Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Deuteronomy chapter 7 as we continue our study through the Word of God. We are presently in the longest of Moses’ three sermons, covering from Deuteronomy 4:44 through Deuteronomy 26:19. In this section Moses is dealing with the moral and legal aspects of their walk with the Lord as they prepare to enter the Promise Land. How they were to conduct themselves as they entered in. And to explain this Moses gives them examples from the past, their failures, what they are not to do so they will learn the lesson and live lives that would honor God. So with that said, let’s begin reading in Deuteronomy chapter 7, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word.
VERSES 1-5
As Moses speaks to the children of Israel he does so in such a way that it sounds like a done deal, the Promise Land is theirs before they even step in, before they enter it. How could Moses speak so confidently about something that has not taken place yet? Because his words are based in the promises and the faithfulness of God, and that is the only reason he could say it like he did.
The same is true for us. He saved us, He is sanctifying us, and one day we will be taken to glory but when God speaks of these things in our lives, He speaks of them as if they have already taken place. How can He do that? Because He is God and His promises are sure, for what He has promised He is more than able to bring to pass!
They are being told to destroy the inhabitants of the land, to wipe them out. That seems harsh but you have to understand the depravity of these people, the Canaanites. And keep in mind that God gave them 400 years to repent, and they refused and thus, His judgment is coming upon them shortly. And the reality is, they were going to destroy themselves and before they could infect and destroy anyone else, God was going to destroy them!
VERSES 6-8
As we have read in previous verses, they were not to intermarry and please understand we are not talking about interracial marriages here. How people came to that conclusion, that line of reasoning is beyond me. The only difference is the amount of pigment in our skin; we have all been created in the image of God, PERIOD! The issue here is coming together with an unbeliever in marriage, with an unsaved person. They were not to do this, they were to be a holy people and the same is true for us. You are not to be unequally yoked because chances are, they will pull you down, away from God instead of you bringing them to God in this relationship. Remember, there is no such thing as missionary dating!
VERSES 9-11
God is going to use the children of Israel as His instrument of judgment upon the Canaanites for their hatred of Him, for their rebellion against Him and their refusal to repent, to turn to Him!
VERSES 12-16
The Lord is telling them that He will bless them if they are obedient to His Words, but if they are not, if they don’t deal with the enemy and destroy them, they will become a snare to the children of Israel. And folk’s, that is exactly what happened and we should not be surprised. God says what He means and means what He says and we need to listen and obey. God knows what He is talking about!
VERSES 17-24
Once again we see God instruct them through Moses that if they are fearful of the enemy who is before them, remember what God has done in the past to give them the assurance to forge ahead in the present battle they are facing. Past victories because of God’s faithfulness will give us much assurance in the currant struggles we face, because God is faithful. And, as He told the children of Israel, He will go ahead and fight for them just as He will do for us. All we need to do is walk by faith and see the salvation that He will bring to our lives!
Also, God will drive out the enemy a little at a time, not all at once so that as one enemy is driven out, they could possess the land. He does the same with us. Can you imagine if He drove out every enemy once we got saved! We would be prideful, arrogant, and we would not have compassion on others who are going through difficult times. And the biggest issue, if those are not enough, is that we would not have to trust in the Lord! Spiritual growth is truly a process!
VERSES 25-26
In other words, keep your life pure; don’t bring in things that will cause you or your family to stumble in their walk with the Lord. What a great lesson for us to follow. To remove those things that will be a snare to your life and will eventually take you captive! Listen carefully to these words from Paul as he wrote to the Thessalonians, “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” I Thessalonians 5:21-24. May we not forget that!
VERSES 1-2
The call once again is to obey the Lord, to walk as He leads. You see, those 40 years in the wilderness God was still leading them, sustaining them, to keep them dependant upon Him by humbling them. The problem comes as we are in the midst of a trial that we face, and we forget the Lord, we forget about what He has done in the past and then we lose sight of what God is doing. You see, God is not testing us so He knows what is in our hearts, He already knows. He is testing us to show us what is in our hearts!
Now here’s the thing. God tests us to help us to grow, while Satan tempts us to sin, to cause us to fall away from God. Thus, as you go through a test, a trial, don’t let Satan rip you off but let God help you to grow! God wants us to be in that place where we will trust in Him knowing He is leading all the way! But keep in mind, the test and the trial are the same event, but leading you in different directions!
VERSES 3-5
We might say that the children of Israel were being educated by God but to be teachable, you need to be humble, you nee to be open to what God is teaching you and you need to understand that you don’t know better than God! That is just plain pride on your part if you think you know better than God and you are setting yourself up for a fall!
God first allowed them to be hungry, some 2 to 3 million people in the wilderness without a grocery store nearby. Then the Lord fed them, teaching them to trust in Him even when and especially when the situation seems hopeless from a human perspective. Also, in those 40 years their clothes did not wear out, their feet did not swell, and their shoes did not wear out. God took care of them and in a powerful way. If God cares that much about what you eat, about the clothes you wear, the shoes you wear, even your feet, God will also sustain you through everything that comes your way. Maybe not the way you think, but He will do it!
Yes, we need physical bread for our physical body to be healthy and strong, but it does not end there. We also need spiritual food to help keep our spiritual life healthy and strong. What is that spiritual food we are to partake of? The Bread of Life, Jesus Christ and He is the Word! Thus, we need to feast upon the Word of God so that we may grow. Listen to the following statements that Spurgeon made regarding the Word of God. He wrote:
“You have never received spiritual life by your own feelings. It was when you believed God’s Word that you lived; and you will never get an increase of spiritual life, and grow in grace, by your own feelings or your own doings. It must still be by your believing the promises and feeding on the Word.” He also wrote, “In places where they cut diamonds, they sweep up the dust, because the very dust of diamonds is valuable; and in the Word of God, all the truth is so precious that the very tiniest truth, if there be such a thing, is still diamond dust, and is unspeakably precious.”
And finally, he wrote, “Oh, keep to the Word, my brothers! Keep to it as God’s Word, and as coming out of his mouth. Suck it down into your soul; you cannot have too much of it. Feed on it day and night, for thus will God make you to live the life that is life indeed.” (Spurgeon)
Paul put it like this in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
And The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.”
The bottom line is this. If you truly believe what the Lord is saying, if you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, you will obey Him. That is what the Lord is saying here to the children of Israel, look at what He has done for them and now, walk with Him as He is leading! The real life is spiritual, not just physical – not by bread alone! May we learn the lesson.
VERSES 6-10
Why does Moses keep repeating this thing over and over again? The same reason we tell our children the same thing over and over again – so they will learn the lesson. God needs to drive that point home, that He will bring them into the land of promise and when they are there, they need to remember to bless the Lord for all He has done. It is the same lesson Jesus spoke of in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” In other words, you need to focus on God, upon what His Word is teaching you and let Him take care of the material things! Don’t lose the perspective that God is in control. It doesn’t mean we don’t work, that we just sit back and wait for God to provide, but we don’t lose sleep over issues in our lives as we do work, for God will take care of us!
VERSES 11-17
Here is a powerful warning, not only for the children of Israel, but also for us. When they enter into the Promise Land, when things are going well, when they have all the material blessings they could ask for, don’t forget the Lord and come to the conclusion that you have done all of this, you have brought this about in your life! How easy it was for them to forget how God brought them through the wilderness, all that He had done and was doing for them. In Hosea 13:6 we see this played out once again as we are told, “When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me.”
Folks, in Israel today they have forgotten how the Lord has sustained them and brought them back into the land of promise. For almost 2,000 years they were without a homeland and on the heels of Adolph Hitler wiping them out, God brought them into the land of Israel once again, just as He promised them. Today in Israel, 100 million enemies surround them on three sides with the Mediterranean Sea on the other side. And yet, God has sustained them. But they have forgotten the Lord; they are prideful in that they believe they have done this through their military might, their ingenuity, and their strength. How sad when everywhere you look in Israel you see the hand of God upon His people! But they have forgotten the Lord, most of the nation does not even believe in the Lord!
Before you come down too hard on them, where are you in regards to blessing the Lord, remembering all He has done for you? You see, in times of prosperity, when things are going well, we do tend to forget about the Lord, that He has done it, that He is sustaining us, and instead of remembering Him, we lift ourselves up, and that is just plain pride! Here’s the thing, if you obey the Words of God, as the Lord was instructing them to do, you won’t go astray, you won’t forget the Lord!
VERSE 18
Here it is, REMEMBER THE LORD; He is the one who has given you the ability to do these things; and it is all being done to fulfill the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It really is no different for us. We too need to REMEMBER THE LORD; He is the one who has given us the ability to do things; and it is all being done to further His eternal purposes, to further His kingdom and not ours!
VERSES 19-20
What was going to bring them into captivity? Pride would be their downfall. As they forget about the Lord, their focus would be upon themselves and as they focused upon themselves they would be inclined to worship other gods. It is as Proverbs 16:18 tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” How true that is!
Listen to what one person said regarding this issue:
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
- A. Lincoln, Proclamation of a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, 1863
Abraham Lincoln said that prayer, made these statements on the Proclamation of a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer back in 1863! Can you imagine what Abraham Lincoln would be praying for today for our nation? Today, God is truly out of the picture in this nation and look at the bondage we are in. We think that we have all this freedom, but the reality is, we are in bondage to the things of this world because we have turned away from God, we have forgotten Him. And when you think about it, we are like Israel, we think that we have done all this, we have accomplished all this instead of seeing how God has blessed this nation. It is as proverbs 14:34 tells us, “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.”
I like the way The Amplified Bible puts this verse, “Uprightness and right standing with God (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) elevate a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” May we return to the Lord, individually and as a nation. May we remember all He has done for us and is doing for us before His judgment comes!
VERSES 1-2
Here we are some 40 years later and there are still giants in the land, the nations are still strong, the cities are still fortified and now the Lord, through Moses, is reminding them of the situation they were about to face as they are on the boarder of the Promise Land preparing to enter in. Why did the Lord do this when it seems to be some very discouraging words? Let’s read on and see because I believe the next verse tells us the reason.
VERSE 3
Yes the enemy was still strong but don’t focus on the enemy, focus on the Lord because it is the Lord who will give you the victory. That is what He is trying to teach them. It is as Proverbs 21:31 tells us, “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the Lord.” You can gather together all the military might you want, but unless you are with the Lord; your strength is futile in the end. God can give victory to one man over 1,000 because the battle is His! The battle always belongs to the Lord; He would give them the victory just as He wants to do with us. All they needed to do and all we need to do for that victory is to be obedient to the Lord and walk by faith! Then and only then would the enemy be driven out! We see here Divine Sovereignty and human agency working side-by-side!
How true that is in our own lives. The enemy is big, the enemy is strong, but the battle belongs to the Lord and thus, may we walk by faith and see the salvation that He will bring to the situation that we are facing. But apart from Christ we will never achieve the victory that God desires in our lives. Jesus said this in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” But in Christ, well, Paul reminds us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].”
God wants us to partner with Him in these battles understanding that He gives the victory. Paul put it like this in II Corinthians 6:1, “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Again, Divine Sovereignty working side-by-side with human agency, you and me!
VERSES 4-6
Why was God giving the children of Israel the land of Canaan? We see three reasons here. The first is because of the wickedness of those who were living in the land at that time. But was the enemy really that bad? Yes they were and God did give them 400 years to repent before His judgment came upon them, but they did not and became more and more wicked.
According to Archaeologist William F. Albright, in his book From the Stone Age to Christianity, he describes what the primary focus of Canaanite religion was: sex. The featured idols recovered by archaeologists are hundreds of nude female forms in sexually suggestive forms, as well as male idols associated with homosexual cults (From the Stone Age to Christianity, pages 232-235). He wrote, “Thus the Canaanites, with their orgiastic nature-worship, their cult of fertility in the form of serpent symbols and sensuous nudity, and their gross mythology, were replaced by Israel.” (Albright, page 281).
Secondly God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob this land and God will not go back on His Word. What He has promised He is faithful and just to bring it to pass. We are told in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
And thirdly, it was all based on the grace of God. They did not deserve the land of Canaan, they were stiff-necked, rebellious and yet God gave it to them, He gave them that which they didn’t deserve, the Promise Land!
VERSE 7
Don’t forget the past, how you rebelled against the Lord, Moses is telling them. Learn the lesson so you don’t have to repeat it! Israel needed to understand their weaknesses so they would trust in the Lord and we must also learn that lesson. If you doubt that, if you think you can do it on your own, you are in control, look out! Paul gives us a similar reminder in I Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin].” May we heed the warning!
VERSES 8-21
Keep in mind that they are all under the age of 60 except for Joshua, Caleb and Moses. The older generation died out in the wilderness in unbelief and Moses wants this younger generation, the next generation to remember what happened at Mount Sinai with the golden calf as Moses went up to be with the Lord and get the Commandments of God. These are the same people who said that they would obey the Lord, follow Him and yet, as Moses was up those 40 days on Mount Sinai the people got tired of waiting and demanded Aaron to make them a idol to worship God by! And it was not only that, they were involved in immoral behavior as they worshiped this golden calf and God was angry with them!
He tells Moses to get down from this mountain and take care of HIS people. I like that, God gives them to Moses here and tells him to take care of them! Now, who was the first person to break all 10 Commandments at the same time? No, it was not the children of Israel, but it was Moses as he threw them to the ground and they broke in pieces. Now, why did Moses do that? I believe he was showing them that just as he broke them on the ground, it was in response to what they had already done.
And Moses was afraid, exceedingly afraid because He knew the holiness of God and the sin of the people and the two don’t mix, they don’t go together. Thus, Moses intercedes for the people, for the nation another 40 days on Mount Sinai but not only for the nation, but also for Aaron, but why?
Because Aaron was to lead the people and when they wanted an idol to worship God by, he made it for them. And when Moses confronted him on this he basically said, “Moses, you won’t believe me if I told you! We threw the gold into the fire and presto, out came this golden calf!” “I don’t believe it?” “I said you wouldn’t believe it!” And God was angry with Aaron for his sin and lying and was ready to destroy Aaron but Moses once again interceded for Aaron and God spared him. And Moses destroyed this golden calf showing it was nothing, it was not God and it was not to be used to worship the true and living God by!
VERSES 22-24
Moses now recounts their rebellion at various places in this journey to Kadesh Barnea, the boarder of the Promise Land. At Taberah, which means, “burning” we saw how the fire of the Lord consumed some of the children of Israel for their complaints and this is found in Numbers chapter 11.
Next there was Massah, which means, “tempted” because here they complained that there was no water, doubting God’s love and care for them and this is found in Exodus 17:7.
Then there was Kibroth Hattaavah, which means, “graves of cravings.” Here they complained for meat instead of the manna that God was providing for them. They were tired of fried manna, scrambled manna, manna-coti, and of course the famous ba-manna bread! And God did give them meat to eat till it was coming out of their nostrils! And many of them died here. Yes they got meat to eat but God sent them a leanness of soul, spiritually speaking they were starving even though their flesh was fed. And this is found in Numbers chapter 11.
And finally, at Kadesh Barnea, on the boarder of the Promise Land, the 10 of the 12 spies gave the children of Israel a bad report regarding the Promise Land, discouraging the people from entering in by faith. And this is found in Numbers chapters 13 and 14.
What is the point here? I believe it is this. If you do not believe God’s love for you, that He does love you, like the children of Israel, you will be disobedient to His Word, to His calling in your life, just as Israel was!
VERSES 25-29
I like what Moses does here. God said earlier to Moses that the children of Israel were his people and now Moses turns it around, “No Lord, they are Your people!” Kind of a hot potato! Why did Moses do this? It wasn’t that he didn’t love them, but he also knew that God loved them more than he ever could. Thus, God not only loved them but was more than able to do in their lives more than Moses could ever do! How true that is for us in regards to our unsaved family members, our unsaved friend’s, those who are not walking with the Lord. We love them very much and we want them to come to the Lord or return to the Lord but we must also remember that God loves them more than we could ever love them and He will be able to accomplish in their lives more than we ever could. Thus, we must give them to the Lord!
Notice the prayer of Moses here. Moses is asking for God to be merciful on the children of Israel, but why? He wants God to be merciful upon Israel:
Because of God’s past faithfulness to them.
Because of His past faithfulness to our forefathers.
Because of His own glory and reputation among the nations.
Because they are His people.
The same is true for us when you think about it. We should ask God to be merciful to us as He was and is with Israel:
Because of God’s past faithfulness to us.
Because of His past faithfulness to our forefathers.
Because of His own glory and reputation among the nations.
Because we are His people.
As we pray may we fall upon the grace and mercy of God for our family and friends as well as ourselves! You see, our heart is no different than their hearts and you can fool others, but God knows us better than we know ourselves. It is only because of God’s grace and mercy that we are where we are. Let me show you what I mean in the life of Peter, how he can be spiritual, in tune with God one minute and then the next minute, be listening to the Devil.
In Matthew 16:13-20 we are told, “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.”
So far so good, Peter is doing great. He is spiritually in tune to the things of God and then, look at what transpires next. We are told, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’” Matthew 16:21-23.
How can that be? Because the best of men are men at best! God knows our weaknesses and instead of puffing ourselves up, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to work in us and through us that we may shine for Him and bring the glory that is due His name! It is as Moses said, “Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.” Deuteronomy 9:29. God has saved us, He is sanctifying us and He will bring us to glory one day, not because what we have done, but what He has done and is doing and will do in our lives. May we not forget that!