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When the Lord your God brings 
you into the land which you go to possess and is 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 are the least of all 
peoples. 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, 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 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 
a female barren among you, 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. As we saw last week, this 
is the plan for the conquest when the people of Israel are 
being instructed on how they are to enter into the land of 
Canaan, and they are to utterly destroy specifically these Canaanite 
nations. So last week we saw the instruction 
for the conquest in verses one and two. Then we noted the necessity 
for distinction from the Canaanites in verses two to five in the 
political sphere. They were not to make treaties. 
They were not to make covenant. They were not to make or show 
mercy to those cities under the ban or those cities devoted to 
destruction. And then as well in the social 
sphere, they were not to marry. They were not to take as wives 
women from these particular nations that were condemned, that were 
under the ban. And then in the religious sphere, 
notice specifically in verse five, they were to utterly destroy 
every vestige, every remnant of Canaanite religion. verse 
five, 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. If you 
look over at verse 16, you will see what the purpose for this 
was. They were to destroy it as an 
act of God's vengeance and judgment, certainly upon the Canaanites 
and upon their idols. But as well, they were to remove 
the temptation from Israel. The end of verse 16 says, Nor 
shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you. God knew his people very well. So he tells them when they go 
in to get rid of the get rid of the deities or the idols, 
rather, of the pagans because their hearts would be led astray. 
They would be prone to worship. They would be prone to bow down 
and serve those idols. So there was a very specific 
reason why God utters the destruction of Canaan or the Canaanites, 
rather, and of their gods so that his people could function 
as that holy nation. They were designed to be, according 
to Deuteronomy 4, where the nations around them would be able to 
marvel Not so much at the nation, but at the nation's God. They 
had a missionary enterprise. They had an evangelistic endeavor. They were to be a city set upon 
a hill so that the peoples around can marvel at the grace and power 
of God who had delivered them and who had set them up and who 
had given them the particular laws that ruled them. So, having 
looked at the instruction and the necessity for distinction, 
let's look now at the basis of Israel's distinction from the 
Canaanites. Verses six to eight. The basis 
of Israel's distinction from the Canaanites. They are told, 
stay away from them. And here they're told why it 
is they are to stay away from them. The first, notice their 
identity. Verse six says, 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. So their identity as the 
people of God, as the covenant community under God, was the 
basis upon which they were to remain separate from the nations 
around them. They had a status. They had privilege. They had benefit. They had blessing 
from the living and the true God. You are holy, you are chosen 
and you are a special treasure. This is not the first time these 
terms have been used with reference to Israel, and it's certainly 
not the last time that these terms would be used with reference 
to Israel. You can turn back for just a 
moment to Exodus chapter 19, where you see these three terms 
applied to the people of God, a holy people, a chosen people, 
a special treasure. Exodus chapter 19. This is somewhat 
paradigmatic or programmatic, or it sets the agenda for redemptive 
history to follow. I'm sorry, Exodus 19 five. Now, therefore, if you will indeed 
obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure 
to me above all people for all the earth is mine and you shall 
be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are 
the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. You 
see, this particular people was to be higher or in higher esteem 
rather than all the nations of the earth. God set his love upon 
them and wanted to bless them and wanted to make them a kingdom 
of priests. A kingdom of priests wherein 
they could, as I said earlier, shine the light of the glory 
of God to the nations around them. They had a very specific 
purpose with reference to this whole conquest. They were going 
into Canaan so that they could then mediate the blessing of 
God to the peoples around them. They were to be a kingdom of 
priests. This statement of this phrase 
of these concepts are repeated again in the book of Deuteronomy 
verse chapter fourteen may turn their want to show us something 
about continuity with it with reference to the covenants tonight. 
Notice of Deuteronomy fourteen to four you are. a holy people 
to the Lord your God. And the Lord has chosen you to 
be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples 
who are on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 26, verse 18. Deuteronomy 
26, verse 18. Also today, the Lord has proclaimed 
you to be his special people, just as he promised you that 
you should keep all his commandments. And then this is interesting, 
because when we get to the New Testament, who is described with 
these particular terms? The church, right, the true Israel, 
the people of God, the Israel of God, Titus chapter two and 
verse 14. It's very interesting. This continuity 
exists with reference to the people of God. They are the Israel 
of God in the old covenant. They are the Israel of God in 
the new covenant. It's not ethnic. It's not based 
on bloodlines, but rather it's based on grace. Remember, in 
Romans chapter nine, not all Israel is Israel. It's not the 
physical descendants, but rather it is those who, by God's grace, 
are the seed of Abraham. Those who believe on the Lord 
Jesus, they are Israel, the Israel of God. This whole idea, these 
concepts applied to the church. in a real powerful way, destroys 
a key tenet or a key principle of what is called dispensationalism. Dispensationalism posits or sets 
forth two distinct peoples of God. You've got the Israel and 
you've got the Gentile church. But the Bible ascribes the same 
terminology to the faithful Israel of old, to the Gentile church 
in the New Covenant. There is one people of God. They 
are those saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus 
Christ alone. There's not two peoples of God. 
Classic dispensationalism taught that God or Jesus came to offer 
a kingdom to Israel. Israel rejected that kingdom. So then God instituted a plan 
B where he would bless the Gentile church. But then there'll be 
a rapture of the church, and then God's plan to bless Israel 
will be enacted once again. That is simply unbiblical. There is one people of God. That 
terminology that's applied in Exodus 19, that's applied in 
Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 14, and Deuteronomy 26 is applied 
by the New Testament authors to believers in Jesus Christ. We are the Israel of God. Paul is able to pronounce peace 
upon the Israel of God in Galatians 6 16. He's writing to Gentile 
churches. He is writing to those who believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the true seed of Abraham. These are the sons of Abraham, 
the ones who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 2, 14, it 
says that in verse 13, looking for the blessed, open, glorious 
appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave 
himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless 
deed and purify for himself. Here it is. His own special people 
zealous for good works. First Peter, chapter two. The 
terminology from Exodus 19 is even more conspicuous in first 
Peter, chapter two, verses nine and ten. He writes, but you are 
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his 
own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who 
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once 
were not a people, but are now the people of God. who had not 
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And, of course, 
in Revelation chapter one, Revelation chapter one, verse six, says 
to him who loved us at the end of verse five and washed us from 
our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests 
to his God and father, to him be glory and dominion forever 
and ever. Amen. So you see, this language 
applied in the Old Covenant is consistent with what is applied 
to New Covenant believers. Again, an added, added, an additional 
proof, an additional statement, an additional fact that what 
we find is continuity between the covenants. Though there's 
great distinctiveness and difference, there is nevertheless that continuity 
that dispensationalism rejects and thus posits two people of 
God or two peoples of God, which the Bible nowhere envisages. The Bible does not recognize 
such a distinction between the people of God. This is why oftentimes 
you'll see money being spent. to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, 
to do all those things because they have in their mind that 
it's the geopolitical entity of Israel that is somehow going 
to be the benefactor of God's greater blessing. It is the church 
that is the benefactor. It is the church that reaps the 
benefit. It is the church of Jesus Christ 
that fulfills or that rather is what God has purpose to be 
a holy people, a chosen people, a special treasure. This is their 
identity. Notice back in Deuteronomy seven, 
seven and eight, their election. This is the basis again for their 
distinction from the Canaanites. based on their identity and their 
election. Verses seven and eight. Notice 
the Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you because 
you were more in number than any other people. Wasn't just 
the majority. God doesn't go with the obvious 
victor, right? God doesn't pick the bowl. He 
doesn't pick the ones that are most numerous. In fact, he picks 
the one, the nation that was the least of all peoples. I mentioned, or at least alluded 
to last week. There are three times in the 
coming chapters where God reminds Israel. They are in this position 
of advantage, this position of benefit and blessing, not because 
of them. He underscores and highlights 
again and again and again his gracious purposes. Here he tells 
them he has chosen you or he did not set his love on you, 
nor choose you because you were more in number than any other 
people. He doesn't choose the winner. 
He doesn't choose the one that's the likely victor. He chooses 
the one that's least of all. That's why Paul in First Corinthians 
says not many wise. Not many noble, not many mighty, 
but God has chosen the weak things, the despised things. He has done 
this to bring the knot and to frustrate the ideas of men that 
look at things just the opposite. So then notice not only here 
because they were not chosen because they were the greatest 
or the most numerous. Look at chapter eight and verse 
17. He says, Then you say in your heart, my power and the 
might of my hand have gained me this wealth. This is what 
you are not supposed to do. You are not in this position 
of benefit and blessing because you're the most numerous. You're 
not in this position because you are the one who has power 
and might and you have been wise to gain this well. But as well, 
it's not because of your righteousness. Notice in chapter nine at verse 
four. Do not think in your heart after 
the Lord your God has cast them out before you say, Because of 
my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this 
land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that 
the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because 
of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that 
you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness 
of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from 
before you and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore 
to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, understand 
that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to 
possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff necked people. 
He says it three times in a few verses. God knows us, doesn't 
he? God knows us as Christians, doesn't 
he? Sometimes as believers, we might 
actually have this well up in us that, yeah, of course, God 
chose me because I'm a good guy. Or God chose me over that one 
because, you know, after all, I wasn't as wicked as that one. There is that self-righteousness 
that wells up, unfortunately, even in the believing heart that 
we need the labor to suppress and to keep down. Three times, 
God says, do not think in your heart after he has cast them 
out. Don't pat yourself on the back. 
Don't congratulate yourself. Don't extol your free will. Don't 
install your law keeping. Don't install your merit. Don't 
say that you are a better guy or a better girl than your next 
door neighbor. And it's as a result of that, 
God has chosen you. God has blessed you. And God 
has given you these benefits. This was calculated, brethren, 
to humble Israel on the plains of Moab, poised to enter into 
the promised land. Armed with the knowledge of God 
Most High, it should have framed their hearts in a proper disposition 
so that they would have gone dependently upon the Lord and 
not arrogantly forgetting the Lord. All of this is calculated 
to promote in the people the fear of God, a recognition of 
why and how they stand based on God's grace, And it's not 
due to their ingenuity, not due to their moral self-righteousness, 
and it's certainly not due to the fact that they are more numerous 
than the nations around them. So God always highlights this 
reality with sovereign grace that shows that it was his mercy. It was his kindness. This is 
ultimately the basis upon which they have this benefit of distinction 
from the Canaanites. So he tells that verse seven, 
the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because 
you were more more in number than any other people. For you 
are the least of all people. Now, notice in verse eight, positively, 
verse seven is a negative. He didn't choose you. He didn't 
love you because you were numerous. But now positively versus the 
remainder of verse eight. Why does the Lord love you? 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 house, a hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now, just go back 
for just a moment to verse seven. Look what it says. The Lord did 
not set his love on you, nor choose you because you were more 
a number. The Lord did not set his love 
on you for this reason. What's the question? Why did 
the Lord set his love on you? Verse eight answers because he 
loves you. It's not amazing. He said his 
love, he desires you, he has affection for you because he 
loves you. He predetermined, he predestined, 
he decreed his love to be upon you. It's really an amazing statement. The Lord did not set his love 
on you nor choose you because of this, but because the Lord 
loves you. It's really a sort of a tautology. 
A tautology is when you say the same thing to explain something. You tell your wife, I love you 
because I love you. Hopefully she'll go, that's great. 
Your husband says, or your wife says, I love you because I love 
you. That's great, isn't it? That's 
what God is telling his people. I love you because I love you. Notice in Ephesians one, just 
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, 
that we should be holy and without blame. He doesn't choose us because 
we're holy and without blame. Rather, he chooses us and he 
loves us in order that we will be holy and without blame. You 
see that God's love precedes. We love him because he first 
loved us. This is the glory of the Christian 
gospel in Ephesians 1 5. in love, having predestinated 
us unto adoption as sons. He doesn't adopt us as sons so 
that he can love us. He loves us. And that leads to 
adoption as sons. People oftentimes think of predestination 
as being sort of this mechanical, almost vile doctrine. But it's 
in the context of God's love. I believe that in love goes with 
the having predestinated us unto adoption as sons. In Ephesians 
1, 4, and 5, there's some question, where does this in love go? It 
seems to go with the in love having predestinated us. Predestination 
is not blind, impersonal fate, men just falling out where they 
happen to. No, the idea is that those whom 
God foreknew, These he predestined. The foreknowledge there, we've 
explained it before, is not God's looking down the annals of time 
or the tunnel of time and seeing who would believe the gospel. 
That is to gut biblical words of any meaning whatsoever. The foreknowledge there is God's 
knowing us intimately. God's setting his affection upon 
us. God's foreloving us. Those he predestined to be conformed 
to the image of his son. The ones he predestined, these 
he called. Those he calls, he justifies. 
Who he justifies, he glorifies. God is a sovereign being and 
he has purpose to love his people. He's telling them, I love you. 
I set my love upon you because I love you. It's great. It's 
an amazing thing. Next time you're feeling down 
or depressed or blue, just consider God said his love upon you because 
he loves you. But he doesn't stop there. It 
just keeps getting more and more powerful. The Lord did not set 
his love on you because of this. But verse eight, but because 
the Lord loves you and then notice, and because he would keep the 
oath which he swore to your fathers, there is that covenant faithfulness 
of God most high. that covenant power of God most 
high. When the Lord makes a promise 
to Abraham, he will most certainly keep it. When the Lord makes 
the promise in the garden that the seed of the woman would crush 
the head of the seed of the serpent, he will most certainly fulfill 
this. When God promises to bless his 
people, those he foreknew, those he predestined, when he says 
he'll call them and justify them and glorify them, That is rock 
solid. It is steady. There is nothing 
more grounded and more sure than that. When the Lord pleads his 
covenant promises or tells us and reminds us that that is why 
we are the benefactors, we ought to just stand amazed. Spurgeon 
says somewhere in the Psalms, I think it's Psalm 77. It's when 
the psalmist pleads the covenant with God. Spurgeon says this 
is one of the mightiest weapons in the armor armory of prayer. 
You come back to God with his covenant promise. You come back 
to God with his covenant promise. You say to God, Lord, you have 
promised. Lord, you have said God must 
be true to his word. When somebody presses you or 
they press a politician. Well, I never said that. We see 
a lot of that going on in the South. You know, they're playing 
clips in 2008 of what the president said he would most certainly 
do. And now it's a completely different song. And I never said 
that. You know, this whole idea of denial. Not so with God. You 
bring that promise to the Lord. He honors it. He blesses. He 
is sure and true to his word. The covenant faithfulness of 
God is the basis upon which Israel found redemption. That's what 
he goes on to state at the end. of verse eight, 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. You 
see, it's just like a blessed crescendo. It's just a glorious 
testimony. It's a wonderful display of what 
God the Lord is doing. It's like the prodigal son. When 
that feast is thrown, is the feast thrown in celebration that 
the son returned home? Now, the feast is thrown in the 
reality that the father rescued the son, right? The celebration 
or the honored guest at the feast is not the son. The honored guest 
at the feast is God Most High, who runs down the road and who 
falls upon the prodigal and he kisses him and he puts a ring 
on his finger and he brings him back to the house. That's what 
the feast is celebratory of. It's not the wisdom of the son. 
It's the grace of the father extending mercy, kindness, and 
goodness to one who has no deserving of it whatsoever. So the Lord 
here, reminding the people on the plains of Moab, you're not 
here because you're more numerous. You're not here because you're 
good money makers or you're able to gain wealth. And you're certainly 
not here because of your righteousness. You're here because I loved you. 
You're here because I promised to do this. And as a result, 
I led you out of Egypt into this land of Canaan that I am giving 
to you in harmony with the promises that he had made before. It's 
a blessed statement versus six to eight. May I suggest some 
time if you're feeling down or challenged or blue or whatever, 
come to Deuteronomy seven, six to eight. If that doesn't boo 
you up and that doesn't help you, pray to God to warm your 
heart. Those are some glorious thoughts, 
some wonderful truths that the New Covenant believer, as a holy 
people, as a chosen people, as a special treasure of God, can 
meditate on and contemplate on and realize that I am where I 
am by the grace of God and Him alone. Well, what are, fourthly, 
the practical implications, verses 9 to 11? We've seen the instruction 
for the conquest, the necessity for distinction from the Canaanites, 
the basis of Israel's distinction. Notice, fourthly, some practical 
implications, verses 9 to 11. It begins with Therefore, based 
on these instructions, based on your distinctiveness, based 
on the fact that you have this identity and it's grounded in 
the sovereign election, the love of God and his grace and his 
mercy. Here's what I want for you to 
do. The first is you need to know 
God. 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 slapped with him 
who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 
You see the flow. You see the idea. Here's what 
God has done. Here is who he is in his person. He is gracious. He is merciful. 
He is kind. He has done this in terms of 
redeeming you from Egypt, from the house of bondage. Therefore, 
the implication, the practical application. What are you supposed 
to take home from the sermon on the plains of Moab? You need 
to know God. Not a beautiful thing. Theology 
proper on the plains of Moab. You see, brethren, when they 
go into Canaan, the thing that's going to help them most is the 
knowledge of God. When we go into the world and 
when we go into our families and when we go into various issues 
and situations, what is going to help us the most? It's the 
knowledge of who God is and the knowledge of what he does. You 
see, theology always fuels practice. Doctrine always precedes action. Theory comes before the application, 
and this is precisely what we find on the plains of Moab. What 
you need to realize when you enter into that land, when you 
engage in wars in Canaan, you need to know that the Lord your 
God, he is God. When you're battling Canaanites 
and you're dispossessing the land and you're resisting the 
temptation to idolatry and you're resisting the temptation to a 
wife who may be pretty, who may be sweet, who may be kind, but 
she worships Baal. When you need the grace and the 
help and the benefit or the aid to do such things, it is the 
knowledge of who God is and what he does that will sustain you. This is why theology matters. This is why you need to know 
your God, because without a proper knowledge of God, you will never 
live consistently. This is one of the reasons why 
so much of evangelicalism is drowning. It's not being fueled 
with proper doctrine. If we don't have right theology, 
we're not going to have right practice. On the plains of Moab, 
God is teaching them theology proper through his servant Moses. I want you, based on what we've 
already discussed, to know that Yahweh, your God, he is God. You go into those nations and 
you see the Baals and you see the Asherah, you see the Moloch, 
you see the Milcom, you see the various and sundry deities. They're 
not God. They're not the ones who loved 
you because they loved you. They're not the ones who set 
their affection upon you. They're not the ones who chose 
you. They're not the ones who redeemed 
you. They're not the ones who brought 
you out of the land of Egypt. When you feel the desire to bow 
before Baal, you need to know that Yahweh, your God, he is 
God. And you need to realize certain 
attributes of God. He is faithful. He keeps covenant 
and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep 
his commandments. Baal doesn't do that. Asherah 
doesn't do that. Moloch doesn't do that. Mammon 
doesn't do that. Wives don't do that. Husbands 
don't do that. Children don't do that. God alone. Know that the Lord, He is God. Remember that central confession 
of faith. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, soul and strength. What is a help 
and a means to promote that response? It's to know who God is, to realize 
he's a jealous God, to realize that he won't share you, that 
it's not OK to have a bit of Yahweh and a bit of Baal. You 
must be holy and fully committed. And the way to find whole and 
full commitment is to know that the Lord your God, he is God. It is to understand Jesus' words 
in Matthew 6, 25, you cannot serve God and man. You have to understand Matthew 
12, 30, that he was not with me is against me. You see, theology 
is intensely practical. You don't need 15 lessons on 
a particular thing. If you know your God, those 15 
lessons will follow without having to read, you know, whatever guru 
wrote the latest book on the fifteen lessons. I'm not saying 
don't read those books. I am saying read theology first. And more than likely, those connections 
will start sort of making the relays and the synapses in your 
brain. You'll realize that if God is 
this way, then I really should love my wife the way Paul says. If God is this way, I really 
should submit to my husband the way Paul says. If Christ is this 
way, then I should flee sexual immorality the way Paul says. 
You see, what we know and understand about God ought to be fleshed 
out in the way that we live. Such was the pattern on the plains 
of Moab. So they were to know that the 
demand of God is that they know that the Lord, your God, he is 
God knows specifically his mercy and knows specifically his judgment. 
He is merciful to to to a thousand generations with those who love 
him and keep his commandments. Never forget that the God you 
serve is merciful. The God you serve runs down the 
road, falls on you and kisses you and puts a ring on your finger 
and then comes back and orders the slaying of the fatted calf. 
I mentioned on Sunday I'm reading a book on that, on that parable. 
The guy's just bringing out insights. I feel like I need to repent 
of ever having preached that because I should have read this 
book first. But you notice that the mom is not mentioned in the 
story of the prodigal. The father acts like the mother. 
The mother would run out to the street to find and fall on her 
son, while the father waited behind, sort of brooding silently, 
until the son came back. The father is the conspicuous 
figure in the story. The father is insulted time and 
time again, not just by the younger son, but by the older son as 
well. The younger son insults him by 
saying, you're better off to me dead than alive. the community 
of which they were a part. See, they didn't just live on 
their own. It wasn't like here, you know, you've got acres and 
acres of farmland, and then there's a house on the farm, and then 
they're surrounded by acres. No, no, no. Land was scarce. Land was consolidated for as 
much usefulness as you could. So you had the parcel of land 
for farming and agriculture, and then the community lived 
in pretty close quarters. So when the younger son says 
to the father, give me my share of the inheritance, He is saying, 
you're better off to me dead. And what does the son do? He 
cashes in, probably cashes in with people in the community. 
It didn't take long for the community to hear how embarrassing this 
situation was, where the father of the prodigal was now insulted 
and made to look like just a weak, passive, horrible man. The author 
points out that we oftentimes think that the figure of the 
father is an Oriental patriarch. He says no Oriental patriarch 
would ever go through that sort of insult. That father in the 
prodigal is God alone. There is no human correspondent 
whatsoever. That son deserved a good thrashing, 
and any Oriental patriarch worth his weight would have given him 
that thrashing. So he's insulted. The son comes 
back. He runs. Again, this is not the 
conduct of the father. as an oriental patriarch. He 
runs, he falls on the son. He comes back, he orders the 
slaying of the fatted calf. When the older brother refuses 
to participate in the feast, the father's insulted yet again. 
The father's slapped in the face by the older son. You've got 
the lawless and the law keeper, both insulting the father. And 
yet what does the father do? Demonstrate mercy, demonstrate 
grace, demonstrate loving kindness. That's the picture of God that 
Moses wants to convey or God wants to convey through Moses 
to the children of Israel. He's merciful. gracious. I realize that sometimes we're 
brought up and our fathers maybe aren't merciful. Maybe they're 
not gracious. Maybe they're twisted. Maybe 
we didn't even have fathers where we grow up. And then when we 
understand and we start to learn about this aspect of these attributes 
of God, for some of us, it's a real challenge to really appreciate 
just what is being said here. He is gracious. He is merciful. He is kind. He is loving. He lifts up the hem of his robe 
and runs down the street and falls on his son and kisses him 
in a display of affection that was just offensive to the community 
around him. It costs the father, you know, 
some have taken those parables and said, well, there's no cost. 
There's no pain. There's no suffering. There's 
no atonement. Oh, yes, there is. There is degradation 
on the part of the father in terms of what his sons did to 
him. Well, on the plains of Moab, God says to the people, when 
you get into Canaan, you need to take on my mercy. You need 
to contemplate my graciousness. You need to realize that this 
isn't just a flash in the pan, but he keeps mercy to a thousand 
generations. This is where the stress falls. 
This is where the emphasis lie. Of course, he repays those who 
hate him to their face. He destroys them. He will not 
be slack with him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 
But notice the time reference is relative to the mercy. It 
is mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep 
his commandments. What is Moses saying? His mercy 
is boundless. His mercy is limitless. His mercy 
is infinite. The very characteristic of God 
most high himself. Yes. Know the mercy of God. Yes. Know the judgment of God. Know the fact that the Lord does 
repay those who hate it. There's renegade Israelites among 
you. Repent, forsake your wickedness 
and bow down to God most high. If there are Canaanites in the 
land and they reject, despise and abhor the Lord, he is going 
to repay them to their face. He's not going to allow sin to 
go unpunished. It may not happen overnight. 
In fact, he intimates as much later on in verses 17 and 20 
to 26. He says it's not going to happen 
all at once. It's going to drive them out 
little by little. They're not going to just walk over the border 
into Canaan and then everybody beats feet or everybody will 
be slain. God will work on their behalf 
slowly, but surely, gradually and persistently. He will aid 
his people in dispossessing the land of the Canaanites. He wants 
them to understand who he is and how he functions to his friends 
and to his enemies. In the language of Christopher 
Wright, he said in the context of conflicting religious claims 
for rival deities. That's what they were going up 
against. They were going into a land filled with idols in the 
context of conflicting religious claims for rival deities. He 
says in the ancient world, as much as in the modern, such a 
statement has considerable power and miss theological cutting 
edge. Who is truly God? When he says, 
therefore, know that the Lord your God, he is God. This question, 
who is truly God? He says the one who proves the 
claim in faithfulness, integrity, committed love and liberating 
ransoming power. That's who God is. He says the 
same dynamic throbs through the polemical rhetoric of Isaiah 
40 to 48. The prophet does the same thing 
in Isaiah. Who is God? He is the God who 
set his love upon you. He is the God who chose you. 
He is the God who has redeemed you. This is God. Therefore, 
give him your heart, give him your soul, give him your strength, 
give him your faithfulness and love. So the practical implications 
versus nine to eleven, verse nine and ten is no God. And verse eleven is obey God. Therefore, you shall keep the 
commandment, the statutes and the judgments which I command 
you today to observe them. We've seen that over and over 
and over again. Excuse me. In this book, Craigie 
says many themes are repeated, which have already been mentioned 
earlier in Deuteronomy. The repetition seeks to drive 
home the requirement of obedience on which the success of events 
still lying in the future dependent. They would oftentimes be told, 
oftentimes be reminded, you need to obey, you need to go in the 
land, you need to function according. to the written and revealed will 
of God. Verse one of chapter six. This is the commandment. 
These are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded 
to teach you that you may observe them in the land which you are 
crossing over to possess. Again, this is a conditional 
covenant in terms of those benefits and blessings they'll reap in 
the land of Canaan. These are the conditions for 
them enjoying longevity, enjoying fruit, enjoying benefit, enjoying 
all of the blessings associated with their covenant faithfulness. 
And then that brings us finally to consider those blessings associated. This can run pretty quickly here 
through verses 12 to 16. So it's basically what they will 
read when they enter the land, verse twelve, and 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. Again, I would 
recommend maybe someday we'll get into this in more detail, 
but the difference between the old and the New Testament John 
Owen is really good on this sort of thing. The distinctiveness 
between the two covenants. Here, the blessings held forth 
are temporal. They are those conditional. They 
are those contingent upon Israel's obedience in the land of Canaan. 
So when they go in, the specific blessings that they would reap, 
according to verses 13 to 16, would be material prosperity. Verses 13 to 14. They would have 
a multiplication of people. It's a good thing. And that's 
consistent with God's promise to Abraham. I'll make out of 
you a great nation. This is, you know, Abraham, look 
at the stars. Look at the sand on the seashore. 
You'll have a numerous prodigy. There'll be lots of people. They 
would have a fruitful land. When they planted, they would 
grow crops. They would reap the benefit of 
good land. and they would have a multiplication 
of animals. Even their animals would not 
be barren. Well, of course, they would need 
more animals to sustain a larger population. These are material 
blessings, material prosperity that they would reap in the land 
of Canaan. Again, Christopher Wright said 
this. He said, 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. Polemics is the doctrine 
or the idea of not only presenting the truth, but destroying falsehood. Polemics is sort of like apologetics, 
but with an offensive edge. Okay? Apologetics is defending 
the faith. When people come and attack Christianity, 
we need to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us. 
We need to be able to answer the critics. Polemics is when 
we not only answer, but we also destroy their falsehoods. Polemics has to do oftentimes 
with, you know, dealing with cults. There might be a man gifted 
in the knowledge of the scripture, so he writes a polemical book 
against the cult. So you might read some of the 
Puritans. They engaged in polemics against the Sassanians or, you 
know, the Armenians or whoever. I mean, John Owen's subtitle 
in Volume 10 is a polemical treatise and just the title to a book. 
So, polemics has that effect of not only presenting the truth, 
but also destroying falsehood. So, he is suggesting that this 
description of benefit and blessing in the land has a polemical edge, 
and here's why. He says 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. When you read these things, don't 
say, wow, Baal's real. No, it's God. It's the Lord. Don't ever forget that. So they 
would get material prosperity. They would get health. Verse 
fifteen, 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. 
Every commentator I read said there were three well-known diseases 
in Egypt. I never knew this, so I guess 
I should have been. reading Deuteronomy commentaries 
earlier on. Elephantiasis, that's where the 
body swells up and the skin gets very thick. Dysentery is sort 
of an intestinal issue, an intestinal problem, and then something to 
do with the eyes. I think it's ophthalmia. Ophthalmia, 
however you pronounce that. But it's a problem with the eye. 
Those were common diseases in Egypt. God says, when you go 
into the land of Canaan, I will shield you. I will keep you, 
protect you from those things, those terrible diseases of Egypt. And then finally, they would 
know military success. 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. A failure to 
carry out the demands of 7.2 and 7.5, that is, the utter destruction, 
and not only the destruction of the peoples, but their objects 
of worship, would present the temptation of idolatry and would 
prove to be a snare to Israel. So God here tells them, go into 
the land, obey me in the land, you'll reap material prosperity, 
health, and military success. So that is Moses' statement here 
in Deuteronomy chapter 7. We'll pray and then open it up 
for any questions. Father, we thank you for your 
Word and we thank you for your grace, God. This passage in Deuteronomy 
7 truly does set forth so many good things concerning your character. 
We thank you for the attributes of God displayed in the Scripture. We thank you that you are merciful, 
that you are gracious, that you have chosen us in Christ before 
the foundation of the world. Many would call this a difficult 
doctrine. We love this doctrine, God. We 
know that if you had never chosen us, we certainly wouldn't have 
chosen you. We praise you for sovereign grace. We praise you 
for free grace. We praise you that it doesn't 
depend upon him who wills or runs, but on God who shows mercy. We thank you and we pray that 
you would go with us now, and we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.