Okay, let's go ahead and get started. Hopefully you got an outline of sitting on the chair. Let's pray Father in heaven. We thank you for your word We thank you. We can spend time studying it Lord We pray that you would use it mightily in our lives and that you would be glorified in Jesus name. Amen So I just want to touch on a few things that we finished up with last time about prophets and how we can know True prophets from false prophets on the one hand the Bible is very clear on that and it's very simple false prophets are fallible and True prophets are not when they are yeah, they're not fallible. They're infallible when they speak and it was really important and I didn't touch on this part too much, but how seriously God takes idolatry and false teaching. You see that in chapter 13 Verses 5 through 16. I mean anybody who would begin to teach Begin to come and say things that God has not said this is a death penalty if they must be destroyed and that's true no matter how close they are to you look at Deuteronomy 13 verse 6 Where it emphasizes if your brother the son of your mother Your son or your daughter the wife of your bosom, you know, they're like the wife that you really loved because in that day they could have others Or your friend who is as your own soul and the Bible uses that kind of language for friends Because that's I think that really is the essence of friendship love that that someone is like your own soul But notice that the closest people in your life brother son daughter wife your best friend if these secretly entice you saying let us go and serve other gods Which you have not known etc. You shall not consent you shall not listen to him your eyes shall not pity him You shall not spare him you shall not conceal him you see that oh, we got to hide our Child because our child's teaching false doctor know you shall not conceal him But you shall surely kill him and your hands shall be first against him to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the people That's how serious false teaching is that's how serious false doctrine is That's why we can't show quarter we can't show mercy. It's the it's the most it's Serious thing that can happen in a church typically. We think you know sexual sin sexual sin is way down the line From teaching false doctor And again, that's the emphasis scripture puts on it because sexual sin. Yes That it's somebody is committing adultery with somebody else Maybe they're both consenting, but they're sinning. That's a bad example False teaching literally consent people to help adultery can't do that, you know, you can repent of adultery and false teaching sends people to hell That's why it's so bad and it's completely and utterly against God You know, there's a sense in which when we sin especially it's sexual sin Which is what often times happens when there is church discipline People are acting out of natural desires that are good usually. I mean if it's a male female relationship It is good that men like women women like men But you're not supposed to do that outside of marriage and so the relationships are to be bound by certain stipulations, but The basis of it is a good thing perverted. I mean, that's what most sin is. It's a good thing perverted, right? We're supposed to use the world God gives us creatures to use, but you know, we get greedy or where we idolatized Commit adultery with them, but but false teaching false doctrine is just against God Period, and that's why it's so serious You shall stone him with stones until he dies because he sought to entice you here It is away from the Lord your God. That's not what's happening when someone commits sexual sin or others some other kind of sin They steal from the church or something like that That's bad, but they're not enticing you away from the Lord your God Who brought you up out of Egypt? So you you show here and not again do such wickedness I didn't you know emphasize that, but we really needed to notice that no matter how close they are to you You're not even allowed to hide your wife You're supposed to not spare not conceal not pity And that's serious stuff all right And then the final thing in chapter 18 was the evil of superstition You know, that's part of false teaching, right? Oh, you know, you get superstitious about things and I know we make fun of it And it's silly, you know that the players tap in the goalie on the helmet You know and certain other things that you can't do that's bad luck if the bottle doesn't break when it hits the ship The ship is cursed, you know and all this kind of garbage and it's funny, right? And your horoscope or your little fortune cookie. It's funny, huh? That stuff is really bad too You know and we we should make that clear notice Deuteronomy 18 the other part of false prophecy They're so not be fond among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire No, that's child sacrifice or it's funny how it puts it right with child sacrifice which were like horrified by but or who practices witchcraft Or a soot sayer, you know fortune teller or one who interprets omens, you know They would look at the liver and all that garbage or a sorcerer or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spirits Or one who calls up the dead. Oh, you know, but I'm going to a say on so it's no big deal. Ha ha You know for all those who do these things are an abomination to the Lord Because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out It was because they were superstitious, but that's a that's a way in which having a false God, right? I mean if you're doing something to make something good happen to you or so that something bad doesn't happen to you Aren't you giving that thing divine honors? Right? I mean if if really tapping the goalie on the head is gonna make you win that game Isn't that act over all those people? It's more powerful than all the players and all the coaches planning You're tapping the goalie on the head is Going to bring about victory. You're giving it God-like Powers and that's why superstition is so hated by God Because it is if if we think that a fortune cookie can tell you something about the future Then that fortune cookie has more power than any human being or any group of human beings. It's God-like And so that's why superstition is so bad. That's why it's lumped into these things That's why false teaching is so bad all of these things are another God And that's the worst sin. We we heard a good sermon at Presbytery Yesterday, which we don't always do But this was a really good sermon Peter Dwarfler who was pretty solid preached on the book of Revelation and he talked about you know Marks of the end and I really liked it, you know because I was taken back that were not too long ago And I was teaching on it and so I was picking up on things still remembering some of the stuff I did But you know, he pointed out a couple of things that that that I emphasize and I think we need to be reminded of You know so many things today people worry about the end is coming right right wars rumors of wars and stuff like that Which I told you were happening then and it even says it was happening then that's not the sign of the end But he pointed out two things in particular That that clearly show That God's day of judgment is coming and one of them he said You know because of you know this when the sin he gets piled so high That's when God judges and you saw saw that and Noah's flood you saw that in Sodom and Gomorrah And those are the things that the second coming is likened to and so you know when God's patience is at an end And if the first one by the way is the elect all the elect have to be saved when the last elect person is converted You know the day Noah entered the ark the floods came the day Lot left Sodom and Gomorrah fire fell the day the last person is saved Judgment's coming but also he said the second thing and I agree with him is again when the sins are so high when they're so wicked You know when they get to that point where God's gonna judge like Sodom and Gomorrah got to the point where God's fire falls And he he pointed out it's not you know the sins that we normally think of it's false gods That's really the thing that's pointed to when when the world bows the knee and says God is not God You know when they cease to acknowledge God and false gods and I you know, I just couldn't help but noticing Another state capital has some shrine to Satan, you know honoring Satanism and that's funny to us right? Ha ha that's funny That's really offensive to God you know that to to to honor this being who actually brought about the fall of man and you know Make it some kind of human religion We you know people may be playing games with that but to me that's I mean I agree that's that's a worst judgment then going and killing people. We don't think of it that way, right? But that brings eternal consequences false religions false teaching false gods is the worst sin Not murder not stealing not you know sexual sin and that's what we see I think in the book of Deuteronomy here now and clearly when when Israel is led in the captivity and in 2nd King 17 That's what God says over never again because they turned to false gods. That's why I Sent them out of my land All right, all right the last thing that we didn't cover last time chapter 14. So we're on the outline now So just one of the summarized the false teaching stuff Chapter 14 about cutting yourselves and all this kind of stuff Um, so chapter 14 verse one You're the children of the Lord your God you shall not cut yourselves Northshade the front of your head For the dead. Okay, so these are this would be a kind of a superstitious thing. You're doing something for some other practice All right, I don't think we should see in this text that you know a woman can't get her ears pierced or You can't I don't know cut your hair a certain way or something like that This is a you know a sinful idolatrous practice. That's clear. You're doing it for the dead in some kind of weird False religion So you're not to do that, you know to practice these things this superstitious thing or whatever And two of the in the main reasons here is that Israel is elect and that Israel is holding so because Israel is electing Holy they're not to act like People who are pagans and doing things for their own sake because they're not holy to the Lord being holy to the Lord Means you've got to be separate right holy is separate and holy is above holy is not common Holy is you know holiest is the good China not the common This is that you use every day and Israel is to be holy All right, and so we see that all the way through this chapter 14 That's really the reason for the dietary laws, you know the why they're not allowed to eat this but this There's no distinction in those animals and I think that's um, we've got to remember that there's nothing like Because I know and maybe you've seen this or maybe you haven't but there you can find Christians who will say oh wow You know, here's the key to health and whatever you've got to eat according to these dietary laws And that's why God gave them and there's some kind of like eternal principle in here that's you know for the betterment of man It's not It's really arbitrary. It's it's you know positive law that God says God said this wine is unclean Why cuz he said that it is there's nothing inherently wrong with pigs yes, you know It's true that if you don't cook pork a little bit longer or whatever you can get you know What is a trick in this or different Disease but that's not why this is here that I mean you know God's going to God's laws are good So he's not going to tell them to eat things that are poisonous So sure the things that you're allowed to eat are good But you know, there's nothing wrong with eating rabbits either even though Israel couldn't eat the rabbit Or whatever But that was only for a time and we recognize that that ends with Christ Christ actually made all things clean Peter sees the vision all these unclean animals rise Peter kill and eat no lord. I've never done this Three times it's repeated and yes Part of that was to show Peter that the Gentiles are being brought in but part of it was to say you're allowed to eat these foods now too Nothing is unclean of itself and Jesus said that as well. It's not what goes Into you, but what comes out of you that makes you unclean But that's part of this law that there to be holy there to be separate so God said all these things you don't do Why because I said so that's the ultimate thing It really you're not going to find a further basis than that again You can find some certain health benefits for some of these restrictions, but That's not the reason for them You know, we're not to try to find some new code for health or something in here I know I've seen people do it with his up because the Bible uses his up and it's just like some kind of leafy plant You know, they make all these claims for it and you know It's just not true. It's not gonna do what what they say that it does and Again, it didn't hurt anybody because God's not gonna tell you to do something that's harmful But this isn't you that's not the reason the reason is Israel's elect Israel's holy God's gonna make them different So they're different they couldn't wear clothing with two different kinds of you know Yarn or whatever it was you again, there's there's no actual benefit to that But God said no to you and this would keep Israel separate though from the other nations and they were to be separate from them So it'd be hard to assimilate and because God's got to preserve them till the Messiah comes and so there's some of that in here as well But I'm not gonna go through all the different verses. You know They're not a lot to touch even the flesh of a pig, you know Okay, there's no actual health benefit from not touching a pig That's not it. It's it's your holy your separate to me And so I'm I'm saying these actions you can't do even though there's literally nothing wrong with them so This is the The reason for these things. There's also the joy of worship look at the end of the chapter if you get down to chapter Verse 21 of chapter 14 You know if you should not eat anything that dies of itself again, and now that's You can find some good health benefits in that but that's not the reason for giving it You may give it to the alien who is within your gates All right again because he is not one of my people That he made it or you may sell it to the foreigner because again, it's not poison. It's not gonna hurt anybody For you are holy here it is to the Lord your God then notice as you shall not boil a young goat and its mother's milk To this day Israel won't you can't get a cheeseburger in Israel because of this text. I'm not kidding Um, I think you might be able to if it was a beef burger and goat's milk because then it can't be The mother's milk, but I don't know about that for sure, you know goats goats cheese on me Um, but that's not what that text is saying. Okay. That text is actually talking about Not being cruel Two animals that you're not supposed to do that There's a few other places like that that Israel was to be holy in the sense of you know They're even to treat animals decently over and over again Leviticus and Exodus You're not allowed to sacrifice an animal until the eighth day And it even says in Leviticus Seven days it shall be with its mother I mean, that's that's compassion to an animal Seven days it gets to live and be with its mother before you use it in offering Uh, it's just teaching Israel gods creation is His creation and we're supposed to treat it with respect You know, this isn't some kind of wacko environmental, you know crazy animal rights stuff, but It is you treat the animals with respect you're not cruel to them I want another one that I like is um Uh, it's it's not in Deuteronomy, but it's in Exodus. No, it's in Leviticus Maybe 22 somewhere in there, but um, it's you know if you come across a nest and you see the mother and the eggs You can take the mother or you can take the eggs, but God said you can't take both You know, and again, what would be well? That's just the showing respect for for the animals, you know um and to use them in a in a decent way In the God-fearing way and so you see that uh a little bit you see and um Oh, no here it is to Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 226 I had it in my nose if a bird's nest happens to be before you along the way in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs With the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs. You shall not take the mother with the young You shall surely let the mother go and take the young for yourself that that it may be well with you And that you may prolong your days. I mean, there's even a blessing in just having some respect to the animal So I see that with this goat and its mother's milk, but with that same compassion to creation. There's compassion to the poor Notice how the Levite and the foreigner is mentioned in this text too Verse 22 talks about you saw tied your grain etc. You should go to the place where the Lord chooses verse 23 We're back in chapter 14 And you show um The tie that you're grain your new wine your oil your herds and you show eat them You show eat the tie This is why that you can't just bring tied passages one to one in because there's a whole bunch of different ties And there's crop ties and there's animal ties and there's first fruit tides some of the ties you eat But notice this well when you eat them You're you're to rejoice Take it take and so if it's too far you you sell it you take the money go to the place your Lord The Lord chooses and you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires verse 26 oxen sheep wine similar drink Well whatever your heart desires you show eat there before the Lord your God here this and you shall rejoice There was to be joy in the worship of God People were to rejoice in it you and your household and you shall not forsake the Levite Why because the Levite can't do that the Levite doesn't have crops the Levite doesn't have Herds for the most part third they live in the cities and they are to teach and so Israel has to Provide their pay as it were you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates for he has no partner inheritance with you So that's the reason This is the Levite isn't able to produce his own crops and animals and tides and so you are to share your tithe With the Levite And then at the end of every third year you should bring up the tithe of your produce Stored up within your gate and here it is verse 29 and the Levite because he has no portion Nor inheritance with you and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are with you and within your gates They can may come and eat and be satisfied and the Lord your God will bless you So there's commanded you know compassion commanded hospitality commanded um charity uh to the poor The widow the orphan and the Levite as well. They are to participate in this and God's commanding and I thought this would be a good Turned then To this the next section so that that gets us caught up with where we were And I just wanted to notice if there were any questions or comments. So I want you to notice that the connection though With holiness These dietary laws and stuff like that but that because of the holiness of Israel But also because of the holiness worship and because of the holiness and keep being separate worship Joy joy in worship and compassion and charity to those who can't produce those things okay So I see all those connected. I see that um because they're holy you're to be kind and compassionate Because that's what the holy people do Your God's children you are to share um and so forth again, and this isn't you know like furthering Indigents for laziness or anything like that. It's these people actually have legitimate needs You know the Levites a worker He's learning the scriptures and teaching your children the scriptures you're supposed to pay him this So So this would be a good time to go into justice and we're only going to get what There's a there's a really good uh Section that we're going to look at chapter 15, but we're not going to do that today Today I want to look at justice in general and in the book of Deuteronomy because it's really important Justice is fairness between man and man fairness Promotion of good and punishment of evil is Retributive justice And having equal protection is another aspect of justice. So justice is at the heart of any society Do our constitution preamble. It's the very first thing that we do as a society. You can't have a society without justice We the people what establish justice that's number one If there's no justice there's no society We the people establish justice ensure domestic tranquility Provide for the common defense promote the general welfare secure the blessings of liberty. I see that as very biblical If you you know read Romans 13 or other places of what the state is supposed to be The state is supposed to punish the evil doer The state is supposed to protect the good doer In other words the state is supposed to make it so that you can walk down the street and work six days and Earn things that you can share with others and have a holy light and the state is supposed to secure those things So that would be establishing justice laws That are going to be enforced Israel was commanded to have certain judges which we'll look at next time in the judges We're to render sentences. That's part of the justice system In short domestic tranquility there were again laws and you know the laws of um the uh the blood avenger and stuff like that to stop violent Crime so that there could be this domestic tranquility you you can't be afraid of Of you know being killed in your own country There has to be a way of of Keeping evil doers from doing evil and we just looked at a command to take certain false teachers out and stone them to death That was part of the domestic tranquility Provide for the common defense Israel has an army Uh, and they are to go to war. We've looked at that. We look at holy war and how they were to war and if you were afraid You want to go to war because not everybody is a soldier Um, but we saw that they had that and that was part of the gods command for them Promote the the general welfare and we'll see that and some of the uh judge We've seen it already a little bit But in some of the things like to have honest scales and stuff like that There has to be that uh General welfare and then the securing the blessings of liberty Both inside and outside, right? You can't be afraid of the enemy within but there can't be the foreigner who's Threatening to you know, lay you under siege and so this is what the government should do and Israel has a government As we'll see uh, they have judges and ultimately we've seen or look a little bit already that there are prophets and there are There's going to be a king and Israel has laws for the king in Deuteronomy when you have a king That was part of God's plan so there will they will be going to a monarchy at some point but Justice then Really preserves the nation right preserves the nation is what we're talking about From enemies without enemies within Make sure there's a way of prosperity make sure the people are free to live according to God God's laws both the individual and society right as an individual and as a society So retributive justice in general back on the outline sin leads to suffering and obedience leads to reward That's what we see in the book of Deuteronomy In fact, I argue with you that's what you see in the majority of scripture That in general sin leads to suffering in general obedience leads to blessing and reward and that's grounded Ultimately in the nature of God God is good and God delights in good God delights in himself And God hates evil and God forbids evil and it's also grounded in the nature of man Uh, this retributive justice idea man is in the image of God So man is created to glorify and enjoy and delight in God and to hate and to turn from and to shine evil And in a fallen world to punish evil To you know root get it out from from you that God does not judge and think of the eternal state I mean ultimately that is the eternal state right God is going to punish evil forever. God is going to reward good forever So this really is a powerful principle throughout the scriptures that
Sin leads to suffering and obedience leads to reward that's what heaven and hell are going to be No, um, it's good Christina
Yeah, yes Yeah, yeah, that's a good question um, I think what you want to really do is is you know make a distinction between Life in this world right and and how you know if you study hard you're going to get good grades You break the rules are going to be punished you do your chores, you know, you're going to be rewarded with you know Whatever and allowance or extra time outside or time you know be playing the video game I think all of that is good in that's life in this world But what you want to show them before before God That you can never do that You know, you can even use that as the object lesson that because we sit where sinners We can never earn a blessing from God And you know go to go to Christ and go to the cross and show him this is why he died to pay for our sins And that's the justice he He earned our reward and we believe in him. We don't believe in ourselves But you're right. That's something that we always want to do because I think that happens in I mean And there's a certain sense in which I think that happened in America You know when the people came over here for religious freedom and there was you know Revival you know the great awakening and things like that and there was a lot of understanding of the gospel and then I think because of that people started to think they were good, you know I know in my my parents' generation I see this all the time Because I'm growing up in a town where everybody's basically going to church, you know And I'm a little kid and everybody's basically a good person and everybody's you know a Christian and And yet nobody was I mean really nobody was saved. I mean I knew After I got converted and I saw that but but everybody was good You know you could kids played all over the place up and down the street you wrote your bikes around like you know Um easy writer. I mean you would wherever you wanted nobody worried about anything You like you're in Mrs. Middlesjard should come out with cookie. We get on to Mrs. Flicks for sled riding and you know It's it was this small town. It was safe You know and if people were in general now there were probably things going on behind the scenes But um, but I think that they didn't people didn't think they needed to be saved There were good people and I think that happens. I think that happens. The society is first
Yeah, yeah, yep. Yep. Yes. Yeah
When we yeah, when it's by mercy alone, you know, that I have with them. What do I want to do? I want to show that mercy to others and
Yes Yeah, yeah, absolutely and you think about like American exceptionalism, right? I mean I do think America was greatly blessed because the gospel was free over here and you know They're I just you know you you read Toccaville and these other guys and it's like America's great because America's good and they saw the church at the center and worship and everybody and they're the Bible and every home And that's why God blessed us Because people really did there were a lot of people who were turning to the Lord There was even an outward general fear of God and and that got replaced with Oh, we're blessed because we're exceptional American pride America is the best and it was kind of true I think we were but it was by the blessing of God Not because we were better, you know, and you see that in any empire like why was why was Babylon able to conquer all the world It wasn't because they were better, but God had blessed them to punish other nations And then God blessed Persia to punish other nations so they were the most powerful and then it was you know The Greeks and then it was the Romans and at the time they were the bash right they were The Greek no one could beat the failings of the Greeks and no one could stand up against the Roman cohorts Because God had blessed them for a purpose, you know to use them and there were certain things that they did well I mean the Roman jurisprudence did bring justice in a in a large measure and that really Was common grace by God, but that helped society, you know if you know that the Roman governor is gonna expect your rights as a Roman That's pretty good art Yeah, yeah, good works. So let me move on to
Deuteronomy showing this principle repeatedly in God's relationship with Israel Yeah, and think of the things we've been looking at if you disobey if you forget if you believe in other gods if you worship other gods They'll be suffering defeat failure But if you obey if you remember if you believe in God if you worship God They'll be prosperity victory success Right, so you know Israel is encouraged by these things and they're promised these things But what they can never do and I think this is what oh many of you are picking up on so well They can never think it's merit Right God is in his grace going to bless them if they follow him You know from the heart and really you know this is sincere and they are trying you but every one of those works is sinful Every one of those works does not deserve that I mean you got to remember they the entire time that they're told you know believe obey remember and God will bless you know and what we're about to look at the blessings in the cursings The entire time they're told that They have those offerings that they have to bring every day and every you know week every Sabbath and then every one of those Feast and you got to bring your offerings and you got to sacrifice why because you're a sinner and that animal has to die So God doesn't kill you So that's the constant reminder of yes obey and be blessed But not because you're worthy you should die you can't even enter my presence good just
Yeah Sure, sure That's right That's right That's right What we're going to see in Israel in addition to that though is they are a type They are type of the kingdom of heaven They are you know a type of the kingdom of God And so they are you know for Israel's prosperity victory and success It is in a large part economic prosperity and God will say that you know your animals will bear your crops will be abundant I mean it's clearly promise to them that's not promise to us as good churchmen Right because we're not a type of physical kingdom of Israel. We are the spiritual kingdom of God God is actually living in us You know Israel had the spiritual in types and then they had the physical As that is yeah as a type as well, but we have the spiritual reality Right and we have the physical promise in the new heavens and the newer So you know we live we live by faith not by sight Israel had a certain amount of sight that they had to reproduce You know they had to do that and so The military victory was promised and military defeat was threatened banishment was ultimately threatened You know, so really physical things But again, we can't stop. We can't like put the america in for that Well if America does all these things, you know Even though in general God does bless nations that you know are are just and I think he still judges wicked nations that pile up the sins to the point where his judgment falls. He still is the governor of nations So Bob did you have something? Okay, I don't want to miss if you did um all right so um So they hear and the historical books so this over and over again Don't they you get into kings and and Samuel and chronicles the good kings what are the good kings? Do they give attention to God? They give attention to worship they oppose the false religion They get rid of the cult prostitutes. They tear down the high places right you know and God's judgment is averted And one of the bad kings do they forget God they forget religion they promote false religion They bring in different altars. They set up bail They bring the high places back in judgments pronounced and judgment sometimes as executed All right in general In general Because occasionally the bad kings are given military victory I mean god promises and Isaiah seven to one of the worst kings. They has you know and they in the um On a virgin birth prophecy The kings you are afraid of are going to be defeated in in this year, you know I'm gonna I'm gonna defeat them even though he was a wicked king who brought you know false altar into the temple mountain and all the rest And you know look at good good good king has a kaya Israel is brought under siege of the whole nations taken but Jerusalem and people are starving in the city And even to the point of wanting to eat each other And god lets it get that bad under has a kaya You know so in general that was the case, but sometimes the good kings suffered defeat and scarcity and sometimes the bad kings Do very well Jeroboam 2 in Israel was probably the the the greatest and military king that Israel had the northern kingdoms maria And he was not good king as the northern kings pretty much all were not good kings So um the same principle though you'll see in the wisdom literature You know again work hard your prosper be lazy there's you know no crops for you Proverbs is full of that kind of stuff over and over again and in general that's true right in general You know the adulterous woman is going to lead you at bad bad place and the wife is a blessing from the Lord But sometimes people get away with the adulterate And sometimes people struggle even in godly marriages And ecclesiasties and Job and some of the Psalms show that right there's the big Here's the exception, you know, you can't make this one to one Job is the most righteous man in the world and he's suffering even though in general suffering comes to sins And same thing with the Psalm 73 which talks about you know Seeing the right the wicked prosper and this you know the psalmist is just perplexed and beside himself Why do the wicked prosper? Why do they heap up riches? Why do they die of old age on their bed with all their children around them? And they're wicked and why did the godly suffer and crawl around and so that that reality is there as well But you know, we don't want to lose the in general. It is better to obey God than to sin and in general You do see that you know, you do see God governing That's the purpose for human government to punish sin do to restrain sins against people But we don't have anything That Punishes sins against God and that's another reason why idolatry is so wicked um Fall for lizards. How do we punish? You know cursing God in the heart And worshiping idols in the heart. We don't we can we have human governments that can make you stop stealing and repay that We can we can handle human on humans sin with human governments. We can't do that when the sin becomes against God That's why his judgment will fall We can't correct it. So We're worried so same principle and the winner ultimately God will punish the soil evil ultimately He will reward and establish all good even sinners who are saved will get rewards We understand them to be rewards of grace We never earn them But in Christ our sins are washed away and in Christ we do have a new nature that does want to please God So in that sense we can offer him these sincere works though everyone tainted But it's like you know taking that that dirty Piece of fruit and and passing it through you know sterilization shower and now it's clean You know the blood of Christ takes away the impurities in our works and God accepts them and rewards them But the rewards of grace Well, but they are there's going to be more for the more works you do that's pretty clear in the scripture too Um, that there'll be a greater rewards for some and lesser rewards for others as we walk in that So that that principle is still there But it's all grace that we get it because it's it's saved by grace So and Israel should have understood that Israel should have understood There's no way they can earn anything before God Even though God is going to bless them temporarily if they temporarily Obey him again imperfectly but sincerely and really not piling up the sins Of blatant disobedience And so the conclusion that I want us to see here is that Though man from nature Knows to do good and to shine evil even on believers know that so that's still there human beings understand that we should be good do good Um, there's not perfect justice in this world and so we can't judge others by their fate We can't say off you know so and so lost his job. You know God must be judging him He must be a bad person. Oh so and so's rich. They must be a good person. We can't do that You know Job ecclesiastes psalms show us we can't do that sometimes the righteous suffer because they're righteous Sometimes the wicked prosper because God's heaping up judgments on them that they're going to pay for more of and hell Because they get so much good in this life And so even though like in general again, we want to think of Good being the better way to live and sin being the worst way to live sometimes crime does pay And sometimes godliness doesn't So that's this world um But uh the the ultimate is even if we suffer right if we trust God we know it's temporal We know that it'll be for our good. We know there'll be a reward in Israel was taught that too All right, so we have this twin motivation of reward and punishment Uh, and it's for everybody that's kind of significant because this kind of literature if you study you know ancient Records this was only like typically for royalty or for kings or for priests or something You know the the upper class only they can walk before the gods and hope to be blessed the servants can't do that This is for every I mean in Israel really it's amazing. I mean, it's like individual You know god created everyone equal. I mean again, again that principle that we haven't we adopted in our country It's right here everyone is equal under law Nobody special Uh, nobody's not promised the blessings nobody's not threatened the cursing's everyone is equally important in this society Before God everyone's sin is equally bad before God and everyone's sin is there everyone's righteousness You know, and obedience is equally important and good and again, I don't mean um Some sins aren't worse than others or that the kings and the leaders aren't Graver in the sense that they're setting bad examples, but each each one can obey or transgress And that's there's nothing like this in the ancient literature the comments some of the commentaries will pick up on that You know that you just won't see to a whole nation God addressing them all the same. I mean It's everyone is important everyone and this is like God said. I've made you a kingdom of priests I mean, it's for even though it is or had a typical priesthood There is a sense in which everybody is serving God in their lives and they're supposed to and they're supposed to think of it that way Uh, now how much more we had that in the New Testament, but but they had it in a in a type here Even at this point so um the blessings in the cursing is near the end of the book Um, that's where I want to go if we have time. We don't have a long time I got off track sorry um, but but that is the idea of this This temporal typical judgements in this world for sin blessings in this world For obedience and again Israel as a unique Type of kingdom of God you can't bring this in one to one for any other nation But this was true for Israel at the time all right So let's go to chapter 26 and we'll just look at the context real quick of these of these judgments Actually, maybe it would be better to just go to the cursings and and I'll we'll pick up We'll fill in the context and stuff next week But let's just look at some of the cursing so there there was to be this type of of ceremony They get into the promised land half the tribes go among Ebo half on Mount garrison The ones on Mount garrison pronounce the blessings the one on Mount Ebo pronounced the cursus Um, and you see them and what I want you to see in the cursus if you go to chapter 27 verses 14 through 26 These are the cursus making or worshiping through images Breaking the fifth command on your mother and your father the incorrigible child stealing land moving the landmark So you know in effect stealing land praying upon somebody's weaknesses Putting something before the the blind to causing to stumble 8 verses 18 and 19 Sexual sin here it mentioned specifically incest and bestiality Verse 24 attacking neighbors again notice it's one who taxes neighbors secretly You know, and then bribery 25 Um, now doesn't see it's unique Said right. There's no murder no blasphemy right? I mean So many things that you're there's not there that you might expect to be there nothing about the Sabbath Um, what what what what is what is comments every one of these things everyone is a sin you can do in secret Everyone I mean look at it again look at verse 15 cursing is the one who makes a carved or molded image Abomination who sexed up in secret they're not you don't see this This is a secret worshiping images in your heart and then verse 16 the one who treats his father and mother with contempt nobody gets to see that Um Verse 17 moving that landmark again. That's something you do when no one's around Oh, we're gonna move the landmark over here. Look by properties all the way here now Uh, nobody sees that Every one of these things are again hidden sexual sin that nobody sees that attacking neighbors In again in secret even says one who attacks his neighbor every one of these things of course bribery bribery is done necessarily in secret you offer the bribe to somebody In secret so all these sins really emphasizing to the individual You have to personally practice godliness and you don't get a break And you know when you get near closet and you can kind of do these things as long as no one's seeing them God is telling Israel it's not about the appearance I really want you to be mine from the heart Don't do it when you're alone. You know that to me this is real holiness godliness That you see uh in these curses all of these curses again about secret sins that will when they when if the people start doing them God's gonna judge them God's gonna judge um And so this is a really powerful thing Uh, then there's blessings and the blessings come in in chapter 28 And again, we're gonna fill in but I just wanted to cover in general what what this is about and the blessings Notice one to 14 and it's all these Um all these again physical temporal type of things living in you know, what is Israel? Israel is a type of heaven Israel's the promised land Egypt was hell Egypt was bondage slavery death and The land is life and freedom and you're in the presence of God That's why why again like you know The having children was so important and keeping your your your inheritance because that's your place in the kingdom of heaven And it's picturing that to them But that's why these blessings are so physical blessed shall you be in the city in the country Blessed shall be the fruit of your body the produce of your ground the increase of your herds the increase of your cattle The offspring of your flocks your basket and your needing bowl I don't know what that means maybe that means that I could bake bread and it would be awesome Because the blessing is even on my needing bowl. I remember my grandmother would make bread She's the only one that could do it so well But like I don't know but somehow that's gonna be blessed. You know, this is about eating Two blessed when you come in bless and when you go out Lord, I cause your enemies to flee against you So military and and army blessings Lord will come in the blessing on your storehouses Um, so your food will be preserved better. It'll you know Last longer. I don't know. The Lord will establish you as a holy people If notice if you keep the commandments and you walk in his way Okay, obviously not perfectly, but there has to be some diligence here Then all the peoples of the earth shall see you that you're called and so even that you know you'll be honored among the nations The Lord will grant you plenty of goods Prosperity here fruit of your body increase in your livestock produce of your ground the land Uh, which your Lord's word to your fathers. So it's because of his his gratuitous promise The Lord will open the treasure of the heavens will give rain You know the weather's gonna be blessed. You'll lend him any nations you won't borrow You know that you won't have the national deficit The Lord will make you the head not to tell you'll be above not beneath Uh, and so forth if notice if you heed the commandments over and over again, right? Which I observe if you're careful to observe them So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right or the left Where to go after other gods and again? What we don't ever want to do is say well israel was you know saved by works or israel is earned stuff from God That's not it at all israel is completely saved by grace They had to be born of the spirit to believe in God and they're justified by faith alone But they are a type of the kingdom of God and they have things like kings and priests and prophets And they have tribes and they have lands that are in heritances and they have all these typical Eating laws and cleanliness things and can't touch a dead body or go outside and clean yourself and all that stuff is You know typical and temporal and the land is ultimately too It's the land is temporal too because the ultimate promise to Abraham was the world If you look in Romans God promised Abraham to be he would be the heir of the world So Abraham wanted to know how I know if it's true and God says well I'm going to give you this land you know as a token as a type and this is how he's supposed to believe that God has given him the world Which is why when Jesus comes he says go into the world because it's all mine. I have all authority. It's mine So but but in the meantime This is an important stage in the revelation and in the redemption of God's people that this is showing them right to wait on the Christ that God's promises are good that God will even bless them in this life And that's a token again of the greater blessing that we're going to have in the afterlife. So Questions comments on the blessings cursing in general So I don't want to go too deep because I ran out of time Danny Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Is well if you remember they they they's I mean one of the things that you like in Isaiah too He says I hate your feast. I hate your offering. They were still walking through the motions They were still bringing the stuff and when you fast do you fast for me? You know, even they didn't even fast but they did it again They they they are the ones who simply turned this into a Works righteous relationship and that's when God sucks them It was never to be that it was never to be that they were supposed to love God from the heart obey from the heart. Yeah, it's going to be imperfect But if you do it from the heart, you know And that was what they were being taught and that was what how God was exhorting them But I think they you know they turn the the the system of grace which God gave them into a system of works And when they did that then they were only good worthy to be John So anybody else I thought I saw another hand
All right. Well, why don't we wrap it here and we'll get ready for worship father and heaven We thank you for your word. We thank you for Israel Lord God and the blessings that you show in your scriptures And and how it's the same grace that that you give to us father God and of course we are called to obey you too And and for the same reason Lord God not because we want to earn something but Because we're supposed to be holy and we're supposed to live for you and so help us father to to see the privilege of being called To imitate you even in the small and very imperfect way But that you are pleased when we do that when we act like your children So help us to do that more and more from the heart we pray in Jesus name amen