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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Jean Ross: Hello again, friends, and welcome 00:37 to "Sabbath School Study Hour" here at the Granite Bay 00:40 Seventh Day Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. 00:43 I'd like to welcome those who are joining us 00:45 across the country and around the world. 00:47 I know we have a number of online members, part of our 00:50 church family here but not in person yet. 00:52 They participate through the marvels of modern media 00:56 to be a part of our church family and they tune in 00:59 every week to participate in "Sabbath School Study Hour," 01:02 so very warm welcome to you and also to our regular members 01:05 that are here. 01:07 And I know we do have some visitors 01:09 who are joining us today. 01:11 Glad that you are studying with us a very important lesson 01:13 dealing with the two Old Testament books, 01:15 Ezra and Nehemiah. 01:17 But before we get to our study today, we do want to let our 01:19 friends know who are joining us online and also those who are 01:22 watching on the various networks, if you don't have 01:25 a copy of the study, you can download the lesson for today 01:29 at lesson.aftv.org. 01:33 Again, that's lesson.aftv.org. 01:36 We also have a free offer that we'd like to make available 01:39 to those who are viewing the program. 01:41 It is a book entitled "Hidden Eyes And Closed Ears." 01:45 This is our free offer for today. 01:48 The number to call is... or if you'd like 01:53 you can download a free copy of this book. 01:57 Just text the code SH036 to the number 40544, and you'll be able 02:06 to read the book "Hidden Eyes And Closed Ears." 02:08 That is our free offer for today. 02:11 But before we get to our lesson study, we'd like to invite our 02:14 song leaders to come and they'll be leading us 02:17 in our Sabbath school song this morning. 02:20 male: It's a privilege to sing to our Lord and Savior. 02:23 We're going to sing a song this morning, number 528, 02:26 "A Shelter In The Time Of Storm" and that shelter is Jesus. 02:30 We're going to sing all four verses number 528, 02:33 "A Shelter In The Time Of Storm." 02:36 ♪♪♪ 05:15 male: Thank you for singing. 05:18 Jean: Let's bow our heads for prayer. 05:20 Dear Father in heaven, we thank you once again that we're able 05:22 to gather together in your house on this beautiful Sabbath that 05:25 you've given us to open up your Word and study about this great 05:28 covenant that you have made with us, 05:31 first mentioned way back in the beginning the Bible repeated 05:35 to your people Israel throughout the many years and fulfilled 05:38 in the coming of Jesus. 05:40 So, we do ask you bless us in our study time today, 05:43 for we ask this in Jesus's name, amen. 05:46 Our study today is entitled God And The Covenant, 05:48 and Pastor Doug will be bringing us our study this morning. 05:53 Doug Batchelor: Good morning, everybody. 05:59 I'm enjoying these studies in Ezra and Nehemiah 06:03 talking about this renewal. 06:08 You know, keep in mind that this story is taking place 06:12 at a time when the nation of Israel had been conquered. 06:16 The northern kingdom been conquered by Syria, 06:19 the southern kingdom, Judah been conquered by Babylon. 06:22 The people had been carried away, just the poorest 06:25 were left to kind of take care of the vineyards 06:28 and the produce of the land. 06:30 Jerusalem was burned. The temple was burned. 06:32 The palaces, the nice houses were burned. 06:35 Nehemiah even says the stones were burned, 06:38 and they had to start over. 06:41 And you know, I was just thinking this morning, 06:44 Karen and I were talking about the paradise fire, which is 06:46 about a year ago now. 06:49 And they're still in just the infancy of trying to rebuild 06:52 their lives up there. 06:54 Fire totally swept through a community and took out 06:57 the infrastructure, and many homes were burned, 06:59 some were left. 07:01 But starting from scratch can be very difficult, 07:05 but starting from scratch can present an opportunity. 07:12 Nehemiah and Ezra recognized the whole nation had been carried 07:17 off because of apostasy. 07:20 The Lord in His mercy made it possible for us to come back. 07:24 We're rebuilding the walls, rebuilding the streets, 07:29 rebuilding the temple. 07:31 If we rebuild all these things and we don't rebuild our faith, 07:34 what good is it, right? 07:37 Now, this is very close to home for us because here at Granite 07:41 Bay, we're building the church. 07:44 Amazing Facts just moved into some new offices, 07:48 and I find myself haunted a little bit. 07:52 It's an expensive, timely process to build. 07:56 And I think, what good is it to build it all 07:59 if we don't have the spiritual aspect? 08:02 For example, I think it's great to have Christian Schools, 08:07 and Seventh Day Adventist Church has Christian schools 08:12 all over the world. 08:14 I think, if I'm not mistaken, we're second only to the 08:16 Catholics as far as Christian Schools worldwide. 08:21 And you need buildings, you need teachers, you need structure, 08:24 but if you have all that if they lose the spiritual foundation, 08:29 what do you have? 08:32 Education is important, academics are important, 08:34 safe environment is important, but is our goal 08:37 to have educated sinners? 08:41 I think the health work is important. 08:44 We've got hospitals all over the world, and it's a wonderful 08:48 thing that way of hospitals. 08:51 Not too many atheists build hospitals, did you know that? 08:55 Have you ever seen Atheist Central Hospital 08:59 or the First Atheist Hospital. 09:02 They don't get First Baptist Methodist, you know, Christians 09:05 build hospitals because it's part--but if you get a hospital 09:11 and it's a Christian hospital and they lose the Christian 09:13 component, it's great to help people heal people, 09:17 but you're only healing them for another 20 years, 30 years. 09:21 Even if it's you heal them for 90 years, what good 09:24 is it if they lose on eternity? 09:28 You're just making healthier sinners. 09:32 And I think it's good to build churches, but if the church just 09:35 becomes a social function, what good is it? 09:40 And so, when we're building I've been thinking, you know, 09:47 Amazing Facts has a heritage of being faithful to the Word. 09:53 And now don't get worried, I feel great but the day 09:56 may come if the Lord tarries where someone else 09:59 will take over and my fear would be that Amazing Facts 10:02 would drift, that the church would drift from-- 10:07 I mean, we want to go upwards. 10:09 We don't want to go backwards like the culture. 10:11 So, it's one thing to build but if you don't have covenants of 10:14 renewing the covenants and saying, "This is who we are, 10:17 this is what we believe, this is our mission." 10:20 And you've got to keep that before the people that the Bible 10:22 is our foundation, that doesn't change. 10:25 And so, I think it's just important to renew 10:28 that this is what's happening. 10:30 So, I kind of I empathize with Ezra and Nehemiah 10:33 what they were thinking. 10:35 So, when you get through chapter 10, by the way, 10:38 we're in lesson 8. 10:39 It's God And The Covenant, and when you get to chapter 10 10:42 of Nehemiah, our mission today, the whole lesson today is really 10:44 based on Nehemiah chapter 10, and there's quite 10:47 a few verses there. 10:50 He's wanting to reestablish the covenant. 10:52 He could see how quickly they were drifting back 10:55 into the old ways. 10:57 They got into trouble. 10:59 God brought them out of Egypt, and they were going 11:01 into the Promised Land. 11:03 He said, "Now don't be marrying them pagans." 11:06 That's my rough translation. 11:09 He said, "You go marrying them pagans," he said, 11:11 you marry your sons, their daughters and their daughters, 11:14 your sons and you start doing that--" 11:16 I said that the same way twice. 11:19 "You start doing that, and pretty soon they're going 11:20 to draw your hearts away after their gods." 11:23 Had that happen to others? 11:25 Did it happen to Solomon? 11:28 Solomon loved many women, and they drew his heart away. 11:31 Did it happen to Samson? 11:34 It happened in many cases. 11:37 Now, it had began to happen again. 11:40 Here, they had already come back from Babylon. 11:42 They're trying to be faithful back in the days of Zerubbabel 11:45 and Joshua, the people came back but you realize between that 11:49 time and Ezra and Nehemiah, between the first group 11:53 that came back during the time of Cyrus and Ezra and Nehemiah, 11:56 you got 75 years that go by. 11:58 You know, the culture starts to work on you in 75 years. 12:02 And they started to compromise, they were trading with the 12:05 nations around them, and they were making friendships, 12:08 and little by little, their sons saw their daughters and said, 12:12 "Hey, they're not bad looking." 12:14 You know why the flood came? 12:16 The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were 12:21 fair, and they took them wives of all they chose. 12:25 And after the sons of God saw the daughters of man, 12:28 says wickedness was great in the earth and the thoughts 12:31 of men's hearts were only evil continually. 12:33 Sons of God were the descendants of Seth who worshiped Jehovah, 12:37 began to look at the daughters of Cain, and they intermarried. 12:41 And then the wickedness spread everywhere. 12:45 It all starts with a family unit has to be holy. 12:48 Anyway, that's a long introduction. 12:50 We have a memory verse. 12:52 Memory verse is a little strange. 12:54 It's part of two different verses 12:56 and two different chapters. 12:58 I know why they did that, but it is unusual. 12:59 So, if you want to read it and get it right with me, 13:01 you got to do it kind of out of your lesson. 13:03 It's from the New King James Version, it's Nehemiah 9, 13:06 verse 38, and Nehemiah 10, verse 39B. 13:11 How many times have you had a memory verse like that? 13:14 So, we're going to try and do it together. 13:16 You got your lesson quarterly? 13:18 Let's try that. 13:20 "And because of all this, We make a sure covenant and write 13:24 it; Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it. 13:28 We will not neglect the house of our God." 13:32 And so, this is talking about them renewing a covenant 13:35 in our study today. 13:38 So, our mission is to get through Nehemiah chapter 10, 13:45 verse 1 through 39. 13:47 So, go into your Bibles, please, in Nehemiah chapter 10. 13:49 I want you to notice something right away. 13:53 It says here in chapter 10, verse 1, 13:57 "Now those who place their seal on the document," 14:00 and here they renewed this covenant document. 14:03 It's telling us who put their seal to it. 14:06 "Were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and 14:10 Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur," 14:15 and it starts to go through a long list. 14:18 I'm not going to read them all because it would be 14:21 embarrassing for both of us. 14:23 One, because I'd probably say some wrong. 14:25 Two, because you wouldn't know that I said them wrong. 14:29 So, then it's got a long list of the Hebrew names here. 14:33 Only a couple of them stand out to us. 14:35 Of course, Nehemiah we recognize. 14:37 As you're going through the list, it also talks about you've 14:42 got Seraiah, and he's mentioned also in Nehemiah 12, verse 1. 14:49 So, "Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with 14:52 Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, 14:57 Ezra," so it's talking about some of the priests that came, 15:00 but this is years earlier so we don't know if this fellow was 15:03 very young when he came, or he's very old at this point. 15:07 And then also you read in Nehemiah chapter 10, verse 14, 15:11 another one of the names that just is of note, it says, 15:14 "The leaders of the people: Parosh," and Parosh 15:18 is mentioned in Ezra chapter 2, verse 3. 15:21 It says, "The people of Parosh, two thousand one hundred 15:23 and seventy-two." 15:26 So, a lot of these names, they kind of drift into obscurity, 15:28 except they're in four groups. 15:30 The names that you find listed and, you know, your most 15:33 of the chapters are names. 15:36 Matter of fact, I don't know if you've noticed this, but these 15:38 are some of the shortest verses in the Bible. 15:41 You got three names in a verse. 15:44 It's not like the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1. 15:48 You know, it's you just got here you go first 5, " Harim, 15:53 Meremoth, Obadiah," that's one verse, and it goes on. 15:56 So, you're getting through a lot of verses. 15:59 By the time you get through the list of names, 16:01 you're already in verse 27 with this list. 16:04 Now, there's four categories of people that are listed here. 16:08 You've got firstly, you've got the governors, such as Nehemiah. 16:15 And then secondly, you've got the priests. 16:18 Thirdly, you have the Levites that are listed. 16:21 Fourthly, the chiefs of the people. 16:24 And one interesting name is missing. 16:27 Who notices a very prominent name that should be in this list 16:30 is not in this list? 16:33 Ezra, someone did their lesson. 16:36 Ezra's name's not here. 16:38 Now, this is interesting because Ezra's name is in the chapters 16:42 before, Ezra's name is in the chapters after. 16:47 Why Ezra's name does not appear being a prominent priest, 16:51 we can only surmise. 16:53 There was one time when all this was transpiring, he had made 16:56 a trip back to Persia, and he may have gone-- 17:01 this may have been done during the time 17:03 he was going back to Persia. 17:05 He may have been sick. 17:06 It happens in that day. 17:08 So, we don't know but it's just it's something of an enigma. 17:11 Ezra is through the Book of Nehemiah, but he's not here 17:13 when the covenant's listed. 17:16 And it could be Ezra is the scribe, he is removing himself 17:23 because he is the scribe writing it all and that also 17:27 is not totally unheard of. 17:29 Any of you ever read the gospel of John? 17:31 I hope that's a rhetorical question. 17:33 You know, in the gospel of John, 17:35 John always refers to this disciple whom Jesus loved. 17:39 Who is he talking about? 17:41 Himself, but you notice he never names himself. 17:44 And so, they were sometimes very self-effacing, and they recused 17:48 themselves from the story. 17:51 Nehemiah being the scribe, he may have written it all down 17:53 and said, "Well, I'll be biased if I say I did it, too, 17:56 because I'm the one writing it." 17:58 I don't know, but he's not in the list so thought 18:00 that was interesting. 18:02 Now, hopefully it makes sense that when you're making 18:04 a covenant like this, it lists, you know, 27, 18:08 30 different leaders that are signing this covenant. 18:13 Why not everybody? 18:15 How many people were in the nation at the time? 18:19 It could have had 100,000 people, 18:22 we don't know how many Israelites were there. 18:24 It was comparatively small to when they were taken 18:27 captive by Babylon. 18:30 When America had our Constitution, 18:33 who signed the Declaration of Independence? 18:37 We call them the Founding Fathers. 18:40 Would it have been practical for every American to sign it? 18:43 No, so we have representative leaders 18:46 that sign in our behalf. 18:49 And so, when they signed the covenant, they were signing for 18:52 the nation 'cause they were representative leaders through 18:55 the priests, and through the government leader, 18:58 and so forth. 19:00 And so, they're speaking for all the people. 19:02 You remember in the previous chapters, all the people, men, 19:04 women, children, families all came to hear the reading 19:06 of the Word. 19:08 They verbally made a commitment to follow the covenant, now 19:10 they're having an official signing document, the leaders 19:13 sign for the people who have verbally said, 19:16 "We want to renew the covenant." 19:18 Now, it's very important to have the covenants renewed. 19:25 You get several covenants in history. 19:28 The author of the lesson lists seven, I was looking, 19:31 I thought there might even be more. 19:34 You've got the covenant that Joshua renews 19:37 in chapter 24 of Joshua. 19:40 First covenant, you've got the covenant of Adam in Eden. 19:45 That's Genesis 1 through 3. 19:48 Then you've got a covenant with Noah. 19:50 Maybe I ought to stop, what's a covenant? 19:54 It's a contract. It's an agreement. 19:57 Oh, there's all kinds of different covenants. 19:59 Anyone here get married? That's a covenant. 20:03 It's a legal, it's usually declared publicly. 20:07 There's witnesses. 20:10 I made the mistake once, I married a brother and a sister, 20:13 double wedding back in Tennessee, not to the same, 20:18 not each other. 20:20 No, that happened back in the days of Adam and Eve, 20:22 but it doesn't happen now, that we know of. 20:24 Anyway, but yeah, I married them to two different people 20:27 and started heading to the airport and then they called me 20:31 and they said, "You didn't sign the certificates." 20:36 And I said, "Well, you better tell them. 20:38 I'm about to board the plane, and they can't go 20:40 on the honeymoon." 20:42 Fortunately, there was another pastor there who participated 20:45 in the service but to make it legal, he had to sign. 20:48 And so, it's a contract. 20:51 If you buy a car. 20:53 Have any of you ever bought a new car? 20:55 There's like 16 pages that you-- you think you're buying 20:58 a country for all the pages that you sign in buying a car. 21:04 It's a covenant that you're making. 21:06 And they try to, you know, protect themselves in that. 21:10 If you buy a house, also, it's got just as many. 21:13 And so, we got these covenants that we sign 21:15 that have agreements and that are very important. 21:20 So, here's the covenant of Noah, Genesis 9, 21:23 let's look at this together. 21:25 "It shall be when I bring a cloud on the earth," 21:28 this is after the flood. 21:30 They've been rescued. 21:32 "It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the 21:34 rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember 21:36 My covenant which is between Me and you and every 21:39 living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again 21:43 become a flood to destroy all flesh. 21:45 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, 21:47 and I will look on it to remember 21:49 the everlasting covenant." 21:51 So, keep in mind God here has something physical 21:54 to help Him remember. 21:56 Are there examples in the Bible where you have an object that-- 22:01 or something that's not a person, 22:03 that is a sign to remember a covenant? 22:06 When we have the Lord's Supper, the bread is not alive. 22:09 It does not think. 22:12 The grape juice does not have a mind of its own, 22:14 but these emblems are reminders of a covenant. 22:16 Here it says the rainbow is an emblem. 22:19 Now, I want you to-- let me finish this one, 22:21 I'll go to the other one here. 22:24 He said, "It's a reminder, the rainbow shall be in the cloud, 22:27 I'll look on it and remember the everlasting covenant 22:29 between God and every living creature." 22:32 It's not between the Jews or even with humans, 22:34 but every creature, of all flesh that is on the earth. 22:37 "God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant 22:40 which I have established between Me and all flesh 22:43 that is on the earth.'" 22:45 "I will not destroy the world again, with a global flood." 22:49 There is going to be different kind of flood when Jesus comes 22:52 but it's not water. 22:54 Peter tells us what is it next time, it's fire. 22:57 It's going to be a flood of fire. 23:00 So, then you got the third covenant, 23:02 it's the Abrahamic Covenant. 23:04 God made that covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12, 23:07 verse 1 to 3. 23:09 Then there's a fourth covenant, it's the Mosaic Covenant, 23:12 you find in Exodus 19 to 24. 23:14 It's contained in the Ten Commandments 23:16 and it's repeated in the Book of Deuteronomy. 23:19 Joshua renews that covenant in Joshua Chapter 24. 23:22 So, now if you go to Joshua 24, this is in our lesson, 23:25 I want you to notice something. 23:27 I was talking about emblems of the covenant. 23:29 So, this covenant is made after they fight a tremendous battle 23:33 with five kings. 23:35 I don't know if you remember the whole story, 23:37 but the Gibeonites tricked them into not destroying them. 23:41 Instead, they took them on as slaves, a nation of slaves, 23:45 to serve the temple. 23:47 And then the other kings found that the Gibeonites 23:50 made peace with Israel. 23:52 They went to attack Gibeah. 23:54 Gibeah sends to Joshua and says, 23:56 "We're your servants now, save us." 23:58 So, all of Israel has to gather to fight 24:00 against these five kingdoms. 24:01 And so, it's a major victory. 24:03 They win the battle. 24:05 Joshua prays, the sun stands still. 24:07 It's an incredible story. 24:08 They won this major battle. 24:10 It was one of the biggest battles that they fought 24:12 in the Promised Land to take the Promised Land. 24:14 And after that, God brings them to Shechem, 24:17 which is the very middle of the Promised Land. 24:20 It's between Mount Gerizim and Mount, is it Nebo? 24:27 No, it starts with an E. 24:30 Come on, help me. 24:33 Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and it was in the middle 24:37 of the land of Israel. 24:39 By the way, that's where Jacob's well was where Jesus 24:42 met the woman, and He reveals He's the Messiah. 24:45 So, Joshua, the other Jesus, makes the covenant there. 24:49 And I'm not going to read the whole chapter to you, but this 24:52 is the place where he says--he reviews how God has saved them. 24:55 He brought them out of Egypt. 24:57 Their fathers want to serve pagan gods on the other side 24:59 of the Euphrates. 25:01 And he says in verse 15, Joshua 24:15, 25:04 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, 25:07 choose yourselves this day who you will serve." 25:10 Does this sound familiar? 25:12 "Whether the gods which your fathers served that were 25:14 on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, 25:18 in whose land you dwell." 25:20 He said, "There's plenty of gods, 25:22 you let me know which god you serve." 25:24 What did Elijah say on Mount Carmel? 25:25 How long will you halt between two decisions? 25:27 Make a decision, stick to it. 25:29 If Jehovah's God, serve Him. 25:31 If Baal's God, serve him. 25:34 God gets--you can tell God gets annoyed with lukewarmness. 25:39 People want to, you know, blow sunshine, and heat 25:43 and cold at the same time. 25:46 And he says, "Look, make up your mind. 25:48 You say if you're going to serve me, serve me. 25:52 Do you want to serve the other god, but for me and my house, 25:54 we will serve the Lord." 25:56 The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we 25:59 should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. 26:02 For the Lord our God, He is the one who brought up our fathers 26:04 out of the land of Egypt and we will serve the Lord. 26:07 He is our God." 26:10 And then finally, you go to verse 25, 26:12 Joshua made a covenant. 26:15 This is Joshua 24, verse 25, "Joshua made a covenant 26:17 with the people that day, and made for them a statute 26:20 and an ordinance in Shechem. 26:23 Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. 26:26 And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak." 26:30 I don't think that oak is still there. 26:32 I don't know if the stone is there. 26:34 That was by the sanctuary the tabernacle 26:37 had been pitched nearby. 26:39 "Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, 26:41 for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke. 26:45 It shall therefore be a witness to you." 26:47 Now, is the stone alive? 26:49 Does a stone really see or hear? 26:52 But he's just saying, "Look, we did all this in the presence 26:56 of this stone. 26:58 Whenever you see this stone, remember you made a covenant." 27:00 So, there's different signs God gives us as memorials 27:03 of these covenants that are made. 27:06 All right, so you've got the Joshua renews the covenant, 27:09 fifth covenant, Phinehas. 27:11 God makes a covenant with him and his house 27:14 because of his zeal for God. 27:16 The six covenant is a covenant God makes with David. 27:20 He said that, "If you'll be faithful to follow Me that 27:22 through your descendants, I will raise up a king after you 27:26 and he will build me a house that will last forever, 27:29 and there shall not fail to be one of your descendants 27:32 that will sit on My throne. 27:34 Until ultimately, the son of David came, 27:36 who will reign forever and ever." 27:39 So, God literally kept His promise to David 27:41 that a son of David would rule forever. 27:44 And so, you got the Davidic Covenant, 27:46 and the seventh is the new covenant. 27:49 Now, where do you find the New Covenant? 27:53 In the Old Testament. 27:55 The New Covenant is also in the Book of Hebrews, 27:58 but Hebrews is quoting Jeremiah chapter 31:31. 28:02 That's easy to remember, like how many days in some 28:05 of the months, 31? 28:07 You got Jeremiah 31:31, it's where you find the covenant. 28:10 Now, where is the covenant that God makes with the Gentiles? 28:17 There is no covenant with Gentiles. 28:21 The only covenant that saves us is a covenant made-- 28:24 "I will make a covenant after those days, says the Lord, 28:26 with the house of Israel." 28:29 I think one place he says was with Judah 28:31 and the house of Israel. 28:33 The only covenant God makes is with the Jews, and we, 28:35 as Christians, are grafted into the stock of Israel. 28:39 We are partakers of all the fatness and sweetness 28:42 of their covenant because we're adopted in. 28:45 The Bible says, "If you are Christ's, 28:47 then you are Abraham's seed." 28:49 So, when you read all the promises God made to Abraham, 28:51 they belong to you. 28:53 He doesn't make a separate covenant with the Gentiles. 28:55 The covenant He makes for the Gentiles 28:57 is that you will flow to the house of the Lord. 28:59 And so, they come. 29:01 Says, "I'll bring them from the east and the west, 29:03 and they will sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, 29:05 Isaac, and Jacob," isn't that right? 29:07 So, the covenant with the Gentiles is that they would be 29:09 receiving all the promises God made to the Hebrews. 29:14 And then, and it doesn't mean God saves you literally 29:18 because you're a Hebrew. 29:20 Are there conditional terms to a covenant? 29:24 So, there's a lot of contracts that you sign, and the contract 29:28 has all kinds of promises, but there's usually some fine print 29:30 that says, "If any part of this document is violated, 29:35 it is null and void, the whole thing doesn't apply. 29:42 So, keep that in mind. 29:45 I want to read something to you. 29:47 We're talking a little bit, we're already into the section 29:50 talking about the structure of a covenant. 29:52 And here the author of the lesson explains that 29:55 Deuteronomy, which is really if you read the Book 29:57 of Deuteronomy, it was all delivered in one sermon. 30:01 I don't know how long it takes to read 32 chapters or so 30:04 you're going to find there, but it, a couple hours. 30:12 It's the last sermon of Moses, where Deuteronomy means 30:15 the repeating of the law. 30:17 He's basically reviewing before he dies, he gives this message. 30:21 All three times Jesus was tempted by the devil, 30:24 He quotes from Scripture. 30:26 What book did He quote from? 30:28 Deuteronomy all three times. 30:30 It's a book that contains a covenant. 30:32 It's one of my favorite books in the Old Testament. 30:34 In it you've got the, the whole book is a covenant, 30:37 talk about a long covenant or long contract. 30:41 And it basically says you got the preamble, verses, 30:47 chapters 1 through 5. 30:50 You get the historical prologue, it kind of gives a history, 30:53 whereas this has happened and that's up through chapter 4. 30:56 You get the stipulations of the law. 30:59 That's chapter 4 on through 26. 31:01 Of course, He repeats the Ten Commandments in chapter 5 31:04 of Deuteronomy. 31:06 Finally gets special provisions. 31:08 There's blessings and curses. 31:10 In the covenant we just read of Joshua, 31:11 was there a curse pronounced? 31:14 If you violate a contract, are there consequences? 31:18 Contracts often say, "And if you don't make your payments, 31:22 the bank has a right to repossess your car." 31:24 I mean, there's usually penalties. 31:27 And in the covenant that God made, there's penalties. 31:31 But something I want you to notice, 31:33 look here in Leviticus chapter 7, verse 34. 31:42 "For the wave, breast and the heave shoulder," 31:44 he's talking about parts of the offering. 31:46 "That I've taken from the children of Israel from all 31:49 their sacrifices and peace offerings, I've given them unto 31:52 Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute forever." 31:56 Now, there are 22 times you're going to find in the Bible says, 32:00 "a statute forever," a statute forever. 32:03 Now, this is very important. 32:05 Are you all with me? 32:07 Have you met people before that say you need to keep 32:09 the Jewish feasts? 32:11 Because it says it's a statute forever. 32:14 It is a statute forever based on that covenant. 32:18 But was that covenant broken? 32:21 Do you know the Bible says circumcision 32:23 is a statute forever? 32:25 It's an everlasting covenant that God made, 32:28 but isn't Paul pretty clear? 32:31 He says in 1 Corinthians 7:19, circumcision is nothing, 32:36 an uncircumcision is nothing. 32:38 If you read the Book of Galatians where he talks about 32:40 the law, never meant for the Sabbath in Galatians. 32:42 People use Galatians to try it and say you don't need 32:44 to keep the Sabbath. 32:47 The big issue mission mentioned in Galatians is these legalistic 32:50 Jews were coming and telling the new converts 32:52 you need to keep circumcision. 32:56 They were already keeping the Sabbath. 32:58 And so, but it calls it an everlasting covenant. 33:03 So, how can it say it's everlasting, 33:05 and yet it says it doesn't matter anymore? 33:09 It's sort of optional. 33:12 But what about, what happens to a contract when it's violated? 33:17 And by the way, here's Genesis 17:13. 33:20 "He who is born in your house, he who is bought 33:23 with your money, must be circumcised. 33:25 And My covenant shall be in your flesh 33:27 for an everlasting covenant." 33:29 You know what I think is the key? 33:31 Go with me to Hebrews, we're talking about covenants. 33:33 Go to Hebrews, chapter 8, "For if the first covenant--" 33:41 I'm sorry, chapter 8, verse 7. 33:44 "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place 33:48 would have been sought for a second." 33:51 All right, when you get a second covenant, 33:55 what happens to the first one? 33:58 You know, in our building process for the church and the 34:02 office, you deal with a lot of contractors and you have 34:06 agreements you make with the contractors. 34:08 And sometimes as time progresses, 34:10 you must revise those agreements because the building plan 34:13 has changed a little bit. 34:15 And so, whenever we're going through our contracts 34:18 or covenants with the contractors, we say, 34:21 "Which version of the contract is this?" 34:24 And if you're on version four, version two, and three, 34:28 and one are meaningless. 34:31 You don't say, well, it says here in version one. 34:33 You say that is cancelled out because we signed version five. 34:38 And that precludes, it disqualifies all the other 34:43 versions, otherwise, you've got all these conflicting contracts 34:45 on the same subject, and you say which one do you go by? 34:48 You always go by the newest one. 34:50 Well, how is it with a will? 34:52 Isn't a will a contract? 34:54 Which will makes the most sense in law, 34:59 the first one or the last one? 35:01 It's the last one. 35:03 You know, when Howard Hughes died, 35:05 someone produced a handwritten will and gave everything 35:07 to these people. 35:09 And they looked at it and realized it was a forgery. 35:13 But it was the last one. 35:15 They said, well, you got to give everything to this family. 35:17 Just out of obscurity, somehow they produced this will 35:19 of Howard Hughes, it was a forgery. 35:22 But they said you always go by the last will. 35:25 And so, if there's a first covenant, then you say there's 35:27 a second covenant, which one are we governed by, 35:29 the first or the second? 35:32 The second covenant, okay. 35:35 It says they went into no place to find a second. 35:38 But finding fault with them, that's the fault 35:41 with the covenant. 35:43 The covenant's the Ten Commandments, 35:44 is there a fault in the Ten Commandments? 35:46 No, the fault is with one of the covenant makers. 35:49 The nation said, "All the Lord said, we will do." 35:52 The agreed to the covenant and they didn't do it. 35:54 Finding fault with them. 35:56 The Lord says, "Behold, the days are coming. 35:58 I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and 36:02 the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made 36:04 with their father." 36:06 So, he said, it's not according to that covenant. 36:08 So, does God have two separate covenants 36:10 or just the one now? 36:12 There's one. 36:14 "Not according to that covenant that I made with the house of 36:16 Israel when I took their fathers to lead them by 36:18 the hand out of land of Egypt. 36:20 Because they did not continue in my covenant, I disregarded them. 36:24 It's voided, says the Lord. 36:27 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house 36:29 of Israel after those days, says the Lord. 36:31 I will put my laws in their mind." 36:33 And the law is not a problem. 36:35 Still, the law is part of that covenant. 36:36 "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their 36:39 hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 36:42 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, 36:44 saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, 36:46 from the least of them to the greatest of them. 36:49 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins 36:51 and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 36:54 Notice verse 13, Hebrews chapter 8, verse 13, 36:57 "In that He says, 'A new covenant,' 37:00 He has made the first obsolete. 37:04 Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready 37:06 to vanish away." 37:08 If the feast days, keeping the literal feast days on those 37:12 dates are not obsolete, when the veil rent in the temple showing 37:17 that the whole purpose for the sacrificial system had been 37:20 fulfilled in Jesus, then what was made obsolete? 37:24 Do we still need to sacrifice lambs? 37:26 No, obviously something radical changed. 37:29 Now, are there still spiritual things we learn from the feasts? 37:33 In the plan of salvation, we learn about Jesus. 37:36 There's wonderful things to learn, but you can learn 37:40 spiritual things about what was the meaning of circumcision, and 37:43 living by the Spirit and not by the flesh, and the promised seed 37:46 would come through Abraham. 37:48 There's wonderful things to learn, but the Bible says you're 37:51 going backwards if you're telling people you have 37:53 to keep those things. 37:55 So, a covenant can be notified also by, not only the violation 38:01 of the covenant, marriage is a covenant. 38:04 Does Jesus say there's grounds to tear up that agreement? 38:08 It's very, very restricted. 38:11 Jesus said you cannot get divorced for any reason. 38:15 By the time of Christ, they had laws and said that if your wife 38:18 put too much salt in the soup, you could divorce her. 38:21 I mean, there's all kinds of reasons to divorce. 38:27 But Jesus said that was not God's plan. 38:30 He said, "What God has joined together, 38:32 let not man put asunder." 38:35 And He made it very clear, saving for the cause 38:37 of fornication. 38:40 Now, that would mean when two people get married, 38:44 and I've done a lot of weddings and you see them 38:47 and they're full of hope and promise. 38:49 And you'll say to the guy, "Are you willing to forsake 38:51 all others and keep yourself only unto her? 38:55 Are you willing to forsake all of others 38:56 and keep yourself only unto him? 38:58 "Yes," that's a covenant. 39:01 Now, one of them breaks the covenant, 39:05 then they have grounds for divorce, right? 39:09 That doesn't mean that you have an argument and yell. 39:13 "She hurt my feelings, I'm going to divorce her." 39:16 So, you know, there's all kinds of petty things that people try 39:20 to use and they say, "I've been emotionally abused." 39:23 Now, I'm not saying these things aren't serious, they are, 39:26 don't misunderstand. 39:28 But I think you got to be very careful about not widening 39:32 the loophole in the covenant. 39:34 It's supposed to be a solid-- if covenants don't matter, 39:37 if organization doesn't matter, if you don't follow the rules, 39:40 pretty soon it becomes irrelevant. 39:43 So, you got to be a little strict about some 39:44 of these things. 39:46 Now, you look in Romans chapter 7, verse 2 and it says here, 39:50 "For a woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her 39:54 husband as long as he lives," because they're living 39:56 under a covenant. 39:58 Hopefully, it's a good marriage. 40:00 "But if the husband dies, she is released from the law 40:03 of her husband. 40:05 So then if while her husband lives she marries another man, 40:08 she will be called an adulteress. 40:10 But if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she 40:13 is no adulteress, though she has married another man." 40:17 And so, this is another thing is sometimes covenants only enforce 40:22 while the person that the covenant is related to is alive, 40:25 otherwise and it's nullified. 40:27 So, now we go into the section of pledges they're making. 40:34 If you look in, go back to Nehemiah chapter 10. 40:38 And I told you, you've got nothing but names 40:41 for the first 27 verses. 40:44 So, it's about half of the chapter is the names of those 40:47 who signed the covenant. 40:50 And when you get down to the pledges, you look, for instance, 40:54 in Nehemiah chapter 10, verse 30 it says, 40:58 "We would not give our daughters as wives to the people 41:01 of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons. 41:04 If the people of the land--" 41:06 Can I just pause? 41:09 This is written with the understanding 41:11 that the sons and daughters 41:13 could not get married without parental consent. 41:18 That day is kind of passed in our culture. 41:22 Very rarely do you have parents arrange weddings 41:27 in North America. 41:29 Every now and then, I'll meet people who come 41:31 from some other country. 41:33 I've known a few from India where they still, 41:35 parents have to sign off on marriages. 41:37 It's very steep, but they've kind of broken away from that. 41:41 And even people that live in Indian communities 41:44 in North America, boy, even some Korean communities 41:49 if you don't marry another Korean, I have Korean people 41:51 tell me this. 41:53 The families go, "What are you doing?" 41:55 You know, they want to be, you've got to be approved. 41:57 My parents, my grandparents were upset that I married 42:00 a non-Jewish Girl, parental involvement. 42:05 When Abraham went to find a wife for Isaac, did he say to Isaac, 42:09 "Can you get online and tell me what you're looking for?" 42:13 No, he didn't consult Isaac at all. 42:17 Matter of fact, he sent his servant out. 42:19 And you went what was the main criteria Abraham wanted 42:21 in a wife for Isaac? 42:23 "She has to be a worshiper of Jehovah. 42:26 Get her from our family that still worships Jehovah 42:28 back in Heron." 42:31 And so, that was very important. 42:32 So, they're assuming here, that the parents are still involved 42:36 in helping the children decide who they're getting married. 42:39 Did you catch that? 42:42 And they said, "We would not give our daughters as wives." 42:45 You know, when I do a wedding, they don't do it all the time, 42:49 but it's kind of a holdover. 42:52 I'll say, "Who gives this woman to this man?" 42:56 That point the father, if they have a father, it might be 42:58 an uncle or someone, will stand up and say, "I do." 43:01 And he then leads her down to the altar. 43:03 He kind of puts her hand in the hand of the groom. 43:05 It's kind of like saying, "Look, I've been watching out for her, 43:07 you're now responsible." 43:09 And how many of you seen this at a wedding? 43:12 And that's sort of what's implied there is at one time 43:16 that she was under the protection and authority of her 43:20 father, and now that's being transferred to the husband. 43:24 So, this is more than you asked for in the lesson, I know. 43:30 If the people of the land, now, it's not only not to intermarry 43:34 with unbelievers, "But if the people of the land bought wares 43:38 or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it 43:42 from them on the Sabbath or a holy day, and we would forego 43:46 the seven years produce and exacting every debt." 43:50 Now, this is one of the places-- 43:52 you notice in the Mosaic law, it tells us some particulars 43:55 about Sabbath keeping. 43:56 It was a holy day. 43:58 It was sort of understood when they were going through 44:01 the wilderness, they would not be buying and selling on the 44:03 Sabbath because they were all Sabbath keepers. 44:05 The pagans were not at their gates in the wilderness trying 44:07 to sell them things. 44:09 But it became more of a problem and God had to get more specific 44:13 that no, you don't do buying and selling. 44:19 I think it's not right for Sabbath keeping Christians, 44:23 not only to go shopping, but I don't think you ought 44:25 to be eating out. 44:28 I believe that, why would you pay or buy your food? 44:32 I mean, can't you prepare at home? 44:35 There are rare occasions missionaries are traveling 44:37 because you're going overseas, you're on a boat or something, 44:40 and the only way you're in an airport that you can eat 44:44 is to do that. 44:45 I don't want to be too dogmatic and say it's a sin if you ever 44:47 have to do it because of some extenuating circumstances. 44:51 But when Christians say, "Oh, let's all go out to this 44:54 restaurant on Sabbath and hire other people to cook our food 44:57 for us," because you don't want to do it yourself, prepare, 45:00 the Bible says you shouldn't be buying and selling. 45:03 It says bake what you're going to bake, seed what you're going 45:07 to see on the preparation day. 45:09 Isn't that what the law says? 45:11 You know, prepare. 45:13 So, it's called the preparation day. 45:15 So, but Nehemiah also reminded them you shouldn't be buying 45:18 and selling on that day as well. 45:22 And if you look, for instance, Nehemiah 13. 45:24 I'm jumping ahead. 45:26 I'll cover this again later. 45:28 I don't know who's teaching this lesson, it might be me. 45:29 In Nehemiah 13, "In those days I saw people in Judah treading 45:33 winepresses on the Sabbath," so they weren't just buying, 45:37 they were harvesting grapes. 45:39 They're stomping out their winepresses on Sabbath. 45:42 "Bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, 45:45 grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, 45:47 which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 45:49 And I warned them about the day," first he gave a warning, 45:52 "on which they were selling provisions. 45:54 Men of Tyre--" 45:56 These are not, it's the Phoenicians, but not Jews. 46:00 "Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all 46:02 kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children 46:05 of Judah, and in Jerusalem." 46:07 Evidently, they're buying it. 46:08 "Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, I said, 46:10 'What evil thing is this that you do, 46:13 in which you profane the Sabbath?" 46:15 It's the commandment of God, they were to keep the day holy. 46:18 And one of the ways you show it's holy is you don't do 46:21 your regular business, amen? 46:23 And then he said, another part of this covenant, 46:27 it said that they were going to respect the annual Sabbath, 46:31 that we would forego the seven years produce. 46:33 Now, this was a hard one for them to keep. 46:37 That meant they were to farm their land six years. 46:40 Let me read it to you Leviticus 25, "Six years you shall sow 46:43 your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, 46:46 and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be 46:50 a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. 46:53 You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 46:56 What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, 47:00 nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, 47:04 for it is a year of rest for the land. 47:06 And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: 47:09 for you, your male and female servants." 47:12 Whatever came up, volunteer. 47:14 "your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 47:16 for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land-- 47:18 all its produce shall be for food." 47:20 Why did God say that? 47:23 You know, I remember reading a book when I was a kid about 47:25 George Washington Carver and how in many ways he saved 47:29 the South, because they had farmed their land growing 47:33 cotton, and cotton draws a lot of nitrogen out of the soil. 47:36 And they had so over-farmed it with cotton, 47:39 nothing would grow there. 47:40 And Carver, who was a genius in botany and agriculture, he said 47:44 peanuts put nitrogen back into the soil 47:47 You need to grow peanuts. 47:49 And it took a while for him to convince. 47:51 And he demonstrated that if he would, first of all, you can, 47:54 one way you can help return the nitrogen is you leave the land 47:57 fallow, leave it alone for a year, the weeds and stuff grow, 48:00 it decomposes, it puts nitrogen back in. 48:03 But they wanted to make money. 48:05 They kept farming, farming, farming until they bleached 48:07 the land and it wouldn't produce. 48:09 And George Washington Carver said, "Well, 48:10 if you grow peanuts, it'll put something back in the land. 48:12 But the Bible doesn't talk about peanuts, 48:15 as much as I like peanut butter. 48:16 It says you're to let the land rest. 48:18 They did not do it. 48:20 Do you know this is one of the only times in all the history 48:23 from the exodus where it talks about the annual Sabbath, 48:27 or the seven-year Sabbath. 48:29 They neglected it many, many years. 48:31 In fact, because of their neglect, notice the last words 48:35 in 2 Chronicles, this is after they'd been conquered by the 48:39 Babylonians and the Assyrians. 48:41 Look in 2 Chronicles 36, "And those who escaped from the sword 48:46 he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to 48:49 him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia 48:53 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. 48:56 Until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths as long as she laid 49:01 desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years." 49:04 Now, why did God say they'd be there 70 years? 49:07 Because He was making them keep 490 years of neglected Sabbaths. 49:11 He said, "If you're not going to let the land rest, 49:12 I'm going to let it rest for 70 years." 49:16 So, was the fallow Sabbath important to God? 49:22 It was. 49:24 So, this was all part of the covenant that they 49:26 were renewing to the Lord. 49:28 And then the final one, of course, is in the temple, 49:30 they wanted to make sure they had part of the covenant 49:32 to provide the tithes and to pay for the wood. 49:35 They had people that would be assigned to collect wood 49:39 for burning the sanctuary, tithe for the oil, for the Levites, 49:43 and that they'd be able to continue sustaining 49:46 this temple they just built. 49:47 What good is it if you don't fund it, right? 49:50 And so, they had that covenant. 49:52 Well, I think we covered most of our lesson today. 49:54 I want to thank you for joining us, friends. 49:56 I want to remind you we have a free offer called 49:58 "Hidden Eyes And Closed Ears." 50:01 You can find out right there on the screen how you can receive 50:03 that via text, or you can call... 50:09 and you can request Offer Number 726. 50:12 That's... 50:14 God bless you. 50:16 We look forward to studying His Word with you again next week. 50:19 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 50:21 life-changing free resource. 50:23 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 50:25 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 50:27 or mobile device. 50:29 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 50:32 simply text the keyword on your screen 50:34 to 40544 or visit the web address shown 50:37 on your screen. 50:39 And be sure to select the digital download option 50:41 on the request page. 50:43 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word 50:45 with Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want. 50:48 And most important, to share it with others. 50:53 ♪♪♪ 51:02 Doug Batchelor: Friends, we're out here 51:04 in the Pacific Ocean, not too far from the island of Fiji 51:06 and we're getting ready to look at some wonders in the deep. 51:11 The Bible says God made the heaven, the 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devoted man and that kind of framed my childhood 53:06 going forward from there where I was always involved 53:10 in church work. 53:12 And I had a very rich experience with the Lord at a young age, 53:18 all the way up through college. 53:21 Then after I got married, I got in a company called Comcast, 53:25 and I spent the past roughly 8 1/2 years, 53:29 9 years at Comcast. 53:32 And I was actually watching television with my son, 53:36 and a Comcast commercial came on the air. 53:40 And he said, "Oh, Daddy, that's Comcast. 53:43 That's where you work, Daddy." 53:46 And most fathers would be proud of something like that, 53:50 but it really struck me that, you know, my son's getting 53:53 older, and he does not see me as a servant of the Lord. 53:57 He sees me as a servant of my company. 54:01 And I knew that I would have to make some changes 54:05 because I wanted him to know me as a man of God. 54:10 I never thought I would be a preacher or anything like that, 54:13 but I knew that there was room in the work for me 54:18 and for my talents. 54:21 And I wanted my son to see me operating in the work. 54:28 That's when I knew that my time there was coming to an end. 54:32 I was sitting in my office one day, 54:34 and I was kneeling in prayer. 54:36 I said, "God, you know, show me what You want me to do 54:39 because it seems like a big move here 54:44 and everyone's thinking I'm crazy. 54:50 And I don't know exactly how, you know, 54:55 things aren't going to go, if they don't go well." 54:59 I know the crazy thought when you're, you know, 55:01 thinking about God. 55:03 And I lifted my head up to prayer, and just like a flock 55:09 of, I don't maybe 300 birds that were just flying, and they were 55:16 swooping down over the water, and they would fly back up, 55:19 and then they would chase each other around. 55:22 And you know, I was just looking at the pattern of the giant 55:24 flock and the promise of the Lord came to me where 55:29 He says that He takes care of the sparrows, 55:34 and you don't see them worrying about how they are going to be 55:38 taken care of from day to day. 55:40 They don't, you know, wring their hands, wondering, 55:44 you know, will there be any worms to eat tomorrow? 55:47 And that promise really stood out to me. 55:51 He said, "How much more do I love? 55:54 You know, I'm not going to send you on a mission to do My work 55:59 and leave you high and dry because you claim to be My 56:02 child, you claim to be My son and everyone knows that." 56:08 That assurance allows me to know that whatever happens here, 56:13 whatever happens after here, we're sons of God and there are 56:19 certain things that we shouldn't worry about. 56:22 From the day we arrived at AFCO, it's been obvious 56:28 that God has blessed the Amazing Facts Ministry, 56:31 the AFCO program, and I will be using my AFCO experience 56:37 no matter where I go to reach people to 56:40 because the personal touch 56:43 of face-to-face evangelism, speaking and 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