Good evening. Good to be with you again, brothers and sisters. We're turning tonight again to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28, please. And we're going to read verses 1 to 7, and then verse 15 and 25. Deuteronomy 28 on the first seven verses. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to 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, 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 thy cattle, and 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." Then continues on down up until verse 15, the other blessings that are conditional upon obedience to the Word of God. And then we come to verse 15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Then follows the whole rest of the chapter, which is the section of the curses or punishments that shall come upon God's people if they disobey him. And for the sake of the example I shall give tonight, go to verse 25, which corresponds with verse seven. Wonder if you disobey the Lord? As opposed to verse seven, the Lord will cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face. They shall come out against thee one way and flee seven ways. Instead it says in verse 25, if you disobey the Lord, the Lord will cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies and thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." Amen. God will bless the reading of his inspired Word. To approach the Word of God, the Scripture, with a selective mentality is always wrong. We do not have the authority as human beings to approach Scripture with a sieve and put Scripture through a sieve and say, well, these bits get caught in the sieve of the things I don't like, and say, well, these portions have no application or relevance to us today. No. Nonsense. We do not have that authority. All Scripture is God's Word, and it is plainly revealed in the New Testament which parts of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus Christ—the shadows, the types, the ceremonial law, the sacrifices, and so on. The New Testament clearly tells us which parts of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ and which parts are not. It is plain from the Old and New Testament that God's covenant promise to bless obedience among his people and to punish disobedience among his people, or chasten them for disobedience, has not been set aside. It has not been set on the shelf. But this principle that God teaches in the Old Testament, if you obey me, I'll bless you, if you disobey me, I'll chasten you, it does apply today, because it's in the New Testament as well. The Old Testament passages that predict the New Testament prove this. Jeremiah 31, under the new covenant, I will put my law in their inward parts, Ezekiel as well, and they will walk in my statutes." Obedience under the new covenant predicted in the old. And then the New Testament itself proves this, because the New Testament teaches many places that New Testament churches are called to repent and do the first works, or their candlestick will be removed. And also I could add in here, which I'm not going to, because I know I'm preaching in a church that I've preached in for many years, and I know you know your theology, but there's more evidences that this whole principle of the blessing from God upon us people depends upon our obedience, And if we disobey him, we'll be chastened. There's other evidences. God's very nature and character proves this. I'm not gonna do the sermon on it, but let me briefly outline it. God is immutable. He never changes. And therefore, God never changes. So why would he want anything different in the new covenant than the old? He hasn't changed. So because God never changes, therefore, the way he deals with his people doesn't change either in the Old Testament or the New. How was Abram saved? He believed God and it was counted onto him for righteousness. How are we saved? We believe God, and it's counted onto us for righteousness. Does it make us righteous? No. The righteousness of Christ, we are declared righteous, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account in the exact same way as Abraham. God still deals with his people in the same way in the new as in the old. God never changes. The way he deals with his people never changes, and that leads to The principle, what God expects from his people, never changes. It never changes. He expects his people to obey him in the old covenant and the new. And as I've said before, our obedience does not earn our salvation or merit it. No, we're already saved. We're already believers. They're already God's people. We are saved by grace. through faith in Jesus Christ, Abraham was and we are, but the blessing of God upon his people does rest upon their obedience. This is undeniable for any honest reader of Scripture. Repeatedly, the Old Testament commands to obey God are re-emphasized throughout the New Testament. So much that Jesus Christ in the New Testament makes obedience to God's will the proof positive that a person is actually saved. Many times, Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, but who? They that do the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say—I've quoted it many times, I'll not quote it again—the blessing of God upon His people depends upon their obedience, not the salvation, but the blessing of God. Let me quote to you, or give you a little bit from Jeremiah. Listen to what God says to His people in Jeremiah. Listen to what He says. This is His people He's talking to. "'Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.'" Well, Will you steal and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods and then come and stand before me in this house, the temple, which is called by my name and say, we are delivered to do these abominations? And on it goes. So obviously God, that's why God removed them from the land. They were his people, but he punished them because why? They were disobeying him. They actually thought, we're saved now, we're saved to do all this disobedience the same way as some people in churches today think, oh, we're saved by grace, therefore we can do whatever we want, the exact same. And God punishes disobedience among his people. Now, because God's covenant promise to bless obedience and to chasten or punish disobedience continues today, That leads us to a very important question, and one of your members asked me the last time and brought this up, because everything leads to this question. If what I'm saying is true, how do we interpret the blessings and the punishments of Deuteronomy 28? How are we to interpret them as applying to New Testament churches? in Deuteronomy 28 or any other Old Testament passage, how are we to interpret and apply these things to the New Testament church? For example, Deuteronomy 28. Verses two and five. All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Look at verse five. Blessed shall be the basket on thy store. The verse before it, blessed is the fruit of your cattle and all that. Now, does that mean that under the New Testament, believers who obey God will always have a full larder? The cupboard will always be full of food. No, I don't think it does mean that at all. Or verse 11, the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, and the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and ground, and so on. Does that mean that obedient Christians will all have plenty of goods and riches? That's the prosperity gospel, isn't it? It doesn't mean that. No, that's a wrong interpretation of it as applying to a New Testament church. You see, the apostle Paul was sometimes hungry. He didn't have a full larder. And sometimes he had to ask someone else, will you bring my cloak? The clothes for his bag. He obviously didn't have plenty of material goods. And he was in prison. Exactly where God wanted him to be, he wasn't being disobedient. And I would have a problem with any prosperity preachers today who said, oh, well, Paul just didn't know how to claim the blessing. What a load of nonsense. What they're actually saying is I'm better than the apostle, I know more about obedience than the apostle, and I know more about naming it and claiming it than the apostle, and that's just nonsense pride. Anyway, the subject is this. How are we to interpret these blessings and chastisements to the New Testament church without falling into the gross error of the prosperity gospel. Well, I'll give you a few points, and they're very simple, and I will endeavor to prove it. Number one, we must interpret the blessings and chastisements in the Old Testament, but specifically Deuteronomy 28, We must interpret them spiritually, primarily spiritually, not primarily materially. And here's why. In the Old Testament, God called Israel to be his special people. They were to be different. from all the other nations of the earth. Indeed, their life, as you know, their life was to be a witness, a testimony to the nations around them of God's goodness. They were God's people. They were God's Old Testament church, Israel. And their nation was to reflect and testify to the Lord. Now, they were a special nation, weren't they? They had physical nationhood. And they were brought by God through the wilderness and across the River Jordan into a real geographical land. You could point to where their land is on the map. It was a geographical place. Now because God's Old Testament people, his Old Testament church, were a physical, literal nation in a visible, geographical land, Canaan, then of course the blessings and the punishments would be primarily They say, not exclusively, would be primarily physical, material blessings for a physical, material nation. Now, come to the New Testament. What's the difference? Is God's people limited just to the Jews in a geographical land? In the New Testament, God calls his people to be different. And God calls his New Testament church in 1 Peter 2.9 a holy nation. But is it a physical nation? No. Or is it on the map? It's not there. That's the difference of the New Testament, isn't it? The church of Jesus Christ is not a physical nation. It's nowhere on the map. It is a spiritual nation, a holy nation. It says in 1 Peter 2, 5, you also as living stones, every believer, you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house. a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God in Jesus Christ. Or Ephesians, I'll turn it up, Ephesians 2, 21 and 22. last two verses in Ephesians 2, talking about the church of Jesus Christ—let me read from verse 20—and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Old and New Testament. coming together in the new, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed, groweth together into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are builded together by a habitation of God, or for a habitation of God through the Spirit. God's New Testament church, His New Testament people, are a spiritual nation. The kingdom of God is spiritual in the new covenant. It transcends national borders on a map. No, it's bigger than that. It is not limited to a physical, geographical land anymore. And God is bringing his church still to the promised land. But it's not Canaan's year, it's not. Is that where you're going when you die? Nope. He's bringing his people to the promised land, which is the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells Rachel, to glory. So then, of course, the blessings would be spiritual blessings primarily. upon the spiritual nation, the holy priesthood. Let me summarize and clarify just what I've said because we want to go on and open it right up. Does this make sense to you? God's Old Testament church or Old Testament people were a physical nation in a geographical land. Therefore, you would expect that the blessings and the punishments would be primarily physical, material, geographical blessings and punishments. You'll lose land, you'll lose this or whatever. But God's New Testament people, God has changed the whole character of the church. He's not limited to a physical nation any longer. It's a spiritual nation. It's a heavenly land, a heavenly kingdom. It transcends national boundaries. It's spiritual. Therefore, you would expect the blessings and the chastisements to be spiritual and heavenly instead of physical and material, primarily. they are. And it says of God through Christ in Ephesians 1 that he has blessed us, New Testament believers, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The blessings are spiritual for a spiritual nation or a spiritual church. So therefore, you would have to interpret the continuing principle of blessings and punishments of Deuteronomy 28, you would have to interpret them physically and materially for the Old Testament church, but spiritually for the New Testament church, the same principle. Let me come to my second point. What I'm saying is, There is a sameness in motivation or reason for blessings and punishments. There's a sameness in motivation or reason, but a difference in application. What I mean by that is it's for the same reason that God blesses or disciplines his people in the Old and New Testament, the same reason, obedience or disobedience to his word. God is the same. He blesses or punishes. His motives or reasons for it are the exact same, obedience or disobedience. The same people, whether it's Old or New Testament, are saved in the same way. Old Testament, New Testament, saved by grace through faith alone in Christ. There's a sameness. It is for the same reasons that God blesses or punishes the Old Testament church that he blesses or punishes the New Testament church. Obedience or disobedience, there's a sameness in reason or motive. But there is a difference in application. The blessings or punishments apply differently in the New Testament church because the New Testament church is no longer, it is not a physical nation, but a spiritual one. The Old Testament church was primarily a physical nation on a geographical map. The New Testament church is a spiritual nation and it's not on the map at all. Therefore, the application of the blessings and punishments are different. Old Testament, primarily physically and materially. New Testament, primarily spiritually. The blessings are applied differently to the New Testament church. And that's why Deuteronomy 28 verse 11 doesn't mean Christians are always gonna be blessed with loads of material things and riches if they obey, because the blessings are primarily spiritual. For a spiritual nation, we are spiritually rich when we obey the Lord. and we'll be spiritually poor if we don't obey the Lord, even though we're still saved. The inheritance that we have is reserved for us where? Reserved for us in heaven. We are co-heirs with Christ under the new covenant. So in the light of that, Let us come to the passage. The principles taught in Deuteronomy 28, that's my third point. The principles taught in this whole chapter are very simple. The whole chapter of 68 verses teaches two simple things. You can't miss it. Number one, if God's people obey his word and his commandments, God will bless them. Point two, if God's people do not obey his word and his commandments, God will punish, chasten, or discipline them. The proof, verse one. 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. Verse nine. The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways. Verse 13. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only and not beneath, if thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and do them. Verse 15. But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. Verse 45, I'm just skimming it. Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed because thou hearkenest not unto the voice of the Lord thy God. to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee." Verse 58 and 59. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of the law which are written in this book, that thou mayest fear the glorious and fearful name of the Lord thy God, then the Lord will make the plagues wonderful, and the plagues upon thy seed, even great plagues, and long continuance, and sore sickness upon long continuance," in verse 62. And you shall be left few in number, for as ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the Lord thy God. The proof in the chapter is undeniable. Obey and you'll be blessed, disobey and you'll be punished. Now we're going to look at some of the blessings and the punishments of Deuteronomy 28 and what it means. And we're going to apply them to the New Testament church, but we're not going to look at them all. because there are 15 blessings and 28 curses or punishments. That would be 43 points in total, which is 14 three-point sermons. And we don't want that. But before I close tonight, I want to apply one of them so you see where we're going, and then we're gonna go through more and more. Here's one point, point four. God teaches in Deuteronomy 28 and in his Word, your victory or defeat depends upon your obedience to God. Look at verse 7 and 25. Let's read them both. 7 and 25. God says to his people under the blessing section, 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. Now to the disobedience section, verse 25. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies. Thou shalt go out before them one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. Now, an explanation of meaning. That little phrase that is used in both the verses, go out one way and flee seven ways. Well, that's the Hebrew term for battle, for a complete rout of an army that's defeated. They go out one way, and they're defeated, and they turn and they flee in all directions. They're routed. So here is a picture of victory or defeat upon the field of battle for God's people that is dependent upon their obedience to the Lord or their disobedience to the Lord. Now, let's look at this. The Israel, the Old Testament church, did this really happen? Yes, of course it did. The armies of Israel were defeated and routed. In the battle of Ai, Joshua chapter 7, Joshua 7, 11, why? Why were they defeated? Israel hath sinned and transgressed my covenant. So the physical, geographical people were defeated in battle. One of the Israelites had deliberately broken and disobeyed the explicit command of God regarding the loot of the enemy, and because of that, God's people were defeated in that battle, and they routed. Exactly as Deuteronomy 28, 25 said would happen before then. God already told them that would happen. And it was only when the offender was caught and punished, and then God's people obeyed the Lord, that they had a great victory on that exact same battlefield after. Victory on the battlefield depends upon obedience to God's Word for the people of God. If you want more examples, the book of Judges is full of them. Israel sins. They're defeated in battle and oppressed by the enemy. Then they cry to God for help and they renew their covenant with God and they start obeying God again. And what does God do? He sends them a deliverer. And then they're victorious on the field of battle and it happens over and over and over and over and over again. because victory for God's people depends upon their obedience. And it's the same principle that happens over and over again in 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, over and over and over. Victory in battle or defeat in battle, what's the cause? Obedience or disobedience to God. Now you may say, That's very clear in the Old Testament, but how does that apply to the New Testament church today? Well, the Bible is very plain in the New Testament, isn't it? And it teaches that the New Testament church is engaged in a continual war and lots of battles that they have to fight. And it's called a spiritual war. wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand. Therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and on it goes. The New Testament makes it very clear in many passages that the New Covenant Church is engaged not in a physical war or battle, but spiritual war against the world and the flesh and the devil, the world, the secular, godless Philistines, the world around us. the flesh, our own sinful natures, and the devil, evil powers. The enemies are spiritual in this spiritual war. We see it in Ephesians 6, as I've quoted to you, or 2 Timothy 2.26, or Matthew 13.25, and many other passages, 2 Corinthians 2.11. It's the whole doctrine of the New Testament. The churches struggle and fight against the sinful nature in our own hearts as believers. The churches struggle and fight against the influence of the sinful world And the church's fight against Satan, the enemy, and the powers of evil behind all that's going on. The church is in a spiritual war in the new covenant. Now, ask yourself this question, brethren. Is the church in Northern Ireland winning the spiritual war? Is the church in Northern Ireland having great victories in battle against the world? The abortionists, the euthanasia, morally, in the area of marriage, male, female. Is the church winning great battles in the spiritual war in our land? Or is she being routed in seven ways? Is she winning against the flesh, our own sinful natures and the powers of evil in the spiritual battle? Or is she being defeated by her enemies and routing and giving ground before them? The world, the politics, The evil legislation. Are we winning? No. The world's philosophy. Are we winning? No. Existentialism, materialism, hedonism, living for fun. No. Assisted suicide. Are we winning? Are we winning the spiritual battle for the lives of the old people? You know what they're going to do if it passes? Death pods transportable to people's homes to end human life. What's the church doing? Is it winning this battle? No. I was saying to some folk this morning, I can't resist saying it, you know, there are so many believers work for the NHS, don't they? Now, if this bill passes for assisted suicide and death pods that are transportable into people's homes to gas them, that's what I was reading, that's what it's gonna be. Will all the Christians still keep working for the NHS? On good pay, will they? I asked a friend this morning, I asked a pastor actually, if I worked for a company, and it was my job, and I worked for a company that made machinery to keep human beings alive, artificial lungs, heart things, all that, pumps, breathing apparatus. If I worked for a company that kept human beings alive, people would think, that's a good job. Now see if that same company started making death gas chambers, should I still keep working for them? It would be an outcry if I was to do that. He's working for that company that makes stuff to kill babies, and they're making these death pods to put old people in to kill them, and he's still working for them. I don't even know if I work in the company, but all the ones in the NHS will just keep on doing it, because that's what they've been doing for the last, since the 1960s. They work for a company that kills babies. Is the church winning the battle against evil in Northern Ireland? No. What about the war against the flesh? In Northern Ireland, believe me, we're not brothers and sisters. It would shock you if I were to give you the names of some people, ministers and their wives and people in authority and churches that are living in sin and having affairs. Not winning the battle at all. And no wonder. Just look who they're calling to lead their churches. Clowns and comedians, eh? Or are we winning the spiritual war against the devil? Thomas Brooks wrote a book called Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, and it was based on the text that we as New Testament believers, we are not ignorant of his devices, his tricks to lure us into sin. How come his devices have penetrated the church in so many ways in Northern Ireland if we're not ignorant of them? We are not winning the battles, the spiritual battles, by a long stretch, and no wonder with who's leading the churches in Northern Ireland, generally speaking. A bunch of frightened rabbits who were so afraid of a virus that they stopped the ordinances, they stopped fellowship, they blatantly disobeyed the Bible. No wonder we're not winning the battle when the church leaders are a bunch of wimps, generally speaking. We frighten people. That's not how you pick the leader of a battle or a war. Men and women, the new covenant principle is this, victory or defeat on the field of battle depends upon obedience to God or disobedience to God for his people. Now in this basis, I ask you the question, because I could always be wrong on all of this, Could it be, could it be that the church's defeat by secularism and consumerism and moral perversion in our day, before our eyes, could it be that the church's defeat in this battle is not just because we're living in the day of small things? The tide's out. I really hate that expression, as if God's blessing is clockwork like a tide and doesn't depend on anything, just by timing. No, no, no. Is it possible that the defeat of the church in this spiritual battle is not just because we're living in the day of small things, but because the church is being disobedient to God's Word? in practice, and therefore God is not blessing, but punishing, like the Bible clearly shows in Old and New Testament. Therefore, the church will not and cannot win in her current state because God will not break his covenant promise, if you obey me, I'll bless, if you disobey me, I'll chasten. So therefore, If I'm right, and I believe 100% I am, so does Stuart Elliott and Joel Beekie. We're the only people I've talked about this with. Therefore, if I'm right, there must be discipline. God must discipline his people if they disobey him, because it's a covenant promise. And there must be defeat. And the only way to victory in this spiritual war in our land is when the church and her leaders repent of their sins, all their disobedience to the Bible, and get back to obeying God again. Now, the church of today, generally speaking, obeying the Word of God, I do not think so in many areas, brothers and sisters. And it's when we see, not to read into it, it is when we see defeat in the spiritual battle in all these areas against the world, the flesh, and the devil, and also at the same time, we see disobedience to the word of God. We see both things together. then we can put one and one together and get two, which is the proper answer that God must chasten. And repentance is needed in the churches of Northern Ireland, because it is if my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, his own people, from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. It is a somber thought, but I believe the correct thought for the way things are today. I've given you four points. Number one, we must interpret the blessings spiritually primarily, not materially. Because the Old Testament church was a physical geographical nation, the blessings were that. The New Testament church is a spiritual nation, the blessings are primarily that. Second point, there's a sameness in motive and reason, but a difference in application. Thirdly, the principle taught in Deuteronomy 28, if God's people obey, they'll be blessed. If they disobey, they'll be punished. And the fourth and last point that I give you is this, victory or defeat in battle for God's people depends upon their obedience to him. God has a hand in all these things, and it's not outside of his control. He is actually fulfilling his covenant promise. And if anyone's listening who's not a Christian, I would say this to you. Don't you think that you can ever win the battle in your life against the sins with which you fight and wrestle? You can't win the battle in your life on saved person. You can't win your battle against sin, Satan, and hell without Jesus Christ in your life. And if you're not saved, you are at present a slave to sin. And that's why you're so attached to it and can't stop doing it. But Jesus Christ can set you free. He's the only one that can set a person free from the bondage of sin, because he gives them a new heart. So you need to repent of your sin and say, Lord, have been merciful to me, the sinner. I'm trusting in Jesus Christ as my sacrifice for sin, and you will be saved. And when you get saved, you join the people of God and help us in this spiritual battle. in Northern Ireland and the Western world, which at present, I believe we are losing, but it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be if God's people get right with him. Now, thank you for your attention this evening, brothers and sisters, and we'll continue this next time. We'll look at three or four blessings and chastisements and apply them properly. But the Lord bless you. Thank you.