Deuteronomy 15:19–17:20

Good evening. Please welcome to sing with us.

Lord, I thank you for today. I thank you that you are the way maker. Lord, you've come in, you've broken the chains and set us free and brought us to you, Lord. I pray that as Pastor Ryan comes forward to open the word and teach that your spirit goes out with power. I pray all this in your heavenly name. Amen.

Good evening. If you would, please open up in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 15. Deuteronomy chapter 15. We left off last week with verse 17 as Moses is continuing to teach the people what God expects of them as they come into the promised land. And so as we move into this next section, which actually begins at the very end of chapter 15, the first thing that we'll look at tonight is he's going to talk about sacrifices and feasts.

Again, preparing the next generation for what it's going to be like to come into the land so that they can live in the promised land. As God has called them in the land that he has called them to. And so we pick up in chapter 15, verse 18 of the book of Deuteronomy, and it says this. Excuse me, verse 19. It says, You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and your flock.

You shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses. But if it has any defect, such as a lameness or a blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. You shall eat it within your gates.

The unclean and the clean alike may eat it as a gazelle or a deer. Only you shall not eat its blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water. So the first thing that he talks to them about has to do with the sacrifice of the firstborn or the consecration of the firstborn. You remember when God set the children of Israel free from the nation of Egypt,

one of the things that he said, is that since he had preserved the firstborn sons, and since he had preserved Israel, his own firstborn, that they were then to consecrate all of the firstborn, first of all of the flock and of the herd, to God. They were supposed to make sure that when it was the firstborn of the animals of the year, that they would save that animal. They wouldn't use it for plowing or any kind of work, nor would they shear it and make any kind of money off of it. They were to take that animal and they were to sacrifice it unto the Lord.

Much like many of the sacrifices, it was to be a fellowship style of offering, so that when they sacrificed it to the Lord, a portion was given to the priests, a portion was burned, and they ate a portion for themselves. You may have taken note of what was supposed to be taking place with this sacrifice, if it was the firstborn and they were to present it to the Lord. It was to have no defect. There couldn't be anything wrong with it.

And so they were to take a perfectly good animal that they could have made perfectly good money off of, and they were to sacrifice it, to the Lord. And it reminds us of a little truth that we know about worship, that we've brought up before, but that I think never hurts to bring up again. And that's that our worship unto God is always to be a sacrifice. It's always to be our first, and it's always to be our best.

It's our tendency as human beings to want to give God our leftovers. The story goes like this. A farmer had an animal that gave birth to twin calves. And as it gave birth to twin calves, he said, I am going to dedicate one of these to the Lord. Well, a few days later, one of the calves died. And he looked at his wife and he says, Unfortunately, God's calf died today.

Because we like to give God our least, right? We sometimes want to give God that which is second best. The fact of the matter is, what God calls for each of us to do is to give to Him our first, and to give to Him our best in every aspect of our lives. Well, he goes on from there in chapter 16 to talk about some of the features, and some of the beasts that they were supposed to keep.

It says in chapter 16, verse 1,

The bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember all the days of your life, the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrificed on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. You're not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the Lord your God is giving you. But the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset at the time that you came out of Egypt.

You shall cook it and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents, and for six days you shall eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it. Now the first two feasts that he talks about really are lumped together as one. They're both kind of lumped together as the Passover.

But within that time there's actually two feasts that were mentioned. The first is the Passover feast. And of course the Passover feast was the reminder of what God had done in setting the nation of Israel free from Egypt. One last plague came, and in that last plague God said, you need to prepare yourselves, and you need to protect yourselves from this last plague that's going to come on the nation of Egypt.

Because I will send the angel of death through, the angel of judgment through the land of Egypt, and I will kill every firstborn in the land. The only way that you can be set free, from the killing of the firstborn in your household, is if you find yourself a lamb. A lamb without spot, a lamb without blemish, and that lamb lives with you for a few days, so that you can inspect the lamb. And then at twilight you are to kill the lamb.

And once you have killed the lamb, you're to take hyssop, which is like a big bunch of grass, you're to dip it in the blood of the lamb, and you're to coat the doorposts of your home. So that when the angel of death, when that angel of judgment passes over, it will see the blood on the doorposts of your house, of your home, and you will be set free, from the judgment that's coming upon the land of Egypt. Of course the symbolism is incredible in that, because we know that each of us is subject to the judgment of the world. The only thing that can set us free from the judgment, that will ultimately come upon the world, is if the blood of the perfect spotless lamb of Jesus Christ, is not just applied to the doorposts of our home,

but for each of us is applied to the doorposts of our heart. So that we will be set free, from judgment. And so they were to continue to keep this feast. They were to continue to keep this Passover feast, every year at the first of the month. Because remember what God told them? This will be the beginning of days for you. This will be the first month for you,

because this is your brand new beginning. Just like when you and I came to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that became our second birthday. That became the day that we were born again, and the day that you should celebrate, as the day that you receive brand new life in Christ. He said, so you're to celebrate it. You're to celebrate it by killing the lamb,

by killing it at twilight, and you're to celebrate it in that exact same way, except for one thing. When you did that in Egypt, each of you did it in your own house. This time everyone won't do it in their own house. You will come to one central location. Remember we talked about this a few chapters ago. The one central location where the tabernacle would be located,

because that was to be the central place of worship for the nation. That will be the one difference. But then after that, remember they were to begin on the next day to observe what's referred to as the feast of unleavened bread. Because when they prepared to leave Egypt, God said you need to cleanse all of the leaven out of your house because you're going to leave so quickly that there will be no time for the bread to rise.

You will eat unleavened bread. And while it was very practical in nature for them at the time when they left Egypt, it's very symbolic in nature, not only for the nation of Israel, but also for us. Because for six days after the Passover, they were to eat unleavened bread. And it was to be a picture of their sanctification. Because leaven in scripture always represents sin.

And brothers and sisters, I don't think we can be reminded enough that now that we have been set free from the penalty of sin, we should live set free from the power of sin in our lives. And we are to continue to purge out, as Paul tells us, the old leaven. So that we can be a brand new lump. You see, there was to be an inspection process leading up to this feast of unleavened bread.

And the inspection process was this. They were to check every corner of their home to see if there was any leaven in it. They were to check all of the cabinets to see if there was any leaven in it. So that they could purge out all of the old leaven for that feast of unleavened bread. And brothers and sisters, I think a really good thing that we should do is

don't search your own heart. Because you'll leave things there. Ask God to search your heart. And say Lord, reveal to me the leaven. You have set me free from the penalty of sin because I have been redeemed in you. And now I want to live in response to that redemption that you've performed in my life. So Lord, show me the areas of leaven in my life so that I can purge those out of my life

so that I can live in purity and holiness for you. I know for me it is a continual prayer. I have to pray, Lord, show me the things. And here what he's been really faithful to do, especially here lately, I've had a couple of areas identified in my own life by the Holy Spirit where he said, I found some leaven. And it's time to purge it out. It's time to sweep it out

so that you can be a brand new lump. And they were to observe this feast of unleavened bread that symbolized their being set apart unto God. Their holiness, sanctification in the eyes of God. Well, there's a second set of feasts that they were to observe. We pick up in verse nine. It says, you shall count seven weeks for yourself and you shall begin to count seven weeks

from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall celebrate the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male servant and your female servant and the Levite who is in your town and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst and the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish his name. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The next feast that they were to observe was referred to as the feast of weeks. They were to count off those seven weeks from the end of the time of the Passover. And after they counted off those seven weeks, they were then to bring a freewill offering, a firstfruits offering unto the Lord. And it was a celebration. Now there's two different things about this feast

compared to the others if you remember from our time in Leviticus. Number one is that this one could be observed with leavened bread. Second of all, everyone was invited to take part in this. Ryan, why is it leavened bread on this one? Well, because remember what took place in the New Testament on the feast of weeks. Let me use a name that we'll all recognize.

The feast of Pentecost. Because it would be 50 days after the Passover. The feast of Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit was poured out onto the early church. And do you remember what the church is made up of? The church is made up of both Jews, those who are unleavened, and Gentiles, those who are leavened. Everybody was available to celebrate this feast. And it was symbolic of not only

the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, but also it found its fulfillment in the birth of the early church when that freewill offering was offered to the Lord. Because if you remember what happened on the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit with tongues of fire coming down upon them. And after they were filled with the Holy Spirit, everybody went, oh, these guys have been drinking a little early. And Peter said, this doesn't have anything to do with alcohol.

What you're seeing now is the fulfillment of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you should repent, so that times of refreshing can come from the presence of the Lord. And what happened? 3,000 people were saved that day. A freewill offering of 3,000 new souls added to the kingdom of God was offered to God that day. Pretty cool, right? Well, the children of Israel,

as they move into the land, were to be sure to keep this feast because it would find its ultimate fulfillment there in the book of Acts. Well, now we come to the third feast. Verse 13, it says, And you shall celebrate the Feast of Booths. Seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat, and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.

Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place where the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the works of your hands so that you will be all together all together joyful. This last feast that's referred to as the Feast of Booths, perhaps you have heard it referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles. And this was to take place in the fall and they would celebrate this by dwelling in tabernacles for that week. As a matter of fact, it was at the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus stood up because they would come and they would pour out water reminding them of how God provided water for them in the wilderness.

They'd pour out water there in the temple and Jesus says they're pouring out all of that water into the temple, stood up and said, come unto me all you who are thirsty and from your inmost being will come forth rivers of living water. Now this Feast of Tabernacles ultimately will find its fulfillment in the millennial kingdom when we will dwell along with those believing from the nation of Israel will dwell in peace for that thousand years where Jesus will rule and reign. And so he lays out these feasts that they're to keep but then he reminds them of something. Verse 16.

Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you. Three times a year all the males were to show up now the ladies could show up too but the men were required to be there for these three feasts.

And when they showed up did you take note of how they were supposed to show up? Not empty-handed. In other words they were to bring a sacrifice to the Lord. Now there's two aspects of this that I think include sacrifice. First of all is that they would have to leave behind their farms, their jobs whatever it was that they were doing for those three times in a year

because did you take note of how long each of these feasts were? They were at least one week long. So they had to take a week off from their farm, from their job whatever it was they had to make a long journey for some of them it was just heading up the street for some of them it was coming all the way across the nation in order to come. But they were to come listen even if it meant a sacrifice even if it meant it cost them something even if it meant the journey wasn't easy they were still to come.

And when they showed up not only was it a sacrifice of their time but it was a sacrifice of their material possessions because each of them was not to show up empty handed. But do you notice how good God is and how gracious God is? He says, but everyone bring what you're able to bring. I love that about God because he always is understanding of those that will have a lot and those that will not have a lot.

And he says, I don't care what you bring as long as you bring something as long as you bring a sacrifice because I'm reminded again I can't help it because Jesus keeps bringing this up in me that our worship to the Lord is a sacrifice that our serving of God is a sacrifice that everything about the way that we present ourselves to the Lord know the Lord serve the Lord give to the Lord worship the Lord it's all a sacrifice. And in the put me first generation that we live in right now and the only if it's easy for me generation that we live in right now and the well that's not that convenient for me generation that we live right now I think it's a good reminder that we are to bring to God our sacrifice of praise that we're to give him

the sacrifice of our time that we're to give him our sacrifice materially and that it's always to be the first and it's always to be the best. That's what God desires of us. And while there are times where we can think why does God require so much you know as well as I do that when I live in obedience I live in the fullness of joy. That when I live open handed with all of those things in my sacrifice unto the Lord I live in that fullness of joy.

You can imagine what it must have been like going to these feasts right? Initially you're going man I have so much to do there's no way I can take an entire week off to go to Jerusalem to take part in this feast I don't have time for it. Perhaps you've thought the same thing about showing up to a worship service or a time of fellowship with friends you've thought I don't have time for this. But then when you make that sacrifice and you show up think of the joy it would have been to just gather with a bunch of other people who are worshiping the Lord for a week.

And all you're doing that entire week is nothing but being set apart unto worshiping the Lord. What started probably as I don't know that I have time for this ended with how can I not have time for this? How can I not make time for this? Because this is the greatest thing that I can imagine because when we live in obedience we live in fullness of joy. Well he goes on from there

to begin talking to them about judges and justice and kings. Notice what he says in verse 18 he says you shall appoint for yourself judges and officers and all your towns which the Lord your God is giving to you according to your tribes and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice you shall not be partial you shall not take a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice and only justice you shall pursue that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

If you can remember back to the book of Leviticus you know that there were chapters set aside for when there would be judges in the land. Moses had decided hey I can't handle all of the people myself I'll set up a cabinet if you will of judges that will handle the smaller matters and anything bigger they'll bring to me. Well that same idea was to continue in the land. There couldn't just be one guy who heard the cases of everything that went on.

He says you're the one you're gonna need to appoint people you're gonna need to appoint men who are judges throughout the land who can administer the truth who can teach them the truth and handle the disputes that come up because you know as well as I do once you get people together you get disputes, right? He says you're gonna need to be able to handle those things but here's what you need to pay attention to and the judges that you choose number one they must judge righteously. They must judge righteously. I looked up that word righteous and I could come up with a really good definition of what that means.

You know what the word righteous means there? It means in truth. I love that because that's exactly the way that we should be judging. We should be judging in truth. Too many times we judge based on what? Opinion or we judge based on feeling or we judge based on hearsay. He says you can't do that. You have to judge based on truth. You know what's really hard to judge based on truth

is when you really like the person that's standing in judgment before you and you're like oh man like I know the truth but I really like them and I don't wanna have to hurt them which is why he goes on to say that you can't show partiality. In other words you can't decide you like one person better than everybody else. You can't decide that you'll show justice in one instance that you'll judge righteously in one instance but if the right person comes along you'll let them slide by. I think that happens all too often in our world today is that partiality is shown.

If you have the right amount of money, if you have the right amount of clout, if you have the right name oftentimes you can get by with anything. Kids begin learning it in junior high and high school when they see that the kids that are the best athletes oftentimes are the ones that are the least punished. The kids with the right last name are oftentimes the ones that are the least punished and they start going man there's partiality in all of the judgment isn't there? And then they move into the work world and they find out that the guy who is best friends, friends with the boss is the one who tends to never get punished for the things that he does wrong.

Meanwhile all they have to do is look sideways and they're nailed to the wall for it. You see God says those things shouldn't be. Now listen when you judge righteously it does not make you the most popular person on the face of the earth. As a matter of fact you'll make enemies left and right but you'll have a clean conscience before God. And as that wise old man Bobby Bowden once said

reputation is what people say about you character is what God says about you. We should care a lot more about our character than we do our reputation. He says you should judge righteously not show partiality and then he says and these people should not be willing to take a bribe. I had a boss one time who was trying to get down to the bottom of the matter of who had screwed something up.

And of course everybody's going I don't know it wasn't me. And I'll never forget this he looked at us all and he said what I wouldn't give for a vial of truth serum right now. And I think the same thing when I look at people who are in charge of things in our world right now I think man if we could just put a little droplet of truth serum in the mouths of all the judges so that they could only tell us the people that gave them bribes to make their decisions I wonder how many judges we'd lose. I wonder how many politicians we'd lose.

I wonder how many pastors we'd lose. I wonder how many bosses we'd lose. Because they were the people who took the bribe. They were the people who took the money. He said those things shouldn't be true of the judges that you appoint. And then of course he says that their job and I love the way that the New American Standard puts this in verse 20. He says justice

and you'll find that the words and only are in italics meaning they're not in the original but that's okay because I feel like it gives us the thrust of what was saying justice and only justice you shall pursue. Justice is a big word right now is it not? And everybody goes oh I just want justice. But what they really want is revenge. Or what they really want

is for their opinion to be played out in that particular case. Because quite frankly if we all got justice well it wouldn't be very good. It might just be us right? If we really got justice it might be a little bit of a problem. He says that's what you're to do. Justice and only justice you shall pursue. And then he gives the biggest way that these judges were to work in the land

and that was to maintain pure worship. Because notice what he says in verse 21. You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God which you shall make for yourself. You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates. The Asherah poles and the sacred pillars were places of gross worship

for the people of the land of Canaan. And one of the things that the judges were supposed to do was ensure that those things did not come anywhere near the altar of God. Why do you suppose he tells them that that's what they need to do? Because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the temptation would be to start going you know it might not hurt that much.

It really might not be that big of a deal if we added a little bit of some of the decorative things of what the other gods have. You know some of those decorations are awfully pretty aren't they? So let's just let's just add a little bit of it in. Now those judges were to say nope God says not to. You know why? Because compromise in any way shape or form is compromise.

And the one thing that's always true about compromise it won't stop until it's completely compromised everything about it. So he says you got to maintain pure worship and the next thing about the maintaining of the pure worship was that in chapter 17 verse 1 you shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God. Well now he goes on to talk about justice in particular the meeting out of capital punishment. Look at verse 2 it says if there is found in your midst in any of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God by transgressing his covenant and has gone and served other gods

and worshiped them or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly hosts which I have not commanded and it is told you and you have heard of it then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates that is the man or the woman and you shall stone them to death on the evidence of two or three witnesses he who is to die shall be put to death he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness the hand of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the people so you shall purge the evil from your midst. Now we alluded to this

a couple of chapters ago that there was to be an aspect of purity and if that impurity began to come about within the nation then capital punishment was what was required. Again I don't think that we as New Testament believers are to begin meeting out this kind of judgment. This was when the land lived under a theocracy in the kingdom of earth as citizens of the kingdom of heaven we don't meet out justice on this earth we put the sin to death in our own hearts. We put it to death inside of us not in a physical sort of way.

But this is the way God did things at this point in time. He said if you hear of anybody who's committed a gross transgression and then he goes on to describe some of the ones like worshipping foreign idols things along those lines this is the first thing that you should do and if you're an underliner I want you to underline this in verse four it says if it is told you and you have heard of it this is what I want you to underline then you shall inquire thoroughly. That should be plastered on the wall of every Christian home. You know why?

Because often times we hear something about somebody and you know what we don't do? We don't inquire thoroughly. What do we do? We spread it wholeheartedly. You know what I heard? That's how it always starts and then pray and pretty soon the rumor mill runs all over the church. Because remember who is this written to? This is written to the nation of Israel

and while we're not the nation of Israel I think there's application to the church. Brothers and Sisters if you hear an accusation against somebody keep your mouth shut until you've gone and inquired thoroughly and that doesn't mean you ask everybody else in the world it means you go to them. This is what this is what I heard. Is this true? Because a lot of problems in churches could be solved

if you would just inquire thoroughly. Sometimes those are hard questions to ask people, but I have learned, and still I'm still in the process of learning, that if you'll just go directly to the person, it'll save you a whole lot of problem. And there'll be a whole lot fewer weeds to cut yourself out of. He says, you shall first of all inquire thoroughly, but once you have inquired thoroughly and find out that it's true, you shall bring them out, and then you shall deal with them. But once again, a caveat is given. Notice what it says. On the evidence of two witnesses

or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. Again, our legal system could save themselves a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble if they would follow that policy. Have you ever heard that phenomenon? The phenomenon of, I think I saw it, where they take an eyewitness and they put three people that

look a lot like the person that they condemned in front of them, and then they can't remember who the person actually was? That's why it says you can only put them to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Why? Because you can't just trust one. Because you want to be what? What was that word again? You want to be thorough. He says two or three witnesses is who

needs to come together. But then take note of the next thing, because I think this is the really hard part. This is where if you're going to bring an accusation, and an accusation that serious, you better know what you're talking about. Because verse seven, the hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all your people. In

other words, if you're going to bring the accusation, and two or three of you are going to bring the accusation, and it's found to be true, then you're going to be put to death. true, then you're the one who starts the process of capital punishment. That's going to make all of us think twice before we murder someone's character, right? It's all going to make us think twice before we start throwing stones at someone's character to know that I'm the one that actually has to do it. Now, this also reminds us of a story from the New Testament. If you remember,

it's called the story of the woman caught in adultery. And all of the religious leaders brought this woman to Jesus. And we have the indication from the Greek that perhaps she was somewhat scantily clad by the time she was brought to Jesus. And they said, Jesus, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. The law says she's to be put to death. What do you say? And do

you remember how Jesus responded to them? He said, then he who is without sin amongst you, let him cast the first stone. This is where that idea comes from. Jesus said, Jesus wasn't just making that up being clever, although he could have done any of that he wanted to. He just knew the Bible so well that he was able to say, perfect. Since you're the accusers,

he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. Of course, Jesus stooped down and wrote something in the dirt. I don't know what he wrote in the dirt, but it feels like a joke or a story. Jesus began writing in the dirt. What did he write? None of your gosh darn business, right? So I don't know what he wrote in the dirt, but he started writing in the dirt. My guess is the names

of all the guys who wrote in the dirt. I don't know what he wrote in the dirt, but he started writing in the dirt. My guess is the names of all the guys who wrote in the dirt. I don't know what he wrote in the dirt. My guess is the names of all the guys who she had been with. That's kind of what I think he wrote in the dirt. He says, now he who's without sin, let him cast the first stone. And they were

like, um, so nevermind. And they all left. You know why? Because they weren't legitimate witnesses. And so this was the important thing of capital punishment. It was a serious thing, but it had to be handled properly. He goes on from there to say in verse eight, if any case is too difficult for you to decide between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or

another, and between one kind of assault or another being cases of dispute in your courts, then you, you shall arise, go to the place where the Lord, your God chooses. You shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in the office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. You shall do according to the terms of the verdict, which they declare to you from that place, which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you according to the terms of the law, which they teach you. And according to the verdict, which they tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn

aside from the word, which they declare to you to the right or to the left, the man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord, your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die. Thus you shall purge the evil from all Israel. And then all the people will hear and be afraid. And will not act presumptuously again. He says, there's probably going to come a point in time

where the judges will come across a case that's too hard for them. That's okay. There's a provision for that too. All of you will come to the place where the Lord, your God chooses. Ultimately, we know that's going to be Jerusalem. And at that point in time, you'll present it to the priest or one of the judges that's there, and they will give you the verdict. Here's the key.

You have to do what they say. In other words, if they lay down a verdict, you have to carry it out again. If we employ this in our legal system today, we might see things look a little bit different. And if you don't carry the verdict out because you have acted presumptuously, in other words, you've said, you know what? I think I know a little bit better than they do. I'm not going to do what they say. Then you'll be put to death

again. We might see a big difference in our culture today. If we were to follow some of these ideas, where, gosh, we would just actually do what the law says, and then we'd actually carry out the verdict that the law says to carry out. Because you know what God said would happen? What God said would happen is that all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again. You hear it said over and over again by liberal philosophers

who are like, listen, the death penalty doesn't deter anyone. Oh, really? God seems to disagree with you on that. And I've always found that if it's between me being right or God being right, God's always right. And I don't know about you, but if I am a prison guard or if I am a law enforcement agent, and I know that if I don't carry out the verdict that the judge

has laid down and then I'll get put to death, I get pretty serious about doing what the judge says. Like, hey, I don't agree with it. I don't like it, but that's what he says. And I like to live. So I'm going to do it. So anyway, those are the rules for justice in the nation of Israel. Now he goes on to talk about the rules for the king. Notice what he says.

He says in verse 14, when you enter the land, which the Lord your God gives you and you possess it and live in it and you say, I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me, you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Now as he begins to talk about a king, I want to point something out because I want to make just a little bit of a point that I think we should all as human beings and as believers in Jesus Christ. Pay attention to God's perfect plan. I believe based on what I read in scripture for the nation of Israel is that they would live as a theocracy. A theocracy would mean that

God is their king and he would act through religious agents among the people because he would ultimately be the one who is in charge. It was to be an example of how Jesus would rule and reign in a perfect theocracy for all of eternity. However, he knew the heart of the people and he says, when you enter the land, which the Lord your God chooses, in which the Lord your God gives you and you possess it and live in it and you say, because he knew this is what would come, one of these days you're going to say, I will set a king over me. The last part of that verse is what I want you to pay close attention to. Like all of the nations around me. It is so innate within us as human beings to

want to be just like everybody else. Now, most of my ministry life has been spent working with teenagers. And I have heard adults say over and over again, teenagers battle so much with peer pressure. That's a real issue that kids deal with. I'm here to tell you, that's a real issue that everyone deals with. I don't care how old you are. Everybody deals with an aspect of peer pressure. And as long as we keep putting that on kids and saying

that's something kids deal with, then we'll never deal with that issue in our own hearts. But the comparison issue that we live with in our world today is so strong. And it's so great. And so many times we want to be just like all of the people around us. I was watching an interview the other day with Pat Barrett. If you don't know who Pat Barrett is, he's written a bunch of worship songs, famous worship leader. And it was interesting

to hear him talk because he said, you know, one of the things I have to do is I have to limit the amount of time I spend on social media. Because when I spend a lot of time on social media, I start feeling bad about myself. Because I start comparing myself to everybody else on there. And everybody else seems to be so much better than me. They seem to be doing so much better than me. And I start

thinking, why can't I be more like them? I found that to be fascinating because this guy's kind of famous and he has recording contracts. He's written songs that we sing here. Great worship leader. And yet he still finds himself comparing himself to other people. You know why? Because as long as you live on top side of planet earth, you're always going to struggle with the comparison.

Yeah. And that's what the nation of Israel would deal with. And God knew that about them. He says, one of these days, the peer pressure will get to you and you'll want to be just like all of the other nations around you. And you're going to say, set a king up because I want to be just like all of the other nations, all of the other cool nations that are around

us because they have a king that we can actually see. We want that kind of king. Well, that exact thing took place in the nation of Israel. It was during the time when Samuel was the judge at the, in the middle part of first Samuel there, they said, Hey, I'm going to be a king. We want a king. And Samuel goes, what are you doing? God's your king. And God said, listen, Sam, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. And so give them the

king that they want, but let them know what's going to come with a king that along with the king is going to come a draft. And along with the king is going to come taxes. And along with the king is, is going to come all of these other things. Just let them know what they have to expect. And they heard all that and they're like, perfect. Give us a king. Yeah.

Well, God knew that time was going to come. And so he laid out instructions for what it looked like to be the king. And so he says, first of all, uh, you shall verse 15, set a king over you, whom the Lord, your God chooses. It can't just be whoever you want. It has to be who I choose one from among your countrymen. You shall set as a king over yourselves. You may not put a foreigner over yourselves who

is not your countrymen. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor how shall he cause the people to reach. He shall not return to Egypt to multiply horses since the Lord has said you shall never again return that way. He shall not multiply wives for himself or else his heart will turn away, nor shall he greatly increase silver or gold for himself. And when he comes to

sit on the throne, he shall write for himself a copy of the law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life. He shall not be afraid of the Lord his God by carefully observing all the words of this law and the statues and that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom. In the midst of Israel, he says, first of all, he has to be the king that I choose.

In other words, you can't just go choose whoever you want to. I get the choice of who the king is going to be. We know that first God chose Saul because he showed them what they thought a king was going to look like. And then of course he chose David because he said, now that you've chosen the king that you think you want, let me show you the king that you actually need.

The shepherd boy that all of you would have rejected. And so he says, it has to be the king that I choose. He says, second of all, it has to be a one of your countrymen, no one foreign born, no Arnold Schwarzenegger is up in that situation, right? So it has to be someone who is of your countrymen. The third thing is what he was not supposed to do. shall not multiply horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt why

did that matter well because horses were a matter of pride at that point in time they were a matter of strength as a matter of fact it tells us in Scripture in the book of Jeremiah he says don't boast in your horses and in your chariots because that was a place where they would find strength in anywhere but God not only that but the place to go back and get horses at this point in time was the nation of Egypt and the nation of Egypt is who God has set them free from he says don't go back there and get horses you shall not multiply those things unto yourself because you'll be seeking your strength somewhere besides God and then the next prohibition is he says you shall not multiply for yourself wives this is one of the places in Scripture

where I think it's pretty clear that God is not a fan of polygamy and the reason why he says this is because the wives will pull your heart away from me you and then the third prohibition is he says you shall not multiply for yourselves silver and gold in other words you shall not amass great wealth for yourself again because that will be where your trust is that will be where your joy is instead of the Lord interestingly enough well David was the king that God chose Solomon was the king that ruined it all and you know why Solomon ruined it all Solomon ruined it because Solomon amassed all of his wealth a great amount of horses and Solomon amassed a great amount of silver and gold but you know what Solomon's true Achilles heel was the place where he

really got himself in trouble it says that Solomon married many foreign women and they turned his heart away from the Lord in this I find there to be something that is a little bit of a statement for us God prohibited the king's from doing these things not because he wanted to to ruin their fun, not because he didn't like horses, not because he didn't want them to have pleasure, not because he didn't want them to have wealth, but because he knew each of those things would pull them away from him. And I think that there's something there for us to pay attention to because oftentimes God, perhaps in those same three sort of categories, tells us don't amass all that kind of stuff, don't amass all of the wealth in the world,

don't amass all of the power and prestige in the world, and don't amass all of the pleasure in the world because all of those things, they'll just pull you away from me. And it's always funny because sometimes we can feel like God's keeping things from us, but what God is really doing is keeping us from destruction. We don't always see it at first. We don't always see that that thing that I want so much that God's telling me no to is actually the thing that will destroy me.

I just have to trust that when God says no, he says it for a reason, and that reason is always very loving. That reason is always for what is best for me. He tells them don't do those things, but then he tells them what they are to do. He says the first thing that you should do, and I love what John Corson said about this. He said the first thing that you should do

is not attend a parade in your honor. It's not to attend some sort of a party that's been thrown for all of your constituents and donors. It's not so that everybody can sing the praises of how great of a king you are. No, what's the first thing you should do? Get yourself a pen and a paper because you need to copy this. Get yourself a pen and a paper because you need to copy this.

Get yourself a pen and a paper because you need to copy this. Now, I want you to bear in mind that we're not quite done with the law of God just yet because it's the first five books of the Bible. Now, whether he just means the Ten Commandments, whether he just means the book of Leviticus, or whether he means all of the Pentateuch, the first five books, either way you look at it, they were to do some writing, and I actually think that he intended it for it to be those first five books because those first five books of the Bible are so foundational for your understanding of God, your understanding of man, and your understanding of redemption. Because he says you should copy all of those things down.

There's something magical that happens when you write stuff. I tell everybody this, there's only been a couple of people in my life I've never been able to convince to do it, but if you will write things down about scripture, if you will copy down scripture and the things that God is teaching you in scripture, there's something fascinating that begins to take place. Because it ties together multiple styles of learning. Because it's not just reading, it's not just meditating, it's writing, and it incorporates that tactile ability which causes you to meditate on it even more.

You see, I can read something, and I can read by it, and read it in a very cognitive sort of fashion and not pay attention to it at all. I can read through it and go, huh, I've been reading for 20 minutes and I don't even know what I read. Right, you ever done that? Every ding dong day of my life, right? And so what do I have to do? Well, I start going, okay,

well that's what stuck out to me. Okay, I'm gonna write that down. And that's what stuck out to me, I'm gonna write that down. This is actually what I started doing in my own personal devotional time, is I actually write out bullet points anymore because that's kind of the way my brain's working right now. And as I read through a chapter, I'm like, okay, there's like five things that stuck out to me

in that chapter, and I'll just go one. I may not write the verse down, but I'll write down the principle of what stuck out to me. And when I do that, something magical happens. I remember it. I've shared this lots of times before, but I used to have a group of teenagers that would gather with me, and when they'd gather with me, I'd say, okay, let's just talk about what you're reading

in your devotional time. And the first time we'd meet, they'd go, oh man, so I know I read it in John. I know I liked it, but I don't know what I read. I can't remember. Like, that's okay. Here's what I want you to do. I just want you to write something down. Write down a verse, write down a point, write down a question. Just write something down. And magically, something would happen.

We'd gather the next week, and I'd say, what'd you read? Oh my gosh, it was so great. And they'd pull out a little piece of paper. They'd start reading all the things that they had read and that had stuck out to them, and it was like, huh. I said, so you're saying writing it down was a good thing? They're like, it was a great thing, because I can actually remember what I read.

That's why God was like, write it down, because there's something that happens to our minds when we incorporate the work of our hands into all of those things, because it causes us to pay attention to it, as we read. because it causes us to pay attention to it, as we read. because it causes us to pay attention to it, as we read. Well, he said, you need to write it down, and then it shall be with you, and you shall read it all the days of your life.

I love it, he says, write it down, and then read it, and then learn to fear the Lord your God by observing all of the things in the law. It's almost, and I hate to step too far into this, but it's almost like he said, the most important thing you can do is write, read, know, and obey everything that the law has to say. It's almost like he's saying that the greatest place of joy in life that you can have is the more that you are in God's word. I've heard somebody else say that exact same thing, but I think that's what Moses meant by these things, is it's the most important thing that you can do.

He said, because here's gonna be the benefit, verse 20, your heart will not be lifted up above your countrymen, and he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, that he and his sons may continue. In other words, you'll have the right kind of heart. You'll have a heart that remains humble before the Lord, because brothers and sisters, when you really spend time in God's word, it's the most humbling experience that you'll have. I was telling somebody the other day that there was a guy I heard teach at a youth pastor's conference one time.

His name was Britt Merrick, and he would talk about a book that he'd read, and he'd say, you should read this book. It will ruin your life, because it reveals what's really on the inside of me, and that's what the Bible is. It's the best way that you'll ruin your life ever. It's the most profitable way to ruin your life ever, because it will reveal everything that's wrong with you, but it will also reveal to you that Jesus is the only way for those things to be right in you, and there is something utterly humbling about that, and there's something utterly accountable in my life about that.

He says that's what the kings should do. Well, it's eight o'clock. I wanted to get through chapter 18, but we're not gonna do it. I won't keep you any longer than this, but good stuff. Next week, we'll talk a little bit about the Levites and a little bit about Spiritism. Considering it's October, feels like the right thing to talk about, so would you bow with me?

Father, we come to you now and thank you for the time that we've had in your word. Lord, I thank you for the things that we've learned in your word, and Father, I pray that you would keep us close to you through all of it. Lord, that as we finish another week, where once again the subject has been to spend time in your word, Lord, may that be at the foremost of our hearts and minds. Lord, may it be the words that we speak, may it be the air that we breathe, may it be what our minds continue to marinate in.

And Father, we thank you for who you are, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.