Deuteronomy 7

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Deuteronomy 7:1-26

“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images. 6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth [cf. 1^st Peter 2:9-10]. 7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 but because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13 and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. 16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. 17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? 18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; 19 the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. 20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. 22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. 23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. 24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. 25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED599]

“Deuteronomy chapter 7, we are following on just a great exhortation in chapter 6 about raising our children, loving the LORD with our whole heart, of being infectious in our own families, all the way to the end of the chapter, telling our sons and daughters what the LORD has done for us, bringing us out of the land of Egypt. Our own testimony, first certainly having impact in our own homes. When we come to chapter 7 he begins to talk to them about the fact of their separation. You remember that when Balaam prophecied, Balak paying him to prophecy against the children of Israel, and three times he blessed them. He said ‘For from the top of the rocks I see him, from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reconned among the nations,’ as he looks at the nation of Israel, he says they’re distinct and they’re separate from all of the nations, ‘they shall not be numbered among the other nations.’ And God will make a point with his ancient people in this chapter in regards to that. And certainly there’s an exhortation in regards to our own lives, in the fact that we should be separate also, we should be distinct and different from the world that we live in. The lines of demarcation should not be blurred, they should be obvious. But here God begins to exhort them in regards to their position.

There’s To Be A Separation Between You & These Other Nations

There’s To Be No Religious Intermarriage--Then & Now

He says “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them” these seven nations “before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:” (verses 1-2) There is to be no toleration, and he’s going to begin to describe why. So look, these seven nations, he names them, he knew them, they were also birthed by the same sovereign God. None of these nations could have existed without his will. Remember back in the 15^th chapter of Genesis he had talked to Abraham and said ‘I’m going to take your descendants down into Egypt, and in the 4^th generation, after 400 years I’ll bring them out, because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet come to a full.’ God hadn’t just cast off the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites and so forth, he also loved them, and he was tolerant, and he waited and he gave time, 400 years, hoping they would turn. But God does again, look at the situation, finally a nation, hopefully not our nation right now, but he measures time morally [our nation is right about ready for judgment now, in 2024], he judges not by the clock or the calendar, and he finally looks at a nation or a people, and he says there’s no redemption here, this has gone too far, this is a bane on the rest of civilization, this is an infection, like a cancer in our own body, it is time to deal with this. [And looking at the history of the Incas and the Aztecs, with their human and child sacrifices, I’m sure God inspired the Spanish conquest of their empires for a similar reason. Israel is not alone in being used by God to conquer a corrupt society.] So it isn’t that he had been unloving towards these nations. In fact, we’re going to see Rahab come to the faith and become part of the family of Jesus Christ in his genealogy, if you read his genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 you’ll see her name there. It isn’t that God is intolerant or God is angry, or God would just destroy. Look, it was God’s plan that there would be one nation on the face of the earth, look at his heart’s desire in that sense, he gives specific directions how that other nations might live among them, other people, and might be converted, and might come to know the True and Living God, and how many generations it would take before God would allow them to worship with the children of Israel. God wanted the nation of Israel to be a light and a witness in the world that they were in, and it was God’s heart that all nations would become one nation as it were. [log onto and read this article: https://unityinchrist.com/IsraelAPeculiarPeople--ALightToTheGentiles.html ] And would all know the truth and would all walk in the light of his presence. It isn’t that he was against other nations in the sense of being against any people nationally. But the other nations have so polluted themselves, had become so idolatrous. Again, you can get textbooks, you can get books on anthropology and archeology that describe, in fact, how these nations had digressed and how they had degenerated and what they were capable of, of murdering their own children in idolatrous sacrifice and so forth at this time. So God is going to tell his people, have nothing to do with them, make no covenant with them, don’t intermingle with them, there shouldn’t be any toleration of these things. “neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” (verses 3-4) He’s telling them that there is safety in the position of separation. Look, this isn’t just an Old Testament principle. In 2^nd Corinthians Paul says to us, to the Church, to you and I, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? what concord hath Christ and Belial,” the devil, “or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel” with an unbeliever “and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the Living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore” this is the Corinthians “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a father unto you, you shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2^nd Corinthians 6:14-18) Having therefore these promises,” we don’t live as it were, as Christians, just on information, we live on promises, so important for us. Our hearts are drawn forward by the promises of God. One of the great lessons we learn from the nation of Israel, is God gives warnings with good reason. We will watch their history and see how they didn’t heed his warnings, and we’ll see what happened to them as a nation [log onto and read that for yourself, in this survey of Old Testament history: https://unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html ]. We will also see those who walked with him, and see how his promises were fulfilled in their lives. So God lays these things out in front of us. He just doesn’t lead us by doctrine and information. Certainly he does, but he also leads us by promises, and he says here “I will be a father unto you, you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2^nd Corinthians 6:18, and 7:1) This is what he’s saying in Deuteronomy, ‘Don’t give your daughters to their sons, don’t take their daughters for your sons,’ “For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods:” they’ll turn the next generation away, “so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” (verse 4) “But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images.” (verse 5) Now we don’t do that physically today, but we’re still to do the same thing, we maintain a separate position. God doesn’t call us to isolation, he calls us to separation, those are two different things. Separation, for you and I, is contact without contamination. We’re to be in contact with the unsaved world, because we’re to be light and salt, we’re to affect them, but we don’t find fellowship with them, there’s no fellowship between light and darkness. We can’t make covenant with them, the Lord says. But I love my neighbours, I have unsaved relatives that I love and pray for. I’m to be in contact with them, but without contamination. They’re not to contaminate me in regards to my calling, in regards to my commitment to God’s Word or his purposes for my life. Separation is not isolation. If we were to isolate ourselves, no one would be saved [see https://unityinchrist.com/mathew/Matthew5-13-16.htm ]. Separation is contact without contamination. And the forces that are at work in our lives are also very powerful. Paul says “to the pulling down of strongholds,” so truth still destroys their altars. Love still destroys their false gods. Light still destroys their darkness. Understand, what God has invested in us and called us to, is still destructive to their idolatry. We’re not out with torches burning down the physical things that the Israelites were called to do, they were called to that of old, to physically tear down those altars and burn those images and so forth. But you and I, as we bring truth and as we bring light, we bring love, those are destructive forces, and we have to understand that. Truth is a destructive force, to lie, to error. And praise God, I’m glad it is. And you have to understand how powerful the Truth is in your life. You know sometimes you think ‘I have to study this and study that,’ no, if you know the Truth, and you open up your mouth, when you have an open door, if you let this loose, it’s powerful. Light is powerful. You know you can see a candle 5 miles away [at night], you can see a star a hundred million light-years from earth. [During World War II, smoking a cigarette abovedecks on a cargo ship, tanker or warship was strictly forbidden, because a German Uboat lookout on watch topside on the bridge could see the glow of a cigarette over two miles away.] That’s how powerful light is. You have the Truth, you have the Light, if you love your neighbour, you pray for them, those are destructive forces, in the sense that they will destroy their false premises, they’ll destroy the false things they build for themselves, that they know in their heart are not true, because they know they’re still empty. You come along with truth, you come along with light. That’s why sometimes their reaction is so violent, because it’s real, and they don’t like that, they don’t want to deal with it right away. But we’re to be separate, separation, not isolation. And that separation is contact, but without being contaminated. And the contact we have with the unsaved world is in regards to light, it’s in regards to truth, it’s in regards to bringing Christ to the unsaved world. Here, very specific directions were given to them in regards to these things. Now look, this is not prohibiting mixed marriages in regards to race. This is prohibiting mixed marriages in regards to worship. That was the whole point. It was not racially God prohibits mixed marriages, nowhere in the Bible is that true. It is prohibiting mixed worship in marriages, where they’re worshipping false gods, they’re worshipping idols, don’t give your sons and your daughters to them, because they’ll take away their hearts to worship other gods, and then God says, I will have to deal with that severely.

‘You’re A Holy People, A Special People--A Royal Priesthood’

“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth [cf. 1^st Peter 2:9-10]. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:” (verses 6-7) You know, we make application to that today, the Lord didn’t set his love upon you and choose you because he’s got to have you on his mantle, that the house is going to be bare without you, that’s not the point at all. And we always look for something in and of ourselves to be deserving. We were dead in trespasses and sins. It says here, look, he gives us the reasons in verse 8, “but because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” First reason that he chose you, because he loved you. The mystery is, why did he love you, of course. But that’s the reason it’s because he loved you. The ancient rabbis said God loved us because he loved us, there was no answer other than that. There wasn’t anything intrinsic in the Jew, that God set his affection on him above anybody else. In fact, it tells us in Joshua chapter 24, the first 3 verses, that Abraham and their fathers worshipped idols on the other side of the Euphrates River, there were no Jews, there was no such thing. Abraham was an idolator, he lived in Ur of the Chaldees, and it tells us in Acts chapter 7 that ‘The God of glory appeared to him there,’ and it was God’s election, God chose him, God drew him. And then Isaac, then finally through Jacob you have the 12 children, the tribes of Israel, and Judah is finally where we get the name Jew, the name came from Judah [and Judah, the Jews, were only one tribe out of 12, who all, all 12 tribes made up the nation of Israel]. But the children of Israel, it was all God’s election, was his choice. And he says he did it because he loved them, the same reason he picked us [and we’re a motley crew]. And it tells us in Ephesians, he loved us before the foundation of the world, imagine that [that blows the mental fuse if you think about that one too long]. Spurgeon used to say “I know he loved me before I was born, because he’d have never loved me after I was born.” Why does he choose us, why did he chose them? it says here, “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:” it wasn’t because you were a great nation, you don’t have to look inside yourself to find some reason to be deserving, “but because the LORD loved you,” secondly “and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (verses 7-8) because he had made this promise, it’s all of grace. God did it to fulfill his own Word. “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God,” he can make those choices, “the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” perpetually, continually. Jesus would say in John 14:21 ‘If you love me, keep my commandments,’ “and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.” (verses 9-10) So he deals with those who walk with him, that love him, we love him the Bible says, because he first loved us. He deals with those who love him, keep his commandments. Now here’s the thing you and I have to look out for, because we have this statement in Scripture and other statements like it. There are people out there who are just antagonistic to the Church, they are antagonistic to what you believe, they hate what you believe, they hate the God you believe in, and they hate the fact that you believe in him, they hate the fact that you believe in the Bible, and they’re just mean-spirited. And to me the world would be better off without them. Send them all to Pluto, or whatever it is now, it’s not a planet anymore [I still call it a planet], but I know it’s way out there somewhere. But he doesn’t want us to have that attitude. He’s going to repay those that hate him to their face, and the idea is, so they know it, so they understand what’s happening. It’s not going to just be a difficulty or a tragedy or something that comes to them, and they say Jesus is just “fate,” he’s going to make known his hand to them, and in that some will turn. [Scary thought for them, like say Muslim suicide bombers coming up in the 2^nd resurrection, being resurrected right in front of the glowing, immortal Jesus Christ, Yeshua haMeschiach, the Jewish Messiah, just think about that, and those like Adolf Hitler, too. I feel sorry for Carl Sagan, though, because he’ll be in that crowd too. Hopefully all of them will turn.] And we have to watch out, not you because you’re so much different than me, but I have to watch out, because sometimes I rejoice a little when I read a verse like this 😊. “Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:” (verses 11-12) And all throughout Deuteronomy “to do them,” obedience, God gives them to us not so we can speculate about them and argue about them, and theologize about them, but so that we can do them, so we can obey them, “that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.” (verses 12b-13) Notice this, “Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.” (verse 14) That sounds like it means all people, doesn’t it? “And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.” (verse 15) Now of course these things have not been realized, but remarkably God saying, that he will bless them above all people. That day will come in the Kingdom Age. [Comment: What Bible prophecies, verses, are being fulfilled right now are to be found in Zechariah 12:2-3 and particularly Zephaniah 2:4a, be sure to look up those verses. Also for a good glimpse into the Kingdom Age, log onto and read: https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ]

How Am I Going To Gain Victory Over This?

“And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.” (verse 16) And again, so much sexual worship attached to their gods, so much that was unclean, so much that was relative to pleasure and wealth. Of course we don’t worship idols today, most people out in our culture would never bow down to a little statue. But certainly we worship, we bow the knee to pleasure, undoubtedly we bow the knee to alcohol, we bow the knee to drugs, we bow the knee to money, we bow the knew to a thousand cruel masters. And he says ‘it will be a snare unto thee.’ “If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” (verse 17) Now remember 38 years before this, at Kadesh-barnea they had turned away in fear. God’s saying to them ‘Now I don’t want you, we’re on the edge of the Promised Land, to say ‘How in the world are we going to do this?’’ Listen, some of you spend your whole life saying ‘How am I going to gain victory over this?’ ‘I have bitterness because of something in my childhood, and I’m never going to get over it.’ ‘I’m wrestling with pornography, I’m never going to get over it.’ ‘I have this one issue in my life, I’m never going to get over it.’ ‘I have this thing cooking, I struggle, this addiction,’ look, he says here, ‘If you will say in your heart, these nations, these things that are threatening me, these things that are enemies to my spiritual wellbeing, are more than I can handle, how can I dispossess them?’ “Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.” (verses 18-19) He said, ‘Look, I brought you out of Egypt, I didn’t bring you out of Egypt to loose you in Canaan, I didn’t destroy the greatest military power in the world so I could bring you into a bunch of ites, and get you whupped there, that’s not what this is all about.’ In our lives, look, ‘I think, How am I going to overcome this, how am I going to overcome that?’ Wait a second, you’ve already overcome hell, you’ve already overcome the grave, you’ve already overcome an eternity separated from God. Thus the greatest issues of your faith have already been settled because of Christ’s completed work on the cross. How is he then going to allow you to be defeated by lesser things? ‘How shall he not also give us with him all things freely?’ He’s given us already his best, his only Son. There isn’t anybody here in this room, in sincerity, if we go to him and say ‘I need to overcome this, I need to be free from this,’ that he won’t grant that to us. How does that happen? It happens by miraculous means. It happens by the new-birth, it happens by the Holy Ghost, it happens by the advantages that we had over every Israelite that was going into the land. God can ask of us something that he can command them that they couldn’t fulfill, he can ask it of us because he’s delivered us from those things, he’s imputed the righteousness of Christ to us, he’s given us his Word, he’s given us the new-birth, and he’s given us the power of his Spirit. And then he can set these things in front of us, and you know what, we can forgive, and you know what, we can escape our addictions. And you know what, we can put evil away from our eyes and from our homes, and from our morals, we can be different from the world around us, because it has to do with the new creation in Christ Jesus, all things have become new, old things are passed away. If the power of the Gospel of Christ is not powerful enough to change our lives, we might as well go home. But it is. Now it’s interesting to see how he challenges them in regards to this, look in verse 20, “Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.” And I like that. I don’t like hornets, or wasps, or Chiwawa’s, I saw this new movie coming out, but this is just a preference. Ah, we have these cicada-killers that dig in our yard, I don’t like those either, and they look just like little yellowjackets that lives in the ground, only they’re about this big, and air traffic controllers have to set their flight patterns, they come in the yard like BRRRRR, and you hear them coming and you think ‘What is that!?’ and it’s an insect. And you see a great big hole in the ground and the dirt outside of it, you think a mouse did it, and it’s these critters, and they’re mean if they get on you, they’ll sting you two, three or four times before you knock them off. I remember one year we were at the Castle in Austria and one got on this guy’s face, stung him about five times before he knocked it off, and he had to go to the hospital, and the whole side of his head swelled up, he had one normal side and one big side to his head for about five or six days. I know. And I don’t have any purpose for these things. Evidently the law of original intent, God decided to use them to drive out the enemy, but they’re all in a bad mood because they got nothing to do for a long time. [laughter] In fact, we keep a badminton racket in our back yard, because you can hit ‘em out of the air, they’re giant, you can hear them coming, and you can’t let them live, then they’d multiply. But I think it’s a great idea, to drive out the enemy with them, I’d love to have some of that on video, it’s probably one of those other things I shouldn’t rejoice in. [just a thought, the Israelis should release hornets into the tunnels of Hamas and Hezbollah 😊] “Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.” (verses 21-22) Isn’t it interesting, it just says the LORD your God is mighty, he’s terrible, he’s awesome, he’s bringing you into the land. But the way he’s going to drive out the enemy is little by little. He’s not just going to flatten them and drive them all out at one time, lest the beasts of the field increase. You wouldn’t be able to take control of the land if they were all destroyed all at one time. So God will drive them out bit by bit, a little bit at a time, so that as they’re driven out, you’ll be able then to take the land, to cultivate it and so forth, and to have it bear fruit. And it’s the same way in our lives. Look, God doesn’t, we think this happens when we get saved, because the change is so dramatic. We get saved, and the day after we get saved, we think that we’re super-Christian. Because, we are, in a sense. ‘Hey, I’m saved! He loves me, his Son died for me.’ You know, we think ‘There was really something special about me, that’s why this happened.’ And we think we’re going to turn the world upside down. And God little by little lets us see, ‘Ooh, that’s still there, I think I need to go forward at the altar-call again, maybe I need to recommit my commitment, maybe I need to,’ and we start to realize, no, he is changing us, from glory to glory. And he’s driving out those things little by little, that we might take bit by bit control of the new life and cultivate it and see fruit produced. We’d be unbearable if we were super-Christian overnight, I don’t think I’d want to be around that person, ‘Oh, you still wrestle with stuff? Too bad, are you really saved?’ [I had one of those encounter me one time, asking me whether I wanted to counsel with him once, and he wasn’t even a pastor or elder. I still remember the guy’s name, with a feeling of distaste.] Our pride would be unimaginable, it would be unbearable if we had to listen to that. Even here, this God whose mighty, our God, and terrible and awesome, and he said ‘I will drive them out, these nations, by little and little.’ “thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.” (verses 22b-24) Because they’re saying ‘How, they’re greater and mightier, how are we going to go in?’ so he describes the whole process now. It’s not going to happen all at once, it’s going to happen little by little, ‘I’m your God, I’m awesome, I’m terrible, I’m going to do this, you’re going to overcome their kings, I want you to destroy them, I’m going to remove their names from under heaven.’

Revulsion Is What We’re Called To--Our Carnal Hunger Should Detest The Things Of This World

“The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” (verses 25-26) They made these idols, and many of them sexual, they were overlaid with gold, they were overlaid with silver, and he says I don’t want you to desire the silver or the gold that is on them. Listen, he warns us and his ancient people in regards to the standards around us, in regards to the morality that’s around us. And it’s a struggle, we’re human. The Bible says ‘Greater is he that is in you than is he that is in the world.’ We’re to have an attitude of detesting. That’s the only time that English word is used in the Bible, here. Thou shalt “detest,” it means it should make you sick. Listen, we sit home and we see it on television, we see all of these new shows and they’re sexually explicit, we hear the language, we see the standards being lowered, some of them there’s comedy mixed in, and you have to turn it off, you have to change the channel. And it comes to us on billboards, it comes to us in the media, it comes to us in the music, it comes to us in our friends. Do we abhor it, do we detest it? What’s what he says, that that should be the attitude of our heart, revulsion is what we’re called to, revulsion. Listen, hunger is a funny thing, and our carnal nature has it, and it has it in regards to pleasure, in regards to power, in regards to recognition, in regards to many things. And even hunger, if somebody puts something on your plate, and it was covered with magots, even hunger turns away from that, even hunger turns away from that. And what it’s saying is our carnal hunger should detest the things of this world. It says our carnal hunger should abhor, we should have that attitude, we’re called to revulsion, we should turn away, because it’s ultimately sin and death, it’s ultimately sin and death. And again, it only happens by the miracle of the new-birth, it only happens by the Holy Spirit of God, and it’s a wonderful thing, you and I. It says ‘If we pray anything according to his will, that we can know we have the petitions that we ask,’ it says that, doesn’t it? When the lawyer asked the Lord what the greatest commandment was Jesus said ‘To love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself,’ do we pray that everyday? Because if we love him with all of our heart, soul and strength, if we love him with everything that’s inside of us, it doesn’t leave much room for this world, does it. And I’m guilty too, I’m just telling you what I’ve been cooking with all day, so why should I feel terrible about this and you guys get off the hook? We can pray that daily, ‘Lord, let me love you, I know this is a prayer according to your will, let me love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and my neighbour as myself.’ Every day we can pray ‘Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit afresh, let the very spiritual nature of my being be holy, separate from this world. Let my inner being be of such a nature that I detest and abhor the standards and the morals of this world,’ because I know they are bringing death and destruction to those that are subjugated to them. Listen, talk to Jimmy Patrick on Monday night, talk to any of the pastors that do counseling, how many families do we see destroyed by immorality, how many lives are we seeing destroyed by alcohol and by drugs, how many lives are we seeing being destroyed? And so many, it’s Christians so much, with all the family members that are attached, gambling now. And you look at those things, and we shouldn’t be tolerant of them. We should understand the power of them, how destructive they are, and the power that’s in us is greater than that power. The power of light and the power of Truth, and the power to love an unsaved friend or relative is also a destructive power, and it is more destructive [against these evil things] when it’s energized by the Holy Spirit of God than the influence that they have. We should be contagious. The problem is for you and I, of course, you can’t give somebody the measles unless you got it, can you. You know down at the pastors conference Steve Mays, one of the pastors on the West Coast, he challenged the pastors, and he said ‘You know, when you study the Word, are you just studying to put together a sermon, put together a lesson? Are you just at the Tree of Knowledge, or are you also going to the Tree of Life?’ Are you just at the Tree of Knowledge or are you also going to the Tree of Life? And I understood what his point was. When we spend time in his presence, Paul says, then when we look at him, when we’re before him, we’re changed into the same image and likeness, from glory to glory, by the power of the Spirit. We can pray every day ‘Let me love you with all my heart, soul and strength, Lord, fill me afresh this day with your Holy Spirit, Lord let what resonates inside of me, what tempers me, what produces the character that’s in me, Lord, let it be of your Spirit, let it be of the power of your Word, Lord, let me be distinct from the standards of this world.’ And if you don’t want to pray that for yourself, pray it for me. If you’re saying ‘Man, pastor Joe, you must really be a sinner, because I got all those problems whupped,’ well I’m really glad for you, write me a little note, tell me how you did that so fast…pray for me, if you don’t need it. I’m so thankful for that little request there. Now, the 8^th chapter.

Deuteronomy 8:1-6

“All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. 2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. 6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.”

‘That He Might Make You To Know That Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone—But By Every Word That Proceeds Out Of The Mouth Of God’

“He says here “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.” (verse 1) “to do” ok? Listen, not just to make plaques, I like plaques, not just to make bumper-stickers, “to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.” Listen, here’s God’s motive, he never would take anything from them, he only wants to benefit them. “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do,” and here’s the reason, “that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.” Listen to what he says, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” (verses 2-3) Look, he says to them, ‘Alright now,’ memory, anybody have a problem with their memory? I know you can’t remember whether you do or not, can you. I do. “Thou shalt remember” all the things we remember, you know. If you’re anything like me, you remember the things you want to forget, and you forget the things you want to remember, and it gets worse as time goes on. There’s gotta be one person in your life you wish you could forget them, don’t you. You can’t, can you, you remember and think of them all of the time. You just wish you could forget that person. Then there are things in your life you want to remember. You can’t, can you? You hid a key outside the house, so that if you ever forget your key, which you knew you would, you’d be able to get in, and you’re locked out and you don’t know where that key is, ‘Where did I hide that stupid thing? where’s that at?’ Memory is an interesting thing, isn’t it? “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years” you know, I can be very caught up in today, I can be very caught up in tomorrow, worrying about this, worrying about that. But there is a time for me to sit and to remember these last 30-some years since the Lord saved me. [Have you ever taken a trip down that particular memory lane, cataloguing those things, memories? based on the verse in Deuteronomy 2:7, “For the LORD hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked for nothing.” I did that, listing them in two categories, physical blessings in employment, and spiritual blessings from all that I learned in the various Christian fellowships the Lord has brought me through and educated me through. It was quite a list, spanning 54 years, some of those things are listed in the “About the Author” section of this website (see https://unityinchrist.com/author.htm ).] He led me out of drugs, led me out of the world. And I fumbled, and I failed, and I made mistakes, and I had seasons of compromise in my life, there are things that I did wrong, and he was gracious, and he continued to lead me, and to forgive me and dust me off and put me back up on my feet again. He gave me a calling I never deserved, could never earn, gave me a wife that’s a life-partner that I could never have designed or found myself, gave me a family. And I sit with them, and I don’t envy any man on the planet. There’s no one wealthier than I am, I don’t envy anyone. And I think of all the way he’s led me. When I look back over my shoulder I see his faithfulness, his faithfulness. If you don’t, you will. Because he said he led us all this way to humble us. You’ll get there. If you look back and say ‘Man, I know why he picked me, man he made a good choice when he picked me, man he’s going to use me, man, he understood the potential I have,’ your journey hasn’t been long enough yet. He did this to humble them, he says, to prove them, to know what was in their heart. Not because he needed to know, because they needed to know, because they needed to know. You know, when I find myself now just bugged or sick with myself over something, and that happens, and I think ‘and he saved me anyway.’ I’m surprised at something I do, but I think ‘He’s not surprised,’ he knows the end from beginning, he knew I was going to do this, and he saved me anyhow. That’s remarkable. And it says here, he allowed them to hunger, imagine that, a loving God, allowed them to hunger, because there was something he wanted them to learn. He wanted to put them in hot water, Miles McPherson used to say that Christians are like teabags, it’s not till you put them in hot water until you see what flavour they are. He allowed them to get in a situation, what for? to humble them, to prove them, so that we could see what was in their heart. When we see what is in our heart, that is humbling, isn’t it? ‘Oh I know my heart,’ no you don’t, it says it’s incurable, who can know it, it’s desperately wicked. We know that’s one side of it, it’s unsearchable. We know a renewed part of it, a new creation that God’s given to us that’s wonderful. But he leads us, that we might learn those things, there are lessons all along the way of that pilgrimage, and to humble us. Why? Because pride is the root of all destructive force in this world. Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 tell us that Satan was lifted up, his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. And it was the first “I will” against God. Until he said “I will” there was only one “will” and that was the will of God. And Satan said “I will be like the Most High, I will do this, and I will do that, I will sit on the congregation of the north, I’ll be lifted above the stars of heaven.’ You read, ‘Pride, it says, ‘cometh before destruction,’ in Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs 13 says ‘that contention cometh only by pride.’ 1^st Timothy chapter 3, when it talks about leadership and ordaining someone, it says ‘Not a novice, lest he be tempted by the devil and be lifted up with pride.’ He’s still in the same business. Because when there’s pride, there’s self-sufficiency. In Israel, in their wilderness wandering, they learned that they were not self-sufficient. Imagine again, 2 to 3 million people, that’s pretty much twice the size of the city of Philadelphia. Imagine the entire city of Philadelphia, and more beyond that, double it, in the wilderness for 40 years, no waterpipes, no children’s hospital, no vaccinations, no antibiotics, no food. Imagine that many people cared for, for 40 years, led and fed and watered. And they got to this point, and they complained, and said ‘Oh we should have died in Egypt,’ and they got to this point and said ‘Oh, you don’t care about us, you brought us out here to die, oh you brought us out here to die of thirst, I wish we were back in Egypt,’ and that whole generation dies, and their little kids which were all rotten apples that didn’t fall far from the old trees, they all said ‘I wish we were in Egypt,’ and they had never been in Egypt [laughter], they just learned to be professional gripers from their parents. And God said ‘I led you, and I want you to remember all the way, that I did. Because I did it to humble you, to prove you, I wanted you to see what was in your heart,’ he says, ‘whether you would keep his commandments or not, when things got tough,’ what would you do then when the pressure was on? ‘I wanted you to understand what you were, so that you wouldn’t be self-sufficient, so you’d be dependent on me.’ “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” (verse 3) Now we live by physical food, but that’s not the only way that man lives, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Remember Jesus of course, in the wilderness tempted by Satan, and Satan said ‘Since you’re the Son of God, why don’t you turn these stones to bread?’ and this is one of the answers that the Lord gave to the devil, “It is written,” he stood in our place, and he faced the old foe, the second Adam, the last man, “It is written, man” he didn’t say I have to be the Son of God to whup you, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone,” ‘but by every Raima,’ “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live.” What is our life? It’s not bread only. You look at the conditions of the rest of the world, watching sports, watching the news, half of the commercials are for companies where you order their food, because their food won’t make you fat like your food does, and if you eat their food, then you can look like, so then you can get skinny and be seductive and desirable again, then you don’t have to be gluttonous, you can be sexually sinful too. There’s all kinds of great things with their food. We live in a country where you have to buy skinny food, because we have so much, that if you just eat your own stuff, you look the way you shouldn’t. It’s a problem, isn’t it? Man doesn’t just live by that, that’s not what life’s about. When you drop dead it isn’t just about whether you were at your favourite restaurant the night before. Man doesn’t, the existence of his life isn’t just by bread only, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” What would the quality of our lives be like without the Word of God tonight? What would our marriages be like without the instruction in God’s Word tonight? What would our children have been raised like, without the Word of God, what would their lives be like? What would our hope be, without the Word of God? What would we be hoping today, if we didn’t know about a Kingdom, we didn’t know about Christ coming, we didn’t know about an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, what would our hope be? [read about that hope: https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ] Life is so much more than what we stuff down our throats. And he said he led them, he humbled them, he got them into circumstances so that they might learn that man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Just even in the Manna that fell, Jesus in John chapter 6, verse 35 said “I am the true bread that comes down from heaven,” that we’re to partake of him. But even in the Manna, obedience, the Word of God ruled, you gather enough for today, don’t gather for tomorrow. On the Sabbath, the day before the Sabbath, you gather twice what you need and it won’t breed worms, and you’ll have enough for the next day. It was a constant miracle besides the miracle of over 40 tons of Manna falling on the camp every day, there was a miracle of 80 tons falling on Friday, so you have enough for the Sabbath and wouldn’t have to gather. If you gathered twice as much as you needed on any other day, it bred worms and rotted. But the day before the Sabbath you could gather twice as much and it didn’t rot. They lived in the midst of a miracle through their obedience, and learned it was through the Word of God that they had life, not just bread, not just bread.

‘Your Clothes Didn’t Wear Out—And As The LORD Provides For & Nurtures A Son, So He Did For You’

“Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” (verse 4) Chapter 29, verse 5 says “Neither did your shoes wear out.” Now imagine that. One Hawaiian shirt that would last 40 years. What that could do for your budget. It would drive my wife crazy if she had to wear the same thing for 40 years, I think it would be wonderful, one pair of jeans, one shirt, 40 years, never wears out. Just think of sneakers, I just think about my kids, when my kids were little, you’d buy them a set of sneakers, and two weeks later there’s holes in them. I said ‘How do you do that? these are new, you wore out the tops before your wore out the bottoms, how in the world did you do that?’ You know of course as time went on, I realized, they were only wearing out sneakers because they were light, when they got older they all had broken ankles, broken feet, because there was more muscle and weight to put on them. The guy at children’s hospital, my one son, the first cast they had to put on more than once, he wore his cast out. Not only he wore his sneakers out, he wore his cast out, so they had to put another cast on his, the second time I took him down for a cast, when the cast guy knows your kid, then you got an active kid. The cast guy looked at him and said ‘I know you, I’m only putting this one on one time,’ and that was only his second one. But imagine buying your kid a pair of sneakers that 40 years later, that means if you buy it for your kid, when he’s little, 40 years later he’s got a great big kid sneaker on, that lights up on the bottom, does all that stuff. Imagine that, your shoes didn’t wear out for 40 years, your clothes didn’t get old, amazing. What provision, this journey didn’t wear on them, their raiment and their shoes were preaching a sermon to them. Is this journey wearing, is this 40 years wearing you away? Really, your clothes are not wearing out, your shoes are not wearing out. What’s wearing about the journey? It’s wearing when you’re not obedient, it’s wearing when you don’t give heed to my Word. Verse 5 he says “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.” Now look, “consider” is to think about, to mull over, go over and over again, and he says “in your heart,” not just in your mind. There’s an “as” and a “so” here, very important, “as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.” And the word “chasteneth” is not just to punish, it’s not just to spank, not just to apply the rod to your son or your daughter. The word “chasteneth” has to do with all instruction proper for necessary education. He says ‘as a father, chastens, raises, nurtures, cares for his son or his daughter.’ Now look, the love that a father has for a son, unfathomable, a parent for a child. As a father, “as” this is what I want you to see, “as a father chasteneth his son, and makes sure that his kid gets ready for the world, he makes sure his kid gets everything that’s necessary to survive out there, everything necessary for proper education, for learning, for equipping, so the LORD chasteneth thee.” Not as a drill instructor. If that’s how it does happen, then how doesn’t it? He’s not like a drill instructor, he’s not like a police officer waiting for you to mess up so he can shoot at your feet and make you dance. He’s not out to get you. That’s all it says, it says “as a father, so the LORD thy God.” He took them through all of these things to humble them. You have to understand, when God takes us, and he’s leading us, and he is tonight, and he will tomorrow, and he’s faithful, in his instruction, most of the times we don’t understand the lesson until we fail the exam. School’s completely different, school wants you to understand the lesson so you pass the exam. God allows us to fail the exam, so we can look back and understand what the lesson was. [Comment: If that is true, and I believe it is, mankind as a whole is learning God’s lessons this way, the hard way.] And he does it as a father does it to his son or his daughter, to teach, to instruct. He said ‘I led you all this way, I want you to remember, all the way, not just the journey, but the way, how did he do it, I want you to remember all the way the LORD thy God led thee. And he humbled you, to prove you, so you would know what was in your heart, so you would see whether in fact you would be obedient to the things he was asking you. And he did humble you, and he fed you with Manna, he cared for you from heaven, just the sustenance of your physical frame was miraculous. And in that he wanted you to learn that man doesn’t live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ He said ‘I’m taking you to a land that flows with milk and honey, you’re going to get there.’ He spoke to them about the journey, he gave them his promises. And he says, all the way you went, your raiment, your clothing didn’t wear out, your shoes didn’t wear out. We lost a whole generation of people, we didn’t lose any clothes. What was your raiment, your shoes preaching to you the whole time, because they weren’t wearing out like you were? And as a father instructs his son, chastens him, and gives him everything that’s proper for necessary education, with the love that a father has for a son, and the commitment that a father has. And there’s no father doing that to destroy his son or harm his son, or humiliate his son, or embarrass his son, never, so, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee, he does it with the same love, the same care, the same concern. Because of all this, “Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” (verse 6) And he is the same yesterday, today and forever. He leads us today. he is our Shepherd today. Again, my confidence is always that the Shepherd is never dependent on the IQ of the sheep. What a blessing that is. We don’t have to figure it out, if our heart is willing to follow, then the ball is in his court. If we can say ‘Lord, I have no agenda, it’s my delight to get up each morning to seek your face, to look in your Word, Lord, speak to me, put the impression on my heart, lead me. You say make a left, I’ll make a left, you say make a right, Lord, I’m surrendered.’ And that’s a process. But if we’ll do that, then the ball is his court, we don’t have to figure out, if our heart’s willing to follow, he leads, he’s a faithful Shepherd, he’s a good Father, he’s a Bride Groom who loves the Bride, who makes every preparation, who leads. Let’s have the musicians come, we’ll sing a last song. Now look, if the Lord tarries, read chapter 8, chapter 9, tremendous things in there about forgetting and remembering, so don’t forget to read chapter 8 and 9, in fact remember to read chapter 8 and 9. Great stuff in there, the Lord would have to say to us. Let’s stand, let’s pray together. You know if you’re here tonight and don’t know this God we’re talking about, laughing about, crying about, and you want to know, my encouragement before you leave, slip up the front, we’d love to pray with you tonight, love to give you a Bible, some literature to read, nobody wants to play church, we don’t want to play Christianity, I don’t. But I want to walk with him and I want to know him, and I do want to love him with all my heart, mind and strength, and I do want to be filled with his Spirit, and I do want to have a different hope than this world has, I do want to look at higher things. I don’t want my hope to be in man’s ability to negotiate nuclear proliferation, I don’t want my hope to be in the U.N.s ability to make us all Green-friendly or something, my hope is in Jesus Christ, and in his righteousness, and in the hope that he set before us, and in the Promises of God that he stands in front of us, and that in his Word we find out that man doesn’t live by material things alone, but by his Word. If you don’t know that God, if you’re thinking ‘I don’t want to play church, but I want to know you’ if you haven’t done that, before you leave tonight slip on up, we’d love to give you a Bible and some literature to read, love to pray with you, love to see you make that decision. It means turning away from your sin and turning to him, not religion, relationship, turning to him, it means turning away from your sin, once and for all, turning to him…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 7:1-26 and Deuteronomy 8:1-6, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]