Exodus 23:20-33 "God's Blessings Are Great"

[Music] let's turn together in god's word to exodus 23 we're looking this evening at verses 20 through 33 of exodus 23 and if you're reading along in the pew bible you will find that on page 64. let's read together exodus 23 beginning in verse 20 where god's word reads as follows behold i send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that i have prepared pay careful attention to him and obey his voice do not rebel against him for he will not pardon your transgression for my name is in him but if you carefully obey his voice and do all that i say then i will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries when my angel goes before you and brings you to the amorites and the hittites and the perizzites and the canaanites the hivites and the jebusites and i blot them out you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do as they do but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces you shall serve the lord your god and he will bless your bread and your water and i will take sickness away from among you none shall miscarry or be barren in your land i will fulfill the number of your days i will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come and i will make all your enemies turn their backs to you and i will send hornets before you which shall drive out the hivites the canaanites and the hittites from before you i will not drive them out before you in one year lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you little by little i will drive them out from before you until i ha you have increased and possessed the land and i will set your border from the red sea to the sea of the philistines and from the wilderness to the euphrates for i will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out before you you shall make no covenant with them and their gods they shall not dwell in your land lest they make you sin against me for if you serve their gods it will surely be a snare to you so far uh the reading from god's word this evening may he add his blessing to our hearts when i was a young man i think i failed on many occasions to realize what my parents provided for me simply because i belonged to the family i think at times i looked at the rules that my parents set and i thought that was an inconvenience to me i didn't didn't like some of the rules and although i appreciated the meals that they offered to me day in and day out so that i never went hungry i often thought that was completely normal why wouldn't they provide those things for me and so in those moments i looked at the punishments that they brought to me as an inconvenience and i presumed on the blessings i thought the blessings were completely normal i never thought that i would earn my way into the family by obeying their commandments i simply thought that i was part of the family and i never thought that they would require me to earn the blessings that they provided for me they simply came to me because i was already in the family and so i operated from a position of presumption i didn't very often consider the great blessings that they gave to me i didn't very often consider the sacrifices that they made so that i could have the life that i had i simply thought that that's what they should do i thought that that's what parents did and i didn't think too much about it beyond that and we can do that with the lord as well we can do that with the lord as well by not reflecting carefully on the significance of his blessings to his people thinking of his punishments as an inconvenience and failing to see that the blessings and the punishments come to us not in order that we might become members of his family but they come to us because we in fact are already members of his family and what i want us to see together from our text tonight is again the great wonder of the many blessings that god provides for his people and we're not going to see it in the new testament context so much as we are going to see what god provides to the people of israel in the old testament in in the book of of exodus and my hope and my prayer is that as we work ourselves through this text and as we consider all that god gives that we would be able to shed from our minds this sense of presumption that we often have about the blessings of god and that we would see god's kindness that he extends to his people simply because they are his children simply because they are part of his his covenant family it's my prayer that as we have begun as we have seen in god's covenant dealings with abraham from genesis that that is only expanded and grown in his covenant dealings with the nation of israel and from that to see that our god is in fact an exceedingly generous god an exceedingly gracious god and i want us to see through this text that the great blessings of god are given at his own initiative within his covenant structure and therefore they deserve our careful attention and our careful protection and so what we want to do we want to not take god's goodness for granted we want to not take god's care for his people for granted we want to see with fresh eyes if that's even possible you understand what i'm trying to get as if we heard for the first time the great wonders that god does for his people more so we experience that under christ but to already see it in the book of exodus and so we want to see the great blessings of god that they're given at his own initiative within his covenant that they deserve our careful attention our careful protection to learn that lesson we want to see first god's covenant promise verses 20 to 24 we want to see god's covenant blessings verse 25 to 31 and then we want to see the covenant warnings in verses 32 and 33. so we're going to begin by looking at the covenant promise that god lays out for us in verses 20 through 24. now the book of exodus second book of the bible the the book of exodus is a continuation it's the second of the five books of of moses really you can say that about any of the books of the bible that they are a continuation of what started in genesis there is a progression throughout all of scripture from one stage of god's promise of redemption to the next and so if you are a student of the scriptures you look at the book of genesis you see that in the book of genesis god's covenant people are chosen they are set aside they are the family of abraham the family the one family of all the families that existed in the world at that time the one family that is uniquely set apart by the lord to be his covenant people the family of abraham then is given three covenant promises in genesis 12 the first time first he promises them seed then he promises them land and then he promises that they will be a blessing to all the nations of the world and as you finish the book of genesis none of those promises are fulfilled yet but as you open the book of exodus the second book of the bible then at least the promise of seed has already been accomplished god has given that to abraham and his family israel has become such a mighty nation that egypt the most powerful military nation of that time is in a panic they're not sure how to control the number of israelites that live within their border and so they enslave them so seed the promise of making abraham's family great in number that promise has already been realized but land and blessing the other two promises that god gives to abraham have not yet been fulfilled and as exodus moves along the second part of that promise is beginning to be accomplished god is providing for the people of israel a land a land that is not their own a land that belongs to other nations but a land that will be given to them now as god does this work for the people of israel we have to realize that he has not started over god has not said well abraham i gave him a promise it didn't work out now i'm going to start over no god is operating from the foundation of that same promise that he made in genesis 12. right at the beginning of the book of exodus israel is enslaved they're crying out to god under their mistreatment from the egyptian slave masters and in exodus 2 24 it says the that god heard their groaning and that god remembered his covenant with abraham with isaac and with jacob and so when you're dealing with exodus and we're moving through exodus we're dealing with the same promise we're dealing with the same god the same promise for the same family the family of abraham and so it's the same covenant promise administered in a different time and that's because all of scripture from genesis 3 15 onward is the development of that same promise it's all the development of what's called by theologians the covenant of grace now part of the blessing of being in the covenant of grace with the lord is that he is present with his people it's a blessing that we don't always recognize it's a it's a blessing that we don't always acknowledge it's a blessing that we that we sometimes suppress or we deceive ourselves into thinking that he's not with us but the reality is god is always with his covenant people it's a central aspect of the blessing of being in covenant with god and in our text also verse 20 god reiterates for the people of israel that he is present with them now in this case he speaks of an angel that has been present with israel all along the way but he speaks of this angel that goes before the people of israel as a representative of god but this representative of god seems to be more significant than any other angel because it says that he can pardon transgression in verse 21 and it says that the name of the lord is in this angel so most likely this is the second person of the trinity the angel of the lord the son of god before he was incarnate he is with the people of god now we have to recognize when we're talking about things like covenant blessings and covenant curses that the covenant relationship in one sense is entirely one-sided how israel entered into this covenant relationship or better to say how abraham's family entered into this covenant relationship was entirely one-sided it's one-sided in commitment it's one-sided in fulfillment and to see that you can go back to the reiteration of that covenant promise that god makes to abraham in genesis 15. you remember god tells abraham to gather these different animals to cut them in half and to to lay them out and and and abraham spends the day driving away birds of prey that want to eat and devour these animals eventually the lord causes a deep and terrible sleep it's described a terrible sleep to fall on him and then there is that vision of that smoking pot where god alone walks in between the animals where god alone affirms the covenant promise it's not that abraham and god walk through that together no god walks through that by himself and in that sense the covenant is one-sided when it comes to payment for the deficiencies of the breach of this covenant it's one-sided the price for breaking the covenant is paid only by the god-man the lord jesus christ under the covenant of grace there's nothing that man does to enter into that covenant there's nothing that man does to pay for his failures within that covenant it is christ's work and christ alone the death of christ on the cross is the only atoning work sufficient to meet the demands of the covenant so so the presence of god as we're speaking laying the framework of covenant promises the presence of god is secured by christ it is paid for by the blood of christ and it is guaranteed by christ that is the essence of the covenant of grace that god does what man in his sin is no longer able to do god created man able to live according to his commandments but because of the fall man no longer is able to do any of those things so god establishes a new covenant this covenant of grace where it is entirely or it's not entirely one-sided but it is one-sided in terms of commitment fulfillment and payment the only condition for forgiveness under this new covenant that god establishes with his people the only condition that he says you must have this to belong to my covenant family to my covenant people to receive the covenant blessings that re to be the recipient of the covenant promises is faith in christ and god gives us that faith that is the foundation for god's covenant promises but as we see in our text there are requirements that exist for life in the covenant it is in our text it's also in other places in the old testament for example you can turn to leviticus 26 to deuteronomy 28 where god prepares the people of israel to rehearse blessings and curses for blessings for obedience under the covenant curses for disobedience under the covenant failure in the the most grave circumstances failure to keep the terms of the covenant by the people of israel would lead to exile and we certainly see the people of israel falling to that point you can think of the exile of the people of israel kind of like excommunication under the new testament where the people are cast out of covenant family life in the hopes that that discipline would bring them back that's why you have a return from exile in the old testament but exile being cast out from the church of the lord jesus christ isn't just an old testament circumstance not even corporately you also see it in the new testament right in in revelation 2 where you have the seven letters to the the churches in asia the church of ephesus is warned they have lost the love that they have that they had at first and and the spirit writing to that church warns them that if they don't repent that he will come to them and that he will remove the lampstand from its place meaning that unless the people of ephesus in that church unless they repent of their their their lack of love for god that god will come and excommunicate the lot of them he's going to remove the church altogether that is part of life under the covenant god meets covenant obligations god is the monarchistic official of the covenant of grace and yet he doesn't give his people because of that a license to sin a license to do what they please and that's what we see in our text today in verse 22 especially if you look there god has already claimed israel as his covenant family so it's like me living in my parents house right i'm already a member of the family god is not saying to the people of israel do this so that you can be a part of my family now he's saying you are my sons and daughters you are in my family because you are in my family live in this way and in verse 22 he actually calls them to live carefully in this way it's not kind of yeah you're in the in the family so kind of pay lip service to the things of god every once in a while no that's not what it's talking about it's talking about in verse 22 carefully obeying the voice of god and doing all that he says and that within that covenant family structure that if there is this careful obedience god's blessings rest on his people it's not that they become his people so there's no wage involved it's not that they become that god becomes a debtor to his people but god graciously promises to his people if they walk in obedience this is the gift that i give to you so god is demanding obedience under his covenant of grace he's demanding more than that he's demanding careful obedience he wants his people to be meticulous in their obedience to god and i stress that because so often in our own day we think that's kind of a a 50 obedience level is sufficient to keep the lord satisfied but here in our text god demands of his people careful obedience to all that god has commanded now that has not changed for the new testament christian sometimes by talking to new testament christians you might think that it has they talk about being under grace and they are and they talk about no longer being under the law and they're not in the sense of the law doesn't justify them but god is the same god god has not changed and god's covenant people are expected to have careful obedience to all that god has given to them to do now it's important to realize that what is true of israel is true of us because all of us are operating under this covenant of grace structure you see when god gives the law at mount sinai he's simply formulating or codifying the moral law that has always existed so so israel is is not living under a structure that says here are the commandments and if you keep these commandments you're going to be okay that's not how god has operated god has brought israel to faith in his promises the same way he does to us so so when god gives his law to his people at sinai it's not so that they can make god their debtor it's so that they can show their love for god for his rescue of them from the land of egypt from the house of slavery and so we're all operating under the same covenant of grace now that means that if the church today so moving it up two thousand four three thousand four hundred years right if the church today is expecting the blessing of god in covenant structure what must the church do what does it say in our text in verse 22 it says we must carefully obey the voice of god and do all that the lord has said have you ever wondered why the church is so frail today have you ever wondered why the church is so fragile today why the things that are described in our texts are not happening for the church today we have to ask ourselves at least ask ourselves if it is possible that the church is not being careful in her obedience and therefore the blessings of god are not resting on the church let's restrict it to our own denomination for a moment we live in a time where pastors not many but some pastors are flouting their unnatural desires for other men and it has taken our denomination three years to get around to saying anything about it and it's still not resolved in our denomination there are places where when careful obedience is preached the charge of legalism is not far behind and yet god here in our text says that the covenant people of god are marked by their careful obedience to the commandments of god and he says that he will give to us this careful obedience in two categories first of all that we well will worship him in a different way and second of all that we will have different customs from the world and you see that in verse 24. in verse 24 uh talking about how if the people of israel obey god carefully then then god will be an enemy god will go before him them he will wipe out the amorites and the hittites and the parasites and the canaanites and the hivites and the jebusites he's going to wipe them all out and when that happens it says in verse 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor do as they do you shall not bow down to their gods worship you shall not do as they do practice so let's think of both of those worship when god fulfills his promise of land for the people of israel and he gives them the land that belong to all these other nations at first god demands that he alone is to be worshipped it's really taking us back to the first commandment you shall have no other gods before me here in our verse in verse 24 you shall not bow down to their gods that's the same idea as part of belonging to god's covenant family god expects his covenant people to worship only him worship god alone that's the clear statement of the law of god now worse to worship okay let's define that a little bit worship is to give reverence to give supreme respect to venerate or to bow down before the one true god only and worship is unique in the sense that when people worship they acknowledge the greatness of god above everything else they acknowledge that god alone is to be revered that god alone is to be feared and so god gives to his people the privilege of covenant worship as part of his promise to them but he also gives us the privilege of custom we are not to do as the nations do we're not to do israel wasn't to do as the nations around them did we are not to do as the world does the religion of israel then was to be distinct it was to be starkly different than the worship of the nations around them and their way of life also whatever the nations were doing israel was not to do as they did and uh of course that's the perpetual struggle of the world how do you how do you how do you live in the world while not being a part of the world and i think spurgeon has some of the best comments about the distinctness of the church in the world one of them that he said was he believed that one reason why the church of god has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church that's sometimes the temptation of the church isn't it to adopt the ways of the world to accommodate the loves of the world to structure themselves to be pleasing to the world and in so doing almost without thought or i don't mean that the church isn't thinking i think oftentimes well-intentioned but without considering the effects of it without considering that the world is actually influencing the church more than the church is influencing the world but our text says that god's people are not to do as the world does we are under the covenant of grace we are a holy people that doesn't mean we walk around with halos over our head that means that we are set apart we are set apart to be god's people not because we're special people but because of god's pleasure that rests on us we are undeserving of that pleasure but god gives it and when he gives it he sets us in covenant and he calls us to worship him in a way that is unique he calls us to live in a way that is unique and so when we are in covenant our worship our customs are to be devoted only to the lord and in that covenant structure then within that existing relationship god is faithful to honor his blessings to his people when they obey him and he is faithful to bring his chastisement to this to his people when they disobey him the blessings are not caused by our obedience but god graciously promises to give them to the obedient it's not a wage it's a gift and it is a gift given within the structure of god's covenant relationship it is in other words the benefit of being a member of the family just as my father provided we me with with many benefits that that i took for granted but he provided me with many benefits he didn't do that in the hopes that someday i would be his son i'm sure he did it at times only because i was his son and not for any other reason because of that existing relationship and that existing obligation that was there already so those are the covenant promises of god let's think a little bit now about the covenant blessings of god in verses 25 through 31. when you're looking at the gifts that god gives to his people in in these verses you can divide god's blessings into three major buckets first of them first one being the provision of daily needs the second one being the defeat of their enemies and the third one being the bringing them into the land the provision of land so god gives provision of daily needs and you see that in verse 25 and 26 he's going to bless bread and water he's going to fulfill the number of their days there's going to be no miscarriages they're not going to be barren in the land and so so god promises to give us each day our daily bread in the blessing of our bread and our water second he's going to he's going to bless the people of god with health he's going to take away all sickness in verse 25 and then third god promises to bless israel's fruitfulness and these basic provisions that we can very much take for granted these are a covenant promise of blessing for the people that walk in his ways so god promises the provision of daily news but more than that in verses 27 through 30 he also promises to drive out the enemies of israel so so god promises to remove israel's enemies that though israel walks into the land that god is actually the one who is removing them all from from the land now you see that work itself out in the history of israel if you read through first and second samuel first and second kings you see israel's influence and the removal of the enemies actually peaking under king solomon david was a faithful king solomon for a time was a faithful king and under solomon's reign the it was the golden age of israel all the enemies were being subdued all the the the philistines all the enemies of israel were subdued they were they're water carriers they were forced labor or they were wiped out all together as as the judgment of of god now as solomon's sin increased the the power of their enemies increased as well and so the peak of israel didn't last very long because of the sin of israel but god promised that the enemies of israel would be driven out if they were faithful to him and he delivered when israel was faithful he did do that even though the progress was slow the progress was slow at god's very own acknowledgement he said in verse 29 and 30 that he would drive them out slowly the enemies might remain for a season but if israel was faithful god would drive the enemies out all together that is a great comfort for the church today isn't it to know that the enemies of the lord will most certainly be defeated in revelation 20 and verse 10 you read of the culmination of this great moment in the history of redemption which god graciously gives us that we can know with certainty the things that must soon take place and it says in revelation 20 verse 10 that the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur and there he and his fellow fallen angels they will be tormented day and night forever and ever god will drive out the enemies of his people as a blessing not as a wage but as a blessing to his people and the third blessing that god gives to his people is this inheritance of land and now we said right at the beginning at the beginning of exodus no land for abraham's offspring but as the pentateuch continues you see this progression where they take possession of some of the land beyond the jordan and then in the book of joshua they cross over the jordan river they take possession of the land with campaigns in the south of canaan campaigns in the north of canaan and and even as joshua goes on the the land remains to be conquered until under solomon's reign again the kingdom of israel has borders that match the description that are given here in this text there's a progression throughout the scripture it says god generously expands the borders of his people of his own kingdom now of course we're not to think that in the land of israel in the kingdom of israel that promise has been fulfilled but we look forward to this glorious kingdom this new heavenly jerusalem that is described for us revelation 21 revelation 22 where the culmination of the promise of god is expressing its proper spiritual terms no longer with the consideration of a plot of land along the mediterranean sea but instead the full glory of the kingdom of god in heaven for the saints there now when we think of these blessings that god promises to israel we are proper it is proper for us to be confident that those promises are given to us as well the provision of our daily needs the driving out of the enemies of the church the inheritance of the spiritual jerusalem all of those promises belong to everybody who walks under the promises of the covenant of grace which as we've already seen that's everybody from genesis 3 15 onwards and so we also walk under these promises of god the way we keep ourselves from going astray when we think about these blessings and these curses that god gives to his covenant people is to ask ourselves how many of these blessings do we think that we have earned how many of these blessings do we think god has given to us for services rendered you see the people of god do not receive these blessings because of their great contribution to the lord they receive these blessings simply because they belong to him because you are his son because you are his daughter he blesses you but what's unique is that he doesn't give those blessings to those who are outside his family he doesn't give those blessings to the unbeliever and so we've seen the covenant promises and the covenant blessings and we want to recognize that the covenant blessings really span the very mundane like food and clothing and all those sort those kinds of things all the way to our heavenly inheritance now that is the great blessing of god and we have to say and acknowledge that we don't deserve any of those blessings they are all given to us by god as a gift now how often do we pause and think about that how often are we living under presumption of the kind blessings of god of course i'm going to heaven why would i not go to heaven i'm a genuinely nice person of course i am forgiven why would i not be forgiven of course he will defeat my enemies why would he not defeat my enemies of course i have my daily bread why would i not have my daily bread all of these things are presumptions of the greatness of the gifts of the blessings of god and as god's people we would be right to capture a proper gratitude of these things now in light of these covenant promises and blessings we want to use tonight verse 32 and 33 as our application they are really the covenant warnings that god gives to us in our text and we want to use those as our application tonight since god's covenant promise is announced and since the blessings under the covenant of grace are purchased by christ and are distributed to all of god's covenant children we are to have a grateful response god's family is not to be confused with the families of the nations we are to be separate from them and to encourage us to that end god gives us two warnings two covenant warnings two warnings to serve to alert the church as well the first thing that we see in verse 32 is that the church is not an ally of the world in verse 32 it says you shall make no covenant with them and with their gods that was the charge to israel that they were not to become friends in so in that sense with the people who lived around them the pagan nations were never to be the allies of the people of israel the people of israel were subjects of a different kind of kingdom with a different kind of king and with different kinds of laws they were distinct from all the nations around them and the church even though we're not a geopolitical entity the church is the same the church as the kingdom of christ is distinct from the world it's not to look like the world it's not to act like the world it's not to be an ally of the world we know that to be true because in the new testament the same sentiment is expressed james 4 4 there the the the james the brother of jesus is is really castigating his people he he says to them you adulterous people do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with god you're not to be an ally of the world so why is it then that the church so badly wants to be accepted and befriended by the world is it really possible for the world and the church to be allies the record of scripture indicates that since the fall the world is at enmity with the people of god now we use that word because it's in genesis and we we don't think about it carefully enough sometimes to be at enmity with somebody means you want to destroy them you want them dead you don't want any trace of them left that is the relationship of the world with the church the world is at enmity with god's people the world is not the friend of the christian it is madness to think that the world will ever be satisfied with your compromises if you compromise with the world the only time the world will be satisfied with the compromises of the church is if the gospel witness is completely destroyed that's when you will have given enough to the world because the world is at enmity with the church now the discussion of the church at being at enmity with the world and vice versa makes us to know that the world is not our friend and that we shouldn't be satisfied to compromise with the with the world and so when we ask ourselves the question what does the world have to to do with the church spiritual spiritually speaking it is right for us to say nothing what does the world have to do with the church spiritually speaking the right answer is nothing now that does not mean that everyone in the world is your physical enemy it doesn't mean that you should rejoice when the unbeliever suffers some of you have have unbelieving parents unbelieving spouses maybe you you have brothers and sisters and friends who do not know the lord and it is right to love them to care for them to pray for them to desire their salvation and to work towards that but spiritually speaking behind all of that sits the reality sits the reality that unless they too become citizens of this spiritual jerusalem in the final analysis they will be recorded as enemies of god they will be defeated and judged by the conquering king in that sense they are not spiritual allies but spiritually they're enemies of the people of god so the church is not an ally of the world that's the first thing we we learn from this covenant warning that god gives in verse 32. in verse 33 he gives another covenant warning he says they shall not dwell in your land the the unbeliever shall not dwell in the land of the people of god so the unbeliever does not have a place among the people of god there is a sharp distinction between the people of god and the unbeliever now here's a statement that i hope will not shock you but in some sense would shock many people the church's purpose when we gather for worship the church's purpose is not to have as many unbelievers present as possible that is not the function of the gathered worship of the people of god now in some ways we'd love our churches to be filled with unbelievers that they would hear the general call of the gospel meaning that they would hear the preached word and the offer of salvation in jesus christ that they would hear that go forward but it is not the goal of the church to fill the church with unbelievers because filling the church with unbelievers will mix the sheep and the goats and the goats will be a temptation for the people of god to sin there will be the temptation to forfeit the worship of the only true god there will be the temptation to walk in the ways of the world in which the goats will be much more comfortable you see the same thing work itself out in the history of israel solomon filled his family with unbelievers he married a thousand women and they led him astray through their idolatry that's the same warning that's here in verse 33. your the the people the pagan people are not to dwell in the land of israel unless they make you sin against me that is the warning for the church that is that is the principle the church ministers to the world yes but the world does not have a seat of influence in the church here's something that maybe you didn't know about in the early church the unbelievers were welcome to be present for the preaching of god's word but when the church did what we're going to do this evening when they celebrated the lord's supper everybody who was not a member of the church had to leave the building they were not allowed to be present for the celebration of the lord's supper it was the covenant meal it was the meal for the people who belonged to the church and so there was an understanding of the people of god that not every circumstance was appropriate for the non-believer to be part of it in in the church of the lord jesus christ unbelievers separate from the church unbeliever doesn't have a place among the people of god in the exercises of covenant obedience to god again spurgeon warned of what happens when this sharp distinction isn't honored when this sharp distinction isn't recognized he said a time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep the shri the church will have clowns entertaining the goats that's what happens when the church becomes permeated with unbelievers instead of ministering to the sheep which is what we're doing here in this in this setting this is a worship service of the living god for the body of christ and if you permeate that with unbelievers and you try to accommodate unbelievers in that the focus of the ministry of the church will be altered to its own detriment the church in some settings is for the sheep it exists to build up the sheep it exists to call the unredeemed sheep out of the world but we must never confuse the two we must never confuse the church with the world there is a ministry from the church to the world but the church and the world are never the same the people of god under the covenant of grace and the people that are outside of that covenant are distinct we have to remember that distinction as the people of god now when we come to exodus 23 these verses that we have considered today it is important for us to remember we began by thinking about how we can be cured of our presumption our presumption before the blessings of god the blessings that god gives us in this text he gave to israel gives to his other people under the covenant of grace as well they range from kind of the basic provisions that that we often take for granted food and health and and fruitfulness to the remarkable things that he provides for his people the defeat of the devil the heavenly inheritance that we await this jerusalem where the foundations and the streets are made of the most precious commodities we can imagine in our time that is the greatness of the blessing of god now within that relationship and under that structure and that framework of of blessing and correction that he gives to his children he calls his people to obey him even to obey him carefully but he doesn't call them to obedience so that they would receive their wages from him instead he calls them to obedience so that he would be able to lavish all his gifts on his children simply for the fact that they belong to his family that is what we must see today that is what we must understand from the blessings of god and the greatness of those blessings we have to learn to turn away from our presumption about the greatness of god's gifts and in turn delight ourselves in god's great blessings he gives them to us as a father not because we're worthy of it but only because he loves us let's pray together

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Length: 52min 31sec (3151 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021