People Living in Covenant with God still battle with sin (Deut. 7:1-6) Four things God says he will do for his people (vv. 1-5) with those nations

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1 NPC Adult Education / Deuteronomy / 22 March 2009 / p. 1 What Deuteronomy 7-9 teaches us about Living in Covenant with God People Living in Covenant with God still battle with sin; It can help us to understand some of the reasons why God chose us; Living in Covenant with God means interceding for others; Loving, exclusive obedience to God is how we relate to him. People Living in Covenant with God still battle with sin (Deut. 7:1-6) Four things God says he will do for his people (vv. 1-5) 1. Bring his people into the land 2. Drive out those nations before them 3. Deliver those nations over to them 4. Discipline his people The five commands to the Israelites in vv. 1-6 those nations with those nations to those nations with those nations of those nations Reasons for such commands? (Robertson)

2 NPC Adult Education / Deuteronomy / 22 March 2009 / p. 2 Notes/Comments Those nations did not recognize the sovereignty of God; in covenant terms, they were non-vassals living in the land, thus trespassing [This is a] form of divine punishment upon those who had sinned away their day of grace (Gen. 15:16) (Merrill) In this Holy War, the obligation was on Israel to surrender everything to Yahweh in recognition of the fact that the victory was his and that he had exclusive rights over the spoil, either to save it or to destroy it (Thompson) 145 Wright points out how these commands highlight three spheres of activity where Israel needs to maintain their distinctiveness: their political life, social life and religious life (Wright) 110 Trying to further understand these commands of destruction in light of God s promise that Israel would be a blessing to the nations of the world (Wright): Even the Abrahamic covenant had its sharp edge concerning those nations who would despise Israel The promise that all nations would be blessed by Israel does not mean that particular nations cannot be judged What is at stake is not the survival of the Israelites, but the preservation of the truth o the revelation of God entrusted to them. How is this passage a picture of the battle we are to wage against sin? Destroy those notions (obliterate, put an end to, defeat) Make no treaty with those notions (agreement, pact, contract, truce) Show no mercy to those notions (sympathy, leniency, understanding, pity) Do not intermarry with those notions (enter emotional, committed attachment) Break down the altars/idols of those notions (rituals, practices, ceremony) ME: Against which sin do you personally need to wage such a battle?

3 NPC Adult Education / Deuteronomy / 22 March 2009 / p. 3 It can help those Living in Covenant with God to understand some of the reasons why God chose us 7:6b-11; 9:4-6 Why did God choose the Israelites? Notes/Comments 7:7 love and hate are not emotive terms but technical language to speak of divine election for salvation and service (Merrill) 181 9:4-5 for one people to be chosen to salvation out of all other possible candidates is a mystery beyond human understanding (Merrill) 190 When [we] are in a relationship of love with Yahweh, [we] discover that Yahweh is faithful to his covenant relationship and loyal to his promises (Thompson) 148 What do we, participants in the new covenant, need to know about God s choice of including us in the covenant? Ephesians 2:1-10; Romans 9:14-16; Titus 3:4-7; John 15:16; Col. 1:13-14 ME: Of all these things, what is the most important aspect of this choosing that I need to remember?

4 NPC Adult Education / Deuteronomy / 22 March 2009 / p. 4 Living in Covenant with God means interceding for others Moses Intercessory Prayer (Deuteronomy 9:15-21, 25-29) Striking features? Notes/comments Moses act expressed not only his brokenhearted mediation for his people, but his total preoccupation with things spiritual things (Merrill)195 These are the words that stood between God s anger and God s mercy: the prayer of Moses (Wright) 137 The intercession of Moses was effective because it went to the heart of God s own priorities as Moses already knew them from his long intimacy with God (Wright) 139 Intercessory prayer flows primarily not from human anxiety about God but from God s commitment to relationship with human beings it is actually an integral part of the way God s sovereignty in history is exercised (Wright) 140 Where have you seen God respond powerfully to prayer in your life? For whom are you interceding these days? For whom might you begin interceding? Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16) Next week: Deuteronomy 10-12; Living in Covenant with God: Sources: Merrill, Eugene. Deuteronomy. The New American Commentary. Ed. Ray Clendenen. Vol. 4. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, Robertson, George. More Grace, More Love: Deuteronomy: Living in Covenant with God. Lawrenceville, GA: CEP, Thompson, J. A. Deuteronomy. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Vol. 5. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, Wright, Christopher. Deuteronomy. New International Biblical Commentary. Ed. Robert and Robert Johnston Hubbard. Vol. 4. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996.

5 NPC Adult Education / Deuteronomy / 22 March 2009 / p. 5 Chapter 13 Of Sanctification 13:2 This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man (1 Thes 5:23); yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part (Rom 7:18, 23; Phil 3:12; 1 John 1:10): whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war; the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17; 1 Pet 2:11). 13:3 In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail (Rom 7:23); yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome (Rom 6:14; Eph 4:15, 16; 1 John 5:4); and so, the saints grow in grace (2 Cor 3:18; 2 Pet 3:18), perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1).