DEUTERONOMY - WEEK 6

 

BIG IDEA: God provides the sacrifice so that we can be forgiven.


READ DEUTERONOMY 12:1-4

12 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11 Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. 12 And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. 14 Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.

Discuss:

1. What stands out from this passage?

2. What is Israel instructed to do regarding the worship practices of the nations?

3. Read Deut 12:31…Why would God command Israel to completely erase the worship practices of the Canaanites? (if this goes down a rabbit hole of violence and genocide in the OT direct people to this link and suggest listening over the week and sharing thoughts next week.)

4. What does God command Israel to do regarding worship?

5. What did the sacrificial system teach Israel about themselves and about God?


Read Hebrews 10:1-4 & 11-14.

10 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Discuss

1. What stands out from this passage?

2. Do you view yourself as someone who has been made perfect? Why might this be hard?

3. How do you reconcile that at the same time we have been ‘made perfect forever’ as well as ‘being made holy’



Share and pray.

  1. Is there any guilt, sin or shame that you are struggling to believe has been truly covered by Jesus Sacrfice?

  2. Are there any ways you are trying to make up for your sin/ make yourself perfect, when instead you need to just rest in what Jesus has done?