Revering the Word
Deuteronomy 14 The New Testament lens in viewing the Old
Good morning everyone this morning. We are in chapter 14 I really think yesterday's message is important and relates to today as well where the title of yesterday's message in judradami 13 was Everything was written for us, but not to us and That's a very important concept, especially when studying the Old Testament To understand that it's all for us We want to learn the foundation of everything that God has spoken But we have to ask ourselves is in this dispensation in this season of history biblical history in this on this side of the new covenant What still applies today? What are we learning? That's historical to learn about Israel and what was enforced then and you know What is still enforced today? That's an important question when studying the scriptures and here we have in verse 1 You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead for you are a holy people to the Lord your God and The Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth now apparently there was some practice of pagan people of that day that they would shave themselves and Sometimes to do it for a false God and God did not want his people participating in any of that now It also says here in verse 2 that we read that you are Are to be a people of his own possession out of all the peoples of the earth. What's very interesting is that gets brought forward into the New Testament The Apostle Peter talks about that I believe it's in first Peter chapter 2 where he says you are chosen people you are a holy nation you are a kingdom of priests and That's where that passage comes from by the way is Exodus 19 originally that that the people were God's own possession and and Now the Christian church those who have believed in Jesus have been Grafted into this special chosen family and now anyone who believes in Jesus is part of that family So that's something that's very different in the New Covenant era that we live in today Versus at this time it was Israel that was God's special chosen people Then it gets into the two food and it says you should not any any detestable thing These are the animals you may eat and I'm not going to go through the list but it goes through the animals that in the Old Testament that were clean and they could eat and Animals in the Old Testament that were unclean and they should not eat and I think it's Interesting to look at what God established in the beginning as far as what animals to eat and not eat and God had his Reasons for doing so and some people might even think today, you know what? You know most of the things that are unclean we don't eat today I mean it gets into like eagles and you know different kinds of birds like that Owl, you know, I've never ate anything like that an ostrich A raven a vulture a stalk a heron a bat. I mean none of those things I would eat anyways, but some things We do eat today or many people do eat today like the pig and Like the shrimp those are two big examples that would have been things not to eat in Old Testament that People do eat today now some people would say it's just best not to eat those things God had a reason and we're not going to eat them and you have the right to do that, you know And it's okay if you don't want to eat those things But God has now established all food is clean. You might recall In Acts chapter 10 and then I'm going to be reading from Acts 11 where Peter recounts what happened to him in Acts chapter 10 when God gave him a vision that all things were clean and and He was in in a lot in Acts 11. He's relaying what happened in Verse 6 and when I fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air I also heard a voice saying to me get up Peter kill and eat But I said by no means Lord being a good Jew for nothing Holy or unclean has ever entered my mouth But a voice from heaven answered a second time what God has cleansed no longer consider unholy This happened three times and everything was drawn back up into the sky and This is a vision that Peter had a dream while he was on a house in Japa and He realized that God was communicating to him a couple things one that all animals were considered clean now That we didn't have to abide by the old covenant in this regard and also what happened in this situation is they used to The Jews used to look down on Gentiles and not want to associate with them and right when this dream Vision ended some Gentiles came to his door and said hey Cornelius a Gentile has sent for you He wants you to come preach the gospel to him and Peter normally wouldn't go with Gentiles like that back You know in Old Testament days, but God was indicating to him not only that food were clean But that he was supposed to share the gospel with Gentiles. There were a lot of things that were changing So that vision had a multifold purpose to it We can also see in Romans chapter 14 On multiple occasions in this chapter it says that One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he was weak eats own eats vegetables Only the one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat you know, you can eat whatever you want today and Listen, it says later on and this gets into things like the Sabbath It says one versus Romans 14 one person regards one day above another another Regards every day alike each person must be fully convinced in his own line He observed the the day observe it for the Lord and he who eats does so for the Lord For he gives thanks to God and he who eats not For the Lord. He does not eat and give thanks to God so There there aren't there are not Sabbath days like they were in the Old Testament There are not unclean foods like there were in the Old Testament. However, let's say you want to honor us Saturday Sabbath you have a right to do that. Let's say you want to honor us Sunday Sabbath You have a right to do that, but don't place that as a You know a place of division or derision within the church You know, that's a personal conviction and you have a right to to honor that personal conviction And you should if you're really convinced that you need to do something, but you can't place that around everyone else It verse 10 of chapter 14 of Romans, but why do you judge your brother or again? Why do you regard your brother with contempt for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God? So it's not it's not about judging others or placing a noose around them of Old Testament law as though They have to follow it The way that the Old Testament people did we live in a different era now We don't have to follow this listen to what he says in verse Romans 14 14. I know an unconvinced in the Lord Jesus That nothing is unclean of itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean To him it is unclean. So It's not unclean in itself You're allowed to eat now, you know things are clean But if you really feel like You know, it's best that you don't need something and that the Lord even has placed it upon your heart not to eat it Then go ahead. Don't don't eat it. That's okay, but it's not for everyone else in fact go to one other area in Colossians chapter two verse 16 it says therefore No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day Things which are a mere shadow of what is to come? But the substance belongs to Christ. We're not under the Old Testament law You do need to have a New Testament lens to look Through in order to see what's still enforced today. There are some moral laws of The Old Testament that God is even strengthened. I mean, you know in the Old Testament you weren't to commit adultery now A man is not even supposed to permit himself to lust after a woman you weren't Supposed to murder now you're not supposed to be angry with your brother And we need the Lord's help with all of those things and we need his grace and his forgiveness So not everything is just removed some things God has increased morally to You know sexual morality and the New Testament is a really big deal. We're supposed to be sexually moral people and honor the Lord in that way So yes, it's very important that we Look at the Old Testament in context of what God has now told us in the New Testament It does also say moving forward in a verse 21 You should not eat anything which dies of itself if you see something along the road dead I mean typically that's something that we would do. Maybe maybe we knew that from God or knew that from the Old Testament without even knowing it But that's typically something we wouldn't do is eat something that died along the road and then it gets into a Tithing and it's interesting, you know, there's a tie that is prescribed in other places of the Bible But in this particular passage, it's an additional tithe and it was used to feed the poor And so God had a care and a concern about making sure the poor were taking care of and I do think that Christians we ought to be generous and You know one of the problems in our culture today Just the things have changed so much and now we're taxed at a very high rate and Our tax is used to care for the poor. So the government in large part has taken over Caring for the poor through food stamps or rent Help programs or whatever and a lot of times that's moved removed Christians or the Christian church from helping the poor now, you know, we happen to live more and on the church that I lead is more in a more in a rural area and You know, although there's poor around it's not like it is an inner city There's a lot of great churches that have inner city ministries that help feed the poor and that's a great thing and God wanted Israel to take an extra tithe in order to help the poor and I guess even though we're getting taxed And even though our government is doing much of that. I just want to encourage all of you brothers and sisters in Christ to be generous With the poor help people have that be the spirit of who you are in Jesus Christ that You want to help people and that you know, you realize you're not going to take anything with you I was just in a in a Internet was actually in Indianapolis just the other day and you know, there were there were people begging on the sides of the road and and a guy I saw I give some money to Somebody on the side of the road and I just said hey way to go brother. Good job And that's exactly what he said to me. He's like, you know what? It's all gods and I can't take it with me anyways And I thought it was neat that there was a Christian that was giving and that's something that I do too And I gave to a couple of different people on the streets in Indianapolis I just think we should have generous spirits as Christians and You know a lot of times there's a lot of excuses. We give like, oh, what are they gonna do with it? They're gonna go by drugs. They're gonna go by alcohol. They're not gonna do anything good with it I think a lot of times was it could be true, but we're not responsible for what they do we're responsible for what we do And I think a lot of times we use those as excuses to not be generous and I would just encourage you to be generous with your church and to be generous with the poor Because it shows that you value the things of God and that you You have a generous spirit and that you realize too It's gods and that you're not gonna take it with you and I'm not gonna take it with me either Lord help me help all of us to have your heart for the people of this world May we help them to come to know the gospel, but may we also be generous with the poor? Thank you for listening. God bless you all. I hope as a result of studying through the Word of God like we are That you are beginning to understand all the more clearly how we need to know the whole Bible on how to rightly divide How to rightly interpret and how to look through the New Testament to help us to understand now how and what we apply to the old I think it's a tremendously important and I'm so encouraged by you taking the time to be in the Word of God And I I believe God is smiling down upon you as you spend time in his word. God bless you all [BLANK_AUDIO]