Lesson date: 10/02/5857AA

Please forgive me if this offends anyone but there is a phrase in Arabic that speaks well to the subject of humility. It is not meant to be obscene but rather illustrative. It goes like this: “Humility, like virginity, is lost the first time it is used.”

This saying has its roots in the fact that many powerful men will claim to come from “humble” beginnings or to be humble in their lives. Many of these “humble” men live in multimillion dollar mansions and own one or more airplanes or jets. One of these humble men stated a year or so ago that if “Jesus were alive today He would have a jet”. The only record we have of Yeshu’a riding anything was a donkey’s colt.

Quiz question: why was it the colt and not the donkey? Here is a clue: Exo 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart.

Exo 20:9 “Six days you labour, and shall do all your work,

Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of יהוה your Elohim. You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

Exo 20:11 “For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore יהוה blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.

Verse 1 begins with our old friend “shamar” who has been around since Ber. 2:15. Guarding is the very first thing that man was given as a responsibility in his relationship with YHVH and, he failed. It sounds so simple, “guard to do” but it isn’t because man’s pride gets in the way. It is like Von and I joking about Wolf when he doesn’t listen, “You’re not the boss of me”. “No, but I’m the one that feeds you”. Nothing was made more evident to me than that one thing and it was the sabbatical year of 2016-17. YHVH fed me and all I had to do was be obedient. But obedience is tough for most people and that includes YHVH’s own people: Exo_32:9 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “I have seen this people, and see, it is a stiff-necked people!

Exo_33:3 to a land flowing with milk and honey. For I do not go up in your midst because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”

Exo_33:5 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Say to the children of Yisra’ěl, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. Should I go up in your midst for one moment I shall consume you. And now, take off your ornaments, and I shall know what to do to you.’ ”

Exo_34:9 and said, “If, now, I have found favour in Your eyes, O יהוה, I pray, let יהוה go on in our midst, even though we are a stiff-necked people. And forgive our crookedness and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

Deu_9:6 “And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Deu_9:13 “And יהוה spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people.

Stiff-necked! We want to serve a god but we want to do it on our terms. We want to walk the way in which we are comfortable not the way YHVH tells us to walk. “I’ll serve you on Sunday, what difference does a day make?” “I won’t keep Your feasts but I will keep the feasts of paganism, you know, Christmas, Easter, etc.”

But let’s look at Verse 1 again: Deu 8:1 “Guard to do every command which I command you today,

Every command? Really? You meant that when you said it? You were serious? Joh_15:14 “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

Mar_12:29 And יהושע answered him, “The first of all the commands is, ‘Hear, O Yisra’ěl, יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one.

Rev_14:12 Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones, here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of יהושע.

Isn’t it funny that people will call Jesus the “Son of God” but won’t listen to Him either? Faith in Jesus is not enough. It says so right there. You have to “shamar” guard all the commands.

Why, doggone it? Deu 8:2 “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.

But He knows what is in my heart. Yes, He does and, that should scare the you know what out of you. Jer 17:9 “The heart is crooked above all, and desperately sick – who shall know it?

Jer 17:10 “I, יהוה, search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

What deeds?

Family, I could spend all day on just these two verses because it is the very foundation of our relationship with YHVH. Every prophet that ever lived taught Torah and called YHVH’s people to repentance based on Torah. When Yeshu’a came to Earth He taught Torah and called the peoples of the world to repentance based on Torah. He even taught that Torah would be done away with when the heavens and Earth were done away with but men refused to listen: Mat 5:18 “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.

When will heaven and Earth pass away? They won’t. They will just be renewed, back to the way they were in the beginning, before man screwed it all up: Rev 21:1 And I saw a renewed heaven and a renewed earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.

Chadash – renew, repair, rebuild. We don’t get a “new” moon each month, only the same moon renewed. Chadash.

Jas 4:6 But He gives greater favour. Because of this He says, “Elohim resists the proud, but gives favour to the humble.”

Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Master, and He shall lift you up.

1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves, then, under the mighty hand of Elohim, so that He exalts you in due time,

1Pe 5:7 casting all your worry upon Him, for He is concerned about you.

Why is He concerned about us? Because we trampled His Commands into the dirt.

This verse tells us the twofold purpose of the Wilderness journey; to humble us and to prove us. Prove = H5254 – nasah – to try, to test, to prove: Psa 26:2 Examine me, O יהוה, and prove me; Try my kidneys and my heart. Try my kidneys and my heart. His Commands should be visceral for us, not far off.

Psa 12:6 The Words of יהוה are clean Words, Silver tried in a furnace of earth, Refined seven times.

Why silver?

Verse 3 – This is an oldie but a goodie. YHVH says it to Mosheh and Yeshu’a says it in the B’rit Hadasha: that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.

Mat 4:4 But He answering, said, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.’ ”

Luk 4:4 But יהושע answered him, saying, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Elohim.’ ”

But no one wants to keep His Commands.

Verse 4 – What we have here is another bona fide statement. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell. You know this happened so therefore you know YHVH did what He said He did. You know it for a fact: Exo 20:1 And Elohim spoke all these Words, saying,

Exo 20:2 “I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery. You know it for a fact.

Verses 5-10 – The promises given to us for keeping His commands. Why wheat and barley specifically?

Verse 11 – This verse needs no explanation: Deu 8:11 “Be on guard, lest you forget יהוה your Elohim by not guarding His commands, and His right-rulings, and His laws which I command you today,

People often wonder why Christians can’t witness to Jews and I will give the Jews this one thing; they know that no son can be called good that undoes everything His Father has accomplished.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction in righteousness,

2Ti 3:17 that the man of Elohim might be fitted, equipped for every good work.

G3809 – παιδεία – paideia – pahee-di’-ah – From G3811; tutorage, that is, education or training; by implication disciplinary correction: – chastening, chastisement,

Oh yeah, it also means instruction. What Scripture was Sha’ul referring to? Was he referring to the “New” Testament that he and others decided that needed to be written? Just like Matt taught in his study of Mentoring, I do not think that Sha’ul ever intended for his letters to be written as Scripture, especially those to Timothy and Titus because they were written to two young men that he considered his sons. They were personal. When my sons left home I wrote them letters on how to conduct themselves and treat other people and in the marital relationships. Not that any of  it actually stuck. But, they were intended for my sons, not the world at large.

Heb 12:1 We too, then, having so great a cloud of witnesses all around us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us,

Heb 12:2 looking to the Prince and Perfecter of our belief, יהושע, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, having despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim.

How disciplined are we, really? Yeshu’a set the example, He kept His Father’s Commands and taught others how to do so.

Verse 17 – This is where I come in. I did this. I did that. I built this. I accomplished that. I, I, I, I. That is exactly what this fellow here thought, too: Dan 4:28 All this came upon Sovereign Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar.

Dan 4:29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the palace of the reign of Baḇel.

Dan 4:30 The sovereign spoke and said, “Is not this great Baḇel, which I myself have built, for the house of the reign, by the might of my power and for the esteem of my splendour?”

You know what, it didn’t turn out so good for him either: Dan 4:31 The word was still in the sovereign’s mouth, when a voice fell from the heavens, “Sovereign Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar, to you it is spoken: the reign has been taken away from you,

Dan 4:32 and you are driven away from men, and your dwelling is to be with the beasts of the field. You are given grass to eat like oxen, and seven seasons shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High is ruler in the reign of men, and He gives it to whomever He wishes.”

Verse 18 – Read this one very carefully, very, very carefully. What is the purpose? Pastor David Wilkerson used to always say that the final curse laid on any nation is overflowing wealth or abundance. Why? To see what that nation will do with its wealth. What has America does with its wealth?

Verses 19-20 – I only want to highlight one word – nations. The root word is “goy” the plural is “goyim”. What is so significant about this word? Many Christians will use it to describe themselves and call themselves “Gentile” Christians or Gentile believers. What does goy mean – pagan, heathen, nation, animal. Only Yisra’el has YHVH as their Elohim. All other nations are pagan, heathen. You see it used many times: Jer 10:1 Hear the word which יהוה speaks to you, O house of Yisra’ěl.

Jer 10:2 Thus said יהוה, “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are awed by them. ((Do not learn the ways of the Gentiles, heathens, pagans.))

Jer 10:3 “For the laws of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

Jer 10:4 “They beautify it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple.

Jer 10:5 “They are like a rounded post, and they do not speak. They have to be carried, because they do not walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they do no evil, nor is it in them to do any good.”

In fact, the KJV translates the word accurately as “heathen”. Isn’t there a Scripture somewhere that says something about not worshipping YHVH as the heathens do? Deu_12:30 guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.’

Lev 18:3 ‘Do not do as they do in the land of Mitsrayim, where you dwelt. And do not do as they do in the land of Kena‛an, where I am bringing you, and do not walk in their laws.

Lev 18:4 ‘Do My right-rulings and guard My laws, to walk in them. I am יהוה your Elohim.

Eze 11:12 “And you shall know that I am יהוה, for you have not walked in My laws nor executed My right-rulings, but have done according to the rulings of the nationsa which are all around you.”

Eph 4:17 So this I say, and witness in the Master, that you should no longer walk as the nations walk, in the futility of their mind,

Eph 4:18 having been darkened in their understanding, having been estranged from the life of Elohim, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,

Eph 4:19 who, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecency, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

1Pe 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the desire of the nations, having walked in indecencies, lusts, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties, and abominable idolatries,

1Pe 4:4 in which they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same flood of loose behaviour, blaspheming,

1Pe 4:5 who shall give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.