It Is All Important

0:00And I guess we'll go to the Lord and prayer. Get ready for the service. Father, thank you so much for this evening. And do pray for all the different ministries that are happening tonight. There are several classes going on right now. And evangelism class, there's a parenting class. And we just have children's going on, youth going on. Obviously, we're in here in the main sanctuary. And God, just how you're moving so greatly on this campus this evening. And just training into each individual. And so thankful for that. Thank you all for the servants that are here this evening giving of their time, giving of their efforts back to you, God, lifting you up through the talents that you have given each of the individuals that are teaching classes right now and just being with the kids. And if Father, for us in the main sanctuary this evening, God, that you would just touch our hearts and that you would open our minds and our ideas and our thoughts and hand them to you. What do we just want to glorify you with our lives and with everything that we have and allow you to be the Lord of our lives? And so Father, we just pray for that this evening. We ask this in your name, amen.

1:01And a title of tonight's message will be, it's all important. It's all important. We're going to continue the pace of last week. Pastor Carl jumped out real quick and did four chapters last week. We won't do four this week, but we might in the coming weeks. But again, we are preparing to take the land. And Moses is in his second sermon to the nation, the new generation who will be taking this land that we've been waiting to do now for years. And he is reminding them of the laws this week that they need as they move into the land. And also the feast that we're going to be talking about this evening and also the fact that at some point, they're going to look around and not want him to be in charge anymore. They're going to want a king. And he's even going to prophesy about that this evening as well. But before we start, let's remember as many of you have been with us and been faithful to attend over this last several years. We've gone through Genesis and Exodus and Numbers and Leviticus. And now Deuteronomy, and much of this is going to be a repeat to you guys. And I know that ahead of time, I encourage you guys

2:03to be there. But even for myself, as I looked back over that this weekend, I looked back at my message from chapter one and was reminded of this quote from Paul Gilchrist. And he said, Deuteronomy is not so concerned to show how God's people are to be saved. They had already been revealed in the redemption from Egypt. We saw that when they left the Egypt and they parted the water, they were saved. The Lord saved them already. That's not what this book is about. Rather is concerned with sanctification. That is how the people are going to live before the Lord in a covenant relationship. Faith, repentance, and obedience from the heart are presented as the only way to a covenantal life. Anything short of this heart, consecration and devotion to the great king will lead to difficulties and ultimately to apostasy and rebellion. And the purpose of the book is not for us to kind of, he's bringing a point to them like, was you move into the new land, you are saved.

3:06I've already done the hard work I've got you here. But this is how now I want you to live the rest of your life. This is how I want you to continue to move forward as you work with your neighbors, as you work with each other, as you live this life that I've now given you. Well, this is the things that are going to help you to be able to do that. And Christian, for us, this isn't that our struggle as well. As we work through this life thing that we call life for ourselves. We who are saved this evening have that gift by what Christ has already done on the cross for us. It was not a water parting, but a savior on a cross for us. But how are we living with that? How are we being sanctified by the Lord? Are we seeking Him? Are we obeying Him? Are we following Him in faith? His law is showing His love for us. And this was given so we could have a relationship with Him. Moses, as it says in Deuteronomy 1, the last half of verse three, it says,

4:06that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given Him as commandments to them. So this is information that the Lord has given to Moses. And so now he's turning around and he's giving this word to them. It kind of checks your heart at least it checked my heart. Maybe you guys are a lot closer to the Lord than I am, but it was a point of this is why a church like this goes verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the Bible. Because this is God's word. And even if it's been repeated 10, 12, 100 times, it's important for us to remember. It's important for us to hear. And as we look at the Israelites and we're like, how could they not know God or not could they not follow God or how could they disobey God? You just have to look in the mirror and realize you're the same as they are. At least again I am. You know, and you look at this and you're like, okay, Lord, let's do this one more time. And so as he continues to teach into the nation of Israel, these are the things that you need to listen to. This is the things that I'm gonna continue to repeat to you. These are the things that are important to you.

5:08Not for salvation, you've been saved. I brought you out of Egypt, but I want to sanctify you. I want to make you more holy like I am holy. And I want you to be able to be prosperous as you move into the land. With that, we start with three festivals this evening. I know it's exciting to have a festival. But first, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We're gonna start off in Deuteronomy chapter 16, starting in verse one. It says, observe the month of A-Bib. And keep the Passover to the Lord your God. For in the month of A-Bib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock of the herd and the place where the Lord chooses to put his name. We'll see that two more times in this area. And you shall eat no leaven bread with it. Seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread with it. That is the bread of affliction for you came out of the land of Egypt and haste. That you made to remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. And no leaven shall be seen among you

6:09in all your territory for seven days. And nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning. And verse five, he says, you may not sacrifice the Passover within your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight. At the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt, and you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. Six days, you shall eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day, there you shall be a sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work. Again, now this is all talking about things as we move into the Promised Land. He's not telling them to do it now. When you go into the promise in, this is what we're doing. But we've seen this story back in Exodus chapter 12, Exodus chapter 23, Exodus chapter 34. We have gone through this several times.

7:09Exodus chapter 12, this was the final play. You guys have been in Sunday school. You've been in church long enough to know the story of how what happened to them as they were released from the Egyptians. They were to take the blood of a lamb and they were to put it on the poster, their doors, and the Lord would pass over their homes if they had this blood there. And their act of faith with the blood on the doors would allow them to be safe. If they chose not to do that, they chose not to have that faith within the angel of death would enter in and every firstborn would die in that home. And they were to be ready. As Pharaoh would tell them to leave that night, he would be so frustrated and just leave, just get out of here. And the Lord told them that night, you guys be ready. Be ready with bread that's not even risen. There's no leaven in it. You're just ready to go. You're gonna have your cloak on. You're gonna have your sandals on. And when he tells you to go, I want you to leave right then to the point where you're even gonna pillage as you leave and you're gonna take all the Egyptians' golden silver and you're gonna leave that night.

8:10But God wanted them to continue to observe this. Each year, even to this day, and the remembrance of the Passover that happened that night, I want your generations to come to remember the story of what I did, how I saved you, and how I conquered basically Egypt, and allowed you to be freed from all those many years of being in slavery. And that night they would have taken a lamp and eaten it and a lamb and eaten it. And either way, with your family, or if you had too much, you would share with another family that would come in. But now we see in verse two and in verse six and verse seven that will be in a central place. It would no longer be in your home. It's gonna be an central place where the Lord will be at. We'll find out later that this will eventually be Jerusalem. And the first was the Passover Lamb. But there's also this other feast that is going on at the same time, the feast of the unleavened bread. We see that in verse three and four. And this was for them to eat the unleavened bread for them to remember the leaving in the haste part.

9:13Okay, no leaven within that bread, no fluffy bread to be able to eat. It's gonna be the crackers that they're gonna eat the hard stuff. And so important as we have spoken in the last several chapters, I had to make sure that we are teaching into the generations. And that's again why the Lord wanted them to continue to remind the future generations of what he has done for them. Especially right now, is there about to enter into a land of plenty? There's gonna be the land of milk and honey. There's gonna be more things that they've ever seen in their entire life, especially for most of them that have lived their entire life in a desert. They're gonna walk into this land and they need to remember that this isn't how we've always lived. We haven't always lived with just fruit and honey everywhere to be able to eat and animals everywhere and we can have homes. We've never lived like that before. And their kids are gonna think, this is just how we live. He's like, no, I want you to have remembrance. I want them to know the past over. I want them to see what happened. I want them to hear the stories of how I was glorified

10:17and how I was the one that protected you and brought you out. And I want that testimony to continue to go out for generations for people to hear and see it. Well, the next feast that we have will be the feast of weeks or the feast of the harvest that starts in verse nine and he says, you shall count seven weeks for yourself. Beginning to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain and then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord, your God with the tribute of a free will offering. This free will offering, they were free to give as much or as little as they wanted to. It wasn't like they had to give, you have to give this certain amount. There's definitely different offerings where this is the prescribed amount that you're supposed to give, you're supposed to give one lamb, you're supposed to give one. They were free, it just give from the heart. As you give back to the Lord, there's still standard, you can't go and just give a broken, laid lamb to her. I mean, you need to give your best to the Lord. As you give this free will offering, it's kind of hard to, hey, give your best offering to the Lord.

11:17And you're like, I don't want to be chenchy, it's the Lord. And he has blessed me so much. He's like, man, you give a free will offering. If you've been blessed a lot, then give the Lord a lot. Give it back to him, haven't given, show him how much that you appreciate it. And from your hand, which you show give as a Lord, your God blesses you. And you for, in verse 11, you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, and you and your son and your daughter and your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you at the place where the Lord, your God, chooses to make his name abide. In verse 12, it says, and you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. Again, don't forget where you came from. You know, a lot of times we hear that, you know, it's don't forget where you came from, so you came at one point, you didn't have anything. And now here you are. We're no longer in Egypt anymore.

12:17Well, I want to make sure that you remember at one point you were slaves. So now if you have servants, make sure that you take care of them and you protect them and watch over them. As you go into a new land, there's foreigners there. You were once a foreigner. I want you to grow in, I want you to take care of them and provide for them and help them in a system. Because you were once those people, and you as a nation know how, knew how that felt, and you need to be the ones that go in and deliver and help them out as well. Well, we see this, in particular, festival in Exodus 34, we saw it in Leviticus 23, we saw it in Numbers 28. And the New Testament, this is called Pentecost. And we see that in Acts chapter two, and basically Pentecost is another way of, the Greek way of saying that word. And they were to celebrate this initial harvest of for the season and give freely back to the Lord. For us, it's kind of like a tie. Like you're giving back to the Lord, what he had there, to freely give it in recognition. As you come to the beginning of the harvest, you're going to go and give back to the Lord, like, oh man, look at what you've already done

13:18and how you have blessed us before we start. But again, like I said, the reminder here is again, remember that you were slaves at one point. You know, and for us as Christians, about the times we look at the world, and once we were in the world, I don't know if you guys remember that or not, but one point you were those people in the world, and sometimes we look at them and they're like, gosh, I can't believe that way that they're acting. What do you expect them to act? Like, my wife always reminds me, and she's, on the hall of the night, and so she always like, but Kevin, but what do we expect? That they're in the world. And see, for us, we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and you should have a conviction when you go to try to do something you shouldn't be doing, it should be a little knock there, like, hey, you shouldn't be doing that right now. But at the same time, remember to have grace for that person that doesn't know Christ. That doesn't have a redeemed heart, that doesn't have a change in their destination, that have an understanding of who God is, and they don't have that Holy Spirit to tell them what's right and wrong. You know, many times we as Christians, we look at the world, and we look at them, and like, they're the enemy, they're not the enemy.

14:22We might be the enemy to them, but they're not the enemy to us. They're opportunities, they're people who God loves. And for us, just to remember that we were once them, we were once slaves in Egypt, but for the grace of God, my heart has changed, my destination has changed, my relationship with God has changed. Why, again, not because of something that I have done, because God opened the waters and allowed me to cross over into an opportunity with a relationship with Him. And the last three festivals that we have for this evening would be the Feast of Tabernacles, or it could be also the Feast of Booth, depending on your translations that you have this evening. Starting in verse 13, it says, you shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your wine press. And you shall rejoice in your Feast, you and your Son and your daughter and your male servant and your female servant,

15:24and the Levite and the stranger and the Fatherless and the widow who are within your gates. You get understanding here, it's everybody. Everybody's getting together here. And seven days you shall keep a sacred Feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you and all the produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will surely rejoice. Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses and at the Feast of Unloven bread and at the Feast of Weas and at the Feast of the Tabernacles and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. You should better come to something with the Lord. You can't just show up and say, ah, you know, it's kind of been rough this week again. Again, he knows. And so you have to come and bring your best. Don't just show up and try to be part of the party and not bring something to the party, bring chips or soda or something. The Lord is saying, hey, look, you better show up with something to me because I have blessed you this year. And you need to give back to me because again, I'm the one who gave these things to you.

16:26In verse 17, it says, every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given to you. Again, we saw these back in Leviticus chapter 23. We saw it in Numbers chapter 29. And this would have been in the seventh month for them in autumn and time for us. It would have been the final harvest for the year. So at the very end of their harvest time, they're coming and they've thrashed everything. They've got everything together. And now that they've seen, now that they have gotten for the year, this is their salary for the year. They're able to then come and they're able to give back to the Lord and be a blessing to him for all the things. And it's a big party. It's an opportunity for the nation to get together and you're bringing everybody together. And for me, it's one of my favorites. I've talked about this before. The tabernacle of the booth here, part of it is that they were actually supposed to build little tents, little booths for them to move as a family. You guys probably remember I've told you this. And the whole idea was, I want you to take your family and get out of this house that you have.

17:27You guys have some for some of them, they're not even gonna have to build the house. They're just gonna walk in and take over homes, okay? And so I want you to get out of the house and for generations to come. And I want you to go live outside and attend for a week. And I want you, when you're in that tent, I want you to tell the stories to your family. Tell the stories of how we wandered for 40 years and how when we looked around in the desert and we kept walking around and I want your family and I want the generations to, in the future to know this is what we did. And during that time, the Lord provided for us. The Lord was faithful to us. Even though we were disobedient to the very beginning, the Lord was still faithful in his promise to bring us to this promised land. And now, at the end of the seven weeks, the seven days we get to move back in our home to where the Lord has blessed us. But again, we started in tents for 40 years. And I want your family to know that. I want them to know that we were in Egypt.

18:27And I want them to know that I was the one who brought you out. And then I protected you for 40 years. And we continue to walk you through the promise that God has for you. And the same thing within your life. Don't get frustrated where you're at now. Don't feel like the Lord has walked out on you because you're going through a hard time. This nation walked in the desert for 40 years. And there was still a promise by God. I will never leave you or forsake you. He said, provided mana every single morning, provided water when they needed it, defense for them when they needed it. God was still there. God was still working on his promise. Still God had still loved them and took care of them. Whatever you're going through this evening, whatever struggles that you're going through, continue to come before the Lord. Being that celebration time of the Lord, I don't know everything that I have right now, but I don't have a lot to give to you. But I have this little bit. I have the two mites. I have my heart, Lord.

19:29I have the talents that you have given me and I give them freely back to you to do whatever that you want me to do in life. This evening don't feel like you have been left because you haven't. I promise you, I don't know what you've done in this room, but it can't be worse than what they've done the last 40 years, okay? Because they've been pretty disobedient and stubborn. Just continue to come back to Him, continue to trust in Him, and He will never leave you or forsake you. And what some of these festivals be that we would take part in today, and some of them as a Christian today that we would look at, or I think first, I thought of His the Lord's supper communion. Next week we'll take communion here. We do it the first Wednesday of every month. We do it quarterly on Sundays. I think that's the first thing there. We think of Paul states, in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 26, this is for I receive from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night and which He was betrayed took bread. When He had given things, He broke it and said, take eat, this is my body, which is broken for you,

20:33and to do and remember it's for me. And the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as you often drink it and remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. It's sort of the same idea as the festivals of remembering what the Lord has done. And Jesus is saying here, he's like, I want you just to remember and remember it's of me. Of what I've done for you, I broke my body for you, I gave my blood for you. When you do that and we do it next week, you should sit there and remember it's of what the Lord really has done for you and provided for you. I look at good Friday, Jesus going on the cross for our sins, willing to do that, willing to take on the sin of man and to offer forgiveness for us. We call it good Friday because it's good for us, but it wasn't so great for him. But Jesus was fulfilling what His prophet, what His life was for during that time. And so every good Friday we come together before Easter

21:33and we celebrate the fact of what our Savior was willing to do for us. And then obviously three days later, we have an empty tomb and we always celebrate Easter. Because again, without an empty tomb, we don't have a faith. If there's Jesus's bones there, we don't have Christianity. And Jesus is not here, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and for the empty tomb, we celebrate the fact that, that God Jesus did do it. And we celebrate that. And just like the festivals that they have been commanded to observe, we observe these dates and we do it in joy and remembrance of what God has done for us. But it is also humbling to come before God with a contrite heart and to thank Him for what He has done for us. And this is what God is wanting from the nation of Israel. He wants them to come to me in these festivals and recognize the blessings that I have given back to you in your parts.

22:34Going back to verse 16 and 17, it says, three times a year, all your mail shall appear before the Lord your God and the place which He chooses, at the feast of the unleavened bread, the feast of the weeks, and the feast of the tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. Every man shall give us, he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which He has given to you. And there's something special when men come together. The Lord is asking them and saying, hey, look, three times a year, I want all the men to get together. And first, let me just say this as I think it's important for men to get together before I continue this, women are unbelievably special in the church. And I want you to know that ahead of time. And the reason I think it's important for men to get together because you women are doing it already. Women are always getting together for prayer. Women are always getting together. If you or a woman here and you're like, there's nothing going on, you don't know Michelle, because there's so much going on in this church for women, like you've got to try not to find a women's ministry opportunity to do something.

23:35Women are doing things within the church. And that's not just this church, in the church. But I think that it's only, your church is only as strong as the men within your church. And I say that as a guy, I say that it's a challenge to men in the church that you need to be the men that are part of the Bible studies. You need to be men that are getting together with other men and challenging you, and challenging each other to be better than what they already are. You need to be men that are willing to have hard conversations with each other and face challenges that men are facing. Again, for the record, this wasn't excluding wives and families from going to these festivals. It was actually saying, look, there were more than welcome to go. But God said, I want the men there. And I want the men to be responsible for their families and to present the offerings of the Lord and not take credit for it himself, not saying this is what I have done and for him to be able to be humble enough and bound before a Lord, and bound before his God and say, God, thank you so much for how you have blessed my family.

24:36And that's a humbleness that men need to have and to be able to come for a Lord and a God and say, Lord, I need you within my life. Men, get together with each other. Get together for breakfast, get together for coffee breaks, get together and have a Bible study on your own. It's not hard. Just grab a book and chial ital men. I mean, there's several different authors that you can just grab. Trust me, you'll be blessed by going through it, but just get together and have opportunities to grow, man-demand and have mend-em-man conversations. Let me move on before I get any more trouble. Moses continues and shifts gears a little bit here. In verse 18, it says, and you shall appoint judges and officers and all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. And you shall not pervert justice, and you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe. For a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

25:38And you shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you. That's for Carl. What he's saying here, back in Deuteronomy chapter 1, Moses reminds them that he was unable to judge. Do you remember that back in time? He was like, look, there was just too many of you people here. And I needed somebody to be able to come alongside of me and be able to assist me and to help me. And that's when I started looking around, and I raised up wise and knowledgeable men among you to be able to help me to do this work. And to be the leaders of your tribes and the judges. And then in Deuteronomy 1, 16 and 17, he said, and then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, or the stranger who is with them. Verse 17, you shall not show partiality and judgment, and you shall hear the small as well as the great, and you shall not be afraid in the man's presence for the judgment is God's.

26:39And the case that is too hard for you, well, then you shall bring that to me, and I will hear it. It's the same thing here. Judgment should be blind. Should it not? Judgment should be blind. I mean, truth is truth. It's not changing anything. And the concept of lady justice, you remember lady justice who we've seen statues before and court houses and all. Her eyes are blinded. She can't see. She doesn't know who's coming forward. She's another person's rich. She doesn't know the person's poor. She doesn't know what they look like. She doesn't know anything. She just hears the truth. And the truth is all that matters. And for the record, what's interesting is, in Leviticus 1915, we saw, he said, he'd hear, he said, you shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. Many times in our society, we look at it and we're like, ah, they have a rich. They can afford it. It's not a big deal. Well, that's partiality, is it not? Now, all of a sudden, you're favoring the people. Or you might look at and go, well, he does have more richer lawyers

27:39and they do make a lot more sense. And the poor person's over here, and I got no shot because they've got million dollar lawyers over here, and I can't afford anybody. Well, that's not how it should work. It should work is, the truth just comes forward. The judge is able to hear the truth. It makes common sense. I'm going to go ahead and side with, whomever is the right person, whether it is richer or poor, it doesn't matter. And he says, when you enter this land, again, there is no police. Again, something that's completely not what we're used to. We're used to, if there's a problem, 9-1-1, police is there, several of them, probably at that point, depending on the night. And we have somebody that's able to just step in to help us out. But he says, but you were to do what is right and treat others with honesty. Wouldn't that be great if this was the case today? Wouldn't be great if this was the case today. Wouldn't be great if today, if we, what's your police budget? Nothing. We don't have a police budget. Why would we just do what's right? If I see my neighbor that needs something,

28:40I just go over and help that neighbor out. If I rise up and I'm mad at my neighbor, I don't yell at him. I just go over and pick up the piece of garbage and throw it away. I mean, there's no need to have a police budget. Why? Because we're doing the things, the way that we should be doing it. But that's not the case. Why? Because, well, again, remember, we're all sinners. And we are all living, or many of us are living without the Lord and without conviction. And so, as you move forward, do we see the effects? He says, no bribery in our society. Do you think bribery happens in our society? We have elected officials leaving office these years much more wealthy than they ever entered when they walked in there. And they're only making $150,000 a year they come out and they're worth millions of dollars. You're like, where did millions of dollars come out from that? I haven't gained a million dollars in the last two years, but you as a House of Representatives person has. I'm not saying that they're all taking bribery, so I'm just saying it's a possibility that that's happening. And then they didn't receive pensions for life, and I digress. I don't want to continue that.

29:41I don't have a pension for life. I do have heaven, though, so I'll trade that for them. Verse 21 says, you shall not plant for yourself any tree as a wooden image near the altar which you build for yourselves to the Lord your God. Verse 20 says, you shall not set up a sacred pillar. It should be a ashore pole here. Some of your translations might have that, which the Lord your God he hates. We have spoken on ashore poles back in Exodus chapter 34 due to Rhauname chapter 7. And this refers to a tree or a wooden pole that's dedicated to the worship of ashore. This was the wife, sister of El, the goddess of fertility. So basically it's just a way to be able to worship something different of different false God. And again here Moses is reminding them, he says, remember your God, he's a jealous God. I've told you that a couple times, and you guys need to know this why, because well then you're going to go ahead and you're going to break to the commandments.

30:41You shall have no other guys before me, and you shall have carved no images in their name. That's back in Exodus chapter 20. Don't go into worship. I know that you're going to look around when you walk into this land, and it's a polytheistic land, and there's going to be lots of gods all over the place, and you're going to be like a kid in a target looking at all the toys, and like, oh my goodness, look at all these gods. I didn't know these were gods were here, because we weren't back in Egypt all those years ago, and you're going to look and you're going to get some ideas. Don't. Because again, remember Kevin said weeks ago, there's just fake gods. There's not real gods. Those fake gods, they didn't part the water for you. They haven't provided mana for you. They haven't brought you to this land, and you're going to go look at these, and you're going to carve images, and you're going to go, don't do that. Don't be like these other people. This week I was speaking to a few young men in the school. I do, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, with three different young boys, and we do a discipleship type thing. We actually were talking about Lordship the last couple of weeks,

31:42and in that, Jesus talks about in Luke 6.46, but he says, but why do you call me Lord Lord, and not do the things that I tell you to? So we had a great conversation regarding that, and they're like, one of the young men, he was like, well, it doesn't make any sense. Why would you do call him Lord Lord, and then you don't do anything that he says? And I was like, okay, well, do you do everything your parents tell you to do? And he's like, he just shook his head. Now I understand. He just got it at that moment. But for us, even this evening, we sit there and we say that we believe Lord Lord, and we look at these again, and we look at what's going on here, and we shouldn't be building these other idols, but Lord Lord, we call him Lord Lord, and we always follow what he's called us, and tells us to do. Again, that's just a check in your spirit to make sure, am I lining up with things that he's asked me to do? Is he truly the Lord of my life? The culture for them was to set up these poles

32:43near the places of worship, and Moses is warning them, look, I know that you're going to see this, but don't do that, because now you're going to be tempted, and I've asked you to not to do it. God's asked you not to do it, and I need you to be essentially focused on me. I'm giving you laws, I'm giving you ideas, I'm giving you structure for you to be able to live your life, so that you can continue to be sanctified, and that's just another temptation that's going to get in the way, so I'm telling you, don't allow those things to be near you around you, especially as you continue to try to worship me. What should the nation do if they find people worshiping other gods? We move into Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 1, and it says, you shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God, a bull or a sheep, which has any blimish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord. If there is a found among you within you, or any of your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, the man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, and transgressing his covenant, who has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them either the sun or the moon or the host of heaven,

33:46which I have not commanded, and is told to you, and you hear of it, there's tea going on, there's people gossiping, and then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is indeed true in certain that such an abomination that has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates, that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death, that man or that woman with stones. So first of all, it starts off with, don't bring any defective sheep or bulls to me, and that should be obvious, but I think it's kind of funny that he has to tell them this. Don't bring the three-legged sheep out here, don't bring any malnourished sheep that aren't growing, you're like, oh, I don't want that thing anyway, it's here, let me just give it to the Lord. He says, no, we should give our best to the Lord. You look at that thing, and you're like, man, that's a winner right there, and that's the one that goes to the Lord. That's the one that I'm going to take to him, and show him just, hey, God, thank you so much. I'm giving you my best.

34:46You know, the same goes with your ties, the same goes with your offerings. Don't just give whatever to the Lord. You give your best to the Lord. What has blessed you with so much, and if you take the tie seriously, and you give them 10%, you still get to keep 90, isn't that a pretty good offering there? It's a pretty good deal on our side. God gives us 100%, and we still get to keep 90. That's pretty incredible. He's like, keep all the other animals, but when you bring something to me, you better bring me your best. But what if we do see somebody worshiping some other gods? Well, don't just take somebody's word for it. Some people are gossiping in the neighborhood, you're like, hey, did you see what they're got going on over there? No, don't go that. Go and investigate it yourself. You go do the hard work. You go in and make relationships. You go ask some questions and dig out the truth. But then he says, and get the evidence you bring into the judges, and if it's true, well, then it should be punishable by death. They should be stoned to death. Obviously, again, we live in a much different culture and time,

35:49and we do not live in a theocracy where we currently live. Our nation is a republic, and we have freedom of worship, and we have opportunity to vote and things like that. This is a completely foreign idea to us that we would just take somebody out to the front of our neighborhood and just stoned them for practicing and worshiping different gods. But there are places in the world where to be a Christian is punishable by death. I mean, this is not just a made up story. This is not just Christians talking about it to make you feel guilty so that you'll support. Like, literally, I was reading a story in the magazine of Voice of the Martyrs just, I think it was yesterday, about a woman in Iran who had started a grave yard ministry, and she had come out to know the Lord and wanted to tell other people about the hope that she had. She's looking around her community. She says everybody is just sad all the time, and they're just crying all the time, and they're worshiping Allah, but there's just no joy, there's no hope, and so she literally goes to cemeteries, and she tries to share hope in Jesus Christ.

36:51Eventually, she's followed by the government, and she's interrogated, they call her in, she's interrogated, and she nearly dies. But she doesn't, and you're like, you know, again, as bad as we think whatever our government is, whoever that you like or don't like as far as a president, none of this really fear the fact of, well, I'm a Christian, I'm going to be called in, and interrogated and nearly killed for my faith. But on Iran, it is. Iran, just for the fact that she's sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, she nearly dies, her husband nearly dies, and her brother nearly dies. Again, completely foreign to us to where we live, but she lives in that culture, and she lives there today, and it doesn't allow the worship of a different God. Well, what are some of the requirements to bring if there's case to, if we, whatever the requirements to bring to such a charge against this case to somebody? Verse 6, it continues, it says,

37:51Whoever is deserving of the death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses, and he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Verse 7, it says, in the hands of the witnesses, shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people, so you shall put away the evil from among you. I cannot get just mad at my neighbor again, he threw some garbage in my yard, and I'm like, this guy threw some garbage in my yard, I think we should just go stone him. Like, you can't do that. There has to be two to three witnesses, is what they're saying. Like, look, we're not just going to take one word against the other. Again, in your work that you do, your research that you're doing, you find two or three people who have grid, yeah, man, I've seen him worshiping in the backyard, he's got this different thing going on. Well, now I can bring it to the judges, and they're able to look at that, and then they're the ones who get to hear the truth, and then they make the decision from there. But it's interesting here, too, you don't just cast the lot on them and say, hey, look, they're guilty for this, they're requirement, and then now is, since I made the accusation, I'm the first one who picks up a stone.

38:55And for the record, it's not like these little stones, you know, like the little ones that David threw it, Goliath, okay, that's, you're throwing a stone. The purpose is you're trying to kill the person. So literally, you're a grain, and you're throwing it, and now you are, and I can get his graphic, as you want this evening, but I won't, of just the impact of what that is going to do to somebody. And I don't care who you are, but the fact that, again, you're not just pushing a button to try to kill somebody, you're not just shooting somebody from afar away, and you're literally part of the process, and that just changes you. You're like, man, I gotta know that I know that I know that this person really is doing that thing that he's, that he shouldn't be doing. Because now the requirement, and then God says, look, I wanna make sure that if you're gonna make this requirement, then this is true. We saw this with the fake child of Jesus back in Mark 14, when the false witnesses came forward, but their testimonies couldn't agree. Like they had now planned down, and they just couldn't get everybody just to agree on their fake testimonies.

39:56You think that they would've been able to do that, but they couldn't, and so then again, the only way that they were able to get them to the point where they were able to crucify him, is that you ask him, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, and they answered, I am, because he was, right? So he just tells them the truth, and at that point they considered that blasphemy, and that's why they were able to do it. But they were still under the requirements to have two to three witnesses, and they were unable to do that, because they couldn't get their witnesses to agree. Well, continues, well, what if there's some difficult problems, and the judges are unable to decipher, and come up with the truth here? And in the meantime, it says, if a matter arises, which is too hard for you to judge, between the degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, and you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall come to the priests and the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them,

40:57and they shall pronounce upon the sentence of judgment. And you shall do accordance to the sentence, which they pronounce upon you, and the place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you to do. And verse 11, according to the sentence of the law, in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do. And you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left hand from the sentence, in which they pronounce upon you. And now the man, verse 12, now the man who act presumptuously, presumptuously could be arrogantly, rebelliously, and he will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, well, that man shall die. And so you shall put away the evil from Israel, and all the people shall hear the fear and no longer act presumptuously. And basically what's happening here is, if the lower court system, the lower court system, if we were in today's terms, and the judges locally here, are unable to figure out what happened. They're hearing it. This is not making sense to me.

41:57I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. I'm not really really putting them in the death, or whatever the judgment is here, they can appeal to a higher court. They're like, hey, you got to go to Jerusalem. You got to go here to the Levites, the priests. You got to go talk to them. And then they're the one that's going to make the decision. And then whatever he says, that's what's going to happen. Again, this is a theocracy. Again, we're not in that situation, so they're not going to come to the church, thankfully. We don't have a line out the door, we're a pastor, Carl, and Jim, and everybody's got to line up and listen to all these stories all day long, and try to make that decision. But here, they're trusting that God will speak to His servants, and that these men have the law. They should be reading the law all the time, the priest are. We saw this in Leviticus, when those who had a skin disease and had to decide whether they were clean or unclean, they would have to come to the priest, and he would be the one that would make the decision. But when they make a decision, this higher court, the judges of whatever, and the Levites and all, and that person does not follow it. So I make a judgment against this person,

42:58and all of a sudden he's like, nah, I don't believe this guy, I'm not true in what Kevin said, well, then that person gets to be put to death. You can't act presumptuously, you can't act rebelliously against what the judgment has been brought against you. And most of the states this reason why they're to be put to death is that the next person is probably not going to challenge that decision. Okay, Kevin said, oh, yeah, you're guilty, and you're going to, you know, you're going to have to die, or you're going to get 50 lashes or something like that. And all of a sudden, the next person, when they find out that that person died after not agreeing, they're going to be like, I'm going to do what he told me to do, because that's what the law has told me. There's no appeal system. That's very interesting, huh? No appeal system. They're just, whatever the judge says at that point, they're done. And then most of the states, a bit of prophecy here in this world, we'll close out tonight. And read verse 14 through 17, it says, in win, verse 14, win. Again, it's going to happen. He's not saying, hey, if you get into the land, you don't see that in any of these terminologies that we've talked over to last, and then do the anatomy,

43:58it's when you come into the land, which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. And you shall surely set a king over you, whom the Lord your God chooses, and one from among you, your brethren, and you shall set as a king over you, you may not set as a foreigner over you who is not your brother, but he shall not multiply the king, shall not multiply horses for himself, and will cause the people to return to Egypt, to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, you shall not return that way again. Neither shall the multiply the wives for himself, less his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. He says, look, you're not going to look around, and you're not going to want God to rule anymore. You're not going to want me anymore, and you're going to ask for a king because you're going to want to be like the other nations that are around you. But he says, well, make sure that he's one of you, that he's not a foreigner.

44:59He understands that where you've come from, this person, that he understands that you came from Egypt of the background that you've come from. Here, even in the United States, a president has to be a natural born citizen. Why? Because we want somebody that's from here that understands the kind of way that we think, the way that we kind of do things. You don't want somebody from the outside coming in and influencing because they just don't have the same culture as us. That's not wrong. But he says he should not head back to Egypt. That seems like a constant problem. Most of the time, hey, look, you don't want to go back to this again. Every time I turn around, you people want to go back to Egypt. If this king wants to go back to Egypt, he's not the king for you. You were not going back down that road again. And he also says you don't want him to get rich off the people. And he says, don't marry a lot of wives. Just don't do that. And you can probably see where I'm going quickly with all of this. First for Samuel 8, Israel does demand a king. They come and say, hey, look, we don't want Samuel. We don't want you anymore. Samuel takes a person where he's like, man, they're rejecting me and God says, no, they're not rejecting you. They're actually rejecting me.

46:00And it's not you at all. Well, then they annoy Saul to be the king and Saul is a failure. He's just a complete failure. Well, then David replaces him. He's a man after God's own hearts. And in the end, in the years of his life, he starts to waver a little bit. Well, then we have Solomon. And he does get rich. The richest man has ever lived. And he has wives. He has 700 wives and 300 concubines. He did everything contrary to what he was supposed to be doing. He's a failure. Verse 18, it goes on as it says, and also, it shall be, when he, the king, sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book. From the one before the priest, the Levites. And it shall be with him that he shall read at all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, and be careful to observe all the words of his law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren,

47:00that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand, or to the left. And then he may prolong his days in this kingdom, and he and his children in the midst of Israel. And that sounds like a good king, doesn't it? And when you have this king, this requirement should be that he's writing the book of the law himself. He goes home at night, and he turns, he's got plenty of money, so he turns on the lamp, and he's just sitting there, and he's writing the book of Deuteronomy out for himself. He's not having to scribe, dude, and not having somebody else do, and he's looking at it, and then he's just writing everything. And then he says, I want him to read that book of Deuteronomy. I want him to know the law. I want him to know my heart, because that's what the king should do, and he should be able to rule for me. Why do I want him to do that? Why do I want him to fear God? I want him to be humble before his people. I want him to be humble before the whole nation of Israel. That's the king that I want. Psalm 1, starting of verse 1, it says, blessed is a man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

48:02nor stands in the path of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. And this is the key part, verse 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And then his law, he meditates it on a day and night. And God could have just sat there and said, look, I want him to read Psalm 1, verse 2, and I want him to meditate on the word day and night. And then, verse 3, why? Because he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. That brings forth its fruit and its season, whose leaf shall not wither. And whenever he does, shall prosper. God says, look, if you're a man who's going to sit here and you're going to write the word of God, and you're going to memorize the word of God, and you're going to be humble before me, that's David. That's David, and he's writing half of the Psalms. David has such a strong warrior, and he's just a man's man, and then at the same time, he's over here writing poetry and crying out to the Lord in tears. God's like, that's the kind of king that I want. God wanted them to remember that he was God,

49:03that Egypt and Pharaoh was a God, and he was rich, but he wasn't the God. The surrounding kingdoms will, they'll be near you, and they're going to have kings and live with ultimate power and be able to use it, how they want to. And unfortunately, the nation of Israel will split, and not a single king from Israel will ever have a relationship with God. There's not a single king from Israel when they split, that's good. And then there's only a few from Judah. None of them took to heart what the word of God said here. Why? Because it's all important. They should have read the book of Deuteronomy. They would have known how they were supposed to live. Influences in the world are real, and whether in times of this young nation or today, but the formula is still the same for all of us. It's is to seek God, it is to read and to do His Word, and to memorize His Word, and then to, like we talked about weeks ago, to actually do His Word.

50:04It's not just to have it here, it's actually to do what God's called us to do. Can I tell you, to love the people that are around you? Love the people around you, whether they're believers or not. They're not the enemy. They need to hear the word of God. They need to see Christians in action and to loving them, and to caring for them. One last thing is more than anything else that we need to follow Christ, but we need to have a relationship with Him. You need to have a relationship with Him. You need to make sure that He's Lord of Lord of your life. If you're in here this evening, you're like, yeah, Kevin, I believe in Jesus. Paul, is He Lord of your life? Are you doing everything that He's called you to do, and going by what He's asked you to do and live your life the way He's asked you to live it? If you don't have a relationship with the Lord, I'll be up here. I know that every week, happy to answer any questions that you might have. Love to pray with you. If you're going through something, love to pray with you as well. But again, make sure that you're reading your word, and that you know your word,

51:04and to know that the word has value wherever that you're at in it. Father God, thank you so much for this evening. I thank you for your word again, as we're just so humbled to be able to read it. To study it, I pray that you would help each one of us to apply it to our lives. And to not get us home safely this evening, continue to watch over this campus. Again, many different opportunities here this evening. I'm just blessed as a church to be able to say, and see the things that are going on, as we're just continuing to pour into people's lives. Lord, continue to give us wisdom, continue to give us a heart for you, Lord. And we ask this in your name, amen.