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OK, you can turn in your Bibles 
to Deuteronomy chapter seven. Deuteronomy chapter seven, the 
last two weeks, we've looked at this plan for the conquest. Remember, the children of Israel 
are on the plains of Moab getting ready to enter into the promised 
land. And so the Lord God, through 
his servant Moses, is giving them instruction and encouragement, 
warnings, cautions, exhortations that they need to keep in mind 
as they go. to battle in Canaan. I'll just 
pick up reading in verse one of chapter seven in the Book 
of Deuteronomy. When the Lord your God brings 
you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many 
nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites 
and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, 
seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your 
God delivers them over to you, You shall conquer them and utterly 
destroy them. You shall make no covenant with 
them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages 
with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor 
take their daughter for your son, for they will turn your 
sons away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger 
of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 
But thus you shall deal with them. You shall destroy their 
altars and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden 
images and burn their carved images with fire. For you are 
a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen 
you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all 
the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his 
love on you nor choose you because you were more a number than any 
other people. For you are the least of all 
peoples. But because the Lord loves you, because he would keep 
the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought 
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of 
bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Therefore, know 
that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps 
covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love 
him and keep his commandments. And he repays those who hate 
him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack with 
him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 
Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, the statutes and 
the judgments which I command you today to observe them. Then 
it shall come to pass because you listen to these judgments 
and keep and do them that the Lord your God will keep with 
you the covenant and the mercy which he swore to your fathers. 
And he will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will 
also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land. 
your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of 
your cattle and the offspring of your flock in the land of 
which he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed 
above all peoples. There shall not be a male or 
female barren among you or among your livestock. And the Lord 
will take away from you all sickness and will afflict you with none 
of the terrible diseases of Egypt, which you have known, but lay 
them on all those who hate you. Also, you shall destroy all the 
peoples whom the Lord your God delivers over to you. Your eyes 
shall have no pity on them, nor shall you serve their gods, for 
that will be a snare to you. If you should say in your heart, 
these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? 
You shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what 
the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. The great trials 
which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand 
and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you 
out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the people of whom 
you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will 
send the hornet among them until those who are left who hide themselves 
from you are destroyed. You shall not be terrified of 
them for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God is among 
you. And the Lord, your God, will 
drive out those nations before you little by little. You will 
be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the 
field become too numerous for you. But the Lord, your God, 
will deliver them over to you and will inflict defeat upon 
them until they are destroyed. And he will deliver their kings 
into your hand and you will destroy their name from under heaven. 
No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed 
them. You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire. 
You shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor 
take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it. For it is 
an abomination to the Lord your God. Nor shall you bring an abomination 
into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. 
You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an 
accursed thing. Amen. The chapter begins with 
the instruction for the conquest in verses one and two. They were 
to go in and utterly destroy. They were to conquer them decisively. 
They were to maintain distinction politically, socially and religiously 
in terms of politics. They were not to make a covenant 
with them, nor show mercy. Socially, they were not to marry 
the heathen. They were not to marry the pagans. 
And the religious distinction is found in verse five. But thus 
you shall deal with them. You shall destroy their altars. You shall break down their sacred 
pillars and cut down their wooden images and burn, burn their carved 
images with fire. And then it goes on to indicate 
the reason for their distinction from the peoples of the land. 
Verses six to eight. You are a holy people to the 
Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen 
you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all 
the peoples on the face of the earth. We saw that was a title 
or we saw those were descriptions given in Exodus chapter 19 verses 
five and six. This is the way Israel was to 
be was to function. This is the way God viewed Israel. And of course, there is unity 
between the covenants. When we get to the New Testament, 
this terminology is applied to the Church of Jesus Christ in 
Titus two and as well in first Peter chapter two and in Revelation 
chapter one, a chosen people, a special treasure. God reminds 
them, according to verse seven or Moses says, The Lord did not 
set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in 
number than any other people. For you are the least of all 
peoples. God didn't pick the winner. God didn't pick the numerous 
one. God didn't pick them because 
they were a multitude. They were actually least than 
the other nations. The beauty of this particular 
passage is seen in verses seven and eight. The Lord did not set 
his love on you because of those reasons, but verse eight, because 
the Lord loves you. He decreed it in his sovereignty 
and his good pleasure. He purposed to love a people 
according to his own good will. But because the Lord loves you 
and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, 
the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed 
you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh. He 
then draws out some practical implications in verses nine to 
16. They are to know God. They are 
to obey God if they are faithful in their duty and in their calling 
to go in and dispossess the land of the Canaanites, then they 
will be blessed. Their land will be fruitful. 
They will be fruitful. Their livestock will be fruitful. 
They will not be affected with the diseases that they saw or 
encountered in the country of Egypt, but rather they will enjoy 
good health and long life in the land that the Lord God is 
giving them. And then notice in verses 17 
to 26, God addresses a potential danger. We've already seen this 
pattern. Remember that much of what we 
study in the book of Deuteronomy will be repetitious. God is preparing 
the people to go from the plains of Moab into the land of Canaan. They need to remember certain 
basic truths. They need to remember certain 
basic realities. They need to understand who God 
is. They need to see their calling under him, and they need to execute 
the task that he has entrusted to them with faithfulness and 
with loyalty to the living and true God. And along the way, 
through the midst of these exhortations, there are warnings to alert them 
to the potential danger that they might face. We saw those 
in chapter six. There were particular dangers 
that would face the people of Israel. Well, the latter part 
of chapter seven deals with a potential danger with a temptation, and 
the specific temptation is to doubt God, to call into question 
God's truthfulness, to call into question God's promise, to call 
into question God's faithfulness. Notice how Moses addresses this 
in verse 17. If you should say in your heart, 
these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? You see, God knows us very well. God understands what we are prone 
to engage in. God realizes that though he gives 
a multitude of promises, Though he gives a multitude of blessings, 
we are still prone to disbelief, to unbelief, to doubts and wavering. If these people were to enter 
into the land, they would need to trust God in his promises 
and go based on that reality. But God is addressing the potential 
or the temptation rather to doubt God in verse 17. This has already 
happened in Israel's past. Go back to Deuteronomy 1 verses 
27 and 28. Deuteronomy chapter one. Well, we'll pick up in verse 
26. Nevertheless, you would not go up. but rebelled against the 
command of the Lord your God, and you complained in your tents 
and said, because the Lord hates us, he has brought us out of 
the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites 
to destroy us. Where can we go up? Our brethren 
have discouraged our hearts, saying the people are greater 
and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified 
up to heaven. Moreover, we have seen the sons 
of the Anakim there. This, of course, is a reference 
to numbers 13 and 14. Remember the previous generation? What we're dealing with in Deuteronomy 
is the second generation. The first generation failed in 
this very way. It was because of unbelief they 
did not enter the land. That unbelief is seen vividly 
displayed in numbers 13 and 14. God told Moses, Have 12 spies go into the land 
to look at it, to survey it, to do a reconnaissance mission, 
to do this of the land that I am giving them. It is conspicuous 
in Numbers 13 too. God says this is the land that 
I am giving to them. So they go and they spy out the 
land. And the initial report is it's 
a good land. It's got good crops. There are 
some potential threats there. Then that report changes to, 
it's a bad land. We ought not to go there, because 
the land is filled with the Anakim, or the giants. And so the spies 
come back. The 10 report this to the congregation. The two faithful spies, Joshua 
and Caleb, say, we should go at once and take the land. Well, you know the story. The 
congregation doesn't listen to Joshua and Caleb. Rather, the 
congregation listens to the 10 whining spies, the 10 unbelieving 
spies, the 10 spies who said, it's a bad land. It's filled 
with bad people. Our God is not good enough to 
carry us through on this mission. So the congregation listens to 
this. God then sends them out into 
the wilderness to wander. The bulk of them die. And then 
we have the second generation convened here on the plains of 
Moab. So it's not just superfluous 
what we find in verse 17. God's not addressing something, 
you know, that could possibly happen. He's addressing something 
that has happened in their history and more than likely will happen 
again. This temptation to doubt God. They're told to go in and utterly 
dispossess the land of the Canaanites. to engage in holy war, but the 
temptation will rise up, these nations are greater than I. How 
can I dispossess them? The specific issue in view is 
the fear of man and the absence of the fear of God. You see, 
you can't have those two concepts knit together in the same heart. 
If you fear man, you don't fear God. If you fear God, you won't 
fear man. Well, hopefully you won't fear 
man. There'll still be some remaining fear of man to be sure. But what 
we have here in this question, these nations are greater than 
I. How can I dispossess them? It is the fear of man and it 
is the rejection or the absence of the fear of God and ultimately 
the rejection of the word of God. You know, you might look 
at this or someone might look at this and say, you know, it's 
a legitimate question. These nations are greater than 
I. How can I dispossess them? Well, that's for the onlooker. Should never be among those who 
are understanding of the story. God has promised. God is faithful. God led them out of Egypt through 
mighty, mighty power. They shouldn't doubt him. They 
shouldn't call into question his word. They shouldn't let 
the number of the nations intimidate them or promote fear in their 
hearts. If you should say in your heart, 
these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? He then goes on to deal with 
how they ought to combat that doubt. In other words, verses 
18 to 25 is the antidote to deal with that temptation. So this 
is beautiful. God realizes, God, of course, 
realizes he knows all things always. He knows us intimately. He knows our proneness to wander 
and he knows our proneness to leave the God I love. He not 
only addresses the temptation in verse 17, but he provides 
for us positive helps so that we will not succumb, so that 
rather we will fight the temptation. We will fight that downward tendency. We will resist it. And we will 
indeed find our refuge in God and trust in him wholeheartedly. So he gives the specific antidote 
in verses 18 and following. And the first is the corrective. You shall not be afraid of that. 
We need to just listen to God, brethren. We need to just take 
God's word at face value. It's an amazing thing, isn't 
it? How many times have we ended up in a bad place because we 
didn't listen to God? He says you're going to go up 
against these multitude of nations. It's going to rise up in your 
heart that we may not be successful in this. What God says is do 
not be afraid of them. Do not kowtow to those nations. Do not fall prey to them. Do 
not say in light of your particular temptation, or your particular 
lust, or your particular difficulty, or your particular trial, it 
is an inevitability that I'm going to fall prey to that. That 
is simply not the case. It is simply not true for the 
blood-bought child of God. We have power in the blood. We have power in the spirit to 
resist those temptations, to fight against the enemies. We 
are not to be afraid of them. We are not to succumb to fear. Fear paralyzes us. Fear restricts 
us. Fear ultimately costs the first 
generation their lives. Unbelief manifested in their 
fear. Because what is the fear of man? 
Again, it's the absence of the fear of God. What is the fear 
of God? It is a submission to him. It 
is a trusting of him. It is a realizing who he is and 
our position before him. And we depend upon him. And so 
in the first sense, the corrective is very simple. You shall not 
be afraid of them. The word of God should be enough. 
When we are met with a scripture that says, don't do this, we 
really ought to believe it. When we are met with a scripture 
that says, don't fear the enemy, we really ought to believe it. 
We ought to pray to God to help us to internalize our doctrine. Move it from the catechetical 
to the experiential, Lord. Help us to not just say, yeah, 
I understand Calvinism, but help me to submit to it and sweetly 
comply to the providential dealings of God in my life. Not to fear 
my enemies, not to fear those who are seeking to devour me. You know, the scripture is pretty 
clear with how we deal with the devil. pretty amazing. I remember 
going some to a conference, not a conference. It was more of 
a of a circus, really. It was a particular man who had 
a ministry of casting out demons from Christians, which I mean, 
the whole premise is faulty. Greater is he that is in you. 
than he that is in the world. Christians cannot be demon possessed. This whole man's ministry or 
this man's whole ministry was founded on the unbiblical assumption 
that a Christian who has the spirit of God can be possessed 
by a demon. Anyways, this particular man 
had this seminar, and there's all these people, and there's 
all the music, and there's all the technique, and there's all 
the psychology, there's all the sloganizing, there's all the 
CDs. I mean, the guy really took a 
break to push his CDs and his DVDs and, you know, this book 
and that book. You know what the Scripture says 
with reference to the Christian and the devil? Resist him, and 
he will flee from you. Don't be afraid of him. Don't 
do this. Don't wear garlic. Don't buy 
that man's DVDs. Resist him, and he will flee 
from you. Do not be afraid. Do not be paralyzed. Do not be stricken. Do not be 
restricted. Do not be crippled with this 
fear that somehow you will be overrun. God says very clearly 
on the plains of Moab, if that temptation to doubt rises up, 
squash it, smash it, despise it, and reject it. Do not be 
afraid of them. Just get rid of it. We need to 
take our confession seriously by this faith. Chapter 14, paragraph 
two of Saving Faith. By this faith, a Christian believes 
to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word for the authority 
of God himself. God says, do not fear if God 
says, resist him and he will flee from you. If God says in 
First Corinthians, chapter 10, that there is no temptation that 
is not uncommon to man, when God or when you are faced with 
a temptation, God will always provide a way out. There is always 
an escape hatch. There's always an exit door. 
There is always a place to flee so that you don't fall prey to 
sin. You can't say, well, I was scared. Well, I just knuckled under. 
Resist the temptation. We need to believe that whatsoever 
is revealed in the word for the authority of God himself. We 
ought to pray for an increase in faith so that we joyfully 
and consistently receive everything in the scripture. I mean, just 
think about it. We have no problem with sovereignty 
on the cosmic level, but very often, and I'm preaching to myself 
here, we struggle with sovereignty on the individual level. Yes, 
I know God is sovereign over everything. He's in the heavens. 
He does whatever He pleases. But what about me? Resist that 
temptation, do not fear, do not be afraid, do not live that way. 
The believer ought to pray for an increase in faith so that 
we joyfully and consistently receive everything in the scriptures. 
I love what the confession goes on to say. This faith saving 
faith, although it be different in degrees and may be weak or 
strong, we can't forget that. That's why I'm suggesting we 
pray for an increase in faith. I'm not saying, you know, everybody 
here, we're all, no, we all have weak faith. We all need to pray 
for more faith, an increase of faith. Machen says, weak faith 
won't move mountains, but it certainly attaches one to the 
Savior. Weak faith may not move mountains, 
but it attaches one to the Savior. You've got faith of a mustard 
seed, you're connected savingly to Jesus Christ, and that we 
can rejoice. The Confession says this faith, 
although it be different in degrees and maybe weaker, strong, yet 
it is in the least degree of it different in the kinder nature 
of it, as is all other saving grace from the faith and common 
grace of temporary believers. And therefore, though it may 
be many times assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory growing 
up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ, 
who is both the author and finisher of our faith. When we fear those 
things, God commands us not to fear. Ultimately, we're not living 
by faith. And I'm not saying, you know, 
defeat your giants and live the victorious Christian life. I'm 
just saying we need to take what Moses is saying on the plains 
of Moab, make sort of a cross-covenantal jump and say, you know, there 
are times when we're afraid, we're paralyzed by potential 
difficulties or trials or issues or challenges. God says to his 
people, don't be afraid. That's the corrective. Secondly, 
the exhortation versus 18 and 19. You shall remember well what 
the Lord, your God, did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You see why 
Bible study is so important. We often try to we oftentimes 
try to fight spiritual battles and we're not armed. In other 
words, we're supposed to hide the word of God in our hearts 
and minds. We're supposed to know the great 
events of the exodus. We're supposed to know the great 
events of the land of Canaan. We're supposed to understand 
the cross of Jesus Christ says in verse 18, you shall not be 
afraid of them positively exhortation wise. Verse 18 B. But you shall 
remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all 
Egypt. If amnesia produces apostasy, 
as Ralph Davis says, and I think he's right, faithfulness is fed 
through remembering who God is and what he has accomplished. 
If amnesia produces apostasy, faithfulness is fed or strengthened 
or is built up through remembering who God is and what he has accomplished. I believe the Psalms of Asaph 
are so instructive here. Asaph was a melancholy brother. Asaph labored under great strain 
and difficulty. You read his Psalms and you can 
connect in the sense that here was a brother who was burdened, 
he was downcast. And in the midst of his burden 
and downcast, he never lost sight of his faithful God. He never 
lost sight of the true and living God. And this is what they're 
being exhorted on the plains of Moab. You need to remember 
the Exodus. Remember well what the Lord your 
God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the specific means of 
accomplishment. How did God do this? He did it 
through great trials, which your eyes saw. You can't deny this 
work. You can't deny the glory, the 
majesty and the power. He does it through, he did it 
through signs and wonders. You remember, you know, the flies? You remember the blood? You remember 
the frogs? You remember the hailstones? You remember the light or the 
darkness? Remember that the children of 
Israel and Goshen have light in all their dwellings, but the 
rest of the nation was steeped in a darkness which could be 
felt. You saw what the Lord did. And if you're tempted to say, 
well, we didn't see it, you see it in the word. God has revealed 
himself to build up our faith and to strengthen us so that 
we may lay hold on on God and not be afraid of the enemy. It 
says through the great trials which your eyes saw the signs 
and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which 
the Lord God brought you out. It's beautiful. You need to take 
this to heart. You need to think in terms of 
God's deliverance. You need to think in terms of 
God's power. In other words, when you're about 
to go into the land of Canaan and you are doubting for a moment, 
just think Exodus. Think Red Sea. Think death of 
the firstborn. Think Pharaoh and his armies 
being slain in that Red Sea. You need to think about the power 
and majesty of God. It is this that feeds and strengthens 
and helps our faith. Bible study, theology on the 
plains of Moab in order to fortify them for the conquest that they 
were about to engage in. Notice the practical application 
here in verse 20, end of verse 19. Says by which the Lord your 
God brought you out. Now here it is. So shall the 
Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. You see 
the point? You understand? You hear what's 
going on here? Trust Him. He's not going to 
let you down. He's not going to leave you. 
He's not going to forsake you. He didn't bring you out of the 
land of Egypt the way your forefathers said, because he hates you. I 
mean, what gall and wickedness and abject evil is one twenty 
seven and twenty eight. They actually have the gall to 
say and utter the Lord brought us out of Egypt because he hates 
us. That is just disgusting. Unbelief 
really helps us to understand Hebrews three and four when the 
apostle says they did not enter in because of unbelief. They 
didn't trust God. They didn't believe the Lord. 
In fact, they not only didn't trust him, they impugned evil 
motives upon him and said he brought us out from that place 
where we had leeks and we had garlic and we had cucumber and 
everything was quite nice. We were slaves, but you know, 
we could learn to live with that. He brought us out of there because 
he hates us. That is unbelief. It's wicked 
and it's ungodly. And the Lord wants them to crush 
it on the plains of Moab. So notice the implication. The 
Lord God brought your fathers out of Egypt in the Exodus. So shall the Lord your God do 
to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. God can kill Pharaoh 
and his armies. He can certainly kill Girgashites, 
Hivites, Hittites, Amorites, Jebusites, Canaanites, all the 
peoples of the land that you've been tasked to go in and utterly 
destroy. God, the Lord, is fighting for 
you and he is able to stop them and to crush them. We junk covenant 
for just a moment. Paul, the apostle, uses a very 
similar argument in the book of Romans in Romans chapter eight. He says, he who did not spare 
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not 
with him also freely give us all things? You see, in the plains 
of Moab, if the exodus, then Canaan for the Christians struggling 
with trials, with difficulties, with remaining corruption, with 
doubts, with perplexities, with the issues of life. Paul puts 
right before his hearers, right before the people of God, he, 
God, who did not spare his own son Christ, but delivered him 
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us 
all things? This argument is a greater to 
the lesser. If he delivers up the son of 
his love, if he's pleased to bruise him at Calvary, if he's 
pleased to crush him on the cross, how is he not going to come to 
your aid on a daily basis? If he has sent his son and hung 
him on that cross, how is he not going to be there when you 
call for him on a Monday morning? You see, it's an argument from 
the greater to the lesser. If the greatest of all, Christ 
hung on the cross, then certainly when I'm dealing with some difficulties 
on a Thursday in 2012, in May, in Chilliwack, God the Lord is 
able and willing to come and aid me. You see, that's how Paul 
argues in Romans 8. Similar motif here. This is what's 
going on in the plains of Moab. So that's the exhortation. Verses 
18 and 19. Remember, we're looking at the 
antidote to combat doubt. First, corrective. Don't be afraid 
of them. Exhortation. Remember well what 
the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. And now thirdly, 
an encouragement in verse 20. Notice in verse 20, moreover, 
the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those 
who are left who hide themselves from you are destroyed. God will deal with your enemies. He's going to use the hornet 
to accomplish that. Stinging insects are going to 
come and produce confusion among the enemies of the Lord. In fact, 
when you look at verse 23 there in Deuteronomy 7, the New American 
Standard in the ESV has it that God will cause confusion among 
the peoples. Well, what would be more confusing 
than stinging hornets coming? to, you know, in mass to attack 
a people. This is what God had already 
spoken in Exodus 23, Exodus 23, 27. I will send my fear before 
you. I will cause confusion among 
all the people to whom you come and will make all your enemies 
turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before 
you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite and the 
Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from 
before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and 
the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little 
by little, I will drive them out from before you until you 
have increased and you inherit the land. And I will set your 
bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the 
desert to the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants 
of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out before 
you. You shall make no covenant with them nor with their gods. 
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin 
against me. For if you serve their gods, 
it will surely be a snare to you. And then in Joshua 24, Joshua 
24, in the midst of conquest, verse 12, I sent the hornet before 
you, which drove them out from before you. Also, the two kings 
of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. So God is encouraging them. The people were to take courage 
in light of the fact that God would bring confusion and destruction 
to their enemies. You say, wow, that's. pretty 
hard for the proverbs say that the righteous rejoice when the 
wicked. Romans twelve were told to give 
place to the wrath of God. He says, Vengeance is mine, I 
will repay. The idea in Romans 12 is not 
no wrath. The idea in Romans 12 is that 
the Christian is not to take the wrath into their own hands 
and inflict it upon their enemy, but rather give place to wrath. 
God repays. God will deal with his enemies. 
The Saints of Christ have that desire and that longing for justice 
and righteousness. So on the plains of Moab, this 
idea of the Hornet driving out their enemies should have put 
a spring in their step. Should have made him happy. Should 
have made him rejoice. Should have made him faithful 
to their God, the Lord is going to use an insect to deal with 
our enemies to bring about such confusion and such perplexity 
that will be able to deal with them and to conquer them. Corrective 
exhortation, encouragement. Fourthly, notice the reminder 
versus twenty one to twenty four. The reminder versus twenty one 
to twenty four, you shall not be terrified of them. This is 
why I call it a reminder. He just told them, don't be afraid 
of them. He's telling them again, don't 
be terrified of them. God knows us, doesn't He? He 
knows we need repetition. He knows our heads are very thick 
and our hearts are oftentimes very hard. And so He speaks specifically 
to those areas where we are prone to fall prey to temptation. He says, you shall not be terrified 
of them. You need to remember who God 
is. Verse 21, for the Lord your God, 
the great and awesome God is among you. We've seen this thus 
far on the plains of Moab. Theology is so important. It's 
so crucial. You need to be reminded. Don't 
fear them. You need to realize God is great. God is awesome. God is among 
you. Can't forget that. That's theology 
proper. Those are the building blocks 
of the Christian life. You don't remember that God is 
great. God is awesome and God is with you. You can be an unhappy 
camper, right? I mean, what's more encouraging 
than to know that God is great? God is awesome and God is with 
me. I mean, with that, what can man do? Isn't that what Paul 
says in Romans 8? If God is for us, who can be 
against us? That's the same idea here. You 
shall not be terrified of them for the Lord, your God, the great 
and awesome God is among you. Notice his plan specified versus 
twenty two to twenty four. His plan. Verse twenty two. The 
Lord, your God, will drive out those nations before you little 
by little. We just saw that in Exodus chapter 
twenty three as well. I think that verse twenty two 
as well anticipates later revelation. Verse 22 anticipates, or maybe 
we could say foreshadows, Joshua and Judges. You see, in Joshua, 
the people go in, and to a degree, not perfectly, they're obedient. 
They engage in the conquest. They are dispossessing. Again, 
not perfectly, not completely. But Joshua is far more positive 
about the plan of conquest than the first chapters of Judges. 
So you see, we read here in verse 22, the Lord's plan specifically, 
the Lord, your God will drive out those nations before you 
little by little. It's not going to be the case 
that you cross the border and everybody bails. It's not going 
to be the case that as soon as they see a warring nation, they're 
going to be afraid and run. It's going to be little by little. 
God has a specific plan for that, as verse 22 makes plain. You 
will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the 
field become too numerous for you. Lest the land become primitive, 
the land become like it was before it was inhabited. Then instead 
of Canaanites to deal with, you've got lions and tigers and bears 
to deal with. Right. I mean, you trade one 
problem for another. It would be a little by little 
and a gradual progression so that as Israel invaded, as Canaanites 
were dispossessed, there would be a transfer of citizenship 
and the beasts of prey would keep into the mountains and keep 
into their places so that they wouldn't be a threat to the people 
of God, Israel. As I said, though, I think verse 
22 certainly anticipates what we'll find later in the difference 
between Joshua and judges, because you read this and you say, wait 
a minute, this isn't what happened. We know the end of the story, 
don't we? I mean, don't get discouraged. 
Don't go, well, you know, these are words falling on deaf ears. 
No, there were always a remnant within Israel. There were always 
faithful ones, to be sure. We can't forget that. Even at 
the time of Elijah, God had his 7,000 who hadn't bowed the knee 
to Baal. But we know, as we witness the plains of Moab here, we know 
it's not going to be long that they go into the land, and instead 
of dispossessing it, they do exactly what God told them not 
to. Remember, Joshua himself makes a treaty with the Gibeonites. 
Don't make treaties with them, right? They're not supposed to 
do that. So Joshua shows the positive 
side of this conquest. Judges then reports what happened 
as a result to their apostasy, to their infidelity, to the fact 
that they didn't follow God as they ought to. One man says, 
because of the apostasy of the people after Joshua's death, 
this gradual dispossession of the Canaanites was set aside 
by God as a punishment on the people. It was not until the 
period of David that full possession was taken of the promised territory. Turn for just a moment to Judges 
chapter 2. Judges chapter 2. verses twenty to twenty three. 
Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he said, 
Because this nation has transgressed my covenant, which I commanded 
their fathers and has not heeded my voice, I will no longer drive 
out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 
so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep 
the ways of the Lord to walk in them as their fathers kept 
them or not. Therefore, the Lord left those nations without driving 
them out immediately, nor did he deliver them into the hand 
of Joshua. What can we say? They didn't listen. They didn't 
pay attention. It didn't get to the heart. It 
was temporary. It was for a time. It was fleeting. You can continue to read in Judges 
chapter 3 verses 1 and 2 for more of the same. So this positive 
view of the conquest under Joshua quickly deteriorates after his 
death to what we find in the book of Judges. There were repercussions, 
there were sanctions, there were judgments and chastisements for 
them for having rejected God, for being afraid of the people 
and for not carrying out their faithfulness with reference to 
their tasks. So back to Deuteronomy 7, that 
was just a little bit of a window there. Verse 22 sort of shines 
the light or looks forward to what we'll find out later. It 
would be a little by little. It would be gradual. Verse twenty 
three, the Lord your God will deliver them over to you and 
will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed or will 
throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. God 
will go before you and he will deal with your enemies. You see 
all the all the encouragement, all the reminders, all of the 
helps that he is giving them so that they don't fall prey. 
They don't succumb to that temptation to say, what if we can't do it? What if we can't dispossess the 
land? What if we can't go forward in 
the fear of God and carry out his will for us in our lives? God says, remember the exodus. 
Remember what I did to fail. Remember how I did it and understand 
that I will act for you as well. With reference to the Canaanites 
in the land that you are going. He will deliver their kings into 
your hand, you will destroy their name from under heaven. No one 
shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed 
them. If the king, then certainly the 
subjects. So that's the reminder. And the 
fifth part to this antidote is the command repeated in verse 
25. You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire. 
You shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor 
take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is 
an abomination to the Lord your God." This has already been stated 
in chapter 7, verse 5, and again in verse 16. This whole thing 
is basically an application of the First and Second Commandments. 
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make 
for yourself an idol. The temptation will be strong 
when you go there. You will see their deities. You 
will see their gods. You will admire the gold. You'll 
admire the silver. But remember that Heron principle. 
Remember there were things under the band that anathema. They 
were devoted to destruction. the idol and what it was made 
out of. So you don't say, well, you know, 
we've we've destroyed the idol, but we're going to melt it down 
and we're going to take the silver and the gold home. No, he says, 
and he forbids them. You shall burn the carved images 
of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver 
or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest 
you be snared by it. For it is an abomination to the 
Lord, your God, faithfulness to God, faithfulness to the covenant. faithfulness to the Lord Almighty 
is threatened, not because God is somehow weak or feeble, but 
because his people are weak and feeble. And when they see the 
idols of the land, their hearts may be prone to run after them. So God says, They're under the 
band. It's an abomination to you. Do not engage in this. Don't take them. Don't be ensnared 
by them. And then the final aspect of 
this chapter is verse 26, the warning concerning the conquest. Nor shall you bring an abomination 
into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. 
You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an 
accursed thing. So both the action And the attitude 
is essential. Don't bring it to your house 
and don't utterly despise it. Right? Attitude and action. Don't 
bring it into your house. Hate them. Don't look favorably 
upon it. Don't say, well, you know, it's 
OK. It's all right. It's OK for those guys. Absolutely 
not. The attitude of detestation and 
abhorrence for the idol ought to promote the action of destroying 
it, not coveting it, not being ensnared by it. Same is true 
in the New Covenant. Our attitude towards sin ought 
to be such that we don't play with it. We don't covet it. We 
don't get near to it. We don't sort of cozy up to the 
idol. We need to resist it. We need 
to despise it. The fear of the Lord, Proverbs 
says, is to hate evil. When we fear God, we hate evil. That hopefully will keep us in 
the right frame. The failure to hate sin is oftentimes 
the soil in which the pursuit of sin is cultivated. Christopher Wright said, finally, 
the chapter returns to its opening concern, the vital importance 
that Israel remain unimpressed, untempted, unsnared and uncontaminated 
by the idolatry of Canaan. You see, that's what's in view. 
Ultimately, the moment you start to say, wait a minute, can we 
really do this? These nations are more numerous 
than we are. The moment you introduce a little 
bit of doubt about your covenant, God, it's not going to be long 
before the doors wide open and you're bowing with your pagan 
neighbors down to Baal, which is what would happen in Israel 
eventually. Who was the man in redemptive 
history to follow that actually fell prey to verse 25? It doesn't happen very long after 
the book of Deuteronomy. Who saw and coveted and took? Who was it? David did for sure, 
but who else before? Achan, absolutely. Joshua chapter 
7. I saw beautiful things. My heart went out to those beautiful 
things. So I took those beautiful things 
and I hid them underneath my tent. What happened to Achan 
and his family? They were stoned to death. Now, 
the death penalty generally isn't applied to theft. These were things under the ban, 
that harem principle, that devoted to destruction principle. Those 
things were not open to the Israelites. Those things were contaminated. 
Those things were problematic. For Achen to bring that back 
to his tent, to bury them, brought his whole family into jeopardy, 
and ultimately it cost them their lives. So Achen was certainly 
a man that did not listen to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Unfortunately, 
David does the same thing. Go back to the garden. That's 
precisely what Eve says. It was desirable. to the eyes, 
it was something to make one wise. And so I took it and I 
gave it to Adam. This is the progression. This 
is the tendency. This is the way or the anatomy 
of sin. James deals with this in James 
chapter one. And so on the plains of Moab, 
they are being cautioned against entertaining doubts about God, 
fearing the people, because that would ultimately end in their 
ruin and in their destruction. So that's the end of Chapter 
7, the plan for conquest with a specific reference to the temptation 
that would face the people in doubting the living and true 
God. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for your 
word. We thank you for your grace. We thank you, Father, for your 
mercy to us, God. And as we read through chapters 
like these, as we read through the scriptures as a whole, help 
us, Father, to always be humble. To never get proud or arrogant 
or to think that we could never stumble or never fall. Help us 
to be fearful, not of our enemies, but fearful of you. Help us, 
God, to have a right esteem, a right appreciation for who 
you are. And help us, God, to hear your 
word, to believe your word, and to submit to it, to obey it, 
to delight in it, to love it, to all of it, God. Not just the 
parts and pieces that we approve of, but even the things that 
oftentimes run contrary to our nature. We just praise you for 
your grace and mercy, and we pray that you would watch over 
us in the remainder of this night. Bless your people in this congregation. Encourage each and every one. 
And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.