← ArchivePathsDining at the Banquet of GodDateJune 28, 2020SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonDeuteronomy 142:11Deuteronomy 14:38:43Galatians 4:49:58Deuteronomy 14:110:42John 3:1611:501 Kings 1821:06Acts 1024:451 Corinthians 1027:02TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00"I need you to take care of yourself" I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself0:26I need you to take care of yourself I need you to take care of yourself We really can't wait to hear what God is going to do in our midst today and throughout the week0:54Again, I heard a story this week of someone coming to faith away from this campus Through a friend and through God working through you So I really believe the right time to respond to the Gospel is when God invites you That's not specific to Sunday morning God works every second of every day So, welcome1:22So, welcome Our prayer today, my prayer is If you are a Christ follower, you would be encouraged That you would leave here saying Man, I have a great God And this is who I am in Jesus Christ And God is working powerfully in your life If you are not a Christ follower I pray that you would see the Jesus that we believe is true And that you would say I want to follow that Jesus Christ So our hope Whether you are here just checking out church Or you were drugged here by someone Against your will1:51That God would change your life today That's our hope and our prayer Because I can stand here I know God changed my life And that's our prayer for what God is going to do in our midst Anyone hungry so far? Anyone hungry right now? Because I am about to ruin your appetite for the next week So, what we are going to read now in Deuteronomy 14 Is a list of some dietary restrictions Things that you cannot eat if you want to be kosher2:18So, for the modern reader These ancient rules sometimes seem completely foreign I mean, why would God tell you you can't eat the camel today? Listen to me very carefully when I say this Why would God tell you you can't eat the hoopoo? People thought I said something else earlier in service Hoopoo Don't eat the hoopoo, right? Or the short-eared owl2:46Why would God say those things? We say, well, that's just old rules And we live differently now No, God is saying as a people of God We live differently today And it's been that way from the beginning So, what we see in Deuteronomy 14 And we're right in the midst of a sermon series in Deuteronomy called "Many paths, but one way" And Deuteronomy 14 is like a sandwich You have the first three verses are your bread3:14The last verse is your bread And then you have the meat Which are all the dietary laws And so today we're going to focus on the bread You're going to have carb overload In a spiritual sense So join me as we read Deuteronomy 14 Just hang in there It'll make sense when we leave And if some of you are already planning where you're going to eat for lunch I'm going to help you for the rest of the day 14 Deuteronomy verse 13:42The Lord through His servant Moses by inspiration of the Holy Spirit It says you are sons of the Lord your God Do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your head On behalf of the dead And don't worry, we'll explain that For you are a holy people Belonging to the Lord your God The Lord has chosen you to be His own possession Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth4:11Now as you plan your lunch menu Remember this verse 3 You must not eat any detestable thing These are the animals that you can eat for lunch today Ox, tail Sheep Goats Deer Gazelles Roe deer4:40Roe deer Wild goats Ibexes And for those of you who really were thinking outside the box Antelope You can eat antelope And mountain sheep You may eat any animal that has divided or cloven hooves And chews the cud But among the ones that chew the cud Or have divided hooves You are not to eat these And so Off limits5:08Off limits I know I'm going to break some of your heart right now You can't eat camel You can't Or Hare Rabbit Iraxes They chew the cud They do not have hooves They are unclean Pigs Though they have hooves They do not chew the cud They are unclean for you No bacon You are not to eat their meat Or touch their carcasses And then it continues in verse 11 No eagles5:37No eagles They're endangered anyway 14 No seagulls Which are some of the dirtiest birds I would have to be starving to say You know what let me eat that No little owls No long-eared owls No barn owls And just so they are not left out No eagle owls God is telling his people in Deuteronomy6:06Live differently Eat differently And what he is going to tell us in the next minute together is Live differently People should look at you Look at your menu Look at your table manners And say They must be people of God So let's pray and we'll dig in Father We confess that sometimes Things in your holy living word seem so far removed from our society But because we live in a culture where6:36Many of these are never on our menus But Father we know there's a deeper truth here So we pray right now that your living and active word Will be living and active in our hearts That we leave here on purpose to live differently Because you are worth it So Lord encourage us Convict us That we might run to your presence today Well that's our prayer7:06And we pray this in Jesus name Amen And Amen So what in the world is going on? Some of you have your head shaved And you're thinking well you just singled me out We'll get to that So we begin in verse 1 And God says this And I don't think Not only are the words inspired of scripture I think the order of the words are inspired There's a certain order to salvation And there's a certain order to what God wants you to know about him7:33So verse 1 clearly says You are sons You are daughters You are children of God So what is the Lord telling us And this is very key In the kingdom of God The economy of heaven Being Always precedes Or comes before doing Church people did you hear that? Being a son8:03Comes before acting like a son Why is that important? Because some of us get frustrated at other people who are not Christ followers You're not living like God wants you to And scripture would say Duh You're right Good observation You know why? Don't expect people who aren't sons To live as people who are sons Being Always comes before doing That's how it's been in Deuteronomy8:32And that's how it is now And not only that God wants you to know the "you are" of scripture Always come before the "you must" So the "you must" in Deuteronomy 14:3 Follows the "you are" I am as we already sung This is who you are And God says who are you? If you have given your life to Jesus Christ You are what? Verse 1 You are sons Some of you females Some of you ladies are saying9:02Well I'm a daughter You are a daughter Why is that important? Because if you have given your life to Christ You're not on the outskirts of the camp You are what? You're sitting at the table And the message today is simply Dining at the banquet of God And so God says If you have given your life to me You don't squat in my kingdom I love you as my own You are You are You are Not you must, you must, you must9:32You are a son You are a daughter And that is so vital for our souls Being who you are in Christ Comes before what you do for Christ But the only way to become a son or a daughter of the king The only way to eat at the banquet of God is to be invited So how can we get invited into this family? Well Galatians 4:4 tells us Listen to what Galatians says10:01When the time came to completion Some of you memorize it this way In the fullness of time God sent his son born of a woman Born under the law To redeem those who were under the law So that we might receive New Testament language Sounds familiar, right? That you might receive Adoption as sons Now some of you who were awake about 10 minutes ago10:30Would say I know that language That comes from where? Okay, let's try it again Deuteronomy 14:1 Put your finger there Wait for it, ready? Galatians says That we might receive Adoption as sons Where have you heard that? Like Deuteronomy The Old Testament is reminding them You are sons You are daughters11:00And if we're not careful We forget who we are in Jesus Christ We forget that's who we are So when you give your life to Christ Something changes about you You are a son You are invited And because of that It continues Because you are adopted in sons Verse 6 in Galatians says That you might be able to cry out in your heart Abba Father Again, the language of a child That's good stuff11:28That's a powerful truth In the Holy Scripture So the question is How do you receive the invitation? And God's invitation for you to be into his family has a name And his name is Jesus Christ Think of what John 3:16 says For God so loved the world He loved you That he sent What do you do with invitations?11:58You send them He sent his one and only son That Whosoever That means me That means you Whosoever Have everlasting life God's invitation for you to come to his banquet Is Jesus Christ And similar to earthly invitations Which most of us are horrible about responding to Most of you have received an invitation on Facebook12:26That says Please RSVP We know who you are You did not But this heavenly invitation has to be received And it's received by faith in Jesus That's how we receive And that we're adopted as sons And when that happens You are a son So let me ask you right now Have you ever received or accepted the invitation for eternal life? Because if you have that carries a huge responsibility in your life later12:57Have you received by faith what God has already invited you to? Verse 1 You are sons and daughters But then he says this If you are a son If you are a daughter Then you are in verse 2 You are holy Now let me talk about holiness for a moment So in its most simple expression Holiness is simply in the Old Testament13:26Set aside for that which is not mundane It doesn't say you are angelic It doesn't say that you are perfect But you are holy You are set aside from that which is ordinary You are set aside for the purposes of God And this is really where we grind to a halt Because some of you are screaming at me right now In your minds of course Hey, I'm not perfect13:56And I would say Yeah, I know And you look at my life and you say Well, you are not perfect And I would say Yeah, you don't have to tell me I know So how can we be called holy? Well, there is an immediate nature An ongoing nature to holiness So let me tell you what Jesus does When you give your life to Christ Immediately by faith you are declared righteousness Now the big, the million dollar word is imputed righteousness14:25So God, through his son, he gives you righteousness Why is that important? Because you cannot be in the presence of God unless you are holy So if you were to go in and out of holiness Then you would go in and out of the presence of God Does that make sense? Why am I a firm believer? That I cannot lose my salvation One, because I know I have not earned my salvation Because I know me And secondly, if I can go in and out of righteousness14:53Then is Jesus' blood effective? So in Christ you are immediately declared holy So say it with me Now some of you are saying, but wait, wait, wait, I can't live up to that Well, that's where the Holy Spirit comes in Because holiness is one part immediate But it's also ongoing15:23So holiness through the Holy Spirit is this ongoing work It's progressive and incomplete As long as we are in this life That's what Jerry Bridges is saying So really what God is saying is In Jesus you are holy And through the Holy Spirit I am making you holy Does that make sense? You are and you are becoming It is the "you are" of verse 1 And the "you must" in verse 3 Jesus is the "you are"15:53And the Holy Spirit is the "you must" What a powerful truth that is Why is this important? Only a holy son or daughter can eat at the banquet of the Father Only an adopted son can eat at the banquet of the Father And he continues He said not only are you a son because of Jesus Christ16:20Not only are you invited because of Jesus Christ Not only are you holy Not that you will be holy, you are holy But he says another "I am" Verse 2 He said the Lord has chosen you to be Now some of you are saying Well that's not "you are" Okay, well he had "you is" You is chosen It's the same It's a different form of the same Different tense of the word "I am"16:49You are what? You are a special possession I love the word in Hebrew It's this word "segula" It's almost as if a land owner is looking out over his kingdom And it's the most prized possession of lands It's like you looking at your portfolio and saying I have a lot of stocks But Amazon is nailing it right now I have a lot of stocks that are going to help me in retirement But Amazon is my meal ticket Amazon is the "segula" It's like my iPhone17:17I love all of your kids I love all the kids in the whole world But I only have certain kids' pictures in my phone You know whose they are? I see one of them is the "Oic" right here Aaron and Eli Why do I have their pictures in my phone? Because they're my special possession And does that mean I don't love your kids? No17:46No But it means they're special And the power of that in Jesus Christ Is that God says the same thing to you He says Frank You are my special possession Because Jesus gave his life for you He says Keith You are my special possession Just think about the love of God for you He doesn't just say here Here's your slot, eat He says here18:15Come to the table Here's a special seat at my table I want you to know how God thinks about you You are adopted as a son and a daughter You are made holy You are invited And you are his special segula You are his special treasure in Christ And when we turn to Jesus Something happens Because if we are invited to the table18:45Just like my grandmother and my parents If you are going to eat at their table You better have certain manners Anyone have the same grandmother, grandparents? And as a Christian When you dine at the banquet of God You are expected to live as if you are dine at the banquet of God Don't you wear your hat at my grandparents table That was the great sin You can wear anything else But do not get your hat off your head So how do we live as Christians?19:14The you must follows the you are So look at what the word says here In verse 1 again As you are a child of God You must not cut yourselves Or make bald spot on your head On behalf of the dead What in the world is going on here? So this is not a prohibition about being bald The word means to pluck It doesn't mean you can't shave your eyebrows19:44Or trim them back I'm just going to leave that there Some spouses are praying right now Lord please let them hear this It doesn't mean you can't cut your head But in the ancient world Universally A symbol of mourning When someone were to die Would be to shave your head Shave your eyebrows Or pluck them out And make gashes on your forehead Until you would start bleeding I don't know how you're20:14If I pass away before you I don't know how you were planning to Celebrate my funeral But don't do that for me It's just weird But in the ancient world They thought If they were to commit these acts They could manipulate the dead They felt like they could have divine favor In their current life By doing these things And we said We would never do that Yet we still do funny things in our lives And what God is telling his people20:43Here Is that you are to look different If you are eating at the banquet table of the king You look different Quit plucking out your eyebrows Quit shaving your head like everyone else Quit gashing yourself with a rock Quit bleeding out as if you would manipulate God In this way In 1 Kings 18 The prophets against Elijah The prophets of Baal are doing the same thing21:11They are gashing themselves Why would God tell his people to do this? Because he says We grieve differently because you have hope You have hope One rabbi said it this way I love what Rabbi Abravanel said He said that The people should not perform extreme rites of mourning When bereaved Because as God's children They are never totally orphans God is saying to his people21:40You live with hope So let me bring it to modern day When you see crazy things on Facebook Are you going to act like everyone else? And share that and like that and blow it up? Or are you going to say God I live differently? Everyone else is plucking out their eyebrows Murder hornets I mean I saw something the other day That there are like these crazy alligators in Tennessee22:09Because people are ever flushing drugs down the toilet And the alligators could eat the drugs And they're like zombie alligators I don't know if that's true But I was thinking What is 2020? Bring it on But you know what? We have an opportunity to live different And in this God is telling his people Listen, don't act like everyone else22:39When the world says 2020 There's horrific violence against law enforcement There's horrific racism that is cropping up There are people going on and making political rants That have nothing to do with God Are you going to be different? Or do we throw up our hands and say No one else has hope so we don't either Let's just act like everyone Or do we act as people with hope? To say look I'm a son and that means I'll never be orphans23:09You're acting that way because you don't have the love of God But you could Church are you acting different? How can the world see our father if they don't see us acting as his children? We are to live as people with hope Be different God's people are required to have table manners But then he says this Okay now at the table not only do you live with hope and live differently23:39You act differently but now you need to eat differently So look what he says in verse 3 He says do not eat any detestable thing But here's some things that are not detestable Oxtail which I've had Beef tongue would be a part of this I don't know either Sheep, goats, deer, gazelle, roe deer, wild goats, ibexes, antelopes, and mountain sheep You can eat those And then God says everyone else is eating the camel but don't do that24:09Ride the camels, don't eat the camels Right? Don't eat the owl Don't eat these things because everyone else is doing that Be different Now some of you are thinking What in the world is God trying to teach us through these? Well this is simply a summation of the dietary laws in Leviticus and in Numbers Many places in the Bible God has given a list of things that you don't eat24:36No seagulls Some of you are beach people, don't eat the seagulls But Acts 10 in the New Testament, the New Covenant Peter sees this sheet coming from heaven And there are all sorts of animals and God says eat it No, Lord I would never eat these unclean animals And God says, well what I've made, don't you call that unclean So because of Christ, the barrier is now lifted25:06So because of Christ, if you want to eat camel, you can I don't know if that's a good thing, I'm just saying you can do that If you want to eat seagull or antelope, you can do that If you want to eat the hoopoo or the bat, go right ahead Because the barrier of what is clean and unclean is now broken It's not what we eat that makes us clean or unclean It's what is in our heart But what is God asking us to do?25:36He's distinguishing for his people those things which are fitting or kosher And those things which are unfitting or treif The word kosher, even today in modern Judaism It means things that are fitting for you And I think that principle will apply to each of our lives There are things that you can do that are fitting and good And then there are things that are not good for you And then there are things that you can eat that are bad26:05And what God knows about us If you're a child of the king and you're sitting at his table God knows that you have a tendency to look around and say But what about that table? That table looks good And God says, well, I didn't prepare that table That's not kosher food And Josh, what you don't know is that food It might taste good, but you're going to have an upset stomach later26:33Or you're going to get really sick Or if you're not careful, if you eat at this table, it'll lead to death And God knows that our gaze naturally Even when we're sitting at the table of God Our gaze naturally turns to other things And God through his spirit is always bringing you back That's the Holy Spirit's job Come back Look at what God has put before you 1 Corinthians 10 would say it this way27:02Everything is permissible Bats, hoopoo, rabbit, camel, oxtail Some of you have only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches your whole life You need to get out more There's greater things to eat Everything is permissible But not everything is beneficial And not everything builds up So here's how we apply this in our lives27:32Carnal people, people who are not of Christ Say things like this Can I do it? Is it permissible? But if you are in Christ, God says that's not what you should be asking anymore Everything is permissible But people who are holy ask this God, what is beneficial for me?27:59And it goes beyond that Not only, God, can I do this Because we're Westerners We are individualistic But now in Christ Now in this you must life It is, Lord, not only is it beneficial to me But would this help my brother? Would this help my sister? That's the heart that we should have And the reality is28:28If you have given your life to Jesus Christ If you have surrendered your life And you are adopted as a son If you're adopted as a daughter in Christ You can never ever again say these words It's my life and I'll do with it what I want Because you know what holiness is? Jesus, it's your life You do with it what you want So what questions are you asking in your life? I know some, I know your heart28:57Some of you said, well, if I If I'm going to eat a camel If God puts it in front of me And no one's going to tell me anything But is that best? Well, you know what? It's my heritage But is that good? It's my right Well, of course it's our right But we as Christians don't ask, can I do it? We ask God29:25Is this what is for your glory? And I'm okay in my life Not doing certain things If it is for your good Because that's the love I have for Jesus And that's the love I have for you And what would our lives look like If all of us walked in every day And said, Lord, how can I live So that they will be encouraged? How, what can I eat?29:57I know I can eat anything But God, what can I eat today To help my neighbor? That's the heart of someone who is holy Church, what a joy it is For these you are's To say, I am I am a son or a daughter in Christ I am invited to the table And that's a standing invitation I am holy in Christ And I am his special possession30:27And so now how must we live? Lord, let me live differently And let me live distinctly Let me live with table manners So that people will know that they can come to the banquet But let me, three thoughts as we conclude Eating with the Father Is not a weekend event It's not a Sunday only thing30:56You can eat at the banquet table every day In Jesus Christ Which leaves me as a reminder of this We should reserve our holiness For Sundays You don't save your holiness Throughout the week We don't live for hell during the week And then live for heaven on Sundays, right? We're not You don't drag your holiness to church And say, Pastor, look what I've been reserving31:25Today Holiness is lived out daily And sacrificially And God knows this about each and every one of us That we don't just drift into holiness D.A. Carson says it this way I love how he summarizes it He says we drift towards compromise And we call it tolerance Sound familiar? This world He says we drift towards disobedience31:53And we call it freedom We drift towards superstition And we call it faith If you find yourself drifting away today Won't you come back Won't you say God give me the matters that I know I should have Because I want to live out I want to live out my status And thank you for the reminder of who I am in Jesus Christ Because God's people live with God's manners32:21I believe there are some of you right now that have never been invited To the banquet of our king And I believe that God brought you here today To hear that he loves you And that there's no sin that you've committed that cannot be forgiven The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is greater than your greatest sin And his invitation to you is if by faith you would receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior32:47He'll say Here's the seat I have been reserving this just for you Would you come to Jesus today? You could pray a prayer like this You could say God I know that I don't deserve what you have for me I know I've sinned I know I've fallen short But Lord I believe what you said today I believe you will adopt me as a son or a daughter33:16And I want that If that's you would you give your life to Christ And then let someone know So we can celebrate to say welcome Welcome to the table What a beautiful gospel we have Everyone is invited But you have to accept it And may we drift back into to the Holy Spirit's power The manners that God has for you today33:44Let's pray← Previous in PathsHow True Worship Changes Your LifeNext in Paths →Celebrating Redemption
