come to pass when 70 years are completed that I will
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Punish the king of Babylon and that nation the land of the Chaldeans For their iniquity says the
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Lord and I will make it a perpetual desolation So I will bring on that land all my words which
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I have pronounced against it All that is is written in This book which
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Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations For many nations and great kings shall be
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Be served by them also And I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their hands
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For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me Take this wine cup of fury
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From my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you
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To drink it and they shall drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword
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Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations drink to whom
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Jerusalem and the cities its kings its princes to make them a
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Desolation an astonishment a hissing and a curse as It is this day
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Pharaoh king of Egypt has his servant his servants his princes and all the people all the
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Mixed multitude all the kings of the land of us the kings of the land of the
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Philistines namely Ashkelon Gaza Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod Edom Moab and people of Ammon all the kings of Tyre all the kings of Sidon And the kings of coast of the coastlands which are across the sea day
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Danden Tama buzz and all who are in the furthest corners all the kings of Arab Arab and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert all the kings as it
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Zimri all the kings of Eden and all the kings of the
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Medes And all the kings of the north for there For all the kings of the north far and near One with another and all the kings of kingdoms of the world are on the face of the earth.
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Also the king Sakesh all the kings or they shall drink after them therefore
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You shall say to them thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel drink be drunk and vomit fall and rise to no more because of the sword which
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I shall send among you and I shall be If they refuse to take and it shall be if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink
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Then you shall say to them thus says the Lord of hosts you shall Certainly drink
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For behold, I begin to bring Calamity on the city, which is called by my name and should you be utterly?
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unpunished You should not be unpunished for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth
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Says the Lord of hosts Therefore prophesy against them all these words and say to them
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The Lord will roar from on high and utterly his voice from his
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Holy habitation he will war many a war mightily against his fold
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He will give a shout as those who dread the grapes
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Against all the inhabitants of the earth a noise will come to the ends of the earth for the
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Lord has a controversy He will plead his cause with all flesh
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He will give those who are wicked to the sword says the Lord Thus says the
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Lord of hosts behold disaster shall go forth from nation to nation in a great whirlwind shall be
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Right raised from the earth farthest parts of the earth and At the day the slain of the
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Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth
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One end to the of the earth even to the other end of the earth
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They shall not be lamented or gathered or buried.
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They shall be they shall come Refuse on the ground Wail shepherds and cry roll about in the ashes
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You leaders of the flock for the days of your slaughter and your
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Dispersions are fulfilled. You shall fail like it. You shall fall like a precious vessel and the shepherds will not
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Will have no way to believe No, the leaders of the flock to escape a voice of the cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the leaders to the flock
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Will be heard for the Lord has punished their past their pasture and the peaceful dwellings are cut down because of the fierce anger
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He has lifted up His lair like a lion.
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He's left his lair like a lion for they for their hand or for their land is desolate because of the
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Fierceness of the oppressor and because of his fierce fierce anger the word of the
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Lord Let's now confess our faith through the singing of the
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Apostles We Take your hymnal and turn to number 499 rock of ages 499 please prepare for and seeing the multitudes
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Jesus went up on a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came to him Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit
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For theirs is the kingdom of heaven For indeed your strength
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Lord God, we are in our sin for Father God in great need of a
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Savior But what I got you provided your son Got a holy Propitiation for us.
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I pray that we'd be mindful of our lowliest state and the grace that you've given to us
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Like I would become haughty and prideful and various different things or God Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted
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Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Your will
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled
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Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
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God Lord Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God To pursue peace
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
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Blessed are you and they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake
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Please stand And we are singing for the first time The psalm of the month for those of you haven't checked this
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DJ has supplied all the music and some great background on Psalm 76 and We're going to ask
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Alyssa to play through one time. We practice at Sunday school today. So we should be able to sing heartily and adoringly to the
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Lord Psalm 76 Please turn in your
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Bible. This is
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God's holy and infallible Word Now it shall come to pass when all these things come upon you the blessing and the curse which
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I have set before you and you call them to mind among the nations where the
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Lord your God drives you and You return to the Lord and obey his voice
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According to all that I command you today you and your children With all your heart and with all your soul that the
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Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and Gather you again from all the nations where the
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Lord your God has scattered you If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven from there
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The Lord your God will gather you and from there he will bring you Then the
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Lord your God will bring you to the land which your father's possessed and you shall possess it He will prosper you and multiply you more than your father's and the
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Lord your God will Circumcise your heart in the heart of your descendants To love the
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Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live Also, the
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Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you who?
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Persecuted you and you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments, which
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I command you today the Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand and the fruit of your body and the increase of Your livestock and in the produce of your land for good
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For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as he rejoiced over your father's
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If you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes Which are written in this book of the law
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If you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
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For this is the commandment which I command you today. It's not too mysterious for you nor is it far off?
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It is not in heaven that you should say who will ascend into heaven for us and to bring it to us That we may hear it and do it
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Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we
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May hear it and do it But the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it
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See I have set before you today Life and good death and evil and then
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I command you today to love the Lord your God to walk in his ways And to keep his commandments his statutes and his judgments
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That you may live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess but if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and Are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them
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I announced to you today that you will surely perish You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the
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Jordan to go in and possess I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life
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That both you and your descendants may live That you may love the
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Lord your God that you may obey his voice and that you may cling to him for he is your life in the length of days
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Now you dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give them
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May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most holy word today
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Please pray with me. Oh Lord, I'm so thankful that you have not withheld from us
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Any truth That you have supplied to us all that we need for life and for godliness
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And Oh Lord, I thank you for your holy and righteous law I thank you that the end of the law is
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Christ that it drives us to see our desperate need of Christ and when we have
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Christ Lord, it drives us to want to obey it We ask that you would be pleased with this in our worship today in Jesus name.
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Amen Please be seated This is the last little five week series on Deuteronomy on the law of God the first five books of the
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Bible the Pentateuch we come to the end of the books of the law the last book of the law and What we have today in context is
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Moses giving his final speech to Israel as they are on the edge of Coming into the promised land
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Moses as we learned recently about Aaron and his sister His brother
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Aaron his sister Miriam They don't get to cross over into the land and Moses does not get to cross over into the promised land
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He's about to die he's going to in the next four chapters give the instructions for Serving under Joshua the new leader of Israel and he he's going to die
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And as he closes we often think of these last will and testament kind of speeches and things are words that are powerful
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We hear them from our forefathers or family members and and these words from Moses are very powerful he is motivated and he wants them to be motivated by their love for God and This is expressed and their understanding through obedience to his commands
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Israel at this point is in the 40th year They're at the very end of this long period of wilderness wandering and they're about to enter in We're not going to have time today to fully explore the lengthy reading of that.
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We can't go through verse by verse I'm sure they're gonna be omissions that will be Seen here in our text, but there there is something here in chapter 30.
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That is a synopsis of Israel's future Culminating in the arrival of Christ who is alone faithful Israel Jesus himself is the
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Israel of one He will obey all the commands that Adam failed to obey and he will also
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Do all the things that Israel as a nation failed to accomplish in his own person and work
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Christ is the end of the law. This is not we'll find in Romans 10 a radical abrogation of God's commands but the righteous
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Embodiment of the law as accomplished by Christ in the flesh.
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So the question is to be answered today Is Deuteronomy 30 merely historical or does it have abiding relevance for the people of God?
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You've been here the last four weeks the answer is should be obvious is Christ here in Deuteronomy.
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Can we see Christ in Deuteronomy 30? Do we see the glory of Christ revealed?
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For those of you who need some boundary lines for outline for to keep notes number one
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Return to the Lord. He will restore you. This is taken from our text return to the Lord He will restore you we're not gonna have a lot of time to talk about this
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Israel's about to enter into the promised land and Moses predicts basically from here to second
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Kings What's going to happen to Israel? he forth tells captivity and Rebellion and disobedience is quite a powerful thing to consider.
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They're about to enter into the promised land He says but you're going to fall away
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You're gonna be taken captive But there's a great Reminder here a clear teaching from Moses return to the
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Lord and he will restore you and it's been very powerful as we've considered the Exodus and some of these things that have happened the failure of Israel is
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Colossal and yet when they turn back to the Lord the Lord receives them
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And it's true for us Return to the Lord number one. He will restore you number two
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Equally powerful and one of the most punchy Kind of statements and truths in Scripture is the
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Lord will circumcise your heart number two Taken from verse six the
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Lord will circumcise your heart Number three the word is near you and that language should be very familiar to you
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Passages of Scripture that we all seem to know very well Romans chapter 10 Paul quotes this we'll take a brief look at that The word is near you the revelation of God has been expressly written down and set forth
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This is now the second time on Acacia wood tablets The people of God know what
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God expects of them. The word is near you and there's some Christological implications for that later, we'll see
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And finally The prophets and the law speak of two ways
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Life and death blessing and cursing life and blessing or death and cursing and Those decisions are before us every day life and death
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Blessing and cursing the two ways are before us every day really quickly again number one return to the
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Lord He will restore you Number two, the
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Lord will circumcise your heart Number three, the word is near you and number four
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Life and death blessing and cursing are set forth Right before us both in the categories largely the meta narrative of Scripture our own
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Salvation and our walk with Christ life and death blessing and cursing
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Let's consider this verses 1 through 5 What's happened is the the concept of covenant renewal has been established in Deuteronomy 29
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I could turn a page or two over This will help us better understand what Moses is saying in chapter 30 in chapter 29
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I'll begin reading at verse 2 Moses called all
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Israel and said to them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land the great trials which your eyes have seen the signs and those great wonders
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Israel could not deny that God loved them their entire
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Existence is a reflection of the grace of God Today in the church we view everything related to the law is bad
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The law is gracious and good because God explains to Israel His character and his expectation of them
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It's a glorious and gracious thing that God would reveal his will to the people
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Their salvation the birth of their nation was founded miraculously
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They are delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh. They saw all of the signs and wonders as Moses recounts here and yet verse 4
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This also figures into our thinking for the second point of our message Yet the
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Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear
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To this very day They're complaining about manna and our last sermon last week.
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They complained about the water that comes from a rock They don't see how
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God has been gracious to them because they have hard hearts Our pagan friends and relatives
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Their heart beating is a gracious gift of God the air that goes into their lungs
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It's a gracious gift of God that their lack of want of food or clothing or shelter.
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They don't understand every moment every day God has been kind and generous to them to allow them to live
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Giving them another day to repent giving in that them another chance to walk in righteousness their hearts are hard as We learned about the people in this
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Exodus these 40 years there are many even among the people of God numbered and counted with them who have
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Hard hearts and there they need to be renovated. They need to be circumcised
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Look at verse 4 again The Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and ears to hear to this very day
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Children listen to this. It's amazing. What's happened. He's led them in the wilderness for 40 years
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It says your clothes have not worn out on you I wear a dress shirt about six or seven times
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I start wearing it out Forty years Forty years their shoes their sandals stay intact their clothes remain intact.
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How does it possible the gracious dealing of God? With this as people
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You have not eaten bread nor have you drunk wine or similar drink that you may know that I am the
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Lord your God He recounts the the dealings with the king of Heshbon and and king of Bashan They came out against us to battle we conquered them
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We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites and the Gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do.
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I'll point out here to you All that you have been given You've been given life in Christ You've been given salvation
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The Lord has been kind to put you into a family for those of you are married. He's given you a wife And he's given you children
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He's made you princes and kings and his his kingdom It follows that we would be the people who would keep covenant with him
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How much more so for us? That we have Christ That we have the complete canon of Scripture.
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We have the filling of the Spirit we have the apostles the prophets the evangelists the prop the pastor teachers to instruct us and to to show us in the way of righteousness and yet We're ungrateful sometimes
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We need to renew covenant every week we come back every Sunday It's almost too long seven days is almost too long because we have forgotten already
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What it means to dine at his table to gather with his people we need to reestablish our
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Commitment our loyalty our love to God weekly daily moment by moment to remember all these things that God has done for us
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Continue on here in verse 10 all of you stand today before the Lord your God your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers all the men of Israel your little ones and your wives
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The stranger who is in your camp from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water verse 12 very powerfully
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Covenant renewal what we're about part of our worship structure here that you may enter into covenant with the
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Lord your God and into his oath Which the Lord your God makes with you today that he may establish you today as a people for himself
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That he may be God to you just as he spoken to you and just as he has sworn to your fathers to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob Today we've already experienced it
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We have assembled in the glorious name of Jesus Christ to worship him
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We have sung from his song book the Psalms We've offered praises to him the privilege of the people of God to to honor
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God with their lips We are now diving in and feasting upon the word which he has given to us
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We will soon have a feast in the midst of our enemies at the end of our service
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We will walk out of here today not with the cursing of God with his blessing applied to us real tangible blessing of God is yours in Christ so we come and say yes
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Lord We affirm these promises we believe in Christ again not for salvation every week
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It's not that our salvation is in jeopardy But we enter back into that covenantal union with Christ as the people of God He says this exclusivity verse 14.
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I make this covenant. I make this oath not with you alone
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But with him who stands here with us today Before the Lord our God as well as with him who is not here with us today
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For you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt which we came through the nations which you passed by and you saw their abominations and their idols
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Which were among them wood and stone and silver and gold want to pause here
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See this threat in all of us in our lives The idols
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The false worship the practices the worldliness of the world around us
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We look upon it and we desire it and we desire to break covenant with our
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God We know it's better intuitively.
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We we've experientially had the blessing of being God's people
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But we walk through this world and the pool of the world and its idols and its false
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Doctrine and its false teaching it pulls and draws us to it But God says through a servant that there may be not among you
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I hope what's not true among us as the people of God assembled here as Ascension That there may not be a man or woman a family or tribe
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Whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God Pray for each other pray not only for the faithfulness of your household pray for the faithfulness of our brethren
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Pray for the future spouses of your children Pray for your neighbors that they would keep covenant with God that they would serve him and serve him alone
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It says here verse 20 the guy who
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Breaks covenant with God Abandons the faith walks away from the church Verse 20 the
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Lord would not spare him For then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy would burn against that man and every curse that is written in this book
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Would settle on him and that the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven
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And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity According to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law
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So that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a far land would say when
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They see the plagues of that land and the sickness of it, which the Lord has laid on it I'm gonna pause here for a point of application
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We need to be a people who accept responsibility for the entirety of our lives The culture says if there's something wrong with you, it's somebody else's fault
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This is what's being set here The stage is being set when the nation say why is the nation of the people of God like Sodom and Gomorrah?
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Why will no cattle graze there? Why will no wine be pressed there? Why will there not be any fruit or milk or honey?
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Why is it and the people of God have to respond? Look what he says? All nations verse 24 would say why has the
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Lord done this to the land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?
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The answer is the people would say because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers
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Which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt For they went out and served other gods and worshiped them gods that they did not know that he had not given to them
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Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land To bring on it every curse that is written in this book
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When Israel is being carried away
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They can't say. Oh the big bad Assyrians and the Babylonians have done this thing.
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They have to say we did this We broke covenant with our God If there is chastening in your life as a
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Christian You can't set it aside to some other area of the world and some other reason
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If there's real chastening from the hand of the Lord, it may be because of your sin You have to accept responsibility for the consequences of your you're still a child of God But that heavy chastening that correction that is so unpleasant you better embrace it
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You better own it because it comes from the hand of the Lord. You have to say why is this chastening happening?
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Maybe it's because I'm not fully keeping covenant with my God In the classic
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Verse that's often quoted the first part of the verse is quoted verse 29 says the secret things belong to the
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Lord our God And they stopped there But now and what we're talking about here is the revelation of God's divine will a summary statement of the law of God here encapsulated in Deuteronomy 30 a picture of the future history of Israel and Also a fourth telling about who
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Christ is here all in chapter 30 it says But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever
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That we may do all the words of this law Our text has been partially explained.
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So I'll be quicker here. It comes to pass when all these things come upon you They're entering the land
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Blessing and curse which he sets before them and you call to mind among the nations if you've fallen into sin and you're taken captivity
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Remember what the Lord said to us Return to the Lord your
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God and obey his voice According to all that I command you today you and your children
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With all your hearts and with all your soul That the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you
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Children, I think there's an illustration here. That's helpful Your parents want you to conform to the laws of the family they want you to obey what your parents are telling you
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But mere external Conformity is not real full obedience
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And we go through the motions imagine Israel going through the motions of the religious practice
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But their hearts being far from God Not really putting their hands on the sacrifice of the animal saying
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I know we got to kill this animal Let's just hurry up and get it over with. Okay. Okay. He's bleeding out. He's dead. Okay good
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God wants the entirety of our hearts And if we look at our lives, there are other things that garner our interests more than our
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God that is covenant unfaithfulness as We're reading today.
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I was thinking sometimes as a big fellow that plate of food looks better to me than my god
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It's a horrible indictment The pleasures of this world the comforts of this like they are more appealing to me than my union with Christ A lot of conviction to fall on a man
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We have a promise here if we return to the Lord He will restore you.
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Are you beginning to grasp the love of God has for his people? You and I are very transactional with one another we like each other
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We if we disagree or I hurt your feelings You don't like me as much and I reciprocate all back and forth and all that we
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Despise God in his commands. We fail miserably. We shake our fists at him. We do not obey his law
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We fail to do and obtain and and walk in righteousness But as soon as we turn to him as a loving father he grabs us and restores us to that position
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Credible love of God gospel in Deuteronomy 30
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We'll say well, how is it if you turn if you return to the
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Lord if you obey his voice The promise is that he will be
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God to us and our children But it requires a wholehearted devotion to him
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And say I failed at this. I can't do it fully but there's hope for you because we have a
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Savior. His name is Jesus He says if any of you are driven verse 4 out of the farthest parts under heaven from there the
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Lord your God will give you gather you from there, he will bring you and He will bring you into the land of promise into the place of blessing you're going to possess it
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You're going to prosper. You're going to multiply even more than your father's
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It takes us to point two and one of the most incredible principles in Scripture This language helps us to understand the substance of true religion and faith in Christ or six and the
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Lord your God Will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants turn back really quickly.
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I want you to see it written with your own eyes We're back to chapter 10 of Deuteronomy Again reading in verse 12
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This is the standard of righteousness That's required for people to have communion with God and to be inheritors of the kingdom of God and now
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Israel What does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the
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Lord your God to walk in all his ways and to love him. I want to focus on this
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We forget that the call of law obedience is the call to love
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God with all of our hearts These are not divorced from one another we think of this as like a
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New Testament principle Before they loved the law of God and we're trying to be righteous and now we just really love
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God The principle is this We love
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God so much that we do whatever he commands that transcends the covenants
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Whatever he requires we want to do it walk in all his ways.
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No, just the ones that I prefer know all his ways to love him
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To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with every cell every all the fabric of your being your
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Mission in life is to love and serve your God and to keep his commandments his statutes
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Which he commands this day for their good not to cause harm to them
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But for their good their prosperity their blessing their peace Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the
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Lord your God also the earth with all that is in it the Lord delighted only in your fathers to love them and He chose their descendants after them you above all peoples as it is to this day
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This is true for the people of God here How much
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God has loved us in Christ Oh the command
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Circumcised the foreskin of your heart and be stiff -necked no longer.
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I can carve out a bacteria -free flintrock and Externally circumcised my eight -day -old son
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That's a commandment. I can keep I Can be baptized as a believer
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I can be baptized as an infant Externally I can do that I Can come to the
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Lord's table? Externally, but how
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Oh how? Do I take the flint knife? to my inner man and circumcise the foreskin of my heart
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I'm commanded to do it. I Can't do it Circumcised the foreskin of your heart to be stiff -necked no longer people of God For the
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Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of Lords the great God mighty and awesome he shows no partiality
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Does not take a bribe. He goes and recounts
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All of the righteous requirements of the law So, how are you?
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Going to circumcise your heart Children How are you going to renovate to change and transform your little heart of rebellion into a heart of obedience and love for Christ How will you do it?
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Turn back to our text Deuteronomy 30. It's the righteous requirement of God's law
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This isn't Externalized only religion. This is religion that comes from the heart and it works itself outward
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What a promise I need heart circumcision.
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I need to love and obey God from the heart I need to trust Christ entirely from the heart
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But I have a rocky stony crusty heart It's okay
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The love of God again comes and he says the Lord your
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God Will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants
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This is the way that you can love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live
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God gives a commandment that we see we fail. It's impossible. We could never do it And he says but I have a provision
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I Have a way for it to be accomplished the Lord your
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God Will circumcise your heart
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That love for God extended to neighbor that obedience that trust
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That it's required to to be in communion with God. It requires a new heart
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And the Lord does it the Lord accomplishes it He does it in Christ In the interest of time
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I'm gonna ask you to skip down to verse 11 For this commandment which
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I command you today is not too mysterious for you nor is it far off It is not in heaven that you should say who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear
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It and do it. I should point out to you That Moses Ascends the holy hill of Zion to get the commandments to get the word from the
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Lord And he comes in this priestly function and he brings it down. He conveys it transmits it perfectly to the people
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It's not mysterious about what God wants and requires from his people We can't claim ignorance
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Sometimes our children claim ignorance about the commandments that have been offered the people of God have a book
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It's there. The commandments are clear. It's not too mysterious for you.
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It's not far off Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us?
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What does all this mean? Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will bring it over the sea go over the sea for us to bring
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It to us that we may hear it and do it But the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart
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That you may do it How do I get a circumcised heart?
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How do I do it I like to turn to the book of Romans in chapter 10 really quickly
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Romans 10 one of the things that Is promised in this section in Romans 9 through 11.
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It's already been established back in Romans 3 that The Jews and Gentiles alike are confined under sin.
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They're in absolute desperate need of salvation from God's hand they need all heart circumcision and so Paul uses
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Moses is Deuteronomy 30 speech to preach Christ So Deuteronomy 30 is about Jesus So I didn't say
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Jesus there, but it talked about things that only Jesus could perform he says
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Romans 10 brethren My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved
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For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge
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For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God the fallacy of our time is that Salvation in the
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Old Testament was according to the law and salvation in the New Testament is according to Christ Embedded in the law is a sacrificial system that says you cannot perform the law you need to offer sacrifice for your sins
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It's all according to grace from Genesis to Revelation the salvation of Israel and Deuteronomy 30 is in Christ Says in verse 4 for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes
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We misinterpret that and say well Christ has done it and it's over and now we don't have to worry about it anymore
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The aim of the law the five books of Moses We've seen it a little bit in these last few weeks the aim the direction the end
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Has been Christ who fulfills all the righteous requirements of the law that Adam failed to accomplish
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Christ Who walks in righteousness that in Israel should have walked in Christ Who as a baby like Israel is is chased by a tyrannical leader seeking his death
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Christ? Who comes up out of Egypt? For out of Egypt.
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I have called my son Christ goes down to Egypt and he comes up We've been talking about the 40 years of Israel in the desert who goes into the wilderness for 40 days and and walks through the pattern the path and the
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Suffering and the trial of temptation that Israel did at the hand of Satan Jesus all of this without sin perfect righteousness
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Everything Adam failed to do everything Israel failed to do as a nation
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Christ is done. Christ is the end.
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The law is our tutor To bring us to Christ It drives us to Christ So Paul Strangely, it seems really out of place in some ways quotes
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Deuteronomy 30 in Romans 10 look at it in verse 5 Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law the man who does those things shall live by them
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But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way Do not say in your heart
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Who will ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who will descend into the abyss?
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That is to bring Christ up from the dead How do we know about who
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God is God reveals himself and he shows us through Moses and the prophets
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But but what about now? Jesus Christ the Son of God has in the incarnation come down from a heaven.
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We don't have to climb Zion's Holy Hill and hope that we can peek above the clouds and see him.
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He has come and dwelt among us He descended in the incarnation and even into the belly of the earth and the death of crucifixion
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Verse 8. What does it say? The word is near you It's in your mouth and in your heart
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The word is given on tablets of stone and acacia wood and and now the word comes to us in the flesh and Jesus Christ This is the word of faith, which we preach
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And don't you think about how simple this is how profound and yet how simple That if you confess with your mouth the
01:17:23
Lord Jesus And then believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.
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You will be saved The word is very near to us and to our neighbors
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Do you know about six or seven times in the gospel in Romans? The gospel is described as something that is to be obeyed submission to the plan
01:17:56
Salvation can be found in no other Submit repent believe in Jesus Christ How do
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I keep the righteous requirements of the law? well, the first thing I have to do is I have to attach myself in faith and be united to Christ and and I believe that that Christ's death and resurrection has baptized and sanctified the law for us as believers a
01:18:29
Resurrected law comes out of the tomb with Christ because now We are fitted for heaven now we are made and inclined to walk in his righteousness now
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His commandments are not burdensome to us because we have him we have
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Christ says for with the heart
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One believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
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The scripture says whoever believes on him will never be put to shame
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There is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him for all who call upon him whoever does
01:19:25
Ever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved Well time has run long
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Some want to do you can turn back to Deuteronomy 330
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I'm gonna remind you of another important thing. I actually spent was intending to spend some time here I can take it up some other time and Ephesians 4
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I want you to think about this is an amazing section a chapter Moses conveyed the very words of God to the people
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Here in the last instance on the plains of Moab about to enter into the promised land
01:20:13
Paul says elsewhere I therefore the prison of the Lord The seat you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called
01:20:21
Obedience walking in righteousness holiness. It's part of the gospel redeemed people walk in righteousness
01:20:30
With all lowliness and gentleness with long -suffering bearing with one another in love Endeavoring to keep the spirit the unity of the
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Spirit in the bond of peace There is one body in one spirit Just as you were called in one hope of your calling one
01:20:44
Lord one faith one baptism One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all
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Now listen carefully But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift
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Therefore he says when he ascended on high He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men
01:21:13
Who shall ascend Christ the only one who can send ascend but This gospel plan of God has made it so that you are united to Christ So you ascend your captivity has been taken captive Your death has been put to death
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Your sin has been wiped away Your want of righteousness has now been supplied with the righteousness of Christ now this he ascended
01:21:52
What does it mean? But he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth he who descended
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Sounds a lot like Deuteronomy 30 Is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fulfill that he might fill all things
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And he gave good gifts to men he gave them the Holy Spirit he gave them the canon of Scripture He gave them to be apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers for the equipping of the
01:22:23
Saints to do the work of The ministry for the edifying the building up of the body of Christ So that the whole body joined and knit together by every joint that supplies
01:22:40
According the effective working by which every part does it share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love
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All the problems Outlined by the law of God are resolved in Christ All the inadequacies of us all the failure all the shortcomings are resolved
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In Christ turn back to Deuteronomy 30 and we'll close here There's two ways
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There's only two ways and there's always two ways This goes from the meta the macro to the micro
01:23:23
This goes to Israel and themes of redemption and salvation it goes to Covenants and the people of God from Genesis to Revelation and it goes all the way down to you
01:23:36
Personally includes your family includes a church and includes denominations the
01:23:44
Lord According to his prophet Moses has set before us life and death
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Blessing and cursing. There's only two ways
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The Christian by renewing covenant and all the facets that are required church family life individual devotion prayer
01:24:08
Bible study all of that The Christian and covenant renewal is returning daily weekly monthly yearly to life and blessing in Christ Look upon the idols of the world and the harlots and the prostitutes of this world and we're enticed by them
01:24:28
We go over there toward them spiritual or physical We asked for cursing and death
01:24:39
Worldliness needs to be purged from your heart your family's heart in the heart of this church in every church
01:24:46
We are the people of God Our hearts have been circumcised return to the
01:24:57
Lord Your life though would be a colossal failure in some way this week even return to the
01:25:04
Lord today Tell your friends who are living like like like the devil would want them to live tell them to return to the
01:25:13
Lord The promise of God throughout scripture is that he will restore them
01:25:21
You and I need new hearts we're commanded to circumcise our own hearts and we have no capacity to do it
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And the Lord says it's okay I'm going to do it The requirements of the law demand exacting precise and perfect obedience
01:25:43
We all fail what will we do about this? You have to look to Christ Christ fulfills all that righteousness now in him now.
01:25:56
I strive and I want to be righteous. I Live worthy of the gospel because of what
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Christ has done This word is very near to us
01:26:08
It's revealed to us plainly in the pages of this book It's as near to us as that easy plain presentation of the gospel in Romans 10
01:26:19
And so I ask you today Will you choose life?
01:26:26
abundant life in Christ a life of blessing All the tricks of the world have been tried by everyone the world never delivers on its false promises
01:26:42
The world says take many lovers as a man go get you a bunch of women I'll tell you it's better to love one woman all the days of your life
01:26:51
The world says wait and have kids because you need to have lots of money go get you some kids as soon as you can
01:26:56
Have them at every turn.
01:27:02
It's proven to be true The Lord's ways are the place the ways of blessing and life but every day you and I Question that it's in small ways.
01:27:17
So hopefully it's not in big ways. It's in small ways. We question the goodness of this plan.
01:27:24
I Can assure you today? This plan is good Our Lord reigns
01:27:32
Let's pray together the Lord we we have life and prosperity
01:27:45
And we choose so often death and and wicked things
01:27:54
We have no righteousness of our own to boast in but we have the righteousness of Christ Our hearts have been circumcised and we try to calcify them again with the world
01:28:10
Oh Lord, we would be so frustrated with ourselves and you have more cause to be frustrated with us
01:28:17
And yet you receive us You put the finest robe on our backs and the best ring on our finger
01:28:26
And you cause us to not only Come and be drawn into your presence, but you say come sit next to me and feast with me at my table
01:28:37
All the blessings of Christ are yours Because you have been united to him.
01:28:43
Oh Lord, I pray that we would respond with love and adoration That we would not merely comply with the laws demands, but from the heart we would love you
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Entirely comprehensively. We know this is only possible if you circumcise our heart and you give us your spirit so we ask today for a fresh supply of the spirit and a greater remembrance of your redeeming work in Christ to make us
01:29:16
People that have beating fleshy hearts today that make us alive. No Lord.
01:29:22
We say with the Apostle Paul Christ is our life. He's not the part of our life that makes other things better.
01:29:29
Christ is our life I pray that you make this true for us.
01:29:36
Oh Lord in Jesus name Amen Let's continue our worship with the presentation of the offering
01:29:48
I'm gonna ask that you The young men get to the front that you would stand. Please stand and let's pray together
01:30:28
Lord we thank you that you have supplied such an abundant salvation
01:30:35
Lord I hope that we would see it in every area of our lives and areas of practical necessities and money and time and work
01:30:44
That we would see your preeminence over all things and our giving and our living would be reflective of this
01:30:51
We ask that you would use this offering for the advance of your kingdom through the bold proclamation of your gospel for the glory of Christ In Jesus name that we pray
01:31:06
Let's respond to this God who? Circumcises hearts and makes us heirs and gives us life and salvation by singing the
01:31:14
Gloria Patria Lift up your circumcised hearts
01:32:05
Let us give thanks to the Lord It is It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you
01:32:17
Oh, holy Lord Father Almighty everlasting God Because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life
01:32:29
That when he shall come again and power and triumph and great judgment to judge the world
01:32:34
We may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven
01:32:42
We praise and magnify your glorious name evermore praising you and saying pray together
01:34:22
Lord we We're so grateful for this exchange a righteous sinless life
01:34:36
For an unrighteous sin -filled life For flesh that has been defiled by sin exchange for Flesh that has never been defiled by sin
01:34:55
For blood that's corrupted with death exchange for blood that's teeming and bursting with eternal life
01:35:07
We ask that you would consecrate these creaturely elements of bread and wine
01:35:14
That we might discern the blessing The broken body and shed blood of Christ crucified for us it's in Jesus name that we pray
01:35:28
Amen Our Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread
01:35:39
Disciples saying take this is my body Likewise he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood drink from it
01:35:50
All of you for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death therefore
01:36:08
Let's approach the table now by this prayer approach together in unison we do not
01:36:29
Your table, but you are the same Lord who always shows mercy
01:36:34
Grant us therefore gracious Lord So to eat the flesh of your dear son
01:36:40
Jesus Christ and to drink of his blood That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body
01:36:47
And our souls wash through his most precious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him
01:36:54
And he and us Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us
01:37:03
The gifts of God for the people of God I Saw Oh Let's make this commitment together by a sincere faith -filled earnest prayer in unison
01:47:07
Almighty and ever -living God We thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food precious body and blood of your son our
01:47:18
Savior Jesus Christ And for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son
01:47:27
And heirs of your eternal kingdom and oh Lord grant us this other benefit
01:47:34
That you will never allow us to forget these things And printed on our hearts
01:47:41
May we grow and increase daily in the faith, which is at work in every good deed
01:47:46
And now father send us out to do the work you have given us to do
01:47:56
To him to you and to the Holy Spirit be honor and glory now and forever
01:48:04
Please stand For Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the