It was 25 years ago that I met with two other men that you know. We met every Monday night, Derek Petrie and John Coates. And we met and we read the scriptures and prayed. And we read from Deuteronomy 28, and we discovered something there that profoundly affected us. that the principles taught in Deuteronomy 28, I took the argument further than that, flow throughout the whole Bible, and were of such importance that it needed to be preached. And during the Puritan conference, when Joel Beakey was over from the United States, I took the time when he was staying in our house with his wife to go through this scriptural argument with him, and he said, what you're saying is right. and it deserves to be published. So if you tape it out, send it to him, and it'll be published. I never got to tape it out. I'm useless at typing, and some people try to, but never finished it. And then I told Stuart Olley about it as well, this scriptural argument, and he said, evangelical press would publish that, and it needs to be published. And he said, what you're talking about is the prelude to revival. what must happen in the churches in the Western world before revival will come. And he agreed that what I was saying is right. I'm going to read from Deuteronomy 28, beginning in verse one. And when I'm dead, and if everyone forgets my ministry, I couldn't care less. But if there's one thing that would be remembered, it would be this, that I would want to be remembered by, it'd be this series. Let's read Deuteronomy 28, beginning in verse one down to verse 15. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of the ground, and the fruit of the cattle, the increase of thy kind, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face. They shall come out against thee one way and flee, before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses and all that thou settest thine hand unto, and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as he has sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways. And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in all thy goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of the cattle, and the fruit of the ground, and the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give rain unto thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thine hand, and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them. And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and shall overtake thee. Amen, and God will bless the reading of that portion of his inspired word. As Christians, we look to the word of God to give us guidance. God speaks to us in his word about what we should believe and should not believe as Christians, what we should do and what we should not do as his people. In other words, we believe that Scripture, as it is, is the revealed will of God. However, it doesn't take us long in the Christian life, I was about 19 years old as I discovered this, that we meet Christians, or those that say they're Christians, who say, concerning various parts of the Bible, Oh yes, I know the Bible says that, but that is not for us today. And no doubt you've heard that many times yourself over your Christian life. And many people say things like that and they excuse themselves from obedience to the Bible by saying something like this, ah, but that's just in the Old Testament. And that sentence in and of itself, by saying that, they have immediately done away with two-thirds of inspired scripture as not for us. It's just in the Old Testament. Added to that, of course, there are a multitude of professed Christians who say of various New Testament passages as well, but the Sermon on the Mount You know, that was just for Jews. That was for a different dispensation. That doesn't apply to us. And others will say, oh, but you, being born again, that's not for us today. Jesus was speaking to a legalist, Nicodemus, and legalists need to be born again. And others will say, oh, well, what it says in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, you know, that's not really for us, because a lot of that is Corinthian culture. And they say the same about Ephesus and 1 and 2 Timothy. Well, that was just for Timothy, you see, and a lot of that's just Paul's opinion. And the book of James, of course, well, that's just for the 12 tribes of Jews scattered throughout Asia. And 1 and 2, 2 Peter is for the Jews in Pontus and Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. And of course, you can't really take the book of Revelation seriously, because that's not for us, you know, because that was written to the seven churches in Asia Minor. And what that's called is over-contextualization, putting the Scripture in its context so strictly that it can't speak outside of it. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have heard professing Christians say all those things, that I've just quoted all of them. So what better the Bible is for us according to them? Well, maybe John 3, 16, but then, of course, that's connected with Nicodemus too. My first point tonight is this. Number one, when we come to Scripture, the selective mentality is always wrong. We are not to cut and paste Scripture. The selective mentality is always wrong. See, today, especially in our so-called modern day, which is not very modern at all, humans like to sit in judgment over the Word of God. And they like to select the bits of the Bible that they like as applying to us in the New Testament church. But the bits that we don't like, well, That's just cultural teaching. That's the Old Testament. And how far have God's people in Northern Ireland and the Western world fallen in the last 150 to 200 years on hitching themselves from the Scripture Many Christians have forgotten, many churches have forgotten the doctrines in which they were founded. It says in the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order, the same as the Westminster and the Baptist 689 Confession, which was drawn up by the churches to summarize what they believed the Scripture taught, It says about the Savoy, under the name of the Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testament, which are these, Genesis, Exodus, and it goes all the way through to Revelation. And it continues, and it says, all of which are given by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and practice what we believe and what we do. The Scripture is the rule for that as believers. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And there are 64 other references in the New Testament alone to the inspiration of Scripture. You could say it's quite biblical doctrine, that the Bible is our rule of faith and practice. All Scripture given by inspiration of God, by the way, in Timothy, and as profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness was written in the New Testament about the Old Testament. It was saying to the New Testament church, the scriptures that are already written, the Old Testament, Are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness? And how could that possibly be if they don't apply to us? It's nonsense. It does apply to us. What is taught in all of the Bible applies to the church of Jesus Christ. The Bible says the Old Testament is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness for the New Testament believer. Therefore, the modernist who selects bits of the Bible, they apply to us, and those bits don't. That modernist is totally wrong. They are wrong. The Bible is all God's Word, and it's all for us. Now, I'm not suggesting here tonight that there has been no change between the Old and New Testaments. There have been changes, some changes. But what I am saying is this, it's not for Christians, it's not for men. to decide which part of the Old Testament no longer applies to us and which part does. Because the New Testament plainly tells us which doctrines or teachings of the Old Testament no longer apply to the New Testament church. It's the New Testament tells us that. For example, give you the principle. In the Old Testament is the ceremonial law. That's what people call it. There's the ceremonial law, the judicial law, and the moral law, and God's law in the Old Testament. But part of the ceremonial law is the sacrificial system. Now, in church tonight, we're not going to sacrifice a lamb. Sure we're not. Why not? because it's in the ceremonial law in the Old Testament. We're not doing it, and we don't kill animals anymore in church, not because Paul Dowling or the eldership here decided, we like animals, we're not going to sacrifice animals anymore. No, that's not the reason why we don't do that anymore. The reason is because the New Testament clearly tells us that we're not to sacrifice animals anymore because Jesus Christ is the one sacrifice for sin forever, and all other sacrifices are done away with, and we don't do it because the New Testament tells us that sacrifice is done away with now. So it's not for us to decide, but the New Testament clearly tells us which part of the Old Testament we no longer are to do. We no longer have a temple and an altar and a laver made of bricks and mortar. Why not? Well, not because we decided not to bother building a temple for the Lord anymore, but because the New Testament clearly tells us that the temple of God is now each believer. You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. And every block in the temple of God is every believer. So we don't have a brick temple anymore, because the New Testament clearly tells us. We no longer have priests interceding anymore. The Aaronic priesthood, the descendants of Aaron. Why do we no longer have priests interceding on our behalf between us and the Lord? Because the New Testament clearly tells us. that Christ is now the only great high priest, and he intercedes for us between his Father and us, and he's the only intercessor. He's the only high priest. But we don't have priests anymore, not because we decided not to have them, that that bit doesn't apply to us anymore, but because the New Testament clearly reveals the Aaronic priesthood is over, and Christ is the high priest. So that's why we know what parts of the Old Testament we no longer do. It's the New Testament that tells us which parts have been passed away unfulfilled, the various Jewish feasts and circumcision and all of that. But my point is this, it is not up to the Christian to decide via their own intellect which bits of the Bible apply to us and which don't. The passages that are no longer binding to us are revealed clearly in the New Testament. Scripture is the infallible rule of faith and practice in the church, not the human mind, not our likes or dislikes, and certainly not culture. Scripture There's all the difference in the world, isn't there, between someone who says, we don't kill lambs in the church today because the New Testament tells us Christ's the lamb. There's all the difference in the world between someone who says that and someone who says, I don't obey the Eighth Commandment because it's in the Old Testament. Okay, right, so it's okay to steal then, isn't it? See, the New Testament does not tell us that the Eighth Commandment is fulfilled and passed away and we're allowed to steal. Sure it doesn't. There's all the difference in the world. One has the authority of Scripture, the other has just a figment of man's imagination. What I've been teaching you so far tonight is this. between the Old Testament—or the Old Covenant is the proper word—and the New Covenant, there is continuity, and there is also discontinuity. There's things that continue from the Old to the New, and there's things that are discontinued. There's continuity and discontinuity—things that have continued and things that have ended. And how do we know? We know what Old Testament teachings and doctrines are discontinued and are not binding on the church today because the New Testament clearly tells us so. And we know what ones are continuing to be binding because they're not abrogated, they're not taken away in the New Testament. Humans do not decide. So that's my first point. The selective mentality when we come to the Bible is always wrong. And that brings me to this question, which is the second subject on the subject of the series. The question, based on the passage we just read, could it be that the principles taught, could it be that God's promise, which he repeats thousands of times in the Old Testament, also in the New. Could it be that God's promise to bless his people upon condition of their obedience to him, or chasten and punish his people on the condition of their disobedience to him, that the principle of that is still binding on the New Testament church? Is there continuity or discontinuity between Deuteronomy 28 and the New Testament church? What I'm asking is, where God says to his Old Testament people, obey me and I'll bless you in the field, and I'll bless your family, but disobey me and I'll punish you, because you read the rest of Deuteronomy 28 and he says the exact opposite of the blessings. Does that apply to the New Testament church? And I would say that the answer to that is a resounding yes, it definitely does. Completely. I believe there is continuity between the teaching of Deuteronomy 28 and the New Testament church, both corporately and individually. Now, let me come to the third point and give you the New Testament proof of that very briefly, because this is only an introduction to what I'm going to say. How else could you explain the letters to the New Testament churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3? In Revelation 2, there's a little letter there to the church at Ephesus, the New Covenant church. And what does it say? Let me read it to you, actually. It'd be better than me just quoting. Revelation 2, just look at verse 5. Remember, therefore, from where thou art fallen." Remember, this is the New Testament church of believers. Remember from where thou art fallen and repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. What are they to do? In New Testament church, repent, turn from their sin, and do the first works. Not believe right, they are anywhere believers, but do the works, the obedience you used to do. Do the first works, actions. And if not, says the Lord Jesus Christ to that church, I will remove your candlestick. I'll put your light out, and that's exactly what he did, no longer exists. Punishment. He threatens blessing for obedience, and he threatens punishment if they don't repent, destruction of the church. Exactly the same as Deuteronomy 28, the principle. And five out of the seven churches in Asia Minor in the book of Revelation—five out of them—Christ threatens with punishment because of the things they were doing. Their actions were sinful. They were disobeying him, and he threatens punishment. And to every single church, In Revelation 2 and 3, all seven, Christ says, if you have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches, I'll bless you. And it's the same with God's people throughout the Old and New Testament. Obey me, says Jesus, and I'll bless you. Disobey me and I'll chasten you, I'll punish you, I'll discipline you. they weren't saved by their obedience. They were believers, saved in Christ by his blood. These things were written to the churches in the New Covenant. Their salvation and our salvation does not depend upon obedience. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. but the blessing of God upon their lives and their church does depend upon their obedience to the Scripture. That is very clear teaching. And all the fatherly discipline passages you were reading 1 Corinthians, or not 1 Corinthians, Hebrews chapter 12. So that means last week you were reading the discipline passages written in the New Testament. And what does it say? whom the Lord loves. He chastens, he punishes, he scourges every son that he receives. Out of love, as a father will chasten his child when he does the wrong thing. Out of love, he corrects them. So the Lord does that to believers and churches in the New Testament. That's what is taught. And the negative discipline passage in Matthew chapter 7 and the Sermon on the Mount teaches the exact same thing, doesn't it? In the New Testament, not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but who? He that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say, I preached your name, I cast out demons, I did miracles, and Jesus said, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. And then he gives the illustration of the wise and the foolish man. What's the only difference? The wise man builds his life on a rock. The foolish man builds his life on sand. What's the difference between them? Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man. Doeth them, obedience. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not disobedience, I will liken him unto a foolish man that built his house on the sand. Those who hear and don't do for those that hear and do. Obedience is rewarded in the New Testament. Disobedience is punished. This is God's revealed will to the New Testament church, not just in Deuteronomy 20. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. We follow it's actions, it's obedience in life. The true sheep hear and obey. False ones get punished. So do the passages where God says to his old covenant people, obey me and I will bless you. disobey me and I will punish you." Do they apply to the New Testament church? I would say the biblical evidence is a certain yes, they do. This teaching fully applies. That's why the New Testament tells God's people, Christ says, if you love me, simply because obedience to God, which is his word, is revealed well. Obedience to God is important, even under the new covenant, not for salvation, but for blessing. One more example, 1 Corinthians 11. The Corinthians were coming in 1 Corinthians 11 to the table, and some of them, it says, were drunk. Some were selfish and greedy and gluttonous at the Lord's table. Some were being irreverent. All of that was irreverent behavior. And it says in verse 30, you're meant to discern the Lord's body and come to the table. Some of them weren't. New Testament believers in a new covenant church. And what does it say in verse 30? It says, for this cause, Many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep." Now, you know what the word sleep means in the New Testament applied to believers. Believers are not said to die, but they fall asleep in the arms of Jesus and awaken in his presence. But it means, for this reason, Corinthian New Testament believers your disobedience at the Lord's table, many are weak and many are sick and many are dead." Dead, chastened by the Lord for disobedience, even though they were New Testament believers. Because of disobedience to God, they were being judged as a church and chastened by the Lord, disciplined. That's what's happening over and over and over in the New Testament. You see, God's New Testament church can be judged and chastened by God because of disobedience. That is plainly beyond question. In other words, the New Testament proves that God's promise to the Old Testament people, if you obey me, I'll pour all these blessings upon you. But if you disobey me, I will chasten and punish you. is continued in the New Testament under the new covenant to the New Testament church. There is continuity in the Deuteronomy 28 principle. The Deuteronomy 28 principle continues in the New Testament. So I bring to a summary Just still, having introduced this subject, I've given you a number of points tonight, and they're these. Number one, when we come to the Bible, the selective mentality is always wrong. It's always wrong when humans decide which bits of the Bible apply to us and which bits don't. God's inspired New Testament tells us which parts of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ and are passed away, and which parts are binding. The second point was the question, does God's promise to obey, bless, obedience, and punish disobedience apply to God's people now? And I say, yes. And the third point was the New Testament proof. And I've only given you a few little bits of proof. The New Testament clearly shows us that churches can be under God's judgment and punishment for disobedience in the New Testament, not just the Old. And if God's promised to bless them, if they repent and obey, the blessing's there if they obey, and the punishment's there if they don't. There is plain continuity, brethren. God's covenant promise in Deuteronomy 28 continues to be binding, and there are many other proofs that will prove this in the weeks ahead. But let me conclude, I want to say a few things. As I said a little bit at the beginning, I never chose to preach this series. It chose me. It's the one thing that I think is of exceptional importance today. It is the prelude to God's blessing, what we call revival. I don't think I've ever preached a series as important as this, and I think that it is very applicable to the evangelical church in the whole of the Western world in our day. And it's my burden, truly, when I look at churches in the United Kingdom, generally The professed evangelical churches today, if you look at Deuteronomy 28, you'll see the signs of blessing and the signs of punishment. And I see that we as churches in the Western world are clearly showing the signs and symptoms of both Old Testament and New Testament chastisement from God for disobedience in the churches today. The symptoms of Old and New Testament of God's people under chastisement are plain in churches in the Western world because of their disobedience to the clear teaching of the Word of God. I would encourage you to read Deuteronomy 28 yourself when you go home. And look at the things God says he will do to his people if they obey him. Look at the blessings that he lists. But look at the punishments he lists if they disobey him. And we will apply them properly in the weeks ahead. I remember saying this principle, I've told you at the beginning, I said it to Joel Beakey and Stuart Elliott, and they said, what you're saying is right. I said it to other ministers in the group that we belong to, and they thought it was funny. They laughed. So blind. So blind. If anyone's listening and you're not a Christian, You might think, well, if you're saying that the New Testament churches are under judgment, who are you to tell me that I need to get saved? Well, we're not anybody to tell you you need to get saved. The Bible says you need to get saved. God says you need to get saved and forgiven for your sin. And don't forget, don't forget what it says in the little book of 1 Peter in verse 17 of chapter four. For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. That's where judgment always begins. Judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel? And it is. The evangelical church, I believe, in this land is being chastened by God. But even if God's people are being chastened for disobedience to the Bible, unbeliever, what will your end be? If God even chastens believers for disobedience, what will your end be? If you obey not even the gospel, you're in a far worse predicament Where will you come if judgment begins in the house of God? We all need to obey the gospel, repent of sin, and trust in Jesus Christ. And after that, we follow him all the days of our life. And we know his will because it's revealed to us in the scriptures. May the Lord bless you and thank you for this introductory sermon, for listening so well. God bless you. Thank you.