WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.459 let's pray father you've given us your word and lord we're about to open your word god would you 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:13.460 open our hearts and our minds to help us to hear your word and to know what it is that that you 00:00:13.460 --> 00:00:19.719 are wanting to speak to us today and lord would you bless this time together and meet with us 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:25.719 with your presence here and your people together in jesus name amen you may be seated 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:38.780 so you may have noticed when ross was reading the text in deuteronomy that there's something about 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:44.079 god destroying people and it really jumps out it jumped out to me anyway this week when i was 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:51.200 preparing the sermon and if i'm going to be honest maybe i'm the only christian that's like that but 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:58.120 when i read a text like that that talks about god destroying people it's like walking in a room and 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:03.699 you hit your little toe on the side of a chair and then you remember that you have a little toe you 00:01:03.699 --> 00:01:09.340 forgot this whole time you remember for about two days and then you forget again until you hit it 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:15.640 again and texts like that seem to be uh things that that are really you know they're part of the text 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:21.519 part of the bible and the christian story but we don't really think about it too much and um but it's 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:25.900 really interesting because i think that's that's a fear of a lot that a lot of people have is that god 00:01:25.900 --> 00:01:31.740 will destroy us if if we don't uh if we don't do the right thing or if we don't have the right 00:01:31.740 --> 00:01:39.300 thoughts or whatnot um i i'm reminded of uh of a movie that i that i watched um it's called blue 00:01:39.300 --> 00:01:42.880 streak i don't know if you've seen it but it and a lot of movies start this way but it starts with 00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:47.200 uh these bad guys going into a bank they're robbing a bank it's like two or three in the morning 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:53.060 and uh there's probably a team of 10 people and there's obviously there's the person who's in charge of 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:56.340 the whole thing and then there's all his hired hands and they're doing all the work and they're 00:01:56.340 --> 00:02:02.400 getting all the the money and the diamonds into the van and once everything's in the van the the 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:09.240 mobster the lead mobster goes and he shoots everyone all of his hand all of his hired hands so that he 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:15.439 can have all the money to himself then he runs away and uh reading a text like this it can make it sound 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:22.979 as if is god one of those mobster people mobster types that that will get a people for himself that 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:28.780 will hire a people and then all of a sudden he will just get rid of them he'll destroy them 00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:34.800 and they'll do all the work for him and he'll get all the glory at the end so is that how god is 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:40.800 so let's look at deuteronomy chapter 4 you can turn in your bibles and we'll start reading at verse 1 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:53.039 so it says and now oh israel listen to the statutes and the rules that i am teaching you 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:59.060 and do them that you may live and go in and take possession of the land that the lord your god 00:02:59.060 --> 00:03:06.539 is giving you is that right i was uh yeah i was giving you okay so let's just pause here for a second 00:03:06.539 --> 00:03:11.960 um so what's happening here it starts with the words and now so that's a a word that's like a 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:16.020 transition there's the first three chapters that are talking about god and his people 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:21.980 god made a covenant with his people and now he's leading them through the wilderness to go into the 00:03:21.980 --> 00:03:28.000 land that he promised them and so we're at a part where moses is is gathered the people and it's kind 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:32.980 of like a timeout in in like a playoff game your time out you're at the end you want to gather your 00:03:32.980 --> 00:03:38.120 troops and and give them a word of encouragement and kind of uh give them a new vision or renew the 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:41.939 vision and say this is what we're this is what we're doing this is why we're here this is where 00:03:41.939 --> 00:03:48.219 we're going and this happens right before uh moses is going to give again the law that that god gave 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:53.379 to moses to give to the people uh so it's it happens right in the middle it's kind of summarizing 00:03:53.379 --> 00:04:00.460 what happens what happened before and what's going to happen so again let's read verse 1 and now oh israel 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:07.020 listen to the statutes and the rules that i am teaching you and do them that you may live and go 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:12.500 in and take possession of the land that the lord the god of your fathers is giving you 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:21.960 so here um we have the words that you may live and the words that come right after that let's say 00:04:21.960 --> 00:04:26.400 and go in and take possession of the land so those are two things that this text is going to develop 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:32.000 so first we're going to look at um that you may live and what what that looks like this is what 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:39.859 the statutes and the rules are for it's for israel that they may live um so essentially the the what 00:04:39.859 --> 00:04:45.039 it's talking about here the the the statutes and the rules is summarizing it's just two words to say 00:04:45.039 --> 00:04:51.259 the law the law of god the the ten commandments which we see later in in this next chapter after that 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:59.519 but to give an example of what that looks like um i got engaged not too long ago and my fiance and i 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:04.620 thought it would be a good idea to uh take an alpha pre-marriage course and so we did that 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:10.620 and in that course we talked about uh expectations commitment communication things like that 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:17.060 uh so that we can uh know what what we like and what we don't like uh what we what our tendencies 00:05:17.060 --> 00:05:21.839 things like that so it's just a really good vehicle for communication and so that we can 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:29.360 understand one another before we get into the marriage so so we did that because we want things 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:35.120 to go well um in our marriage and and i think this essentially this is what's happening here is that 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:43.160 god is going to give them the the law so that they can know how to relate to him how to relate to their god 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:49.840 now christians and non-christians i think i think it's a common thing that we fear obedience when 00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:55.520 we think of the christian faith and we think that people who are christians obey god's law 00:05:55.520 --> 00:06:03.540 are all of a sudden going to have to become like some type of religious fanatics whether it's our 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:08.760 inclinations they need to change or uh the way that we are our instincts that they'll have to change and 00:06:08.760 --> 00:06:12.940 all of a sudden we're starting we're going to have to start not liking or or hating people that 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:20.199 are different than us um and maybe uh even not liking some people of a certain uh social group or or 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:26.860 religious group or ethnic group or whatnot um and um is that really what what it's moving us toward is 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:33.540 that what god's law obedience to god's law is going to make us do well here's the first point so andrew if 00:06:33.540 --> 00:06:42.240 you can put up the first point god's salvation and moral law provide a basis for the sacredness of human 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:50.680 life god's salvation and moral law provide a basis for the sacredness of human life see the bible 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:59.780 teaches that god created all of humanity and so god understands humanity he understands us he knows how 00:06:59.780 --> 00:07:06.300 we function and so he gives us this this law so that we can function at the the best way possible so 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:14.500 that we can flourish but a question that you might have is but haven't christians participated in acts of 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:22.699 violence and hate and oppression like weren't there christian uh nazis that were soldiers working for 00:07:22.699 --> 00:07:32.080 for the nazi group and uh weren't there christian slave owners um who um who participated in the slave trade 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:37.719 and what about even like the the irish and the the irish protestants and catholics who are always 00:07:37.719 --> 00:07:43.539 fighting like isn't that what what christians do isn't that what obeying god's law does to people 00:07:43.539 --> 00:07:52.180 well these are human problems that we run to uh when we abandon god's ways um so if we're going to 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:56.240 look in these instances it's not because they followed god's law god's laws it's because their humanity 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:03.079 came out their their sinful instincts came out and uh it's not because we're part of a religious 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:08.460 organization that we affiliate with a certain uh denomination that that makes us right with god 00:08:08.460 --> 00:08:16.840 so what does that look like what does that uh walking with god look like let's look at verse 2 here in 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:24.340 chapter 4 you shall not add to the word that i command you nor take from it that you may keep the 00:08:24.339 --> 00:08:30.500 commandments of the lord your god that i command you so here's talking about not adding words not 00:08:30.500 --> 00:08:36.379 removing words and but what's wrong with adding or taking away from from god's law why why can't we 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:43.839 just do that i mean um i don't know like why why shouldn't we be able to do that if we if we please 00:08:43.839 --> 00:08:52.279 um just to give an analogy or an illustration uh my fiance and i we love uh to eat together it's the thing 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:59.299 that we probably do the most and um so let's just imagine that she would invite me for dinner she 00:08:59.299 --> 00:09:05.039 says i'm gonna make dinner for you and she asked me to bring the dessert for the evening and she asked 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.919 me to bring her favorite dessert and by this time i know what that is it's a pistachio ice cream and 00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:16.519 to be very specific the pc black label pistachio ice cream you should all try it it's really good 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:22.360 so if she asked me to bring her favorite dessert and i go and i look at the all the different variety 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:27.620 of ice creams and i and the desserts at the store on my way there but i see a different one i see oh 00:09:27.620 --> 00:09:33.579 the peanut butter and caramel like i kind of like this and uh or maybe i see another one which is uh 00:09:33.579 --> 00:09:39.419 it's mint it's green it's maybe similar so i choose one of those two and not the pistachio ice cream 00:09:39.419 --> 00:09:44.159 and i get there and i bring the ice cream and i say hey here's uh the dessert like we're gonna have a good 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:51.919 time right and uh how do you think that's gonna go probably not so well right um not because she's uh 00:09:51.919 --> 00:10:00.120 she's she's impatient or unkind she's very very kind but because i didn't hear her word i didn't i 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:09.459 didn't listen to what she said she gave me her word it was clear but i did something else and so what i 00:10:09.460 --> 00:10:15.560 did is that i projected something onto her an idea that that she would like this at this time 00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:21.139 that wasn't necessarily true it didn't come from her it wasn't a revelation that she gave me and i 00:10:21.139 --> 00:10:27.660 think this is what the bible is getting to when it talks about obeying god's word and idolatry is that 00:10:27.660 --> 00:10:33.220 in a verse like this that tells us to not add or take away anything from god's law 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:42.580 um we uh in that case we are prevented from idolatry which is uh to worship an image or an ideal of god 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:48.320 that we've created in our own minds and so that's why the word of god is important 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:57.200 so here's here's the thing to add or to take away from god's word uh if someone were to say you know i i 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:05.100 think god's law you know it's good but the adultery thing like i i i'm actually fine with with 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:11.140 sleeping around with people um i don't know i i like to do this and i i think god's law is not relevant 00:11:11.140 --> 00:11:16.180 i think we're we're past that i think we're more modern uh than that we know better now 00:11:16.180 --> 00:11:24.580 to do that is like it's like understanding that or it's like not understanding that god is the god who 00:11:24.580 --> 00:11:30.080 is infinite the bible makes the claim that god was not created that god existed from all eternity 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:37.139 and so because he is infinite he has all knowledge he has all his infinite knowledge about all things 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:44.379 and so to say to god that his word is not true is to actually put us in the same level as god 00:11:44.379 --> 00:11:52.340 to be to be able to say i have infinite knowledge i know that this is actually okay when god says that 00:11:52.340 --> 00:12:00.139 it's not and so that's the danger that we run into and so failure to worship god by his word leads us 00:12:00.139 --> 00:12:06.360 to dysfunctional relationship with god and the bible calls that death and destruction and we have an 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:12.080 example of that in verse three so if you look there with me in verse three it says you shall 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:18.879 sorry your eyes have seen what the lord did at balpeor for the lord your god destroyed from among you 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:26.779 all the men who followed the ball of peor now in our modern context when we read something like that 00:12:26.779 --> 00:12:33.120 we think like why can't god just let us do what what we want to do like like he has given us freedom 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:39.000 hasn't he like we can do those things right um and in the context here of the story we don't have 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:45.620 all the details in deuteronomy but in numbers chapter 25 we see that some israelite men had sexual 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:50.200 relations with moabite women that's that's what it's talking about here in the text and uh is 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:56.419 possibly in a religious ceremony to the god of the god of baal so already there we we can think of 00:12:56.419 --> 00:13:02.080 of two commandments that were broken but um but why can't god just give us freedom like why does he have 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:08.659 to uh to be so negative all the time i had a conversation with a co-worker uh a little while back 00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:14.080 and we were just talking about jesus you know we were just two uh workers working in this little room 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:18.220 and we just you know spent hours together and it was in complete silence so we started talking and 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:24.420 whatnot so we started talking about jesus and um and i like i talk about jesus love and all these 00:13:24.420 --> 00:13:29.780 wonderful things but at the same time uh his love only has effect if we don't actually understand his 00:13:29.780 --> 00:13:36.259 uh his understanding of sin so we need to understand and talk about sin and the consequences of sin so we 00:13:36.259 --> 00:13:43.180 got at that point in the conversation and that's when my my co-worker told me you know jonathan i i i'm fine 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:49.779 if you talk about the positive side of jesus the the positive uh god who who's loving and all that 00:13:49.779 --> 00:13:55.539 but i don't want you to talk to me about uh the negative god the god who's who's angry and all that 00:13:55.539 --> 00:13:59.659 i don't want to have that those types of conversations it makes me uncomfortable 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:07.939 so uh i wish i could tell you that you know i came back with a a good zinger and i was able to 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:12.960 you know have a really good answer i i that's not really my personality i'm not really good at having 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:18.960 quick answers like that but i i thought about it later and i wonder what what my co-worker would say 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:26.620 if i if i propose something like this you know what what if i uh took your lunch and i ate your lunch 00:14:26.620 --> 00:14:32.580 and uh not only that but i took your car keys after work because i really like your car and i took your car 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:40.100 and i went home and then i told you you know what i don't want to hear the negative angry you i don't 00:14:40.100 --> 00:14:44.280 want to say a name but i don't want to i don't want that negative side of you i just want the positive 00:14:44.280 --> 00:14:51.200 side of you i want you to be okay with what i do see that that that doesn't make sense and that's 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:56.080 that's actually called stealing and my friend wouldn't have all the rights to be angry with me 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:04.740 see the bible claims that we are made in the image of god that we are made in his image and being made 00:15:04.740 --> 00:15:12.740 in his image we are made for relationship with god so to disobey god is to take that image with all of 00:15:12.740 --> 00:15:19.600 its functions the the the image that's imprinted in us the image of his likeness that we take that 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:26.320 for our own purposes and our own advancement neglecting god pushing him away and in this text 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:30.860 we see that both the men and the women who are involved in the story both sinned and fell short 00:15:30.860 --> 00:15:37.519 of the glory of god god has so much more for them than to be degraded in in such acts of false worship 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:47.379 and that involves um adultery god has so much more for them so here's the next point uh martin i said 00:15:47.379 --> 00:15:54.159 andrew you're back there okay with our human abilities that reflect the image of god we rebel 00:15:54.159 --> 00:16:02.860 against god god gives us his image so that we can like any other relationship choose him or not 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:11.340 see our love is only proven when we have the choice to love god and we use that choice and these abilities 00:16:11.340 --> 00:16:17.360 that he's given us to love him in return to render thanks and praise and worship to him 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:26.460 so to obey god is to know life in the fullness now let's just take a bit of an aside here um i don't 00:16:26.460 --> 00:16:29.960 want to make this sound like like if you're if you're not a christian and you're here today 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:35.100 and uh maybe your christian friend or family member invited you to come i don't want to make it sound 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:40.659 like like christians just have it in them to obey god because here it's talking about how some people 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:45.940 did not follow god and after that it says that some people did follow god and and sometimes we can 00:16:45.940 --> 00:16:52.900 think that in the categories that you know this is uh god's moral law um that fits with you but it 00:16:52.900 --> 00:16:57.680 doesn't fit with me and we don't think in those categories uh we're going to see that a little bit 00:16:57.680 --> 00:17:04.900 further it's not because people are born in a certain way that they are inclined to worship god so they do 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:10.140 it that's not the way it works so we'll look at that a little bit further down so here's uh my next 00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:19.920 point martin the law comes from god giving us a picture of new of a new humanity not tainted by sin 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:28.540 the law comes from god giving us a picture of a new humanity not tainted by sin god gives us the 00:17:28.540 --> 00:17:34.780 ten commandments the moral law as an outline of sanity with this law we were able to see what what god 00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:41.139 created us for what he created us to be and what a society uh would look like a society that flourished 00:17:41.139 --> 00:17:44.559 in his presence would look like it's kind of like a divine ideal 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:52.779 so so far we we've seen how the lord gave us his law so that we may live like it says in verse one but 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:58.119 now let's look at the second part uh so we'll continue uh here we'll read verse four and then we'll 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:09.219 continue verse five but you who held fast to the lord your god are all alive today see i have taught 00:18:09.219 --> 00:18:14.919 you statutes and rules as the lord my god commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are 00:18:14.919 --> 00:18:21.119 entering to take possession of it so just to pause here in verse four it says you held fast to the lord 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:27.899 your god but you who held fast to the lord your god are all alive today and the word held fast here is 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:32.860 the same word that is used when uh in genesis it talks about a man shall leave his father and mother 00:18:32.860 --> 00:18:39.140 and cling to his wife hold fast to his wife so it's that same language there so the those who are still 00:18:39.140 --> 00:18:44.460 alive today is because they held fast to the lord and his goodness they remembered his testimony his acts 00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:52.400 and his word so continuing verse five see i have taught you statutes and rules as the lord my god 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.300 commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it 00:18:56.299 --> 00:19:04.659 so here it's restating that the focus now is life on the land but notice something that salvation 00:19:04.659 --> 00:19:11.519 history is not over once israel is in the land we'll keep reading keep them and do them for that will be 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:17.460 your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who when they hear all the all these 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:24.039 statutes will say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people for what great nation is 00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:30.980 there that has a god so near to it as the lord our god is to us whenever we call upon him and what great 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:37.200 nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all the law that i set before you today 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:47.899 so here's my next point the promised land is the place where god dwells with his redeemed people 00:19:47.900 --> 00:19:54.920 the promised land is a place where god dwells with his redeemed people see all these these three 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:59.259 things that this uh these last three verses talk about let's talk about there's going to be wisdom 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:04.340 in the land that's perceivable by those who are outsiders there's to be righteousness that is not like 00:20:04.340 --> 00:20:10.240 anything that they've seen before and there's the presence of their god he's not a statue but there's a 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:16.880 presence of of god that is alive moving through the people and this is quite unique to israel and so 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:22.640 that's why the promised land is a place where god dwells with his redeemed people there's from eden all 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:29.120 the way to the new jerusalem there's that that flow of restoration of uh in in salvation history that 00:20:29.120 --> 00:20:34.520 that god is trying to bring his people back into his presence he's trying to bring reconciliation between 00:20:34.520 --> 00:20:41.200 humanity and himself so that they will be uh with god and he will be with his people 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:48.640 so here it's talking about wisdom let's look at verse six again 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:55.539 it says keep them and do them so it's talking about keeping the law follow the law do it don't just 00:20:55.539 --> 00:21:01.559 listen but do it because if you don't do it you haven't listened so listen and do and then for for 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:08.200 that will be your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples who when they hear these statutes 00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:14.100 will say surely this great nation is wise and understanding when we think of wisdom 00:21:14.100 --> 00:21:21.279 canadians tend to to love wisdom so that it will help us to overcome something in life it will help 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:26.819 us to pull ourselves out of our misery uh if we if we're depressed or anxious but we'll read maybe a 00:21:26.819 --> 00:21:33.799 horoscope or we'll read um some some type of uh fortune cookie uh you know i i used to do that before as a 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:38.759 christian to be honest and um got pretty frustrated after a while because i noticed that there's a lot 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:43.460 of concert contradictions in those things but then they weren't really helpful they just create a big 00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:50.659 burden uh on me but here canadians i think we love as canadians we love wisdom because it promises 00:21:50.659 --> 00:21:56.480 uh or it might promise to pull us out of our misery or grant us personal success 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:05.140 but here we see that god's wisdom has redemption in view in verse six we saw that god has the nations 00:22:05.140 --> 00:22:11.059 in view so once israel enters the land it's not only to to take possession of the land to to enjoy it for 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:17.200 themselves but it's actually to be witnesses to all people and so wisdom is god's and obedience to 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:26.160 god's law is is god's way of of of evangelism and mission to the world to give us an analogy 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:33.040 or a story some of you might know that i became a christian in university and what happened in 00:22:33.040 --> 00:22:41.200 university was that um i i became very anxious and and very very depressed there was a lot on my on 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:47.019 my plate but i i was putting a lot of pressure on myself and um i started drinking more i started 00:22:47.019 --> 00:22:54.220 as i said i was reading these little pieces of wisdom that weren't good for anything but um i was 00:22:54.220 --> 00:23:01.279 trying to do anything that i could to to escape this this prison that i made myself and um but so 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:07.140 so i started looking out for if there's if there's something good something greater a crutch that actually 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:14.640 works that i that i could use so that i can overcome this misery that i that i'm into and i saw uh out of 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:21.360 all my friends and all the people that were around me at that time and uh and even in my the people at my 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.979 at my school because i was university uh of all these people uh there were people who were you 00:23:26.979 --> 00:23:31.759 know they were really really smart um and they were um but yeah they were really smart but they 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:34.879 didn't really have any joy and there's people who just you know they partied they had a lot of 00:23:34.879 --> 00:23:41.079 happiness but they didn't really seem smart too much so but there was one person that really stood out 00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:51.079 to me who had both uh wisdom like a self-control in in his life and joy that i hadn't seen in anyone 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:56.699 else there was that combination and i think that that's really what wisdom uh is that's what it looks 00:23:56.699 --> 00:24:02.319 like is that there's there's uh there's a type of knowledge and there's a type of of joy mixed 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:07.919 together so i asked this uh this friend who wasn't who was my professor i i saw him maybe twice a week 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:14.259 in a in a small group setting so i asked him uh you know do you have time maybe we can talk i i just 00:24:14.259 --> 00:24:18.900 i don't know what to do there's there's all this you know depression in my life and i don't even know 00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:26.100 what to do about it and so my professor said let's go out for lunch and we went out for lunch and uh so i 00:24:26.100 --> 00:24:32.740 i asked him you know what should i do and he asked me to share a bit of my story so i shared what was 00:24:32.740 --> 00:24:40.039 going on and um he shared with me that he had struggles too very similar to mine there's one 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:47.599 thing that's very different is that um is that he knows jesus um that he shared with me jesus he 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:53.359 shared with me the gospel uh and and talked to me about how jesus is near how jesus uh when he reads 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:58.799 the bible he gets to know uh jesus that jesus is talking to him talking to him uh through reading the 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:05.299 bible and so um i think that's how wisdom really works is that there's an appeal that draws people 00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:10.659 uh to a life that is redeemed and that is lived out by example 00:25:10.659 --> 00:25:17.819 now israel in this in this text is supposed to be a light to the nations 00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:25.720 and they're supposed to to obey god's law because in obeying god's law they would receive the blessing 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:30.559 of the covenant the mosaic covenant they would be able to inherit the land and have permanent 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:37.220 security uh permanent uh prosperity and um and they would have eternal joy in god's presence 00:25:37.220 --> 00:25:41.980 but here's the thing god's law is a revelation of god's character 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:51.180 and that's a problem it's a good thing but it's a problem because who in israel has god's character 00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:57.380 naturally we're all sinful so who out of this group of people would have god's character to be 00:25:57.380 --> 00:26:03.360 able to obey god's law perfectly and do god's law so that they could be able to enjoy the the promises 00:26:03.360 --> 00:26:10.200 of the covenant well here's the here's the good news that god sent his son he sent his son to be 00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:17.920 born a jew in israel to be one like israel so that he can uh in his perfect character perfect life 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:25.100 be able to fulfill god's law and live a life of perfect righteousness so that uh his obedience 00:26:25.100 --> 00:26:31.060 would draw people i'll draw all the nations um some some people here are jewish some people here 00:26:31.060 --> 00:26:36.500 or probably many people here are not jewish and so this in this text we were talking about the king 00:26:36.500 --> 00:26:42.080 of israel who's drawing the people who are not from israel to be a part of that commonwealth and 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:48.579 have the blessing of god's presence and so jesus lived a perfect life of obedience under the law given 00:26:48.579 --> 00:26:56.980 to moses and israel because he was god in the flesh see god saw that it was wise to send his son 00:26:56.980 --> 00:27:06.339 to to live the perfect life to die on behalf when in in a time and a culture and still today in a world 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:13.179 where people build their kingdoms and their dynasties on injustice on the blood of of the 00:27:13.179 --> 00:27:21.299 opposition on um on oppression and god sending his own son did not send him to destroy all these 00:27:21.299 --> 00:27:25.519 kingdoms of the earth no he he sent his son so that his son would shed his own blood 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:34.699 in the face of that culture and in that uh context of the world and so jesus defeated death and sin 00:27:34.700 --> 00:27:40.620 in the flesh so that we could be free to set us free to so we can enjoy eternal life with god 00:27:40.620 --> 00:27:46.840 and therefore the the promises of the mosaic covenant would belong to christ and for all of us 00:27:46.840 --> 00:27:53.460 who put our faith and our trust in jesus we can enjoy uh that uh promise of the covenant that jesus 00:27:53.460 --> 00:28:02.740 will come to make a new uh new heavens and a new earth so here's the last point martin jesus is lord of 00:28:02.740 --> 00:28:09.680 the promised land jesus is lord of the promised land and will establish the new heavens and the 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:16.599 new earth see that's the christian hope the christian hope is not that we can perfectly obey god's law 00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:25.240 and and fulfill god and win his affection for us that way no the christian faith is that jesus has done 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:31.880 that that jesus lived the perfect life and his perfect obedience is uh is something that that he has done 00:28:31.880 --> 00:28:38.640 to to to win by himself and to give to us to share with us so let us pray 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:46.300 lord you've you've given us uh your law but even greater you've given us your son 00:28:46.300 --> 00:28:54.940 so that we can trust in him so that we can know you in an eternal life by faith in him lord would you 00:28:54.940 --> 00:29:03.019 draw our hearts more and more um wherever we are lord wherever we are at um with in relation to you 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:08.779 lord would you draw our hearts even more and would you reveal to us jesus as more beautiful and more 00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:12.539 glorious than ever before in jesus name amen 00:29:12.539 --> 00:29:21.359 lord would you 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:21.420 lord so 00:29:21.420 --> 00:29:23.299 lord so 00:29:23.299 --> 00:29:23.879 lord so 00:29:23.879 --> 00:29:25.059 lord 00:29:25.059 --> 00:29:25.299 lord so 00:29:25.299 --> 00:29:25.379 lord 00:29:25.379 --> 00:29:26.519 lord so 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:26.879 lord so 00:29:26.879 --> 00:29:26.960 lord so 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:27.680 l