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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 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. 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, 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 let's just strap ourselves 
in and let's first look at the temptation from false prophets 
in verses 1 to 5. 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. 
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. 
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. 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. 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. 
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. 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. 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 
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. 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.