Deut 27:9, Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. 
This is a most glorious consideration in the plan and the purposes of God with the humanity when He created to be in fellowship with Himself. To this point, in the history of mankind, God had dealt with people in terms of individuals. He had those friends among men with whom He interacted on a basis in more depth than Creator with His creation. He did fellowship with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden until the point of their defilement in sinful disobedience. 
Then there were those specific individuals throughout the history of Genesis, including Abraham and culminating in the relationship with Moses who was leading this people to the brink of the Promised Land. We read various accounts in scripture of those who were close to God. However in this passage, we see Him drawing close to a nation of people with whom He planned to establish a communal and familial and national entity of the testimony of His Goodness and His Grace and His Majesty and His Provision. He would show Himself as the Only Living and True Lord God Almighty Who cared for and protected and kept an entire nation. 
The greater and wholly supreme reason for this expanded, national relationship is that it would be through this Chosen people that God would send forth His Only Begotten Son in order to bring salvation unto the whole of humanity. It was never intended, much as the Jewish heritage considers themselves, that God would limit Himself to just this one people. Throughout His Word, there is the call to all the nations to come unto Him. In the Old Testament, it was ordained that this people would be a light to the nations of the One True Living Lord God Almighty. In the New Testament, that salvation was opened to every tongue and tribe and nation through the gift of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
What we want to see is that it was at this point in the history of the Old Testament that God made it clear that He was so interested in a people unto Himself who would honor and obey Him. His love was abounding unto His creation in the course of first, dealing with individuals, then with families, then with communities, then nations, then the entire world. There was no end to the course of the way He was going to express Himself forth unto those whom He had brought into being in order to be the essence of life.
Again, we have the pronouncement to this entire people of His divine purpose in Deut 26:16-19. As they would so honor and obey Him, so would He keep and bless and multiply them in all the glory of His presence as their Lord and God. 
Deut 26:16-19, "This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. And the Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He shall set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken." 
	The national promise was reiterated in the prayer of David, recorded in 2 Sam 7:21-26, as he was considering all that God had done. He was especially thankful for the promise of the Lord having this people as His own with a king on the throne from the House of David. This king is the Lord Jesus Christ, and His throne and dominion is far exceedingly beyond just the throne of Israel.   
2 Sam 7:21-26, "For the sake of Thy word, and according to Thine own heart, Thou hast done all this greatness to let Thy servant know. For this reason Thou art great, O Lord God; for there is none like Thee, and there is no God besides Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation on the earth is like Thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for Thee and awesome things for Thy land, before Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed for Thyself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? "For Thou hast established for Thyself Thy people Israel as Thine own people forever, and Thou, O Lord, hast become their God. Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as Thou hast spoken, that Thy name may be magnified forever, by saying,' The Lord of hosts is God over Israel'; and may the house of Thy servant David be established before Thee. 
    	The nation of Israel held close to this promise and to this setting up of itself as God’s own people. However, they lost sight of the reality that they were to be a light to all the nations. They began to consider themselves as the end all of God’s handiwork. They thought that all the other nations of the world were to be subjected unto them, rather than unto the Lord who is God of all, the only living Lord God Creator. Anyone who threatened that belief was treated with anger and hostility. This included the very Son of God Who was the root of Jesse and the Messiah and the Promised King from the House of David.
	This was highlighted on the Day of Pentecost by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:14-39. Please open to it and read along with me. He brought to the forefront of the people’s thoughts the reality that even the great King David was prophesying about Jesus when he mentioned the One Who would sit eternally on the throne.
	Acts 2:14-39, But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words. "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; Even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 'And I will grant wonders in the sky above, And signs on the earth beneath, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 'The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 'And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. "For David says of Him, 'I was always beholding the Lord in my presence; For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.' Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will abide in hope; Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay. 'Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou wilt make me full of gladness with Thy presence.' "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. "And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet."' "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself."     
The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church at Rome, in the 6th Chapter, makes known the difference that is in place in the course of to whom we owe our fealty. When we were lost in our sin, we had no choice but to live in slavery to the utter disregard of the Lord God Almighty. We were shackled to the sinful nature of our birth. 
However, now that we are part of the people of God’s own possession, in Jesus Christ, we are freed from that slavery to sin. We are now completely committed to the one who purchased our redemption through His own blood and made us a nation, together with all those who are chosen by God unto Himself. 
Rom 6:16-18, Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 
And the Apostle continues with the truth that we are the recipients of eternal life through our being in Jesus Christ in verses 22+23. Rom 6:22+23, But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 6, verses 9-11, he again highlights who we used to be apart from Christ and what Christ did for us through His death and resurrection. Please note, this was not just for the Jews who would believe upon Him. He has opened His salvation to all the Gentile nations as well. The saving grace and mercy of God was completely extended, as was always the plan of God, to everyone who will but receive the free gift of God’s salvation.      
1 Cor 6:9-11, Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. 
	Then in Eph 5:1-10, the Apostle describes how we are to operate as the people of God, made into the very family of God through Jesus Christ. We are no longer to be living in the means and manner of the world, lost in its sin and corruptness as was true of us before our salvation. Now, in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in full accordance and obedience to the Word of God, we are free to walk in the purity of all that will bring pleasure to Our Lord, Our Savior, Our God. 
Eph 5:1-10, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 
 The Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 2:1-12, once again brings to the forefront what God had put into place through the establishment of a nation that was to be after His heart. It was not that they were any better or any larger or any richer or any more powerful than any of the other countries. It was the opposite, in fact. They were a people who had to be released from slavery to Egypt. They were a stiff necked and obstinate nation, continually looking for and seeking after the gods and the customs and the rituals of the nations surrounding them. As much as they were told what not to do, even in the writing on stone by the very hand of God, they still did it with no regard for how it reflected on God. 
Yet, it was from this poor and humble people that God would bring forth the Savior of the entire human population who would but receive that freely offered gift of His love. Accordingly, this new people needed to reflect, as the nation of old did not, the full glory and majesty and splendor and holiness of God.
1 Peter 2:1-12, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone," and, "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a  royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. 
This has ever been God’s redemptive plan. He works to bring forth the people who will reflect the reality of His so great love and power and majesty. This is who we are in Jesus Christ, now and forevermore. So be it!
Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Deut 3:22. 'Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one fighting for you.' Amen.