THROUGH THE BIBLE - Deuteron..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Deuteronomy chapter 18. The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel.

They shall eat the Lord's food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. The Lord is their inheritance as he promised them. And this shall be the priest's due from the people From those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep, they shall give you to the priest, the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. The first fruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give them.

For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time. And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel where he lives, and he may come when he desires to the place that the Lord will choose, the ministers in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stands to minister there before the Lord, then he may have equal portion to eat besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony. When you come into the land that the Lord your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his sons or his daughters as an offering, anyone who practices divination, or tells fortunes, or interprets omens, or sorcery, or charmer, or a medium, or a necromancer, or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.

Because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers.

It is to him you shall listen. just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord, my God, or see his great fire anymore, lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

But a prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, the same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Amen. This is the word. of the Lord. Let's come before our Lord in a word of prayer. Father, we reverently come before you this evening as we've opened up your word, as we've read your word.

Lord, help us now as we meditate upon it, as we consider the truths that are within. Give us hearts to believe. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear. Give us faith to apprehend. Lord, speak to us by your spirit.

We know that, Lord, the activities that we do in the flesh will be, Lord, meaningless apart from your presence among us. And so we ask, Lord, would you presence yourself among us by your Holy Spirit and bless us in a special way. Remove any distractions from our thinking and help us, Lord, to hear your word. Be with your servant and pray that only that which is consistent and true will be spoken and that you would be honoured. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. So brothers and sisters, what we have before us here is quite a familiar passage to most of us. If you're a seasoned Christian, or if you've read through the Bible once or more times, you're probably well familiar with this passage, at least you're familiar with the final portion of this passage from verse 15 onwards. And we know that this is speaking about that great prophet with the definite article, the prophet that will come after Moses, promised to the people of Israel, promised to the people of God, who will come. And when he comes, the instruction of the Lord is this, you shall listen to him.

You shall hear His words, you shall obey His words, and if you don't, I will require it of you. We know this passage. But let me submit something to you. I want to submit to you that this passage, at least this chapter, in a way, is about food. This chapter is about food.

Now, before you think I've lost my mind, let me explain what I mean. There's three sections in this chapter. And the first section here is from verse one through eight. The second is from nine through 14. And the last section is from 22, my apologies, 15 through 22.

And I wanna submit to you that the thing or the theme that connects All these sections in chapter 18 of the book of Deuteronomy is in fact food, both physical food and spiritual food. So what do we have before us? Well, in verses 1 through 8 is the first section, and your titles in your Bibles describe this section quite well, because the title there, in ESV at least, is Provision for the Priests and the Levites. Now we know already that the Lord God has spoken to this people in previous chapters, in previous books. He's already said to them that I've rescued you out of the land of Egypt under the bondage and the Pharaoh in the oppression for over four centuries.

And now they're on the brink of going over the Jordan River in the conquest to receive the land that the Lord God has promised to them, had promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and they will receive that land through conquest. They're on the brink, they're not only a few weeks away from that receiving of the land, but we also know this, that the Lord has already instructed them how they will divide the land up. Who gets what? Who inherits what portions of land of Canaan once they settle in the land? And we know one thing for sure, it's already been determined that the Levites will have no allotment to their name.

The Levites will not be given a land. All the other tribes will, but the Levites will not. Why? Why is that? And of course, among the Levites, we know it's the priests as well.

And that is because we're told here, and we've been told in previous chapters, because God is their portion. Yahweh is the portion of these Levites. They will be dedicated to the service of Yahweh. They'll be dedicated to the ministry of the tabernacle and later the temple. On behalf of the people of Israel, they will come before the manifest presence of God, serving him in the temple space or the tabernacle space.

God will be their portion. They will not be given an allotment of land. But God will provide for them. He provides for all His people. He's a good God who provides all good things.

And how does He provide for these people? Well, we're told once again here that He will provide for them through the giving of the other tribes, through their sacrifices, through their offerings, through their tithes, and they'll be giving towards these Levites to continue to function in the tabernacle before the Lord. Their hearts should be cheerful when they give. In fact, It should be cheerful giving, not simply because they recognize that it's Yahweh who rescued them from the land of Egypt. As great as that is, what a privilege.

Four centuries in bondage to the Egyptians. And now they're rescued. Free people. What a glorious reality. Free, set free at last.

But the greater privilege than being set free is to know God and to be known by God. That this God of the universe, has been pleased to gather a people unto himself and covenant with that people to call them his people and to be known as their God. The greatest privilege for these people is to know God and to be known by God and to have a God who's not distant from them, but a God who's pleased to dwell among them. And in order for that to take place, in order for that great privilege to take place where God Yahweh is the only true God dwells among His people in His manifest glory in that tabernacle is that the priests would be ministering before Him and serving before Him and representing the people of God before Yahweh in order to make that a reality for these people. Now the Levites, we know they are allotted cities.

They are allotted pasture lands to graze their animals, but they don't have the resources of the other tribes because they're not allotted a land to inherit and to pass on to generation and generation. They're not given that. And therefore, because they don't have the resources, they are required to depend upon their brothers, the other tribes, in order to give them their essential needs. Their food. Their drink.

They know, and all the people of Israel, we know already that the Lord is the one who makes crops grow, does he not? Is he not the one who makes the rain fall? Is he not the one who raises the sun and the sun causes these plants to grow? Is he not the one who brings about the harvest? Is he not the one who gives life to the cattle?

This is God himself. He's the one who grows the grapes for the wine that we see in our passage. He's the one who allows the olive trees to grow and to be cultivated so they can be crushed so that they can make olive oil from it. All things are from God and the people of God are to recognize that all things are a gift from Him. He's the all in all.

All things are provided by God Himself. What they give back is just a portion of what He has given them in the first place. But beyond that, as I said earlier, the greatest joy of their heart ought to be to know that God dwells among them. to know that God has decided and is pleased to have an intimate relationship with his people, some closer than others. The Levites get to minister and to serve the Lord in the tabernacle space.

They get to know God in a more close way, at least. They're not far from the Holy of Holies. Only one man's able to enter into the Holy of Holies, the priest once a year. But the rest, the priests are allowed to go into the holy place. And the Levites are able to serve within the tabernacle.

So in other words, I believe that if there are true believers, that there are the remnants who not only know Yahweh by name, but are truly given over to Him in worship and love Him and serve Him in their heart, no matter what tribe they're in. I don't think they look upon the Levites thinking, you poor thing, you haven't been allotted a land. You're not as privileged as us. I think rather it's the opposite. I think if they truly knew the privilege that it is to know God and to be known by Him, I believe, I would look at the Levite and say, you are the most privileged among us.

Sure, you don't have a land to pass on to generation and generation, but look how close you are in the service of Yahweh. You're the privileged. You're the privileged among us. Why? Because the Lord, your God, is your inheritance.

The Lord will be the provider of all his people in Israel, including those of the tribe of Levi. He will minister before the Lord on behalf of the people who will be the spiritual leaders of these people. But is that enough, beloved brothers and sisters? Is it enough that the Lord God has now mandated that the other tribes would provide for them their wine, and their olives, and their grain, and the sheep, and the ox, and plenty of food? Are they going to be provided for, physically speaking?

But is that enough to sustain them as a people, to sustain this tribe as a people? Is that the only food that is required, the food that is listed for us in the first few verses of chapter 18? No, no, no, it's not. Moses has already said in a previous sermon back in chapter eight, he said, no, that is not enough food. There is more to it to be sustained as the people of God, far more than putting food in your mouth, far more than your heart beating, far more than your lungs filling up with air, far more than putting a meal on the table, three square meals on the table.

There is far more than that. Back then in chapter eight, verse three, you heard the words that go like this. Man does not live by bread alone, but by what? But by every. Every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Food for the body is important. And the Lord has made a way to provide for that food for all these people. He's the provider. But how much more important is it that he provides for food for the soul? Go a period without any good nutritional food and you'll pay for it.

We know. Eat poorly, make poor eating choices and it's inevitable that things will end up badly for you. You'll suffer, you'll end up sick, you may even end up dead. There is a one-to-one correlation. Eat bad and there will be consequences.

Beloved, is it any different with your soul? The spiritual health of a person is 100% contingent upon their spiritual diet. 100%. There is a one-to-one correlation with the two. It's either spiritual food that comes from the sole source of life and the substance of life, which is God himself and through his word, or any other source will lead you to death.

It's bad food for the soul. God's word is meant to be consumed. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. It's meant to be consumed. It's meant to be in us.

God's word is not meant to be just read and put in plaques in our homes or put on bumper stickers. It's meant to be consumed. It's meant to take over our lives. It's meant to dwell in us richly and conform us into the image of the beloved Jesus Christ. God's Word is more than that which is simply read.

Like food, it's meant to be consumed, and when consumed, it brings forth life, because God's Word is the source and the substance of life. This chapter, beloved, is about food. In verses 9 through 15, it's the second section, and there we're told where the pagan nations around the Israelites, those nations that the Israelites will go and conquer very soon, we're told where they source their food from. How do they satisfy their own souls? What is the food for their spirits that they derive?

Where do they get that from? What revelation do they seek? What word do they pursue? Beloved, it is not from Yahweh. I said earlier, the only source and the only substance, the fountain of life is God and God alone.

He is the living God. And I said, any other source, I don't care what it is. The scripture is clear. No matter where you go, it will lead to death. And the nations do not source their food, their spiritual food from Yahweh at all.

Instead, rather than going to the God who speaks, the only living God, they source it from false, lifeless, mute deities. And the Lord is saying to the people of Israel, you're my people. I have called you by my name. I have covenanted with you. Don't be like the nations.

Don't forsake me and turn your back upon me, a God who speaks and be like the wicked Canaanites who derive their food, spiritually speaking, for their soul from the things or the dead deities that are made from stone and from wood and from metal images. They're demonic. Don't go there. You're my people. Don't go there.

You don't need to go there. That's death. I'm bringing forth life. I'm offering you life. Don't go to death.

Don't you dare feast on that sort of food. Don't you dare feed on those lies, on those words. Don't you dare to seek information or instruction or revelation about what to do and about your future or whether the rain will come or whether your wife will give birth to more children. Whatever it is that is on your mind, don't you dare go to the evil diviners. Don't you dare go to the sorcerers, the necromancers.

Don't you dare go to the charmers and those who interpret dreams and other things. Don't you dare go to those evil people. Don't be like your wicked neighbors. You're different. You're my people.

You've been called by my name. I have come to know you and I have made myself known to you. I'm a God who speaks and it's my word and my word alone that you require. In other words, my word is sufficient for you. I will reveal all that you need to know And if I have not revealed it, you don't need to know it.

Because just like I have provided for you and will continue to provide for you under the covenant, if you keep your end of the covenant, I will provide for you and continue to provide abundantly and you will not go hungry. The same can be said that I'll provide for your soul if you only seek my word and not that of the evil nations. Because my word is life. If I haven't revealed, then you don't need to know. Just trust me.

Trust me with the unknown. Trust that I'm sufficient, my word is sufficient, what I've given, what I've revealed is all that you require. This is the problem, brothers and sisters, that when ones are not satisfied with what the Lord has required, they tend to seek a word or revelation or information from other sources. And beloved, the only source of truth is found in God. He is truth.

And when you seek source of information or you seek revelation from any other source, you are going to end in despair because every other source, as I said earlier, does not lead to life, but leads to death. My word is sufficient. Delight in it. Feast upon it. Meditate in it.

Consider what I'm saying. Store it in your heart. Teach it to your children. Let my word dwell in you richly. Let it satisfy the deepest longings of your soul as only my word can.

And let it bring life. Let it bring life to your soul. Don't be like the Canaanites. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then verse 15 through 22, again, still has food in mind.

Because from verses 15 through 22, the Lord is saying, don't do as the pagans, the nations, don't seek to eat the food, the food for the soul that the pagans eat, the words and the false declarations and revelations of the necromancers and the sorcerers. Don't do that. I will provide for you my word. And here he shows you how he's going to provide for his people. From verses 15 through 22.

How will he provide? He says, I will send to you prophets. Mouthpieces. Those who come in my name and say, thus says the Lord. They come with my words and my words are life.

I will send you prophets. I will send those that will bring you the truth. And you listen to them and to them alone. I provided for you Moses, haven't I? You remember when they went to the base of Mount Horeb about Mount Sinai?

How they declared when they heard the thunderings and the rumblings of the mountain, Oh no, we don't want to be here anymore. This is absolutely terrifying. Moses, Moses, please you go and before the Lord, you mediate on our behalf. You be our prophet. Let the Lord speak to you.

You tell us what he says and we will do all that he commands. But please don't let us hear his voice. And the Lord says, okay, I'll send you prophets, Moses is one, and I'll send you prophets. Just make sure you listen to them because they come in the name of the Lord. They come bearing the authority, the seal of God in what they say and what they prophesy.

So he says that he'll provide for them prophets and it's ultra important to feed upon the word of God and not to be misled by false prophets. So here in chapter 18, as well as chapter 13, a chapter we've already discussed five weeks ago, between the two, he gives them the tools to be able to interpret or to identify better if it is a prophet from the Lord or if it's a false prophet. We won't go into those today because we sort of touched on that a few weeks ago. But it's needless to say, if the prophet comes and it's found out that he is not sent by God and that he speaks on behalf of God as so he says, and it's found out that he's not from God, then what ought to happen? That prophet needs to be put to death.

How grave a sin is it to come and say, thus says the Lord, the Lord, the God of the universe, the one who has absolute supreme authority over your life and mine, over every living being. He said to me to tell you this, and it turns out that it's from the inclination of your own sinful, wicked heart, rather than the pure heart of God himself. That's the highest form of blasphemy. And God says, I will have none of that among you. I will have no blasphemy among you.

I am the Lord, your God. I'm a God who speaks and I will reveal my words through my chosen prophets. And if someone comes in a name other than mine, or declares words other than mine, then you are to put him to death. And that's God's attitude against those who blaspheme his word. He's exalted above all things, his name and his word.

That's who our God is. But this passage primarily speaks, and this is probably what you're waiting for me to say. It primarily speaks of a singular prophet to come, does it not? A unique prophet. One who will come who will be the prophet of prophets.

One who's even greater than the prophet Moses. One who is perfectly encompassing the fullness of the word of Yahweh. Verse 18 tells us, He will speak all that I command Him. That's what the Lord God is saying. This prophet will come.

He'll speak all that I command. Perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. Every word he utters will be a word of God or the word of God. He carries the authority of God himself.

And the only response, beloved, when God sends a prophet like this, what is the only response to a great prophet who comes bearing the word of God? It is one that is worthy of God himself. If God were before us and God opened his mouth, this prophet is worthy of the exact same honor and the exact same respect. Because when he speaks, God speaks. And he said here in this chapter that when you hear this prophet, when this prophet comes, you are to listen to this prophet.

And that word doesn't simply mean just listen and walk away. It means listen, take attention. Obey. Obey what He says. Consume what He says.

This is words from God Himself to your heart. It's designed to penetrate your soul. It's designed for you to consume this Word. Meditate upon it. Live by this Word.

Submit to this Word. Because those who do not will bear great judgment, the Lord is saying. He says, I will require of them who deny this Word. This is the word of God and for these people it is a word of God yet to come. The prophet hadn't yet come because he says in the future tense, one among your brothers who will come.

It's the same word beloved that is referenced in chapter 8 verse 3, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. There's something great about this prophet to come. There's something awesome about this prophet to come. And ever since then, you'll see throughout the scripture that there's a great anticipation for the arrival of this prophet. They're waiting.

Many prophets had come and gone and they declared the word of God, many of them true prophets, but this prophet was yet to come. And some 1,400 years later, that word, that prophet, who is the word of God, the one who encompasses the word of God, the one who is the communication of God, he does come. And the apostle John introduces him like this, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

Beautiful, beautiful introduction. And a few verses later, he leaves. Who is this word? You might be asking. We know the word of God brings forth life.

We know the word of God was spoken in the mouth of the prophets of God, the mouthpiece of God. But here the Apostle John is saying the word of God. And this is a definite article. This is the main, this is the one who speaks God's word. This is the full revelation, the full communication of God.

Who is this word? Later on in verse 14, and the word, same word became flesh and dwelt among us. Greater than Moses. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through whom? Through Jesus Christ, we're told in the same chapter. Beloved, many recognized Jesus as a prophet. The Samaritan woman in chapter four, John chapter four, she said, you must be a prophet. He told her all that she knew.

And then in the very second chapter, or the chapter after, or two chapters after that, in chapter six, you have the Galileans after seeing the miraculous power of Jesus Christ in feeding the 5,000, you know, the passage. They declared him to be the prophet, not a prophet, but the prophet. They're actually pointing back to Moses at this point and saying, this is the guy that Moses spoke about. This is the prophet. And they, by force, wanted to make him as king.

And of course the disciples also agree that this is the prophet, because after the ascension of Christ in Acts chapter 3, you might remember in as many words, they're declaring to the people and they say, this is the prophet that Moses spoke of. This Jesus is the one. But more importantly, Jesus himself, Jesus himself declared himself to be this prophet. Jesus himself declared himself to be the word of God. Jesus himself declared himself to be the life.

You may remember John 5, 43, speaking to the unbelieving Jews. Haters, rejecters of Christ, these were the Jewish leaders in those days. And then Jesus speaking to this audience, he says, but if you believe Moses, You would believe me. What an offensive thing to say. These are disciples of Moses.

We believe Moses, we're his disciples. And Jesus says, you're misled, you're deceived. Because if you did believe Moses, you would believe me. What's the logic? And he says, for he, that is Moses, wrote of me.

But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Moses, was a true prophet of God. And Moses wrote and spoke under inspiration of God. We have the text here. He spoke and when he spoke, when God was speaking through Moses, his word, then the words carried the authority of God.

But Moses didn't make it into the promised land because he was still a sinner. And Jesus is saying to the Jews, if you don't believe Moses, it's obviously you don't. How would you believe me? Because Moses wrote about me and here I am. The word incarnate.

The same source and the substance of the words of Moses. And I stand before you and you don't recognize who I am. Because of that, I'm able to look at you and say, you don't know the Lord. What an indictment upon these people. The fullness of the word of God, beloved, is found in his son, Jesus Christ.

And so the word is life. And that life is found in Jesus Christ alone. He's the all-satisfying, living God. He's the all-satisfying food from God to your soul. He is life.

And so Jesus, the logos, the word of God, stood before the crowd in the incarnation. And he offered an invitation both to his original audience and to us today. And that invitation is one that makes Yahweh the provider of all things, but also the provider of the food that we require for our souls, the provider of life for our souls. That's when Jesus stood up and said, I am the bread of life. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

You want bread for your soul? Jesus stands and says, I am it. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes after me will not hunger, and whoever believes in me will not thirst. You want to eat?

You want to eat life for your soul? Know Christ. You want the word of God, which brings life to your soul? No, Christ. God speaks through his son.

A few verses later, Jesus says, I am the living bread that come down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, if you eat of me, Jesus is saying, don't just listen to my words, let my words come into you, consume you. Later on, he says, I am, unless you eat my flesh and drink of my blood, you have no life in you. He says, I am the bread that came down from heaven, if anyone eats of this bread. He will live forever.

He will live forever. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And who is the word of God, the incarnate word of God, the bread that came down from God to satisfy the deepest longings of the soul, the bread that comes to bring life? It's Jesus Christ himself. God did speak to the prophets or through the prophets to his people, he did.

He promised it back in chapter 18 and all through the scripture we see true prophets of God. But then you bring, then Jesus comes onto the scene and he is the prophet of prophets. He's the one prophet like Moses. God spoke through the prophets, but now he speaks through his son, Hebrews chapter one. Long ago and many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, or literally spoken to us in Son. The language that God speaks is Son language. The life that God breathes is through His Son. The Word of God incarnate is Jesus Christ. The Word of God is life.

The Son of God is life. He stood there and said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. He's the sole entry into heaven. He's the sole entry into reconciliation with God the Father.

He's the sole source and substance of life. And the question is, have we come to eat upon him? Has the word of God made residence in our soul? I can say it another way. Have you come to know and believe in Jesus Christ?

There is life in no one else. This chapter is a chapter about food. My question is, have you eaten Christ? Have you eaten of his flesh and drunk of his blood? Because he says in John chapter 6, if you have, you have life in you.

The life of God in Christ. Let's pray.