Deuteronomy 1-34 - The Bible from 30,000 Feet | Skip Heitzig

the Bible from 30,000 feet soaring through the scripture from Genesis to Revelation would you turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy please in your Old Testament I trust you brought a Bible yes yeah I love that one yeah I love it we need to do that that's what we live by it's where we stand for turn to the book of Deuteronomy please that's the book that we want to cover in our flight over the Bible this evening Harvard University was named after a minister of the gospel named John Harvard it started as an institution that would train men for ministry likewise Yale University was started by a Puritan clergyman and Princeton University in New Jersey has ties to the Presbyterian Church they have those things in common all three institutions in fact the motto the original motto for Princeton was the Latin Day sub Newman a bigot which means under God she flourishes it was all about training people to be able to preach the gospel more effectively well fast-forward to the modern age and you have in those institutions something vastly different than what they started with they started with the right spiritual intent you'll be lucky to find a spiritual emphasis anywhere on those campuses they have become a very secular in their reasoning very liberal in their belief system and in their worldview how did it happen two words incremental change incremental train didn't happen overnight it happened slowly over time it was incremental change and history demonstrates that what happened with those institutions happens with any institution potentially and any individual potentially I call it spiritual entropy those of you that have a science background you're familiar familiar with the second land law of thermodynamics which is entropy that in a system over time things tend toward decay and disarray and confusion energy is lost it happens spiritually as well this is why the Apostle Paul wrote to a young minister of the gospel named Timothy 2nd Timothy chapter 4 and he announced in the New Testament the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables now all of that introductory remark is to set up the book of Deuteronomy because Deuteronomy is Moses saying what he already said again he is repeating himself though in a shortened version of the first four books of Moses he is shortening that to one book the book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy is a Greek word that means the second law deuteros second or two namaz law it is the second giving of the law thus like you might expect it covers some of the same ground of the first four especially the previous three books of Moses that we have already covered there are 250 references in the book of Deuteronomy to the first four previous books of the Pentateuch what we have essentially in Deuteronomy is Moses at the end of his life saying his goodbyes to the children of Israel this time a new generation Deuteronomy is composed of three farewell speeches given over a single month in the midwinter as the children of Israel have settled on the plains of Moab overlooking the Jordan River overlooking the valley toward Jericho before they enter the land under Joshua Moses is speaking this to a new generation what happened to the old generation they died they kicked the bucket their corpses are strewn in the wilderness they disobeyed what God had said they lacked the faith to go in according to his promise so their corpses were littered in the wilderness thus with the new generation so Moses has been the pastor of their mom and dad's generation and now the next generation there's the need to reiterate some of the salient points of the law and to review the last 38 years of their history 38 years 39 years 40 altogether and to reinterpret the law for the new generation you might want to call it a briefing though it's not a brief book it really is Moses giving the briefing to the new generation before they enter the land one of the key verses that I already mentioned during our communion time is chapter 6 verse 12 which says beware lest you forget now why would he say that because he remembers their moms their dads their aunts their uncles the ones now dead forgot what God had done and lacked the faith to go ahead with the promise he doesn't want that to happen to the new generation something else some scholars interestingly have nicknamed the book of Deuteronomy the gospel of love and that is because unlike the other books there is a repetition of the word love in the book of Deuteronomy some 21 times and what he is telling them is that you need to love the Lord your God it's not just about keeping rules and regulations but it needs to be filled with a heart of love a motivation of love which will then prompt obedience it's a terrific book Adam Clarke a great commentator said it may be safely asserted that very few parts of the Old Testament Scriptures can be read with greater profit by the genuine Christian than the book of Deuteronomy now Deuteronomy will be mentioned in the Old Testament or referred to in the Old Testament the rest of the Old Testament 350 times in the New Testament it will be referred to 95 times so about 445 times this book is pointed back to in the rest of the Bible did you know that Jesus will quote from the book of Deuteronomy more than any other of the books of the Torah now I said there are three farewell speeches right easy to remember them one deals with the past one deals with the present and one deals guess what with the future that sums up the book of Deuteronomy chapters one through three he refused the past chapters 4 through 26 regulations for the present and chapter 27 to the end of the book readiness for the future so it's what God did what God is doing through their obedience prompted by love and what God will do for them in the future another way to look at it first part is historical second part is legal the laws the regulations and the third part is prophetic Allah or if you prefer to be more accurate one is historical the second is pedagogical because it's him teaching these laws to them and the third is prophetically whichever word you prefer let's begin with chapter one verse one he begins by reviewing their past this is what God has done it's the historical portion verse one these are the words stop right there if you don't mind the name of the book is Deuteronomy if this were a Hebrew Bible the name of the book would be dev ream or Devine and that means the words because it's interesting the Hebrew Bible names the books after the first few words of the book and because notice verse 1 these are the words the name of the book is called the words or these words Devine these are which Moses spoke to all of Israel on this side that is the east side of the Jordan in the wilderness in the plain opposite sooth between Perron TOEFL Lebon huzzah wrote indies ahaab it is eleven days journey from Horeb that's the mountain where Sinai is by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea that entrance point of the new land now it came to pass in the fortieth year in the eleventh month on the first day of the month that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him command given him as Commandments to them and once again I mentioned this last week but here we look at the text verse 2 how long was it supposed to take from Mount Sinai Horeb to the promised an 11 days they managed to turn an 11 day march into a 40-year meander right they went from walking to wandering - whining - wailing that sort of captures their history now distances in the Middle East in ancient times were not measured by miles or kilometers they were they were measured by hours or days now if you're a Californian you get this because when we I was in California people said well how long is it from here to there we've never we never answered the question we say oh it's about an hour now what the question the question is how how far is it they're asking they're thinking of miles but there it doesn't matter how the distance is it matters how long it takes because we have something there that is very very unique to that part of a country that's called congestion 24/7 so it just depends on when you're traveling from here to there could take you 20 minutes we could take you about 2 or 3 hours just depends on the traffic so they would measure by hours and by days now it would take about 20 miles you could cover in a day by walking in ancient times that's how they would reckon a journey 20 miles a day by foot if you were to do it by camel you could cover about 30 miles if you were to go by Caravan kind of split the difference you could cover about 25 miles so it's measured that way remember in The Book of Jonah Jonah gets to Nineveh and it says Nineveh was an exceedingly great city about three days journey in extent because that's how long it would take to cover it by foot so the children of Israel are out wandering walking and moving at a slow rate verse six Moses continues the Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb saying you have dwelt long enough at this mountain Horeb is the mountain range one of the mountain peaks of the Horeb range is Mount Sinai I love that God says you've been here long enough don't you love it when God says that you've been here long enough and sometimes God may say that to you you've been here long enough it's time for you to move on it's time for you to pick up and move to a new place in your life and stir things up and get out of your comfort zone he says that to them they had been at Mount Sinai verse 7 turn and take your journey and go to the mountains of the Amur writes to all the neighboring places in the plain in the mountains in the lowland and the south on the Seacoast to the Canaanites and a Lebanon that's far north as far as the Great River the river Euphrates he's telling them the land that he has marked out for them to inherit if you were to get a map and a pencil and a little ruler and figured it all out you discover that originally God promised the children of Israel a significant land mass of three hundred thousand square miles that's what God said he would give to them the condition was they had to walk and take and possess the land God promised to them right that was always the condition it's yours but you got to walk through it and lay claim to it at their very pinnacle of their history under King David and King Solomon when the kingdom was expanded and they became very strong at their best at the utmost at the highest Israel only occupied 30,000 square miles God said this is what I'm giving you but this is what they took they took at their pinnacle one tenth of all that God promised them that they could possess sound familiar God's promises must be appropriated they do no good just lying on the pages of your Bible oh you can underline them and you can memorize them good for you but you've got to say they're mine I'm gonna walk in them I'm gonna take that land verse 8 see I have set the land before you go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your father's to Abraham Isaac Jacob to give them and their descendants after them I remember a story about a father who wanted to bless his son when he graduated from school his son wanted a brand-new car dad could afford it but its dad dad gave him for his graduation a Bible how excited you think that boy was teenage boy I look all excited not so much he was so unexpected that was the car he wanted you had to take the sweetness of the word to get the second gift God has given us all things that pertain to life in God through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue those were the words of Peter in the New Testament all that God has for you is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the plan God has for your life be sure that you follow that plan now verse 26 he has brought up the twelve spies that enter the land and he says nevertheless verse 26 nevertheless you would not go up we read that last time verse 34 and the Lord heard the sound of your words and he was angry and he took an oath saying surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land of which I swore to give to their fathers this is all review Moses is saying your parents are dead your uncles are dead your answer dead the old generation died because they refused to take the promises that I had for them except verse 36 Caleb the son of Jephunneh he shall see it and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked because he wholly followed the Lord now we can't be sure but I think this is a conservative estimate about 1.2 million people of the old generation died in the wilderness 1,200,000 now that would average out to be 85 funerals a day not saying that it all happened that way that it was spaced out that way it could have been several at once we don't know exactly no but it would average out to be 85 funerals a day or seven deaths every waking hour year after year after year you know what that would be a constant reminder of the wages of sin is death this is the wages of sin every day the wages of sin the wages of sin so you can see that Moses wants to review this with the young bucks before they enter the land I don't want you to forget this very important component the wages of sin is death chapters 2 and 3 Moses view some of the places that they had been the events that took place in Exodus Leviticus and numbers armies that were defeated and there were two kings that are constantly brought up in Israel's history that they defeated Sihon was one of them and AAG og was the other hog was the king of Bashan up north look at chapter 3 verse 10 all the cities of the plain all Gilead all bhishan this is all east of the Galilee up north as far as salka and entry cities of the kingdom of OGG in Bashan okay pause there for a moment remember there were two and a half of the twelve tribes that did not want to settle where God told him originally to settle west of the Jordan River they saw the Highlands up north the grass fields great pasture lands for their flocks and they said we would like to settle here that was a compromise they shouldn't have done that the very first tribes later on in Israel's history to fall to idolatry were these tribes they're largely unprotected isolated from the rest of the community surrounded by paganism those were the tribes of Reuben GAD and the half tribe of Manasseh but something I want to notice verse 11 for only a king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Giants notice that indeed his bedstead that is his bed frame was an iron bed frame is it not in rabaa of the people of Ammon to which you say yes it's a rhetorical question because it is it was notice this nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width according to the standard cubic the standard cubit was 18 inches the bed frame was 13 and a half feet long so it brings this up and wants you to note that because this guy was one of the Giants so you know Solomon said there's nothing new Under the Sun king-sized beds are not a modern invention you know I I have a bed at home called a California King because it's a little bit longer and I'm a little bit longer and it was developed in the 1960s I think furniture firm in Los Angeles said hey let's extend it to 84 inches instead of 72 we'll call it the California King I'm glad they did I fit in that properly this baby was a king-size bed and he was a king so it fits but he was called a giant and it bears record too something those 12 spies saw when they checked out the land they said hey there are Giants still in the land now you know how big and this is why the ten came back and said we are grasshoppers in their sight and in our eyes as well even though that really wasn't the truth according to Joshua Rahab said the people of the land are melting in fear because of you that's what they thought because of these giants if you were to compare yourself to aughh let's say you were up against an army of giants like this you would look at the Giants and you would look at you and you would say poor us but if you saw how big God was in compared to the size of the Giants you'd say poor them again like we said last week it all depends on your perspective what are you measuring according to are you measuring according to your strength your height your stature yours your size your ability or gods see John said greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world measure that way only to did and they lived to tell about it Martin Luther said with God one is always a majority and that's how David lived his life Dave saw giant named Goliath David was a runt in comparison to Goliath but he approached Goliath and he said you defy the armies of the Living God not you defy the armies of the nation of Israel you defied the armies of the Living God God's gonna get you and he did he measured correctly in verse five continuing on oh wait a minute let's go back to chapter four we come now to the second speech the second farewell speech shifting from the historical we deal with the legal that is the laws that they were to follow going from what God did in the past this is what God is doing now in the present these are the regulations you were to follow now so from the past tense to the present tense by the way you and I must always do the same Hewett and I have a history we're to do what we did tonight in remembrance of Jesus we're to look back to the night we were saved and and all of those great remembrances of our early faith but we must always convert the past into the present we must always take the past experiences and make them a present expression because if we're always looking back to the past go oh I remember what God did when I was this age or when this church was at that stage or I remember I remember I remember what about now are those still valid for your present-day experience if they're not something's wrong with your Christian walk God should be as vibrant and as real and as changing things in your life as he once did and once was so there to take the past and pivot now to the present verse 1 now o Israel listen to the statutes and the judgments these are all rules and regulations which I teach you to observe and here's why that you may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your father's is giving you you shall not add to the word which I command you nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you it sounds like God doesn't want people to mess with his word mess with his scripture doesn't want you to add to it that means we can't come along and say well I like this part but I don't like that part I like Psalms and I like the red words but I don't like the book of Revelation or the book of Hebrews and you know I notice a lot of people selectively love the Bible and quote the Bible to sort of fit their own ideology they use it not finding out what it says to them but finding verses they like that will say what they want to have said jesus said concerning the law concerning the Old Testament I have not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them that's why I get bothered when one of the premier Christian leaders of our day and age says that Christians must unattach themselves from the Old Testament just completely do away with it yet if you read the New Testament they didn't seem to follow that advice they seem to quote the Old Testament build their theology using that as the platform from which to build Jesus that I didn't come to destroy it I came to fulfill it in revelation 22 some of the last words of the Bible God says if anyone adds to these things God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book I don't want to be that guy whoever takes away from the words of this book God will take away his part from the book of life so don't mess with my words I'm giving you the revelation of who I am it will be a progressive revelation what for it the rest will come don't change it verse nine only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life and teach them to your children and your grandchildren now this is one of the singular most important parts of the book of Deuteronomy because God says through Moses I don't want you to forget what God has done and I don't want you to forget what God has said I want you to obey them but hold that thought don't just obey them teach your children your next generation to also listen to them and obey them it's one of the great themes of the book of Deuteronomy we're gonna dip into a couple of these verses now the rest of this section is a recap of the law let me sum it up and then I'll just poke it a couple scriptures chapters 5 through 11 is an exposition of the Decalogue do you know what a Decalogue is 10 words that's what Decalogue means 10 commandments the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 20 are recapped and expounded on in chapters 5 through 11 of Deuteronomy he's making sure the younger generation has a good understanding and so he gives sermons on it chapters 12 through 16 ceremonial law some of that we've touched on chapters 16 through 20 civil law and then 21 through 26 social laws many of which we have looked at in previous books look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 1 now this is the commandment and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you you and your son and your grandson all the days of your life that your days may be prolonged therefore here Oh Israel and be careful to observe it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your father's has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey here o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one this is of course the great Jewish confession of faith called the Shema it's called the Shema because Shema means here or listen and that's the first word of this commandment shema yisrael adonai elohenu adonai echad the Lord our God the Lord is one now I want you to look at a word the last word of verse four of that sentence in verse 4 is 1 the Lord is one the word one is the Hebrew word a cod death a cod that some of you know the word that's how you count in Hebrew a hard time shallow shudder Bahama Chavous monetary-ism so that's the first counting word that a child learns a hot however the word of hot means one but it doesn't mean an absolute singularity it rather means a compound unity let me explain there's another Hebrew word eeyaa he'd yaki means an absolute singularity one and only one whereas HOD is a combination that forms a unity the Lord our God the Lord is one so for example it is used in Hebrew to talk about one bunch of grapes a hot bunch of grapes it's a compound unity or the nation of Israel is one nation all the different people one nation a compound unity it is used in the Old Testament when God brought Eve to Adam and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother be joined unto his wife and the two shall become a hot that one flesh a pound unity this is important to those of us who believe in a Trinitarian theology that God exists as one God in three distinct personalities three distinct persons not modes not one at a time all at the same time Co eternal coexistent all of them God the Father Son and Holy Spirit the Hebrew allows for that possibility even here in this great statement of faith verse five you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength remember when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment that's this was his answer Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5 that's the greatest commandment but you remember what he did he then pivoted and quoted something out of Leviticus and said ah but there's a second commandment which is also as great and that is you shall love your neighbor as yourself and on these two Commandments hang all the law and the prophets he summed it all up love God greatest commandment love your neighbor as yourself that's Leviticus 19 verse 6 and these words which I command you shall be in your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children you shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up we're to teach them a more literal translation were to repeat them or to repeat them great educators will tell you that people learn things by repetition let me say that again great teachers that good you caught up with that one I do these things just to see if you're paying attention you know but sometimes people will say yeah you know I'm too old to learn another language I should have done that when I was younger actually you're not according to Cambridge University in England they said all you need is to see a word 160 times in 14 minutes and you will know it no matter what age you are they said and I'm quoting learning is simple when you repeat they call it memory traces you you form these pathways memory traces that are the same in an aged adult up to a certain point of course as somebody who's young but notice how the repetition is brought forth here notice the repetition here is when you sit when you walk when you lie down and when you rise up in other words when you live because I just sort of described what you all do right now you're sitting down and a little bit you'll be walking out to your car later on you're gonna lie down in your bed and then tomorrow morning you're gonna rise up from your bed all those things you're gonna be doing in the next 24 hours if you have children who live at home they're gonna watch you do those things and they're gonna watch you do those things and they're gonna hear what you say during those things and watch your example during those times and the question is are you repeating the same behavior and words to stimulate their taste for godly living that's how you teach them you know the the most often quoted scripture I hear when it comes to raising children you know it probably all by heart is proverbs 22 which says train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it did you know the word train is the word Hana Hana is the word to train and it literally means to put something into the mouth a very similar Arabic word which comes from that same Semitic root the Arabs have a word for taking date honey and putting it on the lips and on the palate of infant's to stimulate the sucking reflex to get infants to learn how to feed from their mother's breath by pressed by putting deed honey as that sucking reflex that's the word Hana so when he says train up your child you could translate that stimulate a taste for godliness in your child by when you lie down when you walk when you rise your daily activities by the way you live you repeat what you believe what you hold to what your value system is your kids are gonna watch it and you are either by your lifestyle gonna stimulate a taste for godliness or drive them away so children are very very important here in this book verse 8 continues you shall bind them as a sign on your hand what the commandments the words they shall be as frontlets between your eyes if you go to Israel you'll see these things these are called phylacteries and I see that little thing on the top of the head that's a leather box and inside that box are scriptures that are written and then in yeah there's the scriptures inside the little box there placed on the head they're placed on the arm they take this very literally if you wonder how do they translate their own Bible do they see it as figurative not really they take it literally they actually put a box of scriptures on their head why so they would remember the scripture on their arm so they'll remember the scripture so they are fulfilling this literally good question to ask yourself what are you putting before your eyes what are you setting before your eyes what are you looking at a lot I can answer that for a lot of you it's in your pocket or your purse right now it's a little phone it's that little screen it wasn't true 10 20 years ago but it is now Oh put put that aside I don't wanna I don't want to pick on that what TV shows what entertainment what things do you read and look at what are you setting before your eyes to remember make sure that you do the scripture as well or more chapter 8 verse 1 every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your father's and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to Humble you to test you and to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his Commandments or not memory is the diary we all carry with us and so God tells them remember what I've done remember what I said chapter 10 verse 12 and now Israel what is the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God to walk in his ways to love him to serve the Lord again notice all those verbs love or serve the Lord with all your heart with all your soul and to keep his commandments the commandments of the Lord and the statutes which I command you today for good this brings up a little phrase the fear of the Lord and I would just say that's a very misunderstood phrase what does it mean the fear of the Lord we tell you what it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that you cringe before God doesn't mean you wake up and go god I'm so afraid of you are you gonna zap me you know you're not the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz that's not the relationship God wants with you fear of the Lord means a reverence or a respect for him the Hebrew word is ye lot Yahweh you're not Yahweh it's the idea of reverence in fact the message translation translates verse 12 live in his presence in holy reverence I like that translation because it rhymes live in his presence in holy reverence so here is the fear of the Lord it's a reverential awe that produces humble submission to a loving God that's the working definition of the fear of the Lord a reverential awe that produces a humble submission to a loving God the only fright the only being scared part is that you love him so much you respect him so much that you don't want to do anything to displease him you're afraid that you would do something that would displease the one that you love that really sums up the fear of the Lord now before we get into the last section let me dip the airplane down a little bit and get close to what is called the scarlet thread of redemption you've heard that phrase before I have just finished a book that we're going to release at the beginning of next year called bloodline which is tracing the scarlet thread of redemption from Eden to eternity all the way through the scripture and I want you to look at chapter 18 verse 15 the Lord your God will raise up for you a what prophet and notice it's a capital P it is in my Bible raise up for you a prophet capital P like me from your midst from your brethren him you shall hear in other words some time in the future a Moses like spokesman is gonna come a prophet like me verse 18 I will raise up for them a prophet capital P like me from among their brethren and he will put my words or and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him God will send many prophets in the future but this is a singular prophet this is a singular pronoun and it emphasizes the ultimate prophet interpreted obviously by the translators as the Messiah hence the capital P now this is why when John the Baptist comes on the scene and John is baptizing people by the Jordan River and making crazy for announcements and eatin bugs and were in weird hippie robes and and they think he's Elijah so they say are you Elijah and he says no and then they ask him this question are you the Prophet remember what do they refer to they're referring to this the Prophet I will send a prophet they interpreted this to be the Messiah are you the Prophet he said no I am NOT Philip in the book of John said to his brother we have found the one whom Moses in the law said would come where did Moses say he would come Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 and verse 18 Jesus and Moses share some similarities let me explain why when Moses was a baby they tried to kill him right when Jesus was a baby they tried to kill him Moses left the royal court of Egypt to identify with his people Jesus left the royal courts of heaven to identify with his people Moses interceded for the people of Israel while they were still in their sin and rejection Jesus made intercession it says for sinners Isaiah 53 as seen on the cross Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant Jesus was the mediator of the New Covenant and interestingly Moses was not received by the Jews the nation until they approached them the second time first time they rejected him who made you a ruler over us and he fled to Midian when he came back the second time under God's anointing at that time then they received him very much like Jesus the first time he was rejected he came into his own his own received him not but he will be received when he comes the second time so Moses and Jesus share many similarities however Moses was great Jesus was greater the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ let's look at chapters 27 through 34 final section president now the future this is all about readiness for the future what God will do is looking ahead Moses in these chapters predicts the history of Israel coming up what's going to happen to the Jews in the near future and in the far future including the Babylonian captivity chapter 27 Moses says look once you guys cross this river the Jordan River and you're in the new land I want you to go to the very heart of the land the very middle of the land which is Samaria and there are two mountains there here to get some tribes on one mountain some tribes on the other mountain one mountain was called Gerizim the other is called a ball and the tribes on Mount Gerizim will shout out the blessings that God writes here the other tribe will shout out the cursings that God speaks here and the Levites will be in the middle saying Amen as those blessings and cursings are read which they did in the book of Joshua chapter 28 verse 1 now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all of his commands which I command you today that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God now there's a huge word that I don't want you to miss it's actually a very small word to us but it is the big word of the sentence it's the word if if I'll do this if and only if you do certain things I'm setting you up to understand something the big word here is if verse 15 but it will come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all of his Commandments and his statutes which I command you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you verse 20 the Lord will send on you cursing confusion rebuke in all that you set your hand to do until you are destroyed until you perish quickly be of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken me now notice those phrases the phrase until you are destroyed Samad is the Hebrew word and until you perish Ovid is the Hebrew word what does that mean I mean the nation will end forever and ever and ever no he's not predicting the end of the nation he's predicting the end listen carefully to that generations relationship to the land this is so important you will not understand the Covenant I'm gonna just touch on this before we close tonight the covenants are so important to understand in the Bible there's two basic kind of covenants an unconditional covenant a conditional covenant easy right an unconditional covenant means there are no conditions we call this a unilateral covenant a person declares what that person is going to do irregardless of what you do it's the covenant I make with you I'm going to do this I'm going to do that I'm gonna do that that's a cool covenant it's an unconditional covenant there's another kind of covenant bilateral it's a conditional covenant and the word if is used a lot in this covenant that's where both parties have to fulfill roles in order for that covenant to stay in place if you do this then I will do that so there is a covenant we saw in the book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden we call it the Edenic covenant the Edict covenant is a conditional covenant God says I will bless you Adam and Eve if you don't touch that tree if you do this then I'll do that if you don't do that you're out what happened they were out they disobeyed on the condition that they failed to keep so that's a conditional covenant the Eden a covenant let's look at another coming at Genesis chapter 15 don't turn to it it's the Abrahamic covenant it is an unconditional covenant God even cuts up an in that one the unconditional covenant God says I'm going to give you the land I'm going to give you in future generations of the nation of Israel our land and it is not conditioned on your obedience I'm just going to do it that's the Abrahamic covenant we get to this covenant of the law at Mount Sinai we call this the Mosaic Covenant not because children of Israel made little mosaics and it's named after Moses hence Mosaic Covenant okay so I'm Jose the Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant if then if then if you obey then this will happen if you disobey then that will happen if we move a couple chapters ahead chapter 29 through 30 is what theologians called the Palestinian covenant the Palestinian covenant is tied to the Abrahamic covenant which says even when you guy it's disobeyed and below the Mosaic Covenant I'm gonna kick you out of the land I'm still gonna be bringing you back I'm gonna bring you back because I made a covenant to Abraham that I would give him and his descendants this land period irrespective of their obedience or not if you don't see the covenants you'll get all goofy in your eschatology you'll become a millennial you won't see Israel's place this is Israel's place God made an unconditional covenant in Genesis 15 reiterated several times throughout the Old Testament so their tenure in the land is conditioned on their obedience but their possession of the land ultimately is conditioned purely on the inheritance that God promises they'll have that's how it works yeah I'll kick you out but then I'll spank you really hard and bring you back chapter 31 is the end of Moses life the entire Bible up till now has been written by Moses we believe I believe now he is on Mount Nebo he's about ready to kick the bucket you'll see why in a moment he gives a farewell that is the longest farewell speech in the Bible chapter 31 verse 1 then Moses went and spoke these words to all of Israel and he said to them I'm a hundred and twenty years old today Wow can't we at least say Happy Birthday mo I'm 120 years old today I can no longer go out and come in means I'm slowing down also the Lord has said to me you shall not cross over this Jordan so Moses has two statements I'm old and I can't do what I used to do I'm impaired because of my age he is facing a transition those of us who are aging are experiencing that maybe it not quite as much as Moses because I doubt we're gonna live to 120 but here's what I loved about moe he's a hundred and twenty years old he's still leading the children of Israel he started his ministry at age eighty I want to encourage people of any age it's never too late to start serving the Lord you can just say Lord use me I'll take that baton I'll be faithful right now tomorrow today whatever days I have loud did you know Michelangelo if you went to the Sistine Chapel some of us were there in our tour de Rome a few months ago the Sistine Chapel on one end has what is considered Michelangelo's greatest work it's called the Last Judgement very detailed huge painting he painted that at 89 years of age John Wesley 88 years old still riding on horseback preaching sermon after sermon very articulately thomas edison's still researching and inventing at age 90 there's an old English proverb that says the older the fiddle the sweeter the tune I think Moses at 120 was vastly different than he was at age 60 70 80 yes he was even growing till then verse 7 of chapter 31 Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all of Israel be strong and of good courage for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them and you shall cause them to inherit it why Joshua he was the other one of those two spies Caleb was one Joshua was the other Joshua was a faithful man and Joshua was a man of faith he was a faithful man he didn't try to make a name for himself didn't try to say Moses you're getting really old now we need to kick you out kind of get out now he didn't try to push for that or build his own kingdom he was a faithful man and he was a man of faith he was one of the guys who said we can take this land even though the ten said you can't Moses will die Joshua will take the reigns God's plans never depend on a singular leader in a movement or a church when the leader dies God never goes oh no God says I've been waiting for this I've got it all planned out chapter xxxii is called the song of Moses it's a really long song a lot of verses there's like 34 verse like a Bob Dylan song this just keeps going alright but but it kind of sounds like a country song because it talks about a bunch of bad stuff that happened and much more bad stuff is gonna happen so it's kind of like country music and Bob Dylan mixed together Israel's failures God's judgment or inter woven in this what's interesting about this is the dude writes a song at a hundred and twenty years old come on you got to hand it to him it's a long song I know I don't know many 80 year olds that could write a song like this but he puts his song together and and Israel is told to latch on to this and it sort of becomes their national anthem this bad country Bob Dylan song becomes their national anthem there too learn this song of Moses chapter xxxiii let's get rid of the song for a moment chapter 33 blessings are pronounced on the twelve tribes it's Moses last public act before his death now chapter 34 verse 1 then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah it's a mountain you can go to today and overlook the land still to this day it's in the country of Jordan which is across from Jericho and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan must have been a clear winter day you can see snow-capped mountain all the way to the north the undulating hills of Gilead you could look left and you could see the Jerusalem Mountains spread out verse 4 and the Lord said to him this is the land which I swore to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying I will give it to your descendants I have caused you to see it with your eyes but you shall not cross over there not a bummer after all that Moses has done put up with you can see it but you can't get in it hold that thought so Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord it ends on a sad note Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian New Testament era writes this account amidst the tears of the people the women beating their brass the children giving way to uncontrolled wailing Moses withdrew at a certain point in his ascent he made a sign to the weeping multitude to advance no further taking with him only the elders the high priests Eleazar and the general Joshua at the top of the mountain he dismissed the elders and then as he was embracing Eleazar and embracing Joshua and still speaking to them a cloud suddenly stood over him and he vanished in a deep valley close quote is that true I have no idea it's just what Josephus wrote it's not in the Bible just thought you wanted to hear it here's the great news it's not the end of the story the New Testament gives you the rest of the story Moses died Jude said that the Archangel Michael contended with the devil over the body of Moses remember that Scripture it's a weird scripture why does the devil care about Moses body and why would God dispatch Michael the big dude to wrestle him down over it must be important I believe it was I believe it was because when Jesus was transfigured on Mount Hermon in the Gospels who appears with him Moses and Elijah Moses appeared with Jesus on that mountain in the land he made it he didn't get to see it before but he was in it in the New Testament where am I going with all this what the law couldn't do grace did under grace Moses came in the land under the law you could only see it but not go in the law couldn't bring mo into the land but the Lord Jesus brought him in he was talking with Moses and Elijah about the future and I believe personal belief only one of the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 is none other than those two Moses and Elijah God was keeping the body of Moses for a future use still our future during the Tribulation Period I think Moses is coming on the scene and God protected that body for that purpose that's the life of Moses now it's over next time we'll have the Book of Joshua father we want to thank you for your word thank you for the second law thank you for repeating things that we often forget or neglect and that that phrase keeps coming back be what lest you forget do these things in remembrance of me take this meal in remembrance of me lord I pray that we would place mile markers in our lives that would recall your grace your goodness our transformation our learning and that's that's why you not only said that that the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine a verse before that you said to Timothy preach the word preach the word that's how we don't forget we expose ourselves to the truth of your word so thank you for hungry hearts who do that every week in Jesus name Amen we hope you enjoyed this message from skip Heitzig of Calvary Church for more resources visit Calvary nm Church thank you for joining us for this teaching from the Bible from 30,000 feet

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 465

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: The Bible from 30000 Feet, Promised Land, Israelites, Moses, covenant, Bible Study, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Calvary Church

Id: cJC_PbjDWoI

Length: 61min 6sec (3666 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 11 2019