The Governing Authorities
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again. “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Sermon
Sermon
Three Appointed Feasts
Unity of God’s People
Not using Tithes for our own benefit
Giving to God God what is his (Tithes, Honour, Praise)
Before (when planning)
When bringing in the crop
When seeing the full benefit of the fullness of God’s Blessing
God Establishes Law & Order
Judges & Officers in each town
Laws are established by God,not individuals
Accountability and Responsibility
God has placed rulers, judges and officers over the people
Judges to Exercise Authority
Judges to Exercise Authority
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgement. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
officers, not dissimilar to the police
judges, were local men respected by the community
disputes to be decided by then application of God’s Laws
“Justice, and only justice you shall follow”
You shall not
pervert Justice
show partiality
accept a bribe
for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of righteousness
Christians should be concerned about justice
For we serve a God who is Just
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Paul reminds us that as Christians he has has dealt with our sin and will not judge us for them. But we will be judged by God for the works we do...
each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
The Penalty for Throwing off Authority
The Penalty for Throwing off Authority
“You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
God’s people are to recognise that the Lord is their covenant Sovereign (King)
They were his people, chosen to show his glory by doing his will, and so they must obey his law.
Any signs of a weakening of allegiance to him, therefore, were danger signals, and outright rejection of him and of his authority was treachery.
We must obey the Laws of God#
God forbids mixing Pagan practices with the Worship of the Lord
God Forbids any slackness with regard to devotion to the Lord
Adoption of pagan practises will result in turning away from God, which is covenant treason
The penalty for outright idolatry was death
Idolatry is the most serious sin of all, as it breaks the first commandment
No longer would right and wrong be defined by their Creator and Redeemer; it would be defined by the way of the world, by inner feelings and by personal preference.
This is largely the state of the world today. We do not expect idolatry to be punished by death by the civil authorities now, but the penalty remains: ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23).
Investigations were to be diligent
Safeguards in place
No judgement of death could be carried out unless there were 2 or 3 witnesses
Witnesses were to begin the process of execution (stoning)
Also the principle of Church Discipline:
But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Unfaithfulness to God, the penalty is exclusion from the church
you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
makes clear both the seriousness of this in spiritual terms and its ultimate remedial intent.
Authority Exercised with Wisdom
Authority Exercised with Wisdom
“If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.
Cases
Blood Guilt (Homicide)
Legal Right
Assault
Anything too difficult
Must be judged by Priests at the Temple
Bring the case before God
A Supreme Judge working with the Priests would hear the case
This suggests a combination of wisdom, experience and guidance from God in reaching decisions.
The decision was final
To refuse the decision would be another act of unfaithfulness, and rebellion against God
It is in a similar way that decisions are to be reached in church life, for Christ has promised his presence and power when his people meet for decision.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
The King and His Authority
The King and His Authority
“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
This passage looks forward to a time when the people will ask for a King to rule them
Their motives where wrong
Their instinct was right
A King would be selected by God and rule in subservience to the LORD as his and their Sovereign
A King should not acquire horses for himself
Nor have many wives
Nor excessive gold and silver for himself
He will not lead them back into paganism
But rather Fear the Lord (hold in reverence) and be ruled by His Word
All the Kings of Israel Failed to measure up to the picture of Kingship given
One king who does: Jesus Christ
One of us as human, of the people of Israel and the tribe of Judah
He humbled himself
Gave himself to death for his people and fulfilling all his Father’s will
Here is a King worth having! a King worth serving!
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology
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