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Lesson three, the faithfulness of God in the face of Israel's infidelity. >> Hello, dear brothers. The peace of the Lord Jesus.
What a pleasure, what a joy it is to be here together once again to learn from the holy and precious word of God. This time, we will be addressing the third lesson, which deals with the faithfulness of God in the face of Israel's infidelity. Let us pray.
Holy Father, dear Father, open our minds, illuminate us, give us more and more understanding of your word. May this theme speak deeply to us all about the importance of being faithful to you in any circumstance, at any moment, and at all hours of our lives. For we understand through your Spirit your love, your precious grace, and the kindness manifested toward us.
Establish us more and more in your word . Speak to your children. May we maintain faithfulness to you at all times, in the name of Jesus.
Amen. Very well, dear ones, we will be addressing this class, the third lesson. We have here our theme, the faithfulness of God and the infidelity of Israel.
A very serious theme, very impactful, very shocking. It is interesting that when we look at the Hebrew, we have the expression emunah. This expression speaks of stability, of trust, of firmness.
On the other hand, we have here on the screen infidelity. This Hebrew expression, Maal, points to betrayal. This is very serious, because here the biblical text itself speaks of violating the trust of the one who manifested kind, powerful, and wonderful acts.
So, the biblical text is clear when we look at this expression here in the Hebrew. This infidelity conveys the breaking of the values and standards established by God , which every Israelite knew. From this , you can see, dear brother, dear sister, dear teacher, that this third lesson has a very impactful theme, it has a grandiose impact, because it shows the faithfulness of God in all situations.
The Apostle Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verse 13, says that even if we are unfaithful, God remains faithful. This is because, within the internal element of the existence of this Almighty God, He cannot alter His essence. The Apostle Paul is categorical when he says: "Let God be true and every man a liar.
" Moses reminds us in Numbers 23:19, God is not a man that He should lie. Malachi 3: 6, "I am the Lord and I do not change. " Isaiah, in a resounding and glorious way, always echoed by saying: "I am the Lord, I am the same God, and I do not change.
" This is important because speaking of God's immutability in the theological field highlights how much we can glorify the God who is always faithful, who does not waver, who has stability, and who remains immutable forever. Continuing on, we have the main text. It is said here: "Know therefore today, and reflect in your heart that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
" The dear teacher should focus on this expression in the main text: "know therefore today, and reflect. " The Christian faith is not just an emotional, unreflected, or thoughtless faith. God does not say that we must have, uh, an irrational faith, no.
The Christian faith, the biblical faith, is based on reflexivity, knowledge, and wisdom. Note the expression. Know and reflect in your heart that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
In this quote from Deuteronomy 4:39, two things are explicit. Faith is not irrational. It follows a logical principle of the word of God.
This is very interesting. When Peter says: " Grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus. " Second Peter 3:18, he is showing that the logic of faith in Christ is, in fact, through the essence of the gospel.
This is interesting here . It is no longer just human logic; it is the logic that follows the laws of the gospel of Christ Jesus. So we also have something relevant here in this main text.
Here we have the identification of monotheism on the absolute side of God. God is not one among many gods. He is the only true God, the absolute God, the eternal God.
The text says: "Know, look here, and reflect in your heart that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. " The lesson summary says: "Recognizing that the Lord alone is God requires faithfulness, obedience to His word, and the rejection of idolatry. " Note the importance of recognizing: "Know.
" When we pay attention to this verb "know," this verb brings knowledge. This knowledge leads us to the reflection that only God is the Lord. So, faithfulness has a cause.
Faithfulness is not thrown at us ; it is not implanted within us in a mandatory way. God first reveals His power, His kind acts. He revealed His essence to Israel.
He revealed His miracles. He revealed His wonders. He revealed his kind acts.
And when He calls Israel to the covenant, He was already manifesting Himself as this almighty God. So, faithfulness is a consequence; it results from what we learn from God, what we hear from God, from His word. So, dear brothers, we will be addressing this aspect of our lesson.
And as usual, the brothers already know that we have here in our lesson, which you can purchase at our CPAD stores, the three points: God's covenant and His faithfulness. Point two, Israel's infidelity throughout history. And point three, God does not forget His covenant.
We have the biblical text for analysis: Deuteronomy 4: 25-31. Okay? But before we begin this class, I want to point something out to our brothers.
Firstly, when we look at the biblical text, it is said that God is faithful. And how is this faithfulness of God, this*emunah*of God , defined? First, there is something very unique for every believer, for every servant of God, in becoming aware of God's faithfulness.
Imagine with me serving a God who is holy, who is just, who is powerful, who is kind, who is great, but who is faithful, who does not change, who does not alter, who remains the same forever. The psalmist says: "From everlasting to everlasting, You are God. " Serving this God who is faithful, who does not change, brings the believer hope, confidence, and certainty that the God whom he worships , serves, and glorifies is faithful.
This is the essence of the Bible. And this faithfulness, within the biblical scope and the essence of Jewish theology, shows that God is constant, shows that our God is loyal, and shows that this absolute, immutable God of ours is worthy of all trust. His character remains.
God does not lie. That is biblical. God does not lie.
God does not change in His essence. It is in Malachi 3: 6, which I already cited. And God does not abandon His purposes; even if man breaks his faithfulness, God remains faithful.
Theologically, when we look at this faithfulness of God, it brings this characteristic of God into three diagonals, as we say. God does not lie. God does not change in His essence.
God does not abandon His promises. He fulfills them, as He did with Israel. The second thing we have here is the scope of God's faithfulness.
This is a point the teacher must focus on, must teach, and must highlight regarding this scope. It brings both holiness and justice. God does not abandon His promises, as in the case of Israel.
But He will not bless those who do not live within His covenant. God is faithful, and through this faithfulness, He acts in His holiness and justice. That idea some people have, "Oh, God is good, God is faithful, even if I make mistakes, even if I sin, He will bless me.
" There is a limit set by God for that. God's faithfulness does not compromise His holiness and His justice. That is why, even though Israel is the people of the promise, God will punish them for breaking His word, His covenant.
Another thing is that we have here a contrast in the book of Deuteronomy, speaking of God's faithfulness and Israel's unfaithfulness. On one hand, we have the kind, gracious, faithful, just, and holy God who fulfills everything He promised to His people. The Bible says in Joshua, chapter 21, that of all the good words that God spoke to Israel, He fulfilled them.
God does not lie, God does not fail, He fulfills. On the other hand, negatively and sadly, the Israelites did not respond positively to what God wanted. On the contrary, they broke the covenant, worshiped idols, and manifested horrible, persistent behaviors of idolatry, disobedience, irreverence, and betrayal.
That is why this unfaithfulness of Israel is something very serious, something very shocking and heavy, as God's own word points out to us. And here I want to say something very interesting. We have a problem in Israel.
Israel did not have a problem with revelation. Israel did not have a problem with the knowledge of God. Folks, who else saw the miracles?
Who else saw the work of God? With whom did God speak? Which leader did God use?
Moses. Israel had great privileges. Israel did not have a problem with revelation.
Israel had a problem with obeying. There are people who want to see miracles, there are people who want revelation, there are people who want mysteries, but they do not want to obey or remain faithful to the word of God itself. So, notice biblically here that Israel, in light of the word, did not have a problem with revelation, nor experience, nor even with the presence of God.
The great problem with Israel is that they did not respond to the revelation received with faithfulness. This happens to many people. So, we will be addressing these particularities.
But perhaps you might ask me, "Pastor Oziel , uh, how am I going to do this? " This is very interesting for bringing this teaching to our teachers. Dear teacher, please understand clearly some points I would like to make.
Highlight this in the lesson. First, the faithfulness of God. Show students, in light of Deuteronomy chapter 4, that God was faithful, kind, and powerful toward every Israelite.
In this God they should have trusted, but they took a contrary stance, failing before the word of God, the revelation. They did not fulfill what God had, in truth, given to them. Israel also failed by not heeding the word of God.
The second thing, talk about the authority of the revelation. Israel received divine revelation. They should have based their life, their walk, their living, their work, their actions, their behaviors, everything in light of divine revelation.
They should have obeyed, but they did not comply. The third thing, there is a human responsibility. The God who guided, who protected, who delivered, who brought Israel, wanted them now to respond positively to the grace manifested to them through the Almighty God.
God's grace does not eliminate the need for faith, for obedience, and also for repentance and perseverance. Fourth, you must focus, teacher, and speak with emphasis to your students. About the holiness of God.
God does not compromise His holiness. God does not want someone serving Him and serving other gods, serving Him and serving the world. This tone was also reverberated by the Lord Jesus Himself, when He said : "No one can serve two masters.
Either he will love the one or hate the other. " When you read Matthew 6: 21–24, this is a biblical reality. So the teacher must focus on emphasizing the holiness of God.
God does not accept idolatry nor does He treat sin as an insignificant thing. To God, sin is sin , because in His essence, in His nature , He is holy. Leviticus 19: 2 says: " But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
" Fifth, the text of Deuteronomy 4 emphasizes divine mercy. Even though Israel had committed sin and did not obey God, if there were indeed true repentance, brokenness, and sincerity in each of them, God would turn back to them. The psalmist in Psalm 51:17 says God does not despise a contrite and broken heart.
Thus, we perceive that we have here a very vivid hermeneutical textual dynamic that speaks of revelation, responsibility, obedience, discipline, repentance, and restoration . In this text of chapter 4, that is how we will be addressing these themes. Bringing it to the present, you, dear teacher, can emphasize to your students that faithfulness to the Word is necessary.
The church needs to recover this textual essence, look at the text in its entirety, its context, pay attention to the original exegetical aspect, as well as its applicability today. We should not look at Deuteronomy as just something from the past. It is necessary to understand the promises to Israel and the promises directed to the church.
A reverent, committed reading, sermons in our pulpits, simply and truly aligned with the Word. We are Pentecostals. See here , dear brother, dear sister, we are Pentecostal pastors and we never eliminate joy or fervor.
Paul says in Romans 12 that we need to be fervent in spirit. That is clear. However, we cannot, to the detriment of the Word, valuing only the emotional, the emotion , the shouting, the jumping, compromise the essence of God's Word.
Because what brings edification, consolidation, and maturity to the believer is the Word of God. My running, my shouting, none of that will bring edification in light of the Word. The Word must be the major focus in preaching.
Even if I manifest joy, fervor, glory, I still have to emphasize the Word. God shows us in Deuteronomy that Israel's failure was a lack of faithfulness to the Word of God . They saw miracles, glorious experiences.
I said just a moment ago that it wasn't a problem of revelation, it wasn't a problem of manifestation, it was a problem of responding to the Word. And when you do not respond to the Word, it is of no use. So, another thing the teacher should emphasize to students, besides faithfulness to the Word, is the aspect of its application to the family.
Take this text and show that failing to form a generation is a massive, massive rupture for the church . A church that does not form a generation within the Word of God is totally committed to failure. It is necessary to form generations with capable, responsible men, full of the Word, so that we always have living witnesses here on earth who exalt the name of our Almighty God, as stated in 2 Timothy 2: 2.
OK? Faith does not need to be exclusive to person A or B; it must be shared with everyone. Thirdly, emphasize that our God is against idolatry.
We know the case of Israel, which will be used by Moses in chapter 25 regarding Baal-Peor. We know that Baal means lord or master, but for ancient cultures, it was a deity. However, in the light of the Bible, it was nothing, simply the idolatry of a people who did not know the absolute, true God, the Lord, creator of heaven and earth.
We must pay attention to this: the idolatry of Moses 'day may not have the connotation we perceive today, but there is an idolatry not on the altar, an idolatry of the heart, which can be money, arrogance, the pursuit of fame, or priority of material goods. We must be very careful with this type of idolatry. In fact, John himself, in First John 5:21, emphasizes this reality.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Fourthly, we need to talk about discipline. Israel sinned, Israel erred , strayed from God’s standard, but God brought discipline.
God’s discipline is not meant to kill. God’s discipline is meant to correct, to bring us back to the right path. And in light of Hebrews chapter 12, we can see the purpose of divine discipline.
Not every correction, beloved, is rejection. And here we can observe that when there is no true repentance, there can be no restoration. There is only restoration when repentance is sincere.
Sixthly, it is also necessary to highlight the need for perseverance. It is not enough to just start well, it is not enough to just begin well, it is not enough to just go halfway. Revelation 2:10 is very clear: be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
The apostle Paul , in his life as a combatant and great warrior, said in 2 Timothy 4: 7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Fight, race, keeping the faith. He starts well , develops well, and ends well.
There are three necessary stages for this. Finally, we have a Christological aspect here, because God's faithfulness in the book of Deuteronomy, set against Israel's unfaithfulness, shows the need for a perfect being to fulfill divine faithfulness. And this leads to the outcome in the very person of Christ, who is the complete fulfillment of everything.
With that done, the teacher can actually follow these particulars to speak to the students. Okay? So let's move on to the text.
We have already explained the lesson summary, and here we have the first point: God is faithful to His covenant. We have Deuteronomy 4: 1-8 there. Here we have faithfulness to the Word, the principle of not adding to or diminishing the Word of God.
This is very interesting, professor, we are in an era where people seek to use the Bible to adjust to their own desires, to create an interpretation from their own perspective. Luther used to say: "When you are before the text, just like a patient who goes to the doctor and submits to the prescription he gives, submit yourself to the prescription of the Word. " The Bible is not for you to seek an opinion, seek an idea, or seek a philosophy.
The Bible is the voice of God, it is the authority of God. Before it, you must surrender. There are people who read the Bible, there are people who own the Bible, there are people who take theology courses.
The professor should emphasize this. There are people who memorize and cite verses , but more than that, it is necessary, first of all, to subject yourself to the authority of the Word. It requires more than that.
You have to obey the Word. If it is the highest authority, it is God speaking, so surrender to the Word. When we read Proverbs 30 verse 5, it is written: "Every word of God is pure.
" It cannot be adulterated, increased, diminished, or added to. Rather, towards the Word, we must maintain faithfulness. We must not diminish the Word in any way.
Even if one has conceptions that come from theological liberalism, from liberal interpretation, we need to maintain faithfulness. But it is also necessary to understand that sometimes the fundamentalist can use some isolated biblical texts out of their context, which criticizes or practices a great error that harms our faith. It is good to avoid both extremes.
I need to listen to the text, surrender before the text, pay attention to the text and context, and live the faithfulness of the Word of God. And here we spoke a little while ago that the divine discipline of verses 3 to 4, the episode of Baal Peor, demonstrates that God does not treat sin as insignificant . We have already said that Baal means master, lord.
However, it is interesting that when speaking of Peor, it is relating to the god of that region that the people worshipped. So that when you read Numbers 25, you will understand this completely. God is using this episode to show that Israel was unfaithful.
Faced with His goodness , greatness, and all His benefits, these people betray God's trust. These people violate the Word of God and worship Baal Peor. We have here proximity and wisdom.
God, the God of the Israelites, was not a distant God, was not a God of a mythological legend. The God of Israel was the God who was near His people. He was a God of proximity, He was a God of wisdom.
What a privilege Israel received, the privilege of living and having a God so close to them. God was near. The prophet himself says that our God is a God nearby, but also a God far away.
Both immanence and transcendence are present in our Almighty God. No nation in Israel's day had as great a privilege as Israel had. The true God walked with Israel.
Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire, miracles, manna, water coming from the rock. God was close to Israel. The privilege of having a God so near and just laws that revealed His wisdom to the nations.
Perhaps you might say to me: "Oh, Pastor Azel, are you really saying that? " But the other nations had their gods. The other nations possessed their laws.
That is true. However, the gods of the other nations were not gods, or were not the true God. Furthermore, the laws received by other nations did not have the weight or authority that the word of God has, which was granted to the Israelites.
So, notice that here in this biblical text, when we talk about this faithfulness of God, we must attend to it with all love or with great faithfulness. Because here we highlight that God was faithful to His revelation, but Israel was not faithful to the word of God. It is interesting, dear brothers, that when we look at the verb "learn,"*lamad*, that Hebrew verb there, it is very interesting to analyze because this verb has an emphasis.
The emphasis here is not intellectual. It is not intellectual. The idea is not simply to transmit intellectual information, but to form people through teaching.
Israel would be formed by the word of God. Israel would have to listen, learn, and keep. Listen.
Pay attention to the four verbs : listen, learn, keep, and practice. Because, firstly, when you hear Romans 10:17, faith comes by hearing. It generates knowledge.
The knowledge generated leads to obedience. And obedience generates faithfulness. Do you remember what I said just a moment ago?
Faithfulness is not something God just drops inside of us. Faithfulness is built, and it is built in these steps. First, listen.
Second, comes knowledge. Third, obedience. Finally, faithfulness is born.
So, we are showing this here to our dear brothers. Let us proceed here. God is faithful.
Israel's unfaithfulness throughout history. We have here Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verses 9 and 14. I emphasize here the importance of memory.
This memory was to pay attention to everything God had done for Israel. It was a spiritual memory originating from the law that Moses is reading to the new generation. Moses stands as a prophet, as a pastor, as a proclaimer of the word, calling out, shouting, urging the new generation not to err like the first one, which was unfaithful, which did not hear the voice of God, which did not obey, which corrupted everything.
Moses is using this memory here and he uses the expression: "Do not forget. " It is interesting that this expression here, do not forget, is not saying: "Oh, it slipped my mind. " In other words, do not pretend you never heard it.
You heard it. There are people who know the Bible, know the truth, but they act as if they had never heard it. That is what God is talking about.
Take note, do not forget to guard your soul and transmit the faith to the next generations. Warning against idolatry. The prohibition of images reflects the order of creation.
In fact, when you look at the issue of idolatry, it is not just a matter of an image, but when a person puts that image there, they are using what is created as a substitute for the true God. That was how idolatry was in Old Testament times ; it was to substitute, to place that image, it was to say: "This is our God. " As happened in Exodus, chapter 32, when the people worship the calf, they say: "These are the gods.
It is the God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. They were stripping the identity of the powerful God to transform it, to place it in the position of a mere creature. This is what the apostle Saint Paul, categorically, opposes in Romans 1 verse 25.
But the text says that God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God. God does not treat sin as a trivial little thing.
He is holy. The idolaters, the sinners, the fornicators , God will punish. And here we have the consequences of disobedience.
Here, election does not grant moral immunity. Idolatry leads to exile. Israel had the privilege of being the chosen people.
But Israel's election was not because they were good, numerous, or powerful, but it was an act of love, grace, and divine faithfulness. The election was not so that they could remain complacent. The election brought responsibility, commitment.
They were within a covenant that they had to honor the privileges of the election granted by God. It was not a moral immunity. Idolatry leads to exile.
Since they did not want to hear the voice of God, idolatry led them into captivity. God does not forget His covenant. Deuteronomy 4:29 to 40.
Mercy and the return. I want to say that sin is not the end of the story or the final chapter of someone's life. If you stumble, sin, or go against the Word, but repent and turn to God, God is merciful.
God fulfills His promise of restoration for those who seek Him with all their heart. Now, with all your heart—it is no use, dear brother, dear sister, to go on television or a screen, cry, set up a whole scene, an insinuation, or an artist's performance . God does not want a hypocrite.
God shows mercy to those who truly repent. And note that we state here that when you seek God with all your heart, involving your whole being, your whole soul, confessing your sins, repenting, weeping, seeking with tears, God will be ready to show mercy. The uniqueness of God's deeds.
God showed miracles. God opened the Red Sea. God destroyed Pharaoh's army.
God guided Israel through the desert. God manifested so many miracles, including the exodus, which reveal that only the Lord is God and there is no other. But this people broke the covenant with God.
And here we have a very practical conclusion: keep the statutes so that you may be well-grounded in the absolute uniqueness of the Creator God. Dear brother, dear sister, this is our lesson three.
