Revering the Word
Deuteronomy 18 A prophecy about Jesus and what to do about prophecy today.
Good morning, everyone. This morning, we are in Deuteronomy in chapter 18. Remember that we are in a season of history, where the Israelites are in the desert about to cross the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, and God has given them a reminder of all the things that he's spoken in the past, a Judo 2nd reminder of the law to help them remember what he would desire for them to honor him when they get to the Promised Land. Verse 1, "The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord's offerings by fire and his portion. They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen. The Lord is their inheritance as he promised them." So at this stage in history, one of the tribes served the Tabernacle and of that tribe, the Levites, some of them would serve as priests, but all of them did not have an inheritance in the land or did not get a portion of the land. The people were going to provide for their service to minister at the Tabernacle and future temple. Let's read on. "Now, this shall be the priests do from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep of which they shall give to the priest, the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine and your oil and the first shearing of your sheep. For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of the Lord forever. Let's continue. Now, if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides and he comes whenever he desires to the place, which the Lord chooses, then he shall serve in the name of the Lord, his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. They shall eat equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers estates. So, the Levites were to minister at the Tabernacle and they were to be provided for by the people. We live in a different era in under a different covenant and there are no priests anymore except for a very large factor that we're all a kingdom of priests. You might recall when Jesus was here and he was raising up disciples whom then he designated a sent ones from him apostles. They were not of the tribe of lee lie. And after that point, the New Testament church didn't raise up priests. They rose up elders and people to lead churches, but not in a Jewish Levitical way anymore. So, we no longer have this instance. We're no longer under this dispensation. We don't have a certain tribe of people that only serves as priests, but we do have people that are called into ministry, who then serve churches. And we have that in the New Testament where Paul was going around in appointing elders to lead churches. And we know we have that today. And just as the people gave in order that the ministry of the Tabernacle would take place now people give so that the ministry of the church can take place. So, that's the way it works. And it works quite well. You know, I'm very grateful to have a generous church that's providing for the needs of our church. You know, it wasn't always this way. It wasn't not meaning that the people weren't generous, but you know, we were in our early years, a very small church and money was tight and, you know, now we're not a large church, but we've definitely grown a lot from our original days. And, you know, people are generous. It provides for the needs and, you know, the elders of the church. Watch over the resources that come in and seek to apply them wisely to the needs of the church and, you know, thank you to all the people who faithfully give of their resources in order to provide for the needs of the church so that it can minister to them and minister to this world that needs it. So, anyways, we don't do it exactly like they did it then. We don't need to do it like they did it then because we're in a different era, but that's how God had them do it then with the tribe of Levi. Now, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. That was verse nine. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through fire and that was something people of false religions did in that day. Or one who uses divination or one who practices witchcraft or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer or one who casts a spell or a medium or a spirit or one who calls up the dead. And just as that was all bad, then it's all bad now, and we're supposed to worship Jesus and him alone and follow God through his word and through the Holy Spirit but not through false gods and false divination kind of things and Christian should have no part in our world really should have no part in it but, you know, we don't control the world that we should seek to influence them to not take part in such blasphemy. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord. And I believe that's as true today as it was then. And because of these detestable things, the Lord your God will drive them out before you. And, you know, at that time when they were going to go and take the promise land, they were going to drive out people and especially those who are doing this kind of stuff. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God for those nations which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and, and to diviners but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. No, we're not supposed to take part in any of that kind of thing. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your countrymen and you shall listen to him. Now that's really an interesting passage in it comes up in Acts chapter 3 verse 22 and 23 and it's written about other times in the Bible too. And this is a messianic prediction about Jesus that one day someone's going to be raised up from among them. And, you know, Jesus was a Jewish lineage and he one day was raised up and we are supposed to listen to him. This is according to all that the Lord has all that you asked of the Lord your God in horror on the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, because they didn't want to hear him back then they were afraid and they wanted Moses to speak to them. Let me not see this great fire anymore I will die. God was doing some theatrical things up on the mountain the Lord said to me they have spoken well. So instead of speaking in that way that he did in the Old Testament, I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And that prophet who was raised up is Jesus. And now we listen to him and now we understand how to apply the Old Testament by listening to what the New Testament says, and praise God that he raised up Jesus. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name I myself will require of him. And you know what nowadays we still just as all throughout Deuteronomy we're supposed to honor and obey all that God had commanded. And now we honor and obey all that God commanded through the New Testament lens and through Jesus Christ and we take what he said as our bread you know man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God And now we take a look at what Jesus and his apostles said in the New Testament, and that is our daily bread that is our word and that is what we follow today. Now, this is very interesting. I brought this up in a previous podcast but it's important. It says but the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak. Or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. You may say in your heart, how will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken. When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him. So this is a very interesting topic and, you know, prophecy or a prophet in the New Testament age, you know, it could be that God is trying to communicate something that happens in the future. And a prophet would be like, you know what, I feel as though God has put this word upon me that this is going to happen to you, or this is something that's going to happen in the future. And that would be foretelling. But the word prophet in the New Testament is also foretelling. It doesn't mean that you're predicting the future. It could mean just that you're communicating the word of God, you're communicating things of God. Now, we don't need today a New Testament word or a word that is on par with the scriptures. We don't have the authority to speak New Scripture today. The canons closed. God does not need us to try to say a word that somehow is going to be interpreted as though it is the very word of God. However, in the New Testament, it does still appear that people could function as a prophet, not always or necessarily in foretelling, but foretelling. They may just someone may just utter words that others need to hear or that God wants us to hear. It doesn't mean it's a scriptural word. It doesn't mean it's on par with Jesus doesn't mean it's on par with an Old Testament prophet. But God is still using people today to speak for things. And I do believe that he still has a power in his Holy Spirit to speak through people. However, I believe that if that were to occur today when it does occur today, it needs to be done with humility. And, you know, sometimes what happens in charismatic circles is people will say, well, God said this God spoke to me. And a lot of times what's happening is people just learn that from one another to say that kind of thing. And they have no, in my mind, it's irreverent. They have no concern about whether it's right or not. A lot of times people will say something and part of it is they want to look holy or they want to look like they have the power to hear from God, or that God speaks to them in a different manner. He speaks to them clearly and he gives them words. And they want to act as though there's some kind of special profit. Now, if someone had a unique gift, praise God for that. But not everyone is going to. And secondly, we should be very humble. And one of the things I think that you'll see in schools of false prophecy, if you want to call it that would be that they don't test what's said. I mean, we should put the test what someone is saying and compare it to the word of God, one, number two, to see if it happens. A lot of times in charismatic circles. People want to just celebrate anytime someone opens their mouth and said, thus does the Lord God said this or God said that, or God told me to tell you this. And we're like, Oh, isn't that great? You know, God spoke and well, you know, it would be great if God did it. But what if it's not? What if it's false prophecy? And what you never really see today is you never see accountability. You never see, you know, let's make sure that this is not a false prophecy. And I think we need to. I think it's important. And unfortunately, it's kind of a catch 22 in this regard because, you know, we don't want to close off what God can do. I don't. I believe God is powerful and God can do whatever he wants. So you want to be open to the fact that God can still do a miracle today. God can still heal today. God could still have a word for someone today. You want to be open to that. I do. I want to be open to anything that God could do. But by being open, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be cautious. And, but the problem is, is when you're cautious or say overly cautious, sometimes you could hinder or limit what God could do too because you're so cautious that all of a sudden no one wants to, you know, say anything. And that's why what I think is a better protocol is to be humble. You know what, maybe God did give you an intuition on something that he would like said. But why not just be humble? You know what, I feel like God is saying this. And, and, you know, I want to share it with you, but I want to share it with you humbly. So you're not coming out as though. Now, if God, you heard God speak audibly and you're confident that this is of the Lord. Well, then, you know what, say it, you know, say it. We don't want to limit what God can do. But, but don't try to stretch that. Don't try to go beyond what God is doing. Don't try to puff up yourself. Just be humble. If God, you know, is working in you. And, and I think then we don't have the problems that we, that have here if we have humility about who we are in the face of our glorious God. So, you know, I realize that there are different views, you know, out there. You know, some people are cessationists, which they mean they think everything ceased. You know, I guess, I don't know if they would say that miracles ceased, but healing ceased tongues have ceased, prophecies ceased. And I just think God can do anything he wants in any era. And I don't like to just put a blanket statement over there that everything is ceased, but I am a very cautious continuationist. I believe God can still move and work today, but we need to be wise and we need to be cautious about it. And, and that's what we have here in Deuteronomy, don't we? He didn't say that prophets can't speak. He said, if they do, make sure it comes true, essentially test test the prophet and you'll see if it, if it comes true or not. So, I hope that's a helpful lesson for you today. And praise God that he rose up Jesus and gave him words. And now today, we should listen to him. God bless you all.