Verse by verse teaching - 2 Kings 17:37 (cont) - 38

February 11, 2024 00:44:18
Verse by verse teaching - 2 Kings 17:37 (cont) - 38
Know Im Saved Bible Teaching - Book of 2 Kings
Verse by verse teaching - 2 Kings 17:37 (cont) - 38

Feb 11 2024 | 00:44:18

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Show Notes

Brother Andy Sheppard teaches verse by verse through the scriptures with the primary objective of communicating the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation, in a clear and simple light.

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Episode Transcript

All right, we are in 2 Kings 17. 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,040 So go ahead and find that place. 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,160 And then I have one more for you to turn to and mark. 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,200 Once you found 2 Kings 17, that's our text. 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,920 And we left off in verse 37. 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,480 And then find Galatians chapter 3. 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,960 And just put a marker there. 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,400 Because we'll come to that fairly soon in our lesson 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,520 this morning. 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:32,040 Anne reminded me that when the televisions were as thick 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:49,560 as they were wide before the plasma screen, 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,760 when you had to be a man to pick a television up, 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:57,480 that at 10 o'clock at night, an announcement would come on. 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,720 It'd say, yeah, it's 10 o'clock. 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,040 Do you know where your children are? 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:05,680 Yeah. 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:06,180 All right, has everybody found both places? 00:01:06,180 --> 00:01:12,240 You need more time? 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,920 We're in 2 Kings 17. 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:16,840 And we are left off in verse 37, where 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,680 we are reminded about what God told the children of Israel, 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,360 whom he delivered from Egyptian bondage. 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:29,040 The commandments, laws, ordinances, and statutes 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,840 he gave them were to be followed by every generation 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:38,480 without fail. 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,400 In fact, our text says, ye shall observe to do them evermore. 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:49,440 And at the end of our lesson, we considered 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,400 that in our own flesh, we can't do that. 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,480 We can't keep God's commandments forevermore. 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,660 And there are two parts to that, keeping his commandments 00:02:01,660 --> 00:02:04,880 and doing it forevermore. 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:06,220 And we can't do either one. 00:02:06,220 --> 00:02:08,680 And even if we could keep God's commandments in the flesh-- 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:12,000 Brother James, I love that suit. 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:13,560 Man, that looks good on you. 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,520 Hope we get to pan over to him at some point 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:18,880 during the Sunday school lesson. 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,160 And even if we could keep God's commandments in our flesh, 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:26,440 our flesh cannot live forevermore. 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,680 So we left off in a quandary. 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,640 But really, it's only a quandary if you see this commandment 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:37,680 in terms of what man's flesh can do. 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,720 And unfortunately, that's where a lot of religious people 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,680 are bogged down right now, is trying 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:50,080 to figure out what is it that I need to do to make myself more 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,960 holy? 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:54,440 What is it that I need to do to make myself more 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:57,040 presentable to God? 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:58,800 And that's the devil's treadmill, isn't it? 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,280 You just never do get off of it. 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,600 And the devil will tell you, if you look at this command-- 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,440 and I'm sure he told Israel this-- 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,520 that God has given you an unreasonable command. 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,680 You can just hear the devil suggesting that, 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,320 like he did to Eve, when he said, 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,960 you shall not surely die, disagreeing with God. 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:28,560 And the devil has convinced you that God has given you 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,240 an unreasonable command, because you can't possibly keep it. 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,160 And how could God do such a cruel thing? 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,720 Requiring holiness, perfection, and yet, 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,600 knowing by his perfect foreknowledge, 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,400 you would not be able to accomplish that. 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,320 So let's see what else we can learn about this command 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,200 in order to keep from being troubled about it, 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,520 if you're troubled. 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,560 And knowing what we know so far, we 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,640 might ask, how then could God tell Israel 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:03,200 to keep his commandments forevermore? 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,120 And let's remember something we learned about the law given 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,080 in the Old Testament. 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,000 And this is where I've asked you to turn to Galatians 3. 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 So go ahead and flip over there now. 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,840 Should have it marked. 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:19,760 And I'm going to read verses 21 through 26, 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:27,480 and make some notes there. 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,040 Galatians 3, 21 through 26. 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,320 Is the law then against the promises of God? 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:40,880 Now let's stop right there, because this 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:43,240 would be the kind of question the children 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,960 of Israel might ask when God says, 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:52,040 you shall observe to keep these commandments, laws, statutes, 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,200 and ordinance forevermore. 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,840 They might say, wait a minute. 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,480 We can't do that. 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,080 And God has yet promised us through an everlasting covenant. 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,120 He made that covenant with Adam, and then, of course, 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,760 he had one with Noah. 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:12,440 And they're all the same covenant, by the way. 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:14,280 They're all the gospel covenant. 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:15,600 With Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,720 And how then are we going to benefit, 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,840 be the beneficiaries of that, if we can't keep the law? 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:26,160 And so Paul asks this question on behalf of people 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:30,400 who had that question. 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:31,800 Is the law then against the promises of God? 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,600 God made a promise to Abraham. 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:38,360 I'll read you that one. 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:39,360 It's found in Genesis 17, 7. 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,760 And it says, "And I will establish my covenant 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,160 between me and thee and thy seed after thee." 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,360 Now, we're reading about Abraham's seed, 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,440 at least in the flesh, when it comes to Israel. 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,160 "Thy seed after thee in their generations 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,680 for an everlasting covenant to be a god unto thee, 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:04,040 into thy seed after thee." 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,960 So the covenant is everlasting. 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,320 It's forevermore, but the perfect keeping of the law forevermore 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:15,560 is impossible. 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,920 So how can God keep His promise if the people 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,280 can't keep the law? 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:22,920 In our text in 2 Kings, God had commanded His people, 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:28,520 "Ye shall observe to do forevermore." 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,040 The statutes, laws, ordinances, commandments, 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,280 is what it's talking about. 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:35,840 So listen to how Paul answers that question. 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:38,360 Is the law then against the promises of God? 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,200 As we continue reading in Galatians 3-- 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:43,480 and I'm going to reread the first sentence, 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:45,320 and then I'll keep reading from there. 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,960 Is the law then against the promises of God? 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:52,200 God forbid, for if there had been a law given which 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,120 could have given life-- 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,200 not physical, but spiritual life-- 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,440 verily, righteousness should have been by the law. 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:05,880 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin. 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:12,280 That means has said every one of us are under sin. 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,920 Nobody has kept that law that was supposed 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,760 to be kept forever. 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:21,880 That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,000 might be given to them that believe. 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,880 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,840 shut up unto the faith which was afterwards be revealed. 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:37,280 In other words, we hadn't seen it yet. 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,680 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,640 to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:48,600 But after that faith has come, we 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,360 are no longer under a schoolmaster. 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:52,880 For ye are all the children of God 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,720 by keeping the law and the commandments forevermore. 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,720 No, by faith in Christ Jesus. 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:03,600 That's a wonderful image there. 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,120 A schoolmaster is an instructor, a teacher. 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:14,080 And that's what the law did. 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,560 The people who thought, well, there 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,320 were Pharisees who were dead in their sins. 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:21,760 In Jesus' day, we read about them, 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,480 who insisted that in order to be accepted by God, 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:29,040 you had to keep not only the law, 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,120 but all of these men's traditions that were added to it 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,480 by them. 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:35,720 And that you just had to keep on, keep on, keep on. 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,960 And they were the same ones who told those Galatians 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,600 that except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,640 you cannot be saved. 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,120 They'd made a mess out of it. 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:50,760 They did not teach the law as a schoolmaster, 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:52,960 but as a law that could give life. 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,760 And Galatians said the law can't give life. 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,760 A schoolmaster, that teacher, that instructor, 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:05,240 that's what the law was that showed us 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,720 that we're all sinners. 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:09,440 And it showed us that eternal life is not 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,040 to be found in the keeping of the law. 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,120 Now, that ought to be a giant relief for the unbeliever who 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,600 has, in his own flesh, tried and tried 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:25,400 and hit the reset button over again and surrendered to God 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,740 and yielded to God and rededicated himself to God 00:09:29,740 --> 00:09:32,960 and done all those things. 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:34,200 That ought to be a relief to that person 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:35,800 to know that eternal life is not found that way. 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,640 The law actually taught us, it brought us to this truth, 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:48,480 that without faith, it is impossible to please God. 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:53,760 The law was not cruel. 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:00,760 Some people say, well, and that's 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,200 what the devil will tell you. 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:03,760 How can God tell you you've got to keep this law to have 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,840 eternal life, but you can't keep it? 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:09,400 What a cruel joke. 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:10,600 The law is not cruel. 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,480 The law is good, the Bible says. 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:18,000 The law is the one who showed us one who would forevermore 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,120 observe to do God's commandments. 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:23,800 See, that's what Jesus did. 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:25,840 He observed to do forevermore the commandments. 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,200 That was the command God gave the children of Israel 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,320 in our text and before then as well. 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:37,160 And when we realize that we are crucified with Christ, 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:43,280 that we are dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:48,240 not through the keeping of the law, 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:49,800 but through Jesus Christ our Lord, 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,480 then we realize that Jesus has already accomplished 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:57,160 what we failed to do and could not do and cannot do 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:01,560 and will not do. 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:04,960 And in their flesh, it was impossible for the children 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:10,800 of Israel to obey God's commands forevermore. 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:17,360 So that law was their schoolmaster. 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:21,720 And that law would point them to the same faith 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,840 that justified their father Abraham and Noah before him 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:31,400 and Enoch before him all the way back to Abel. 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,000 You think about the job of a schoolmaster. 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:41,920 Brother Doug went to some sort of training 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,640 for auto body paint in his life. 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,920 And there came a time when the person who taught him-- 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,320 I assume I'm telling this right-- the person who taught him 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,120 said, OK, Doug, I've brought you to the point with everything 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:59,040 I know that you've got to go out from here 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:04,760 and do this yourself. 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:06,760 So the schoolmaster's job is over with at that point. 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:11,520 The schoolmaster job has accomplished 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,000 what it needed to accomplish at that point. 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,000 I imagine, if you will, a teacher, a schoolmaster, 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:23,720 using that old wooden dowel rod as a pointer 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,720 before we had these expandable ones. 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:31,000 And by the way, that dowel rod served other purposes as well. 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,880 But primarily, it was used to instruct 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,880 as long as the instruction was being received politely 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,840 and readily by the students. 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,600 One of the best teachers I ever had 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,240 was my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Rose. 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,480 And this is a long time ago, Abigail. 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,000 And back then, our fourth grade teachers 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,560 taught every subject, including PE. 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,840 You were with them the entire day. 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,600 At that time, you didn't go from one class to another 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,280 to this specialist and that specialist. 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,720 And she was a very good teacher, especially when 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:13,080 it came to learning math. 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,960 And when she taught us how to multiply two digit and three 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:20,520 digit numbers, she used a chalkboard and that wooden pointer. 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:27,960 And the truth Ms. Rose conveyed to us was on that chalkboard. 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:33,520 She'd written it on that chalkboard. 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,280 But if she hadn't taken that pointer 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:39,680 and being a schoolmaster herself pointed us 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:43,440 to the truth on that chalkboard, we 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:45,680 would have never paid attention to it. 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:47,640 We would have thought, oh, somebody worked a problem out 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,000 there. 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:50,500 And we would have looked wherever it was she was pointing. 00:13:50,500 --> 00:13:52,920 But to teach us the truth about that math, 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,880 Mrs. Rose had to take that pointer 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,160 and show us what we needed to learn. 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,880 And by pointing us to the chalkboard, 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:04,760 she brought us to the truth that was written on it. 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:09,520 Mrs. Rose wouldn't be around to do my multiplication for me 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,480 when I left her class. 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,480 She wouldn't be around to do it for me 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,240 when I tested in her class. 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,920 She had to bring me to it. 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:22,400 And at that point, her job was done. 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,600 And one of my classmates challenged Mrs. Rose and me 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:33,920 to have a contest to see who could work out 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,560 a multiplication problem the fastest. 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:39,800 I was pretty fast at math. 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,120 I still am, but not as fast as I was in third and fourth grade. 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:47,440 And so we were on different ends of the chalkboard. 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,960 And Mrs. Rose had a problem written out 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,320 by somebody in the class. 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,520 And they kept it covered. 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:57,640 And then they wrote my problem out and kept it covered. 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,640 And so we were there ready with our chalk. 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,560 And they said, go. 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:06,000 So after the command was given to start, I looked over 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,760 and I noticed Mrs. Rose was writing so fast 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,640 that the fat and the loose skin on her arms was jiggling. 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,000 And I got tickled. 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,560 And she beat me. 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,760 Not by much, but I was second place. 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:29,280 Now Mrs. Rose has been dead for many years. 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,480 But I will never forget how she as my schoolmaster 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,760 brought me to the truth of three digit multiplication. 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:42,280 Now I don't know if that helps you understand what 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:44,920 a schoolmaster does. 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,080 But only when the children of Israel 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,120 realized that the law was their schoolmaster 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:53,720 and it was pointing them to a truth, bringing them to Christ. 00:15:53,720 --> 00:16:02,720 Only then will they understand that in him 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,480 they could observe to do, to keep God's commandments, 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:12,440 God's ordinances, his laws and statutes forevermore. 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,760 That's where your hope is to keep God's law, 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:21,040 is to be one with the one who kept God's law. 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:25,960 Jesus said to the self-righteous Pharisees, 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,640 which of you convinceth me of sin? 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,280 In other words, if you held a trial right now, 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,800 which of you could convict me of sin? 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,680 None. 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:38,040 They accused him of blasphemy, but their prosecution failed. 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:42,600 Look back in your text now in verse 37. 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:50,560 We're back in 2nd King 17, verse 37. 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:55,160 We'll look at the end of the verse, 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,400 "And ye shall not fear other gods." 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,280 Now that's been said before, and it'll be said again. 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:05,440 And this was obviously the chief problem 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:07,800 for the children of Israel, just like it is for people today. 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:14,040 They did not fear the Lord, and they feared other gods. 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:19,120 Verse 38, "And the covenant that I have made with you, 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:24,680 ye shall not forget, neither shall ye fear other gods." 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:30,480 Now let's look at the phrase, "Ye shall not forget." 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:34,720 Ye shall not forget. 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,200 Notice God did not say, let's not forget our covenant. 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:44,480 He said, ye shall not forget. 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:48,320 Listen to what Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9 says 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:54,720 about God when it comes to covenants. 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,240 Deuteronomy 7, verse 9, "As Moses spoke to the people, 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:04,440 know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,640 the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:14,440 that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:19,760 So by that text and others, there is no chance 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:24,400 that God will break his covenant. 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:28,160 He just won't. 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,000 When carnal people try to make a covenant with God, 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:37,480 they do some pretty foolish things 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,120 and say some pretty foolish things. 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:43,960 And it's because they don't understand their role 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:47,000 in a covenant with God, and they don't understand God's role 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,880 in a covenant. 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,520 And as you've heard before, and you'll hear it again, 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,680 the only covenant that you are to have with God 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,720 is the one he has already established. 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,200 You're not going to come up with a new deal. 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,840 Now you've been to buy a car before, no insult to you 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,680 if you've sold cars for a living. 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,080 But you know what happens. 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:13,640 You go in there and they draw the four square 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,560 and try to hook you into an interest rate and a monthly 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,400 payment and all that. 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,120 And if you really press them, they'll say, hold on. 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:24,080 Let me go in here and talk to the manager. 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:29,200 We could get rid of the manager if you'd 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:30,840 learned to do his job. 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:32,320 Let me go talk to the manager. 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,040 And some point along the way, if you hang in there 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,520 and if they really want to sell, guess 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,920 what you end up coming up with, a new deal, a new covenant, 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,120 a new agreement. 00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:46,200 Well, how about if we lower the interest rate 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,840 and we increase the number of months 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:50,360 it takes you to pay this deal off. 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:52,160 Well, that's not a deal for you. 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:53,660 That's a deal for them. 00:19:53,660 --> 00:19:55,080 But you have a new deal, and you have to both agree on it. 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,160 And it can change. 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,200 And you finally sign it or you walk out and take your keys 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,440 with you. 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:06,520 Don't forget to do that. 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,120 But when people say they have a covenant with God, 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,320 they act like it's a negotiation. 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,280 And it's not. 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:16,800 Buying a car is a negotiated covenant. 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,440 We don't negotiate covenants with God. 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,960 He doesn't negotiate them with us. 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,320 He says, this is my covenant. 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,920 He didn't ask Abraham. 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,240 Abraham, I'm trying to think of something 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,620 that we can both agree to. 00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:33,200 He didn't do that. 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:34,720 He said, this is my covenant. 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,120 God always sets the terms for the covenant. 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:41,200 Our part is to agree. 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:45,240 What did the people at the foot of Mount Sinai say? 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,320 Whenever God gave them the commandments, 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,960 he said, all that the Lord has said, this will we do. 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:56,860 That was them saying, amen to the covenant. 00:20:56,860 --> 00:21:00,000 Man has shown both in the Bible and in our day, 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:08,840 in the days of our forefathers, that he's a covenant breaker. 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:13,920 And you just think of all of the peace treaties 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,840 that have been signed in the history of mankind. 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,640 And every one of them are broken. 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,000 You think of the agreements and treaties 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,920 and the nuclear non-proliferation treaties 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:32,000 that we have with other countries. 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,440 You think they or we are keeping those? 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,680 No, not a chance. 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:40,200 And so if mankind has broken covenants with mankind, 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:48,160 how much more egregious is it when man breaks covenants 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,160 with God? 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:52,920 Our business is to keep the covenant God gave us 00:21:52,920 --> 00:22:00,720 through the gospel, the shedding of the blood of his son 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,920 for our sins. 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,760 And just so we don't miss this, let's 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:09,560 look at this word forget in our text, 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,600 because he said you shall not forget. 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,760 And let's see how we might learn not to forget the covenant, 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,080 or really any of God's word. 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,440 The word forget doesn't have a mysterious origin here. 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,120 It simply means to mislay something or to be oblivious 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:32,120 to it because of a lack of attention to it. 00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,960 That explains why you forget where you laid your keys. 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,840 You took your keys-- at the moment 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,200 you took your keys out of your engine to go in the house, 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,840 that was important to you. 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,040 You didn't try to drink coffee and open the door 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,320 and take your keys out. 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:51,280 You took your keys out. 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:52,320 So for a brief moment, a second or two, that was important. 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,160 Turn the keys off, take them out. 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,920 When you got in the house, you had 14 other things 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:02,400 on your mind. 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:03,640 And so about an hour later, when you find your keys 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,040 on the top of your closet, and you said, yes, 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:12,280 how'd they get there? 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,280 And it doesn't matter, you found them. 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,160 But that's because you had a lack of attention 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:19,560 to the disposition of your keys. 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,400 You normally put them in a drawer, 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,000 you hang them on something, or you have a catch all, 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,240 they go in. 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,240 There's a pattern you have so you can find them next time. 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,280 But you forgot it because you didn't pay attention 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,480 to it at that moment. 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,120 And your mind wasn't constantly on them. 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:39,120 Well, forgetting God's word-- when 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:41,880 we look at this word "forget" here, forgetting God's word, 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,680 forgetting God's covenant, doesn't 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,280 mean being unable to remember every word you read. 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,680 I've memorized several chapters in the Bible a few years ago. 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:58,640 It took a long time. 00:23:58,640 --> 00:23:59,920 You've got to do it every day. 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:01,120 You've got to stay on it or you'll forget them. 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:04,440 But sometimes I would get in the middle of a chapter 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,600 and I'd say, oh, it's that next word. 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,840 Because if I knew the next word, that 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,520 was a trigger to send me successfully down the road 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,120 to memorizing the rest of the chapter. 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:17,320 Well, when I forgot God's word at that time, 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,520 that wasn't the same as forgetting 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:25,160 when it comes to this covenant. 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,320 Because I was paying attention to it. 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:28,960 It's just that my frail brain with all of its weaknesses 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,560 and distractions at that time could not 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,680 recall that specific word or perhaps that specific verse 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:39,000 to move me along in my effort. 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:40,800 I wasn't oblivious to it. 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:45,920 I just forgot it. 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:46,720 But the forgetting God's word here 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,160 means more having paid little attention to it 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,600 so it is oblivious to you. 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,000 That's what happens when you just set your Bible to the side 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,080 and you dust it every week when you dust, 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,040 but you don't open it and read it. 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:01,920 You know, Alice, I saw that picture 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,040 that you posted visiting Ms. Hensley. 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,400 And it was precious. 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,320 But you know, I zoomed in on something. 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:12,480 Her Bible's not any bigger than mine, brand new. 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,200 That Bible looked like it was this tall 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,880 because the pages, every page in that Bible 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:23,120 has been turned and handled and worn and sweated on. 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:27,560 And maybe there are even tears on some of those pages 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,040 that have dried up. 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,360 And so every page was wavy, which 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:33,880 made it look about this tall to me. 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,760 I saw that. 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:37,640 You know why that's that way? 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,480 Because Mrs. Hensley didn't just set a Bible in her room 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,960 as something for people to look at and say, oh, that's so sweet. 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,280 She has a Bible. 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:48,440 That's her lifeline. 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,600 Her food and her drink and her medicine 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,520 and having the best of care there are important. 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,920 But her lifeline is that Bible, the words in it. 00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:01,000 And so she doesn't forget God's word as the children of Israel 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,680 did. 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,360 It's not oblivious to it. 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:11,520 You know, I had a colleague one time who would occasionally 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,880 take the Lord's name in vain. 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:17,480 And when I'd hear it, I just-- 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,600 I was just a shudder that goes down my back of my spine. 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:22,840 And I hope you feel the same way. 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,760 It's such a terrible thing to hear. 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,240 But I asked him-- 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,800 I was in the car with him one time when he did that. 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:35,960 And I asked him, since we were in private company, 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,720 I said, do you realize what you're saying? 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,760 And he said, what? 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,400 He didn't even know he said it. 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,320 He wasn't aware that he had said it. 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,800 And I said, you took the Lord's name in vain. 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,960 And he said, oh, I'm sorry. 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:55,720 And I said, well, I don't know what else I said to him. 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,080 I had talked to him about salvation. 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:01,720 So had Brother Fulton. 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:03,200 He knows who I'm talking about. 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,640 But the command not to take the Lord's name in vain 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,160 was something he was oblivious to. 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,040 He had forgotten it in this sense. 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:14,640 He's heard of it before. 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,280 He's heard of the Ten Commandments. 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,000 So how, then, do we keep from being oblivious to God's word, 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,840 his covenant? 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:26,480 How do we keep from forgetting it? 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,160 Well, here's the answer. 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:30,120 It's found in Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 23. 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:37,040 Deuteronomy 4 and verse 23. 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,680 "Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget the covenant 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:48,760 of the Lord your God which he made with you, 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,920 and make you a graven image or the likeness of anything which 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,960 the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee." 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,800 He said, take heed unto yourselves. 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,520 That is the positive part. 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,960 That is what you do to keep from forgetting God's word, 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:11,800 his covenant. 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:12,920 Take heed unto yourselves. 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,600 So we are to take heed unto ourselves. 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,440 Well, OK, what does that mean? 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,840 If you look back in verse 37 in your text in 2 Kings 17, 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:27,520 look back and look for the word observe. 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:32,080 The word observe in our text is from the same Hebrew word 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,800 translated as take heed in the Deuteronomy text I read you. 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:44,120 And if you remember what we learned about the word observe, 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,480 it was an action verb. 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,760 We may think of observing as simply sitting around 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,600 and watching something happen. 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:57,960 We have no stake in it. 00:28:57,960 --> 00:28:59,080 We don't really have to learn anything from it 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,040 if we don't want to. 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:03,120 But not so in this verse. 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,480 As we learned a week or two ago, to observe 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:07,880 is to cultivate the doing of God's commandments. 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:14,120 So whether you take heed or observe, it's the same thing. 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:20,760 The Apostle Paul explained it this way in Romans chapter 13 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:27,800 verses 13 through 14. 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,960 This is a good amplified commentary 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:35,720 he gave us on what it means to take heed to yourselves. 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,760 He breaks it down. 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:40,720 I love this. 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,360 Romans 13 verses 13 through 14. 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,840 He said, let us walk honestly as in the day, 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:49,560 not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:55,760 not in strife and envying. 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,160 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:01,680 and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:06,560 thereof. 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,280 Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,240 Now there's not a suit for sale at Nordstrom's that 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:14,560 is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,000 And you put that on like a suit. 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,600 That's not what he's talking about. 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:19,920 That's the image of putting him on. 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,920 As God clothed Adam and Eve with the coats of those animals, 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,440 they put on those coats. 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:29,280 Well, he put them on them. 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,080 He clothed them. 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:32,560 And those skins were a type of the robe of righteousness, 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:38,480 of the righteousness of Christ. 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,640 So when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,120 we are taking heed to ourselves. 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:49,200 And he gives us a list of things not to do. 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,320 But when you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:56,920 you make provision for the faith rather than for the flesh. 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:01,960 Because observe or take heed, those are action verbs. 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,160 And that's what you're doing. 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:06,960 You're making provision for the faith 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,680 rather than for the flesh. 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,880 Many people made that sort of decision this morning. 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,360 They said, well, I know what time my church begins. 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,800 And there's a Bible study going to be happening there. 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,840 But I've got something else I want to do. 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:26,760 So they had an opportunity to make provision for the faith 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,120 where they could go be built up in the most holy faith, 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,840 assuming they're going to a church that teaches God's word. 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,280 If not, it's just the same as going fishing on the lake. 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,840 You're getting robbed of a blessing in both places 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,480 when it comes to God's word. 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:41,640 But not here. 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:42,360 And let me tell you, there are plenty of churches-- 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,160 I wish there were more-- 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:46,440 who do have pastors that teach God's word verse by verse, 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,760 don't leave anything out. 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:52,120 And I'm very thankful for that. 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,640 But we have that decision to make every time the flesh tells 00:31:54,640 --> 00:32:01,480 us, if you will, hey, that sure looks like a lot of fun. 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:06,000 And the Bible says, don't do that. 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:07,440 That's sin. 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,520 We either make provision for the faith or for the flesh. 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,560 Paul said, you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,480 you won't make provision for the flesh. 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,080 And that's how we keep from forgetting God's covenant. 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:23,040 And it's how Israel was to do as well, 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,360 to take heat unto themselves, to make the focus of their day 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:30,320 being built up in the most holy faith. 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,920 That's the spiritual man at work. 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:35,760 That's the-- when you were in Christ, 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:37,880 that's your spiritual man at work. 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:39,400 That's God working through your spiritual man. 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,400 And what happens, as we talked about last week, 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,080 you get up in the morning and you do your Bible study, 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,280 and you can't even hit breakfast without having a sinful thought 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,480 or saying something to your husband or wife or one 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,480 of the kids or somebody on the phone that was ugly or hateful 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,360 or sarcastic. 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:58,560 And you think, oh, well, that was not your spiritual man 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,800 making provision for the faith. 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:06,040 That was your flesh making provision for the flesh. 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,160 That was the old man, Adam, the one that's 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:12,680 got to die and be buried in the ground 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:14,400 so it can be changed into a new man, a glorified body, 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:19,360 not of Adam, but of Christ. 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,720 Wow, a lot of truth in there. 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,240 Now look back in the text, verse 38, 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,320 and it ends the same way as verse 37 did. 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:32,120 And you shall not fear other gods. 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,920 Now I want to go into this just a little bit. 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,920 Could have done it in verse 37, but verse 38 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,760 is where it's going to happen. 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,360 This is what happens when you set aside God's covenant. 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,200 You fear other gods. 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:47,680 You are going to join yourself to a covenant. 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,360 That's a guarantee. 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:51,640 It's either going to be with God or it's 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:53,180 going to be with the devils. 00:33:53,180 --> 00:33:54,480 Anything outside of God's covenant 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:56,120 is a covenant with the devil. 00:33:56,120 --> 00:34:00,480 So this thought of being neutral, saying, well, 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:04,080 I really don't have a preference. 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,480 I just kind of stay neutral. 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:07,680 You can't do that. 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,120 Jesus said it. 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:10,400 You are going to serve one of two masters. 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,560 You'll serve one, hate the other, 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,080 hate the one and cling to the other. 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,000 But you're going to serve a master. 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:21,120 You're not constructed. 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:22,400 You're not made to just do your own thing. 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,200 You're going to do somebody else's thing. 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:27,040 That's what you're going to do. 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:29,600 But a good example of this is found in Genesis chapter 39, 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:35,240 verses 8 through 9, about how keeping a covenant 00:34:35,240 --> 00:34:43,000 leads to not fearing other gods. 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,720 And it's keeping the right kind of covenant, by the way. 00:34:44,720 --> 00:34:48,760 I'll explain it more after we read. 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,520 Genesis 39, verses 8 through 9, after his brothers sold him 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:58,040 into slavery to a bunch of Ishmaelites, 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:03,120 Joseph was then sold by those Ishmaelites 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:07,400 to the Egyptian Potiphar. 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,160 And over time, Joseph became the chief servant 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,720 in that Potiphar's house. 00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:16,640 Now, Potiphar had an unfaithful wife. 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:21,440 And she tried to seduce Joseph. 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,480 And you're going to see how seriously Joseph 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,880 took this command to not fear other gods, 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:33,640 but to honor covenants. 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,680 First of all-- and there are at least two covenants, maybe 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,320 three, if we look at it even more closely, 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,040 to which Joseph appeals in his attempt 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:45,600 to escape this seductress. 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,160 But he refused and said unto his master's wife, 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:57,160 behold, my master wadeth not-- that means knoweth not-- 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:01,520 what is with me in the house. 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:03,800 And he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:08,640 There is none greater in this house than I. 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,640 Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:18,040 because thou art his wife. 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,480 How then can I do this great wickedness and sin 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,160 against God? 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,120 Look at how Joseph appealed to the keeping of covenants. 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,920 This is why it's so important when 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,160 God told the children of Israel to not forget his covenant. 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:38,280 Covenant number one is found in that verse. 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:41,240 He hath committed all that he hath into my hand but thee. 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:46,600 And then he further says thou art his wife. 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:52,360 Joseph said, Potiphar has trusted me. 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,240 Your husband has trusted me with his entire house, which 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:57,960 includes you in the servants. 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,640 And the covenant that Potiphar established with Joseph 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,920 was good enough for him to refuse 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,280 this unfaithful woman's advances. 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:12,840 When a married person has inappropriate thoughts 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,520 about another married person, there 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:20,040 are two earthly covenants that that person should consider. 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:25,480 The first one is his own covenant with his wife, 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,920 or she with her husband if the person's married. 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:31,080 That ought to be a showstopper right there. 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:33,320 Nope, I got a wife. Devil, the Lord rebuke you. 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:39,240 That should be the end of it. 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:41,520 But if that's not good enough, if a man says, 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:43,400 well, I can't stand my wife. 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:44,920 I've heard people say that. 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:46,080 It's just terrible. 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:47,280 Or I can't stand my husband. 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,680 Or we're not in love anymore, whatever foolish statement 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:53,200 they've made. 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,760 Well, then if you're not going to honor the covenant 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:57,760 with your own spouse, at least have a little respect 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,200 for the covenant that other person has 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:02,040 with his or her spouse. 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,000 Do you hate them that bad? 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,200 Because the covenant that married person has with her 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:11,240 husband or he with his wife is important, just like the one 00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:18,720 you have with your spouse is. 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:21,520 I know of a man right now who has three-- 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,880 no, he does not go to church here-- 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,880 who has three small children, and at least one of those 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:30,040 children has special needs. 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,800 And the man's wife is a stay-at-home mother, 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:35,840 and boy, she has her work cut out for her, as you know. 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:40,760 And this man has repeatedly been unfaithful to his wife. 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:46,080 And his current mistress is a single woman. 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:49,880 And I happen to know one of the women, the single woman, 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:54,160 with whom he's had an affair. 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,840 And yes, he is doing wickedly. 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:58,680 He has failed to honor the covenant 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:02,040 between him and his wife. 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,440 But this one's often overlooked, because that single woman who's 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:10,600 committing adultery with this married man, 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,400 although she doesn't have a covenant with a husband, 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,880 she's not married. 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:17,600 But she is forgetting a covenant, not her own, 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,000 but the one her lover has with his wife. 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,920 The moment he approached her and she found out he was married, 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:29,800 she should have said, time out, buddy. 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,520 You're married. 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:33,760 You have a covenant with your wife. 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,560 And that is enough for me to say we are nothing but work friends. 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:43,240 We don't have anything to do with each other past that. 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:47,240 But she doesn't. 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:50,240 That ought to be enough for a single man or a single woman 00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:52,920 to stay away from a person who's married. 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,040 You find that ought to be the first thing you ask them. 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:59,560 Are you married? 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:01,360 They say, no. 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:02,000 Say, are you a Christian? 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,040 Are you divorced? 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:04,960 I mean, ask some questions. 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,040 That covenant ought to mean something to you. 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:11,040 And understand if somebody is, whether they're here 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,120 or listening-- 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:15,160 I never know who I'm talking to. 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:16,960 I don't know what you do off duty from church. 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:21,120 But if you are an accessory to breaking a marriage covenant, 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:25,720 even though you yourself are not in the marriage covenant, 00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:29,240 then you need to consider the importance of that other 00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:33,400 person's covenant. 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,640 And oh, how many pastors and Christians in general 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:40,000 have fallen because they forgot the covenants they 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,440 had with their own spouses or that other people had 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,120 with their spouses. 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:47,920 But Joseph didn't forget either one of those covenants. 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:55,000 Now, here is the big one. 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:56,640 This is the one that makes it a lot easier 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,000 to keep the other covenants. 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:02,640 This is number two in here. 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:03,960 He said, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:09,840 That's the covenant that's most important here. 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:15,600 Joseph showed the Potiphar's wife that avoiding adultery 00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:22,720 was not only proof of his respect to the covenant 00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:26,200 between the Potiphar and him and between the Potiphar 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,760 and his wife, but it was also proof 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:31,640 of his respect to the covenant God had established with him. 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:36,840 Joseph said to her it would be a sin against God. 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,640 So he knew better, even though at that time 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,360 the 10 commandments had not been given on Mount Sinai. 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,920 This was before that. 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,880 But Joseph knew it was a sin. 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,200 How many wives did God give to Adam? 00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:59,640 He made her one. 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:00,960 One wife. 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,880 Man is the one who messed that up. 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:05,520 If you consider and respect God's covenant with you 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:14,000 and the price he paid to establish it, 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,040 then you won't have near the problems keeping 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,560 your earthly covenants. 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,360 Because you'll honor your covenant with your mortgage 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,520 company since you agreed with them 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:28,320 to pay off that mortgage at a certain rate 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,480 and in a certain time. 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,200 You'll honor your covenant with your student loan institution 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:37,240 and pay off your student loans because you said you would. 00:42:37,240 --> 00:42:40,880 You won't let Joe Biden tell you that it's OK 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,200 to break that covenant and just not pay your student loans off. 00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,040 You signed your name on there when 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:47,640 you were in need when you didn't have the funds to go to college 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:52,600 and you said I'll pay it back. 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:54,320 It doesn't matter what anybody else says. 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:56,800 You pay that money back every dime of it. 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,240 And you'll honor your covenant with your spouse 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:07,640 like you said you would do till death do you part. 00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:11,680 And you shall not fear other gods, the ones that tell you 00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:15,840 that it's all right to do wrong. 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:18,680 And we'll stop right there and pick up with verse 39 next week. 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,440 Let's pray. 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,240 Father, what a good time it's been in your word this morning. 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:28,360 You've taught us so much and we're very thankful for it. 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:32,000 And Lord, there's a lot to remember. 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:33,500 But I pray that you would help us not 00:43:33,500 --> 00:43:35,120 to be oblivious to your word, not to forget it, 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,520 but to pay attention to it. 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:41,200 To do as our sister does, to read and study that Bible so 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:45,800 much that the pages are crooked and wavy. 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:53,840 And Lord, just show somebody who's 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,440 been in the word over and over again. 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,560 Build us up in the faith. 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:02,760 And we pray that you'd glorify yourself in the next hour 00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:07,040 as we sing and encourage one another 00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:11,560 and hear our pastor teach from your word. 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,920 And we pray it in Jesus' name. 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,040 Amen. 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:18,600

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