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Amen, so Deuteronomy chapter 7 getting right into it says there in verse 1 when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land Where there 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 the Hivites and the Jebusites Seven nations greater and mightier than thou and when though the Lord thy God shall deliver them from Before thee thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them So right out of the gate, you know, God's telling them hey, this is how you're going to handle these people when you get there and it's not a very He says, you know make no covenant. What does he mean by that? He says there's not gonna be any peace agreement You know, you're not gonna spare these people. He wants them utterly wiped out. That was God's intention. How did that happen? No We know that they've left Some of them there and then the Bible says that they were a thorn in their side all their all their days And in fact, that's probably what led a lot of them astray later When they continue to have these false gods around but we see that this is how what God wanted done when they went into this Land with these people is that he said no covenant with them make no peace agreements And of course, I didn't take very long where they that they failed at this, you know And if you would turn to Joshua chapter 9 to be a familiar story for many of us But perhaps not to others and we'll take a look at it here. You know, God said when you go in there That he didn't want you making any kind of covenant You were to show no mercy unto them that they were to just take them out and It wasn't very long that they were in the land at all before this Commandment was broken and you see that in Joshua chapter 9 verse 1 and where it says and it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side Jordan the hills and the valleys and the coast of the great sea over against Lebanon the Hittite and the Amorite the Canaanite the parasite and the high of it and the Jebusite is that sound familiar Heard thereof, okay, so they've come over to Jordan and they've they come over Jordan into their land They've heard of this that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua with Israel with one accord when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard that Joshua had done it to Jericho and to AI they did work willingly and went and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sack sacks upon their asses and wine bottles old and Brent and bound up and old shoes and clouded upon their feet and old garments with them and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy and they Went to Joshua under the camp of Gilgal and said unto him unto the men of Israel. We become from a far country Now therefore make ye a league with us and they said unto Joshua. We are thy servants Excuse me verse 7 he said and and and the men of Israel said unto the Hivites Hivites pre adventure per adventure you dwell among us How shall we make a league with you and they said unto Joshua? We are thy servants and Joshua said unto them who are ye and from whence came ye? So you gotta remember or from what's coming? He said God doesn't say wipe, you know, every single person out. He's very specific He says these seven nations. That's what we read there in Deuteronomy. This is why Joshua begins his line of inquiry He starts to ask. Okay. Well, who are you? You know before we go make any league with you, you know We want to know who you are. And of course, they these guys the inhabitants of Gibeon. They're being deceptive, right? And when the and when they said Joshua we are thy servants and Joshua said him who are you in from from whence come ye? Verse 9 and they said unto him from a very far country now that should be right there You know if you knew a little bit about statement analysis, you know when they put the word very in there They you know, they're trying to overemphasize we're from a very not just hey, we're from a far country No, we're from a very far country, you know, like it's certainly not any of these nations that you've been commanded to wipe out It's not any of those. No. No, it's some a very far country, you know, how far is it? Oh, it's very far away They didn't say what country you know So that's something if you can always look out when you see people emphasizing things where they put overemphasis on it They're probably trying to deceive you So he says we're from a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God We have and that's not at all the case is it these guys are just trying to save their skins, you know They're just trying to get out of this thing alive They know that God's coming down on this the inhabitants of this land that they're gonna get wiped out So they're going about this, you know and trying to make sure that they're not gonna you know get taken out He says for we have heard the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Ah king of Bashan, which was at Ashtoreth Wherefore the elders and all inhabitants of our country spake to us saying take victuals and With you for a journey to go to meet them and say them we are thy servants Therefore now make ye a league with us now. This should have struck Joshua's a little odd This straight doesn't sound a little odd you that here you are that you're from a very far country You know, if you're from a very far country, then you're not even they're not even a threat to you, right? The the evidence of Israel the children of Israel weren't even a being a threat to them and now you have a king telling you To go make yourself their servants. It's just kind of a strange story. I mean Joshua sometimes it you know might you know Joshua from you know is a guy that by one of the few characters in Bible you see just doesn't do anything wrong You know and and here's like one of that the only instance that you can really think of where he kind of gets things a Little backwards and it's really not even necessarily entirely his fault he's kind of just being deceived here and he goes and he says and We've heard all of it, you know verse 11 and and wherefore in verse 11 They say go, you know make make you league with us This is our bread But we took hot of it for our provisions out of our houses and the day we came forth to go into you But now behold it is dry and it is moldy. This is the evidence. See we're not we're not your neighbors here And these what bottles of wine which we filled were new and behold they be rent and these old garments and our shoes are Become old by reason the very long tree. How long is that journey? Oh, it's very long. It's a very far country and the minute is of Their and the men took of their victuals and asked and not counsel at the mouth of the Lord and that's where they went wrong Wasn't it because they did not ask counsel the mouth of the Lord, you know, maybe they gone and said hey Lord Who are these people said? Yeah, they're trying to they're trying to pull the wool over your eyes take them out right, but they didn't do that and what happens the verse first verse 15 and Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them to let them live and these were people that God wanted destroyed and He goes ahead and he and he's deceived You know these people come to him he gets he gets to see not his credit, you know Joshua defend him a little bit because he's a great man of God and they were these people were lying, you know, they were being very deceptive and Here's the thing though when when they are finally discovered here in verse 16 where it picks up It says and it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them That they heard that their neighbors They were their neighbors and that they dwelt among them So now the truth comes out not very long after I mean just three days later. I mean, it's such a short time frame You might say oh, well, it's so such a short time frame, you know, go ahead and wipe them out now It's not like years have gone by it's just three days He says he says and the children Israel journeyed and he came on to the to their cities that the third day now Their cities were Gibeon and Tephira and Biroth and Kerjath-jearim and the children of Israel smote them not because the princes of the congregation had sworn of them by The Lord God of Israel and the congregation murmured against the princes But the princes said unto all the congregation we have sworn unto them by the Lord of Israel now Therefore we must not touch them and then of course it goes on talks about they're gonna make them The hewers of wood in the and they were there to bring water and wood to the house of God That's what he made they were brought into to be servants in the house of the Lord to base basically be What we would call, you know slaves today They were they were made to serve with hard labor in the house of God because of their deception, right? but what's important to notice here and if you would turn over to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 is that You know, yeah, these people lie, didn't they these people lied? They deceived Joshua and the people into thinking them making them think that they were somebody they weren't and the truth comes out You know fairly quickly, you know, humanly speaking we could step back and say well, you know, it's only been three days I mean go ahead and take care of business do what you need to do here, but You notice the princes and Joshua they're very careful not to break this vow And that's something that we need to learn from the story is that when you make a vow you need to keep it You know, and that's why Jesus said if you look here in Matthew chapter 5 verse 33 he said Again, you have heard that hath been said of them of old time thou shalt Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform the Lord thine oaths And he said but I say unto you swear not at all So, you know if you do make a value better keep it But you know, what's better than making a vow is to not make a vow at all It's to not even make that swear not even to make that oath to begin with because that's how serious God takes the breaking of vows Now there are you know, we do we do we do take you know marriage vows, right? we do we you know, and that's that's a whole nother subject in itself, but Here's the thing when you're when you're pledging yourself to another person You're not swearing to God or anything like that. You're pledging yourself this other person. You should take that seriously That's something that has to be kept, you know, and it's better not to swear at all It's better to just not swear at all than to make an oath and then break it and that's what you learn from the story Here back when Joshua is that when they made that vow? Yeah, you know what? It only been three days and the only reason they made that vow is because that they thought they were somebody else And it's and we humanly speaking and say it should have been alright They should have just go ahead breaking the vow and take care of them and just wiped them out like God wanted But they understood something that a lot of us need to understand today now is that when you make a vow when you when you swear something you better keep it because God takes it seriously and You know It's better just not swear at all. It's better to just not make that oath If you don't think you can keep it just don't even open your mouth. Let your yay be yay and your nay be nay So he's now if you would keep something in the New Testament, we're gonna be coming back to the several places in the Testament tonight So it's just quite keep something there But go back to Deuteronomy chapter 2 So you see the first thing that God wanted them to do when they go into this land is he said? You know you shall make no covenant with them and nor show mercy unto them, right? You know mercy is for the weak, you know, you must show your enemy no mercy, right? No, and nobody's getting these references. That's probably a good thing. But in verse 3 it says Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, you know, speaking of vows, you know, it's meaning you're making a covenant And neither shalt thou make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter Shall 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 So God he says there look first of all, I don't want you to show any mercy unto them I said, well, that's not very nice. Why wouldn't God want to show mercy? Isn't God merciful? Of course he is but God is also very just you know, God is a God of justice and the Bible says he is by no means clearing the guilty and You know if I know we're gonna be returned several pages tonight So just be be ready to turn but go to Leviticus chapter 18. I know we looked at this when we first got into this This book, but I want us to remember What it is that The type of people that they're dealing with here I'm getting all mixed up Leviticus chapter 18 We looked at this when we first started Deuteronomy But it's good to have a reminder because we're gonna see that they destroy these people and you come across verses like this all the time They're saying look wipe them out show no mercy to these people. No, no peace. No peace treaties, you know, no negotiations Wipe them out. That's what God wants and people want to throw their arms up and say well, that's not you know How dare God, you know and shake their fist at God, but let's remember who it is that we're dealing with You know if you read a Leviticus 18 We're not gonna take the whole time to read this forsaken time But it talks about all of the abominations that these people were involved in. I mean bestiality sodomy Incest the word the most wicked vile since sins that only a reprobate people could be take part in Sins that are unnatural to man. These are these are there that's what you're dealing with when you're talking about these nations reprobates Haters of God and he says here in Leviticus 18 look at verse 24. He says defile ye not in any of these things For in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you It's like they did all these things and the land is defiled. Well, therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it So it's not that just God is picking on these people He's visiting their own iniquity upon them And he says thereof and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants. I mean Talk about colorful language in the Bible right the way God just describes this the land is so defiled It's just it's making the land itself vomit them out. That's how disgusting and vile these people are Say, how can you say that? Well, look at the things that they were involved in I mean you go it back up go home to and read Leviticus 18 tonight If you haven't read it and read what it is that they're involved in You know, they're they're offering their children the fire to mow like wicked people And he says look youth in verse 26 you therefore shall keep my statutes and my judgments and it shall not commit any of these abominations That's what he calls them abominations things that God hates things that God detests. That's what these people are involved in So what we have to understand here with God saying look go in there show no mercy unto them make no covenant with them Don't give your daughters unto them. Don't take their daughters unto you It's because these are wicked nations that God is dealing with at this time These are wicked nations that deserve to be punished and God is visiting their own iniquity Upon their heads going back and turn back to Deuteronomy and we'll continue on there in verse 3 where it says Neither shalt thou make marriages with them and this is you know again This is a really good important principle for us to learn and we talked about this in the sermon a few weeks ago I Can't remember the name of right now Stranger danger was the name of it if you haven't heard it listen to that one online, but he says, you know He's showing us again. You know, we're not to be marrying the heathen. That's something that God's people should be avoiding and For very good reasons, you know, we talked about in that sermon I preached about, you know We use King Solomon as an example, right as somebody, you know Who even had seen God appeared unto him twice and spoken to him and he heard God And I mean he had such and yet in his old age when he got on in years his heart was turned He's worshiping idols and he's worshiping on these demonic gods because of his strange wives now What a strange wise foreigners to Israel that they were not believers in the Lord. These were heathen people that turned their heart That's what it's saying their Deuteronomy that they would they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other gods That's exactly we saw happen to a man as great as King Solomon But we think oh, but we're better than that. Oh really was the Lord appeared unto you twice And talk to you and told you personally things No, he didn't did God did he give you wisdom and riches and honor has he done that for you? And yeah, we're good. Yeah, we oh we just think well I can change him I can change her You know, I'm sure it's out there But do you really want to roll the dice on that and and you know and see if that it's gonna work out Why not just trust God and I just follow what he says here and I don't want to go on on about this but you know verse You know in another we talked about Psalm But you know, here's another to kind of you know extrapolate on this think about this King David did the same thing as Solomon in regards to having he multiplied wives as well, didn't he? but you know what he didn't have strange wives and His heart didn't turn away from following the Lord God, you know, he didn't end it necessarily in the worst way now He did some bad things in his life But you know and another thing to think about the fact, you know King David is a guy when you look at the beginning of His life, you know, he went through a lot of hardships. He went through a lot of trials, didn't he? I mean he's running from Saul. He's living in the mountains. He's trying to save his own neck, you know Literally, he's trying to not get killed by Saul and he's out there in the woods for years He's having to go live in the Philistines, you know, he's feeling persecuted He's writing all these, you know Psalms just expressing, you know and lamenting his position He went through a lot before he came King before before he was established and prospered. He suffered a lot of things You know, I think that probably brought him a lot closer to God and he that's probably why maybe he maybe he did some things That were wrong, of course, but he didn't go as far as Solomon did and marrying strange wives And if you look at Solomon, he was one that just kind of had it all handed to him, didn't he? It all just kind of fell into his lap. There was no struggle. There was no suffering that he had to go through So that's something to think about too in that story and you know But the real the purpose of all this is found in verses four and five The why behind it why is it that God is saying look don't make peace with them Don't make a covenant with them don't take give and take in marriage with these people because of verse four for they will turn away thy son from following me and It's the end and that they may serve other gods and think well, that's not you know, okay What's the worst that's gonna happen is they're gonna quit serving the Lord, you know If I marry this heathen unbeliever the worst that could happen is, you know, we stopped going to church You know, we don't raise our children and nurture and admonition of the Lord, you know something that life isn't gonna be what it could be Actually, it's worse than that. Keep reading because it says So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee Suddenly, you know that will actually kinder got kindled God's anger When he sees God's people going and marrying heathens when they know they shouldn't Now some things are done in ignorance and we still suffer the consequences But if you know unto whom much is given shall also much be so much also be required You know if we understand this concept in this principle, we've been warned and we go ahead and say well, you know I know better than God and we go out and do that we're gonna suffer the consequences and you know what you might even kindle the wrath of God and I'm not saying he's gonna wipe you out suddenly like here I mean, this is a pretty you know unique situation But it's a principle in Scripture that we can learn from that if we want God's blessing in life You know, we should probably marry people that believe like we do and have the same principles that we do But again, I preached a whole sermon on that. I don't want to go on about that tonight But it is in the script in the text. So we had to talk about it now go on there verse is verses 6 & 7 where it says It says in verse 6 We'll pick it up in verse 5 but thus shall you deal with them you shall destroy their altars and Break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire He says destroy it get rid of it. You know, God's not like, you know set up your own thing But keep their stuff from you know, memorabilia put it in the Smithsonian so we can admire it from years ago This was the ancient civilizations. Oh, you know God's like no get rid of it We don't even want them to be remembered on the earth. They're that wicked. Just get them off of here Let them be just they're the remembrance be blotted out from under heaven He says in verse 6 why why do all this for thou art and holy people in the Lord thy God The Lord thy God hath chosen me to be a special people Unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth of the earth The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were in more number than any people For he were the fewest of all people So these are interesting verses whenever you come whenever I read these this always makes me stop and think about it Just about the story. I mean God didn't choose these people because of who they were, you know God chose them because of the covenant he'd made with their fathers You know, he was keeping his word that he had made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and he's like saying look You know, you are a special people unto me, you know, you are very if you would turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 4 He's saying look, you know, you are special people. You're a holy people You're a peculiar people is what we read in the in the in the New Testament and regarding the New Testament And God's saying look, you know, and it's not because you're all that and you know God didn't get a bargain when he got the children of Israel and newsflash God didn't get a bargain when he got me and you You know it cost him dearly, right? And we're not God's gift to whatever, you know, and that's what he's trying to get across here He says look you are my people and I want you to to to do my follow me and keep my commandments You know, you're special you're holy you're peculiar but don't think it's because of who you are that you're that that I've made you this You know, I did this for your sake look there in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 1st Corinthians chapter 4 We'll look at verses 6 through 7. It says for I say unto you through the grace that is given unto me to every man Now let this look just right there that first statement think about this Paul says for I say unto you So Paul speaking with authority or he's saying look it's me that's saying this I say this for I say But he noticed what he does right after that through the grace that is given unto me so he's not saying you know, yeah, he's he's uh, you know, he's putting himself out there as an authority, but he's also Backing that authority up by saying and it's only because of the grace that is given unto me through God through the grace that is given unto me To every man that is among you not to think of the grace that is given unto you To every man that is among you not to think more highly than he ought to think So at the beginning, you know, Paul's exemplifying that he's saying look I don't think more highly than I that I ought to think You know, yeah, I say this but it's through the grace that's given unto me You see what i'm saying? You see you follow me here and he says to every man that is among you not to think more highly than he ought to think And that's really what the children of israel are being told in deuteronomy chapter 7 They say look, you know Don't think it's because you were the greatest of people I chose you I chose you because you were the fewest And you were the you're the smallest. I mean think about the position they were in when god found them slaves in egypt under hard bondage Trying pharaoh's trying to wipe them out telling them to kill their children you know, they were You know the bible like we talked about in previous chapters bible. God called egypt an iron furnace You know, it was an inescapable Place of destruction it was fire. It was made of iron. They couldn't get out if it hadn't been for god, they would have been destroyed So god's saying look don't let this go to your head. That's what he's trying to say here That's what he's saying in first corinthians 4 He says but to think soberly according as god hath dealt to every man the measure of faith He's saying look don't let this go to your head Don't get puffed up about this, you know, and that's a good lesson for us too. Yeah, we're we are god's people We've been saved by the blood of christ we're peculiar people we're holy unto the lord, you know, heaven is our home We know god. We know the truth But let's not get this air of you know arrogance and think about well that just makes us better than everyone Now it makes us better in the sense that we're saved But we're still just you know, we're still we're still sinners just like the people we're trying to reach You know and we could end up our lives could end up just as Messed up and and and down in the dumps as anybody else's You know just because you're saved that's no guarantee that you know, life's going to turn out great for you You still have to do your part But where we're trying to get across is, you know, don't let this go to your head just because you're saved I mean, it's a great thing to rejoice and don't get me wrong, isn't it? It's it's great to sit back and think wow i'm saved and thank god that The knowledge of the truth that I had an ability to understand and comprehend and know the truth. Praise god for that But i'm not going to just walk around with my nose 10 feet up in the air and think Well, i'm going to heaven. Where are you going? You know And I remember I when I was working in uh excavation And we were putting a four inch, uh gas line. We were running we were running gas line and we came around across another gas line And uh, there's all the guys down there. We had to we had to cut this line We were debating about whether or not to cut we know is it alive? Is this a deadline? Is this an old line because it wasn't marked it wasn't there we thought well This is probably just an old Gas line or then we're like, well, even if it's old there could still be get vapors in there, you know This thing might blow up we're thinking right and i'll never forget I said I said well I took the soles all of the guy's hands and I said well i'll cut it because I know where i'm going I said that and I remember just the look on their faces like Okay, jerk, you know And I thought and I thought about that. I said I really did sound like a jerk when I said well It's okay if I die today Because I know where i'm going, you know you guys i'm not so sure of you know You probably shouldn't cut this line because we all know where you're going, right? You know, that's how it came across And that was kind of reality check for me. I was like, hey, you can't just you know, have that kind of an attitude Don't get puffed up just because you're saved just because you're god's child, you know, I mean It's you know only according as god hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. The only reason you got saved Is because somebody showed you And the holy spirit ministered to your heart And you believed so we shouldn't have that kind of attitude now And paul, you know, like I started out there in the beginning of first corinthians four. He's a great example of that You know somebody who has the authority to say the things he had to say But doing it very humbly do it very meekly not being puffed up And if you would we'll see more of this if you turn over to first timothy chapter one first timothy chapter one See paul is a is a great example in scripture somebody who has a very uh, you know a sober view of himself He understands the authority that he has but he also he's a very meek man. He's a very humble man But he knows when to you know when and how to put his foot down And and when not to and when to uh, and and how to go about go about doing it And he's not doing it out of a place of being puffed up You know, he's doing it out of a place of of god-given authority. It says there in first timothy chapter one Look at there in verse 15 where it says This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief Now, I don't think paul here is just waxing eloquent or just trying to put on a woe is me Show or you know trying to make himself, you know Um throw a pity party here paul. I really think we'll leave that about himself. He said look I am chief Yeah, he goes on another play. You know, i'm the one who persecuted the church He talks about all the wicked things that he did and he was a wicked guy, you know And he says how be it verse 16 for this cause I obtained mercy that in me jesus christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them What should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting? So yeah, you know paul He has a real sober of opinion opinion of himself because here, you know, you can see his humility. It's very sober Yeah, you're right paul you you work pretty bad And he says he shows here in verse 16 his understanding of god's grace. This is the attitude paul had He's like look If I obtained mercy for a purpose that in me, you know that I could be an example To those that hereafter believe on would believe on him to life everlasting You know paul knew that god was using him as a model A pattern to others to say look you're you know, and here's the thing people get real down on themselves Sometimes well, I could never be saved. I'm so such a wicked person. Well, you're not as bad as paul Paul was pretty bad. I mean i'm not trying to badmouth the guy But when you're when you're hauling away the saints when you're touching the lord's anointed And you're and you're and you're bringing letters and taking the the the safe safe people into prison and often they're ending up killed When they're coming and laying your the clothes their clothes at your feet and then stoning steven the first martyr in the early church That you know, you're you're a wicked guy. You've been you know, christ said, you know, it's difficult for thee to kick against the pricks You know, he was resisting christ. He was resisting the truth But god he has a very sober opinion of himself and a realistic opinion himself and he's saying look for this cause I obtain mercy That I might uh be a pattern to them which should be hereafter believe on him to life everlasting He's saying look. I know god's using me as an example to other people who come after me He will say oh i'm too wicked. I'm too bad. Well, you know what? No, we all are No one, you know, we're all wicked in our heart, you know, but the bible says the heart is desperately wicked now Have you done things as bad as paul? You know, I probably not, you know, if I if we had to I doubt anybody has to be perfectly honest in this room And he understands all this. He has a real sober opinion himself. He's not puffed up in in in his salvation And what god is using him the way god is using him because he understands god's grace and he understands the result Which is that god gets the glory look there in verse 17 now under the king eternal immortal invisible The only wise god be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen So he has a real sober opinion, doesn't he of himself? He does not think of himself more highly than he ought to He had his understanding. What's the result god gets the glorification And you know, if you would turn to ephesians chapter two ephesians chapter two, you know the admonishment we saw in deuteronomy to israel And and and the example of paul and the grace that was showed to him of god You know it all and has the same result And and that's the glorification of god and that's the same for us today You know, maybe we're sinners, you know, we were held about we're saved You know, we're not we should have a very sober think very soberly soberly about ourselves and by all means we should rejoice in god and our salvation because That is the end the end result just like paul there, you know, where he says speaks very bluntly about himself And then gives god glory, you know, it's the same way for us if you look there in ephesians chapter 2 Look in verse 4 but god who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us You know people always talk about how they they love that, you know, well i'm going to go to heaven because I gave my life To christ well, you know, it's he he loved us. It's not how much about how we love him. It's how much he loved us Even when we were dead and sins have quickened us together with christ where by grace are he saved and hath raised us up together And to made us sit in heavenly places in christ jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through christ. Jesus I mean, that's that's what we are in heaven. We are the example of god's grace and goodness and kindness towards us And that's always the end result when we think soberly, you know If we're gonna have a sober, uh thinks and not let this go to our head not get puffed up puffed up or anything It's it's gonna be because we understand like look none of us are good enough to go to heaven We're all sinners and at the end god gets all the glory for it But if you would turn back to deuteronomy, we'll move on here deuteronomy chapter seven look at verse eight where it says Uh, but because the lord loved you, you know, he's saying verse seven, you know Don't think it's because he didn't he didn't choose you because you were a number than any people Uh before you were fewest of all people But because the lord loved you and he says look that's why i'm using you. That's why you're holy people That's why you're peculiar people. That's why i've set you apart because I 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 bonmin And from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt He goes on in verse nine says know therefore that the lord thy god he is god The faithful god which keepeth covenant mercy with them that love him and his commandments to a thousand generations And repayeth them that hate him to their face and to destroy them He will not be he will not be slack to him that hateth him, but will repay him to his face So what we get out here in verses eight and ten where he says there Uh, he keepeth covenant mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments Now he doesn't say that he keeps covenant mercy with with people who have the right blood flowing through their veins That's somebody said He says he keeps covenant mercy with people who have the right genealogy And can point back to their you know, their ancestors as being you know, one of the twelve tribes of israel And you know, this is something that you know would exact this commandment here and or this statement here in verse nine and ten That would actually exclude modern israel Which is the complete opposite of what you hear today? Oh, they're god's chosen people. Why? Because they're israel You know because of their lineage supposedly, right? That's what you hear and a lot of zionist. Uh Zionism has crept into churches and christians have Swallowed this hook line and sinker Not here, you know, we don't buy that Because and it's not because you know, we're anti-semitic. It's because we believe the bible Because the bible says right there in black and white That god is a god that he's the faithful god which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him Does modern day israel love the god of the bible? Not at all not one bit they certainly don't love jesus They hate that name Anybody who spits after saying the name of jesus does not love god Anyone who writes wicked blasphemous things that cannot be repeated from a pulpit does not love god And they write those things about our lord So you have to look at that verse and say He keeps covenant mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments. Do they keep the commandments today? No, they don't They don't where where are the sacrifices? They don't keep that You know, they well, we don't have the altar. Well you the bible says you could make a pile of stones and do it Because they don't keep the old testament law and christians they they think That they're that they're just going to get a pass that well you're jewish, you know, you're in And you know and then they say people who would ever preach anything and go ahead Let's let's just remind ourselves of this verse. I know we all know this. Let's go over to first john chapter two Let's the let's the brainwashing begin to take an effect even on us right because it's it's everywhere we turn You know when you're living in a country that's sending billions of dollars in aid to that to the nation of israel You know if there's there's a chance, you know, you might run up off on some of your thinking But it says here in first, uh, first john chapter two look at uh, verses 22 and 23 He says who is a liar but he that denieth that jesus is the christ He is anti-christ that denieth the father and the son. You can't have one without the other Whosoever denieth the son the same hath not the father So if you deny the son, you don't have the father so we don't worship the same god. They have another god And they say oh you're you're you know, you're anti-semitic. No, i'm just preaching the bible And you know the most And it's such a stupid, uh accusation to throw At our church, you know, whether it's us as individuals or our pastor. I hear that one throwing it at him all the time Oh anti-semitic Yet he's probably gone And knocked on more doors of jewish people and tried to give them the gospel than any of these people that are leveling those accusations And they were just in south tempe last night And it was just jewish door after jewish door after jewish door and you know, he talked about a sermon you saw the little you ever see the little uh, The little thing they put on their door the little scroll in it the little You know what? I mean? Because they got they put like the microfilm in the in the box and they put it in there you know because it's just like a It's like a good luck charm to them or something, you know, because they think they're keeping the law You know, we don't walk up to that see that. Oh, they're jewish Well, let's just you know And just walk away and not knock the door not give an opportunity to give the gospel that would be anti-semitic That would be hating the jews to just say oh they're good Oh, they you know, and they're they're fine They they don't need to hear the gospel they're they're already in because uh because of their blood The only thing that's going to get you into heaven is christ blood not some lineage that you have just because uh And I don't want to go off too much on it But you know, it just reminds me every time whenever you come across these passages like look god is saying right there if you do not Love me and keep my commandments. I'm not going to keep my covenant the covenant is conditional And you've seen all the time in the old testament they stop following god they stop keeping the commandments God takes them out of land destroys them spreads them out And then and then they get right with god then they come back in then they get they get out of sorts with god again God takes them back out Now in 1948 did all the jews get right with god They didn't did they get saved? No, they didn't They still hate god. They still hate the god of the bible. They still hate jesus christ. They still hate christianity But that's not going to stop me or or anybody that actually loves them from preaching the gospel to them And try and wanting to see them get saved, you know, and we've we've seen jewish people get saved And accept christ as savior And you know and you think you think is it really that big a deal? Well, it will be when you actually knock on the on the door of a jew and actually see how How brainwashed they are and how lost they are and how sad it really is I remember years ago. I knocked on the door in south tempe of all places right And uh, the guy was at the door. I said he went through my spiel said hey, you know Are you 100 sure you're gonna go to heaven and he got this smug look on his face. He said of course They started closing the door real slow. It was like i'm jewish And close the door That's what that guy's counting on going to heaven his blood not christ's You know christ's blood means nothing to him Now I don't hate that guy I thought that was sad I said why do I say that's sad that guy's gonna go to hell Because he's rejected the god of the bible So we just have to be reminding ourselves because you see it when you go through the old testament, you know, there's It's it's as plain as the nose on your face that it's not this unconditional Uh covenant that god has with these people that they're just in because they're in the club There's only jesus said there is you know, no man cometh into the father, but by me There's only one way and it's through christ and Uh, well, we'll continue on here in deuteronomy chapter seven where it says there in verse seven 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 That should send chills up and down your spine to think that I mean, it's one thing to make your neighbor mad, you know And to get you know, it's one thing the hatfields and the mccoys were one thing right when they're out there feuding with one another It's another thing when god hates you. It's another thing when god's going to be the one that pays you back Because it's not just going to be you know him sneaking over in the night and letting the air out of your tires You know, it's it's going to be serious business with god And I mean look at what he's doing to the people of that land that hated him these filthy nations He's that are doing abominable things. He's repaying them to their face, isn't he? He's visiting the iniquity back upon them But what we really want to learn from this and if you would turn to romans 12 And when you get to romans keep something in romans because we're going to come back several times tonight, but romans chapter 12 What I want us to understand first of all is that haters deceive deserve what they got coming You know if you hate god, well, you know what then you deserve what got what you got coming You know and I was just talking to uh pastor anderson today And hopefully i'm not stealing any thunder from a sermon that he might preach because I said you should preach a sermon about that But you know, there's been several people and you know politicians particular that have attacked our church That have been outed and have had god, I believe repay them to hit their face you know, we had the minister, uh gigaba over there in in batswana believe it was or he was the one that was responsible for getting you know pastor banned from the country and thrown out and all these other and you Know and several other people and resisted the work of god I mean here a group of people are just trying to come in with the bible And teach people how to go to heaven And these people are resisting it fighting against god And uh, you know doing his prophet's harm as it were And they ended up getting banned and thrown out Well that guy got outed for you know, I really don't want to go into the sordid details of what happened But let's just say he made a very inappropriate video that got leaked and was blackmailed and the guy got kicked out of office And then just today I can tell you about this local politician in tempe. I don't know exactly what he was Who uh, you know had called our landlord and was like, hey trying to get us kicked out of our building like imploring Our landlord to throw us out Which you know, thankfully we have a landlord who understands, you know money talks You know So he's trying to get us thrown out And it doesn't happen of course, but then that guy gets outed for corruption and everything else I mean and and i'm just on a path to them. It's like you got to preach a sermon on that You got some material here, you know, god will repay them to their face You know, we should learn from that is that it's better. Just let god repay your enemies Just like leave it in god's hands and let him take care of it. Look there in romans chapter 12 I mean, that's what the new that's what the bible teaches us to do Because you know what when it's god that's repaying it. He's going to do a much better job than you and I ever could I mean, what what's the worst that we could do look at? Romans 12 look there in verse 18 where it says If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men So we should strive and desire and work at living peaceably with all men we should try to get along With our neighbors people that you know don't like us even we know we should try our best to be friendly and kind and uh, you know and not to to to cause problems and he says Verse 12 dearly beloved avenge not yourselves, but rather give place under wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine. I will repay saith the lord Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him and if you thirst give him drink For in so doing thou shalt heap holes of fire on his head be not overcome of evil, but overcome of good evil good So what is he trying to say here? He's trying to say look, you know Let me take care of it. He says vengeance is mine, but so often we read it We want to you know, the old joke that we read it. Well vengeance is fine No, it doesn't say vengeance is fine It says vengeance is mine, you know, but we sometimes we want it the other way You know, someone does us dirty, you know, and we want to get back at them Someone's giving us a hard time at work or whatever because of our faith or something like that And now and now we just want to lash out the bible says, you know what overcome evil with good and let god handle it, you know, because here's the thing god, you know, god probably doesn't always want to just You know come down and and and cloud up on somebody just because you know They made some comment at you because of your lifestyle or something or because of your beliefs God would rather see that person get right with god and get saved You know and here's the thing. You should overcome evil with good. You'll be nice to that person. Maybe they'll come around you know And and and let and if you know vengeance has to be taken Leave it up to god and let him be the one that does it Because he's way better at it now keep something there in romans and turn back to deuteronomy And you know, he's kind of leading up to verse 11 with all this You know, he's telling us about you know Don't make marriages. Don't show them any peace. Uh, you know, don't make any covenants with them. You're a holy people God will repay, you know, love me keep my commandments and he says in verse 11 thou therefore shall 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 you hearken to if you hearken to these judgments and keep them and do them that the lord thy god shall keep unto thee the covenant which And the mercy which ye swear unto thy fathers. So again, there's another great verse that shows you it's not It's not an unconditional covenant that he made with them It sounds pretty conditional to me, doesn't it? If you keep if right if ye hearken to these judgments and keep them and do them that the lord of god shall keep unto thee The covenant mercy which he made the fathers it sounds like there's some stipulations there's some prerequisites to keeping that covenant He goes on and says in verse 13 and will love thee and will bless thee and multiply thee you also bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy land and thy corn and thy wine and thine oil and thy increase of thine kind the flocks of thy sheep in the The land which you swear unto thy followers to give thee and that shall be blessed above all people Therefore there shall not be male or female among you or among your uh, barren among you or your or among your cattle And the lord god will take away Uh from the all sickness and will put away the evil and evil diseases from egypt which thou Uh knowest upon thee and will lay them upon them all of them that hate thee And thou shall consume all the people which the lord thy god shall deliver thine eyes shall have no pity upon them Neither shalt they'll serve their gods for he they will be a snare Unto thee so he's saying look i'm gonna bless you, you know, i'm gonna i'm gonna Take care of the people that are gonna oppose you and but notice in verse 11 where he says It's a therefore he said thou therefore You know, you're gonna do this Why is this all gonna happen because of the date because of therefore because of everything we just read leading up to this You know, you're gonna be keeping god's commandments for these reasons. That's what he's saying there. Therefore So keeping god's commandments, you know what it shows us there in that passage is that when we keep them Is that it spares you trouble, right? It spares you a lot of trouble and I know we've talked about this and and i've kind of thought lately You know going through this book. I feel like i'm starting to sound like a broken record, you know obedience obedience obedience It's for your own good. It's for your own good. But you know what so be it because god's being redundant here God's repeating the same thing. God's trying to drive in the same message over and over and over You know, if you'll keep all these commandments You do all these things, you know Your your land's going to be blessed. Uh, you know, you'll be you'll be fruitful in your marriages and in your in your agriculture You know, god's going to bless you and god is going to spare you a lot of the trouble That comes with not following him. So the blessing is twofold, isn't it? You don't have to experience all the the pain agony and woe that the world does that the heathen does You know that on itself is a blessing to not have to Have anything to do with all that that comes along with that baggage that comes along with sin and everything And not only that but then god also adds a blessing on top of it and says, okay now you're keeping on commandments That's spared you a lot of heartache in your life. And now i'm going to bless you on top of it Now i'm going to make your life even better So it's a win-win situation as we've already talked about in previous sermons. We're going through this In previous sermons we're going through this But here's the thing no one Is exempt from this law, you know, and that's kind of what I was talking about earlier Is that we should never have this attitude, you know we should not be puffed up that we should think of ourselves soberly because We're not exempt from this law of having god punish, you know us and if you would turn back to romans chapter two You know just saying well i'm saved now. God will never never punish me You know, i'm good to go i'm never going to have to deal with uh Any any uh, you know, I could just do whatever I want. There's no consequences now So look there in romans chapter two in verse three The bible says in verse three concerning, uh, i'm sorry. I'm in romans one romans two verse three. He says And thinkest thou this o man that judges them which do such things and doest thou and doest the same And doest the same that thou shall escape the judgment of god, I mean it's one thing to know the commandments of god Say yeah, these things are right, but i'm going to go ahead and not do them You know, you judge somebody for something, but you're the one you know, you're a hypocrite basically Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of god leadeth thee to repentance But after thy hardness and impertinent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of god Who will render to every man according to his deans You know getting right, you know being god being saved being god's child being a per you know of the house of god It does not exclude you From you know, god judging your works And repaying you according to your deeds To them who by patient countenance and well-doing seek for glory honor and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil to the jew first and also to the greek Why because verse 11 for there is no respect of persons with god You know if anything, you know being a child of god being one of god's people just makes you more accountable to things of god Just means that god's going to expect even more of you because you have learned and known these things So no one is exempt from this, you know And that's kind of what he's getting across here in deuteronomy chapter seven and saying look, you know, i'm going to bless you You know if you keep my covenant if you keep my commandments and we see that reiterated in romans as well Where none of us is exempt from these things But if you would look go back to deuteronomy chapter 20, we'll start wrapping this thing up deuteronomy chapter 20, excuse me chapter eight verse 20 He says in in verse 20 as the nations which the lord destroyeth before you I'm in the wrong place deuteronomy chapter seven He said moreover the lord thy god will send the hornet among you I was reading from the wrong chapter earlier, wasn't I? I don't know. I don't care remember but he says in uh, Yeah, I think I was let's back it up to uh verse 11 Did I get it thou therefore? Yeah, I did. Okay. Yeah He says, okay, let's pick it up in verse 14 thou shall be blessed above all people There shall not be male or female barren among you or your among your cattle And the lord will take away from the 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 and thou shall consume all the people which the lord thy god shall deliver thee Thy nine shall have no pity upon them Shall have no pity upon them Neither shalt they'll serve their gods for that will be a snare unto thee If thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations are more than I how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shall well remember what the lord thy god did unto pharaoh and unto all egypt The great temptations which thine eye 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 You know, i'm just reading this and it just reminds me, you know how we can bring this kind of into today and apply it in our own lives is You know, we get saved and we think well, that's great. But then we have something come up in life We think but god can't help me with that You know, we come into some obstacle or some difficulty in life and think yeah, I understand that god, you know Snare, you know saved me from the fires of hell. I know that god came down and lived a perfect life, you know in jesus christ It was died and buried rose again and went through all that and he's willing to have gone and suffered all that for me You know the bible says he that gave us his own essentially not also freely give us all things But sometimes we get in our thinking we start thinking well, I know god did all that but you know How can I he's not going to help me with this and that's kind of what's going on here. He's saying look You know i've chosen you and if you start to say, you know When i'll see us to land these uh, these are these nations that are more than I how can I dispossess them? You start to doubt whether god's gonna be able to do this He says remember what I did for you. He says he takes them back to egypt and says remember All the things you saw in egypt, you know, that's the same thing with us in our life, too When you know, we come into these difficult situations, we should always remember. Well, you know, god God already did the hardest thing there was for me You know lived a perfect life, you know buried was buried suffered three days in hell and rose again I'm sure he could help me out in this situation, too I'm sure he's willing to come down and and give me a hand if you'd go to him and ask And that's kind of you know, we can make some quick application there but pick it up there and uh in verse 20 where he says Moreover, uh, the lord thy god will send the hornet among them until they that are left and And until they that are left and hide themselves from thee shall be destroyed boy that stings, right? He goes on verse 21 thou shall 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 little by little That thou mayest not consume them at once lest the beast of the field increase upon thee I mean look at how careful god is being with them He's even saying look you're going to dispossess something but not all at once In case the beast of the field come up, you know God didn't want to have them to even contend with you know, the lions and the tigers and the bears right? Oh my But he goes on in verse 23 and says but the lord thy god shall deliver them unto thee And destroy them with the mighty destruction Until they be destroyed and he shall deliver thy kings into thine hand and shall destroy their name from under heaven There shall no man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them So he's showing him here these verses that the greatest to the least right of these people Were no match for them because of god because of who their god was It didn't matter like it says there in verse 24 it or excuse me in uh We'll just look at verse 24, you know the kings He says and he shall deliver their kings into their hands Right, even the greatest among them the top brass Shall not be able to and that's exactly what you see happen in joshua if you recall the story He destroys those five kings right in joshua chapter 10 god and god god fights for them Causes the sun to stand still and they they chased him and then they were weary and god sends hailstones And the bible says more men died from the hailstones that god sent than the armies that of joshua God killed more people than joshua did that day and he killed those kings So these kings weren't even going to be able to stand before them And he says in verse 22 and the people of the land, you know, you got the the greatest and just the people of the land You know, they they were not going to be able to uh to stand before them. But what's really great is verse 21 Where it says and where he says he you know, thou shalt not be afraid of them For the lord that my god is mighty god a mighty god a terrible I'm, sorry verse 20 more of the lord that god will send the hornet among them now notice when he sends the hornet Among them until they that are left. So this is actually, you know something god was doing at the end Right until they that are left after they had gone in and began to destroy them You know because it's if they that are left and hide themselves from me So he sends the hornet not, you know right at the beginning but it's even when the people start to realize Okay, we can't you know, we're defeated we can't win so they scatter they start to hide god doesn't let them go and hide God doesn't let them just like oh they've dispersed, you know, they're not gonna be trouble. God sends the hornet after them I mean the lead the greatest to the least The king all the way the guy that's cowering in some bush somewhere god's gonna fight against those enemies There's nobody that's gonna be able to stand before them and when you read this, you know So much of this makes me think about revelations the things we read there, right? God's gonna send the hailstones, you know, you got the hornets right here and then you got in revelation You got you know, the the the those beasts that he describes with you know the hair of a woman the face of a man the teeth like line and The tails of a scorpion and it's given them the power of them to to torment men And they shall wish to die and death shall escape them. I mean god is tormenting all these people And you know, really this should be an encouragement, you know to anyone that actually might see that tribulation. I mean That's a sobering thought, you know, you're writing this I was writing this i'm thinking, you know, sometimes we forget There's going to be a generation that sees the tribulation whether it's ours or the next Or our grandchildren or a great-grandchildren There's going to be a generation that comes up and has to face all these things face The anti-christ now one world government and and and everything that comes along with it and the persecution you know, they should look to this story and be encouraged and reminded that you know, god if god fights for you You know if god before us who then can be against us? You know and we could go to romans 8 we won't for the sake of time But you know the bible makes real clear in roman 8. There's nothing that's going to separate us from the love of christ You know persecutions afflictions death Nothing So that's kind of what he's trying to do, right? He's trying to encourage them and say look i'm fighting for you I don't care if it's the king. I don't care if it's some coward that's turning his tail and running i'm gonna get him You know, and that's an encouragement that we could have if we end up being that generation You know where maybe we're the ones that are you know are being persecuted just remember that you know god's gonna pay him To their face god takes vengeance But notice here in verse 25 and 26, you know god, you know promises them all these blessings god says i'm gonna fight for you And and you know, he's gonna he's gonna do all these great things for them But in verse uh 25 he says the gravement images of their gods shall you burn with fire? Thou shall not desire the silver or gold that is on them nor take it under thee lest thou be Thus they'll be snared therein for it is an abomination the lord thy god neither shalt thou bring Shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house Lest thou be a cursed thing like it but thou shall utterly detest it and thou shall utterly abort for it is a cursed thing So god here at the end You know god this whole chapter is telling about all the great things He'll do for them all the battles he'll fight from all the blessings. He's willing to bring upon on upon them But what's he saying here at the end that he wants the credit that's doing? He's saying look don't bring these abominations in don't let don't let them turn your heart for me Because god expects and he deserves the credit that that's do him You know, and that's the same thing in our own lives You know We should make sure that we're giving god the glory that we should That we're never letting something take the place of god in our life after he's done so many things for us And you know and because he's willing to do so much more because there's so many things that you know Blessings that god is willing to bestow upon us in our lives You know, we should not be letting other things take his place We shouldn't you know, you're not bringing into our house or probably bringing into our life, you know He says don't bring these things in your house You know, we shouldn't be allowing things come into our own lives that are going to steal the glory from god Why because he deserves the glory he's earned it. He's worthy of it thou art worthy to be praised god So Here's the thing, you know if we did that, you know If we did something if we let these things become a snare to us We could just easily as end up on the wrong end of god's vengeance And we could just i'm not saying we're going to lose our salvation. But you know, we might kindle the wrath of god And now we're sitting here having to take some of these punishments And we certainly don't want any of that but you know just to kind of summarize and conclude the sermon here You know, what did we learn tonight? We learned several things There are several things in this passage that we can learn from You know one we should not be consorting with the heathen, you know Our most closest and intimate relationships should not be with the unsaved And you know you find that again in first peter you can read about that But we should let that puff us up, you know, why should we be consorting with them because we are peculiar people We are a holy nation. We are lively stones. We are we are a royal priesthood the bible says in first peter But we shouldn't let that puff us up either. No, we shouldn't be consorting with them You know and making leagues with them But we shouldn't also let that puff us up and think well that's because we're better than them It's because of the fact that god knows it'll be a snare into us and bring us draw us away from him And he deserves that you know god's blood what else we learn that god's blessing and cursing Is determined by our keeping or rejecting his word? You know you want to be blessed of god in your life or you want to be cursed? What's all based upon how you handle the word of god? What role it's going to play in your life how obedient you are to it? And it's not by as we saw some, you know supposed bloodline It's not your hereditary. You're you're in the club or something So really, you know, what do we need to do with this sermon? We need to learn to obey god You know and let him bless us Let him understand that he's there to defend us to help us out You know god in your life can either be one of two things god can either be your greatest ally Or your feast fiercest foe in life, you know, and it's really up to us whether which side of god We're gonna get we're gonna get the ally Or are we gonna get you know, the enemy, you know, i'll take the ally You know and that's all determined by our obedience to god's word. Let's go ahead and pray