Love Series #4

Love of God #1
Fred R. Coulter—February 25, 1995

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In my travel this past week I found that one of the most important things that's missing in the Churches of God is understanding about the love of God. And that's a shame, because they all focus on the Law, which we need to keep; there's no problem with keeping the laws of God—we understand that. But all the laws of God are attacked so much and everybody is so busy defending them that they never have time for the love of God. And they don't understand the love of God, they don't understand how to apply it, and in many cases we find that people live their whole lives in the Church and never understand about the love of God at all whatsoever—and that is a shame.

It's not just happening here, but it's happening in the Church of God Seventh Day and Seventh-Day Adventist Church. I just heard when I was over in Grand Junction that there's a Seventh Day Adventist Church that just went to Sunday-keeping. So, you know this thing is really kind of a much bigger thing than we have anticipated; because here we are, just our little old group doing what we see in the Bible that is right, but out there in the world there are so many things going on that once in a while we come across it and we say, 'My, this really is significant.'

Well let's just review a little bit concerning the love of God. Let's go to 1-John 4 and then we will get into the love of God as it is expressed to the world, because the love of God is also expressed to the world, if people would just realize and see how it is. One of the greatest characteristics of God is that He is love.

1-John 4:16: "And we have known and have believed the love that God has toward us…." That's what we want to focus in on, because there's a special love that God has for the Church, that is true. There is a special love that God wants us to enter into with Him, which goes beyond just the love that God has for the world in general.

"…we have known and have believed the love that God has toward us. God is love, and the one who dwells in love is dwelling in God, and God in him. By this spiritual indwelling, the love of God is perfected within us…" (vs 16-17). That's the whole purpose of Christian life: that in the final analysis at the end we have perfect love, and that's a big goal; that's something we need to really keep as the goal, that we need to head for.

"…so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love of God; rather, perfect love casts out fear because fear hath torment. And the one who fears has not been made perfect in the love of God. We love Him because He loved us first" (vs 17-19). That's what's so important. We're going to focus in on how is it that God loved us first, and how did He express this love to us first? We're not going to get into what Christ has done for us, or God's love through Christ to us today, but let's see how God has expressed His love to the whole world.

Let's go back to the book of Genesis and let's understand that part of the very creation of God expresses His love in many, many different ways. I talked to a man who did a video. He wrote the words and music and everything to it, and it's talking about the great God. He goes through and he says that

• God is revealed in the thunder
• God is revealed in the lightning
• God is revealed in His creation
• God has to have humor

He shows a lot of the funny animals that God has created. It must be quite a really nice work, so I'm happy he's going to send it me.

But God did something special for human beings. And this expresses His love to us. We know that this is so basic, yet, it is so profound. Right at the very beginning of the creation God declared His purpose—didn't He?

Genesis 1:26: "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image…'" The very image of God! We're not made like any of the animals. When you are the image you are made in the image of the reality that is God.

"'…after Our likeness…'" God—in His love in creating us—gave us all the attributes a little lower than Himself, because it says that God made man a little lower than Himself, a little lower than God (Psa. 8:5[transcriber correction]). He's given us a mind! He's given us choice! Choice is also an act of love, an expression of love to every human being. In making us He also gave us dominion, gave us the whole earth.

Verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female." The very fact of the way that we are made and created is that we are created to give and to receive love, not only from God, but from each other. Being cut off from God there is a human love. And that human love then has been built in as part of the very creation of God that God has given to all human beings. It's expressed in love for husband and wife, love for a man/for a woman, and the very creation and the act of love in creating male and female have a lot of different aspects of love that are differentiated from all of the other animals. None of the rest of the creation of God, in their procreation and expression of love for one another face each other face-to-face. But God made human beings that way. This is a very important thing that God wants us to understand about Himself. This is also an attribute of God that He gave to human beings, which relates then part of the relationship between Christ and God the Father.

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Where it says, the Word was with God the Greek means, toward or face-to-face. So, in creating human beings to give love, to receive love, or to be lovers, as it were, they actually were given the kind of relationship that God the Father and Jesus Christ have of being face-to-face—and God gave this to all human beings. That's a tremendous expression of His love, and God's love in the creation is evident everywhere. God has given us:

• wonderful things to eat
• tremendous things to enjoy
• the ability to see
• the ability to hear
• the ability to express ourselves
• the ability to think
• the ability to choose

And all of those are part of the expression of the love of God that he has given to every human being.

God also gave something that takes a lot of love to do so. You think about this for a minute: It takes more love to give choice—as God has given choice—than it does to create robots. In giving choice, you also risk that the choice might be exercised the wrong way. Now, that takes a lot of love—doesn't it? Not only to risk it, but also know that probably it's going to happen.

Yet, God gave that! God gave choice to even what we would say is the most wicked person on earth, whoever that may be; because you cannot 'fiatize' love. (I maybe have coined a word there.) In other words, you cannot demand it by order. It is something that you must give, and it is something that you must receive, but you have to choose it, because love is a choice; love is a decision.

Same way with God's relationship with us. God made a decision to create and make us this way. God, in His plan, is reproducing Himself in love, just like families reproduce themselves. That's why one of the most simple explanations of the plan of God is this: We know that God is reproducing Himself because He created mankind male and female so they could reproduce themselves, recreate themselves. God is so great, and God is so unique, and God has given love to every human being, so that when they come together and have children even their children are unique, even though they are created in the image of the father and the mother. So, that's tremendous! God has so much love for human beings and His creation that He made each one distinct, each one separate, each one unique, whether they know God or not. Now, that takes an awful lot of love, commitment and understanding.

We know they made the wrong choice, so let's look at another aspect of the punishment that came: the aspect of love within punishment. Sometimes that's very hard for people to distinguish, but notice right after they sinned, right after they chose to go against God's way.

God said, Genesis 3:11: "'…Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?'" They began all their excuses and finger-pointing.

Right after He got done sentencing the serpent He said, v 15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." Right in that is the prophecy of the coming Messiah to undo the wrong choice that they made; which then takes a tremendous amount of love to even provide that for us—right?

I think this is something that we have missed an awful lot with our children, with the teaching in the Church, and with correcting. We have given correction without hope, which is not right. God has given correction with hope—didn't He? He gave the hope of coming out of this difficult situation, and understanding what it is. That's really something!

When you go back and you look at all that God has done, and all that God has provided, and all that God has made—even when they sinned so greatly that it grieved Him—it repented Him that He made man that He was on the earth. When we come to the time of Noah, He said, 'Ok, now we got a new start, I'll make My covenant with you. You go on out and you multiply and replenish the earth. Let's this time get it right.' But He still gave free choice. God will never take the free choice away from anyone.

In that there's a great risk. Look what happened before the Flood. God had to destroy all human beings. But in His love He's going to resurrect them and give them some hope.

One of the covenants that God made with Abraham—as we get closer to the Passover time I'm going to explain the three covenants that God made with Abraham—is one not only to express His love, but to test love, and to test Abraham's love. This is really quite profound when you go through and understand how that Abraham got his son from his own body, supernatural conception of Sarah to bring forth Isaac. We don't know whether he was between 12 and 30, but somewhere between there, Abraham was asked to take his only begotten son—to take him out and to make an offering of him—wherever God said to go.

A lot of people misunderstand why Abraham did that. There are two reasons why: We find in Heb. 11, that it said there that he was willing to sacrifice his son because he knew God would raise him from the dead. Some people, in trying to accuse God, ask, 'Why would God command Abraham to sin?' Would God command anyone to sin? No! There's a tremendous and a valuable lesson, which is a forerunner of what God was going to do with His only begotten Son, and in relationship to us.

You know the whole account. He put his son up on the wood that was laid out there and he was ready to sacrifice him. Genesis 22:9: "And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there…" I don't imagine he was going about that too quickly putting the stones together and so forth. If you try and imagine what's going on in his mind and saying, 'Well, I know God said this and I know God won't command me to do anything that's a sin. But boy, after waiting 25 years for my son to be born and finally he's born now. You know this must really be something. Well, I know that He will resurrect him if I sacrifice him.'

"…and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood, upon the altar…. [Abraham took him and tied him, laid him on the wood] …And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am'" (vs 9-11). It makes you wonder what also was in his mind when that happened, 'Whew! I'm glad to hear that.' Could very well have been.

Verse 12: "And the LORD said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.'"

This shows what? A complete dedication to God in love, a greater love for God than for his own son whom he loved greatly! This also is a lesson of God the Father for us. We find in the book of John that the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, but the Father was willing to sacrifice His own Son to lay down His life for us.

Out of this, then, we have something quite profound, v 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And, behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son." This tells us something else. This is a profound lesson for us, too. God has provided a substitute sacrifice through Jesus Christ to pay for our sins, to make us acceptable to God the Father!

So, right here at the very beginning of the Bible we have all of these things that express and show us the love of God. I think that that ram was supernaturally created, because obviously he couldn't see it when he went up there to offer Isaac, so this had to be supernaturally created. Just exactly like it was with Jesus Christ. It was a supernatural act for Jesus to give up His whole being as God to become a human being, become the sacrifice for all the sins of mankind.

Now notice what else this also said here and what it bound God to do, v 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD, 'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son'" (vs 15-16).

He had to do it by choice; he had a lot of mistakes. You go and you see what Abraham did. It took all this time—from the time he was 75 until, we'll just say 20 years, so that's 25 and 20, that's 45 years—longer than any of us have been in the Church of God, before God said, 'Now I know,' completely!

That's why there are so many strange things going on in the Church, and so many strange things with people, and so many strange choices that are going on, because God doesn't know what they will do. So therefore, these things are coming upon them to see what they will to. And it's all based on:

• Do you love Me?
• Are you going to keep My commandments?
• Are you going to choose to just go your own way?

So like with Abraham here, He said, v 12: for now I know… [after 45 years] …that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

Then God said because of that, v 16: "'By Myself have I sworn… [God doesn't have to swear at all—does He? But if God swears you know it's going to happen, without a doubt.] …because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'" (vs 16-18). And really, that's a test for every Christian—to obey the voice of God—when you really come to understand it. Now then, because he chose to love God—

• more than anything else
• more than his only begotten son
• more than his wife
• more than all that he had
• and he was willing to go out and sacrifice his son

—God supernaturally provided the substitute sacrifice, and now He entered into an unconditional promise to Abraham. There was no turning it back. What happened after this did not necessarily depend on the righteousness of the descendants of Abraham. But God always refers back to His love.

Let's see that the whole relationship with Israel was based on the fact that God loved the fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We're going see quite a bit here in the book of Deuteronomy, how that God expresses His love to us, His love to His creation, even in calling the children of Israel. Yet, remember when we did the study on the Sabbath how that God said He almost destroyed them in Egypt because of their sin, but held back His hand, because God is love.

Deuteronomy 4:29—He's talking about if you're scattered among the heathen: "But if you shall seek the LORD your God… [In all of this, brethren, in all that went on with Israel, in all that's going on in the world, in everything that's taking place within the Church, this is what God wants]: …from there, you shall find Him… [That's what God wants everyone to do on an individual and a personal basis.] …if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul."

That's all that God ever wanted from anyone—isn't it? Yes! What did we cover about what is the first and great commandment? 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, with all your being'—right? Yes! It's the same thing here. Always remember, 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.'

Verse 30: "When you are in trouble and when all these things have come upon you in the latter days…" So we're talking about what is happening now and what's going to happen in the future.

Let's stop and think for a minute: Before the trumpet plagues of God, what is God going to do? He's going to seal 144,000 of the children of Israel—correct? Yes! They will be calling out to Him—won't they? Yes!

"…then you shall return to the LORD your God and shall be obedient to His voice, for the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them" (vs 30-31). One of those covenants has to do with Jesus Christ. In everything that God does He wants to show His mercy, He wants to show His goodness and love, but we have to choose it. He's not going to force it upon us. We must choose!

Verse 32: "For ask now of the days past which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, where there has been any thing as great as this, or has been heard any thing like it. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and live?" (vs 32-33). We haven't! We've never! That was a one-time occurrence. It was supposed to be so spectacular and so convincing that it would help the people make the choice that they would follow and love God and do the things that He said.

Verse 34: "Or has any god attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great awe-inspiring terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? It was shown to you so that you might know that the LORD is God, and there is none other beside Him. He made you hear His voice out of heaven so that He might teach you. And He showed you His great fire upon the earth. And you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved your fathers…" (vs 34-37). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already dead when this occurred.

• God's love is eternal
• God's love is everlasting
• God's love is perfect
• God wants to show His love

—and based upon His promise that we read about.

"…therefore, He chose their seed after them, and brought you out in His sight with His great power out of Egypt" (v 37). Then He says he's going to drive out all the nations, and drive them out so that you can inherit the land.

Verse 39: "Therefore, know this day and fix it in your heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is none other…. [Here is the first level of your expression of love back to God]: …Therefore, you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you this day, so that it may go well with you…" (vs 39-40).

There are a lot of people who claim that God called the children of Israel out because He wanted to curse them, He wanted to punish them; that the whole Old Covenant was a matter of cursing and punishments and hatred on God's part. Not so!

"…that it may go well with you and with your children after you… [because God loves all the children] …and so that you may prolong your days upon the earth which the LORD your God gives you forever" (v 40). That's really quite a thing, if you really put that in perspective of God's love, that He did this because He loved the fathers, and every time that GOD deals with the children of Israel He stretches out His hands to see whether they are going to love Him and keep His commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:1: "And Moses called all Israel and said to them, 'Hear, O Israel…'" This was a very important event, because they were ready to cross the Jordan River and go into the 'promised land.' Those lands on the east side of the Jordan, they already had conquered. This was Moses' farewell sermon. He knew that when he was done with this that he was going to die. So, this is a formal gathering of all the tribes of Israel to hear what Moses said.

Verse 1: "And Moses called all Israel and said to them, 'Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day so that you may learn them and keep and do them."

By the way, I'm reading a publication that goes through and analyzes what is called the book of the Covenant in the Old Testament. Let's go to Exo. 18 for just a minute because this is important when we understand concerning the laws, and statutes, and commandments of God. The whole proposition of what I'm reading is this: the bookof the Covenant, which God gave to Israel, was also the book of the Covenant that God used elsewhere, and these things were added to it. Remember, this is before Moses went up on the mountain, Mt. Sinai.

Exodus 18:15 "And Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they come to me. And I judge between one and another… ['make a notation of it so that when I get to Mount Sinai and find out what God wants to give me, then I can tell them what to do.' No! It doesn't say that.] …and I make known the statutes of God and His laws'" (vs 15-16).

• How could he make them know that unless they were written down some place previously?
• Do you think that the first writing of the Law was what Moses did?

or

• Was not a lot of that what God had already done?
• Have we not gone back to Gen, 26:5 many times? 'Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My judgments.'
• Were they not written down?
• Don't you think that Abraham had those written down? Sure he did!
• He had a big household—didn't he?

You talk about a household—it's more like a little colony—right? He had 3-400 people with him all the time. He taught them.

Those things were written down. I think it's quite important when we begin to understand that God's laws are eternal. His statutes and judgments between human beings are always the same—are they not? Why would they be any different? Human beings are the same—aren't they? I mean, we may have modern appliances; we may drive instead of riding on horseback. I tell you, if you had to ride up here every Sabbath on horseback it would be another story altogether. It would be more than city slickers becoming a cowboy.

But the needs of human beings are the same—aren't they? Yes! Aren't the disputes that people have the same? Yes! Who owns what, and how much, and how do you settle it? 'You smashed into my car so you have to take care of it.' Back then it was 'you ran into my oxcart and your ox gored my donkey and it's got a wound here. Now, how are we going to settle this?' Well, we'll go down to Allstate Insurance guy he'll take care of it. No! These things are eternal, even the statutes and judgments of God in addition to the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:2: "The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb…. [A covenant is how you will keep the commandments. A covenant is not what commandments alone, but how—it's which ones and how.] …The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, all of us here, alive today. The LORD talked with you face to face in the mountain out of the midst of the fire; (I stood between the v and you at that time to show you the word of the LORD, for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain,) saying" (vs 2-5).

Let's really understands this, v 6: "'I am the LORD your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me'" (vs 6-7). What I want you to do is analyze the Ten Commandments as we go through:

• Why did God give the Ten Commandments?
• Were the Ten Commandments a punishment?

John says the commandments of God are not burdensome.

First Commandment:

Verse 7: "You shall have no other gods before Me." Why did God say that? He wants to deprive you of other gods, and statues, and idols and things? No! He knows that He alone can give His love to you. No other god is God. It's just a figment of the imagination and cannot give you the love that God can give you. That's why! Since God is the real God, since God is the true God, why have any other gods before Him? Kind of ridiculous—isn't it?

Second Commandment:

Verse 8: "You shall not make a graven image for yourself of any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments" (vs 8-10).

That's exactly what Jesus said, 'If you love Me keep My commandments' (John 14:15)—right? There's New Testament doctrine right out of the Old Testament. The truth is you can't have New Testament doctrine without the words of the Old Testament—can you? No, you cannot! God wants people to love Him back, and the first expression of it is keeping the commandments. We already covered the one concerning the Sabbath, so we won't read that except it says 'keep it.'

When you go through Matt. 5 and understand what Jesus was really saying, we are not to just keep the commandments—that's a basic requirement—to keep them in the Spirit means that we fulfill them in our keeping of them.

Do you understand what that means? You keep them to the fullest extent possible in the Spirit, not in the letter, based on the love of God. So therefore, when the Sabbath Day comes you don't just keep the Sabbath. You do, but you fulfill the Sabbath by making the Sabbath the best day of the week because it is the day in which God has put His presence. It is the day that God in His love has set aside for us that we can love God, we can fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ spiritually.

• When we come together with Sabbath services with that in mind, is that not a better Sabbath? Yes, it is!
• Do we not love God more because of it? Yes, we do!
• Do we not love each other more because of it? Yes, we do!

I'll tell you what brethren, wherever I go those people that God is calling to be with the Christian Biblical Church of God, there is that same attitude of love and dedication, there is not the striving of politics, there is not any of these things going on. It's really a wonderful and profound thing for me to realize that when I go out and meet these people of God that what they want is the love of God, and what they need is the love of God. That's really been quite an experience for me.

Let's go on and see what else that God said here. After they said, 'You speak to God and then you tell us'—v 28: "And the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken.'"

God bound Himself to Abraham with a promise—correct? So even though the children of Israel said, 'Now look, we don't want to hear the voice of God. You tell us Moses.' God still was faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—was He not? Yes, He was! Even in spite of this fact:

Verse 29: "Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!"

Let's just take that little word 'fear' and right along side it write love, because that's the whole purpose of 1-John 4, that we would love God and keep His commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children forever. That's what God wants. Yes, it is! God can enter into a relationship with someone that just fears Him—that is true, without a doubt. How much better is it to have a relationship where there is mutual love on both sides? That's what God really wants! That's the whole purpose of the New Testament.

Verse 32: "And you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left." Oh, that some people would learn that—correct? Not only are they turning to the right hand and left hand, they're going berserk; they're going around in circles and destroying everything that God has said.

Verse 33: "You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you so that you may live and that it may be well with you, and you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess." Here even carnal people—fit for destruction—God was angry with, that God said He held back His hands many times from correcting and disciplining them because they didn't obey Him and love Him and keep His commandments. Yet, He says, 'I want it to go well with you.'

Isn't that what we want with our children? But one of the greatest disappointments we have, and a lesson that God teaches us, not all of your children are going to do as you recommend, because God has also given them free choice. In giving every one of your children free choices God has given you free choice, that even though you want it to go well with your children, and with all your heart you'll do anything for your children—won't you? When your children do things which are not right you try every way to try and work it out to see if you can make it right—is that not correct?

Well then you're doing what God is doing—right? Like how many times God said that He sent the prophets so that they would hear, and the people of Israel didn't hear. He said, 'Now, I've got to cast you out.' God didn't want to cast them out. He even said, 'Look, just go find one man and I'll forgive the whole thing." (Jer. 5). That's something to think on! That's because of the love of God. 

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And even though we want to do what is right as parents, a lot of times we don't do what's right with our children, and that causes additional problems, too. But God, even in spite of all this, said: "…that it may be well with you, and you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess" (v 33).

Deuteronomy 6:1: "Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God commanded to teach you so that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it, that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be prolonged" (vs 1-2).

Every time God in His love says, 'Look, I want it to go well with you, I want you to live long, I want you to have healthy lives. In all of this I've given you these laws for this purpose and I want to have a relationship with you.'

Verse 3: "Hear therefore, O Israel, and be diligent to observe it, so that it may be well with you…" Look at that: Deut. 5:29 & 33: may be well with you!

Verse 3: "…so that it may be well with you, and that you may greatly multiply, as the LORD God of our fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey."

I remember one time I checked a book out of the library called The Botany of the Middle East. It said that from all the layers of soil they've dug, in the Middle East, they knew that in the time that the children of Israel went into the 'promised land' there were trees, there were brooks, there were flowers, there were animals. It was just a wonderful place. Not like it is today: barren, hot, desolate, stony and cursed—it is. The Middle East is cursed, cursed, cursed! It wasn't originally.

"…in the land that flows with milk and honey.… [this is what Jesus quoted when He was asked what is the great commandment] …Hear, O Israel. Our one God is the LORD, the LORD. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart…" (vs 3-6).

Even then, God wanted them to know the commandments so well they would be in their hearts. Not that they would cast them away but remember them and do them and keep them. There's just something about a carnal mind and God that's almost completely incompatible—isn't it? What does it say of the carnal mind? 'The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can it be!' (Rom. 8:7)

I remember when I was 10-years-old and my folks wanted me to be confirmed in the Lutheran Church. We were not 'churchy' people; there are some people who are 'churchy'; we were not. My old carnal mind really was rebellious, sneaky and devious. So, my folks would drive me up to the house of the pastor and let me off. I'd wave bye-bye. It was understood that when I was done I could go downtown—this was in Poulsbo, Washington—and I could go fishing afterwards, because you could walk down off the pier and fish and catch pogies, and perch, and all that sort of thing. I loved that and used to do that.

So, as I was waving bye-bye, I made sure the car went and I would walk up on the porch and very quietly so you couldn't hear. When I knew the car was gone I jumped over the side of the porch on the other side and ran off and did my fishing. They could not get me to take confirmation. It was an impossibility, because I exercised my choice not to. That's just the way it is. But my folks were trying to do the best they could for me.

God always wants it that we love Him. He always wants a relationship based on love; a relationship based on obedience is better than no relationship at all, but He wants that relationship based on obedience to grow into a relationship of love, and that it is with your whole being.

Verse 7: "And you shall diligently teach them to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the posts of your house and on your gates. And it shall be when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give you great and goodly cities which you did not build…" (vs 7-10).

Kind of like going into the Kingdom of God—isn't it? What did Jesus say? 'I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come again.' They walked in and inherited crops, houses, cities, animals, everything, all prepared. And in preparing it I'm sure that all these heathen thought all the time that their gods were blessing them with all of this, but they weren't. The true God was preparing for the children of Israel. So you see, sometimes not everything is how it appears on the surface.

Verse 11: "And houses full of every good thing which you did not fill, and wells which are dug… [if you've ever dug a well you know that's a big job] …which you did not dig; vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be full." This is always the problem with love—isn't it? This is not talking about being overweight, as some of us may find ourselves in that category. This is talking about taking God for granted.

Verse 12: "Then beware lest you forget the LORD…" That's what people do because they don't love Him. He said first, love Me—didn't He? And what kind of love? Total dedicated love, so then you're not going to forget! That's why it's so important that we understand that there is nothing we haven't received. We can't go around this world and claim how great we are.

Here again is the kind of relationship that God wants. I want you to magnify this with our understanding of the New Testament. Deuteronomy 7:6 "For you are a Holy people…"

What did Peter say? 1-Peter 1:16[transcriber's correction]: "For it is written, 'You be Holy because I am Holy.'" You're a Holy people! Are not those in the Church of God today Holy? What makes a person Holy? The Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies you.

God doesn't want us to get all lifted up and think we're better than other people, because I'll tell you what, there's one thing that's very, very true: Once you enter into a relationship with God, when you rebel against Him, you're going to be in worse shape than the people in the world. Unfortunately, the people in Pasadena did not learn the lesson of Jerusalem, which is this: If God places His name somewhere because He loves the people and loves them in the relationship into which He has called them, if they rebel against Him and reject Him and His Word, He is going to scrape the earth clean. He is going to send them off into exile. He is going to send them off into their own devices. That's exactly what is happening. God is going to clean out Pasadena and Big Sandy! Everything is going to go, brethren, because they haven't learned how to love God. I'm not saying that I delight in it; I don't. But it's going to go, because we are a Holy people.

Deuteronomy 7:6: "…the LORD your God has chosen you…" This is New Testament doctrine.

For all of those who want to throw away the Old Covenant and say, 'Oh we don't need that, that was for those people there.' Do you know that they're even saying now that you don't even need baptism? Once you have Christ in you, you don't even need the Bible.' Spare me! Coming out of the Church of God, can you believe that? That you don't need the Bible. That's nonsense! The Bible is the greatest thing that God has ever given us aside from His Holy Spirit.

In a sense what I'm trying to do here is reconstruct one of the sermons of the Apostle Paul. Because I'm sure that he must have taught in the way that I'm going to teach here in just a minute.

2-Timothy 3:15 "And that from a child you [Timothy] have known the Holy Writings…" We're reading them—the book of Deuteronomy. That's what was called the Holy Scriptures: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. That's the Law, and then you have the Writings, and then you have the Prophets—all the Holy Scriptures.

"…which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith… [So you have to add the ingredients of faith and love.] …which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine [teaching], for conviction… [which is to straighten one out] …for correction… [maybe a little severe correction] …for instruction in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work" (vs 15-17).

A special people; has chosen you. We know that God the Father Himself has to draw everyone—correct? Yes! The Church in Greek is called, 'he ekklesia'—the called out ones or the chosen ones.

Deuteronomy 7:6: "…chosen you to be a special people…" So therefore, we need to change our whole attitude in relationship to things—right? What is wrong with so many Churches of God is that they don't teach the love of God, so therefore, they have these high, exalted mucky-mucks that run around thinking that they are the greatest thing that has ever been. They are to be teachers of the Word of God! God is the One Who is the high exalted Being, not us.

"…a special people to Himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love upon you… [Here again, God's love expressed to Israel—right?] …nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people…" (vs 6-7). Who did it start out with? [Abraham[transcriber's correction]. And what did God promise him? Step out here and look at all the stars, now if you can number them, that's how your seed is going to be! It hasn't stopped since then.

Remember, that's not just Israel, all the descendants of Ishmael—correct? All the descendants of Esau, even our antagonist—correct? Yes! All the descendants of Abraham by his second wife Keturah are all the descendants of Abraham. And when Abraham is resurrected and God standing alongside of him, and He says, 'Now, Abraham we're up here on the Sea of Glass. Here are all of your children right here that have been resurrected in the first resurrection.' Why? Because, 'if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise'—right? Even our calling is based upon Abraham—is that not correct? Yes!

Abraham is going to be overwhelmed. And then when God says, 'I want you to look down here on the earth, Abraham. We're going to have to have a little war here, but unfortunately a lot of these are your children. As you know, not all your children worked out just the right way, the way that we wanted. But at the end of the Millennium I have the second resurrection, which we're going to give them all a chance to enter into the Kingdom of God, and the Family of God, and eternal life, so I can keep My promise to you.' And Abraham's going to be overwhelmed! Yes, he will be!

Verse 8: "But because the LORD loved you and because He would keep the oath, which He had sworn to your fathers… [Did we not see where He said that 'I swear by Myself that in multiplying I will multiply, and in blessing I will bless'?] …the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God Who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him… [Again, there it is right in the Old Covenant—the love of God and loving back to God.] … and keep His commandments… [I'm going to put John 14:15 there, too, because that's exactly what Jesus said. This is New Testament doctrine, brethren.] …to a thousand generations" (vs 8-9).

Now then, there needs to be a little hearing and fearing also added in there that if you reject this love of God, and you reject what God has commanded you, v 10: "…And he repays those who hate Him to their face…" I imagine there were quite a few sermons given on the Lake of Fire right out of this one verse—right? God Himself is going to make the judgment, God Himself is going to execute it, God Himself will determine it, and He's going to do it face-to-face.

"…to destroy them. He will not be slow to repay him who hates Him. He will repay him to his face… [Always in the midst of everything that God says, there's always a warning]: …You shall therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command you today to do them. And it shall come to pass, if you hearken to these judgments to keep and practice them, then the LORD your God shall keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you…" (vs 10-13). Let's think of that in terms of spiritual blessing, spiritual love, multiplying our relationship with God, greater than just the physical blessing of what they would have, where He would:

"…multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your grain, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you" (v 13).

How much better is it going to be with God's love and blessing to us if we really now understand the fullness of the New Covenant, that it's based on love not only just obedience, but love that is so profound that the obedience you do is to fulfill. Your keeping is fulfilling the fullest extent.

Verse 14: "You shall be blessed above all people. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, upon you. But He will lay them upon all who hate you" (vs 14-15).

Let's understand that even in the trials that we go through, even in God loving us, He's going to let us go through trials and difficulties, and most of them we don't likes; I don't like trials; I don't like difficulties. I have never yet seen one that was one I thought of that I figured in my own mind ahead of time that I can handle. Have you ever done that? Have you ever figured out this trial or that trial? Nonsense! You know those are never going to come upon you. They're always going to come in a way that you don't expect. But there's a reason for it.

Deuteronomy 8:2: "And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness…" I bet they were just so ready to get out of that wilderness—right? What if you were 19-1/2 when God gave the judgment? In 38-1/2 years you'd be 69-years-old entering into the 'promised land.' Boy! You had seen heat, scorpions and death. How many people did you have to bury because they died because of the cursing? And all you had was manna all this 40 years—no meat, no bread—manna. Maybe there was a goat you could kill once in a while, but all manna.

Now you're standing here ready to cross the Jordan River, and you look over there and you see all these grain fields, but God said, 'You can't eat any bread or grain until you wave the sheaf of the wave offering after you come into the land. Now you're going to go in there. I want you to remember all this desert that you walked through.' You're thinking: I don't want to remember a minute of this! No, you don't!

Here's why: …in order to humble you, to prove you, to know what is in your heart…" (v 2). That's what God wanted to know, because all human beings are in effect heart cases before God, because He wants what you do to come from the heart.

"…whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and then He fed you with manna which you did not know… [you didn't really ever understand except you went out and gathered it] …neither did your fathers know it; so that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live" (vs 2-3). That's the whole purpose in it! That's the whole purpose in any life! "…not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live." This ties right in with what we've already seen, to obey the voice to the Lord your God—right? If you will indeed obey My voice—correct? Always goes back to that—doesn't it? Yes!

We have, printed here, all the words of God, that if He came down to earth He'd say the same thing again, because human experience is no different than it's always been. Human nature is no different than it's always been. A lot of people will say, 'Well I'll believe it if God will come down and tell me.' No! You really don't want God to come down and tell you, because if He did you might not be alive. He's done it nicely. He's done it easily. You don't have to worry about standing before God, flaming God! You just go get your Bible off your shelf and read it. Isn't that easy?

Then when you read it you believe it, because these are all the words that proceeded out of the mouth of God—are they not? Yes! If you want to know how to live, that's how do it, it's right there. He even led them 40 years, even though their shoes didn't wear out, their clothes didn't wear out. How would you like that? Well, here's a 40-year-old pair of shoes, pass them on down. Their feet didn't swell. God still loved them. Even in all the punishment, God still loved them. He just wanted to get rid of the rebels.

Then He also gives a warning now and He says that when you get in there, in the land, with all of these good things here and so forth, v 4: "Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. And you shall consider in your heart…" (vs 4-5). I remember in Spokesman's Club we always had a speech, which was the last one—# 12, and it was to be a heart to heart. A heart-to-heart meant that you kind of bear your soul a little bit. Well, no one really ever did, but at least they tried. If you really told what was really in your 'evil' heart you wouldn't want anyone to know that, because then you would have no one liking you. So, what God says is that He wants to know your heart, and He wants you to know His heart. So, this in a sense is a heart-to-heart from God to us.

Verse 5: And you shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you. And you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him" (vs 5-6). Then He says He's bringing you into this fantastic land you're going to lack nothing, you can even dig brass out of the hills (vs 7-9 paraphrased).

Verse 10: "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you."

I remember one time—this was good, and it was well intentioned at the time—we sat down to eat, and you know how it is sometimes when you're around people you haven't been around for quite a while, or maybe you haven't known. Generally, the blessing is going to be asked. Well this person said, 'God knows we're thankful. Let's eat.' That's right, but God wants to know that we are thankful. It was true, and he was a real humble man and he didn't say it in any way that was not the way it should have been. But anyway, that's really something!"

"…then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you today" (vs 10-11). It's amazing how many times it says beware, don't forget, do this, keep that! Then all religionists come along and say, 'Forget it, you don't have to do it, God doesn't require it.' It's unreal!

Verse 12: "Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built goodly houses and lived in them…. [Think about Pasadena and Big Sandy when I'm reading this, because it is all going, because they forgot God!] …And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then you become haughty of heart, and you forget the LORD your God Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage" (vs 12-14).

You forget the calling of Christ Who brought you out of sin. You get all involved in politics, and numbers, and money, and people, and doing good, and all this sort of thing, and you forget God. That's why God has to recycle things a lot of times. Because when people get to this point there's just something that happens, that He's got to do something to break it down and start again, because people have forgotten God. You need to remember. So, whenever you think things are so great, think about what your life was before God called you, spiritually speaking.

Verse 15: "Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, Who brought forth water for you out of the rock of flint, Who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you and that He might prove you to do you good in your latter end" (vs 15-16).

That's why we're going through all of these trials and tests. And I know I've had some brethren that I've just had to go to God and just say, 'I don't have a clue.' I didn't! I did not have a clue! But I knew God was there, I knew God is true and right and loving. But I needed to learn some things. In all of our lives we need to learn some things, and the whole thing is to learn the love of God.

Again we're going to be amazed how much of this is really New Testament doctrine. Deuteronomy 10:12: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." That's New Testament doctrine—isn't it? Yes it is, it sure is!

Verse 13: "To keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth also, with all that is in it" (vs 13-14). God is saying, 'Look, I own everything, and if you do this you are really connected with Me. Nothing else will connect you with Me unless you love Me.' Isn't that something? That God is going to grant us all of these things and eternal life.

Verse 15: "Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, you above all people, as it is today. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stiff-necked" (vs 15-16).

That's all God ever wanted from anyone, and that's the whole purpose of the New Testament. He's not only just saying do it, He saying, 'I've given My Son Jesus Christ because I love you, to make that possible; I've given My Holy Spirit to make that possible.' That's the whole purpose of the New Covenant.

I wonder how many sermons Paul started out with Deut. 10? They knew from right here that the ultimate circumcision was of the heart. That's why there was such a fight in the New Testament Church over physical circumcision. They knew that.

Verse 17: "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, the mighty and awesome God Who does not respect persons nor take a bribe." What does God think about all of our stupid little games we play down here? Huh? Oh my, the politics we play? Forget it! You're not going to impress God. God owns everything. He controls everything. What are we going to do with it anyway? Can you build a Church of God on all that kind of stuff? Will it succeed? No! God has to open the way.

What did Jesus Christ say back there to the Philadelphia Church? He says, 'I open and no man shuts, and I shut and no man opens.' So, if God now is shutting the door on something, then you're not going to go back and reopen it by doing the same thing. He wants you to learn.

Verse 18: "He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger in giving him food and clothing.… [What was Judaism based upon? Hating the stranger! Anyone who was not a circumcised Jew was absolutely an anathema.] …Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve Him, and you shall hold fast to Him, and swear by His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, Who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen" (vs 18-21).

He wants to know where they started from, v 22: "Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons. And now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude." Then He continues. Read all the rest of the way through the book of Deuteronomy: love God/keep His commandments all the way through.

Let's go to Psalm 91 just to show how the love of God is. As a matter of fact, this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ and God the Father, when you come to understand this. Let's think of it this way: in our loving of God, we have to understand how much God has loved us coming back, then we can begin to really understand the love of God, which we will as we get into the New Testament a little more next time. But I just want us to all know, for us to all realize, that even dealing in the carnal world God still expresses His love to them. God still provides food for them. Believe me, a nice steak tastes just as good to someone uncalled in the world as it does to us. And God provided for them, too—right? Yes!

Psalm 91:14: "Because he has set his love upon Me…" Therefore, I want you to take this personally to yourself, because God has called you because He has loved you. He set His love upon you in a profound and a peculiar and a direct way. But we have to be responsive to that. How many years did we go around with all of our Gestapo tactics for years and years and years and pushed away the love of God; because we wanted to be right?

 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him…" (vs 14-15). Notice that individual, personal, one-to-one relationship—correct? You call upon God and sometimes you don't even know how did do it except, 'Oh, God, here I am. I don't know what to do.' He'll answer!

"…I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him" (v 15).

• Did not God the Father honor Jesus Christ?
• Did He not say, 'This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased'?
• Did He not give Him a name that is above every name?
• Is He not at the preeminence of everything that's going to be in the resurrection? Absolutely!

Verse 16: "With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation." Now He has eternal life.

We have covered before when we went through whole series: Who Is Jesus. Hebrews 5:7: "Who, in the days of His flesh… [and that's what we just read about there in Psa. 91] …offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death… [Jesus Christ needed the spiritual salvation from death that only God the Father could give.] …and was heard because He feared God. And having been perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all those who obey Him…" (vs 7-9).

Oh my, there's that little word again in the New Testament—obey. Isn't that something? If you think you've had a trial, how would you like to have a trial like Jesus Christ? He did it because He loved us! Every once in a while you may find yourself in a situation where everyone is your enemy. Please understand, Jesus Christ lived His whole life that way. He knew what was in man—didn't He? Yes! How would you like to spend 33-1/2 years in the midst of your enemies because you loved them, and you knew what they were going to do to you? Yet, at the end, the profound love that Jesus had He said, 'Father, forgive them they don't know what they are doing.'

Zephaniah 3:14: "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The LORD has turned away your judgments… [judgments against you] …He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall not fear evil any more" (vs 14-15). That's got to be some sort of an anthem for us at the resurrection. It's got to be!

Verse 16: "In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, 'Fear not! Do not let not your hands be slack, O Zion. The LORD your God is mighty in your midst; He will save; He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His love; He rejoices over you with singing'" (vs 16-17). There is the whole purpose and modus operandi that God wants. Isn't that something? That's going to be a time.

Why can't we have church and church services more like this? I think we do here, but I'm saying in general to the whole Church of God everywhere: That would be nice to have church like this. Come together and God's Spirit is there! We're fellowshipping with the Father, we love Him, He loves us, we love each other. Solves all the hassle—doesn't it?

Verse 18: "'I will gather the ones who grieve over the appointed Feasts… [That does have to do with assembling together—doesn't it?] …who are among you, and will lift the burden of reproach from her. Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you. And I will save her who is lame, and gather her who was driven out… [talking of the church] …And I will give them praise and fame in all the land...'" (vs 18-19).

• Are we not going to be given a new name? Yes!
• Are we not going to be worshipped as God? Yes!
• Will we not have praise in every land where God sends us to help rule as kings and priest under Christ? Yes!
• Why? Because He loves us!

Now then, this also has to do with Israel, because when you get to these Old Testament prophecies many times there are many things that are in there that have to do with the Church as well as Israel, because the Church in fact is Israel. So, when you carry them out to the spiritual fullness of it, it's talking about the Church in the state of resurrection.

"…where they have been put to shame." (v 19). Oh, isn't that going to be nice. Think of that! God is going to send us to where we have been given the most trouble. And guess what? It's going to be just like Mordecai and Haman—right? Remember that? Mordecai was hated and despised by Haman. He would not stand and rise when Haman came by, the Agagite. He was the big pope over there in Persia with King Ahasuerus.

Mordecai was just wasting away, and one night the king was reading an old left-over newspaper. It was called the Chronicles of the Kingdom—right? We have a paper over here called the San Francisco Chronicle. He read where Mordecai saved the king from death. So, he called in Haman the next day, and Haman was expecting this great promotion—right? Yes! Ahasuerus said to Haman, he said, 'Now, tell me Haman, I need your advice. What do you think that the king should do to the one he wants to honor?'

Haman said to himself, 'It's me!' And the king says, 'Well, put him on your horse and have someone take him around and say that this is the one whom the king favors. Haman that's a good idea. You take my horse and you lead it with Mordecai sitting on it, and you go through the whole city and say, 'This is the one whom the king favors.'

That's exactly what God is going to do with us when we rule in the Kingdom of God. So, don't worry about all those troubles and difficulties.

All Scripture from The Holy Bible in its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred. R. Coulter

Scripture References

1. 1 John 4:16-19
2. Genesis 1:26-27          
3. John 1:1
4. Genesis 3:11, 15
5. Genesis 22:9-13,15-16, 12, 16-18
6. Deuteronomy 4:29-37, 39-40
7. Deuteronomy 5:1
8. Exodus 18:15-16
9. Deuteronomy 5:2-10, 28-29, 32-33
10. Deuteronomy 6:1-12
11. Deuteronomy 7:6
12. 1 Peter 1:16
13. Deuteronomy 7:6
14. 2 Timothy 3:15-17
15. Deuteronomy 7:6-15
16. Deuteronomy 8:2-6, 10-16
17. Deuteronomy 10:12-22
18. Psalm 91:14-16
19. Hebrews 5:7-9
20. Zephaniah 3:14-19

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Psalm 8:5
• Genesis 2
• Hebrews 11
• Genesis 26:5
• John 14:15
• Matthew 5
• 1-John 4
• Jeremiah 5
• Romans 8:7
• Deuteronomy 8:7-9

Also referenced: Sermon Series: Who was Jesus?

FRC:mj/cis/mds
Transcribed: 01/20/2003
Formatted/corrected: bo—May/2012