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What has Horeb, Moab, and Shekhem have to do with one another? Looking at Deuteronomy chapter 27, together we discover that the covenant that God made with his people is constantly being renewed. And this leaves us with an important decision to make. Reverend Daniel Teo shares with us today.

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Today we are back on a series in the book of Deuteronomy, and the title sounds intimidating. Ceremonies at Shechem. But what I'd like to bring us through is to three locations in which the covenant that God made with his people is constantly being renewed, such that they have to constantly make the decision to follow Jesus. I mean to follow the Lord their God. And for us today to follow Jesus. So we'll go uh through three locations, first in Horeb and then to Moab and then to Shechem. So at Horeb, uh this is what uh was spoken to them from Deuteronomy 5, 23 to 27. It says, and as soon as you heard the voice of out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and men still live. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say and speak to us, all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it. So I'd like to suggest to us that the speech by Moses today, the text before us, uh from Deuteronomy 27, hugs back right at the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, taken from the few verses I read, Deuteronomy 5, verse 23 to 27. And that is where the elders first accepted Moses as spokesman for God at Horeb. Right? It says in Deuteronomy 5, verse 27, go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say and speak to us, all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it. So that's the response of the Israelites to Moses who speaks on God, speaks for God, uh, hears God and speaks to the Israelites on God's behalf. So it's significant for Deuteronomy because at Horeb God made a covenant with Israel, and it's a covenant for the now and today, not yesterday, not tomorrow, but the now and today. Um, Deuteronomy 5, verses 2 to 3 says that the Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us who are all of us here alive today. In other words, in that time and that context, Israel was an eyewitness. They were physically present and they heard the voice of God speaking directly to them. And God at Horeb is significant because it was there that God gave Israel the Ten Commandments and entered into a covenant with them. So Horeb became, becomes in the memory of Israel a foundational event that seeks to remind Israel of who God is. Who is God, who is a people like us to hear a God speak to us. We heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. So by hearing God directly, Israel was to be reminded to fear God. Having heard the voice of God spoke in the midst of the fire and to keep his statutes and commandments. So let's move on to uh a time later, many chapters later, in Moab. So that this is another location uh where God, through Moses, renewed or made a covenant at Moab to remind the people. And it's significant here that the word this day is being used to address the people. So it's trying to tell the people at Moab there, this day, today, is the time that you make the decision to follow God. The Lord your God. So Deuteronomy 26, verse 16 to 19, it says, This day, the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared today, today again, that the Lord your God is, the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. And the Lord has declared today, right? Not tomorrow or in the future, but today, that you are, you are today a treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he has set you in praise and in fame and in honor, high above all nations, that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God as he promised. So we move uh fast forward to the text, uh, certain verses from the Deuteronomy 27 today, verses 9 to 10. Again, the concept, the idea of this day, the need to make a response to God comes again. In Deuteronomy 27, verse 9, Moses and the Levitical priest said to all Israel, Keep silence and hear, O Israel, this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. This day, today, you have become the people of the Lord your God. Therefore, you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today. It's of significance again to note that the word this day in Deuteronomy 27 verse 9, it indicates that just as God reminded the people in Moab, this day you shall keep the Lord's commands. And earlier in Deuteronomy 5, when uh in Horeb, uh, where it says that the Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb, not with our fathers in the past, but with us in the here and now. Those of us who are alive today. Similarly, uh in the Deuteronomy 27, it is reminded to Israel that it's a call to Israel that they need to enter the covenant afresh. This day, again, you have become the people of God. So we see that the covenant at Moab, uh, which we read uh from Deuteronomy 26, verses 17 to 19, has to be appropriated afresh in Shechem. So the Old Testament is known. Uh when I was uh in Bible school, uh some of us were thinking, should we uh study Hebrew or Greek? Some say Greek is easier. I think Greek is easier, but uh I took Greek, but some studied Hebrew and and Hebrew has a way of repetition. That means if you read the Old Testament, there's a lot of words you know that are being repeated uh many times. It's as if the authors want us to keep hearing the word of God because they know that we are uh perhaps uh forgetful, like how Israel was. So, but the challenge of of reading uh Hebrew is when you translate uh do a transliteration of the letters, right? You you got to recognize the vowels and the consonants. It's not so easy to read. Unlike uh Greek, when you transliterate each alphabet, the corresponding alphabet is easy. So you can read through uh in an easier way, right? But of course, um it's easier because in in the Hebrew language a lot of things are repeated, so there's uh not so much nuances compared to uh Greek verbs and understanding uh the nuising of the Greek language, right? But but anyway, uh that's not my point. My point was there is a lot of repetition in the Old Testament, and the repetition serves as a reminder. And as we move to our our text today, in uh that's where we are landing on in Shechem. Right? So this is where Moses tells the people, and they were actually at Moab. They were not in the land yet, they were not in Shekem, they were not in the promised land, but Moses was reminded reminding the people what they must do at Shechem. He appears with the elders of Israel and introduces uh further covenant ratifications and a set of curses as a witness against Israel. So as our sister may uh read for us from Deuteronomy 27, uh the whole chapter, I'm just picking out a few verses, verses 1 to 8. It says, Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up stones, large stones, and plaster them with plaster, and you shall write on them all the words of this law when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord uh the God of your fathers has promised you. And when you cross over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today on Mount Ebah, and you shall plaster them with plaster, and there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Moving on to verse 6. But you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, and you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and you shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. So the Israelites are to keep the whole commandment and to set up large stones, writing on them the words of this law. So all these serve to remind them as a visual reminder of what the Lord has done for them. They are also to build an altar to God on Mount Eba, offering burnt offerings and peace offerings as a way of celebration, sacrifice, and rejoicing before the Lord. So the word keep the whole commandment, that phrase refers to the whole body of laws, which we do not have time to elaborate from Deuteronomy 12 to 26. The whole body of laws that Moses wrote and reminded the people, which we uh kind of shared in the past sermons on the book of Deuteronomy. The large stone serves as a reminder to Israel of the whole commandment of God and acts as a memorial, even for generations to come, of God's gift of the land to Israel. Then a charge is given by Moses to the Israelites from Deuteronomy 27, verse 11 onwards to verse 26, in which various tribes of Israel were to declare blessings. They were to stand up and to declare blessings, directed to uh directed to Jerizim in the south and curses to uh Eba in the north. So we read from Deuteronomy 27, verse 11 to 13. That day Moses charged the people, saying, When he crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerasim to bless the people, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin, and these shall stand on Mount Eba for the curse. Reuben, Ged, uh, Asher, Zebalon, Dan, and Neftali. Uh notably, if you just read the few verses, you realize the church consists of only one verse on blessing, verse 12. It just says, You shall bless the people. Yet it contains a whole long list of curses, right? Uh, verses 13 to 26. So for a new Christian or new believer, you may ask, is God wanting to curse the people? How come there's so many curses? Verse 13 to verse 26, all full of curses, right? So uh I like to assure us that it's not because God wants to curse the people, but it's because it is part of the ratification of the covenant. The people of God needs to understand the weightiness of being his people. In other words, the curses act as a weakness against Israel. And it has to be, right? And if you read scripture as a whole, it does not stop at Deuteronomy 27. Because if you read Deuteronomy 28, the Lord also promised blessings for obedience, right? So it's not just curses after curses, but the blessings come in Deuteronomy chapter 28. So the covenant curses are part of a ritual, a covenant ritual in which Ishmael takes upon herself the full implications of their promise to be God's people. So it correlates with particular offenses that an individual might complete, might commit, sorry. All the curses that was read, that our sister may read for us, are related to the Ten Commandments. They are all in one way or another related in some way to the Ten Commandments, which was delineated in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 8 to 10, and Exodus chapter 20, verse 3 to 5. There are curses related to making of idols, right? Which reminds us of the second commandment, not to worship other gods. Dishonoring one's father and mother as opposed to honoring them in the fifth commandment. Curses that do harm to one's neighbor instead of honoring them, uh coveting, desiring what belongs to our neighbor, uh, along with engaging in in all forms of sexual conduct that are outside the bounds of the seventh commandment to not commit adultery. Right? Sex in all various forms, whether with your relatives, with you know uh uh with uh someone other than uh your spouse, uh something that is against um God's desire in the seventh commandment. And also the prohibition of murder by shedding innocent blood or striking the neighbor being contrary to the sixth commandment to not murder. So all these were very specific directions of God's laws directed to the actual life of the community. And we'll not today go in depth and look at each one, but we want to see the overall framework of how the Lord is actually leading Israel as the people of God. So now we are at the place of Shechem, and interestingly, Shechem is a very important historical location because it was at Shechem that Abraham first built an altar to God in uh Genesis 12, verse 6 to 7. Just when Abraham set out, you know, he received the promise of God in Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3, where the Lord says, I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing, and through you, in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So the Lord appeared to him, and verses 6 to 7, within the same chapter, he was passing through the land to the place at Shechem. Right? So it's significant that a person as esteemed as Abraham in the biblical story comes to comes to Shechem. And it was there at that time, it says in Genesis chapter 12, verses 6 to 7, that the Canaanites were in the land. And yet the Lord appeared to Abraham by faith and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So now the people of God in Deuteronomy were the offspring of Abraham. So they were there, they were they were going into the promised land, and uh Moses was instructing them that yeah, you will enter into the promise of your father Abraham. It was also significant, uh, it will be significant also the place of Shechem. Uh in the book of Joshua, after Deuteronomy, in the book of Joshua, where Joshua himself had a covenant renewal ceremony uh in Joshua 24, verses 2 to 4, to reveal God's dealings with Israel from its beginning, and Ishrael was then called to choose whether they would serve God or serve the gods their fathers had served. This took the form of a covenant in which Joshua again wrote down the rules and statutes for the people. A large stone was again set up, similar to Deuteronomy 27, which acts as uh a witness against the people. So we see again and again and again the the repetition of covenant renewal happens throughout the Old Testament. It's as if every new generation that enters into the land must be reminded of what God has done for them and must commit to make a response to follow God fully. So similarly for our lives, I would say the challenge of us being a family church is we as parents, through prayer, through sometimes agony, uh, through uh struggle, perhaps, we need to ensure that what we hear from God, what we understand from God, we pass on to our children. And we know that parenting is never a straightforward uh linear pathway. We know that there's a lot of iterations and we know that uh there's a lot of challenges. But this is our role to pass on to our children, to ensure that the faith that we have received is renewed throughout the generations. So the church will play a part, you know, in terms of teaching and instruction, but actually discipleship uh happens a lot in our day-to-day family conversations and in how we parent our children. And I think there'll be opportunities uh next year, you know, as I hope to engage more with uh focus on the family, uh, to run some courses, uh, parenting courses, things that will help us to grow uh in our family life as a church, uh not just on a Sunday in a public service, but also in the homes, because that is where the rubber hits the roads. That's where all the issues, all the stirring happens, that's where uh parents, spiritual parents and biological parents need encouragement to um have that support from the church to parent well and to disciple well. Right? So um so what is crucial then uh um in Deuteronomy 27, the text before us, is uh to notice that there's actually a very tight correlation or connection between what God mentioned at Horeb. I read for us in the beginning, Deuteronomy 5. Uh, at Horeb, where God first took the people as his own, gave them the commandments, and that is linked to Moses' speech in Moab in Deuteronomy 26, and because this day they have choose to follow the Lord, and then now in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 27, the people are reminded that this day they have to renew their covenant to God, and they are reminded of their obligations when they go into the land, and all the curse, all the curses act as a weakness against them if they should default on the covenant that God has made. So there are consequences to that. So, what does all that mean for us uh today uh in uh as Christians? Right? I believe the the concept, the idea of covenant re realization simply means this it means that God's covenant must be embraced afresh. Each time the Israelites journeyed. That's a principle in the Old Testament. As they journeyed from place to place, from Horeb to the plains of Moab to Shechem, and eventually Joshua led the people into the land. Even then, there was a lot of the covenant, a ratification ceremony. Each generation they need to renew their covenant before God. So bridging to today's context, the covenant that God made with us is different from the covenant God made with Israel. It is similar in terms of the expectations, the responses, but different in kind. Because in the New Testament and in our lives today, Jesus Himself became the sacrifice to bring us back to God. It is a new covenant in Jesus' own blood. So this covenant that Jesus made with us is by the sacrifice of himself as a means to cover our sin and bring us to God. So this is not revealed in the Old Testament. It's only revealed in the New Testament where Jesus became the sacrifice for us. So this concept of Jesus as a sacrifice for us needs to be re-realized in our lives each day. So if we look at Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11 to 12 and verse 15 to 26, just drawing on some of these few verses to help us understand what this new covenant sacrifice of Jesus means and its significance for us today. So if you look at Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11, it says, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, that through the greater and more perfect ten, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. So Jesus entered the holy place not by a means of sacrifices of bulls and blood, and the blood of bulls and calves, but by the means of his own blood. So verse 15 of Hebrews 9 tells us, therefore, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. And the the presupposition is a death has to occur in order for redemption to happen. Right? For then the author of Hebrews goes on in verse 16 to say, for where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it's not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. So therefore, based on this principle, the Old Testament tells us that there must be a death to occur for sacrifice to happen. So because of that, in the under the time of Moses and the Old Testament, everything must involve blood. Because without the death and the shedding of the blood, the sacrifice is not complete. So interestingly, in Chinese tradition, I was doing some research on that in the past. So there's a ritual called Shui Yu Y Ting. I'm not sure that you heard of it, but actually what it means is uh the elder son actually comes forward uh to take the place of the mother through some blood ritual sacrifice. Of course, we don't take it as gospel true, but what I'm saying is there's analogies of that, you know, in our cultures and our traditions. But uh back to this. So the the blood must always be offered for sacrifice. So verse 18 of Hebrews 9 tells us, therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every covenant of the law has been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and spread both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, under the Mosaic law, everything must be purified with blood. Because it tells us, Hebrews uh 9 verse 22 tells us, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness or sins. So Hebrews 9 24 tells us Christ has entered not into the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then Jesus will have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So this is where we are at now. We are in the New Testament, and Jesus has come to put away uh sin, to deal with the sin issue once for all by the sacrifice of himself. By the sacrifice of himself. So my challenge for us today is that what can we do to respond to Jesus, to such a great sacrifice? How can we re-realize the covenant inaugurated by Jesus? Certainly we cannot expect that Jesus would sacrifice himself again and again. I don't think this is what we are expected to do. Yet, Hebrews 10 verse 26 to 31 tells us for if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. So the author of Hebrews was writing to a community that was disheartened. They were having some pressures from within and without. So they were undergoing what we call trial and difficult, pressing moments in their lives. So they were wondering, following Jesus, is it worth it? Right? So, of course, some of them could could be living in sin because uh the author of Hebrews says that if we keep on sinning after receiving the truth and the sacrifice of Jesus, then no sacrifice no longer remains, there remains a sacrifice for sins. This is one of the most sober words of the New Testament. So Hebrews 10, verse 26 to 31, right? And verse 27 goes on to say, but a fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot, the Son of God, and has profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace. And we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repair, and again the Lord will judge his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So it's a sober warning, it's almost the New Testament equivalent of the curses that was read earlier. Um the curses of the covenant. And today it's not so much the curses of the covenant, but the treating the sacrifice of Jesus like common blood or nothing important. So I think the danger for us as Christians, as I prepare this word, as I wait on the Lord and ask him what is the word, you know, I sense the Lord saying, tell my people, uh, understand the depth of my sacrifice for all of them. The depth of the sacrifice of Jesus needs to be the paradigm in which we see our entire lives. Because if we value and see the sacrifice of Jesus as the most important thing, then it will affect the way we live. We will not treat sin lightly, we will not uh entertain sin and allow sin to affect us again and again without repentance. Each time we willfully and deliberately sin, we make a laughing stock of the new covenant Jesus inaugurated through his own blood. As if Jesus died in vain, as if his sacrifice was a joke. To appropriate and realize the covenant is to consider deeply the costly sacrifice of Jesus, and to live our lives to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made to bring us to God. Let me repeat again to appropriate and realize the covenant is to consider deeply the costly sacrifice of Jesus and to live our lives to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made to bring us to God. As I was preparing the message, I'm reminded by a song by Matt Ratman, uh entitled Once Again. Right? It goes something like that. Once again, sorry, the title of the song is Once Again, it goes like that. Jesus Christ, I think upon your sacrifice, you became nothing, poured out to death. Many times I wondered at your gift of life. I'm in that place once again. I'm in that place once again. Once again, I look upon the cross where you died. I'm humbled by your mercy and I'm broken inside. Once again I thank you. Once again I pour out my life. I believe this song kind of is a good summary of the sermon today because it's a response that Jesus is looking for. It's the here and now, it's the response that we make to Jesus that is important. Because in the Bible, there's always a need to respond to God. You know, God doesn't override our wills or respond for us, but we need to make a response to Him. A lot of times, as I said, I sense that we fail to live out the life that Jesus desires us to be to, because we do not live from the paradigm of the sacrifice of Jesus. I challenge myself and I also challenge all of us, you know, to bring the death and sacrifice of Jesus into every context, every problem or issue you face, every challenge you face. How would the sacrifice of Jesus change the way we relate to one another? How would it change? How would we see one another through the sacrifice of Jesus? Would we uh see each other as enemies? I mean or I mean when there's hurt, there's abuse, boundaries have to be drawn to protect ourselves, but it doesn't mean that we always see each other as enemies, right? So of course we are guarded, but we do um walk in peace. We do try our best to walk in peace. So, how does the sacrifice of Jesus change the way we relate to one another? Another way of saying it, uh in the New Testament, uh, one of the epistles, it says, Let the peace of Christ be the judge in all matters, in all disputes, in all community conflict or even family conflict. Let the peace of Christ be the guiding principle. On another instance, right, in Philippians, uh Paul says, Let this mind be in you. This mind means this paradigm, this thinking be in you about Christ humbling himself, you know, becoming uh a servant, came down, uh emptied himself of uh his rights as God, but became man, humbled himself to death on the cross. Let this mind be in you. How would the sacrifice of Jesus affect the way we view sin in our lives? I think that's where uh the challenge is. Each time we choose to entertain sin or give in to that, uh, the author of Hebrews is quite clear. You know, if we keep doing that, then actually the sacrifice of Christ doesn't mean much to us. Each time we harbor hatred and anger, unforgiveness towards someone, sacrifice of Jesus may not mean so much to us. Because the sacrifice of Jesus should color the way we see the world. It's as if the sacrifice of Jesus becomes the lens in which we see ourselves, in which we see others and we see the world around us. So it's it's a paradigm, you know, that I believe that the Lord wants us to uh appropriate afresh. So behold the sacrifice of Jesus, and it is uh it's not a swear word, it is a bloody sacrifice full of blood, right? Behold the body of Jesus broken for our sins. Behold the blood of Jesus poured out freely for us. Let this be the orienting paradigm and lands in which you view everything.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at ycccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.