Thursday Night Bible Study

Deuteronomy12:29-Deuteronomy 14 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

“An Ever Present Danger” • 11.29.12 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study

Intro.

- Moses has been preparing the people of Israel for their move into the Promised Land. These are technically his last words, so they carry a great amount of weight.

- In the section before us tonight, he warns them against the temptation that would confront them continually, namely the luring of their hearts away from the Lord.

- Before we begin to consider this passage, remember why Israel is coming to Canaan. They are being settled to keep a promise made to the Forefathers, which involved this land.

- And from that land, there would be a blessing that would come to the entire world in the coming of the Messiah, who would bring about the redemption of believing Mankind!

- When you think of those factors, I believe the severity we are about to witness makes sense not only practically in the life of the Israeli's, but in our Christian walks as well.

Text

• Deuteronomy 12:29-32 : "When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." : The Lord was responsible for the removal of the nations that lived in Canaan.

- Israel would cooperate, but it was not their might that caused the Canaanites to flee. God was cutting them off from the land.

- Moses warns them to be careful regarding their own curiosity, lest they become ensnared or trapped in following Canaanite religious practices.

- Moses imagines a time when the people of Israel would seek out information regarding the worship of these "deities," specifically regarding "how" they worshipped.

- They would be tempted to imitate the worship of the Canaanites, but give that worship to God. This, under any motivation, would create a horrifying problem!

- The Canaanites worshipped false gods, demons in fact, who caused them to treat their children as expendable commodities. This is why worship is important.

- When you worship the true God, you will be conformed to His image. You will take on His characteristics. You will value people in the same way that He does.

- You will see their unique gifts and talents and expressions and thank God for them. However, when you worship anything less than God, the same will be true!

- You will become like that which you worship. You will find yourself looking at people as commodities to be used and fellowship will be based on agreement only.

- Instead of pleasing the Lord, this is an abomination to Him. He hates this type of worship because of what it produces in people!

- This is why they needed to beware to follow the Lord exact words, neither adding nor taking away from what had been said. True worship begins with a solid commitment to God's Word.

- It's sad that the people of Israel widely ignored this and did indeed seek out idolatrous worship, even to the worship of Molech which is a big part of the story of I and II Kings.

• Deuteronomy 13:1-5 : "If there arises among you a 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, 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." : In the face of a Prophet or dreamer, who successfully performs a sign, but gives a contradicting message, the Word of God is to prevail!

- An impressive show of power can come from God to authenticate His message, but the enemy is also capable of performing signs to manipulate and deceive.

- In the last days, the enemy will allow signs to be performed that if possible would even deceive God's people!

- Signs that agree or point to God's message were used before we had the Word. Today, we have no need for signs.

- As we move further down the road of Israel's history, their paths were strewn with false prophets and dreamers who claimed God's authority.

- They would not doubt be tempted to listen to a prophet or a dreamer, as we all would.

- Notice that God allows these people to come into the midst of the people of Israel, to test them. The test is not to entice them to evil. It is designed to give them a chance to show love.

- The test is not meant to show God what is in the heart of men, but for men to see what is in their own heart. How do I know that I love God? By how I obey His commands.

- How do I know that I have obeyed His commands? When an alternative has presented itself and I have refused it's influence!

- They were to refuse the influence of an official representative if what they proposed went against what God had already revealed. In that theocratic society, that crime meant death!

- Later in the Bible, Paul tells the Galatians that if a person or even an angel offered another gospel other than the one that he and the Apostles had given, they were to be accursed.

- A Prophet or dreamer was to be looked at in light of who God is. They had some little experience or excitment, but God had delivered them! He had pulled them out of bondage!

- He had saved them and in that fact alone, they owed Him their eternal allegiance.

• Deuteronomy 13:6-11 : "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." : A Prophet or dreamer was not to entice them to false worship and neither was a close family member!

- Most of us know what this temptation is like. How many stupid things have been done on account of a family member?

- It begins with a secret enticement. A private conversation. A shared sympathy or empathy toward a desire that they are too fearful to check into themselves.

- "Let's go check these people out. They can't be all that bad!" In that place and time, the person who was enticed was to be the first to lift their hands to destroy the one enticing!

- That person was coming against the very work of God that had taken place in the Israelite's life! They were attempting to pull God's people out from God's protective hand!

- In that society, the person was to be killed. Today, principally, we are to carefully weigh who speaks into our hearts and minds. Who has influence over us in that way?

- We may not stone them, but we cannot endure them either if we are to walk with the Lord!

- You are not going to be given anything more from God than you already have. You have His Word. You have this fellowship. You have all His blessing in Christ.

- We won't be given any more because we do not need anything more, but, while all He has is ours, the same is not reciprocally true. We do not always offer all that we are to Him.

- As a result of outer influence, we are often compromised by all that we allow to have space.

- Israel, for the sake of their place in redemptive history, was to be sure not to tolerate this enticement to evil, even from family members.

• Deuteronomy 13:12-18 : "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 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." : Similar to the last two sections, the Israelites were to protect their nation from those who would seek to bring in corruption, even if it was just a rumor!

- This was one of their cities. It was given to them by God! It's not that they were to concern themselves with other nations or places. It was their homeland!

- They were to inquire, search out and investigate with all their heart and if it was true, they were to take action against that city.

- Why? Because a little leaven leavens the entire lump! If it is allowed in one section or corner of the nation, it will spread like wildfire toward the rest of the nation!

- This was the way that they were to live while in the land that they were given. Any place that did not comply with God's worship and rule was to become a heap of ashes!

- Why? So that those who were accursed would be expelled from the land. God takes such things seriously and we would do well to have a similar attitude in principle.

- What have we tolerated that we should have removed? What have we become complacent about that we need to be considerate of?

- For the people of Israel, this was also a preventative measure. God's wrath would come against them for their toleration. Acting as He would would insure His multiplied compassion!

• Deuteronomy 14:1,2 : "You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." : God's children were not to engage in cutting themselves or shaving their head in mourning. They were to take a different attitude toward death.

- The Canaanites, it's presumed, cut themselves and shaved their heads to curry favor with their gods on behalf of the deceased.

- For a Christian, death is the end for that person. The emphasis is for the ones living and their commitment to Christ. Nothing can be done for one who has gone on.

- The Bible knows nothing of purgatory and God is not a God that is swayed by manipulation!

- Deuteronomy 14:3-21 deal with the dietary restrictions that the people of God were to observe. When we covered Leviticus we covered similar instructions in Leviticus 11:11-18.

- Who can forget the cloven hoof and cud chewing restrictions or the fins and scales discussion as it pertained to clean and unclean fish.

- Much of their dietary restrictions were put upon them because of rampant disease in a world that did not have the technological wherewithal to properly cook some of these items.

- Moses' point was that their appearance and their diet were to reflect a life that was set apart to God! If He commanded that they live this way, they were to honor Him by living that way.

• Deuteronomy 14:22-26 : "You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you." : The word "tithe" refers to a tenth, a number that would guide what they were to give to the Lord.

- It would consist of grain or produce from their fields and vines, flocks and herds. Why were they to give in this way? That they might learn to fear the Lord always!

- Why do we give? The very same reason! We do not give out of a compulsion, nor do we give out of manipulation. We give so that we have a value upon the reverance of the Lord.

- When asked whether or not there is a healthy fear of God, one may look at the direction of their spending. Where does God figure in? Is it when there is something left over or at the beginning?

- Today, the amount is left in your hand, but I cannot encourage you enough to set your financial priorities straight!

- Now, they were to bring their tithe to where God would set His name, which we know will be Jerusalem. For some journey would be too long for carrying grain or animals.

- God allowed them to sell these things in their land and then bring the money to Jerusalem, to buy things there. Later in history, this was corrupted to such a degree that Jesus overturned tables!

• Deuteronomy 14:27-29 : "You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do." :  One truth about the tithe that could not be forgotten was that it was the provision that God had set aside for the Levites who had no other means.

- In fact, every third year was to be a year where the people would set aside the produce of their household and give it to the Levites, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

- What did each of these have in common? In that society, they were all dependant on the value that the congregation of Israel placed upon God!

- God cared for the Levite through the sacrifices of the congregation. That is understandable, as they work for Him, but God's heart extends even beyond that.

- He looks at these others and sees their needs. How does He meet them? Through the hearts of His people. What would be the result for the people? Provision, satisfaction and blessing!

Conclusion
- Let's pray!