Mazel Tov | Sunday, November 13, 2022

Welcome to Cross Connection Church online! We're so happy that you're joining us today. Before we get started, we want to let you know that if you want more information about Cross Connection Church and some of the things that we do, make sure that you check out our website at lifeinkconnection.com.

Since you are online, we would love to know more about you and see where you're joining us from. Please send us a video with whoever you're watching with and let us know where you're watching from. You can send it to our text line at 760-814-1223.

Also, stick around to the very end of our broadcast this week to see some announcements about things that are currently going on here at our church. If you're prepared to give today, you can do so at give.lifeinkconnection.com.

Now, as we enter into worship, remember that there is nothing to fear now, for you are safe with God. With your hands lifted high, declare that the battle belongs to the Lord. Every fear you lay at His feet, and you can sing through the night, knowing that the battle belongs to Him. If God is for you, who can be against you?

I don't get up with my hands to you. I'll sing through the night, oh God.

Well, good morning again and welcome to Cross Connection Church online. If you join us for our online services regularly, then you know that I wasn't here to go through the Scriptures with you over the last couple of weeks. That's because I had the privilege of traveling to the Philippines last week to teach at a pastors' and leaders' conference. It was a real blessing to be able to go there and see the work that God has been doing among the islands of the Philippines for the last 25 to 30 years through the Calvary Chapel movement of churches, which we are connected with here at Cross Connection Church.

In fact, our church was able to be involved in helping plant some of the early Calvary Chapel churches there back in the 1980s and 1990s. Now, there are over 80 Calvary Chapel churches throughout the Philippines, and many of those churches are pastored by nationals who were raised up in the islands. It's an amazing thing to see. There were about 200 people at this conference that I attended, serving the Lord in that area and doing a really great work.

So, I bring you greetings from the churches in the Philippines. They greet you online here on YouTube.

Today, we are back in the book of Deuteronomy, as we have been over the last many months, and we are finally coming to the closing chapters of this passage. This section deals with many of the statutes and judgments that God was speaking to the children of Israel through Moses thousands of years ago, just before they entered the Promised Land. Nearly 4,000 years ago, a man named Abram received a call from God, and we find it in the very first...

In the book of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 12, we read this in verse 1: "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'"

Eventually, Abram followed and heeded the call of God. As he followed the Lord, as the Lord had spoken to him, we read just a few verses later in verse 5: "So Abram and his family came to the land of Canaan, and Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Mora." This passage gives us very specific locations, and the Canaanites were in the land during that period of time.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram, the same one who had called him to get out of his country in verse 1 and to follow Him. The Lord said, "To your descendants, I will give this land." There, Abram built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. Notice that in that passage, in the place where God appeared to Abram, he built an altar to the Lord and called the name of that place Bethel, which means "the house of God."

God had promised Abram, "Follow me, and I’m going to make you a great nation. I’m going to multiply you and bring from you many descendants." In another place in Genesis, God reaffirms that promise to Abram, saying, "Your descendants are going to be as many as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore." God promised to multiply him, make his name great, and that he would be a blessing.

When Abram obeyed and followed God, God appeared to him and said, "To your descendants, those many multitudinous descendants, I’m going to give this land, this land that you have come to, that I have called you to follow me into." He said, "I will give this land to you and to your descendants." There, in that place where God gave him that promise, it says in Genesis chapter 12, verse 7, that Abram built an altar and worshiped the Lord.

Now, if you fast forward from that time of Abram when God gave him that promise in Genesis chapter 12, you fast forward 600 years...

Years after Abram, his descendants, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are standing on the border of that very same land of which God had said to Abram, "To your descendants, I will give this land." After they had spent hundreds of years as slaves in Egypt and four decades wandering in the wilderness, they are now at the border of blessing.

This book that we've been studying, going all the way back to the early part of 2020, covers the time when this group of people, the descendants of Abraham, are standing at the border of the promised land, getting ready to enter. This is the point at which they are reaffirming the Covenant that Abraham's descendants had made with God at Mount Sinai 40 years prior to this event. You can read about that in the book of Exodus.

I am kind of giving you a whole bunch of different things that happened in the first five books of the Bible. Forty years before Deuteronomy, before the children of Abraham's descendants were standing at the border of this promised land, God had promised 600 years prior to give this land to Abraham's descendants. In the book of Exodus, God established His Covenant with the people, the children of Israel, or the children of Abraham. Now, He is reaffirming that Covenant because, during the 40-year period from the time that God gave the Covenant at Mount Sinai until the time that Moses is with the children of Israel at the border of blessing here in Deuteronomy, that generation that received the law and entered into the Covenant with God was unfaithful to that Covenant; they fell away from the Lord.

So now, a new generation of the children of that generation that initially received the Covenant is standing before the Lord. They are re-entering, if you will, or reaffirming that Covenant, getting ready to take possession of the thing that God had promised to them hundreds of years before. Over the last several months, we have been considering the various stipulations, statutes, and judgments of this Covenant, which include everything from who they could marry to what...

Capital punishment and how to deal with issues in a just way have been typical covenantal language from the same historical period and location, which is the ancient Near East in the late second millennium BC. So, 3,000 years ago, the language of the Book of Deuteronomy is very similar to covenant documents from that period of time from other people groups, other than the children of Israel.

Now, after the stipulations and after all these statutes and judgments have been given to the children of Israel, which we've been studying over the last many weeks here at Cross-Connection Church, we read this in Deuteronomy chapter 26. As I read this at the end of Deuteronomy chapter 26, I want you to pay very careful attention to the mutual relationship between the Lord God and the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham.

Take careful note of that mutual language between them. Here in Deuteronomy chapter 26, picking it up at verse 16, we read: "This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments that we have been studying through together for probably the last several months. Therefore, you shall be careful to observe them, these statutes and judgments, with all of your heart and with all your soul."

Now note this: "Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. Also today, the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments and that He will set you high above all the nations which He has made, in praise and name and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken."

If you consider that language in Deuteronomy chapter 26, verses 16 through 19, carefully, you will see very clearly that this is what we would call covenantal language. The challenge with that is that we don't really use covenant or covenantal language very much in the 21st century. About the only area in the 21st-century Western culture that we live in where we still have something that is somewhat similar to what is happening here in this passage is what we see in the...

A traditional Western wedding ceremony is familiar to those of you who are married or have at least attended a wedding. I assume that most of you have been to a wedding, and I'm sure you can see some of the covenantal connection from Deuteronomy chapter 26, specifically verses 16 through 19, in the portion of the wedding ceremony we call the Declaration of Intent.

You may not even know that it's called the Declaration of Intent, but it is probably the most important and legally binding aspect of the wedding ceremonies we have participated in or attended, at least from the government's perspective. The major requirement for a marriage to be recognized is for both individuals—the man and the woman, the potential husband and potential wife—to have mutually and consensually agreed, before witnesses, to take one another as husband and wife by saying the words "I do."

In formal traditional Jewish weddings, both today and in times past, a marital contract is drawn up, known as a ketubah. In one sense, it resembles a prenuptial agreement, although it is not exactly the same and does not carry the same connotations. In traditional Jewish weddings, this marital contract, the ketubah, is written between the husband and the wife. It establishes the responsibilities of the husband to his wife and the wife's responsibilities to the husband. While it primarily focuses on the husband's obligations, it is a mutual contract between the two.

The ketubah is part of the covenant of marriage and formally establishes the obligations of the husband to his wife and the wife to her husband. In Jewish tradition, the ketubah is established before the wedding ceremony, during the period of engagement or betrothal. It is written to clarify the obligations of both the husband and the wife, and then it is read during the wedding ceremony.

The ceremony would be done before witnesses, and even the witnesses would sign the whole thing. It's kind of like the "I do" portion of the traditional wedding ceremony. When you are part of a wedding or you attend a wedding, and you hear the officiant, pastor, or whoever it may be say to the couple, "So and so, take so and so to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish," that is a significant moment. When the groom says "I do" or the bride says "I do" in that ceremony, it is, as the government sees it, the legally binding and essential component of the marriage—the declaration of intent. The husband is saying "I do" to the wife, and the wife is saying "I do" to the husband.

If, in the future, the conditions of the ketubah—the marital contract between a Jewish bride and a Jewish groom—are broken or breached, that would be equivalent to forfeiting the covenantal relationship. This is exactly what happened with the previous generation of the children of Israel. We have one generation of the children of Israel whom Moses is reaffirming the covenant with before they enter the Promised Land. Forty years prior, at Mount Sinai, their parents and grandparents had entered into a covenant with God, but they broke it. This breach of God's covenant is a significant reason why they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

Now, if we fast forward from the time of Exodus at Mount Sinai to this moment of the children of Israel reaffirming the covenant as they prepare to enter the Promised Land, we find ourselves in Deuteronomy chapter 26. Here, we essentially have the signing of the ketubah, if you will, between God and Israel in something akin to a marital ceremony or covenant ceremony. After they make this announcement to one another in this passage, they outline their responsibilities to the Lord and God's responsibilities to them.

In Deuteronomy 26, verses 16-19, we read about these responsibilities. Then, in the opening verses of chapter 27, Moses, along with the elders of Israel, commands the people to keep all the commandments which he has commanded them that day. This is something we have studied for the last many months here at Cross-Connection Church. Moses says, "On the day when you cross over the Jordan," which is the only thing standing between them and the Promised Land, "to the land which the Lord your God is giving you..."

You shall set up for yourselves large stones and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you.

Therefore, it shall be when you have crossed over the Jordan that on Mount Ebal, there is a mountain in Israel called Mount Ebal, you shall set up these whitewashed stones that you are going to take up. You are going to put the law inscribed upon these whitewashed stones, which I command you today. You shall whitewash them with lime, and there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use an iron tool on them; you shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. You shall offer peace offerings, and you shall eat there and rejoice before the Lord your God. You shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.

So, what is going on here in this passage? In Deuteronomy chapter 26, it is as if the marital contract between God and the children of Israel is being signed. The ketubah is being signed before God and the children of Israel, and it has been read in the hearing of the children of Israel. God is there as well, by Moses; He is the officiant, the mediator of the Covenant.

Now, Israel is just about to come into the promised land, the same land that God had promised to their father Abraham 600 years prior to this. They are about to come into the promised land, and when they do, Moses tells them that they need to build an altar on a mountain called Mount Ebal. At that altar of uncut, whitewashed stones that are going to be etched with the carving of the statutes and judgments of God, they are going to build this altar to the Lord.

What is going to take place at that altar? Effectively, at that altar, they are going to become the Bride of God. They are going to enter into that covenant marital relationship with God. It is as if, through the book of Deuteronomy, this is kind of like the betrothal period or the betrothal document. They are already God's people, but they are going to enter into almost like a marital relationship with God, a covenant relationship with God. All of this has been the developing of the marital contract: here are all of your responsibilities, and here is what I, God, require.

I am going to do for you, and here's how you need to respond to that and how I'll respond to that. I want to suggest to you that had Moses been permitted by God to go into the Promised Land, all of this that has taken place on the east side of the Jordan River, before they come into the Promised Land in the book of Deuteronomy, probably would have taken place at Mount Ebal, at the altar that they were going to build.

What we have here is the "I do" portion of the marital covenant being established between God and Israel as they are joined together. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 27, verse 9: "Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, 'Take heed and listen, O Israel. Note this, underline this in your Bible: so important! This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.'"

But weren't they already the people of the Lord God? Well, yes, in one sense they were. However, it is almost like a woman who is betrothed to a man; she is already considered married under Jewish law, but they weren't really married yet. They hadn't had the marriage ceremony. The ketubah was being drafted; it was being put together, the marital contract, but it had not been signed. It had not been read before witnesses. It had not been sealed there at the altar or in a Jewish ceremony today under a chuppah.

Now, the officiant, Moses, with the priests, the Levites, and Israel, says to them, "Listen, when you bring about this event at this altar on Mount Ebal, today you have become the people of the Lord your God. Today you have entered into this marital contract, if you will, with God. He is the groom, and you are the bride. Today you have heard the statutes and judgments of the covenant that you have made with God."

Look at this verse 10: "Therefore you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today." Since you are His people today, you are going to become His people. Because you have become His people, therefore you are going to observe the statutes and judgments of the Lord your God. But notice, it's going to take place at an altar on this mountain, Mount Ebal.

The blessings of being God's people and Him being their God began at the altar. This is really key and important, and it is just as it is supposed to be within marriage. The blessings of being husband and wife should begin at the altar; truly, that should be the beginning of blessing. The altar is the same place where all of this began with Abram back in Genesis chapter 12.

What was Abram's first order of business when he came into the Promised Land? In Genesis chapter 12, verses 1-3, God says to Abraham, "I want you to follow me and come to a land that you've never seen before, that I'm telling you of. I'm going to make you a great nation." When he comes to that land, the very first thing he does in Genesis chapter 12, verse 7, is build an altar to the Lord. This is such a key thing for us to recognize. When Abram first came into the Promised Land, he built an altar. The children of Israel, when they first came into the Promised Land, also built an altar. This speaks to us an important truth: life in the land of blessing always begins at an altar.

This is not only true for the children of Israel thousands of years ago, but it is also true for Christians—those who are in Christ. The experience of the abundant life of blessing in a relationship with Christ, as the bride of Christ, with Him as the groom, means we are entering into a covenant relationship with Christ in a similar manner to how the children of Israel entered into a covenant relationship with God. Life in the land of blessing begins at that place of altar, and our experience of the abundance of life begins at the altar, a place with Christ.

However, in any covenant, while there are blessings associated with the marriage covenant, there are also the opposite of blessings. There needs to be a sober recognition that breaking the statutes and judgments of the covenant results in the opposite of blessing, or cursing. Anyone entering into a covenant needs to do so soberly. In more traditional Christian high church weddings, there is a proclamation that is given at...

At the beginning of the marriage service, the officiant will say that marriage is an honorable estate and should not be entered into unadvisedly or lightly. When two individuals come into marriage or prepare to get married, they should enter into it reverently, discreetly, advisedly, and soberly in the fear of God. This is what is happening with the children of Israel. Moses is sealing the deal, if you will; he is the officiant of the wedding between God and the children of Israel. He has given the marital contract, the katuba. He has read the statutes and judgments of the law, and they have said, "I do." They are essentially going through this whole process in this passage, affirming their commitment to all these stipulations. They must be reminded of the blessings of the Covenant, but also of the curse of rejecting the Covenant or not following after the Lord. So, they are entering into this soberly.

Back in Deuteronomy chapter 11, Moses had already talked about how this was going to happen. They were going to come into the promised land, and there would be two mountaintops: Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Half of the tribes of Israel, half of the twelve tribes, would go on Mount Gerizim, and the other half would go on Mount Ebal. Something special was going to take place there. On Mount Ebal, they would build an altar with whitewashed stones. We read this in Deuteronomy chapter 27, verse 11. Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, "These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people of Israel when you have crossed over the Jordan: the tribe of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse the people of Israel: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali."

The Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel, "Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret." All of the people shall answer and say, "Amen." This last verse, verse 15, begins a series of twelve curses that we will see in this passage. After each of these curses is read, each of the twelve curses is connected to the previously established statutes and judgments that we have considered together in the book of Deuteronomy.

The last several months, after each of these twelve curses is read, the children of Israel will say "Amen" to these things. Imagine the picture, and I hope that I'm putting this together well enough for you. Here’s the picture: Moses says, "When you come into the Promised Land, I'm not going with you. But when you go into the Promised Land, you have to fulfill this Covenant Ceremony, this marital Covenant ceremony that we've begun on the east side of the Jordan River. You're going to finish it on the west side of the Jordan River in the Promised Land."

Half of the representatives of the nation of Israel are going to stand on one mountain, Mount Gerizim, and there’s a valley between the two of them. The rest of the nation of Israel, the other half of the tribes, will have their representatives stand on Mount Ebal. On Mount Gerizim, they will declare the blessings of the Covenant, the blessings of the law. On Mount Ebal, at this altar, there will be a stone, uncut, whitewashed altar with the inscription of the judgments of the Lord. Each of the judgments will be read, along with the curses associated with these judgments. At the end of each curse, the children of Israel have to say "Amen."

If we were to update it to language in 2022, all of the people, instead of saying "Amen," would say "I do," because "Amen" means truly, or "so be it," or "I do." This Covenant that the children of Israel are going to enter into requires sober verbal consent from the people who are entering into it. It is not and cannot be one-sided; it is not and cannot be compelled. It has to be entered into mutually and willingly.

We have all these curses that we find here in this passage. Again, these are just the restatements of some of the statutes and judgments—twelve of the statutes—that God has already given to the children of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. These are the Covenant contractual agreements between God as the groom and Israel as the bride.

So, Moses says, "When you come into the Promised Land, you're going to have this marital ceremony on Mount Ebal." The Levites will say, "Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt," and all the people shall say "Amen" or "I do." Then the Levites, the priests, and the officials will say, "Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark."

And all the people shall say, "Amen." Then cursed is the one who makes the blind wander off the road, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who perverts justice due to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered his father's bed, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person, and all the people shall say, "Amen." Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law, and all the people shall say, "Amen."

Those are all heavy things. As Moses says, you're going to come into the Promised Land, and you're going to complete this marital ceremony. As a part of the marital ceremony, the Levites are going to lead you through a reaffirmation of the curses of the law. If you don't keep up your end of the covenant, then cursed are you; judgment will come on you, and all of you have to say, "I do." Amen. These are heavy things, and that's why the covenant requires a sober verbal consent. There has to be a recognition of the weightiness of this. We don't enter into it unadvisedly, but we enter into it soberly and in the fear of God.

So, the covenant requires a sober verbal consent because, under the covenant, infidelity is accursed and judged. If it is true, these are weighty, heavy things. If you don't follow these things, Israel, then you're going to bear the curse. Why bear the weight of such weighty things under the covenant? What is the benefit? What is the blessing?

Well, he immediately goes in Deuteronomy chapter 28 from the curses in chapter 27 to the blessings. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. I know I'm reading a lot of scripture, but I think it's really important. This is kind of like a really key passage of the book of Deuteronomy that I've been looking forward to getting to.

Deuteronomy 28, verse 1: "Now it shall come to pass, if..." and you might want to circle that word "if" in your Bible, "if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall..."

Come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand. He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you.

If—there's that word "if" again—you keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways, then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. The Lord will grant you plenty of goods, the fruit of your body, the increase of your livestock, and the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to you.

The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give you rain on your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. It is most certainly true, as we saw at the end of Deuteronomy chapter 27 just a moment ago, that infidelity and unfaithfulness to the covenant of God is accursed and will be judged. But it is a greater truth that covenantal faithfulness invites abundance and blessing.

We see that here in this passage: blessed shall you be in the country, blessed shall you be in the city, blessed shall you be when you go out, and blessed shall you be when you come in. Blessed shall be your fields and your flocks, and all these great things. Covenant faithfulness invites abundance and blessing. I love this passage of Scripture. Throughout our study in the book of Deuteronomy, and we've been in the book of Deuteronomy for a long time—we started studying in the book of Deuteronomy all the way back in January of 2020. Since the very beginning, I have talked about what is termed the Deuteronomic principle, and this is the passage where this idea is illustrated.

The Deuteronomic principle is really most clearly expressed in the idea that obedience brings blessing while disobedience brings a curse. It is a simple conditional algorithmic concept: if this, then that. If there is obedience, then there is blessing; if there is disobedience, then there is a curse. We just saw the curses back in Deuteronomy chapter 27, but we have more of them in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Look at verse 15. I'm not going to read all of this because there is a lot, but consider Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 15. It shall come to pass that if you do not obey—there's that word "if," so circle it again—if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all His commandments and statutes which I command you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. This undoes every one of the blessings that we previously saw in the first portion of Deuteronomy chapter 28.

If you do not obey, cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

Note this in verse 20: the Lord will send upon you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do until you are destroyed and perish quickly because of the wickedness of your doings, which you have forsaken. Again, I'm not going to read every single one of these because it is a very long section of Scripture, but I think it is rather clear that obedience brings an abundance of blessing, while disobedience undoes every single blessing by bringing the opposite of the blessing, which is a curse.

Now, skip all the way down to verse 58. In Deuteronomy 28, verse 58, it states that if you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then in verse 59, the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues, great and prolonged plagues, and serious and prolonged sickness. Moreover, He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also, every sickness and every plague which is not written in this book of the law will come upon you.

The Lord will bring upon you destruction until you are left few in number, whereas you were once as numerous as the stars of heaven. This is because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. It shall be that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing. You shall be plucked from the land which you go to possess.

These words are heavy. The last verse I just read, verse 63, might be one of the most striking in this passage. God says that in the same way He rejoiced over you to multiply you and bless you, He will rejoice over you to destroy you if you turn away from Him. It's almost too much to bear. You have these great blessings in the law, the covenant. God says you are going to be His people; you are joined together in a covenant, like a husband and wife in a marital covenant. Because of that, the blessings will overcome and overtake you, as you are connected to the God of the universe.

However, if you forsake this covenant and turn away from it, you forfeit all of those blessings and receive all of these curses. The blessings are sandwiched between curses in chapter 27 and curses in chapter 28. All of these curses are almost too much to bear, and that actually is the point. As I've said many times while going through the book of Deuteronomy, the covenant and the law, along with all the curses that go with it, highlight the amazing nature of the blessings. The privileges of being God's people are phenomenal. To be connected to Him in covenant is an incredible thing, but the blessings are almost too much to bear.

It's an amazing thing because King David, hundreds of years later, would write in Psalm 119, "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." He expresses his love for the law and how he thinks about it all the time. Yet, it is a heavy burden. The Apostle Paul, in the Book of Romans, states that the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just, and good. The commandments in the book of Deuteronomy are right, true, and good. Obedience to them brings blessing; if there is obedience, then there is blessing. But the law is also extremely heavy because if there is disobedience, then you will experience the opposite of blessing: cursing.

The law is so heavy that we can't bear it, and that's the point. Paul, in Romans chapter 7, verse 14, says, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." He goes on a few verses later in verse 22 and states, "For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

This is what the law does very well; it saddles us with a burden that is too great to bear. Its statutes, judgments, and blessings are clear and good, but the problem is not with the law. The problem is with me. I cannot keep the law.

So what then? What do we do? There is really only one option. If you are connected to God through the law, joined to Him in this marital contract, the blessings are great. However, if you don't keep the law perfectly, then you experience the curses of it. What is the option if you're joined to Him in this legal relationship? The covenant of the law is binding until death. It is only death that can annul the covenant and the law.

This is exactly what we find in the New Testament. In Romans chapter 7, verse 1, Paul says, "Or do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he is alive. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband lives she marries another, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man."

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Is the law a bad thing? Absolutely not. The law is holy, just, and good; it is a good covenant.

God made a covenant with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, and then again at the border of the Promised Land in the book of Deuteronomy. It's a great covenant. The problem was not the covenant itself; there is nothing in the law that changed from Exodus to Deuteronomy. However, the law was a burden. The first group of people that entered into the covenant at Mount Sinai couldn't keep it. The next group of people who entered into the covenant at the Jordan River, getting ready to cross over into the Promised Land, ultimately could not keep it either.

There is nothing wrong with the law, but the law reveals the problem, and the problem is us. The law is holy, just, and good. It does what it is intended to do: it brings us to the place of death. It brings us to the realization that we cannot keep the righteous requirements of the law. Therefore, all we have to look forward to are the curses of the law. Yes, the blessings look so good, but we would have to be perfect to lay hold of those blessings, and we all fall short of that. The law brings us to the point of death so that we might find life. It burdens us so that we can bring our burdens and lay them down at the feet of Christ.

You see, through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Without the law, I would not have known my true condition as a sinner. But the law was not given to make us righteous; it was given to prepare us for the righteousness of Christ. Paul later wrote to the church at Galatia in Galatians 2:19, "For I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God."

As David said thousands of years ago, I love the law. I love the book of Deuteronomy. I love the deuteronomic principle, this idea of "if obedience, then blessing." However, I don't love it because I am able to keep it. I don't love it because I can apprehend or lay hold of blessings by keeping the law. I love the law because it points me to the only one who can ultimately give me true righteousness. I can't make myself righteous by the law, and in trying to keep the law, I find that I can't do it.

Then I discover the ultimate blessing, which is not found at the altar of the law but at the foot of the cross. Jesus is the one who said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle."

Lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. You see, a lot of people, maybe you, are burdened and saddled with the weight of the law. You're trying to keep all kinds of requirements, whatever they may be. Maybe the requirements that we find in Deuteronomy, or the requirements of some other religion, some other faith. Whatever it is, you're trying to attain perfection, enlightenment, or to be good, holy, or a saint by your own keeping of the law. None of that will ever work.

Although there are blessings in keeping God's law, the reality is that you do not have the capacity within yourself to keep God's law, so you will always fall short. If you don't fulfill the law in every point, then you will receive the curses of the law, the judgment of the law. Its judgments are holy, just, and good, and that's a burden. That burden should bring us to the place where we find ourselves at the altar of Christ, saying, "Lord, take this burden."

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That's what we're looking for; we're looking for rest. Only in Jesus Christ is that rest found, and I hope that you know that truth. That is the gospel truth: Jesus is the one who took the weight of our sin and dealt with it on the cross for us, so that He could give to you and give to me His righteousness.

In the New Testament, in Second Corinthians chapter five, it says, "He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ." That is the good gospel truth. You can't save yourself by keeping the law. It's holy, just, and good, but its burden is great, and it should compel us to come to Jesus and say, "Take this burden."

I hope that anyone who hears this message, whether it's on the day that it releases, or months from now, or years from now, or whenever it is, will hear your truth coming through the Scriptures. I pray that you administer by your Spirit and draw them to the place where they would call out to you and say, "Lord, take this burden from me."

If that's you right now, that's all you have to do: call out to the Lord in prayer. "Lord, I've been trying to be perfect. I've been trying to be right. I've been trying to be good by my own efforts," and you just fall short and fail constantly. That's the whole point: that you would come to the place where you are poor in spirit and call out to the Lord and say, "Lord, save me."

All you have to do is reach out. You're at home, sitting on a couch, whatever it is, listening to this on a podcast. I don't know where you're at, but God would call you and say, "Come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden."

Will give you rest. Just call out to Him and say, "Lord, forgive me of my sin. Take the burden of my sin away from me and help me to have faith and trust in You and to receive Your righteousness." That's all you have to do. Lord, we pray this today in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. As we close, we would love to invite you to our services at Cross Connection Church campus at 8:30 and 10:30 every Sunday. Also, if you'd like more information, please reach out to us.

About Cross Connection Church, go online at lifeinkconnection.com. Hello, Cross Connection! Pastor Mark here with a couple of announcements.

First of all, on November 19th, that's a Saturday at 4:30 p.m., we're going to have a "It's a Wonderful Movie Night." We will watch the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," have some snacks, and enjoy fellowship. Make sure you bring a chair, a blanket, and a snack to share with others if you're so inclined.

Another way you can participate this Thanksgiving is by helping us with baskets that we give out to the local community merchants we do business with all the time. We take a basket and fill it with goodies that you supply, baked lovingly in your own home. You can drop those off on November 21st, and as a youth group, we will go out and deliver these to the merchants. It is truly a blessing to them. We pray for them and interact with them, especially during a time of year when people may not be so kind. These acts of kindness go a long way, so it's important that we reach out to our community in this way.

We also need the actual baskets, and you can drop those off anytime here at the church or when you're in the neighborhood.

Hi, my name is Sharon Moody, and I attend church here at Cross Connection. I am a chaplain with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, part of the Rapid Response Team. We deploy to disasters, both man-made and natural. I will be deploying for Hurricane Ian from November 19th through November 27th to Englewood, Florida. Thank you so much for prayerfully and financially supporting me in this.