We've been working our way through
the Old Testament for the last, oh well, what's it been? Some
time, hasn't it? I've sort of got hung up on the
fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. We've looked at the Ten Commandments
for the last probably three or four weeks or so. And tonight
we want to go on a little bit here in the fourth chapter. This
will probably be our last study in the fourth chapter. But here
beginning in verse 15, down through verse 28. The first thing we
want to look at is Moses instructing Israel here concerning images. The worship of images and the
service of images and the consequences of doing that. We looked there
in verse 13 last week at the giving of the Ten Commandments
and one of the things he told them, when you saw this fire,
up on the mountain, and the mountain shaking, and lightning flashing. He said, you saw no similitude. You saw no likeness of anything.
You only heard the voice of words. You heard the Lord speaking out
of the clouds, the thick clouds. And that's what the book of Deuteronomy
is about. It's not about the ceremonial
law. It's not about the offerings.
It's about the Word of God. It's about the Lord speaking
and our faith in His Word. And tonight we want to begin
with looking at warnings concerning images made. And let's read a
few verses beginning here in verse 15 of Deuteronomy chapter
4. He said, Take ye therefore good
heed unto yourselves. You saw no manner of similitude. You saw no likeness on that day. that the Lord spake unto you
in Horeb, in Mount Sinai, out of the mist of the fire, lest
you corrupt yourselves and make you an image, a graven image,
the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
the likeness of any beast that is in the earth, the likeness
of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness of anything
that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that
is in the waters beneath the earth. Unless you lift up your
eyes unto heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and
the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, that you should be
driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God
has divided unto all nations under the whole heavens." Now,
he gives us He tells us some things, some images. He names
some of the names here in these verses 16, 17, 18 that I read
to you. Heavenly bodies, the moon and
the sun and the stars aren't to be worshipped, aren't to be
served. Birds that fly in the air, the
creeping things that creep upon the earth Creatures of the sea
don't make images of any of these things to worship them. Now,
it's no wonder that he's instructing these not to make images. Because
do you remember when Moses was upon the mountain getting these
commandments? Before he came down from the
mountain, they had made an image, a calf. You think, well, this
is useless to God's people. They don't need these instructions,
but we really do, don't we? We really do. Sometimes it's
not that we don't make images. I don't think any of us have
got any images hidden in our houses, any place that we worship.
But don't we often make them in our minds? And you know before
an image is carved out of wood or stone or some type of gold
or silver, it always originates here, doesn't it? It always originates
in the mind. So you look back through history,
we've had images made in the likeness of men or women. Most
of us are familiar with the goddess Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians. If you look up and see a picture
of her, she's a woman that has all the breasts, fertility, the
goddess of fertility. They worshipped her. Some people
worshipped serpents. They've got different types of
winged fowls that they worship, images that they make. We were
down in the Yucatan a few years ago, some of the preachers were,
and I saw the carvings of a fish. Different places you look, there
were these carvings of a fish. And I thought, I've seen those
before. And we started laughing about
it, and you know where you see the carvings of fish? You keep
an eye out for this and you'll see it. You see it on the back
of cars, and most of them are clergies. And that goes back,
they tell us, for centuries. But what is that? It's an image,
isn't it? It's an image. And we're told
not to make images. Don't make images of anything. Now, there's two ways that people
use images. Some people carve out an image. This happens in other countries.
It's happened in the past. Some people carve out an image,
or they make an image, and they literally believe that God is
in that image. That image is God. You have that
down in Mexico, there's places that literally bow before little
images and worship them. This happened in the New Testament.
Remember when, in Acts chapter 14, when Paul and Silas went
on their missionary journey, and they healed this man that
had been crippled from his mother's womb? Those people in that city
came together to worship those men. And they said, the gods
have come down among us. And Paul and Silas stopped them,
or they would have worshipped those men. Remember the image
that Nebuchadnezzar made out in the desert? out in the big
valley there, and he got all of his counselors together and
his wise men and all the people and commanded them to bow down
and worship that image. There are people, and there have
been people, that really believe that there are images and God
is in that image. And when they worship that image,
they worship God. That's the first way. That don't
happen much. I doubt if you and I know anybody
that worships images and really believe that that image is God. But here's the way most people
worship images. They use those images as representations
of God. They worship God through those
images. It's an aid they use to worship
God with. You remember when Israel made
that calf, the golden calf, They said, these be your gods that
brought you out of the land of Egypt. I sort of doubt if they
believed that that calf was literally what brought them out of the
land of Egypt. Because that calf wasn't around
when they came out of Egypt. I just wonder sometimes if they
weren't saying, this calf, these calves that we've chiseled out
on these rocks, and this golden calf that we've made, this represents
the gods. This is like the God that brought
you out of the land of Egypt. I brought my Catholic dictionary
with me tonight. I want to read, because we know
Catholicism is very fond of images. And if you talk to them, they
say, we don't worship images. We know God's not in the image.
Then you ask them, then why do you make these images? And here's
what they'll tell you if they hold to what Catholicism holds
to. We use these images to worship God, and they're aids to us. Listen to what they say. This
is under the head in veneration of images. The reverence, why
they reverence images. Here's what they say, and I quote,
Honor paid to representations of Christ and the saints. Their
purpose is to adorn, instruct, and excite, to pity, Those who
behold wear or carry images on their persons according to the
counsel of Trent. Images of Christ, of the Mother
of God, and other canonized saints are to be kept in churches, and
due honor paid to them, not because there is any divinity or power
inherent in them as images, but because the honor shown to them
is referred to the prototypes they represent. Through the worship
and reverence so shown, the faithful really worship Christ and honor
the saint whose likeness they display. In other words, the
veneration is relative always being referred back to the original,
never absolute as though the material object is being worshipped
in itself. Now that's what I just said to
you. They say these images, we don't
believe God is in these images. These are not Christ. They refer
us back to the original, to God, to Christ. But that's idolatry,
isn't it? That's idolatry. And we're never
to use any images in the worship of God. Nothing is worthy to
represent God. There was a fellow in the church
that Joe and I used to go to, and they had a large picture
up front. We had some controversy going on over that and among
other things. And we wanted them to take it
down. Of course, when we left, they
never had to take it down, but it was a huge picture. But one of their
elders stood up to testify one night, and this is what he said.
He said, I feel so unworthy. I don't even feel worthy to bow
down before that picture. Now, is that idolatry? He would
have never said that picture is Jesus Christ. But he was saying
that picture represents to me Jesus Christ. And he was almost
saying, if not saying, if I could bow down and worship before that
picture, I would be worshiping Christ through that picture.
But there is nothing. The stars in heaven, the planets,
the birds of the air, the creeping things of the earth, the creatures
in the sea, none of these things are worthy to represent to us
the incorruptible, eternal, holy God. Putting a crucifix around
one's neck? A crucifix is not worthy to represent
the suffering, redeeming Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Images. I want you to turn to a couple
of places. I want you to hold the Deuteronomy 4. Turn just
to two places with me. Look over in Romans. Well, look
in Acts first. Look in Acts chapter 17, and
then look in Romans 1. Turn real quickly, and we'll
read both of these places. Acts chapter 17, and look here
in verse 25. Paul is here at Mars Hill, they
had all these images, all these altars, and he said, I'm going
to tell you about the true God, whom you ignorantly worship.
And he says here in verse 24, look in verse 24, God that made
the world, in all things therein, seeing He is Lord of heaven and
earth. He dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands, as though He needed anything. Sin He gives
to all, life and breath in all things. He is made of one blood,
all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth. He has
determined the times before appointed. He has set the bounds of their
habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they
might feel after Him, and find him, though he be not far from
every one of us. He is everywhere. For in him
we live and move and have our being, as certain also of your
ports have said. For we are also his offspring. Now look in verse 29. Forasmuch
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think. Do not even think. that the Godhead,
the deity, is lack unto gold or silver or stone, graven by
art and man's devices. Nothing represents to us God,
the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things. Look in another
place. Look on over just to your right
in Romans chapter 1. And look in verse 21. Romans 1, verse 21, "...because that when they knew
God..." They knew there was a God. Creation taught them that. "...they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain
in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory
of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible
man, to birds and forfeited beasts and creeping things." That's why we're warned against
image making. We have two elements that the
Lord has left us. Two physical elements that we
use in our worship. Can somebody name what those
two things are? Only two things that represent
something to us. That's it, ain't it? The bread
and the cup. This is my body which is broken
for you. That we can see, that we can
feel. The cup is my blood, my redeeming blood. That's the only
two elements that God has left us. The Lord has left us to remember
Him by. This is why we don't have crosses
on the walls. This is why we don't have pictures
hanging up or anything else. What do we have? We have His
Word, don't we? We have His Word. And that's
all we need. What more can He say than to
you He has said already in His blessed Word? It's the foundation
of our faith. It's the rule of our faith and
our practice. You saw no similitude. You only
heard a voice. And here it is, ain't it? That's
His voice. And you know if He's here in
my stead tonight, you know what He'd be saying? No more than
He's already said. What more can He say than to
you He has already said? Won't you bring Him back in here? Somebody set her a chair out
there, would you, so she can sit down? Right there in the
door. We don't want her standing up holding the little baby. He's
not going to bother me. If He gets loud, take Him on
back again. Calm Him down and bring Him back.
Calm her down. Look back over there in Deuteronomy,
our text again. Images. Here in Deuteronomy 4.21, here's
two warnings now. He gives two warnings about this
image making. Because this was going to be
a stiff neck and hard hearted people. And their history is
one of worshipping gods. That's so sad, but that's what
their history is. One of worshipping images. One
of worshipping gods. And he's going to give them two
warnings. Moses is going to give them two warnings. And you know,
we carry this over in the New Testament, and don't the New
Testament warn us? Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Idols of the minds and idols
that you have to work around every day and deal with. Keep
yourselves from idols. But this is the third time. And
I read this and I thought, why does Moses keep telling the children
and reminding them that the Lord refused to let him go into the
land of promise? This is the third time in this
book we see this. Here in verse 21, Moses is going
to tell them again, the Lord would not let me go into the
land of promise. And I wonder why he's telling
them that again. But here it's in the context
of Idolatry. It's in the context of not honoring
the Lord. You remember why the Lord told
Moses that He wasn't going to let him go into the land of promise?
You didn't honor Me. Wasn't that what it was? You
didn't honor Me. And now He's going to remind the children
of Israel here in verse 21, the Lord is not letting me go in
because I failed to honor Him that one time at the waters of
My God. Now look here what He says, The
Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should
not go over Jordan, and that I should not go into the good
land which the Lord your God giveth thee for an inheritance.
But I must die in this land. I must not go over Jordan, but
you shall go over and possess that good land. Take heed unto
yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God,
which he made with you, and make you an image, a graven image,
or the likeness of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden
thee. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, even a jealous
God." Now, he reminds them here again that he could not go in
because he dishonored the Lord that one time. He said, the Lord
is so jealous of His glory, use me for an example of that. When
I failed to honor Him and give Him glory there at the waters
of strife, when I smoked the rock twice and said, you rebels,
much we fetched you water out of this rock, I didn't honor
God. I didn't glorify Him. He said, therefore, if His judgment
is upon me, then you better be careful. You better be careful
you don't make your images. You better be careful because
if He wouldn't let me go in because I didn't honor Him, You better
be careful he don't judge you. You better be careful. God is
a jealous God. Stay away from idolatry. Stay
away from these images. Worship God in spirit and in
truth. That's the first thing. Here's
the second thing that he gives them. He gives them two things.
First thing, the Lord judged Moses himself. And second thing
here in verse 25 through verse 28, he gives them another warning.
He tells them the sure destruction, their sure destruction. You'll
perish from off of this land if you begin to make yourself
images. If you begin to make idols and worship idols, you'll
perish from off of this land. What a warning! What a warning! Look in verse 25. When you shall beget children,
and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in
the land, and have corrupted yourself and made graven a graven
image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight
of the Lord your God, to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and
earth to witness against you this day. that you shall soon
utterly perish from off the land where you go over Jordan to possess
it. You shall not prolong your days upon it, but you shall utterly
be destroyed, and the Lord shall scatter you among the nations,
and you shall be left few in number among the heathen, whether
the Lord shall lead you. And there you shall serve God's,
the works of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see,
nor hear, nor eat, What a warning! What a warning! And I made a statement Sunday.
Somebody would say, you know, why do we have all these warnings
in the Scripture? And the New Testament especially
is filled with warnings, isn't it? Not only for the lost, but
for Christians. The Lord keeps us by these warnings. He said, I'll put my fear in
their hearts, and they shall not depart from me. I'm afraid
to carve out an image, aren't you? It would scare me to death
for somebody to come in and give me a big photograph of Jesus
and put it on the front of this building. That would scare me
to death. I don't want to offend God, do
you? I don't believe He's going to leave me. I don't believe
He'll leave any of His children. I'm scared to death to think
about it. Aren't you? I tell you, I fear God. I fear
the Lord. I fear Him. I fear what He can
do to me. No images. No idols. Worship God in spirit
and in truth. Worship Him according to His
Word. Anything else is idolatry. I
don't care where we attend services. I don't care what denomination
or head it goes under, if we're not worshiping God according
to the rule of His Word, it's idolatry. Idolatry has filled
the Baptist churches. Idolatry has filled the Nazarene
churches and the Methodist churches and all churches. And here we
have that warning, don't we? We have that warning. And God
help us. The Lord help us. We don't set ourselves above
anybody. But Lord, help us to realize
that we must worship God in spirit and in truth. He's jealous. He's
jealous of His glory. Look in verse 29 and verse 31. We see two more things here. Verse 29 and verse 31. Let me
read it to you. He just told them, you're going
to be driven out into the uttermost parts of the earth. There you
are going to be worshipping all these stones and sticks and stalks
and so on. In verse 29, But if from thence
ye shall seek the Lord your God, and ye shall find him, if ye
seek him with all your heart and with all your soul, when
ye are in tribulation, and all these things are come upon you,
even in the latter days, If you turn to the Lord your God and
shall be obedient unto His voice, there it is, if you believe His
word, for the Lord thy God is a merciful God, He will not forsake
thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of your fathers
which you swore unto them. Now we've got two things here,
and they're so wonderful. First of all, it shows us. that the Bible is God's Word.
This Word is the Word of God. It was inspired. The Lord said
something here. If we're not careful, we'll just
read right over it. But did you notice what He said here in verse
30? Even in the latter days, even
in the latter days, Now, we've lived in the last days ever since
Christ came here and died. He appeared in the last days.
That could be the latter days from there up until now. Paul
talked about the latter days, and the latter days for ever's
time shall come. But here, the Lord predicts that
Israel is going to be a people even in the latter days. Now, ain't that amazing? You
say, Bruce, why is that so amazing? Well, look at the nations, look
at the nationalities that are no more. There were seven nations
that the little nation of Israel went in and took the land from.
They can't find a trace of those nationalities. The Moabites, Amorites, remember
those Amorites that were giants? They're gone. You can't find
a trace of those fellows. The Canaanites, the Perizzites,
all of these mighty nations are gone. But Abraham's earthly seed,
even the natural Jew, where are they? They are still here aren't
they? I tell you there have been people, Hitler tried to wipe
them off, look at the millions he killed. Look at the wrath
of man that they faced, the judgment of God that they faced. Down
through the decades since this time. But the Lord says, you
are going to be here in the latter days. Boy, this book has inspired
it. This is God's Word. Only He could
predict something and bring it to pass after all of these thousands
of years, even in the latter days. Second thing here I thought
was very interesting. We'll spend the rest of our time
on here and then we'll close. I'll try to let you out a little
bit quicker than I usually do. Something else here in verse
31. I want you to notice this. Notice the terms upon which they
were to seek the Lord and to be accepted of Him. Notice in
verse 31, this was a completely different covenant. Did you see
that? For the Lord your God is a merciful
God. He will not forsake you or destroy
you or forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore unto
them. They were to seek the Lord, even
in the last days, if you seek the Lord with all your heart.
But they weren't to seek through the Ten Commandments covenant.
Remember we spent two or three weeks on verse 13? This is the
covenant that God's made with you? Even Ten Commandments? And look what He says again.
Look how the Holy Spirit does this. Look in chapter 5 and look
in verse 2 and 3. The Lord our God made a covenant
with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant
with our fathers, but with us, even us who are all alive here
this day. This was the covenant of the
Ten Commandments. But Moses said here, this is another covenant.
This is a covenant which God made with your fathers. And it had a promise. It was
based upon a promise and it was confirmed by an oath. Did you know that? Did you see
what He said there? God will not destroy you. He will not
forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them. Now, what's that about? Can we
find any place where God swore to anybody that He was going
to bless them? Well, look back. Turn in your
Bibles right quickly. Look back in Genesis chapter
22 right quickly. Genesis chapter 22. As you read the Lord's dealings
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there was a statement that God
made to each of those men. To Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob.
And it was the very same statement. He swore something to them, and
here's what God swore to each one of those men. He said, I
swear unto you that in you shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed. I want to read that to you. The
first time he told Abraham that, this old. This is where Abraham
had offered Isaac. The Lord told him to lay no hand
upon him. He found the ram hung in the thicket behind him. And
here's what the Lord said to him in verse 16 of chapter 22
of Genesis. Verse 15, the angel of the Lord
called Abraham out of heaven a second time and said, By myself
have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because you have done this
thing, and you have not withheld your Son, your only Son, that
in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
your seed as the stars of heaven, as the sand which is upon the
seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gaze of his enemy,
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
Now, you say, Bruce, what does that mean? He promised Abraham,
in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Well, here's the two covenants. Here's the two covenants. We
studied last week on the law, the Ten Commandment law, the
moral law, the covenant of works. And the covenant of works says,
this do, and you shall live. Ain't that what it says? If you
do these things, you shall live by them. That's a covenant of
works. The covenant of grace, the covenant of mercy says this,
I will bless you. Ain't that wonderful? It's not
based upon anything you do. This is why the Lord told the
children of Israel, even in the last days after I've scattered
you because of your idolatry and your rebellion and your hard-heartedness,
when you come back to Me and call upon Me with all your heart,
what's He going to do? He's going to bless them? But
what about the covenant of works? He's going to free them from
it. He's going to deliver them from it. He's going to bless
them. Now I want you to take verse 20 and 18 and run a reference
on it right quickly. I want you to look over in Galatians
chapter 3. In thee shall all nations be
blessed. Look in Galatians chapter 3 and
Paul tells us exactly what this is. Look in verse 6. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness, know ye therefore that they which are of faith
the same are the children of Abraham. For the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen preached before the gospel unto
Abraham. This is the gospel. In thee shall
all nations be blessed. The gospel. That's the gospel.
What does the gospel do? It blesses us, doesn't it? It blesses us. Look in another
place. Look in Hebrews. I don't want
you to laugh. Look in Hebrews chapter 8. Look in verse 6. Hebrews chapter
8 verse 6. You find this. There are so many
scriptures here. Probably some of the scriptures come into your
mind. We could stay here for quite some time and just go to
different scriptures talking about the covenant of grace,
the covenant of mercy, the promise of God to bless, not conditioned
upon anything anybody does, but upon His purpose to bless. And He swore to it. I swear,
I swear, by myself, that blessing, I will bless you. And that's
the gospel. Isn't the gospel a blessing?
Hasn't it come to you and found you when you were dead and trespassed
and sinned and saved you? It come to you when you were
guilty and forgave you. It come to you when you was naked
and it clothed you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God has blessed
you. And why? Because of the promise
he made to Abraham. In you shall all nations be blessed. And that's the gospel. Now look
here in Hebrews chapter 8 and look in verse 6. But now hath he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, obtained a more excellent ministry. He don't have the ministry
as those priests had under the law, the ceremonial law. But
how much also is he the mediator of a better covenant, a better
covenant, which was established upon better promises. The covenant
of words has got promises. Just do and you'll live. That's
a promise, man. You live righteous before God
from the day of your birth to the day of your death. And I'm
telling you, you'll be blessed. God will bless you if you do
that. But you've never done it that
way. With poor sinners is all we are. But here's better promises. Here's better promises. This
is what God's going to do. This is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to gather you. I'm going to pour clean water
upon you. I'm going to put a new heart in you. I'm going to give
you a new spirit. I'm going to cause you to walk
in My statutes and keep My judgments. He begins a work of grace in
us. Ain't that wonderful? That's
better promises, isn't it? Not conditioned upon you, poor
sinner, failing and falling, but it's up on Me. This is what
I wanted. If that first covenant had been
faultless, no place should have been sought for the second. But
finding fault with him, he said, Behold, the day is come, saith
the Lord, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They continue
not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind. What law is that? How about the
law of faith? How about the law of Christ?
Vary ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
How about the law of the spirit of life? I love those laws, don't
you? I'm going to put my laws in your
heart. And write them in your hearts, and I will be to them
a God. And they shall be to me a people.
They shall not teach every man his neighbor, saying, Know the
Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. And
here is what the covenant says, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more. Oh, that's a covenant I want
to be under, ain't you? I don't want to be under a covenant
that God says, you ain't done enough yet. Ain't done enough
yet. When I'm ready to pill on my
dying bed, He still says that to me, you ain't done enough
yet. I want to be under this covenant where the Lord says,
I swear I'm going to bless you. I bless you. Lord, I'm such a
sinner, I know it. And I'm going to be merciful
to your unrighteousness. Is anybody here tonight unrighteous?
Isn't it wonderful when the Lord says, I'm going to be merciful
to your unrighteousness? We'll never be any better. We
try to mend our ways. We pray for grace. We try to
be careful. But I tell you, the older I get,
the worse I get. In here! In here! I love mercy,
don't you? What a sweet sound. Mercy. Mercy. And your sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. One more scripture. And I promise
you, I'll close with this. One more scripture. Look in Luke
chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. This is where John the Baptist
was born. The Lord loosed Zachariah, his
dad's son, and the Holy Spirit came upon him. He began to preach.
And here's what he said. He talked about this covenant
that God made with Abraham. I could have went on and read
to you there in Galatians chapter 3. I didn't, but we could have
went on and read. When the Lord said, In your seed shall all
the nations be blessed. Remember who He was talking about?
It's Christ. In Abraham and his seed. To Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He said not to seeds as
of many, but to thy seed, which is Christ. So the promise that
God would be merciful, the promise that God would forgive our sins
was made to us through Jesus Christ. He is the Savior. But
look here what he says in Luke chapter 1. And look in verse
67. John the Baptist's father. And
his father, John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, was filled
with the Holy Ghost and he prophesied saying, Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel. For He has visited and redeemed
His people. He has raised up an adorn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David. Christ
was born in that house, wasn't He? As He spake by the mouth
of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that
we should be saved. Now here's what that covenant
talks about. That we should be saved from our enemies. Do you have any enemies? Oh,
we had some dreadful enemies. It's not your bad neighbor, either.
Do you know the worst enemy we ever had was sin? That will destroy you, won't
it? The wrath of God? Oh, what an
enemy! To have God's wrath upon us?
Oh, my goodness, that's an enemy. The devil, Satan, his fallen
angel, we had enemies. But he said here that we should
be saved from our enemies, from all that hate us. Look at this. Here's what he's going to do.
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember
His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham. That's why He's going to save
anybody. He's promised to do it. He's took an oath to do it.
that He would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the
hands of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, without an
old slavish fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest. You shall go before the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of
salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercies of our God, whereby that they sprang
from on high, as Bidre does, to give light to them that sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in
the way of peace." And you know the poor Jews as a nation. In
a way, they are still seeking to be accepted, aren't they?
They were seeking to be accepted in the New Testament time. But
Paul said this about them. They are seeking wrong. They
are not seeking the Lord properly, rightly. They sought Him, but
they have not found Him. Why haven't they found Him? Because
they sought Him not by faith, but as it were, by the deeds
of the law. I fast twice a week. Well, what
has that got to do with finding the Lord? I pay tithes of all
that I possess. What has that got to do with
the need of mercy and forgiveness of sin? Paul said they miss Christ. Because they knew nothing about
this covenant of grace, this covenant of mercy, this oath.
But I tell you, I think even in our day, even in our day,
when the Lord opens a Jew's heart, He'll save him. He'll save him. But He won't save him by any
ceremonial law. Don't look for that temple of
God to be rebuilt. I'm telling you folks, it ain't
going to happen. Don't look for the Lord Jesus Christ to come
back down where you can see Him reigning for however many years
He's been said He's going to reign. If anybody's saved, Jew
or Gentile, they'll all be saved by God's mercy that's in Jesus
Christ, a redeeming Savior. That's it. That's it. Well, we'll
pick up maybe in Chapter 4 next week and finish that up. I've
got a few more things I want to say there. Then we'll go to
Chapter Bye.