Talk 3 - Please get Practical (+ Q&A with Simon)

Good morning, church family.

So the Bible reading for this session is Deuteronomy chapter 12,

Deuteronomy 12 · chapter mention

and we're going to be reading from verses 1 to 18.

So that's Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 1 to 18.

Deuteronomy 12:1–18

These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord,

the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.

You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods,

on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their ashram with fire.

You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.

You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way,

but you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes

to put his name and make his habitation there.

There you shall go and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices,

your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings

and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

And there you shall eat before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice,

you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today,

everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

For you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.

But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit,

and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around so that you live in safety,

then to the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell there,

there you shall bring all that I command you,

your burnt offerings and your sacrifices,

your tithes and the contribution that you present,

and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God,

you and your sons and your daughters,

your male servants and your female servants,

and the Levite that is within your towns,

since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes.

There you shall offer your burnt offerings,

and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns as much as you desire,

according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.

Only you shall not eat the blood, you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain,

or of your wine or of your oil,

or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock,

or any of your vow offerings that you vow,

or your freewill offerings,

or the contribution that you present.

But you shall eat them before the Lord your God,

in the place that the Lord your God will choose,

you and your son and your daughter,

your male servant and your female servant,

and the Levite who is within your towns.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God,

in all that you undertake.

weisem & Grodus

Thank you.

We had four chapters in the first talk.

We had seven in the second talk.

And we have 14 in this talk.

But don't despair because we're not going to run through 14 chapters at all.

We're going to just pick and choose.

I don't know if you've heard the story before of the police cadets who are doing an exam.

And the question says, you're driving down the road, you, young policeman, policewoman,

and you come across a huge accident where cars have all crashed into one another.

One of them has hit a fire hydrant.

Water is pouring into the air.

There's a large dog that has just bitten a small boy.

A young man has just grabbed the handbag of a lady and is running off.

People have begun looting some of the shops that have been hit.

And in the distance you see a fire has broken out on the third floor of a nearby building.

What is your first course of action?

And one of the police students wrote, carefully remove uniform and mingle with crowds.

And there are those times where you think, let me out of here.

Don't despair as we come to our third session.

It's going to be manageable.

And what I've tried to do, if you're new and this is your first time,

is we've tried to look through the book of Deuteronomy, which is 34 chapters,

and we've tried to walk through it quite quickly.

Because as I was saying to somebody over morning tea,

we either take a couple of little bits and you say, yeah, well, that's great.

What's the big book about?

Or we attempt to do what we're doing, which is to walk through it.

So if you're here for the first time, let me tell you that Deuteronomy is set out like

a treaty between God and his people as they are about to go into the promised land.

And the first four chapters are basically Moses recapping the trip so far.

The next chapters 5 to 11 are talking about the relationship that God has with his people,

full of privilege and also responsibility.

Not that the responsibility will create the security.

God will create the security.

But there needs to be a response.

Now we're going to come to what is really the unpacking of the Ten Commandments.

And so if you are reading chapters 12 to 26,

you would notice that the chapters correspond fairly closely with the Ten Commandments.

Let me show you what I mean.

Deuteronomy 12, which we just had read for us,

has to do with worshipping God, commandment 1.

Deuteronomy 13 has to do with idolatry, commandment 2.

Deuteronomy 14 has to do with who you are, commandment 3.

Deuteronomy 15 to 16 has to do with feasts, or we might say Sabbath, commandment 4.

Deuteronomy 17, 18 has to do with authority figures, judges, priests, prophets, kings.

We might call that the parental, commandment 5.

Deuteronomy 19 to 21 has to do with fighting and war.

We might call that commandment 6.

And Deuteronomy 22 to 24 has to do with marriage.

We might call that commandment 7.

And Deuteronomy 25, 26 is a range of thoughts on the subject of honesty and greed, etc.

So some people say, no, no, this is too clever.

It's not really the unpacking of the commandments.

But many people think it is, and I think it is.

And so if somebody said, well, commandment number 1, worship God, what does that look like?

Deuteronomy 12 spells it out in very practical details for the people of Israel.

Can I remind you that Israel, picture the million people.

That's a nation.

They need laws to do with taxes and land rights and armies.

But they're also a church.

And so they need rules to do with ceremony and sacrifice and forgiveness and thanksgiving to God.

They're a nation and they're a church.

And therefore, when we read Deuteronomy 12 to 26, although a lot of what is there is not relevant to us.

Animals you can eat, animals you can't eat.

But it's still instructive.

It's still informative.

Because it tells us what God was doing with his people.

And the principles are useful for us today.

So that's why Jesus can say that it's all written about him.

Because in the end, it's all bringing us to him.

Interesting that the popular religions today, think of your friends who would say they were Buddhists,

have got, you'll notice, no authority over them.

So convenient, isn't it?

Nobody tells me what to do.

But God is an authority.

And his authority is a loving, safekeeping authority.

Now, I thought that I would pick a few bits of the commandments from this section.

And so you'll see on your outline that I've tried to pick commandment 1, 3, 6 and 7.

And we'll just look at those quite quickly.

Okay?

Are you with me?

Did any of that make sense?

I'm going to pretend it did.

Commandment 1, Deuteronomy 12.

You remember how the chapter begins?

And I'll just remind you of the first couple of verses.

Where Moses says, these are the statues and judgments in the land which the Lord your God's giving you.

First thing, destroy the idols.

Then verse 9, 5.

Verse 5.

Seek the place where the Lord your God chooses.

Those of you who remember the great John Chapman may remember him telling a story where somebody comes up to him in the break and brings him a cup of tea with three sugars and white milk.

And Chapo says, well, that's very kind of you.

I actually drink black coffee, no sugar.

And the simple point is that the person wanted to be helpful but didn't listen to what actually he was looking for.

And it's typical John Chapman illustration.

So simple.

But there are so many people who think, I'll give God what I think he wants.

But we need to listen very carefully to what he says he wants.

And it's here in Deuteronomy chapter 12.

Deuteronomy 12 · chapter mention

First thing is you enter the promised land, get rid of the idols.

Destroy them, break them down, smash them, get rid of them.

Because, verse 3, you're not to worship God like this, Yahweh like this.

This is a big issue for believers when they come from animist religions.

And they have to somehow get rid of the infection and the infiltration and the contamination of their old faith.

God is not to be fitted in to something else.

Everything is to be fitted into what he asks.

And as I mentioned, the idols of Canaan were very attractive.

And so getting rid of them was a costly thing to do but infinitely worthwhile.

And then, says the Lord, verse 5, seek the place the Lord chooses.

Bring the appropriate sacrifices, verse 6, verse 7, because I want you to rejoice.

How interesting.

God says, worship where I say and worship how I say because I want you to be happy.

Now, the place, of course, eventually would be Jerusalem.

But, obviously, Moses in Deuteronomy is not talking about a specific place like Jerusalem.

He just says, when God says this is the place to worship him, that's the place to worship him.

Eventually, it will be Jerusalem.

And you're to bring the sacrifices that God asks for.

So, chapter 12, verse 8, don't do as you see fit.

But go to his place with his sacrifices and the joy will follow.

Well, the worship of God, you see, is like chopping a log.

If you chop with the grain, the axe moves much more carefully.

If you try to chop against the grain, it's much more difficult.

And this section of worshipping God as he calls us to reminds us how Jesus in John 4 said that we should worship him in spirit and truth.

It's not enough just to be sincere.

It's possible to be sincere but wrong.

I'm always disappointed with people in churches who say, I don't read my Bible but I do pray.

And I think I hate those relationships.

When nobody ever listens, they just talk.

And we must treat God as somebody who not only will listen to us but who speaks to us.

We must hear him and we must speak to him.

And, of course, when we hear him, we'll speak to him more wisely, more carefully.

And then, of course, the place where we meet God today is not a building.

We may hear the gospel in a building but the place we meet him is Jesus.

That's why Jesus described himself as the temple where we will meet God.

And the sacrifice that we need to relate to God is Jesus.

And the joy that comes from this is Jesus' joy.

So this chapter 12 is a very wonderful call to take seriously the God of the first commandment.

The devil, of course, comes along and offers us all sorts of alternatives.

But you'll discover down those roads that he's fooled you.

We're slow learners.

We keep going down dopey roads.

But eventually, in the goodness of God, we come back and humbly agree that he's right.

So that's commandment number one.

Commandment number two.

Sorry, commandment number three, which relates to Deuteronomy 14,

seems to be the commandment about being God's special people.

Now, how do you identify as God's people in the world today?

You could wear the cross around your neck.

You could get a great tattoo indicating you're a believer.

But in the end, the way that you're going to show yourself to be the people of Jesus

is going to have a lot more to do with what comes up from the heart.

Now, when we get to the end of this session, there's going to be a Q&A.

And I forgot to say how helpful it would be if you think of some good questions.

Because there's nothing worse in a Q&A when there's dead quiet.

And then finally, somebody says,

Do you think there's life on Jupiter?

And I say, I don't.

And then we hang around for another five minutes waiting for somebody to say,

Have you ever eaten a shark?

And I say, no.

Those Q&As are terrible.

Try to think of some good questions that emerge from Deuteronomy

or from your Christian life.

And that will make everything buzz along.

And if I don't know the answer,

I'll just call on many of the great pastors who are in this room to help us out.

But the Q&A can be great if you make it great.

So dive in with your questions.

Let's go to Commandment 3, Deuteronomy 14.

We didn't read this chapter.

It seems to be about being the people of God.

And verses 1 to 2 are very interesting.

And I will read them to you.

And then I'll tell you a little more.

First of all, Chapter 14, 1 and 2.

Imagine this is the unpacking of Commandment 3.

You're the children of the Lord your God.

You shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead.

For you're a holy people to the Lord your God.

And the Lord has chosen you to a people for himself,

a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

The rest of the chapter has to do with clean and unclean animals.

And the last bit has to do with tithing.

So what does this have to do with being a believer today?

Can you imagine studying this in your own small group or your youth group

or trying to preach this to your congregation?

And you think, well, what will I do with this?

But let me ask you this.

If you lived in the peoples of the land

and you were not the people of Yahweh

and one of your relatives died,

tragically,

why might you cut yourself?

Why might you shave your head in a strange and distraught way?

Why might you do that?

Any thoughts?

I've got two possibilities.

To show your grief, your distress.

Yes.

Yeah.

The other possibility?

To?

Oh, to buy something.

A bargaining.

A bargaining.

Yes, I hadn't thought about that.

Yeah.

Is this a way of appeasing the gods

and getting some reprieve?

I've got another possibility

and it relates to 1 Kings 19.

Manipulation is a good word for it.

It's the prophets of Baal

trying to get the attention of Baal

by slashing themselves.

So can you imagine a pagan faced with death

and they start cutting themselves,

the family?

What are they doing?

They could be grieving.

This is so distressing.

They could be saying,

I'm doing this to make sure that I can buy favour

or it could be that they're saying,

oh God, gods, gods, gods up there

or whoever you are,

please take notice.

Step in and do something.

Come on, help us out.

And you can see how terrible and distressing that is

and you can see why Moses says to the people of Israel,

don't do that.

You're not going to do that.

When it comes to death,

you're not going to do that

because in the end,

the people of Israel have got some clues

that death is not the end.

There are little hints, aren't there,

in the Old Testament,

shadowy ideas that death is not the end.

Can you think of any from the Old Testament?

I'll give you an example.

Psalm 23,

Another example from the Old Testament?

Enoch walking with God.

Yeah, there's an unusual situation.

Elijah disappearing.

Yeah, David, when his son died,

he said he will not come back to me

but I'll go to be with him.

Paul?

That's too clever an answer.

I just wanted a simple answer

from the ordinary people,

from the plebs,

not the clergy kids.

That's terrific.

I'm thinking of things like Job.

I know that my Redeemer lives,

chapter 19.

And even if this body perishes,

yet in my flesh will I see God.

What an amazing diamond

to come up from the book of Job.

Psalm 23,

Enoch,

Elijah,

Psalm 16,

treasures at your right hand.

There's a whole lot of little shadowy things.

Daniel chapter 12,

Daniel 12 · chapter mention

the dead will rise from the dust.

Pictures of the resurrection

in the Old Testament.

But if you were to ask

the people of Israel,

what's your clue for the future?

They can't quote Psalm 23.

It hasn't happened yet.

They can't quote Psalm 16.

They can't possibly quote the book of Job.

But Jesus would say to them

exactly what Paul just said.

God is the God of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob.

Do you remember when Jesus

was being challenged by the Sadducees

and they mocked him

for the whole idea of a future?

And they made up that story

of the lady who died

after having been married seven times

and whose wife will she be?

And laugh, laugh, laugh,

mock, mock, mock.

You know, there's no future.

And Jesus said,

God is the God

of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob.

It's not he was the God

of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob.

He is the God

of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob.

Because when you come

into a covenant with God,

how could that break?

How could that break?

And we know from the New Testament

that death cannot break the covenant

because of Christ taking death for us.

And so Deuteronomy 14

is previewing the importance

of the people of God,

even in the Old Testament,

having a confidence in Yahweh

in the face of death.

And no wonder Paul takes up

the whole principle

in 1 Thessalonians 4

where he says,

we're to grieve,

but not as those without hope.

And so you'll know

if you go to the funeral

of a pagan,

I mean, imagine the funeral

that's coming up

for Shane Warne.

It will be full of grief

and it will be full of memories.

But unless I'm mistaken,

there'll be no hope.

There'll be no gospel.

There'll be no future.

There'll be no glory.

It will just be grief

and memories.

It'll just be looking backwards.

And the mark of the Christian funeral

is that we're able

to look back and look forward.

We're able to grieve

and we're able to hope.

And we don't have to just do one

and not the other.

And that's why the funeral

of the believer

is better than just

25 helium balloons

going up into the air.

And what is said

at a Christian funeral

may be very feeble,

but what's said

on the other side of the river,

welcome,

is very precious.

For the pagan,

what's said on this side

of the river

may be very grand,

the MCG,

the SCG,

filled with people,

but what's said

on the other side

of the river,

that's more significant,

isn't it?

The terrible thought

of coming to the other side

of the river

and for the Lord Jesus

to say,

I don't know you.

Depart.

It's a really big issue.

And Deuteronomy 14

in these strange

first two verses

is raising this fantastic issue

that the believers

are to live in the world

with a past

and a future.

And the world

is only marked

so much by the past.

I read a book recently

called Mortals,

written by two psychologists

in the eastern suburbs

of Sydney,

and their argument

is basically

that you've got to just learn

to live with the fact

that you're mortal,

so make the most of your life

because there's nothing

to come.

And the book then argues

that all religions

are basically games

that people play

to invent

some kind of future.

And I wrote to them

and I said,

look,

I don't think

you've done justice

to the fact

of the person of Christ

who genuinely lived

and genuinely died

and if you look

at the evidence,

genuinely rose.

And I don't see

how you can dismiss

the sensible faith

of two billion people

in the resurrection.

So that's the context

of the world we live in,

isn't it?

No wonder Deuteronomy 14

is a great challenge

to the people of Yahweh

to live differently

in the world.

Now the second bit

in Deuteronomy 14

has to do with the food laws

and I didn't get anybody

to read these

because they're so funny

and we would find ourselves

sort of laughing.

You know,

you can eat the ox,

the sheep,

the goat,

the deer,

the gazelle,

the rose deer,

the wild goat,

the mountain goat,

the antelope.

But you can't eat

the swine.

I can't see

how the rest of it

all fits together.

You shall not eat

the eagle,

the vulture,

the buzzard,

the red kite,

the falcon,

the kite,

raven,

ostrich,

short-eared owl,

seagull,

hawk.

What is going on?

What is going on?

You can imagine

the unbeliever

who sort of comes

across this chapter

says this is a fantastic

chapter to whip

the people of God with

because why aren't

they doing this?

And which of you

have gone to the

supermarket this week

and carefully avoided

the red kite?

Now what's going on

in these verses?

The answer is that

these are not

unhygienic animals.

We know that

because there came a time

where Jesus said

you can eat

whatever you want to.

It's not a hygiene issue.

It's not even a

this is what the pagans

in the promised land

eat now

so don't eat them.

This is sheer sovereignty

of God.

This is just the absolute

decision-making power

of God.

This is in,

this is out.

This is clean,

this is unclean.

Watch carefully.

And so the people of God

every time they went

to the shops

they would be remembering

that there was a clean

and an unclean.

And every time

they sat at breakfast

and every time

they sat at their lunch table

and every time

they sat at their dinner table

they would remember

that there was a clean

and an unclean.

And God had made them clean.

Why?

Deuteronomy 7

because he loved them.

That's all.

And there's an unclean

amongst whom they live

to whom they have a mission.

So all of this teaching

on the animals to be eaten

and the animals not to be eaten

are to teach the people of God

every day

that God is a God

who has his own people

to reach the lost.

The food laws of course

were abolished

in the New Testament

by Jesus

because he paid the price

of our failures

but he also

has brought in

a cleanness

which has got nothing

to do with rule keeping

and animals

but has got to do

with forgiveness

and a new heart.

And so

we're not the sort of people

who are interested

so much in external

ritual

as internal change.

Well how do we show

our distinctiveness?

We show it mostly

by asking the Lord

to fill and rule our heart

so that when we walk

into the day

he might help us

to think, say

and do the things

that would mark us

as his people.

And a huge part

of witness today

is not cleverness

it's just faithfulness.

And as I said last night

it's sometimes

being asked a question

and giving an honest answer.

A small, short, honest answer.

Do you remember

Colson

the right hand man

of the President Nixon

who was so tough

they said he would

sacrifice his grandmother

if the decision

required it.

And he was deeply

impressed by a man

called Tom Phillips

who in the midst

of the White House

was just such a nice man.

And eventually

Colson went round

to see him

this tough, tough Colson

and Tom Phillips

opened up

mere Christianity

and read to him

from C.S. Lewis

and the whole subject

of pride.

And Colson went back

to his car

and he sat at the wheel

of his car

and the evening

was pouring with rain

he said there was

more water in the car

than there was

outside the car

because he was

so convicted

you know

tears rolling down

his face.

And it came through

the example

of a guy

just living

like a believer

and that's the sort

of thing

that you can do.

And the way

you live

amongst your people

just asking

the Lord

to help you

to be distinctive

is so important

and you've no idea

where it will lead.

The last words

in chapter 14

have to do

with tithing

and basically

it's just teaching

the community

that they're not

just to be grasping

people

but giving people.

And

that's of course

what the gospel does

doesn't it?

It changes you

from being just

a taker

and there's

nothing so satisfying

as seeing the gospel

change somebody's

heart so that

they become

spontaneously generous.

I'm working

in a little church

in the eastern suburbs

I've just been there

for a year

it's a building

that holds 600 people

there's about 40

who come

and it's

kind of shocked

me to realise

that probably

35 of them

are not believers

and the giving

is kind of nothing.

People are literally

getting out two coins

and putting it

in the offertory bag

because their heart

has not been changed

but when the heart

gets changed

everything is opened

and freed

and generosity

flows.

I just want to point out

to you one unusual

verse 1421

which has always

intrigued me

and I've now worked

out what it is

and so I'm going

to tell you

and this will be

a groundbreaking

moment for all of you

it's a small joke

1421

you shall not eat

anything

what does he say

at the end

at the end

of verse 21

you shall not

boil a young goat

in its mother's milk

you shall not

boil a young goat

in its mother's milk

and believe it or not

commentators have

agonised

over what this

was all about

and I think

it's a proverb

I think

it represents

a saying

which is something

like this

don't take

what is meant

to

be good

for you

and turn it

into something

which

kills you

don't turn

perhaps the law

of God

which is meant

to bless you

and make it

something

which will

destroy you

don't take

the milk

of a mother

which is meant

to feed a baby

and cook

that baby

in the milk

the baby kid

I think

that's what

it's about

I think

at the end

of the chapter

that Moses

is saying

don't mix

up the categories

of God

and end up

destroying yourself

with what should

help you

so that's the

second command

we're looking at

the third one

chapter 20

which I've

called

commandment

6

and it's

got to do

with going

to war

and it's just

worth looking at

especially in the

light of what's

happening in the

north of the

world at the

moment

because some

people may

say and

think well

this is the

sort of thing

that God

does

I preached

on Deuteronomy

20 in my

church and a

couple left

the church

after the

sermon

forever

because they

were offended

by the chapter

and they said

we don't believe

God could do

this

in Deuteronomy

19

we're told

there are to

be safe

cities

where you

can run

to if

you commit

manslaughter

before you

get tried

in chapter 21

there's

instruction about

what to do

if you find

a body

in a field

but in

chapter 20

there is

the will

of God

for the

taking of

the promised

land

and as I

mentioned to

you before

this taking

of the promised

land is a

one-off

never to be

repeated

invasion

it just

doesn't come

up again

and again

in the

Bible

it's just

a one-off

and we

need to

remember

when we

think about

God

taking the

promised

land

remember

there are

a lot

of people

in the

promised

land

we need

to remember

first that

God

owned the

promised

land

as I

said to

you last

night

he waited

four centuries

for the

people to

turn to

him

but they

didn't

he

communicated

to the

whole of

the land

because you

remember

Rahab the

prostitute

said we've

all heard

about

Yahweh

we've

heard about

the

exodus

we've

heard about

the crossing

of the

Red Sea

this is a

God of

justice

it's time

for justice

there's a

time for

justice

but he's

also merciful

because he

says you're

to go to

the towns

around and

still offer

them

mercy

but of

course God

is a God

who keeps

his promises

and he's

promised in

the end

that he

will bring

his

judgment

can't

escape

that

he's a

judge

he's a

good judge

and he

obviously

is providing

for his

people a

promised land

as he

said he

would

and this

is also a

preview of

the glory

to come

so Deuteronomy

20 is the

most amazing

procedure for

an invasion

look at

chapter 20

verse 1

Moses says

don't be afraid

God is with

you

can you

imagine

world war

one chaplains

going up to

the troops

or world war

two chaplains

or Afghani

chaplains

going up

and saying

to the

troops

let's

remember

that God

is with

us

you wouldn't

dare to

do that

what you

could do

is say

let's pray

that God

would be

with us

but this

is God's

war

and so

the priest

is to say

God is

with you

then he

says in

verses 2

to 4

you're going

to be

victorious

so don't

let your

heart faint

don't be

afraid

don't tremble

don't be

terrified

the Lord

your God

is with

you

to fight

for you

against

your enemies

to save

you

he's going

to win

this war

it's a

winning

war

third he

says go

home if

you've got

a new

house

and you'd

like to

work on

the house

go home

if you've

got a new

vineyard

and you'd

like to

pick some

grapes

go home

if you've

got a

new

fiance

go home

if you

feel

frightened

kind of

gives you

plenty of

escape

doesn't

it

in other

words

God is

not

dependent

on the

numbers

for the

battle

if he's

left with

ten people

he'll do

it with

ten

if he's

got

ten thousand

he'll do

it with

ten thousand

and then

verse ten

of chapter

twenty

offer peace

to the

cities

nearby

but there'll

be no

peace for

the cities

in the

midst of

the

promised

land

and

this

battle

that is

to take

place

is a

really

serious

sobering

battle

but it's

not as

serious

as the

battle

that's

described

in

revelation

which is

a massive

global

battle

a

judgment

of very

great

proportions

remember

that the

Bible

is descriptive

of invasion

not

prescriptive

does that

make sense

the Bible

describes

this

invasion

it does

not

prescribe

an

invasion

the

Quran

prescribes

an

invasion

the

Bible

does

not

and at

the very

end of

Deuteronomy

20

we're told

that they

are to

look after

the fruit

trees

of the

land

don't

attack

the fruit

trees

of the

land

what a

funny

thing

to say

why does

Moses say

don't attack

the fruit

trees

of the

land

well

because

you're

going to

be living

there

and

therefore

if you

need

wood

don't

cut

down

the

fruit

trees

cut

down

the

other

trees

but

don't

cut

down

the

fruit

trees

because

you're

going to

be

living

there

and

the

fruit

trees

of

the

Bible

are

such

a

beautiful

theme

in

the

Bible

you've

got

fruit

trees

in

Genesis

and

then

you've

got

fruit

trees

in

the

promised

land

and

then

at

the

end

of

the

Bible

chapter

is

if

you

were

to

preach

it

I

think

it

would

be

very

important

to

explain

to

people

that

this

was

a

one-off

that

it

was

a

piece

of

justice

following

a

great

deal

of

mercy

and

that

in

the

end

the

Lord

Jesus

has

won

a

much

bigger

victory

which

we

can

take

part

in

and

escape

justice

and

receive

mercy

and

then

the

last

command

I

was

thinking

of

looking

at

is

command

number

seven

which

is

Isaiah 21 · chapter mention

chapters

21

to

24

and

I'll

just

say

very

quickly

that

when

you

read

these

chapters

that

have

to

do

with

taking

of

slaves

or

taking

captive

people

who've

been

conquered

in

battle

it

all

looks

terrible

to

us

but

actually

it

was

revolutionary

in

the

warfare

if

you

were

a

pagan

and

you

conquered

another

country

you

did

whatever

you

wanted

with

those

people

and

I

mean

whatever

you

wanted

but

God

says

no

when

you

find

people

who

are

the

victims

of

war

you're

to

look

after

them

you're

not

to

abuse

them

you're

to

care

for

them

you're

to

dress

them

you're

to

treat

them

with

dignity

they're

not

your

property

a

wife

is

not

to

be

just

grabbed

or

humiliated

and

if

you

do

take

her

for

a

wife

and

there

is

a

divorce

to

follow

she's

not

your

property

you've

got

to

look

after

her

it's

quite

revolutionary

I

think

that's

probably

enough

I

think

that's

probably

enough

there

are

the

little

tastes

of

the

commandments

being

unpacked

in

Deuteronomy

looking

at

the

practical

details

of

living

for

him

okay

it's

12

o'clock

on the

dot

what time

was I

meant

to

finish

okay

okay

I'll

pray a

short

prayer

and then

I'll

just

see

if

you've

got

any

questions

that

you

would

like

to

ask

about

any

of

this

or

whether

anybody

lives

on

Jupiter

okay

let's

pray

heavenly

father

we thank

you

for the

very

wise

and

wonderful

words

that

you

gave

to

your

people

about

living

for

you

in

the

promised

land

we

thank

you

that

you

give

to

us

not

just

instructions

but

you

give

to

us

transformation

through

the

Lord

Jesus

and

we

pray

that

you

would

work

in

our

hearts

that

we

might

be

inwardly

not

just

new

people

but

in

your

goodness

faithful

and

even

fruitful

we

ask

it

in

Jesus

name

amen

okay

any

quick

thoughts

okay

so

the

first

one

there's

eight

questions

here

so

we'll

maybe

not

how

much

time

do

we

have

all

right

somebody

keep

a time

for me

then

okay

so

I've

got

names

but I

won't

mention

the

names

so

if

you

can

just

go

back

to

chapter

five

verse

two

to

start

with

and

while

you're

doing

that

I'll

read

one

question

here

but

I'm

going

to

break

the

rule

so

the

first

question

is

have

you

ever

eaten

a

shark

now

I

was

going

to

leave

these

anonymous

but

Elise

Smith

can

you

stand

up

please

stand

up

so

Simon

can

see

you

so

he

will

deal

with

you

be it

ever

so

severely

and

we

will

encourage

him

to

think

more

justice

than

mercy

at

this

point

okay

so

all

right

first

question

I'm

going

to

read

it

out

so

people

can

get

a

gist

of

it

and

give

you

30

seconds

to

think

in

the

analogy

with

children

being

secured

in

a

trip

being

salvation

without

obedience

still

resulting

in

eternal

life

isn't

this

contradictory

with

where

it

says

that

if

you

disobey

the

cursing

will

fall

on

the

Israelites

from

the

Old

Testament

alternatively

in the

Bible

where it

warns about

falling

away

just

interested

to hear

your

opinion

on the

bounds

of

scripture

with

this

topic

that is

a great

question

I'm so

glad you

raised

it

in

Deuteronomy

you've

got the

promise of

blessing

and you've

got the

warning of

cursing

and in

the book

of

Hebrews

you've

got some

tremendous

promises

and some

very serious

warnings

I think

my question

is how

do we

consider these

promises and

warnings within

the covenant

people of

God