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What if the secret to conquering life's greatest battles wasn't found in elaborate strategies or motivational speeches, but in a deliberate return to the simplest spiritual truths that anchor our souls? In this message, the story of Joshua pauses amid triumph and defeat to rebuild something foundational in ways that challenge our modern rush toward complexity. How might rediscovering these overlooked essentials transform the covenant we live by today?
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/back-to-the-basics
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📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/back-to-the-basics
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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00:00Most of us have been around long enough to recognize the name Vince Lombardi.
00:04I mean, we know the name Vince Lombardi, whether we know much about him.
00:08We do know that when he came to Green Bay, the team was just a wreck.
00:14For 12 years prior to him coming, they just did nothing.
00:19They were a team of professional football players, men who had risen to the ranks through high school, college.
00:25Now they're in the pros and they were a pretty hapless team.
00:29So he came to them in the 60s and made that team into one of the most dominating teams of the NFL.
00:35And I mean, his legacy has gone on.
00:37We know quotes such as these from Vince Lombardi.
00:40It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up.
00:44Or individual commitment to a group effort, that is what makes a team work, a company, a society, a civilization.
00:51Or this one I like, Green Bay Packers never lost a football game, they just ran out of time.
00:57That's a good one, huh?
00:59He was so convinced his team could win, he just needed more time.
01:03Anyway, you kind of wonder, what made him such a great coach?
01:05What was it?
01:06I mean, was he a good tactician?
01:08Did he know good plays?
01:09What was it that made him a good coach?
01:11I mean, he was probably average on tactician.
01:15He knew how the game worked.
01:17He was a good motivator of people.
01:19That's true.
01:20He was able to motivate people well and get them going, get that extra 10% out of them.
01:24That was good.
01:24But probably one of the things that made him a great coach and his team a great team is this is what he would do.
01:31On the first day of practice every year when the team got back together again to get ready for the season.
01:37The very first day of practice.
01:40Now remember, these are professional football players.
01:42Men who have gone through the ranks.
01:44He stands before them on the first day of practice and he holds out a football and he says, this is a football.
01:53Have we lost anybody yet?
01:57What made him so great was he always got back to the basics.
02:02He went back to the very basics, not the flowery Hail Mary plays.
02:07He got back to just basic blocking, tackling, running, and that's what made his team such a great team.
02:13He understood the basics.
02:16That made him great.
02:18He knew that if his team commanded the basics of what football was all about, they would succeed and be successful.
02:25And really, when we come to the text today, this is exactly what Joshua is doing.
02:32Joshua is going to do something for the nation of Israel that they desperately needed at this moment in their history.
02:39Look at chapter 8.
02:40Now, we're not going to handle the entire chapter 8.
02:44We're just going to handle the last six verses, 30 through 35 of the chapter.
02:49You'll see a couple of pictures coming up here.
02:52And basically, what happens is the first part of the chapter,
02:55God tells Joshua with this elaborate plan how they can succeed in capturing I.
03:02He tells them, basically, go to the city like you are going to go to the city, draw them out of the city,
03:08then swing around from the backside, let your men come out of the ambush.
03:11As the men of the city come out, you go in, burn the city, voila, you've captured the city.
03:16And that's basically what happened.
03:17And in the bottom left is a picture where I is or was modern day picture today.
03:23That's the basic gist of what we are up to this point.
03:25So, we see that they capture I, they kill the king of I.
03:29Now, they're at this point in verse number 30.
03:32So, they've had a great victory at Jericho.
03:36So, they had a humiliation because of Achan's sin where they should have just been able to just go over the whole city.
03:4312,000 inhabitants of I with 600,000 fighting men.
03:47I think they should be able to capture 12,000 people.
03:50They ran before I, you know the story.
03:52We already talked about that a couple weeks ago.
03:54So, Achan's sin caused a whole nation to be judged.
03:57Now, they have this victory in I.
04:00But Joshua does something right here in verses 30 through 35.
04:03He takes a moment of time and he wants to tell the nation of Israel something very, very important.
04:10He wants them to get back to the basics.
04:12And that's what we're going to look at right now, back to the basics.
04:15The first two verses here in chapter 8, verses 30 through 35, the very first two verses are going to be talking about the stone altar, the stone altar.
04:25Let me just read the first two verses.
04:27And then again, I'll do the best I can so we can interact here at this time.
04:30At that time, Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Abel, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.
04:50And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.
04:55So, the very first thing we want to talk about here is this altar that Joshua erects.
04:59Now, to understand at all what's going on, we really have to understand Deuteronomy chapter 27.
05:06In Deuteronomy chapter 27, if you want to look at there, that's fine.
05:09Deuteronomy chapter 27, just one book back, last book of Moses.
05:13Verses 2 through 6, we see this command.
05:15And Moses is saying, listen, you're going to get into the land, and the day that you, not the day, when you get into the land, you cross over the Jordan River, I want you to perform this ceremony.
05:26Moses doesn't tell him exactly when to do it.
05:28He's just saying, when you cross over the Jordan River, this ceremony you need to do.
05:33And it's going to be on Mount Abel and Mount Gerizim.
05:36So, Deuteronomy chapter 27 kind of gives us a basic understanding of where this whole story comes from, why the event is there.
05:44And in chapter 27, verses 2 through 6, which you can look at if you would like, there are three acts that Joshua is supposed to do.
05:51He's supposed to write the law on large stones covered with plaster.
05:55He's supposed to sacrifice, and he's supposed to proclaim the blessings and the curses of the Lord.
06:03So, this event took place 40 years earlier, basically, at Sinai, and it's going to be rehashed again.
06:11Again, why do you suppose it's so very important to rehash something that they already had done?
06:17Why?
06:19I mean, they've already done this.
06:21Now, 40 years has gone by.
06:23Why is it important to do it all over again?
06:27Okay, so a new generation has come up.
06:28They need to be, okay.
06:30What else?
06:30Why is it important now to just do it?
06:32I mean, Moses commanded them.
06:33When you cross over into Jordan, this is what you need to do.
06:36They had already done this earlier.
06:37People forget.
06:42Okay, good.
06:44So, this is going to, thank you, Teresa.
06:46It gets me right into my next point.
06:48They, you look like you looked at my notes or something.
06:52So, this is going to be a reminder.
06:56Yeah, a reminder.
06:58A reminder of God's requirements for the people and a renewal of the people's promises.
07:03It kind of ties in everything that you said.
07:05You know, Shirley says a new generation.
07:06Teresa says the people forget.
07:07So, this is going to be a reminder to the people of God's promises and a renewal of
07:12their commitment to follow God's promises and to be obedient to Him.
07:18The altar was, did you notice anything interesting about this altar?
07:22Has anyone ever seen the altars of the Greeks?
07:24Ever seen any Greek altars?
07:26We went to the Pergamon Museum in East Berlin where they have the altar of Pergamon.
07:30New Testament, we read in the book of the Revelation, Pergamon.
07:33Or Pergamon, however you want to pronounce it.
07:35This altar was amazing.
07:38It had people engraved in this big altar.
07:42I mean, to dimensions you would say, wow, that's pretty impressive.
07:48What did you notice here about what this altar was supposed to look like?
07:51Just a bunch of stones.
07:55Oh, you mean, they're not supposed to chisel cool things and make pomegranates and pictures on it?
08:03Just uncut stones.
08:06Now, why would that be so important?
08:09I mean, wouldn't it be neat to have a cool altar where you can offer sacrifices on?
08:13Why do you suppose he says, no iron tool, uncut stones?
08:26That's for it.
08:27So, there's no, there's no, go ahead, Randy.
08:41And these are all good things.
08:44You know, what it was, it was supposed to be about God, not about man's artistic ability.
08:50All the glory was to go to God about these uncut stones.
08:52It's not about how great man can be and make this wonderful altar.
08:56It was simply all the glory was to go, it was to appoint people to God, not to man.
09:00If it was a flowery, showery altar, what are they going to say?
09:02Oh, cool.
09:03Look at those Israelites.
09:04They can build neat altars.
09:06No.
09:08I mean, I'm sure that's always a possibility.
09:11When we come to this place, we're going to see here in a little bit a picture exactly where this takes place.
09:16But this is probably now where they're building this altar right now.
09:19This is probably the exact location where Abraham, when he first came into the land, built his altar.
09:28Exact location.
09:29If you'll notice in Genesis chapter 12, verse 7,
09:32then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring, I will give this land.
09:36So, we built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.
09:39And when we follow the context in Genesis chapter 12, we see this is at Shechem,
09:43which we're going to see here in a couple of seconds, is exactly where this altar probably was built in this general area around Mount Abel.
09:52In 1984, you're going to see a graphic, maybe it's kind of light, you're going to see a graphic of what they uncovered here right on Mount Abel.
10:01They uncovered this in 1984.
10:03The Israeli archaeologists found this.
10:05And they can date it back to the time around Joshua's age.
10:10It's very possible this could be the altar that Joshua made.
10:15We don't know 100% for sure, but around all of the items that were there, they found sacrificial animal bones.
10:21They found it all right here on this spot.
10:23It could very well be this is the altar on Mount Abel that Joshua built.
10:27You'll notice that there was a ramp going up.
10:30The reason why there was a ramp is God made specific instructions in the Old Testament there not to be any stairs when you go up to the altar.
10:38So, someone, I know this sounds funny, but this is what God said.
10:41So, that someone can't look underneath your garment when you're walking up the stairs to offer on the altar.
10:46Had to be a ramp going up.
10:48And you could see there's this ramp going up to this altar.
10:50This very well could be that altar that Joshua built.
10:54The burnt offerings were offered.
10:56The peace offerings were offered and two reasons why there are two different kinds of offerings.
11:02I think it's interesting.
11:03It's just that the Bible didn't say offerings.
11:05It said burnt offerings and peace offerings.
11:08The burnt offerings are those items that were put on the altar and completely consumed.
11:12There was nothing left over.
11:14Everything was consumed.
11:15It's a burnt offering.
11:17And this speaks of this total consecration to God.
11:21Nothing is held back.
11:22The peace offerings are a little bit different.
11:24The peace offerings is part of it was burned on the altar, part of it was given to the priest, and part of it was given to the people.
11:31So, the burnt offerings talked about total consecration to God, giving completely everything to Him.
11:36The peace offerings symbolize gratitude, commitment to God, fellowship with God.
11:42So, peace offerings and burnt offerings.
11:44I think that's important.
11:44Now, we read here that He was to write on these stones, now not the altar, probably stones set up by the altar or large stones, covered with plaster, we read in Deuteronomy 27.
11:57He was supposed to write the words of the Law of Moses on it.
12:01Now, most likely, He didn't write all five books of Moses on these stones.
12:05That would have taken a long time.
12:07So, He probably wrote weightier sections from the Law of Moses, whether the Ten Commandments or whether the last part of Deuteronomy, but probably not the entire five books, but not just the Ten Commandments.
12:19So, somewhere in between there, these weightier matters of the Law of Moses, He was to write on these stones so that people would remember exactly what God had said.
12:27Whatever it was, whatever it was, whether it was all five books, which would have taken Him a long time, but it's a possibility, or whether it was just the weightier manners of the Law, what does that tell us about the five books of Moses in Joshua's day?
12:46And He, they were written, and they had them.
12:51See, the thing is, liberal scholars will come along and tell us, no, the five books of Moses were written.
12:57Way later.
13:00And the stuff that took place, it was written centuries and centuries and centuries after this time right here.
13:07It is not accurate.
13:10That's what liberal scholars will tell us.
13:12And we know in Joshua's day, they had the five books of Moses.
13:15They had the Law of Moses in his day.
13:17He was able to write them on stone, so he had to have a written copy of them somewhere.
13:22Scholars will say, liberal scholars will say, oh, they didn't have anything written at that time.
13:27Well, obviously, they must have had it written, because he wrote it on the stones.
13:34So, in Deuteronomy 27, this is what's interesting.
13:38I find this whole story is interesting in this.
13:41In Deuteronomy 27, Moses never told Joshua when to do this.
13:47There was no time given.
13:48In other words, the day you set your foot over the Jordan River, do this.
13:51No, that's not what he said.
13:52He said, when you cross over the Jordan River, I want you to do this.
13:56So, there was no specific time given.
13:58So, Joshua could have waited until all of the land was conquered and then come back and done this.
14:04That would have been okay, too.
14:05He was not told to do it right now.
14:08And that kind of led me to the question, well, then, why now?
14:12I mean, he could have waited until the whole land was conquered.
14:14Why go from Ai and march the entire nation of Israel with all of the cattle and all of their possessions,
14:23the women, the children, all of the people that are living with them, not from the nation of Israel.
14:28Why march them 30 miles northwest of Ai to the area that we're going to see?
14:34Why do it right now?
14:36That was a question I asked myself.
14:39Why now?
14:40Why do you suppose Joshua wants to do it right now?
14:46Go ahead.
14:49Okay, they're in a traveling mode.
14:51Okay.
14:53Okay, that's a possibility.
14:56Time of commitment.
14:59Remember, keep in context.
15:02Jericho, marvelous victory.
15:05Ai, a complete humiliation.
15:07Why did they fail at Ai?
15:10They're both right.
15:13That's a both right.
15:14Disobedience and sin.
15:15They failed at Ai because of disobedience.
15:18Now, God gives them an elaborate plan to conquer Ai.
15:21They conquer it because they're what?
15:24They're obedient to God.
15:26My thinking is, and again, we can disagree to, well, we can agree to disagree.
15:31Probably all of your answers are just as good because no time was given.
15:34My thinking is this.
15:36The reason why Joshua wanted to do it right now is he knew what laid ahead of them.
15:41He knew there'll be multiple battles.
15:43There'll be multiple cities they're going to have to conquer.
15:45And if they couldn't get the basics down right now, before the whole thing, they're going to have multiple Ai experiences where they're humiliated.
15:55My thinking is he wants to bring them to this point to make such an impression upon their minds that obedience to God is the way we have to go.
16:05If we're not obedient to God, we're going to fail like we did at Ai.
16:09We've got to be obedient.
16:10So for my thinking is he's bringing them back to the core principle of faith.
16:15Their faith was obedience to God.
16:18Every time they were disobedient, there was failure.
16:20There was destruction.
16:21And every time they're obedient, there's blessings that pour out to them.
16:25He's bringing them back to the basics.
16:28People needed to get back to the basics.
16:29And that was simply obedience.
16:31My thinking.
16:32Again, we can agree to disagree.
16:34My thinking is the timing is perfect.
16:36It's almost as if Vince Lombardi took a play out of Joshua's playbook by bringing the people back to the basics and said,
16:45listen, if we can't get this one right, if we can't get obedience right, we're going to have a tough time conquering the promised land.
16:51If we can get obedience right, God will bless us.
16:56Now look at the sacred assembly, verses 33 through 35.
17:00So we see the altar that was built.
17:02Now there's going to be this assembly of people, a sacred assembly of people for some reasons.
17:07And we'll see here in 33 to 35.
17:09And all Israel, sojourner as well as native-born, with their elders and officers and their judges,
17:16stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
17:21half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Abel,
17:26just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded at the first to bless the people of Israel.
17:31So we see that these people are standing between Mount Abel and Mount Gerizim,
17:56where the city of Shechem lies, lied is a different name today.
18:01And you can imagine as they're in this location,
18:04if they had any kind of memory about what Moses had written and talked about,
18:10a certain awe would have overcome them.
18:13The reason why I say a certain awe overcame them, as they were right,
18:17if they would have just been thinking,
18:19the reason why this was such an awe-inspiring place is this.
18:22This is probably the exact location where Abraham first received the promise from God,
18:31that he was going to give them the land.
18:33Genesis chapter 12.
18:35Right here, when Abraham comes into the land in Genesis chapter 12, verse 6,
18:39he says to Abraham,
18:40Abraham passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the Oak of Morah.
18:44At that time, the Canaanites were in the land and God promised him,
18:49the place that your feet walk on right now, I'm giving to you and to your descendants.
18:53So, if they would even be thinking, they're standing at Shechem,
18:56the place where God spoke to their forefather, Abraham, the father of the Hebrews,
19:01the father of the Jews, and said,
19:03I'm giving you this land.
19:04And here's the people, his offspring, standing right at the exact location,
19:09remembering the promise that God made to Abraham and saying,
19:12wow, this is where it happened.
19:15This is where God made the promise.
19:17We could say, this was promised place.
19:23And Israel was now celebrating God's faithfulness.
19:27Here they are in that land that God had promised them.
19:30And the promise came right in the exact location where they are standing right now.
19:35That's awe-inspiring.
19:36So, here we see a picture of Mount Abel on the right,
19:42Mount Gerizim on the left.
19:44The middle in between is the city of, the ancient city of Shechem.
19:49So, we know that on Mount Abel, that's where we saw the altar that was built up there.
19:53Mount Abel came the blessing, Mount Gerizim, no, you're not getting that wrong.
19:56Mount Gerizim came the blessing, Mount Abel came the curses,
19:59and the people were right in between in Shechem.
20:02It's like a natural amphitheater.
20:03And the people that have visited this location, which I have not,
20:08say that you can hear clearly those things that take place on the mountainsides
20:12right and left of the city.
20:14It's like a natural amphitheater.
20:15All the sound just kind of funnels right down to the area of that city.
20:19So, here we've got six tribes on one side,
20:22and six tribes on the other side, representatives from those tribes.
20:26One side on Mount Gerizim to bless the people were Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,
20:31Joseph, and Benjamin on Mount Abel to speak out the curses against the people,
20:37were representatives of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
20:41And the people, everyone, the whole congregation of Israel,
20:45assembled together at Shechem and listened to the blessings and the curses
20:49being pronounced from each one of the mountains.
20:51And every time something was said, the people were to respond with,
20:55Amen.
20:57Okay, thank you.
21:00Now, that's good.
21:01I like that.
21:01It's interaction.
21:03In Deuteronomy 27, it's interesting.
21:05Moses only lists here the curses.
21:06There are other blessings when we're obedient to the Lord,
21:09but he lists the curses and that the people were supposed to respond back with,
21:12Amen, at the curse.
21:13For example, curse would be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image,
21:17an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman,
21:20and sets it up in secret.
21:22And all the people shall answer, Amen.
21:23So, you see that the curses come from Mount Abel.
21:27They're speaking out these curses, and the people hear it, and they say,
21:30Amen.
21:31Cursed is anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.
21:34And the people should say, Amen.
21:36Cursed is anyone who moves this neighbor's landmark.
21:38And all the people say, Amen.
21:40Now, you get the picture.
21:40I don't have to read them all.
21:42They say the curse is from Mount Abel, and the people say, Amen.
21:45And then the blessings were going to be spoken from Mount Gerizum,
21:47and the people would say, Amen.
21:49The idea is this.
21:50When you're obedient to God, blessings come.
21:52When you're disobedient to God, curses come.
21:56The people were going to be called back to the very basics of the faith,
22:00and that is obedience to God, following His Word,
22:04listening to what He has to say, doing what He has to say.
22:08And every time they were disobedient,
22:10the curses that were called out from that mountain were brought to their remembrance.
22:14You can imagine that day, the whole congregation listening to this.
22:19Could you imagine how awe-inspiring and what that would put in their mind?
22:22That would put this mental, visual picture in their mind that they would remember the rest of their days.
22:28It was basically this.
22:31Obedience.
22:33Be obedient to God.
22:35Do what He tells you to do.
22:37When so, all these blessings that you heard called down from Mount Gerizum will come your way.
22:42The second that you are disobedient to God, remember I?
22:46The second that you're disobedient to God, the curses are going to fall down,
22:49just like they flowed from Mount Abel to the people in the Valley of Shechem.
22:54So the blessings now will flow in direct proportion to their obedience to God's covenant.
23:00Curses, likewise, to their disobedience.
23:03Curses, everyone was here.
23:08Notice that?
23:09Women, children, little ones, sojourners, officials, the elders, everyone was present.
23:17They didn't leave anyone after they conquered Ai and marched 30 miles northwest to this location.
23:24Everyone was there.
23:25They all heard it.
23:26Could you imagine the children that day probably in raptured silence listening as these curses
23:35and these blessings were being called out from the mountaintops and the people?
23:39Could you imagine having approximately, we don't have an exact number, approximately 2 million
23:44people screaming out, amen, how that would shake the mountains?
23:51You can imagine in the child's mind, this got stuck and would never get out.
23:55Now, obedience means blessings.
23:58Disobedience brings curses.
24:01The promises and all the faithfulness of God are guaranteed in his covenant.
24:05Now, this is where I think is fascinating.
24:10The old covenant, that's what we're talking about.
24:12Talking about the old covenant that was established.
24:15What's a covenant?
24:16Can someone describe me in modern day English?
24:18We don't use the word covenant very often, unless you're in a neighborhood covenant.
24:22Covenant, it's like a what?
24:25Okay, it's a promise.
24:26Good.
24:26What's?
24:27That's a good word I like.
24:28I like the word contract.
24:30It's a binding contract between two parties.
24:33And when both parties sign on the dotted line, that means both parties are responsible
24:37for each side of keeping their promises that they make in this contract.
24:43That's what a covenant is.
24:45The old covenant was established.
24:47The old covenant with the law of Moses was established just like that.
24:50The people and God came into a covenant.
24:54The people side were obedience.
24:57God's side is, I'll bless you when you're obedient.
24:59That's the covenant.
25:00It was based on obedience.
25:03So you could say this.
25:04Under the old covenant, obedience brings blessings.
25:09Disobedience brings curses.
25:11It was a contract, yes, established by God, ratified by blood, but the people were involved
25:19in it.
25:21Their obedience was paramount to whether or not God would bless them.
25:26Both not only obedience on an individual level, but obedience on a national level.
25:32Now, this is where it gets exciting for me.
25:38We don't live in the old covenant any longer.
25:42We live in the new covenant.
25:45The new covenant is not like the old covenant.
25:48It supersedes and goes beyond.
25:50As a matter of fact, in the book of Hebrews, the old covenant is passing away because the
25:53new covenant has been established.
25:55It's been established because none of us could keep everything written in the law of Moses.
26:01We could not do that.
26:04We always fail because we are depraved human beings.
26:07We always fail.
26:08We could never keep the entire law of Moses.
26:11Paul says it clearly.
26:14We'll fail the obedience test.
26:19The old law was a mutual contract between Israel and God.
26:23Israel obedient, blessings from God.
26:26Israel disobedient, curses come from God.
26:29Now, what I want us to see here is that the new Testament is not dependent upon us.
26:37The new Testament is dependent upon the obedience of Jesus Christ.
26:41That's how the new covenant is established.
26:46It's established, yes, on obedience, but established on the obedience of Jesus Christ and not on
26:52our obedience.
26:54Paul says it like this in Romans.
26:56Therefore, as one trespass, he's talking about Adam, led to the condemnation for all men.
27:03So one act of righteousness leads to the justification and life for all men.
27:09For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners.
27:14So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.
27:18The new covenant is established upon the blood of Jesus Christ and the obedience of Jesus Christ.
27:25It is not a conditional covenant based on our obedience.
27:28In other words, it's not a covenant of works.
27:30We cannot earn our salvation.
27:31It's not about being obedient.
27:33Oh yeah, and God will bless me.
27:34No, it's because Jesus Christ was obedient.
27:36We are in him.
27:38We are blessed.
27:39If he ever becomes disobedient, the covenant fails.
27:42Will he?
27:43See, no, this is what makes the new covenant so great as we failed the obedience test.
27:52He didn't.
27:53He's absolutely obedient.
27:55Hebrews 10, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
28:00Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not
28:04desired, but a body you have prepared for me and burnt offerings and sin offerings.
28:08You have taken no pleasure.
28:10Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the
28:14scroll of the book.
28:15When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings
28:20and burnt offerings and sin offerings.
28:22These are offered according to the law.
28:24Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will.
28:28He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
28:31And by that will, obedience, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
28:38Christ once and for all.
28:40The new covenant has been ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ through the obedience of the
28:46Son.
28:47And when we enter into that new covenant, we enter into that new covenant by faith alone
28:52in Jesus Christ.
28:53His finished work and based on his obedience, the covenant stands before God.
28:58If he's ever disobedient, the covenant fails, he will never be disobedient.
29:02That's the great thing about the new covenant.
29:07He is our representative.
29:08He took our place.
29:10His obedience satisfied God.
29:13By faith, we enter in.
29:16The old covenant disobedience equal curses.
29:20In the new covenant, since it's the obedience of one that brought blessings to all, since
29:26he can never be obedient, there are no curses in the new covenant.
29:31There are no curses in the new covenant.
29:34As a matter of fact, Paul says this, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
29:38are in Christ Jesus.
29:40There are no curses.
29:41Does that mean you can live any way you like?
29:43No.
29:44Paul talks about holiness.
29:45That's not what it talks about.
29:46Only if Jesus is disobedient, will the curses come.
29:51And since he never can be disobedient, there are no curses in the new covenant.
29:54There is blessings and the blessings are in Christ.
29:57You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
30:00Ephesians chapter one.
30:01Every blessing that's possible to human beings is found in Jesus Christ.
30:06And since he was obedient and he ratified the new covenant with his blood, it stands forever.
30:12That's the great thing about the new covenant.
30:14Again, Teresa said it's easy to drift away from the basics.
30:22I agree.
30:23We forget.
30:24We forget.
30:27There's a bunch of basics we could talk about, whether it's there's one God.
30:31His name is not Allah, by the way.
30:34There is one God.
30:35We talk about the deity of Jesus Christ.
30:38These are all basics of the Christian faith.
30:40That is true.
30:41But there's even one greater one that I want to talk about.
30:46These are all extremely important.
30:49There's one greater one.
30:53Friends, this is the Bible.
30:56Have I lost anyone yet?
30:57This is where we find all these wonderful and precious promises.
31:05This is where we see God has revealed himself to mankind.
31:09And this is where we see that God has revealed us to ourselves in this book.
31:14We see in this book, those three basic questions that every human being is asking is found here in this book.
31:21Where did I come from?
31:23Why am I the way that I am?
31:26What happens when I die?
31:27What's going to happen after me?
31:30It's right here.
31:31All the things I talked about.
31:32There is one God, the deity of Jesus Christ, the work of Jesus on the cross, the church.
31:37All wrapped up in here.
31:40This is the basics.
31:42And far too often, we rush out of life into the fast line of life and we forget the basics.
31:47All of us do.
31:49Especially when we go on vacation.
31:51When we're out of our normal routine.
31:53Don't sometimes say, oh, I forgot my devotion again today.
31:56You ever been there before?
31:57This is the basics.
31:59When we get back to the basics, all the other things will be answered.
32:04They're all contained in the basics.
32:05Here's what we have.
32:09This is what we turn to.
32:11Joshua called the people back to obedience.
32:14The basics of their covenant with God.
32:16And I want to call us back now to the basics.
32:20Spending time in God's word.
32:21Listening to God speak to you through his word.
32:24Interacting with God.
32:25Growing closer to him and understanding of who he is because he has revealed himself in his word.
32:30It's all right here.
32:32I want to point us back to the basics.
32:34I don't know if you have a Bible reading plan.
32:37If you don't, find one.
32:39If it helps you.
32:40Or just read straight through the Bible.
32:41If that's good for you.
32:42It doesn't matter to me.
32:43There's some Bible reading plans in the back.
32:45But we have to get back to the basics.
32:47We cannot let life in the fast lane distract us from the very basics that God is calling us back to.
32:54That's his word.
32:56Let's go ahead and pray.
32:56Thanks for the interaction.
32:57Father, we thank you for giving us your word.
33:01It is precious.
33:03There is no other book like it in the world.
33:05It is your very words.
33:08You breathe them out.
33:09They are inspired.
33:11No man spoke, but the Holy Spirit carried them along and gave them the exact words to say through their personality as they put it down on that page.
33:22They are your very words that we hold in our hands today.
33:25And we can know about you.
33:27We can learn about you.
33:27We can hear your voice speak.
33:29We can see exactly all the precious promises that you've given to us in the new covenant.
33:33We can see exactly what it was like in the Old Testament, how you interacted with them and how you interacted with us in the New Testament.
33:40We can see the life of your son.
33:42We can see his miracles.
33:43We can see his resurrection, his ascension, his promises to return.
33:48All these are here in your word.
33:49I want to call us back to the basics.
33:52I don't want us to forget the basics.
33:55It's your word.
33:57I just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.
33:59Amen.
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