back to index2018-11-7: Wed Bible Study - Lesson 26
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Alright, so we only have two more chapters left. 00:00:29.000 |
So we have about two or three weeks that we're going to be, 00:00:31.000 |
take about a week to review and then a week or two to do something else. 00:00:38.000 |
I'll let you know when we get closer to that. 00:00:43.000 |
Before we get into this, last week the first discussion question that I asked was about the Sabbath, 00:00:51.000 |
I've already gotten maybe about five or six different questions from different people. 00:00:57.000 |
How do you apply the Sabbath in the New Covenant? 00:01:00.000 |
Now there's two extremes that you can misapply the Sabbath. 00:01:04.000 |
One is where you take the literal teaching of the Sabbath in the Old Testament 00:01:08.000 |
and you try to apply it in the New Testament, 00:01:11.000 |
where you say, you know, the Sabbath, you can't put gas in, 00:01:14.000 |
you can't do any kind of work, you shouldn't do housework, 00:01:17.000 |
you should pretty much be in worship all day, you know, 00:01:20.000 |
you have to be in worship during the morning, 00:01:23.000 |
and if you don't go to evening service at night, you're not keeping the Sabbath, 00:01:31.000 |
That specific covenant of the Old Testament doesn't apply to us. 00:01:36.000 |
The mistake on the other end is where we treat the teaching of the Sabbath 00:01:41.000 |
like all the other laws of the Old Testament, like none of it applies today. 00:01:48.000 |
we all believe that the Ten Commandments apply in some form today 00:01:55.000 |
They're all moral laws about, you know, not worshiping any other god, 00:01:59.000 |
don't make gravy in images, do not take the Lord's name in vain, 00:02:03.000 |
and then you have all these other moral laws about honoring your father and mother, 00:02:08.000 |
all of these things are all repeated in the New Testament 00:02:19.000 |
So why is that ceremonial or civic, civil law 00:02:26.000 |
Because God highlights that particular commandment above the other commandments 00:02:33.000 |
which all of it is repeated in the New Testament 00:02:36.000 |
except for the specifics of keeping the Sabbath, obviously, on Saturday. 00:02:41.000 |
We don't even keep the Sabbath on Saturday anymore. 00:02:44.000 |
We moved it to Sunday because that's the day that Jesus was resurrected. 00:02:47.000 |
There's huge significance behind why we worship on Sunday instead of Sabbath. 00:02:59.000 |
"Therefore, this is what you need to do on the Sabbath." 00:03:02.000 |
But we need to understand the principle behind the Sabbath. 00:03:06.000 |
God made creation in six days, and then it says, 00:03:13.000 |
So in the Genesis creation account, when it says he rested on the seventh day, 00:03:17.000 |
does that mean that he rested and then Monday he woke up again, 00:03:22.000 |
And then he worked another six days and then entered into Sabbath again? 00:03:31.000 |
And it doesn't say that he ever comes out of the Sabbath. 00:03:43.000 |
So even though he may observe the Sabbath on Saturday, 00:03:46.000 |
the real Sabbath, the significance of the real Sabbath 00:03:53.000 |
So Sabbath is with God, so God--rest is with God. 00:03:56.000 |
So if you're separated from God, you've broken the Sabbath. 00:04:00.000 |
So the whole concept of Sabbath in the Old Testament 00:04:07.000 |
to be restored back into the presence of God. 00:04:16.000 |
To rest. Those who are weary and heavy laden, 00:04:22.000 |
So over and over again, the Scripture talks about entering back 00:04:25.000 |
into the presence of God as entering back into Sabbath. 00:04:28.000 |
And that's why this teaching of Sabbath was so significant, 00:04:35.000 |
And that's why it says in the book of Hebrews 00:04:48.000 |
Sabbath means you shouldn't work, so therefore you can't do this, 00:04:54.000 |
Remember the Jews were practicing the Sabbath that way, 00:04:57.000 |
and then they saw Jesus doing certain things, and then he said, 00:05:00.000 |
"Oh, you're breaking the Sabbath." Remember what Jesus says to them? 00:05:03.000 |
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath." 00:05:12.000 |
that you should or should not do to earn righteousness, 00:05:15.000 |
but it was to give you rest, to be restored back to God. 00:05:18.000 |
And he says that God is the Lord of the Sabbath. 00:05:32.000 |
So if you make the Sabbath into a bunch of rules 00:05:38.000 |
you're repeating what the Jews were doing in the Old Testament. 00:05:47.000 |
But to completely ignore the principle of Sabbath 00:05:52.000 |
is to ignore the importance of what this day represents, 00:05:58.000 |
to be mindful of the fact that God set aside a certain time, 00:06:04.000 |
a certain day for us to find rest and to be restored. 00:06:15.000 |
"I came and I gave worship on Sunday, so therefore I observe the Sabbath," 00:06:22.000 |
Connect with God corporately to be restored, to be refreshed, 00:06:25.000 |
to connect with God in Scripture, in prayer, in my quiet time. 00:06:29.000 |
The principle of Sabbath needs to apply to every Christian. 00:06:37.000 |
"On Sabbath we do this and on Sabbath we don't do this," 00:06:40.000 |
because then it becomes something that you have to do or you don't do. 00:06:45.000 |
But again, the principle of Sabbath is something that every Christian 00:06:48.000 |
ought to be regularly thinking about, like, "Are you in the Sabbath?" 00:06:54.000 |
Even in the way that we pursue sanctification, right? 00:07:04.000 |
"I'm going to work hard to be righteous, to be in the presence of God," 00:07:11.000 |
because the Sabbath is that God restores the rest, 00:07:20.000 |
You don't work to get your way into the presence of God. 00:07:24.000 |
And that's why the Scripture says to live up to 00:07:31.000 |
To live up to it. In other words, it's been given to you. 00:07:34.000 |
Righteousness has been imputed to you. It's been given to you. 00:07:44.000 |
Adam and Eve, did they work or not work before the fall? 00:07:52.000 |
multiplying, subduing the land, and then when sin comes in, 00:07:55.000 |
he says, "You're going to be working, but what's it going to produce? 00:07:58.000 |
Thorns and thistles from the sweat of your brow." 00:08:04.000 |
but she's going to bring contention in the home. 00:08:07.000 |
Instead of being a helper, you're going to be next to him, 00:08:16.000 |
is a restoration of what was lost because of our sin. 00:08:19.000 |
And so how do we practice that in the New Testament? 00:08:22.000 |
So the idea of Sabbath in the New Testament ought to be, like God did, 00:08:26.000 |
so these are principles that are taught in the Old Testament. 00:08:29.000 |
They set aside a specific day so that they do nothing else 00:08:32.000 |
but to come before God and find rest and to worship 00:08:51.000 |
So we no longer practice the physical Sabbath, but the spiritual Sabbath. 00:08:58.000 |
but we have to practice the Sabbath with Christ in mind, 00:09:05.000 |
That's our ultimate purpose, to rest in Christ. 00:09:08.000 |
You cannot work all day and not practice Sabbath. 00:09:11.000 |
You can sit around and do nothing all day and not practice Sabbath. 00:09:14.000 |
You can come to church and have morning and night service 00:09:20.000 |
but it's the physical Sabbath that we are to practice in the New Covenant. 00:09:35.000 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to study the book of Leviticus. 00:09:43.000 |
I know there's a lot of things in here that we still don't fully understand, 00:09:48.000 |
but we thank you, Father God, that you've taken time 00:09:55.000 |
and all these things just bring greater light 00:09:58.000 |
into what we already believe and what we've already been affected by. 00:10:02.000 |
I pray that the few more sessions that we have, 00:10:08.000 |
help us to connect the dots, that we may have a greater sense of awe 00:10:23.000 |
Remember we talked about how the three chapters, 00:10:26.000 |
chapter 25, 26, 27, is exhortation on how to live a blessed life in the Promised Land. 00:10:32.000 |
So God's teaching them that when you get into this land, 00:10:39.000 |
So in chapter 25, he talks about when you get in there, 00:10:45.000 |
Practice the Sabbath for yourself, practice the Sabbath for the land, 00:10:48.000 |
practice the Sabbath economically and socially, right? 00:10:51.000 |
And every 49th and the 50th year you have the year of Jubilee, 00:10:55.000 |
every 7th year you have the year of the Sabbath, 00:10:58.000 |
and then every 7th day you practice the Sabbath, right? 00:11:02.000 |
And then chapter 27, if you've already gone there, 00:11:06.000 |
the very last chapter, ends with how to redeem certain things. 00:11:10.000 |
What can be redeemed, what can't be redeemed, 00:11:17.000 |
I'm just going to give you a heads up, a warning, 00:11:19.000 |
that some of you, if you don't understand what God is doing in chapter 27, 00:11:26.000 |
Because he begins to give monetary value on women, 00:11:31.000 |
on men, on children, on older people, and younger people, infants, animals. 00:11:37.000 |
And so if you don't understand what he's doing, 00:11:40.000 |
it will sound kind of like, "Okay, you're more valued and you're of less value." 00:11:45.000 |
But obviously it points to something much deeper than just what you see on the surface. 00:11:51.000 |
how does God want us to redeem certain things, right? 00:11:56.000 |
So chapter 26 is about the covenant of blessing and curses. 00:12:00.000 |
Now this list of what curses you bring if you disobey, 00:12:06.000 |
this is not the only place that's written, right? 00:12:13.000 |
But that's, again, the overview, that's where we are. 00:12:15.000 |
We're in the second part of the three-part at the end of the book of Leviticus 00:12:19.000 |
that if you want to live a life that is blessed by God, 00:12:29.000 |
He says, "If you obey, God will provide rain in their season 00:12:45.000 |
you're going to notice that everything that God gives them 00:12:48.000 |
is something that God already gave to mankind. 00:12:53.000 |
Like rain in season is, they're supposed to come in season, 00:12:56.000 |
meaning that God ordained this particular season out of the year to rain. 00:13:01.000 |
And he says, "But if you obey, I will not withhold the rain, I will let it rain." 00:13:06.000 |
So if you'll notice, all the things that he promises, 00:13:09.000 |
"If you obey," is exactly what he intended to begin with. 00:13:14.000 |
Basically what he's doing is he's taking the consequence of sin 00:13:17.000 |
on mankind and on creation, and he's kind of withholding that. 00:13:27.000 |
Obedience is restoration, it was what he's already given. 00:13:33.000 |
So it's not like God is withholding anything good. 00:13:36.000 |
This is what God gave to mankind to begin with, 00:13:38.000 |
but it's sin that blocks us from his blessing. 00:13:41.000 |
So if you take the sin away, the blessing that he intended in creation 00:13:47.000 |
So you'll notice that everything he mentions here in this part 00:13:50.000 |
is basically a description of Garden of Eden. 00:13:56.000 |
He says he will give security so that they may enjoy fruits of the land. 00:14:00.000 |
In other words, they're going to walk around, and there are no enemies, 00:14:03.000 |
there are no wild beasts, so they're going to be able to enjoy life, 00:14:08.000 |
enjoy food, enjoy family, without having to worry about danger. 00:14:17.000 |
God will give peace in the land, verses 6 through 8. 00:14:20.000 |
And the way he describes peace is that they will sleep in peace 00:14:33.000 |
The hatred between Democrats and Republicans is a direct result of the fall. 00:14:41.000 |
The animosity between husband and wife is a direct result of the fall. 00:14:45.000 |
The reason why we have locks on our doors is because it's a direct result of the fall. 00:14:50.000 |
The reason why we have police officers guarding our streets is a direct result of the fall. 00:14:57.000 |
He says that when obedience, when we obey, and God comes to protect us, 00:15:04.000 |
there is no need to worry. We will be able to sleep in peace. 00:15:13.000 |
For people who are living in the city, at most you might be worried about coyotes. 00:15:21.000 |
But if you've ever been to a part of the country where they're living out in the open, 00:15:28.000 |
Remember, I think I shared this before, I asked our Indian pastors, 00:15:31.000 |
what's the greatest danger they faced in sharing the gospel? 00:15:38.000 |
They didn't run into the tiger, but they were in the open field 00:15:41.000 |
and they saw a tiger coming from way over there. 00:15:44.000 |
And then so they hid behind the rock, and if the tiger smelled them, 00:15:50.000 |
But the tiger never came by. He said that was probably the scariest. 00:15:53.000 |
I was expecting the Hindus throwing rocks at them, and they said, "Tiger." 00:15:59.000 |
And then I was in Kenya, and in the rural side of Kenya, 00:16:05.000 |
the biggest problem over there were elephants. 00:16:09.000 |
And they said the elephants, I think they said it was the number one killer of man in that area were elephants. 00:16:16.000 |
We would never think of elephants as being dangerous because we usually see them in zoos. 00:16:21.000 |
So when he says there's no more wild beasts, to us, like where we live, we can't relate. 00:16:27.000 |
But imagine when at that period of time, and you're a farmer, 00:16:31.000 |
and you had wolves and whatever animals coming by, 00:16:35.000 |
he says that when that day comes, remember if you look at the Garden of Eden, 00:16:40.000 |
there was no hostility between man and animals. 00:16:43.000 |
They were coming, and Adam was actually beginning to name them one by one. 00:16:48.000 |
So all this is a picture of the Garden of Eden before sin comes in. 00:16:55.000 |
And obviously to the nation of Israel, when they enter the Promised Land, 00:17:02.000 |
But if the enemies do come, he says he promises victory. 00:17:11.000 |
God will grant them to be fruitful and multiply. 00:17:19.000 |
God told them to be fruitful and multiply, and that's exactly what they were doing until sin comes in. 00:17:24.000 |
And they are no longer able to be fruitful or to multiply because of their sins. 00:17:31.000 |
In fact, the very first fruit that Adam and Eve have, what happens to that? 00:17:45.000 |
He says when God blesses you, you're going to be fruitful and multiply. 00:17:51.000 |
The Lord will make his dwelling in their midst. 00:17:53.000 |
And the reason why all of this is possible is because the Lord is in their midst. 00:17:57.000 |
So if you remember in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve fall, what is the first thing that happens? 00:18:02.000 |
They hide from each other, and then they hide from God. 00:18:07.000 |
So they were shunned from the presence of God. 00:18:09.000 |
So therefore the Sabbath was broken because the rest is in God. 00:18:13.000 |
So he said all of these things come because God is among them. 00:18:17.000 |
The reason why the enemies can't touch them? Because God is with them. 00:18:20.000 |
The reason why they are able to be fruitful is because God is with them. 00:18:23.000 |
The reason why the animals are not hostile is because God is in their midst. 00:18:38.000 |
So this is a different picture because in the book of Leviticus, where is God? 00:18:54.000 |
He's at the tabernacle, so he's in their midst. 00:19:01.000 |
But he says in obedience, where does he say he was going to be? 00:19:05.000 |
He's not just going to be within them, he's going to be walking with them. 00:19:10.000 |
So it's a much more intimate scene than even at the tabernacle. 00:19:22.000 |
I mean, the actual fulfillment of that, it happens in the New Testament with Christ, 00:19:26.000 |
because the Holy Spirit makes an indwelling with us. 00:19:28.000 |
And that's why we are commanded to walk with him. 00:19:32.000 |
But in Leviticus, he dwelt among them, but he does not walk with them. 00:19:40.000 |
And then he says the motivation behind that, why you can trust God that he would do that, 00:19:44.000 |
he says because he's the one who brought them out of Egypt. 00:19:54.000 |
He who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with him give him all things? 00:19:59.000 |
In other words, God's the one who delivered them out of Egypt. 00:20:04.000 |
He is more than willing to restore the blessing. 00:20:08.000 |
In fact, we're going to go through all of these different curses, 00:20:11.000 |
but God's heart for the nation of Israel is the blessing. 00:20:15.000 |
The reason why he gives all of these warnings is so that they can stay in the narrow path 00:20:24.000 |
He said, "Why would I deliver you out of Egypt and go through all of that drama just to punish you?" 00:20:29.000 |
So he's reminding them, "I'm the one who delivered you out of Egypt. 00:20:32.000 |
I'm the one who loves you. I'm the one who cares for you." 00:20:37.000 |
So you can trust that if you obey my commandments, that these are things that God is more than eager to do. 00:20:46.000 |
But the problem is the curses for the disobedience. 00:20:53.000 |
As in Deuteronomy 28, the curses far outnumber the blessings. 00:20:57.000 |
So if you look at it, verses 1 through 13 is about the blessing. 00:21:02.000 |
If you obey that these are the things that God's going to do, 00:21:04.000 |
and then two-thirds of it, 14 to 39, is about the curses. 00:21:09.000 |
Just like in the book of Deuteronomy, 13 verses of blessing, but 53 verses of curses. 00:21:15.000 |
So if you've ever read through the list, you'll have maybe about half a page of blessing, 00:21:25.000 |
If you do this, this is what's going to happen. 00:21:29.000 |
We know in the new covenant why God does that. 00:21:32.000 |
Because one, he knows what's going to happen, right? 00:21:39.000 |
He's preparing them for the coming of Christ, so that the burden of this curse will be made clear to them. 00:21:47.000 |
He says, "What was the purpose of the law? To make sin, what? Utterly sinful." 00:21:56.000 |
The reason why God lays in detail these curses is that every year of their life, 00:22:02.000 |
and every decade of Israel's history, this is curses being piled up. 00:22:10.000 |
So hundreds and hundreds of years of disobedience, by the time Malachi finishes, 00:22:20.000 |
We're talking about generations and generations of sins that have piled up, one on top of the other. 00:22:26.000 |
And so by the time Christ comes, there is no way possible. 00:22:32.000 |
I mean, there's no way possible, even in the beginning of Israel's history, to pay off even one sin. 00:22:37.000 |
But God wanted to make it absolutely crystal clear. 00:22:41.000 |
Every curse that God says that they deserve, at some point in their history, broke it. 00:22:49.000 |
So every one of these things that he says, "These curses are going to come upon you," 00:22:53.000 |
every one of these things, at some point in their history, they broke it. 00:22:57.000 |
So all of these curses were upon the nation of Israel before Christ comes. 00:23:02.000 |
And he does that, again, to show them their need for Christ. 00:23:07.000 |
Again, the curses were not simply meant to punish, but to restore his people back to obedience. 00:23:14.000 |
Even though it points to Christ, it doesn't mean that God didn't want them to live in obedience. 00:23:20.000 |
But the ultimate fulfillment of all of this was going to come upon Christ. 00:23:26.000 |
Many of the curses were the exact opposite of the blessing that were to be promised. 00:23:30.000 |
He said, "If you obey, I will give you land. If you disobey, I will take away your land. 00:23:35.000 |
If you obey, you will conquer your enemies. If you don't obey, your enemies will conquer you. 00:23:39.000 |
If you obey, the wild beast will not be among you. You will be able to rest. 00:23:43.000 |
If you don't obey, the wild beast will divide your families, and you will not be able to rest." 00:23:48.000 |
And all of this is, "Is God among you walking, or is he not?" 00:23:53.000 |
And if he is not, sin is going to have its way in your life. 00:24:03.000 |
What happens when God is walking among you, and what happens when God is not walking among you? 00:24:07.000 |
That's the difference between blessing and curses. 00:24:11.000 |
In the cursing, there's five groupings of curses. 00:24:20.000 |
When you read this, did this remind you of any other book? 00:24:35.000 |
But when you read these cursings, did it kind of trigger anything that we studied in the past? 00:24:48.000 |
You know, you have the seven seals, and then you have the seven trumpets, and then you have the seven bowls. 00:25:00.000 |
And then by the time it gets to the end, it's like a punch in the mouth. 00:25:05.000 |
And then the question is, "Why does he drag this on? 00:25:09.000 |
Why does he go seven, and then another seven, and then another seven?" 00:25:15.000 |
Why this drama of seven years, plus another seven years, and another seven years, or seven one of them? 00:25:28.000 |
He does that, again, increasing in judgment, and each part, what does he do? 00:25:35.000 |
Even if there's one more soul who's going to be scared out of their minds, saying, "Oh my gosh, he's real. 00:25:41.000 |
This judgment is real," and to bring them to repentance. 00:25:44.000 |
Because once the final judgment, the great wine-thrown judgment comes, there is no other judgments coming because it's finished. 00:25:56.000 |
So even in this judgment, you'll see, you know how he says over and over again, "Sevenfold." 00:26:00.000 |
If you don't listen to this, another sevenfold. 00:26:04.000 |
And so each one of these, it starts off by saying, "After I've done this, if you do not repent." 00:26:09.000 |
In other words, every judgment that's coming is to get them to repent. 00:26:14.000 |
Get them to see that what God said he's going to do, and then he does it, and then he waits for them to repent. 00:26:19.000 |
If they don't repent, he brings the second round. 00:26:23.000 |
And it's going to be even more severe, and he does this four separate times. 00:26:27.000 |
And then if you notice, at the end of it, the judgment is absolutely severe. 00:26:31.000 |
And then they get taken away from their land. 00:26:36.000 |
So it kind of reminds you of the judgment in the book of Revelation. 00:26:39.000 |
So even in this severity, he's giving opportunity for repentance. 00:26:47.000 |
He says, "Although all throughout it, the Lord repeats, 'I will do these things to you.'" 00:26:55.000 |
He repeats it over and over again so that there's no mistake that this happened because of lack of planning, 00:27:02.000 |
because they lacked money, or they made some bad decisions. 00:27:08.000 |
So they understand that this is coming as a direct judgment against them because of their disobedience. 00:27:15.000 |
So repeatedly over and over again, he says, "I will do this. I will do this." 00:27:22.000 |
In Amos chapter 4, 6, I'm not going to read all of it. 00:27:26.000 |
Amos describes how God brings judgment upon the nation of Israel, 00:27:30.000 |
and each phase that he's done that, they wouldn't repent. 00:27:34.000 |
"I gave you also cleanness of teeth in your cities and lack of bread in your places, 00:27:40.000 |
yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 00:27:42.000 |
"Furthermore, I withheld rain from you while there were still three months until harvest, 00:27:46.000 |
then I would send rain on one city and on another city. 00:27:49.000 |
I would not send rain. One part would be rained on while the part not rained on would dry up. 00:27:54.000 |
So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water but would not be satisfied. 00:27:59.000 |
Yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 00:28:01.000 |
So over and over again, he describes his judgment that he's bringing upon the land, 00:28:09.000 |
This is coming because of your sin. This is related to your sin, and yet you would not repent. 00:28:15.000 |
And then so what is the final judgment of the book of Amos? 00:28:19.000 |
There's going to be a famine, but a famine of what? 00:28:24.000 |
In other words, God's going to withdraw his spirit. 00:28:27.000 |
That's going to be the final judgment, when he releases you to your sin. 00:28:31.000 |
And that's what it says in Romans chapter 1, 2, right? 00:28:34.000 |
He gave them over to their lusts. He gave them over to their iniquities. 00:28:41.000 |
So the final judgment after the great white throne judgment is there's no longer common grace. 00:28:47.000 |
God separates the ones who will be separated from him for eternity, 00:28:52.000 |
and then those who will be dwelling with him for eternity. 00:28:55.000 |
So even in this separated state, we all experience common grace, 00:29:03.000 |
Christians and non-Christians alike, because we're not in hell. 00:29:07.000 |
Because of God's grace and his glory, where we are living is not orderly sinful. 00:29:14.000 |
Yes, God is still here. The church is still here. The gospel is still here. 00:29:18.000 |
We're not in the final state, but the final state of judgment is when God withdraws his presence. 00:29:24.000 |
And so that's where he says he's making sure that they understand that there is no mistake, 00:29:30.000 |
that they didn't make poor choices, and that's why the harvest is not growing, 00:29:34.000 |
or the rain, or the enemies are conquering, because they didn't sharpen their sword. 00:29:38.000 |
He said it's directly linked to their disobedience because of their sins. 00:29:42.000 |
And that's why the first part, right? He said there's five phases, 00:29:46.000 |
but the first part, 6 through 7, he said it's going to be sudden terror. 00:29:51.000 |
In other words, it's going to come suddenly so that they know that this is divine. 00:29:57.000 |
It comes out of nowhere because God brings it. The disease is going to be severe. 00:30:02.000 |
This is not the regular disease that people have living in a sinful world, 00:30:06.000 |
that you're not going to have problems that are going to be lingering for years and years. 00:30:11.000 |
It's going to be a severe disease, again, so that people will know that this is a divine judgment coming from God. 00:30:21.000 |
They will sow uselessly because their enemies will pillage and eat them. 00:30:26.000 |
They're going to work hard, and they're going to sow seeds. 00:30:30.000 |
They're going to do business, but at the end of the day, the enemies are going to come and take it from them, 00:30:37.000 |
so it's going to be useless. All their hard work to become something is all going to be destroyed by their enemies. 00:30:43.000 |
They will be defeated and conquered by their enemies as a result of the Lord setting His face against them. 00:30:50.000 |
And Moses says that. You know, when they were out in the desert, 00:30:54.000 |
God's angry with them. He says, "I'm not going to go with them," and Moses begs, 00:30:59.000 |
"If you don't come with us, we're going to die out here in the desert. 00:31:05.000 |
We're completely vulnerable. These people were slaves. 00:31:09.000 |
They're not soldiers. They have children with them, and they're out in the desert. 00:31:14.000 |
So if you don't come with us, we're vulnerable to any attack. 00:31:18.000 |
There's no way they're going to enter the Promised Land and conquer these fortified cities. 00:31:22.000 |
The only reason why people trembled at the nation of Israel was because of the reputation of their God. 00:31:31.000 |
God says He's going to withdraw His presence among them, and then they're going to— 00:31:37.000 |
humanly speaking, it's a bunch of nomads wandering in the desert who aren't properly trained, just walking around. 00:31:45.000 |
Who would be afraid of them? He said that's exactly what's going to happen. 00:31:50.000 |
If you don't obey, God's presence is going to be withdrawn, 00:31:53.000 |
and then they're going to become vulnerable to every attack, every enemy. 00:31:57.000 |
As a result of that, they're going to flee when no one is pursuing them. 00:32:07.000 |
There are things that you should genuinely be anxious about. 00:32:12.000 |
War breaks out, enemies come in. You should be anxious. 00:32:15.000 |
If you're not anxious, something's wrong with you. 00:32:19.000 |
When you're anxious, when there's no reason to be anxious, that's when you know something is wrong. 00:32:25.000 |
He said that's what's going to happen. There's going to be fear that dictates your life 00:32:30.000 |
because you no longer have—what don't you have when God's not there? 00:32:36.000 |
Peace. You don't have peace. You don't have Sabbath. You don't have rest. 00:32:42.000 |
So your spirit is in constant unrest, even when you're not being chased. 00:32:49.000 |
Isn't that so true? Even as Christians, when we have sins that are hidden, that are unrepentant, 00:32:55.000 |
there's a constant fear, even in the judgments that you make, 00:33:01.000 |
that if it goes wrong, it's because God's going to do it. 00:33:06.000 |
At some point, God's going to discipline you. There's a fear. 00:33:12.000 |
And so it makes everything that you do anxious—your relationships, the business, 00:33:17.000 |
even the money in the bank, whatever career that you have. 00:33:21.000 |
You're constantly living in fear because you are living against the will of God. 00:33:26.000 |
And so that's how he describes somebody who is living in disobedience. 00:33:30.000 |
He's fleeing even though there's nobody chasing him. 00:33:37.000 |
Secondly, if they do not turn from their sins again, right? 00:33:42.000 |
After he's done all of that, and they still harden their hearts, 00:33:46.000 |
he says he's going to bring judgment upon them sevenfold. 00:33:57.000 |
If you really think about it, disobedience is self-exaltation, living self-willed. 00:34:04.000 |
I'm going to be somebody, I'm going to do something, I'm going to make a name for myself. 00:34:08.000 |
And then he says God's going to come bring judgment and humble them. 00:34:15.000 |
Severe famine is going to come upon the land. 00:34:23.000 |
"The strength will be spent uselessly, because the land will not produce trees and thus no fruit." 00:34:30.000 |
So the first judgment is going to be useless, even though it's going to bear fruit, the enemies are going to take it. 00:34:35.000 |
The second judgment, they're going to work hard, but there's not going to be any fruit to begin with. 00:34:45.000 |
The first judgment, you actually have fruit, but the enemies are taking it. 00:34:49.000 |
Second judgment, the trees don't even come, because the famine is so severe. 00:34:56.000 |
So you can see the intensity, so it's going to happen sevenfold harder. 00:35:00.000 |
Third, if the previous judgment doesn't bring them to repentance to God, 00:35:07.000 |
God will increase their plague again sevenfold according to their sins. 00:35:13.000 |
Wild beasts will decimate their families and their cattle. 00:35:22.000 |
He said they're going to actually come and decimate, they're going to completely destroy them. 00:35:25.000 |
So this is not just one animal roaming around, people locking their doors. 00:35:29.000 |
He said they're going to come completely devastate whatever it is that they have. 00:35:39.000 |
Fourth round, if the previous judgment does not bring them to repentance, 00:35:44.000 |
God will act with hostility against them and will strike them again sevenfold for their sins. 00:35:52.000 |
The enemies will bring the sword against them. 00:35:55.000 |
So the enemies are not just coming taking their food now. 00:35:59.000 |
They're not just plundering, they're completely wiping them out. 00:36:09.000 |
The first round when Israel goes into captivity, the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom. 00:36:17.000 |
The southern kingdom gets taken by the Assyrians and then the northern kingdom. 00:36:23.000 |
The southern kingdom, the northern kingdom, they go to the Assyrians and then the southern kingdom, they go to the Babylonians. 00:36:30.000 |
Where the Babylonians come and they take the prime into their land, the Assyrians come and completely decimate them. 00:36:38.000 |
He says that the judgment that God's going to bring is going to be that they're going to come and completely wipe them out. 00:36:46.000 |
God will send pestilence so that they will be defeated by their enemies. 00:36:49.000 |
And then again, famine will besiege the cities. 00:37:00.000 |
Enemies are going to come and they're going to bring the sword and then they're going to besiege the city. 00:37:07.000 |
And then he says, fifth, if after all of that they still will not repent, he said that punishment is going to increase sevenfold. 00:37:24.000 |
They will eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. 00:37:34.000 |
Out of the seven seals, trumpets and the bowls, which one is more severe? 00:37:44.000 |
Plagues coming upon the land and how can anybody survive? 00:37:48.000 |
And that's how it's described, the severity of the judgment of God. 00:38:00.000 |
God will deliver their idols in place of worship for those idols. 00:38:05.000 |
He's waiting and waiting and waiting to destroy their idols and come to him. 00:38:12.000 |
So they begin to experience this intense famine. 00:38:16.000 |
They actually begin to eat their children's flesh. 00:38:26.000 |
They actually experience this in Israel's history. 00:38:29.000 |
God himself is going to come and destroy the idols. 00:38:34.000 |
But that doesn't lead to revival because God comes as a judgment to do that. 00:38:38.000 |
And then the next one he says, their cities and sanctuaries will become desolate 00:38:45.000 |
and God will reject their offerings to the Lord. 00:38:48.000 |
In other words, God's going to end this nation. 00:38:53.000 |
The whole purpose of the book of Leviticus is to make God's dwelling upon them. 00:39:05.000 |
And that's what Amos says at the end of the book of Amos. 00:39:07.000 |
After I've done all of this, you still wouldn't repent. 00:39:11.000 |
You're going to be staggering from place to place to hear God's word, 00:39:14.000 |
but you're not going to hear it because God withdraws himself. 00:39:19.000 |
He says that in Revelation 2 to the church of Ephesus. 00:39:25.000 |
He's doing all these things, but if you do not repent because you've forsaken your first love, 00:39:31.000 |
Lampstand represented the seven churches, one of the seven churches. 00:39:36.000 |
When he says he takes away his lampstand, he's basically saying he's withdrawing his spirit. 00:39:44.000 |
As a result of God withdrawing his spirit, they will be scattered among the nations 00:39:53.000 |
So if there's no temple, there's no worship, there's no presence of God, 00:40:05.000 |
And as a result of that, the land will enjoy the Sabbath that God commanded them to obey. 00:40:08.000 |
They wouldn't obey it, so they're forcing them. 00:40:20.000 |
Because God created, remember, he creates heaven and earth, you know, like five days. 00:40:25.000 |
He creates everything that was necessary on earth, and then he creates man. 00:40:31.000 |
Because man is dependent upon the fruit that comes from the land. 00:40:35.000 |
So if the man is disobedient to the Sabbath and he destroys the land, 00:40:41.000 |
There is no harvest for him to take care of his family. 00:40:43.000 |
So judgment, naturally he brings judgment upon mankind when he disobeys. 00:40:50.000 |
Obedience is what causes the fruit in the land. 00:40:54.000 |
Disobedience destroys the land, which they are dependent on. 00:41:00.000 |
The very thing that God created to sustain us, in our disobedience we destroy. 00:41:10.000 |
The very thing that God created to bring blessing, when we disobey him, 00:41:14.000 |
the very things that cause joy in our life, in our sins, we end up destroying that. 00:41:21.000 |
And that's what he's trying to, the picture that he's trying to show us. 00:41:33.000 |
Those who remain will live in fear of their enemies and will have no strength. 00:41:39.000 |
And then eight, those who remain in the land will consume them and they will rot away. 00:41:44.000 |
In other words, even the people who are not taken away, the few remnant that are there, 00:41:48.000 |
they're going to be living in fear because the land is not in peace, because God is not there. 00:41:57.000 |
All of this is fulfilled in Israel's history. 00:41:59.000 |
It doesn't happen immediately, but hundreds of years later, after, remember we talked about that last week, right? 00:42:13.000 |
Seventy years, every year that they ignore the Sabbath, they go into captivity. 00:42:19.000 |
And then when they go into captivity, some of them are utterly destroyed by the Assyrians, 00:42:23.000 |
some of them are scattered, and the ones who remain in Jerusalem are under constant attack by the enemies, 00:42:33.000 |
So this actually happens in the nation of Israel. 00:42:37.000 |
But with the blessings and curses, he ends in 40 to 46. 00:42:42.000 |
Despite all of that, if you will repent, God will forgive you, right? 00:42:50.000 |
God will remember their covenant once again if they confess their sins and the sins of their forefathers. 00:42:59.000 |
Despite all of that, he still hasn't given up. 00:43:02.000 |
Even after all of that, if you wake up from it and repent, he said he will forgive. 00:43:08.000 |
And then the land will be rested as it should from the beginning. 00:43:24.000 |
So you can kind of see, like if you know Israel's history, if you know the book of Revelation, 00:43:29.000 |
if you know redemptive history, you know that all of this stuff actually takes place, right? 00:43:37.000 |
But the point of all of this is not to simply scare people and say, "Hey, don't mess with God." 00:43:42.000 |
The point of all of this is all fulfilled in the New Testament. 00:43:46.000 |
So remember we talked about that, all prophecies, there is an immediate application to the nation of Israel. 00:43:51.000 |
Does God want Israel to practice all of this? Absolutely. 00:43:55.000 |
Are there consequences if they don't obey? Absolutely, because it actually happened in the nation of Israel. 00:44:01.000 |
But the final product of all of this wasn't about Israel. 00:44:06.000 |
It wasn't about the promised land. In fact, Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that, right? 00:44:10.000 |
If what they were really seeking was land here, like peace here, they could have easily went back and had a great life. 00:44:19.000 |
But their eyes got open and it is because of their faith they pursued a greater land, a greater promise, right? 00:44:28.000 |
And he says nothing that was promised physically they received. 00:44:33.000 |
Because what were they waiting for? Us, right? 00:44:39.000 |
They were waiting for us, for us to come to faith and that we may all enter the promised land together, right? 00:44:48.000 |
So all of this ultimately points to the fulfillment in Christ. 00:44:51.000 |
In Galatians chapter 3, 10-14, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, 00:44:59.000 |
for it is written, 'Curse is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.' 00:45:04.000 |
Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. 00:45:09.000 |
However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them." 00:45:13.000 |
He doesn't mean that he who practices the law, he's going to actually find life in it. 00:45:18.000 |
If you are looking to become righteous by the law, right? 00:45:24.000 |
And if that's your standard and you're not seeking righteousness by faith, 00:45:30.000 |
then you're going to have to find it in the law. 00:45:33.000 |
In other words, you have to obey this perfectly. 00:45:35.000 |
You have to obey it to the point where you deserve no curse, only blessing, right? 00:45:41.000 |
Obviously, that's not possible. And that's what he's saying here. 00:45:45.000 |
If you seek righteousness by the law, you have to find it by the law. 00:45:49.000 |
There's no Bs. There's no A-minus. It has to be A++, 100%. Right? 00:45:56.000 |
But the Bible makes that clear. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, not most. 00:46:01.000 |
So he's not saying that you can find it. He's saying that there is no hope if that's where you're going. 00:46:05.000 |
"However, the law is not by faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by faith. 00:46:10.000 |
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." 00:46:17.000 |
That all the curses that he mentions, Christ absorbs the curse upon himself, 00:46:22.000 |
that we might become the righteousness of God. 00:46:24.000 |
In order that Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham, might come to the Gentiles, 00:46:28.000 |
so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 00:46:34.000 |
Revelation 21, 3-4, it talks about the fulfillment of that promise of blessing. 00:46:43.000 |
Think about all the blessings that he mentions there. 00:46:45.000 |
And he says, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 00:46:48.000 |
'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men.'" 00:46:52.000 |
"And he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. 00:46:57.000 |
And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, 00:47:02.000 |
there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. 00:47:16.000 |
Heaven is not heaven because God made it beautiful and then he said, "Hey, go and enjoy." 00:47:22.000 |
So when Genesis says that he created the earth on the seventh day, 00:47:26.000 |
he entered into the Sabbath, all mankind was in heaven with him. 00:47:32.000 |
The Garden of Eden was a form of heaven because he was there. 00:47:37.000 |
So when sin came in, we were broken from that Sabbath, outside of heaven. 00:47:42.000 |
But now, when we enter into the new heaven and new earth, 00:47:46.000 |
it's going to be even a greater one than the one that we fell out of. 00:47:51.000 |
The distinction is, we're no longer near him. 00:47:57.000 |
The scripture says because of what Christ has done, we become adopted children of God. 00:48:02.000 |
And the Holy Spirit now actually makes a dwelling in us. 00:48:14.000 |
So now we only experience in part, but when we are glorified, 00:48:24.000 |
"I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. 00:48:29.000 |
The city has no need of the sun or the moon or the shine on it. 00:48:33.000 |
The glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 00:48:37.000 |
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory in it. 00:48:42.000 |
In the daytime, for there will be no night, and its gates will never be closed." 00:48:47.000 |
What does it mean the gates will never be closed? 00:48:59.000 |
"And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nation into it, 00:49:01.000 |
and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying 00:49:04.000 |
shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." 00:49:08.000 |
In other words, sin is going to be wiped away. 00:49:13.000 |
Only the righteous, cleansed by the blood of Christ. 00:49:19.000 |
"Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, 00:49:22.000 |
coming from the throne of God and the Lamb in the middle of its street. 00:49:25.000 |
On either side of the river was a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, 00:49:29.000 |
yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 00:49:34.000 |
There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, 00:49:41.000 |
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, 00:49:46.000 |
and they will not have need of the light of the Lamb nor the light of the sun, 00:49:50.000 |
because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever." 00:49:55.000 |
So all the blessings that he's talking about in verses 1 through 13 00:49:58.000 |
is going to find its final fulfillment in glorification when he comes. 00:50:04.000 |
So all of this has immediate application to the nation of Israel. 00:50:12.000 |
but even with all the cursings that came upon them, it was only a shadow. 00:50:17.000 |
The nation of Israel did not receive God's full wrath. 00:50:22.000 |
Even when we are disciplined, no human being alive has ever experienced the full wrath of God. 00:50:28.000 |
Everything he does is for the purpose of discipline, to bring us to repentance, 00:50:33.000 |
because the ultimate wrath is going to be at the right throne of judgment and in hell. 00:50:38.000 |
But until then, we're living in a period of grace, 00:50:42.000 |
that even as we are being disciplined, he's trying to bring us back to restore us, 00:50:49.000 |
to bring us to this place that he's describing in the book of Revelation. 00:50:55.000 |
All right, so the discussion question for tonight. 00:50:58.000 |
One, since Christ took away the curse of the law, 00:51:01.000 |
does that mean that there are no physical consequences for disobedience in the new covenant? 00:51:09.000 |
Okay, just in case somebody goes off tangent. 00:51:16.000 |
And so discuss along the lines of what you read there. 00:51:19.000 |
What is the greatest thing you look forward to in heaven? 00:51:21.000 |
What is the curse of living in this sinful world that you wish to be delivered from sooner than later? 00:51:26.000 |
Do you understand that question, the second part? 00:51:30.000 |
Everybody experiences some, what curse feels like, 00:51:36.000 |
because we are all living under the larger umbrella of a fallen world. 00:51:42.000 |
And I don't have to mention to you, whether it's from your family, 00:51:46.000 |
or something happened to you, or somebody did something to you, 00:51:49.000 |
or maybe something you did, that you have a hard time forgiving. 00:51:57.000 |
All of that because we live under the umbrella of living under the fallen world. 00:52:02.000 |
And all of that will be restored by the blood of Christ when we get to heaven. 00:52:06.000 |
What is it that you look forward to when you think of heaven? 00:52:09.000 |
Third, what do you tend to meditate more on, the blessing of God or the curse of God in the fallen world? 00:52:17.000 |
So that question basically is, if you're not careful, 00:52:20.000 |
even though we say, "Oh, God loved me and he died for me and we sing great songs," 00:52:24.000 |
but you can live day-to-day thinking about how your boss is bad, 00:52:28.000 |
people cut you off, you don't get paid enough, 00:52:31.000 |
you know, how your body hurts, and so how much of your day is spent 00:52:34.000 |
thinking about the ramification of the curse, 00:52:37.000 |
rather than the blessing of what God has given. 00:52:41.000 |
And how does that affect your day-to-day life when you do one or the other? 00:52:45.000 |
Okay? So let me pray for us, and I'll let you guys get into your group.