Amen. When we look at God's commands for the lives of the Israelites, and there are many commands, there are some clues about the kind of life God has called us to live in Christ. You look into the New Testament and you see various exhortations of the life of the believer. And you realize there's actually strong continuity with the kind of people that the Israelites were to be in the Old Testament. A holy people, and light for the neighboring nations around them. A people who love the words of God, who committed in their heart and soul and mind and strength to the will of the living God. If you look in Deuteronomy 26, I think there are several truths about our life in Christ that are glimpsed with the Israelites in the days of Moses in the plains of Moab who are ready to go into the promised land. For instance, we see in Deuteronomy 26 that the people of God are a gathering people. You see this in Genesis forward. You certainly see it evident in Deuteronomy 26. The people of God do not live disconnected and isolated lives. They come together. They are a gathering people. We see as well that there are grateful people. These are people of God, blessed of God, enriched by his hand and not of their own striving at the core, but rather the blessing of God upon their lives. And their response is gratitude. These first fruits in a basket that are being brought in this ceremony are overflowing from a heart that acknowledges that God is the giver of all gifts. The people of God are a giving people. Not only do you see this in the first ceremony in verses 1 to 11, but there is a second ceremony in verses 12 to 15 that will benefit the vulnerable and the Levites who don't have an allotted territory, where these people, greatly blessed of God, want to be vessels of blessing to others. The people of God are a remembering people. They are where they are because of things God has done in his gracious, powerful work. And they're not trying to forget it. They're trying to remember it, to pass on the deeds of the Lord and to proclaim the greatness of his majesty. So they are a remembering people. And especially when they gather, they delight to remember. They are a rejoicing people. The lives of the Israelites had their various hardships, but in remembering who God is and in remembering what God has done, they not only gather to remember, they rejoice together over the goodness of the Lord. The people of God are a reverent people, a reverent people. They come to God with a desire to honor Him and worship Him. It's clear in this chapter that the heart posture of the Israelites is to be one where toward God and His Word, there is a submission, a delight, a gladness in their gathering. And lastly, we could notice that they're an obedient people. They are called to keep the commands of the Lord. Very clearly, that's the case at the end of the chapter in verses 16 to 19, a paragraph reminding them after these ceremonies that the law of God is to be the delight of their hearts. The people of God are an obedient people. But when I list those things, gathering, and gratefulness, and giving, and remembering, and rejoicing, and reverent, and obedient, we realize, well, that's just, that's not only part of the Old Covenant Israelite people. That is what the people of God are called to be and to do in all the generations of the people of God. This is their heart and the lives that is, the way their lives are to be characterized. So we see these truths elsewhere in the Old Testament, of course. They're very evident in Deuteronomy 26. We're gonna look at two ceremonies today in verses one to 11 and in verses 12 to 15, which teach these kinds of truths. Ceremonies that are part of the ritual life of Israel's old covenant, that don't just transfer over one to one into the new covenant, but behind these ceremonies, a heart posture and a reverence toward God, which absolutely characterize the people of God of all times and generations. In verses 1 to 11, the first ceremony is given, the ceremony of first fruits. And then the second ceremony in verses 12 to 15, the ceremony of the triennial tithe, which means a tithe every three years. There's a specific reason and context for this triennial tithe, but a tithe every third year. And that's the second ceremony in verses 12 to 15. The chapter closes with a summary, and it's not only a summary of this chapter. Verses 16 to 19 is a reminder of the call to obey God's commands, and it's the summary, the climax of a long series of chapters. So yes, verses 6 to 19, it is the climactic paragraph of chapter 26. But chapter 26 is the end of a long series of commands. Commands which draw upon and are based upon the Ten Commandments that are repeated in Deuteronomy 5. And all of the intervening material from Deuteronomy 6 to 26 is applying and fleshing out in all these different scenarios what it looks like for the Israelites to be a covenant people before their gracious and redeeming God, who has called them out of Egypt, has promised them an inheritance, and has called them to be a light to the neighboring nations, that they would know, that these nations would know the living God. that they would know what it is to worship God truly, and that they would see a people who love God with their heart and soul. So verses 16 to 19, a summary of the call to obey, but really a climax of many chapters that have preceded it. In chapter 26, 1 to 11, we see this opening ceremony, and these two ceremonies back to back in verses 1 to 11 and 12 to 15 are not simultaneous. They're not even really close in time in terms of hours or days. We should mark them accordingly, I think. Verses 1 to 11 are at the beginning of the harvest season. And then in verses 12 to 15, the climax of the harvest season. So it seems that these two ceremonies are meant to frame what will be an evident, delightful experience of the Israelites receiving the gift of God's provision. The gift of God's provision. There's a ceremony that marks the beginning of that season, and then there's a ceremony that marks the end of that season, a ceremony every third year called the triennial tithe in verses 12 to 15. Let's look at this first ceremony in verses one to 11, where the context is certainly their life and provision in the land. We know that because verse one says, when you come into the land, that's what they're on the cusp of. They're on the cusp of the conquest. And when we complete book two of the Psalms together, we're going to begin the book of Joshua on Sunday mornings, and we will enter the land together and behold the glory of the conquest and the might of God on behalf of his people. And here it's in view. When you come into the land that he's giving you, a land for your inheritance, when you've taken possession of it and live in it, Here's what you're to do in verse two. You shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground. More harvest would come, but this is in view of that reality. More harvest, so the first fruits I will entrust to the Lord. Because it's an indication of His grace upon our land, His blessing of provision, it has begun. And because we trust it shall continue, the first fruits of it are a sign of His provision, and I will offer to the Lord what He has given to me. We can never offer to the Lord what he hasn't already given to us. And this is the Israelites recognition, not that God needs food to eat, but that bringing the first fruit of the ground is a recognition that everything I have is from you. It's a recognition of my dependence on the Lord, of his might and supremacy over my life, his goodness and blessing over the land. And this fruit of the ground signifies it. It's that which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you. Now, what they're to do is they're going to put it in a basket and that's merely for transport. OK, so they're putting this in the basket and they're going to go to the place the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell there. In the book of Deuteronomy, the language of the place where God will make his name dwell will otherwise be known as the place where the sanctuary is located. Now eventually, the tabernacle and later the temple will be located in Jerusalem. But there were times in the days of the conquest of the land and following where the tabernacle was in places other than Jerusalem. But the Israelites needed to know that wherever the sanctuary is, wherever God has made his name to dwell and be present with his people through that holy place, they're to take the basket of firstfruits there. And what they're going to do is they're going to go to the priest who at the sanctuary is going to be mediating sacrifices and offerings. That's the job of the priest. They're going to be there in the courtyard of the tabernacle. The priest who's in office will meet you and he's going and you were to say, you were to say to this priest in verse three, I declare today to the Lord, your God, that I've come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us. Think this is a way of almost re-entering afresh in the minds of the Israelites, the provision of the Lord. That year after year, the first fruits of the land rest upon them in a fresh way. It's like again and again, they remind themselves, I am an heir of the promises of God. I have come into his inheritance. They never want this to get old. They need it to be on the forefront of their mind because when they meditate on the blessings and promises of God, it changes them. When their hearts are immersed in thinking on the goodness of God and the power of God and the redeeming grace of God, when that is what their hearts are oriented toward, their lives are different. The way they think about their lives changes. What they prioritize differs because their hearts are centered on what matters. These words here, not mere ritual, not mere formality, but Lord willing coming from a heart that rejoices in the truth, that I've come into the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give us. The swearing to our fathers takes us back to those patriarchs of Genesis, doesn't it? In Genesis, he says to Abraham, to you and your offspring, I'm going to give this land. Promises continuing in Isaac's generation. Promises continuing in Jacob's generation. I think those are the people in view, the fathers to whom God swore to give the land. Well, what the priest is gonna do then in verse four in this ceremony, he's gonna take this basket and he's gonna set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. because the altar represented the place of offering and sacrifice. It was a place of consecration, a sacred piece of furniture built in the days of Moses at Mount Sinai in Exodus 25 and following. Here is this bronze altar, and the priest sets the basket down before, and then in verse five, here's what you're to say before the Lord your God. You're gonna say, you're gonna say what is a rehearsal of your history. You're going to remember right there in this gathering what God did. And you're going to start out this way in verse 5. A wandering Aramean was my father. That brings you to Jacob. Not because Abraham and Isaac weren't important. But Jacob is given emphasis here. His name was renamed Israel. You see this in Genesis 32. You see this in Genesis 35 as well. And with Jacob's name reiterated to be Israel in those chapters, the Israelites come from Jacob and he went to Aram, Paddan Aram, where he dwelled for a time before returning to the promised land. He didn't stay in one place, he pastured flocks, he worked for a man named Laban. And so a wandering Aramean is a way of talking about a season in Jacob's life. Calling him my father is a way of saying I come from him. He's my ancestor. That's where I'm from. I'm remembering how I got here to this land. There is this wandering Aramean and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there. That takes you to the end of Genesis, doesn't it? Where there was a famine in the land and the sons of Jacob had tried to get rid of Joseph. And in the providence and sovereignty of God, the Lord not only spared Joseph's life, but raised him up over the land of Egypt, only under Pharaoh's authority, so that Joseph over all the rest, in Joseph's authority, would be able to provide for any who came seeking grain in the years of famine. And Jacob and the brothers eventually became aware of Joseph being alive. All of them reunited as a family, and at the end of Genesis, Jacob is in Egypt. So he went down into Egypt and he sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a great nation. He became a nation great, mighty, and populous. Even Pharaoh recognizes that in Exodus 1. It's part of the reason Pharaoh wanted to kill the male Hebrew babies. He was very concerned about the greatness of the multiplying momentum the Israelites had. In fact, he feared, the Pharaoh feared that these Israelites were becoming so fruitful, they could join with some other person outside Egypt and ally with them and then come against Egypt. So Pharaoh recognized this and the biblical text here reaffirms it. And in verse six, the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us. and laid on us hard labor. He's remembering what you can read in the narrative of Exodus 1. The remembrances here, what he's rehearsing with his basket on the ground in front of a bronze altar in the courtyard of the tabernacle with the priest, is he's remembering what the stories of Genesis and Exodus tell us. He's remembering earlier Bible, earlier stories, and he's rehearsing this to recall where he's come from. And he says, they had laid on us hard labor, and then we cried to the Lord in verse 7. You can read that in Exodus 2. In Exodus 2, the very next chapter of Exodus, they cry out to the Lord, and he hears their cry. We cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice. He saw our affliction, our toil, our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. That's another way of talking about the plagues. So you just keep reading in Exodus and you'll go through chapter 12 where all of those plagues, the 10 plagues are poured out. Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites delivered in Exodus 12, going through the Red Sea in Exodus 14. Yes, God poured out great deeds of terror on his enemies. His wonders and signs were made known. His mighty hand and outstretched arm took his people out of there. And in verse nine, he brought us into this place and gave us this land. Now that skips a little bit. That skips a little bit because the the end of Exodus, they're at Sinai. In Leviticus, they're still there receiving the laws of God, but when they leave Sinai in the book of Numbers, the older generation rebels against the Lord and wanders for 40 years, demonstrating some residual wickedness and unbelief among the Israelites that had been delivered. And then you see, The newest generation rising up from within the land, a new Israel, we could say, ready to receive the allotted territory. Moses is talking in Deuteronomy to those people. The 40 years of wandering have come to an end. In Deuteronomy, they are positioned to take the land. It's only as if they're waiting for Moses himself to die. He will die only chapters from now at the end of the book. And when Moses dies, we're told in Joshua chapter one, Moses, my servant is dead. Now arise, and you're going to go into the land. And so those days are so near, he brought us to this place. You're gonna say to that priest, when you're in that land, God brought us into this place, gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Language first used in Exodus 3, language of flowing milk and honey, prosperity and blessing, abundance and flourishing. That's what it's to signify. And in verse 10, behold, you're to still keep saying to the priest, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me. And that completes what you're saying in that ceremony. Then you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house. You and the Levite and the sojourner who is among you. The reason that others will also rejoice is because the Levites don't have a lot of territory. So they're not harvesting in any tribal locations. The Levites actually rely on the giving of these Israelite tribes. So wherever tribe this person is from, they're coming to the sanctuary with this basket to give. And not only is this a recognition of the Lord's bounty and provision, it will also be a blessing to the Levites who receive at the sanctuary what others have brought. And not just the Levites, but others who don't have tribal allotments, like these sojourners, people who are traveling through and would need to eat. The provision of the Lord through this giving of the first fruits has a manifold set of groups and folks and subjects to receive the abundance of the Lord. You shall rejoice. Now, when we think about these first 11 verses, this first ceremony, it's the majority of this chapter. And this ceremony is about the giving with a cheerful heart of what God has given. You're coming there to rejoice. These people aren't coming begrudgingly before the Lord. They're coming mindful of who God is and what God has done. And they are remembering it on purpose. They are rehearsing where they have come from. So when Paul says to the Corinthians, God loves a cheerful giver, that's always been true. That's always been true. That is what is to characterize the heart and mind of the people of God who know all that I have is from God. That's true in the old covenant and it's true before and after it as well. It's true for all of us in the new covenant that all of our giving is an act of gratitude and trust to the Lord, Lord willing. It is in recognition that as we give and as we serve and as we bless, we are doing so knowing that all that I have is from him. And I want to be a faithful steward, not only of what I have, but I want to be mindful in a vertical sense. of God's worthiness to be praised for all that has been given by His hand. Not only did He rescue me with His mighty hand and outstretched arm, He has provided for me with His mighty hand and outstretched arm. So I praise Him for saving me. I praise Him for sustaining me. God is worthy of all glory. Now, I know we believe this. We believe this, but we read this passage and we are reminded the people of God were always to be mindful of this. This has always been true. So we see the ceremony of the first fruits, and we move to a second ceremony in verses 12 to 15. A much shorter ceremony, but nevertheless an important one in the life of the people of God that occurs every three years. This is called the triennial tithe. So, annual, playing on the idea of something occurring, like the word annual would be once a year, triennial, every third year. And when you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, I've removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you've commanded me. I've not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten. And these first couple verses of this ceremony are laying out more of the context for this triennial tithe. The aim of the tithe is the vulnerable. That's the aim of it. A huge concern in fact in the book of Deuteronomy. We've seen this in many different laws in one shape or form or another from Deuteronomy 6 to 26. That after the Ten Commandments, part of the way the Israelites should live is with a just treatment, a right treatment of their neighbor. And that calls into mind the vulnerabilities and needs of those around us. This particular tithe is aiming at those who might not be able to provide for themselves. The reason the Levite is mentioned in verse 12 again is because they don't have a tribal allotment to harvest. So that means one of the ways the Levites are provided for is through the generosity of others. And then you have in mind the sojourner. We thought about that person in verse 11. the fatherless and the widow would have a difficult time providing for themselves in the ancient world and not just in the ancient world. And so these provisions are also for them. It is so that they may eat within your towns and be filled. That clue at the end of the verse, of verse 12, that is a clue that the location of the tithe is not necessarily at the sanctuary. So let's think this through. The first ceremony, The ceremony is brought to the priest and no bringing of anything to the priest is reported here. Nothing is set before an altar. Instead, these people are eating within their towns. So while the first ceremony seems to be a trip to the sanctuary, wherever the Lord has made his name to dwell, This, every third year, is a tithe that is dispersed with generosity to those in the towns, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, the widow. They may eat and then be filled. When you do this, he says, when you complete this requirement on the third year, then you shall say before the Lord your God, I've removed the sacred portion out of my house. Calling it a sacred portion is important. It didn't grow up a special color. It didn't look like fruit that they picked that had some sort of aroma or vibe. That's the sacred fruit, you know, that's the portion of the most. This instead is consecrated food. It's to say, I'm setting it apart. And in that way, it is sacred. It is sacred because I'm going to follow the commands of the Lord. I'm going to provide for the needy, and I'm going to set it apart as God has told me to do. In that sense, it doesn't belong to me. He recognizes here that God has given to him what does not ultimately belong to him. In fact, God has given to him what he is to bless others with. He says, so I've removed the sacred portion out of my house. I think the way that works is I've given it to the Levites, the needy, the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner. I've given it to them. He goes on to say that. In verse 13, moreover, I've given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you've commanded me. I've not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. Now that's, I don't think we should think of the end of that verse, that claim there, as general. As if he's saying I'm a sinless person. I think we should keep it in context, and that he's talking about the commandments about providing for those who are in need. That in the Israelite community, they're to be mindful of that, and there are particular categories of folks that would have a very difficult time providing for themselves, and there are commandments about it. So when he says, I've given out my tithe, I've not forgotten any of your commandments, I think he's talking about those commandments. I don't think somebody would say, did you just claim to be perfectly obedient to all the law of Moses? I don't think he's claiming that. I think he's saying, I am holding to your law. It's told me to provide this triennial tithe. I'm doing that. I've not transgressed those commandments. I've not forgotten them. I'm remembering and therefore doing. Now there would have been inappropriate ways to treat this sacred portion. And he says, I've not done those. Here's in verse 14, some of those ways. eaten of the tithe while I was mourning. So mourning is a time of ritual uncleanness because mourning involved the vicinity of a dead one, a dead loved one, a dead friend, a dead community member, where you have come into a place that has been marked by the reality of death and that you would be temporarily unclean. Well, if this is a sacred portion, He says, I have not defiled this ritual in any uncleanness. And he goes on, I think, to confirm that's the way to take it. He says, I've not removed any of it while I was unclean. This is about ceremonial fittedness to come before the Lord. And he says, I was not unclean where I lived. I did not defile myself according to the law, and nor have I offered any of it to the dead. Now, the idea of death not only brings to mind the situation of mourning and the likelihood of uncleanness where they come before the body itself and sometimes in contact with the very body itself. This idea of offering food to the dead is a denial of pagan activity. He says, not only am I not unclean, I didn't engage in any idolatrous activity either. I didn't defile myself by breaking any ceremonial law. And in fact, I didn't engage in any false worship. There were people in the ancient world who offered things to the dead. Various elements of food and clothing to the dead ones. He says, that's not what I've been doing. I've set apart this sacred portion. I have not done anything to render myself unclean and I'm not engaged in any false worship. So he is saying, as much as I have been able to think about it with my level best, I have kept your law, I've engaged in true worship, your commandments have shaped what I've done, and your commandments have shaped what I haven't done. And so he says, I have done all according to all that you have commanded me. He says in verse 14, in the middle of the verse, I've obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. And then in verse 15, In light of that, in light of this ceremony where he remembers these things, he says, look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. So that ceremony where the generosity of this worshiper overflows from his heart and into the lives of the needy, it's followed by a prayer. Lord, would you continue to bless us? Would you continue to pour out your goodness on our homes, upon our land? Would you do this, oh God, from heaven? So it is a view that God's blessings are heaven in their source. They are heavenly blessings poured out upon the people. And he prays that the Lord would continue to show his great faithfulness to the Israelites. We've seen these two ceremonies then, a ceremony of first fruits, a ceremony of a triennial tithe, and it's reminding us of the gathering of the people and the gratefulness of the people, the reverence of the people, the commitment of obedience the people should have. And the obedience idea is especially emphasized at the end. In verses 16 to 19, a closing reminder of obedience, and again, not just for this chapter, but a climax of verses for many chapters that have unfolded in Deuteronomy, What has it all been about? In verses 16 to 19, these verses summarize a lot of key issues in the book. And these verses actually use particular terms and phrasing we've seen much earlier in the book, and I think that reinforces the climactic feel they're to have. So they say, this day, the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. Moses says, you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart, with all your soul." Now, doesn't that remind you of the famous Shema from Deuteronomy chapter 6, where the Lord is one? Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And then following, saying, not only to love the Lord your God, but with all your heart, soul, and strength, that the commands of God are to be kept from the heart of the person who loves God. The reason they should value the commands of God is because they love God. If they say they love Him and they don't care about what He says, they're a liar. Just read 1 John. Just read the letter of James. If they claim to have faith and have no obedience, what kind of faith are they describing? A trust that makes no difference in their lives? That's not the kind of trust the Bible's talking about. And when we receive the glory of Christ's atoning work, it is transformative to us. We are saved by faith and not by our works, but we are saved for works and obedience. Read Ephesians 2. Not by our works, but by grace we have been saved, then created in Christ Jesus for good works, for obedience, created beforehand for this. And 1 John, those who claim to know him, but don't walk in the light, but rather in the darkness. They lie and don't live by the truth. This is a biblical idea, not just located in one particular letter or one human author. Rather, this is the Word of God, continuous from the Old and New Testaments. So he calls them to do these commands with their heart and soul. It is a way of saying, prioritize it. What you think about and direct your heart and soul toward is what's important to you. So he's saying, let this be something that weighs heavily upon your life. Let it be life-shaping. impactful to the uttermost, to the depths of who you are. That's your heart, your soul. There's nothing deeper than that within us. He says, you've declared today that the Lord is your God in verse 17. And that you will walk in his ways and keep his statutes and his commandments, his rules, and will obey his voice. There's a sense in which this is true for all of us in the new covenant community, though we're not under the old covenant law, we by faith come to Christ. We make our profession of faith public in baptism, and that is saying to others, I have died with Christ, I've been raised to new life, and I'm gonna walk in wisdom. I'm gonna follow the Lord, that's what I'm doing. I'm gonna walk in a minute that is pleasing in His sight. That's what my heart wants. And the word of God has always wanted those who profess to know the Lord to have that in their heart. To walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His rules, obey His voice. In verse 18, the Lord has declared today that you are a people for His treasured possession, as He has promised you, and that you are to keep all His commandments, and that He will set you in praise and in fame and in honor, high above all nations that He's made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised. Now, there is some language at the end of this chapter, in verses 18 and 19, that we have seen before. Did any of it sound familiar? What about this part in verse 18? He's declared you're a people of his treasured possession. That should sound familiar because at Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard that in Exodus 19. In Exodus 19, here's what they're told. In Exodus 19 and in verse four. Moses is to say to the Israelites from the Lord, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians. and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you'll obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession. There's the language. You shall be my treasured possession among all peoples and a holy nation at the end of verse six. Holy nation. Treasured possession, very key language. It's repeated here. Moses is reminding the new generation of Israelites. Many of them weren't at Sinai. They were born during the wilderness wandering. They've grown up in the wilderness. They never heard the 10 commandments spoken by the voice of the Lord. They've had things reiterated to them, new instruction and application of these commands. And now they're gonna go and take the land. And God's saying to them through Moses, you're my people. You're my treasured possession. You're to keep all the commandments, and in verse 19, He will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations He has made, and you'll be a people holy to the Lord your God. So there it is again, treasured possession, holy people, a people among the other nations of the world, as He promised. Now, where in the New Testament do we find language like that? Repeat it. In the book of 1 Peter, Chapter 2, we are able to see how the later biblical authors draw a line from the Israelites in the Old Testament. And I want you to look very carefully at the way they speak about it. 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Listen to this. Peter's saying this, by the way, to the Jew-Gentile church in Christ. These are believers. These among the nations who are facing persecution, who call themselves exiles and wanderers, so to speak, heading toward the promised land, the new creation, and God's mercy has been on their lives. They've come to know Christ Jesus with their heart and soul. And here's what he says about the church of Jesus, 1 Peter 2.9. You are a chosen race. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So the Israelites were brought out of Egypt. The church of Jesus Christ has been brought out of the darkness of sin and death. The Israelites were called a nation to be holy and a people of his treasured possession. And that language is given to the church of Jesus in the New Testament. So here's the line that the biblical authors are drawing. The biblical authors do not draw the line from the Israelites in the Old Testament to some other earthly nation in our day. The line is drawn from the people of Israel to the church of Jesus Christ. That's where the language is applied. That the church of Jesus Christ fulfills this calling to be a people of his own possession, redeemed out of darkness, a people to proclaim his excellencies, a people of his own treasured possession, set apart to be holy. Indeed, a holy people among all peoples, a light for the world, salt for the earth. This is language where we see the Old and New Testament coming together in one grand trajectory that the church of Jesus Christ is the light of the world, rooted in Old Testament concepts. The church of Jesus Christ is the treasured possession, holy unto God, rooted with Old Testament language. Peter grew up a Jew. This is not lost on him. He's not just freely using language like a holy nation and a possession of the Lord. He knows it's Old Testament language. And he says it's for you in Christ. So if we are in Christ, we are experiencing the fulfillment of what Deuteronomy 26 is pointing to. We are those who gather to remember. We come to rehearse, not that my father was merely a wandering Aramean and he wandered down into Egypt. We remember more. We remember where all of the redeeming works of God were pointing in the most climactic display of mercy the world has known. We remember the cross. We come together and we remember how did we come to be where we are together and redeemed because we were in darkness, dead in our sins, and by sovereign mercy and the proclamation of the gospel, he made my heart live and he shone light upon me. I'm remembering his goodness and I'm rejoicing together. We gather together to remember these things. And we're not bringing a basket of first fruits, but the principle of generosity and giving and provision remains within the New Covenant community. We see this in the Gospels, in the book of Acts, and in the letters. We see the importance of the people of God exercising stewardship over what God has given them, because nothing we possess is anything that wasn't first given by God to us. We do what we do for the glory of God, and indeed, think of the mission of the church with verse 19 here. Deuteronomy 26, 19. God says, I'll set you in praise and fame and high honor above all the nations that he's made, that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God. Oh, friends, among the nations, there's nothing more important among the nations than the mission of the church and the cause of the gospel. This is the most important reality that God is doing in the earth, is saving people and building His church. The church of Jesus Christ is more important than we realize. And we might already think it's very valuable and very important what the Lord has done in setting apart a people for Himself. I dare to say the church is even more important than we think it is. And hopefully we already deem it immensely valuable and important because of what God has done in commissioning the church. So among the nations and above the nations, here is a people he has set apart for his treasured possession. The people of God saved by mercy from darkness and into light. That is us. And as a new covenant community, we rejoice in the cross work of Jesus. We come with gratitude. And we come with joy. And we come with generosity. And we come longing to love the words of God. Because here's something we know. These commandments, to love the law of God with all the heart and soul of the person, it isn't something apart from the power and grace and spirit-regenerating work in the heart that we could accomplish with our own striving. We can't come with all of our efforts and works to say, well, here are the commands. I really feel like I do pretty well at Lord. You know, here, here are these laws and here are these instructions. And I really feel like I'm doing pretty well on the balance of it. I feel like I'm more righteous than not. And we can try to make various evaluations about ourself that are terribly misleading when we realize that in the old covenant, we will always fall short of the commands of the Lord. We will never be able to look in our hearts and deem ourselves fitting with regard to the law. In fact, we realize that only one has ever kept the law. Only one. Only one whose heart and mind and words and deeds were in perfect conformity to all righteousness and justice, and it's the Lord Jesus. You know this. We rejoice in the one who came to live the life we could not have lived in all our striving. And to die the death that we had deserved under judgment that instead he took as our faithful substitute. So that what we know in union with Christ is grace upon grace and mercy upon mercy. But we are changed in him. When we come by faith to Christ, we are new creations in him. And therefore, our view of the words of God and what he has made known about himself, we grow to love what God has said. We grow to see the wisdom of God's word. Our hearts are aflame with new life. And the promised new covenant, which Jeremiah wrote about in Jeremiah 31, was that the law of God would be written on our hearts. And we find that in the New Covenant community, that is what God has done, transforming us to such a depth of heart and soul that we can say, I have been made new in Christ, dead to sin, alive and new, no longer in the darkness of my transgressions, but in new life by grace and mercy, and a life now lived for Christ, a life for the glory of God, a life of gratitude, a life of gathering, a life of remembering, a life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gathering together with those God has set apart as a treasured possession for himself, the people of God throughout the earth. Praise the Lord for his wondrous mercy. Let's pray.