May turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy, Chapter 13. Deuteronomy, Chapter 13, I realize that we covered this material at a Bible study on Wednesday night within the last couple of months. If you were there for that, hopefully this will just prove to be some review for you. God willing, we'll return to our exposition of the Gospel of Matthew in two weeks time.
This morning, we're going to consider Deuteronomy 13 and the prevalent temptation of seduction to idolatry. And I'll just pick up reading in chapter 13 at verse one. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign of the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you saying, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice. You shall serve him and hold fast to him. But
The Penalty for False Prophecy
that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. You shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him.
But you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known. Then you shall inquire, search out and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, You shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock with the edge of the sword. And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder for the Lord your God.
It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hands. that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God. Amen.
Let us pray. Our Father, we pray now for the ministry of your Holy Spirit. And as we read this passage of Scripture, in many ways it seems so foreign to us, so far removed. And we just pray that you would guide us now by your hand of mercy, that you would give us wisdom as we approach this text, that you would give us clarity in our thinking and grace to learn the lessons that you would have for us this morning.
We just pray, God in heaven, that you would forgive us for our sins and our transgressions. Chase away anything that would darken our understanding. and give us the grace to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.
Introduction
Well, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ early on were people of the book. That's how they were described. They read the Bible. They made much of Scripture.
And certainly the case is true today. And it is the hope that people are reading not just the New Testament. They're also reading the Old Testament as well. And sometimes, based on our particular situation, living in 21st century North America, living in a certainly affluent situation and not having sort of the same sorts of boundaries and warfare going on that the people of Israel faced of old, we're likely to scratch our heads at certain passages and wonder why in the world these things are in the Bible.
I suspect Deuteronomy 13 is one of those chapters, if we had to have a top ten list of difficult passages facing the church of Jesus Christ, probably chapter 13 would be on there. has brought some unease. Is Pastor Butler going to teach us today that we need to go out and execute false prophets, we need to execute unconverted family members, and we need to find cities given over to apostasy and engage in warfare with them? No, Pastor Butler is not encouraging that. In fact, I want to make a very distinctive qualification this morning.
I am not advocating that you take the sword or you take some physical apparition to take apostasy or idolatry, the punishment or penalty of it in your own hand. The church has not been given the sword. Private Christians have not been given the sword. We are not called upon to execute these penalties upon those who would seduce us to idolatry.
So make sure you get that. I'll repeat that qualification at the end of the message. so that no one leaves here thinking you ought to go buy a gun today and fight for Jesus Christ. No, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds. So please, take that qualification into your heart.
Jim Butler is not advocating physical violence to expand the kingdom of Jesus Christ. That is not what is at stake today. But I do want us to learn the lessons of Deuteronomy 13, because at the heart of this particular section is the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. You see, basically what had happened is the wilderness generation, the first generation of Israelites, died off.
They did not enter into the promised land because of unbelief. They did not believe the promise of God. They believed rather the bad report of ten spies And then they engaged in all manner of grumbling and murmuring. So God stopped that generation.
The book of Deuteronomy takes up the second generation. It takes up the children of Israel that are poised to enter into the promised land. The book of Deuteronomy takes place in about a month. It takes place on the plains of Moab.
As I said, they're on the verge of entering into the promised land. And through a series of exhortations, through a series of addresses, Moses, God's man, is preparing the people for the conquest so that when they go into the land under Joshua, they'll know how they ought to conduct themselves. So that's the setting of Deuteronomy 13. when you go, even from this time forth. into the future, you need to be aware of this temptation, of this tendency of people to seduce you to idolatry. This touches on the first two commandments of the Decalogue.
You shall have no other gods before me, and you shall not make for yourself an idol. God gives as His reason in the second word that He is a jealous God. He doesn't share His people with Baal. He doesn't share His people with Asherah.
He doesn't share his people at all. God demands fidelity from those he has redeemed. That is legit. That is right.
That is good. And I hope that we appreciate that message as we come out of our study today in Deuteronomy chapter 13. Well,
Three Cautions Against Idolatry
there are three cautions in this section. The first is the temptation from false prophets. Secondly, there is a temptation from family and friends. And then thirdly, there is a temptation from public apostasy.
And we can see the logical progression. If we don't deal with false prophets, If we don't deal with the temptation within the family, then we'll have whole cities given over to idolatry, whole cities given over to apostasy. That's the eventuality in the last part of the chapter, what Craigie calls urban revolutionaries. They have taken a piece or they have taken a city that God graciously gave in the land of Canaan, and they have made it a place of idolatry and of apostasy from the living and true God.
So each one sort of builds on the other. But along the way we'll make some observations concerning the New Testament counterpart to these particular passages. So
Temptation from False Prophets
let's just strap ourselves in and let's first look at the temptation from false prophets in verses 1 to 5.
The Enticement of Signs and Wonders
Notice first the enticement. He says, if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, this was one of God's means of revealing Himself. Men would have dreams, Numbers chapter 12, and they would communicate the data to the children of Israel. It was a means by which God revealed Himself.
So, prophet or a dreamer of dreams. And He gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass of which he spoke to you. Let's just think about this for just a moment. It's important for our current theological and ecclesiastical landscape.
The prophet or the dreamer of dreams was a religious man. No doubt, probably a leader within Israel. We wouldn't be prone to listen to a prophet or a dreamer of dreams if he was self-appointed. You know, we see those sorts of people.
We, you know, write them off as religious nuts. Well, I doubt things were very much different in Old Covenant Israel. So he was probably a religious man and probably a leader among the people. Notice what else is very intriguing about this passage.
The man does signs and wonders that actually come to pass. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? Notice the text. And he gives you a sign or wonder and the sign or the wonder comes to pass.
It's an intriguing thing. Notice what the text goes on to say. Of which he spoke to you saying, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them. Do you see this prophet or this dreamer of dreams comes, he does signs and wonders, they actually come to pass.
The revelatory interpretation he puts upon that sign or wonder is let us go therefore and worship Baal. Let us go serve the gods of Canaan. What does God the Lord through the prophet Moses say? Do not listen to him.
So what's a take home lesson from this particular excerpt of Holy Scripture? The truth of God takes priority over signs and wonders. If a man does dazzling things and then preaches justification by words, reject him. If a man does not do signs and wonders but preaches the truth to you, listen to him.
God's word has priority. God's word is the most important thing. The children of Israel have already been taught that in Deuteronomy 8 too. You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Christopher Wright says his words cancel out all his amazing deeds. No display of miraculous powers, no amount of signs and wonders can lend a moment's credibility to anybody with a message so clearly at odds with covenant truth and demand. Please take that to heart. There's a lot of razzle dazzle in the evangelical world about a man who sees things, or a man who has signs, or a man who has wonders, or a man who has capabilities, or a man who's able to heal.
But if they do not speak according to the law and the testimony, there is no light in them. We get caught up in the physical. We get caught up in the razzmatazz. We get caught up in the sensational.
Well, certainly you can see that potential here. The Israelites saying, but His signs and wonders came to pass. Certainly we should go pursue Baal. His signs and wonders came to pass.
Certainly we should pursue those idols of the heathen. They work. You see, that's what happens to men. They seek what works rather than what is true.
Signs and wonders in the Scripture were always given to buttress, confirm, and affirm revelation. Even in this instance, the false prophet, the dreamer of dreams, when he gave these signs and wonders, on the heels of the signs and wonders came revelation. Well, that's the same way signs and wonders function from Genesis to Revelation. When the man doing the sign or wonder does the sign or wonder, he then reveals.
And if he's speaking according to God's truth, be amazed by the sign and wonder. But if he is speaking against God's truth, reject that heretic, reject that apostate, reject that false teacher. It doesn't matter if he can raise the dead. If he bodges up the cross, he is to be rejected.
That's what we need to gather. Notice the specific temptation. Let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them. This is a rejection of Yahweh of Israel.
This is rebellion against the first and the second word. You see, this was the sum and substance of their covenant life. It was who God is and how we approach him. I think we oftentimes forget that order.
Who comes first in the decalogue? It isn't us. It's God. It's God in his being.
Second, it's God in his worship. Third, it's God in his name. Fourth, it's God in his day. Once you have that first table of the law down, now in the area of social personal ethics, honor your father and your mother.
Do not murder each other. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not lie.
Do not covet. But who comes first in this arrangement? And so when this false prophet comes, or this dreamer of dreams, and he does the signs and the wonders, and then he interprets the signs and the wonders this way, let us go after Baal. You are not to listen to him.
Notice the response, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. You give heed to the word of the living God and Him alone. So just take from that for a moment. Again, the emphasis on does it work rather than is it true.
It doesn't matter if it works, if it doesn't, bringing it near to God. Pragmatism is not biblical Christianity. And then notice their specific or notice their specific response with reference to this. I'm sorry.
God's Purpose in Testing
Notice the Lord's purpose here. It's interesting. Verse three, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. Notice for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart. and with all your soul." This is not a solicitation to do evil.
James tells us in James 1.13, God cannot tend to evil. That means He doesn't entice you to do wicked deeds. God does send tests. Genesis 22, Abraham, go offer up your son, your only son, whom you love.
Well, the reader is given the privilege of knowing that God is testing Abraham. There are tests, there are trials, there are difficulties, there are afflictions, there are situations and instances in the Christian life that God uses to prove your mettle. In fact, we see such an eventuality in the letter to the first Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 11. Remember when Paul is cautioning them about improper conduct at the Lord's table?
Remember the theological rationale that he gives about heresies in the church? Have you ever scratched your head and said, I wonder why there's all these factions? Rome uses this as an argument against Protestantism. They're so factionalized and so sectarian.
There must not be any truth there whatsoever. Well, that conclusion doesn't follow from the premise. But have you ever wondered that? Well, Paul tells us why in 1 Corinthians 11, 19.
You see, if things always just went along peachy ting, there'd be no testing, there'd be no proving, there'd be no demonstration. Once in a while in the life of a believer, God calls him to take his Isaac up to Moriah and put a knife in his belly. Now, thankfully, God doesn't call us to do specifically that. James says, blessed are you when you fall into various trials.
Why? Knowing that the testing of your faith produces what? Patience. This is not something typical in the heart of man.
Man, if he has to sit for more than 30 seconds at a red light, is tapping his dashboard because he's in a hurry. Patience isn't big with us. Might be with you, but most of us. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
This is God's means to conform us unto His Son, Jesus Christ. If the Son learned obedience through suffering, then certainly the sons of God will learn obedience through suffering. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, 19, for there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. The same sort of concept here on the plains of Moab in Deuteronomy 13.
You shall not listen to the words of the prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Are you just a fair weather fan? You just serve God when everything's good. You serve God when everything's hunky-dory.
You serve God when you've got a bank account, when you've got a nice car, you've got a nice home, you've got a nice unmolested lifestyle. You've got to serve God when you're in Bangladesh and you trust your children to the care of somebody and they end up kidnapped and brutalized. You see, we're all ready to trust God when our kids are washed and bathed and clothed and sleeping peacefully in their cribs, but the moment of press comes, the moment of difficulty comes, where are we? Listen to Paul, listen to Moses on the plains of Moab.
There must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Notice the response, or the penalty rather, for this prophet. But, verse 5, that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. Again, we stop there as 21st century North American evangelicals.
We say, oh Lord, I can't believe that's in the Bible. I can't believe that's in the Bible. I was thinking about something. What's worse?
God's opposition to sin or sin? Think about it. I think at times we think God's opposition to sin. No, it's sin.
Get it? See the distinction? Yesterday we were downtown holding up signs, and I was standing next to a young lady who had a sign of a fetus inside the mother's womb. It's one of those 3D sort of ultrasounds where you see the baby.
It's a beautiful thing. And I happened to be holding the sign of an eight-week or nine-week fetus that was butchered. And this old lady came up to me and said, that is ugly. I'm anti-abortion.
That is ugly. We said, absolutely, it's ugly. She was more incensed about that sign than the actual practice of it going on. You see, are we more upset about sin or God's opposition to sin?
I suggest as sanctified believers, we should be more upset with What is going on here? The false prophet is attacking the covenant community. He is attacking allegiance to God. He is suggesting revolution and treason.
He is calling people to abandon Yahweh of Israel. God says don't deal with him lightly. My Word has value. My Word has weight.
My Word is about something. You take that false prophet, you take that dreamer of dreams, and you put them to death. If that is offensive to you, then I encourage you to read more of the Old Testament. You'll learn something about the New Testament, too.
The holiness of God. You know, there's a passage in the New Testament that makes this pale in comparison. It's an amazing thing how Christians can trip on Deuteronomy 13.5 and say, wow, that's just bizarre. How in the world could God order the execution of a false prophet?
And the Apostle Paul writes this to the Galatians. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Let him be damned to hell. Let him be anathema.
That's what Paul was saying. Quite frankly, given the option, if all that was involved in Deuteronomy 13.5 was being physically executed, I'd take that over Galatians 1.8. Now, the unrepentant prophet would indeed suffer the penalty of Galatians 1.8 as well, but humanly speaking. Galatians 1, 8 and 9 make Deuteronomy 13, 5 look like a walk in the park.
Or imagine Paul's statement, 1 Corinthians 16, 22. How does he end that epistle? I just want to ooze Jesus all over everybody. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
And it's interesting, the word that Paul uses, I'm translating anathema, from the Greek. It's a transliteration. The New King James uses a curse. I think the NIV has eternally condemned.
Those all get at the hub of the meaning. The anathema comes from these Old Testament passages. What we'll find is the lot of the urban revolutionaries. They are put under the anathema, though the Greek word wasn't used there.
It was the Hebrew word haram. Haram is the Old Covenant or Old Testament word of devoting something to destruction. That's the New Testament equivalent. So what we find is consistency between the Testaments.
We ought not to stand in dismay at what the treatment of the false prophet garnered in Old Covenant Israel and then read Galatians 1.8 in some place of superior moral ethic. God doesn't change. He values His Word. He prizes His truth.
You don't mess with it. You don't tamper with it. You don't twist it. You don't distort it.
You don't botch it. You don't ruin the message of the cross and then think all is well with you. That's the penalty. The false prophet was calling for faithlessness from a people redeemed by a God of faithfulness.
Notice how this passage is underscored after giving the penalty in verse five. It then highlights the reality that this apostate has sought to turn you away from the Lord, your God, who what Lord, your God, the God who brought you out of Egypt, the God who redeemed you. The God of sovereign grace, the God of sovereign election, the God of eternal mercy, that God, his glory, his honor, his majesty is being impugned by this false prophet or this dreamer of dreams. God does not suffer rivals to his holy name.
That is the underscore in this particular section. And then notice what it goes on to say. to entice you from the way in which you are, which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. Go back for just a moment to eleven twenty eight in Deuteronomy.
Eleven twenty eight. Verse twenty six, the very end of the chapter eleven blessings and and. And cursings are given, they'll be elaborated on later in the book of Deuteronomy. But notice in verse 26, Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.
The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today to go after other gods which you have not known. So when we get to Deuteronomy 13.5, you shall put away the evil from your midst. What's the implication? When false teaching, when false doctrine, when apostasy or idolatry is entertained in the commonwealth, the whole people suffer the wrath and fury of God.
So what God tells Moses graciously is to deal with the offender. Spare the community by penalizing the guilty. God's not a Muslim. We just read in the last hour some updates concerning the persecuted church.
Somebody in a village is guilty of Christianity. So let's burn the village. Well, that doesn't mean everybody has become a Christian. There's no selectivity, there's no discrimination, let's just bomb the village and get rid of everything.
No, God says, purge the evil from your midst. Get rid of the false prophet, the dreamer of dreams, and so secure the blessing of the Commonwealth of Israel. So that's the false prophet.
Temptation from Family and Friends
Notice, secondly, the temptation from family and friends. Again, probably one that we struggle with. But I want us to appreciate biblical law as we work our way, especially through these last two examples.
The Intimate Circle of Enticement
Notice the temptation from family and friends, verse six to eight, the enticement, your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom or your friend who is as your own soul secretly entices you say, let us go and serve other gods. Notice the close and intimate circle of those who may affect you. Young people, children, may I suggest that you pay attention to this passage And remember Paul's words in second Corinthians six. Do not be unequally yoked.
Where might temptation present itself most intensely? Pillow talk. The breakfast nook. The family altar.
Notice what God is saying. as intimate a circle as one can imagine. Again, let's not forget the New Testament. Let's not say, oh, this is a barbaric ethic on the plains of Moab. Did not our Lord say, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Now, again, I'm not advocating. We actually carry out the penalty involved here in verses 6 to 11. But I am advocating that there is a theological principle and a lesson that the church really needs to take heed to. God doesn't take lightly idolatry.
God does not take lightly apostasy. God does not take lightly seduction to such sin. Again, Christopher Wright says, neither Jesus nor Deuteronomy were, by any stretch of imagination, anti-family. You can't read Deuteronomy 13 and Luke 14 and say, boy, Moses and Jesus seem to be an anti-family.
No, that's not what's going on. He says, they were both passionately anti-idolatry and they recognized in the family one of the toughest and subtlest sources of hidden idolatry on which many a profession of loyalty to the kingdom of God has foundered. Take your time. getting to know that would-be spouse. Take your time getting to know that one before you say, I do.
I mean, Moses brings that circle of intimacy right there. The wife of your bosom. Jesus highlights that same allegiance that is necessary in not just New Covenant or Old Covenant, but in biblical religion. God calls us to pursue Him God calls us to follow Him.
God calls us to give Him our bodies, which is our reasonable or rational sacrifice unto Him. Note the nature of the temptation, verse 7. Let us go and serve other gods, verse 6, which you have not known, neither you know your fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you, or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. I don't think this means they had no clue that there was a Baal out there, but not known in the sense of being in covenant with, not known in the sense of being a subject to, but one that is foreign, one that is contrary, one that is a rival, one that is a competitor, Yahweh of Israel.
If someone in that circle of intimacy secretly entices you away and tries to get you to consent, it might be, let's go to this Baal's day worship. Let's go to this Asherah festival. Let's go to this because there's signs and wonders happening. And we are just going to be called fuddy-duddies if we don't participate in this sort of a thing.
You see, there is a legitimate enticement here to go and follow after other gods. It's not a woman. I use the example, you know, she's hammering something and she bangs her thumb and she says, Oh, Baal. It's not necessarily that.
It is an enticement. It is seduction. It is calling one partner away from the God of Israel to a rival or a competitor. Is everybody with me?
You see that God means business? He doesn't want you to have Jesus in the parlor and the devil in the basement. He doesn't want you to say yes to Yahweh during the week and yes to Baal for the rest of the week. can take various forms. I'm just using Baal as false gods, idols.
Unless you think this sermon has no relevance whatsoever, how does John end his epistle? John ends his first epistle on this note. Such a negative Nelly. We'd never invite him back to our church.
John, don't you know you're supposed to just cry and tell everybody how much you love them? You're supposed to show gentle Jesus, meek and mild, John, you're not welcome back because you ended your first epistle this way. My little children, keep yourselves from idols. You're sitting here this morning and you think this sermon has no relevance to you.
May I encourage you to wake up? Calvin was absolutely right. Our hearts are idol factories. We can take good things and make them into idols.
It doesn't have to be a statue of Baal. It doesn't have to be Moloch. We can take something legit, we can take something special, we can take something God-sanctioned and God-approved of and make it an object of worship. It's a terrible thing.
But I want us to appreciate something here. I taught this material at a retirement residence here in town. It's mainly old dolls and old dudes. The ratio is quite high though, you know, 10 old dolls to one old dude.
I had this discussion with Micah when I was with him last week. I'll probably die before your mother. He says, don't say that. I say, statistics are, you can't argue.
You go to these retirement homes, usually it's women. They just live longer. It was, I brought this material and one of the old ladies, older ladies, one of the old dolls, rolled her eyes and grimaced when I said we're going to look at Deuteronomy 13. She thought the Old Testament was just filled with blood.
By the end of the message, after we went through the text, it's what a lot of people won't do. They hate the Old Testament, but they haven't looked at the text. She said, oh, wow, that wasn't so bad after all, or something like that. I mean, you listen to the text.
Look again at verse 6, if your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who has your own soul, secretly entices you, notice what the response is in verse 8. You shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him, but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people." Again, we hear that and we recoil. We are just amazed that God would say such a thing.
Again, I'm not suggesting that tonight, if your wife happens to say, bail on the pillow, that you put a knife in her throat and say, well, you know, God told me in Deuteronomy 13. This was not an escape hatch for a bad marriage either. In other words, a man could not dispose of his wife lawfully apart from procedure. The enemies of biblical law never seem to consider that there are safeguards built in.
What is the language of verses 9 and 10? It is the language that will be developed in more detail in chapter 17. It is the language of judicial process. It's wise.
It's a good code. It's not harsh or barbaric. Notice, you shall surely kill them. We stop there.
We roll our eyes and we, like that older lady, say, oh, the Old Testament is filled with blood. But read on. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death. There's process.
There's procedure. There's methodology. There is a court system. There is a structure in place.
You can't just stab your wife or stab your husband and say on the pillow, she mentioned Baal, so I had to rid Israel of this horrific apostate. No. Absolutely not. Notice, "...and afterward the hand of all the people." And you shall stone him with stone until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God." Again, underscoring who this God is who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Judicial procedure is highlighted. Craigie says the person who reported the crime would cast the first stone against the accused person. There is process involved. This isn't a lover's spat gone wrong.
I know how to get rid of my wife. I know how to get rid of my husband. I'll accuse them of being a Baal worshipper. If you accuse them, you had better be ready to stand before witnesses, to stand before the magistrate, to give evidence, to argue your case.
And as Deuteronomy 19 specifies, if you are found out in the wrong, whatever the penalty due for them is now upon you. It's beautiful, actually. I wish we had something this Good. The enemies of biblical law say it's barbaric.
No, what we operate in is barbarism. This is just, it's legit, there's witnesses, there's process. It's all built in, it's all in the text of scripture. Craigie says the person who reported the crime would cast the first stone against the accused person, then the rest of the community would join him in stoning the offender to death.
The procedure of execution is significant. By casting the first stone, the person reporting the crime took responsibility for the execution by symbolizing in this manner that his evidence, which brought about the execution, was true evidence. However, he did not have to carry out the responsibility alone, for after he cast the first stone, the rest of the community shared in the act of execution." Again, that very language bothers us. I find it more so here in Canada.
Christian people, dear brothers and sisters, whether the Canadian law authorizes it or not, the Bible mandates capital punishment. Don't be undecided. Don't be what we just can never know. If you want more, talk about that.
You can see Pastor Cam after the sermon. He'll set you straight on every jot and tittle of that particular aspect of the law. I'm just kidding. You can talk to me as well.
The time for fuzzy thinking should have been over at the Reformation. Then we have professing Christians that can't define justification. that can't argue for basic, fundamental, ethical principles from the Bible, we need to wake up. God told the prophet Joel, sound the alarm in Zion. Well, when people can't give a reasonable defense for, you know, the execution of criminals and the defense of helpless unborn babies from the Bible, we need more Bible study.
We need to read more, we need to listen to more sermons. We hear the word execution and we recoil, but there is a process, there is judicial procedure, there is methodology, there is safeguard in place so that we do not take these principles or these sorts of texts and use them for our own ungodly means.
The Desired Effect on the Community
Notice the desired effect, verse 11, so all Israel shall hear and fear and not again do such wickedness as this among you. That's the desired effect upon the polity, the people should hear and fear. Again, this isn't far removed from Romans 13, the passage that authorizes the civil magistrate to wield the sword in the execution of God's wrath. What does Paul say specifically in Romans 13?
For if you do evil, just go live it up in Costa Rica because no one's going to do anything to you anyway. Now, if you do evil, be afraid for he does not wield the sword in vain. He is God's deacon. He is God's servant.
He is God's avenger of God's wrath in history. So not too much different here.
Temptation from Public Apostasy
Let's look thirdly and finally at these urban revolutionaries. The temptation from public apostasy. Meredith Klein said, if the stipulations of the preceding verses were not vigorously carried out, the rebellion would increase from individual to community proportions, a situation requiring the yet more difficult decision and action prescribed here. It's easier to kill the snake when it's in the egg than when it's nine feet tall and that thick and wrapped around your body.
That's what Klein said. We don't deal with the false prophet, the dreamer of dreams. We don't deal with these secret enticements from family members. What are we going to have?
The land of Canaan that God gave graciously to the people of Israel is going to be populated with cities, some of which are given fully and wholly over to do evil. So you've got to deal with it at the root. You've got to deal with it when it's small. Urban revolutionaries.
Notice in verse 12. If you hear someone in one of your cities which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in. Notice these continual reminders of the grace of God. You're sinning against God.
You're sinning against grace. You're sinning against goodness. You're sinning against the God of redemption. If you hear someone in one of your cities which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in saying, corrupt man.
Remember that phrase, sons of Belial? You've all seen that, at least in your margins, if you read the New King James. First instance of sons of Belial, corrupt men here. Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods which you have not known.
Then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed against you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it, and its livestock, with the edge of the sword. And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder for the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever.
It shall not be built again." It's a severe punishment, isn't it? Isn't it? Yes, it is. What's God sanctioning, God stipulating, God mandating, God commanding?
He's commanding city A that is faithful. to go and destroy City B that is apostate. The severity of the punishment, though, is one of the safeguards in the process to protect the innocent.
Due Process and the Herem Principle
Notice there's two things that City A must do before they invade City B. Notice the language of verse 14. It's not like you're sitting in Chilliwack and you hear, well, you know, Abbotsford has completely gone into apostasy. Well, get the tanks, get the F-15s, get the B-2s, arm up the Humvees, let's go to Abbotsford and destroy them.
Let us not pity them, let us destroy them, their stuff and everything in the city. Now, notice in verse 14, then you shall inquire, search out. And ask diligently. What's that mean?
Due process. Investigate. Do your job. These are lives at stake.
These are human beings. These are image bearers. You don't just act on a whim. You certainly don't act on hearsay.
Good principle here for the life of the church as well. So and so said this. Well, I'm going to hate that. No.
Search it out. Ask questions. Be diligent. You're going to end a friendship over something that you've heard?
Even if you heard it, you're going to end a friendship over it? How many times have you said things you shouldn't have said? Doesn't the preacher tell us that in the book of Ecclesiastes? You yourselves know you've cursed the king in your own heart.
How dare we think that anybody could ever say a bad thing against me? Come on. But notice the principle. You shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently.
That's the first safeguard before City A goes to City B. The second safeguard is that harem principle, that anathema principle. Notice what God says here. Go and destroy everything.
Go and kill the people, render the penalty, but also destroy the property. You see, there's no benefit for City A to invade City B to take their stuff. Right? We in Chilliwack just don't.
Particularly like Abbotsford, they got a wealth of natural resources. So we're going to say that they're an apostate, vile, idolatrous city, so we're going to go wipe them out and take their stuff. Can't do it. There's no benefit, there's no profit, there's no privilege for City A.
It is simply retribution. You see, that is a safeguard that, again, enemies of the law of God, look, they fail to realize, well, that's just terrible. God tells city A to go destroy city B. Wait a minute.
It's not quite that simple. I mean, it is simple if you follow the procedure. Is everybody with me? Please come out of Deuteronomy 13 at least going, wow, it's not as bad as I thought, like the older lady at the cascade.
It isn't bad, and if we still have that in our heart, it's us that needs to change. It's us that needs to repent. Biblical law is good. Paul says as much in Romans 7.
The law is good. The law is holy. The law is right. You look at the law of God and you look at man, what's the problem?
It certainly isn't the law of God. I guarantee you. A hundred times out of a hundred times, it is not the law of God. So there was a necessity to establish guilt and there was the implementation of this Heron principle in verses 15 to 16.
There would be no economic gain on the part of those carrying out the vengeance, which would reduce the potential invasion of one city by another for economic benefit rather than destroying idolatry. It is built in the system. There are safeguards, there are checks, there are balances. Biblical law is wise and it is good.
And at the end of it, we see what God abominates is idolatry. And notice, with this param principle, when a city, an Israelite city, behaved like a Canaanite city, they were treated like a Canaanite city. Destroy them, take their stuff, put it in the middle of the streets, burn it as a burnt offering unto the Lord. You're going to act like the Canaanites, you're going to be treated like the Canaanites.
You're going to follow the Canaanites God, you're going to be punished for following the Canaanites God. It's legit. It's just. It's right.
By embracing the abomination of Canaan, the Israelite city would become an abomination. It would become like Canaanite Jericho and must share Jericho's cursed doom by fire and sword. In doing this, they would propitiate the wrath of God, according to verse 17. So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as he swore to your fathers, because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God to keep all his commandments, which I command you today to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.
Application and Conclusion
Thus ends our exposition of Deuteronomy 13. Hopefully it answers some questions. If it has presented more, please feel free afterwards to ask, to talk. It's always good to compare and to try and understand scripture with scripture so that we can have a clear understanding.
And that when we, in our daily Bible reading, come to a passage like this, we don't say, horror of horrors, how can this be? Or we, in our daily life, don't fall prey to being embarrassed by the Old Testament. That's one of the most offensive things, when we are embarrassed by the Word of God. God's never called us to be embarrassed.
You hear it in people's voices. We're not called to be embarrassed. Still, Ralph Davis says, we claim the Bible is true, not sanitized. You want a sanitized book?
Go read a censorized version of the Bible. God tells us what sin is like. God tells us what sin deserves. God tells us about his holy revulsion against it.
And the Christian thinking Christ's thoughts after him says, yeah, I see that. Yeah, if we don't deal with idolatry at the root stage, it's going to develop into full blown revolution against the living and true God. We can't have that. I just want to quote with a couple of thoughts.
We're not at 1230 yet. I want to quote a couple of thoughts, but I just want to read Craigie again. His commentary on Deuteronomy. I think he nails the sum and substance of these penalties when he writes, the legal penalties noted in this chapter may seem at first sight to be excessively harsh, but the reason for the severity lies in the nature of the crime.
The continued existence of the covenant community depended literally upon allegiance to the Lord of the covenant. Thus, the crime is considered not simply in light of the actions of the perpetrator, but in light of the effect of the crime on the welfare of the whole people of Israel. Of all potential crimes in ancient Israel, the one described in this chapter was the most dangerous in terms of its broader ramifications. To attempt deliberately to undermine allegiance to God was the worst form of subversive activity, in that it eroded the constitutional basis of the potential nation Israel.
In its implications, the crime would be equivalent, I think he's right, to treason or to espionage. You see, if a country is at war and somebody betrays that country, Most of the time, the persons of that country have no problem administering the death penalty to the traitor. It's subversive activity. It is calling for a rival authority to God Most High.
It undoes the social fabric of the nation. It is an attack upon God the Lord and upon the community that he has redeemed. What may appear to be severe is simply an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in a moral universe governed by a moral God who is absolutely holy and just and right. We learn from this passage those lessons.
God is holy, God is jealous, and God is just. Don't leave Deuteronomy 13 without seeing that. Right. What are we supposed to gain from this?
God doesn't play games. God doesn't take rivals to his authority lightly. God really is, according to the second word, a jealous God. God is just in that he has built into the penology of the system safeguards, checks and balances so that men don't willy nilly carry out things that are not consistent with his revealed mind and will.
All of these things jump out of the text. Our God is holy. Our God is just. Our God is jealous.
That's how you want to approach your Old Testament. Read it. Learn what it says about God. You know, it doesn't just say these three things.
It speaks of His graciousness. It speaks of His mercy. Never forget, my dear brothers and sisters, that this very chapter is a mark, an expression, an administration of His grace and mercy. It is functioning as a warning.
See, you couldn't go live in the land of Canaan and scratch your head and say, but I didn't know. Oh yes, you did know. Deuteronomy 13, it is written, the warnings of God are for our good. Just the way that we warn our children against doing things that will hurt them, that will hurt us, we give them warnings with teeth.
And that is precisely what Jehovah does in Deuteronomy 13. So no one, when they get to the promised land, if they bow down to Baal, can scratch their heads and say, but Lord, I didn't know. Oh yes, you did. The same thing is true of us.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. I just didn't know. Absolutely you knew. God does not take lightly.
Those who try to entertain Jesus and mammon. Those who want Jesus and His blessings but want the world and its pleasures. Jesus and His blessings and the world and its whatever. Jesus Christ amends our all.
He is the God speaking through Moses on the plains of Moab in Deuteronomy 13. Idolatry is heinous. Idolatry is wretched. Idolatry is godlessness.
That is the sin of sins that we need to attack and root out. If it rises up from a false prophet, reject it. If it rises up in your own home, squash it. If it rises up in a city, don't go there.
Stay away from it. God the Lord suffers no rivals. Well, brethren, I hope, too, we understand something of the glory of the gospel, because
The Gospel and the Idol of Self
Jesus ultimately died to save us from idolatry, didn't he? He said, well, I never worshipped Baal, I never worshipped Moloch. You did. You just called him self.
You called him money. You called him love. Or you called him sex. You called him drugs.
You called him rock and roll. You called him, you know, honey. Or you called him whatever it was. The design of the gospel according to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 is that the one who died, died so that we who live for ourselves would no longer do so, but would live for him. cross ought to cut us off from the biggest idol in all of our lives, and that is the idol of self.
Praise God you didn't worship Moloch. Praise God you never bowed to Baal. Praise God you never had Asherah. But you've had other gods before him, and it's been you.
I guarantee it. There's no one in here that can say, well, you know, I'm innocent of this. I don't think so. I don't think so.
Praise God for the glory of the gospel, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're in that cross. We have forgiveness for idolatry. We have forgiveness.
We have cleansing through his blood. We have the righteousness that avails with God, even the righteousness of Jesus himself. So let this passage teach you something of the holiness of God. If you're unsaved, may it drive you to the cross of Christ so that you may find forgiveness. and you may find mercy, for our God is a consuming fire, as the plains of Moab most vividly display.
But there is help, there is health, there is healing, there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ the Lord. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for this, your holy word. We thank you for its clarity and we thank you for its sufficiency in all matters of faith and practice. Again, I want to remind our brothers and sisters here not to take the physical sword or take physical implements to go out and deal with apostasy or idolatry. May we learn the lessons of your holiness and of your justice and of your glory and majesty revealed herein.
May we realize as well the gravity of idolatry and the sinfulness of it. And may we, by your grace in this new covenant era, know the power of your spirit, know the power of your word, and to keep ourselves from idols. God, go with us now, we pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.