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We looked at the first half a few weeks ago. We'll look at the latter half this evening. Deuteronomy chapter 7. I'll read the chapter and then we'll look specifically at the latter part, verses 12 to 26. A bit of a reminder along the way, but I just want to read the text first. So Deuteronomy 7 at verse 1.

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 in number than any other people, for you were 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 will 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 peoples "'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. Well, just by way of reminder how we got to this section in the book of Deuteronomy. If you've been with us for any amount of time, we started in the book of Genesis. We went through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and now we've come to Deuteronomy.

And Numbers shows or demonstrates the death of the first generation. In other words, the first generation did not believe the promises of God and therefore they perished in the wilderness. So what Deuteronomy brings us to is the plains of Moab with the second generation poised and ready to go into the promised land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So it's the second giving of the law. It's the same law, but it's the second law in terms of its revelation on the plains of Moab. It is the same as what they got on Sinai in Exodus chapter 20, but again, second generation to prepare them so that they can go on what's been called the conquest.

When they enter in to the land of Canaan, they're supposed to dispossess the land of the Canaanites. And as we see here, the specification for holy war in chapter 7, they're to make no social alliances, no political alliances, and certainly no religious alliances with the Canaanites. Because if they do that, then they'll turn their back upon the true and living God. They'll compromise and engage in idolatry.

So what we have in the book of Deuteronomy is a series of exhortations by Moses, God through Moses, to the people to prepare them to go into the promised land. So chapters 1 to 4 is a historical review, where they had been and how God had delivered them. Chapters 5 to 28 deal specifically with an exhortation to covenant loyalty. And foundational to that is chapter 5, which is the Ten Commandments. So chapter 5 is the giving of the basis of the law of Israel, the law of God for Israel.

And then in Deuteronomy 6 all the way to chapter 28, they are exhorted to be faithful in light of that law. In other words, if you go into the land and you're faithful to God, then you will be blessed. If you go into the land and you're not faithful to God, then you will be cursed. In fact, that's how Deuteronomy chapter 28 basically reads.

There's blessings for obedience and there's cursings for disobedience. And then after that section, there's some summary and conclusion, and then you have the succession of Joshua, and then ultimately the death of Moses in Deuteronomy, recorded in 32, chapters 32 to 34. So that brings us back to chapter 7. So last time we saw the conquest of the Canaanites in verses 1 to 5. Again, holy war, or the policy for holy war on how they are to go into the land and utterly dispossess the land of all the Canaanites. We looked at that. We noticed that this was not capricious on the part of God. It's not arbitrary. It's not vindictive. It's not unrighteous.

But what happened is the Canaanites were wicked. So God raised up Israel to use them as the means to judge Canaanites and when Israel inherits the land, and then they function in the same way, then God raises up other persons to vanquish them. So it's not that there's sort of a sliding scale with reference to God. No, if you disobey, you will ultimately be cut off. The Canaanites had filled up the measure of their guilt, God uses Israel to judge them. When Israel fills up the measure of their guilt, God uses Assyria in 722 B.C. When Judah doesn't learn the lesson, God raises up Babylon in 586 B.C. When none of them learn the lesson even after the coming of Messiah, God raises up the Romans in A.D. 70. So God promises judgment upon those who are disobedient. and so with reference to holy war he tells them to go in and to utterly dispossess the land of Canaanites.

In verses 6 to 11 he highlights the distinction of Israel from the Canaanites. Notice the language applied by God to the children of Israel. Verse 6 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.

Now, when we get to the New Testament, we see that that language is applied to the true Israel of God. The true Israel of God is our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Israel of God is the church in union with Him. So this is not strictly confined upon the ethnic Jews forever and ever. This was for Old Covenant Israel. This is how they were identified. But as Jesus comes, the true vine, John 15, when Jesus does what was commanded of Old Covenant Israel, and he does it successfully, he not only satisfies divine justice, but he also accomplishes a positive righteousness, so all those who look to him in faith receive his forgiveness and receive his righteousness and are accounted among the very Israel of God. So this language is applied to the church in the New Testament. It's beautiful and it's wonderful.

Notice as well, verse 7, the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people. Later in chapters 8 and 9, he's going to say, I didn't set my love upon you because you were more righteous than other people. I didn't set my love upon you because you were more militarily capable. than others.

Know it's sovereign grace, it was grace that taught their hearts to fear, just like in the new covenant it was grace that taught our heart to fear. So God loved them, set his love upon them, and then calls them to be faithful in the land that he gives them.

And that brings us to chapter 7, verses 12 to 26. And basically what we have here is the blessings associated with obedience in verses 12 to 16, and then the temptation associated with the conquest in verses 17 to 26. you know, similar emphases throughout the various chapters as God through Moses is exhorting them to covenant faithfulness. We need these repetitious things. We need these things basically screwed into our minds and in our hearts, and that's essentially what's happening on the plains of Moab.

So note first the blessings associated with obedience in verses 12 to 16. I already mentioned chapter 28 does this. Chapter 28 verses 1 to 14 highlights the blessings for obedience upon the children of Israel. But the bulk of chapter 28 is taken up with the curses for disobedience.

And the subsequent history after the book of Deuteronomy indicates that no, they did not live in light of their covenant obligations. They do not live in light of what God had given them in terms of obedience. And there's reasons for that covenantally, but I want to look first at the declaration of God in terms of the obedience necessary.

So verse 12, 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. So there's an obvious obligation upon Old Covenant Israel. They are supposed to obey. If they obey, then good things will come to them. Turn back for a moment to Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24. One of the things that I've highlighted often is that the Old Covenant was a covenant of works.

And this does separate us a bit. Well, it definitely separates us confessionally from the Westminster Confession, which is basically the parent document to Second London Confession. But our Second London fathers departed with reference to covenant. So what Westminster taught is that there's one covenant of grace administered or with two administrations. So they taught that the old covenant was an administration of the covenant of grace. Particular Baptists, however, said, no, it's not a covenant of grace. It's a covenant of works.

In fact, if you look at Exodus 24, 3, it says, all the words which the Lord has said, we will do. And then in verse 7, all that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. We see the same emphasis here in Deuteronomy 7, 12. Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, because you keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which he swore to your fathers.

So basically, the Old Covenant was a covenant of works. The Old Covenant was a tutor to basically hedge the children of Israel in, to keep them as a body politic, such that Messiah could ultimately come from the line of David. It was also taught to use their function rather to confine all men under sin, and as well to show them constantly their need for that one promise by God all the way back in Genesis 3, 315, and then celebrated throughout the Psalms and the prophets, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But with reference to the covenant obligation of the old covenant people of Israel, it was obedience. They had to function according to works.

Now, when we move to the new covenant, as I've said, Jesus is the true Israel of God. And if you're thinking biblically and covenantally, you ought to praise God for the way that this is all orchestrated, because Jesus is the covenant keeper. Jesus does fulfill all of the obligations placed on him by the Father. Jesus does merit the Father's blessing and approbation and approval. And because of what Jesus has done, we are accepted in the Beloved.

So the covenant of grace made with us by God is ultimately a covenant of works kept for us by our Lord Jesus Christ who is the true Israel of God. John Owen says this covenant thus made, talking about the old covenant, with these ends and promises did never save nor condemn any man eternally all that lived under the administration of it did attain eternal life, or perish forever, but not by virtue of this covenant as formerly such." Basically what he's saying is that the Old Covenant did not save, the Old Covenant did not confer eternal life.

What always did was the promise of the new covenant, first given in Genesis 3.15, moved along in farther steps until its final realization in the New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He says, it did indeed revive the commanding power and sanction of the first covenant of works, and therein, as the apostle speaks, was the ministry of condemnation. For by the deeds of the law, no flesh can be justified. On the other hand, it directed also unto the promise, which was the instrument of life and salvation, unto all that did believe.

But as unto what it had of its own, it was confined unto things temporal. Believers were saved under it, but not by virtue of it. Sinners perished eternally under it, but by the curse of the original law of works. And John Owen, by the way, is not a particular Baptist. John Owen was a Pato Baptist, but he didn't see things the way that Presbyterians did in terms of the Old Testament, or rather the Old Covenant being an administration of the covenant of works.

It's really hard to pull that out of a passage like Deuteronomy 7.12. then it shall come to pass because you listen to these judgments. I think the implication is because you keep and do them, then the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which he swore to your fathers. So basically it was conditional upon the obedience of old covenant Israel.

That's why Deuteronomy 28 ends with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. And ultimately they do disobey and ultimately they reap the curses of the covenant. In fact, much of Deuteronomy chapter 28 discussing the curses has to do with exile, the putting out from the land that God had given them. Because they functioned or they imitated the Canaanites before them, God kicks them out. The land vomits out those inhabitants and they reap the consequences of their disobedience.

Now notice, with reference to this particular arrangement, and there is a fleshly element, Abraham is the begetter of the faithful, but he's also the begetter of that nation, that body politic. So notice the promised blessings upon Israel should they go into the land and they obey God. Now, the grace and patience of God is seen in the reality that he doesn't immediately cut them off.

You know? I mean, if we went back to Exodus chapter 24 in verses 3 and 7, they swear all that the Lord has commanded we will do. Right? We just saw that. We get to Exodus 32. We're not talking, you know, 5,000 years later. Exodus 32. They're dancing around a golden calf and predicating of it powers of having brought them out of the land of bondage. I mean, God had every rationale or every justification to just cut him off and be done with that.

So if you don't see God's patience in the Old Testament, you're not reading it properly. If you don't see God's graciousness in the Old Testament, you're not getting it. that God doesn't cut off Old Covenant Israel, that they have, you know, many, many, many years after the Plains of Moab, and much of those years punctuated by disobedience to God, and God not immediately cutting them off, it shows His patience, His long suffering. So notice the promise here in terms of blessing should they obey. Verses 13 to 16, they will enjoy material prosperity in verses 13 and 14, the multiplication of persons.

This was always the nature of the Genesis promise to Abraham. I'm going to give you a land and I'm going to give you a seed. I'm going to give you a land and I'm going to give you a seed. Now that seat ultimately is Jesus Christ, Galatians 3.16, and in Him all the nations, all the lands of the earth will be blessed. In fact, Abraham is promised when he looks north, he looks south, he looks east, he looks west. He's not just looking at the land of Canaan, but Paul tells us in Romans 4 that he's receiving the promise of the earth. Again, not based on Abraham, not based on his physical progeny, but based on the seed of Abraham who is our Lord Jesus Christ.

So they are promised material blessing and fruitfulness in the land. 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.'" So it's a great blessed promise that has its taproots in Genesis 12, I'm gonna give you a land and I'm gonna give you a seed. I'm gonna give you material prosperity.

In fact, one man says, Yahweh the creator, not Baal was the bestower of fertility and field flock and family. Remember, they're coming into Baal country. They're going to meet a lot of people that bow to Baal. Baal was the storm god. As far as the Canaanites were concerned, it was Baal who was responsible for fertilizing and for, you know, growing their crops. And so what is God saying? What is the true and living God saying? He's saying that all produce, all blessing, all fruitfulness comes from me. It's not coming from Baal. It's coming from Yahweh. Christopher Wright says something similar.

Abraham's blessing promised posterity and land. Verses 13 to 15 add local color to the bare words, describing what it would mean to have a growing population in a fertile land. The description is rich and rhetorical, but it is also polemical in a concealed way. The things so graphically described here, especially the fertility of wives, of land, and of domestic animals, were precisely the things that the gods of Canaan were supposed to deliver.

Destroying those gods, the Israelites need not fear the loss of these things. For Yahweh is Lord of all these living realities. Fruitfulness and fertility flow from Yahweh's blessing, not from the fertility cults of Baal." Again, they're told to go in and to utterly destroy the altars of the Canaanites and the land. I mean, if I'm an Israelite and I'm going after your Canaanite altar of Baal or to Baal, you might want to say, hey, Baal's the guy that makes it rain here. Baal's the God that makes it flourish here. So what is God saying to these people in preparation to go into the land of Canaan? There is no bale to bless the crops. All fruitfulness comes from the Lord God Most High. So it's to encourage them and it is to afford to them the blessed reality that God's goodness is upon them. Notice he speaks of physical prosperity in verse 15.

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 will lay them on all those who hate you. elephantiasis, dysentery, and ophthalmia. Those were some of the great things they inherited when they were in Egypt. Those were diseases that were specific to Egypt at that time.

And so what is he saying to them in terms of getting them ready to go into the promised land? Remember, this isn't some savvy military, you know, group of Delta Force recon rangers. These are ragtag Israelites being called by God to go in and utterly dispossess the land of the Canaanites. So what's God doing in terms of these promises? It's going to be good there. You're going to get the land, there's going to be seed, and you're not going to have diseases. In fact, you are going to have military savvy and accomplishment.

Notice in verse 16, 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. So repetition-wise, don't fall prey to idolatry, and promise-wise, I'm gonna defeat them for you. In other words, trust in the promise of God, live in light of that blessed reality, march against these Canaanites, and utterly dispossess them from the land.

If indeed you do that, you'll enjoy material prosperity. If indeed you do that, you'll enjoy good health. And in fact, you'll not only enjoy good health, but I'll take the diseases of the land and I'll inflict your enemies with them. They'll get elephantiasis. They'll get dysentery. They'll get blindness, they'll get those things because they oppose the people of the living and true God. I will give you military success over kings, if kings, then nations.

There have been down payments up to this point, Sihon, And Og, they had skirmishes on the way in the book of Numbers. And what happened? The children of Israel, again, not Delta Force, not army rangers, but they had been slaves. They had an agrarian mindset, a slave mindset, but they had skirmishes along the way to prepare and ready them for battle. And God gave them victory. Now they're going to march into the promised land for battle, and God's promising them victory. It is contingent upon or conditioned upon their obedience. Nevertheless, God holds this out as promised to them.

So then that brings us finally to verses 17 to 26, the temptation associated with the conquest. And if we look at verse 17, it's pretty obvious. If you should say in your heart, these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? If, again, you've been here, if you read through the Pentateuch, you'll know that this isn't, you know, God through Moses saying, you know, I wonder if perhaps this might have, it had come up, that this had come up. You can turn to Numbers 13, Numbers chapter 13.

This is the first generation wandering through the wilderness. And God, through Moses, says, set apart 12 spies and send them into the land and have them survey and reconnaissance the land and bring back a report. So notice how number 13 starts, verse 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan.

Don't miss those next few words, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Which I am giving to the children of Israel. Which I am giving to the children of Israel. What does this encapsulate? All the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This has been stipulated, specified, declared over and over and over and over again. God is giving them the land. From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, everyone, a leader among them.

So Moses does that, sets apart 12 men, sends them into the land of Canaan, says, go recon, go engage in a recon mission. So they go, and then in verse 26, note the report. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him and said, we went to the land where you sent us.

It truly flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Adak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.

So basically what they're saying is it's a good land, but there's some scary people there. Now notice the good spies, Caleb at verse 30, quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it. It's a good land. They got big people, but we got a bigger God. Now notice in verse 31, but the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.

And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land, which they had spied out saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Adak came from the giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

You see the revised report? Caleb says, let's go right now and take the land. Well, wait a minute. No, no, no, no. The land itself is bad. It's not only filled with giants, but there's bad, you know, the land, it devours its inhabitants. Who do you think the rest of the children of Israel listened to? Joshua and Caleb, and they went up at once? No, they listened to the ten.

So when we get to Deuteronomy 7, and he's dealing with the second generation, and he's telling them, go into the land, have no political, no social, and no religious alliances with them, dispossess them, kill them, remove them, take their stuff, Could it possibly be that they might be hindered by a lack of faith in God?

Well, that's what verse 17 envisages. If you should say in your heart, these nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? This is symptomatic of atheistic thought, right? If God calls us to live in light of his promises, we're supposed to live in light of his promises. We're not supposed to say, well, how can I? You can't, but God can, and he calls you to live in confidence of that.

As well, this is a recurring problem of sinful man. Proverbs 29, Jeremiah 17, cursed is the man who trusts in man and not in God. And again, this displays that faithlessness in the promises of God. This is, you know, Hebrews 4. Why didn't they enter in? Because of unbelief. This is it.

So the question of the temptation is for them to doubt God in the midst of what is no doubt a pretty big call in terms of service. You gotta go dispossess the land of Canaanites. I'm not suggesting this is an easy task, but I'm suggesting that God had promised them victory and therefore they need to live in light of that blessed reality. So then God, through Moses, gives the antidote or the corrective. And the first thing he says is there in verse 18a, you shall not be afraid of them. So verse 17, how can I dispossess that? What's the first thing? You shall not be afraid of them.

You probably all saw that Bill C-9 passed, right? You know what that means. That means that preaching Bible is bad, subsequent to, you know, the passing of this bill. I mean, it was even before, as long as you were a God-hating humanist. But what is that going to change? Do we not preach the Bible? Tyrants signed a bill that says we can't?

No, we're not supposed to be afraid. We're supposed to march on confidently in our God. We're supposed to preach the word, to be ready in season and out of season, to convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. We're supposed to do what God calls us to do irrespective of the conditions that we see around us. Remember COVID? Remember COVID? They told us we weren't supposed to worship God. What's God's response?

Now, this isn't exactly parallel, but there's certainly some thematic connection. You shall not be afraid of that. Fear God and not man. That's what the Lord is telling the children of Israel on the plains of Moab. If it wells up in your heart to look at the land of Canaan and to see all those giants in the land and to start to conclude, you know what? I don't think I can do it. Don't fear men. Don't fear those people. Fear God. You've got the God of heaven and earth on your side.

I've already promised you material prosperity. I have promised you health. I have promised you military supremacy over the very kings of the nations. In other words, are we going to live in light of God's promises or are we going to live in light of what our eyes dictate in terms of the enemy that is before us?

So he says, do not be afraid of them. Turn for a little New Testament corrective in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, in a scenario that not exactly corresponding to going into the land of Canaan and dispossessing the land of Canaanites, But maybe even a little more closer to a nation that is coming under some sort of possible oppression and persecution from its civil rulers in terms of what we testify concerning, I think that Matthew 10, 16 and following certainly is at least close Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. "'For it is not you who speak, "'but the spirit of your father who speaks in you. "'A brother will deliver a brother to death, "'and a father his child, "'and children will rise up against parents "'and cause them to be put to death.

"'And you'll be hated by all for my name's sake, "'but he who endures to the end will be saved. "'When they persecute you in this city, flee to another, "'for assuredly I say to you, "'you will not have gone through the cities of Israel "'before the Son of Man comes.'" Notice verse 24, the rationale. Why is this gonna happen to us, Jesus? Well, if it happened to Jesus, why wouldn't you think it's going to happen to you?

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of the household?

Now note verse 26. Therefore, do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Do not fear that. in the context of persecution, in the context of religious persecution, vis-à-vis unbelieving Jews delivering them up in synagogues and bringing them under scourging for Jesus' namesake. Notice in verse 27, whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light, and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The best way to displace the fear of man in the heart is to fear God. The best way to reveal that you have no fear of God in your heart is to fear man. I mean, that's the contrast. Therefore do not fear them, verse 26. Verse 28, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

And as well, you've got to trust in God's providence, God's government of all His creatures and all their actions. Verse 29, Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows.

See, the Lord Jesus Christ, in a situation that, on the one hand, is similar, not to the conquest of Canaan, but to the sending out of His disciples on a spiritual conquest of Israel, He's telling them, don't fear men. Plains of Moab, don't fear men. Us going forward in a Bill C-9 ratified land, don't fear men. We do what God calls us to do and we faithfully do it to the very end. So back to the Plains of Moab. The corrective is don't be afraid of them. And then the exhortation.

Notice in verses 18, B, and 19. You need to remember This is why pastors or preachers or anybody, you know, parents or friends, we all try to encourage each other to read the Bible so we can memorize verses and be impressive to our friends. No. so that we can remember the great works of God and live in light of those great promises. Isn't that 18b and 19?

You shall not be afraid of them, but notice, 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. Do you see that?

Do you see how the memory of what God has done helps to stabilize us and to steady us in the present when we're perhaps doubtful or questioning what God will do? His faithfulness in the past proves as the template for his faithfulness in the present and his faithfulness in the future.

Don't fear the Canaanites. God was able to smash Pharaoh. God was able to smash Egyptian oppression. God is able to smash Jebusites and Girgashites and Hivites and Hittites and every other ite that Canaan has to offer. Don't fear them, but fear God, and remember what God has done.

Of course, a new covenant application of this. We get, you know, battered down. We've got, you know, our remaining sin. We perhaps haven't been resisting as we ought. We pray to God for forgiveness, and we ask for mercy. We ask for grace. Brethren, may I commend to you Romans 8, 32.

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? In other words, the God who does the greater is certainly the God who's going to do the lesser. If He's going to deliver up the Son of His love for us, how is He not going to help you on Thursday? How is He not going to come to your rescue or your aid on a Saturday? The God of heaven, in his past faithfulness, provides stability and stabilizing for our present condition.

And on the plains of Moab, God says, remember how I broke the back of Egyptian oppression, and live in light of that. Notice the encouragement of verse 20. This hornet reference is interesting. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. Harmon says, the hornet, has been often misinterpreted metaphorically. For example, older Jewish exegetes explained it as leprosy, while other modern scholars have thought of it as a reference to the pharaoh of Egypt or as the spirit of despondency in the people. In view of the fact that the great confusion of verse 23 seems to indicate a literal happening, it is best to take Hornet here as literal also.

A general plague of stinging insects may well have been intended. I got to tell you, brethren, that is a wonderful way to wreck an enemy. I don't want to die by Hornet. I can't imagine any Canaanite in this particular millennia wanted to die by Hornet either.

You see references in Exodus 23, 27 to 30, and then in Joshua 24, 12. See, brethren, when God functions to squash nations, you don't see an actual arm come out of heaven and a fist come down upon Egypt. You see nasty things like frogs and flies and lice. You see things like hornets. You see things like hailstones.

I think it's the northern campaign in Joshua chapter 10. How does Joshua and his army win? Because God lobbed hailstones out of heaven upon the enemies. How did God bring judgment upon the northern kingdom? Assyria. How did he bring judgment upon the southern kingdom? Babylon. How did he bring judgment in AD 70? Rome. that, you know, this is how God works. governs all his creatures and all their actions. I quite like the, you know, the dispatching of hornets against the enemies of the Almighty.

And then the chapter ends with a reminder, or reminders. Verses 21 to 25. Remember the perfections and presence of God. Verse 21. You shall not be terrified of them. It's being repeated. For the Lord your God, the great and awesome God is among you. He's among you. Don't fear Canaanites, the great and awesome God. He is among you.

Again, Paul's argument in Romans chapter 8, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It's God who justified. If God is for us, Paul asked in Romans 8, who can be against us? And then notice in verse 22, and I think this envisions Joshua and Judges without the sin. Let me explain that. Joshua and Judges without the sin. Notice in verse 22, 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. You get that, right? If they go into the land of Canaan and everybody's gone, It's going to take some time to rebuild. What happens in that time of rebuilding? You know, lions and bears and whatever nasty creatures that happen to live in the land, it kind of falls back into a primitive state.

So, God promises by way of blessing and grace that it will be a little by little conquest so that the land does not become overrun by beasts. You can either A, die by Girgashite or B, die by lion, you know, take your pick. So God's gracious plan is that little by little. So I think that was the purpose in terms of a little by little conquest of the land.

But what happens in Joshua and Judges with sin is that they don't obey God. Joshua, they do a pretty good job. By the time you get to Judges, they're doing a terrible job. In fact, Harmon makes the observation, because of the apostasy of the people after Joshua's death, this gradual dispossess 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. Klein agrees, God's gradual dispossessing of the Canaanites, designed for Israel's good, was suspended after Israel's post-Joshuan apostasy as a chastisement. So basically, this little by little was designed for their good. But because of their sin, well then, it was just not realized.

And then notice the glorious power of God in verses 23 and 24. 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 the gods with fire, 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."

So all these sort of reminders in the context that they're standing on the precipice of inheriting the promised land, and it might well up in their hearts to say, how in the world are we going to do this? How in the world are we going to dispossess the land?

Well, remember God crushed Egyptian oppression, and remember God is the awesome God who is among you, and remember that God has purposed and has determined to defeat any of the enemies that come up against you. So don't cower in unbelief, don't fear these men, but rather fear God and live in light of that blessed reality. But you need to take heed to yourselves. And this is wherein again they fall.

You shall burn the carved images, verse 25, of their gods with fire. What does that mean? Publicly destroy their altars. publicly destroy their altars. You go into the land of Canaan, you see an altar there to Baal, you see an altar there to Asherah, you take implements, you bash, and then you burn. So that's sort of the first thing, destroy public altars. But notice as well, don't covet Don't covet, verse 25. 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. See, this is gonna be a perennial problem with Old Covenant Israel. Joshua 7, remember what happens in Joshua 7? The incident at Ai with Achan. What was Achan's first misstep?

I saw the stuff, and I lusted after it. I wanted it. And what did he do? He hides it in his tent. People wonder, why does God order the destruction of his entire family? Because he hid it in his tent. That means his wife and kids were there. They never ratted him out. Hey, God, we've got aching. Dad is taking stuff. He shouldn't. It's under the ban. No, you weren't supposed to do that.

So notice, public altars are to be destroyed, heart sins are to be conquered, and private religion needs to be maintained. Notice in verse 26. Verse 26, nor shall you bring an abomination into your house. So destroy it publicly, don't covet it privately, and don't you dare bring it 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.

Remember after the giving of the Shema? What does God say? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You shall teach these things diligently. You shall put scripture up as signposts on your walls. In other words, flood your homes with the true religion of God so that you don't fall into this idolatry. Now, of course, they do, and that's why they reap the consequences of covenant curses for their wickedness. So that's, well, just summarizing with a quote by Wright.

Finally, the chapter returns to its opening concern, the vital importance that Israel remain unimpressed, untempted, unsnared, and uncontaminated by the idolatry of Canaan. May God help us to learn the lessons that we need in our new covenant setting. As we've mentioned often, 1 John, the epistle written by the beloved apostle, that's all about, you know, faithfulness on the part of God's people and obeying the truth and being righteous, ends in 521 with, my little children, keep yourselves from idols. Jesus cautions against idolatry in Matthew chapter 6. Idolatry isn't, you know, the Gergashite problem. Idolatry isn't the Jebusite problem. Idolatry is an everyman problem.

And may God help us, not necessarily in terms of the public desecration, though if you're so led, but the coveting of the gold and the silver that makes up these things, and certainly the private invocation of these things, may God help us to resist them, to resist idolatry, to flee from that, and to be faithful in terms of our God.

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for Deuteronomy 7, we thank you for your promise of blessing, and we thank you for what we have in our new covenant setting with our Lord Jesus Christ, who obeyed perfectly all that the Father had given him. We thank you for the many blessings, as Paul says, every spiritual blessing in him has been given to us, and we give all glory, honor, and praise unto you. We ask that you would go with us now again as our brother Steve prayed, give us safety as we travel home, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, any questions or comments on Deuteronomy 7?