A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 13 (Part 1)

Deuteronomy 13:1-18—1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 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,' 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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, 7 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, 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; 9 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. 10 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. 11 So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you. 12 If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 13 '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—14 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, 15 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. 16 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. 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, 18 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.” 

Let’s talk a little about prophets. When God speaks to a people, especially His people, He does so through prophets. The prophets did not speak their own words, or whatever came into their mind, but they spoke the words given to them by God. 2nd Peter 1:21 (George Williams New Testament)—No prophecy has ever yet originated in man's will, but men who were led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. When Ezekiel lay on his left side for three years (Ezekiel 4:5), it wasn’t because of some weird idea he had. That was what God commanded him to do.  When Isaiah spoke against Moab (Isaiah 15:1-9), it wasn’t a speech he prepared the night before and carefully proofread. The words he spoke were the words given to him by God. These things that were done and spoken by the prophets seemed strange to the people at the time, but we now see that these things were done and said because God gave them the words and the actions to perform.

Today, men (and women) set themselves up as prophets, and claim to speak all kinds of things, claiming they are from God, and that the people hearing them ought to obey because they are speaking for and from God. I shared some of the “prophecies” of Benny Hinn that were blatantly false here. The fact that these prophecies did not come to pass automatically disqualifies him from being a prophet and would have caused him to be stoned to death under the Old Testament Law (Deuteronomy 18:22). But these self-appointed “prophets” include two things in their “prophecies”. The first thing they do is to make sure that they are telling the people something they want to hear—how God is going to rain down material blessings on them, that they are going to be rich and healthy and that everything they will do will succeed. So they thus grab the favor of the people. The second thing they do is to warn the people not to judge them or second-guess them or compare their “prophecies” to Scripture, or they will suffer greatly by God. The warning they give most of the time is from 1st Chronicles 16:22—"Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm." By setting themselves up as prophets, and by claiming to be anointed by God, they can use this verse to try to silence their critics and keep their followers in line. Whether it’s Creflo Dollar or Kenneth Copeland or TD Jakes, they all use this verse to deflect criticism of their false teachings and warn those speaking against them that they are enemies of God. 

But let’s talk about the true prophets of God. The ISBE says this about true prophets:

 

According to the uniform teaching of the Bible the prophet is a speaker of or for God. His words are not the production of his own spirit, but come from a higher source. For he is at the same time, also, a seer, who sees things that do not lie in the domain of natural sight, or who hears things which human ears do not ordinarily receive; compare 1st Samuel 9:9, where נָבִיא (nābhı̄', “speaker, spokesman, prophet”) and  רֹאֶה (rō'eh, “seer”) are used as synonymous terms. Jeremiah 23:16 and Ezekiel 13:2 are particularly instructive in this regard. In these passages a sharp distinction is made between those persons who only claim to be prophets but who prophesy “out of their own heart,” and the true prophets who declare the word which the Lord has spoken to them. In the latter case the contents of the prophecy have not originated in their own reflection or calculation; and just as little is this prophecy the product of their own feelings, fears or hopes, but, as something extraneous to man and independent of him, it has with a divine certainty entered the soul of the prophet. The prophet has seen that which he prophesies, although he need not have seen it in the form of a real vision. He can also “see” words with his inner eyes (Isaiah 2:1, and often). It is only another expression for this when it is frequently said that God has spoken to the prophet. In this case too it is not necessary that there must have been a voice which he could hear phonetically through his natural ear. The main thing is that he must have been able sharply to distinguish the contents of this voice from his own heart, i.e. from his personal consciousness. Only in this way is he capable of speaking to the people in the name of God and able to publish his word as that of Yahweh. In this case he is the speaker of Yahweh (נָבִיא, nābhı̄'), or the mouth of the Lord (compare Ezekiel 7:1 with Ezekiel 4:16). 

Long story short, those gifted with the gift of prophecy can distinguish between what they simply feel in their heart or mind and words spoken to them by God. 

Many think of Samuel as the first prophet, but this is not the case. For before him, Moses spoke with God “face-to-face” (or rather, “Mouth-to-mouth”, as Moses was not allowed to see God) and even Noah could be considered a prophet and his building of the Ark a sign to the people. We are seeing the prophetic office of Moses as we study the Law, so let’s talk about Noah. Genesis 6:6, 8—6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart…8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. The world had become altogether corrupt, save for one man and his sons. Did God give a warning to the corrupt people? Yes, He did. He had Noah build an ark as a sign to the people and to save them from the flood. Hebrews 11:7—By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. In all the days of building the Ark, he must have been laughed at and scoffed at by the wicked. “What is he building? Why is he building it? He must be a madman!” They thought nothing of the wickedness they were doing. They were just going about their daily lives, doing whatever they thought in their hearts, drinking and carousing and carrying on, not thinking about how this may have been grieving the heart of God, if they even thought of God. It was as Jesus said in Matthew 24:38-39a (repeated in Luke 17:26-27)—38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.” Noah was giving them a sign, and they ignored it. It was not only a sign to the people then, but Jesus even used it to warn us to be careful to watch for His second coming. Matthew 24:37, 39b—37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be…39 so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. We see today many who ignore God, who ignore the pleas to come to Christ that they may be saved from the wrath to come. But they don’t listen, they don’t care, they don’t know God and don’t want to know Him. They go about their daily lives, doing whatever they think in their hearts, drinking and carousing and carrying on, not thinking about how this may be grieving the heart of God, if they even think of God.

 Samuel was set apart to God as a boy. 1st Samuel 1:24, 28—24 Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. And the child was young…28 “Therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the LORD.” We have already talked about how Samuel was a Nazirite all his life. And we see in this same book that God began speaking to him at a young age (1^st Samuel 3:4). The first prophecy he heard from God was not a pleasant one, for it foretold of the end of Eli (the second-to-last judge in Israel), and he had to tell it to Eli. But such was the lot of a true prophet of God—they do not always have feel-good stories to tell the people, tales of health and wealth and prosperity. Many times when God speaks through a prophet, it is to warn of impending doom. 1st Samuel 2:16-19—16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son!" He answered, "Here I am." 17 And he said, "What is the word that the LORD spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you." 18 Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him." 19 So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. Samuel was a true prophet of God, and what he told the people to do or to not do was to be obeyed, as the words he spoke came from none other than God Himself. 

This applied not only to the lay people, but even to the king Himself. In 1^st Samuel 15, he gives a command to King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites—everything living among them was to be destroyed. 1st Samuel 15:2-3—2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3     Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'” Pretty clear and straight forward, no ambiguity there. The command was simple: Saul was to have his army wipe out every living thing of the Amalekites, including the women and children and livestock. But Saul had a better idea. 1st Samuel 15:9—But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. “Let’s destroy the bad stuff but keep the best things alive and sacrifice them to God! What’s the worst that can happen?” Well… 1st Samuel 15:10-11—10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night. Not only did Saul’s disobedience grieve God, it grieved His prophet as well. That is how close the relationship is between God and His prophets. His heart is their heart and their heart is His heart. It is as if they were one and the same. Not only that, but the heart of the prophet is with the people his words come against. I’m sure he felt no joy about telling Eli that he and his sons were about to die. And it obviously did not tickle him to tell Saul the words that God was about to speak against him. Here, Saul thought he was doing a great thing by keeping King Agag and the best of the livestock alive. He thought he knew what God wanted better than the prophet to whom God Himself spoke. 1st Samuel 15:13, 15—13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD…15 They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” But Samuel had told him what God had told Samuel—everything and everyone of the Amalekites was to be destroyed. “Everyone?” 

 

 

Yes, everyone. Saul did not give obedience to the command of God—he gave partial obedience, which is disobedience. “I have performed the commandment of the LORD!” 1st Samuel 15:14, 18-19, 22-23—14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?…18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?"…22 Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king." Because Saul did not harken to the words of the prophet, and did what was right in his own eyes, God took the kingdom away from him and gave it to David. 

Interestingly, Samuel’s final prophecy came after he died. King Saul had banished all necromancers and mediums (1st Samuel 28:3, as well he should have). But the Philistines were coming to attack Israel, and when Saul went to inquire of God, He would not answer him either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets (1st Samuel 28:6). God had taken His spirit way from Saul, and had cut him off as king, and this attack from the Philistines was to be his final downfall. And because God did not answer him, Saul had another brilliant idea. “I’ll go to a necromancer and medium, even though I have put them out of Israel!” In other words, he did what was right in his own eyes. He went to the Witch of En Dor to have her bring up the spirit of Samuel (1st Samuel 28:8-11). Necromancers and mediums are another class of false prophets. None can speak with the dead (see Isaiah 8:19-20), and anyone who says they can are in danger of destruction. But Saul was so bent on holding on to his kingdom that he went against the word of God that he used this as his last resort, hoping that Samuel would give him a word from God that would allow him to keep it. But, alas! God did bring up Samuel, by His own hand and not by the hand of the witch. 1st Samuel 28:12—When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" She knew that her necromancy was false, and when Samuel appeared she knew that this was of God. Many use this as an excuse to use psychics to tell them things they want to hear. When actually, this is a warning against such practices. G. Campbell Morgan:

 

It is strange how this story has been made to serve in defense of things occult, which, as a matter of fact, it condemns. Let it be carefully read, and it becomes perfectly patent that this woman had nothing to do with bringing up Samuel…When in response to her incantations, as it seemed, Samuel actually appeared, she was startled beyond measure. That Samuel actually did appear to Saul there can be no doubt. However, he was sent of God for the express purpose of delivering the terrible message to Saul, to which the king listened in amazement. It was the pronouncement of his doom, and the call from the other side to the spirit of the man who had so utterly and disastrously failed to fulfil his opportunity. 

1st Samuel 28:16-19—16 Then Samuel said: "So why do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? 17 And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." Even in death, the prophet of God was speaking to Saul, and not good things, but rather reinforcing what he had already told him, and that this was going to happen the very next day!

Part 2 next week

 

Je4sus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 12 (Part 3)

Deuteronomy 12:5-12—5 “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you 

Let’s look at that little phrase “Every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes”. This is a phrase we find twice in the book of Judges (Judges 17:6, Judges 21:25), and are in fact the last words in that book. When men turn away from God and do what they think is right and forget the One who says what is right and wrong, they set themselves up for all kinds of disaster. This is the theme of the book of Judges, as that was a time after the death of Joshua and the time when God would establish prophets in the land. And instead of looking to God’s Law to see what was right and what was wrong, they took it upon themselves to establish these things. Judges 2:13—They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And what happens when the people of God forsake Him? He sends them judgment, and delivers them into the hands of their enemies. Judges 2:14-15—14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. The people rose up to play, they ate and drank, they played the harlot with other gods, and God had to put them in their place, and remind them that they belonged to Him. God does not play around (as we saw in Numbers 11). When He says that the people were to do or to not do something, He is not speaking just to hear Himself talk. He expects the words e speaks to be listened to and obeyed. And if His words are disobeyed, He will bring judgment. 

But is He a God without pity? Absolutely not! Judges 2:16, 18—16 Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them…18 And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. The word “judges” in the Hebrew is שֹׁפְטִים (shiphtim, plural of the root word שָׁפַט, [shaphat, “to judge, govern, vindicate, punish” ]). God would not allow this infant nation to come to a halt so soon, for it would bring shame to His name, just as Moses had pleaded with Him twice (see Exodus 32:12-13; Numbers 14:13-19). So He showed them mercy, and raised up men (and one woman) whom He would be with and whom He would use to deliver them from the hands of their enemies. Othneil, Shamgar, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Ehud and Deborah. When the people cast off YHVH, and followed other gods, the true God would allow them to go into captivity to a pagan nation. He would then raise up someone to deliver them, He would give them deliverance…and they would go right back to bowing down to idols. Judges 2:19—And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. 

Judges chapters 1-2 are basically a summary of the whole book. Beginning in chapter 3 we read the details of the 450-year period of the judges. The first of these judges was Othniel. Judges 3:7-9—7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. 8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. 9 When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Othneil was a nephew of Caleb, and thus saw the conquest of Canaan with his uncle Caleb and Caleb’s friend Joshua. He knew what it meant to have a heart for God, as he had seen it in his family. He had the same fighting spirit as his uncle, who told Joshua “Give me this mountain” (The mountain of Hebron, which were inhabited by the Anakim, in Joshua 14:6-14). He saw the fearlessness of his uncle and his desire to drive out those who opposed the people of God, and that same desire burned within him. And he delivered the people from the oppression of Cushan-Rishathaim. 

So who was Cushan-Rishathaim anyway? Well, we don’t have any information about him outside of the Bible. The ISBE tells us that his name means “Man from Cush, he of the twofold crime”, while Strong’s renders is “Twice-wicked Cushan”. Notice the first part of this man’s name, “Cushan”. (Thomas Constable believed the last part of his name was given to him by the Israelites who suffered under him for eight years.) This comes from “Cush”, a son of Ham (one of Noah’s sons, the one who disgraced him in Genesis 9:22). The Cushites mostly dwelt in Africa, but some settled in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia, see Genesis 10:10). So this man was a descendant of Ham, and another wicked one (in fact, as his name implies, twice-wicked). Why would God allow this Twice-Wicked man to conquer the people of Israel? They forgot the LORD their God. So (according to one theory found in The Expositor’s Bible) this Mesopotamian king made an alliance with the Hittites (whose land he would have had to traverse to reach Canaan) to attack Israel and conquer them as they had conquered the peoples who were living in the land they now occupied. Because they forgot the LORD their God. So He gave them up to this alliance, let them feel the weight of oppression for eight years, then delivered them by the hand of Othniel. 

We see also in the New Testament that when men forsake God—any man, whether or not he is a man of God—he will be given over to his lusts, that God will cause him to forget and forsake God, and He will punish them for it. Romans 1:20-25—20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. The natural man knows there is a God. They may not know Him as YHVH, but they know He is there. This is why we are called to take the Gospel to the world, that they may know the truth about God and Christ—so the ones whom God has not yet delivered over to a debased mind may believe. It may turn out that they will not believe. This is sad but true. It is not until God opens their eyes that they will know the truth. But that is not what we are called to do. We are called to simply take the news to them—it is up to God to open their eyes and their hearts. 

For the ones who have already made up their mind, that they will not believe in God and do not want to believe in God—it may be too late. Romans 1:28—And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. Once this happens, that door has been shut. Once God has given them over to a mind that wants nothing to do with God, and only wants to fulfill the wants of the flesh, it is too late for that person. They will not hear the truth, they will not believe the truth, and they will not be convinced by Scripture and sound reason of the truth. They will spend the rest of their days storing up wrath for themselves, filling up their measure of sin, their lives filled with nothing but waiting until the final judgment and their eternal fate. “But it is the will of God that all men repent and be saved!” So then man is superior to the will of God? If God wants all men to be saved, why does He give them over to a debased mind? Why doesn’t He give every single man the knowledge of the truth that they may be saved? Would this not be a delightful thing? Yes, to us it would be delightful. That would mean we wouldn’t have to worry about our loved ones or our friends burning in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. But that is not what He does. Some, God gave them over to a debased mind. So how do we reconcile these two ideas? We can, but it would take too long to talk about here and would get us off track. Suffice it to say, He wants all of His people to be saved (2^nd Peter 3:9, notice the apostle says that God is longsuffering to us. That is, believers). Those who do not believe and who do not want to believe, He gives over to their sin, and lets them have all of it they want. It is they who does whatever is right in his own eyes. 

Deuteronomy 12:3-27—13 “Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. 15 However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18 But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands. 19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. 20 When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, 'Let me eat meat,' because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. 21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. 26 Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.” 

Another lengthy section, but again we will break it up into smaller chunks. Also, these verses kinda jump around a bit so I will try to group them together to make them a little more understandable. 

Deuteronomy 12:13-14, 21-13, 26-27—13 “Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you…21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat…26 Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.” God would choose one place to put His name, and it was there—and only there—where the people’s sacrifices were to be taken. They would no longer have the pillar of smoke by day and the fire by night. They would have the Tabernacle of Meeting, which would reside in one city in one of the lands of a tribe. The first place where the Tabernacle rested in Canaan was the city of Gilgal, in the land that would become the land of the western tribe of Manasseh, just north of Jericho (see Joshua 4:19). In Deuteronomy 12:5 it says “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.” Eventually, under King David, that city would be Jerusalem, and the place where He would put His name would be the temple there. Even King Darius said as much in Ezra 6:12—“And may the God who causes His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem.” It was only in the place where God caused His name to dwell, whether Gilgal or Shechem or Jerusalem, where the people were to offer their sacrifices. The pagans, on the other hand, with their many temples and high places, offered up incense to their gods at various places. This was not to be so for Israel. There was to be one place where the people of Israel were to bring their sacrifices in worship of the one God. This was also true of the tithes of the land—they were also to be eaten in the place where God chose for His name to dwell (see Deuteronomy 12:17-18). 

21 “If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires.”. When they were all of one camp, and the Tabernacle was set up in the center of all the tribes, it was not impossible for the people to bring their animals to the Tabernacle to make sacrifice. When they conquered the land of Canaan, and as God said He enlarged their borders, it would become more difficult, if not almost impossible, to do so. Let’s say a family lived in the land of Dan in the north, or in the land of Simeon to the south, and God placed His name at the other end of the entire land of Israel. This would be a trek of almost 150 miles, give or take—roughly the same distance as it was from Mt. Sinai to the southern edge of Canaan. So it would take 11 days to traverse the full length of Israel if this were the case. So God made provision for the people if this problem arose. He could take the animal to the Levite that lived in his land, and they could slaughter it and offer it to God for their sacrifice. And they could eat as much of it as they wanted to. 

But for their daily food, they could eat it at any place within the gates of their city. Deuteronomy 12:15-16, 20—15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water…20 When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, 'Let me eat meat,' because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires.” If a man had been out hunting, and brought home a deer or a gazelle, they could eat of these, assuming they were properly slaughtered and the blood drained out (see the discussion of ingesting blood in our covering of Leviticus 17 here), both he and his family, within the city of his residence. And even if his son or daughter were unclean by reason of touching a dead body or because of some other uncleanness, they could eat of it as well. In Leviticus 17, we saw that any man who slayed an animal did not bring it to the Tabernacle was to be cut off from the people (see Leviticus 17:3-4). They had manna to eat, a daily gift from God, and did not involve the death of an animal. If a man wanted to sacrifice an animal as a Peace Offering, he had to bring it to the Tent of Meeting where it would be processed by the priests, and he could partake of it over the next two days (see here and here). But he could not go out and kill one of his livestock for a meal. But now he can. If he brings home some venison, and slaughters it properly and drains the blood, his family is gonna eat good. He does not need to bring it to the Tabernacle as a Peace Offering. 

Why? Because it is ““The blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.” He was now giving the people meat to eat—meat that they craved so badly in Numbers 11 He was now giving them as a blessing. And if they had flocks or herds, they could eat of them as well. John Gill:

 

They might kill such cattle that were allowed for food, and eat the flesh of them in their own cities and houses in which they dwelt; they were not obliged to bring these to the place God should choose, and kill them there, as they had been wont to bring them to the tabernacle while in the wilderness…whatever they had a mind to, or their appetite craved, and were desirous of, provided it was not anything forbidden, but was allowed to be eaten…[whatever God gave] in the power of their hands to procure for themselves; they might live according to their abilities, and keep a table answerable to what God had blessed them with; from which they were so far from being restrained, that it was rather commendable in them so to do. 

God gives us food. He gives us what we need. We can eat what we want, and it does not defile us (see Matthew 15:11; Mark 7:18). We are not cut off from Christ if we eat a pork chop. We can eat whatever we want, because we know the difference between the clean and the unclean, between the holy and the profane. We are not commended to others by food. 1st Corinthians 8:4-8—4 Concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. 7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. Paul was telling the Corinthians that even if they did eat meat that was once offered to idols, that was not the end of them. They were now in Christ, sheltered from the Law, protected from dietary rules and restrictions which could make no man better or worse in the eyes of God. They were now free to eat what they desired—with one caveat. Don’t let your freedom in Christ become a stumbling block to a new or potential believer. 1^st Corinthians 8:9—But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. Are you witnessing to a Muslim? Then don’t eat pork. Are you witnessing to a Hindu? Don’t eat beef. Are you witnessing to a vegan? Don’t eat meat at all (and don’t show up to their house wearing a real leather jacket). Be free in Christ, live your liberty—but don’t use that liberty in a way that could dampen your witness to the lost.

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 12 (Part 2)

Deuteronomy 12:5-12—5 “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you.” 

Let’s look at that little phrase “Every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes”. This is a phrase we find twice in the book of Judges (Judges 17:6, Judges 21:25), and are in fact the last words in that book. When men turn away from God and do what they think is right and forget the One who says what is right and wrong, they set themselves up for all kinds of disaster. This is the theme of the book of Judges, as that was a time after the death of Joshua and the time when God would establish prophets in the land. And instead of looking to God’s Law to see what was right and what was wrong, they took it upon themselves to establish these things. Judges 2:13—They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And what happens when the people of God forsake Him? He sends them judgment, and delivers them into the hands of their enemies. Judges 2:14-15—14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. The people rose up to play, they ate and drank, they played the harlot with other gods, and God had to put them in their place, and remind them that they belonged to Him. God does not play around (as we saw in Numbers 11). When He says that the people were to do or to not do something, He is not speaking just to hear Himself talk. He expects the words e speaks to be listened to and obeyed. And if His words are disobeyed, He will bring judgment. 

But is He a God without pity? Absolutely not! Judges 2:16, 18—16 Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them…18 And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. The word “judges” in the Hebrew is שֹׁפְטִים (shiphtim, plural of the root word שָׁפַט, [shaphat, “to judge, govern, vindicate, punish” ]). God would not allow this infant nation to come to a halt so soon, for it would bring shame to His name, just as Moses had pleaded with Him twice (see Exodus 32:12-13; Numbers 14:13-19). So He showed them mercy, and raised up men (and one woman) whom He would be with and whom He would use to deliver them from the hands of their enemies. Othneil, Shamgar, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Ehud and Deborah. When the people cast off YHVH, and followed other gods, the true God would allow them to go into captivity to a pagan nation. He would then raise up someone to deliver them, He would give them deliverance…and they would go right back to bowing down to idols. Judges 2:19—And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. 

Judges chapters 1-2 are basically a summary of the whole book. Beginning in chapter 3 we read the details of the 450-year period of the judges. The first of these judges was Othniel. Judges 3:7-9—7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. 8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. 9 When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Othneil was a nephew of Caleb, and thus saw the conquest of Canaan with his uncle Caleb and Caleb’s friend Joshua. He knew what it meant to have a heart for God, as he had seen it in his family. He had the same fighting spirit as his uncle, who told Joshua “Give me this mountain” (The mountain of Hebron, which were inhabited by the Anakim, in Joshua 14:6-14). He saw the fearlessness of his uncle and his desire to drive out those who opposed the people of God, and that same desire burned within him. And he delivered the people from the oppression of Cushan-Rishathaim. 

So who was Cushan-Rishathaim anyway? Well, we don’t have any information about him outside of the Bible. The ISBE tells us that his name means “Man from Cush, he of the twofold crime”, while Strong’s renders is “Twice-wicked Cushan”. Notice the first part of this man’s name, “Cushan”. (Thomas Constable believed the last part of his name was given to him by the Israelites who suffered under him for eight years.) This comes from “Cush”, a son of Ham (one of Noah’s sons, the one who disgraced him in Genesis 9:22). The Cushites mostly dwelt in Africa, but some settled in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia, see Genesis 10:10). So this man was a descendant of Ham, and another wicked one (in fact, as his name implies, twice-wicked). Why would God allow this Twice-Wicked man to conquer the people of Israel? They forgot the LORD their God. So (according to one theory found in The Expositor’s Bible) this Mesopotamian king made an alliance with the Hittites (whose land he would have had to traverse to reach Canaan) to attack Israel and conquer them as they had conquered the peoples who were living in the land they now occupied. Because they forgot the LORD their God. So He gave them up to this alliance, let them feel the weight of oppression for eight years, then delivered them by the hand of Othniel. 

We see also in the New Testament that when men forsake God—any man, whether or not he is a man of God—he will be given over to his lusts, that God will cause him to forget and forsake God, and He will punish them for it. Romans 1:20-25—20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. The natural man knows there is a God. They may not know Him as YHVH, but they know He is there. This is why we are called to take the Gospel to the world, that they may know the truth about God and Christ—so the ones whom God has not yet delivered over to a debased mind may believe. It may turn out that they will not believe. This is sad but true. It is not until God opens their eyes that they will know the truth. But that is not what we are called to do. We are called to simply take the news to them—it is up to God to open their eyes and their hearts. 

For the ones who have already made up their mind, that they will not believe in God and do not want to believe in God—it may be too late. Romans 1:28—And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. Once this happens, that door has been shut. Once God has given them over to a mind that wants nothing to do with God, and only wants to fulfill the wants of the flesh, it is too late for that person. They will not hear the truth, they will not believe the truth, and they will not be convinced by Scripture and sound reason of the truth. They will spend the rest of their days storing up wrath for themselves, filling up their measure of sin, their lives filled with nothing but waiting until the final judgment and their eternal fate. “But it is the will of God that all men repent and be saved!” So then man is superior to the will of God? If God wants all men to be saved, why does He give them over to a debased mind? Why doesn’t He give every single man the knowledge of the truth that they may be saved? Would this not be a delightful thing? Yes, to us it would be delightful. That would mean we wouldn’t have to worry about our loved ones or our friends burning in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. But that is not what He does. Some, God gave them over to a debased mind. So how do we reconcile these two ideas? We can, but it would take too long to talk about here and would get us off track. Suffice it to say, He wants all of His people to be saved (2^nd Peter 3:9, notice the apostle says that God is longsuffering to us. That is, believers). Those who do not believe and who do not want to believe, He gives over to their sin, and lets them have all of it they want. It is they who does whatever is right in his own eyes. 

Deuteronomy 12:3-27—13 “Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. 15 However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18 But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands. 19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. 20 When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, 'Let me eat meat,' because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. 21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. 26 Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.” 

Another lengthy section, but again we will break it up into smaller chunks. Also, these verses kinda jump around a bit so I will try to group them together to make them a little more understandable. 

Deuteronomy 12:13-14, 21-13, 26-27—13 “Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you…21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat…26 Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.” God would choose one place to put His name, and it was there—and only there—where the people’s sacrifices were to be taken. They would no longer have the pillar of smoke by day and the fire by night. They would have the Tabernacle of Meeting, which would reside in one city in one of the lands of a tribe. The first place where the Tabernacle rested in Canaan was the city of Gilgal, in the land that would become the land of the western tribe of Manasseh, just north of Jericho (see Joshua 4:19). In Deuteronomy 12:5 it says “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.” Eventually, under King David, that city would be Jerusalem, and the place where He would put His name would be the temple there. Even King Darius said as much in Ezra 6:12—“And may the God who causes His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem.” It was only in the place where God caused His name to dwell, whether Gilgal or Shechem or Jerusalem, where the people were to offer their sacrifices. The pagans, on the other hand, with their many temples and high places, offered up incense to their gods at various places. This was not to be so for Israel. There was to be one place where the people of Israel were to bring their sacrifices in worship of the one God. This was also true of the tithes of the land—they were also to be eaten in the place where God chose for His name to dwell (see Deuteronomy 12:17-18). 

21 “If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires.”. When they were all of one camp, and the Tabernacle was set up in the center of all the tribes, it was not impossible for the people to bring their animals to the Tabernacle to make sacrifice. When they conquered the land of Canaan, and as God said He enlarged their borders, it would become more difficult, if not almost impossible, to do so. Let’s say a family lived in the land of Dan in the north, or in the land of Simeon to the south, and God placed His name at the other end of the entire land of Israel. This would be a trek of almost 150 miles, give or take—roughly the same distance as it was from Mt. Sinai to the southern edge of Canaan. So it would take 11 days to traverse the full length of Israel if this were the case. So God made provision for the people if this problem arose. He could take the animal to the Levite that lived in his land, and they could slaughter it and offer it to God for their sacrifice. And they could eat as much of it as they wanted to. 

But for their daily food, they could eat it at any place within the gates of their city. Deuteronomy 12:15-16, 20—15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water…20 When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, 'Let me eat meat,' because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires.” If a man had been out hunting, and brought home a deer or a gazelle, they could eat of these, assuming they were properly slaughtered and the blood drained out (see the discussion of ingesting blood in our covering of Leviticus 17 here), both he and his family, within the city of his residence. And even if his son or daughter were unclean by reason of touching a dead body or because of some other uncleanness, they could eat of it as well. In Leviticus 17, we saw that any man who slayed an animal did not bring it to the Tabernacle was to be cut off from the people (see Leviticus 17:3-4). They had manna to eat, a daily gift from God, and did not involve the death of an animal. If a man wanted to sacrifice an animal as a Peace Offering, he had to bring it to the Tent of Meeting where it would be processed by the priests, and he could partake of it over the next two days (see here and here). But he could not go out and kill one of his livestock for a meal. But now he can. If he brings home some venison, and slaughters it properly and drains the blood, his family is gonna eat good. He does not need to bring it to the Tabernacle as a Peace Offering. 

Why? Because it is ““The blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.” He was now giving the people meat to eat—meat that they craved so badly in Numbers 11 He was now giving them as a blessing. And if they had flocks or herds, they could eat of them as well. John Gill:

 

They might kill such cattle that were allowed for food, and eat the flesh of them in their own cities and houses in which they dwelt; they were not obliged to bring these to the place God should choose, and kill them there, as they had been wont to bring them to the tabernacle while in the wilderness…whatever they had a mind to, or their appetite craved, and were desirous of, provided it was not anything forbidden, but was allowed to be eaten…[whatever God gave] in the power of their hands to procure for themselves; they might live according to their abilities, and keep a table answerable to what God had blessed them with; from which they were so far from being restrained, that it was rather commendable in them so to do. 

God gives us food. He gives us what we need. We can eat what we want, and it does not defile us (see Matthew 15:11; Mark 7:18). We are not cut off from Christ if we eat a pork chop. We can eat whatever we want, because we know the difference between the clean and the unclean, between the holy and the profane. We are not commended to others by food. 1st Corinthians 8:4-8—4 Concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. 7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. Paul was telling the Corinthians that even if they did eat meat that was once offered to idols, that was not the end of them. They were now in Christ, sheltered from the Law, protected from dietary rules and restrictions which could make no man better or worse in the eyes of God. They were now free to eat what they desired—with one caveat. Don’t let your freedom in Christ become a stumbling block to a new or potential believer. 1st Corinthians 8:9—But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. Are you witnessing to a Muslim? Then don’t eat pork. Are you witnessing to a Hindu? Don’t eat beef. Are you witnessing to a vegan? Don’t eat meat at all (and don’t show up to their house wearing a real leather jacket). Be free in Christ, live your liberty—but don’t use that liberty in a way that could dampen your witness to the lost. 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 12 (Part 1)

Deuteronomy 12:1-4—1 “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. 4 You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.” Again, Moses is telling the people to remember and to do all the commands that were given to him by God. And here he is telling the people to utterly do away with all vestiges of pagan worship they will encounter when they enter into Canaan, specifically where the worship of these idols took place. “On the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.” For the people of Israel there was but one place where the true worship of the one true God was to take place, and this was at the Tabernacle of Meeting. Idolaters had their own places where they worshipped their idols. Here is an example of a “high place”, this is the one found in Megiddo:

 

 

One of the places for pagan worship was “on the high mountains and on the hills.” We read many places in the books of the Kings and the Chronicles that a king, no matter how he walked in the ways of God, did not remove the high places where pagan worship took place (see, for example, 1st Kings 15:14, 1st Kings 22:43; 2nd Kings 12:3, 2nd Kings 14:4, 2nd Kings 15:4, 2nd Kings 15:35) or the kings who did not walk in the ways of God sacrificed at the high places (see 1st Kings 12:31, 1st Kings 14:23, 1st Kings 16:4, 1st Kings 17:11; 2nd Kings 17:29, 2nd Kings 21:3; 2nd Chronicles 21:11, 2nd Chronicles 28:4, 2nd Chronicles 28:25, 2nd Chronicles 33:3), or even some who followed God still built the high places for pagan worship (see 1st Kings 3:3). The reason for these high places was simple: they thought it would bring them closer to whatever god they worshipped. It was only natural for them to believe this way, as many times we read of worship and communicating with and sacrificing to YHVH taking place upon a mountain. Genesis 22:2—Then [God] said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 1st Samuel 9:19—Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.” In Exodus 19, Moses hears from God from atop Mt. Sinai. In 1st Kings 18 Elijah confronts the prophets of Ba'al atop Mt. Carmel. 

Another reason they were commanded to remove all the high places was because of what happened at Babel. Genesis 11:3-4—3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." This tower was probably what we now call a ziggurat and was built high because the people thought this would make them closer to their “god”. And it may have looked something like this:

 

But what were these people worshipping? Self. “Let us make a name for ourselves.” These people were not looking to make a way to be closer to God, but to be closer to god—the god of self. Matthew Henry:

 

It seems designed for an affront to God himself; for they would build a tower whose top might reach to heaven, which bespeaks a defiance of God, or at least a rivalship with him. They would be like the Most High [see Genesis 3:5—ed.], or would come as near him as they could, not in holiness but in height. They forgot their place, and, scorning to creep on the earth, resolved to climb to heaven, not by the door or ladder, but some other way. They hoped hereby to make themselves a name; they would do something to be talked of now, and to give posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the world. Rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they would leave this monument of their pride, and ambition, and folly.

 “But what of the injunction about destroying the trees? If the people thought that worshipping on a hill brought them closer to their god, why would they worship under trees?” Trees were another place where God met His people. Genesis 12:6—Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. Genesis 13:18—Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD. Genesis 21:33—Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. In the account of Gideon, it is said in Judges 6:11—Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress. And idolaters used that principle in their worship. They thought meeting their idols on hills or under trees was adding to their worship and would make them more acceptable to their idol. Bu this was obviously not the case, since their idols were false and they were simply talking to themselves during these rituals. 

But as long as the people had the Tabernacle of Meeting, that was the only place they were to come to worship God. “You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.” They were not to seek hills and mounds and trees as places to worship. They were to worship at the one place God had directed them to worship, and that was at the Tabernacle. Exodus 29:43-44—43 “And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests.” And it was there they were to worship God and God alone. They were not to entertain any thoughts of any other gods which were not gods, but idols of man’s imagination. They were to pay tribute and honor only to the one God who brought them out of Egypt and made them His people. Keeping in mind this covenant was a suzerainty contract (see part 1 of the introduction to Deuteronomy). And as such, the people were beholden to God and God alone to be their superior. In his commentary on Deuteronomy, Meredith Kline says:

 

"The centralization requirement must also be understood in terms of Deuteronomy's nature as a suzerainty treaty. Such treaties prohibited the vassal's engaging in any independent diplomacy with a foreign power other than the covenant suzerain. In particular, the vassal must not pay tribute to any other lord. Similarly, all the requirements and prohibitions of Deuteronomy 12 were calculated to secure for the Lord all Israel's tributary sacrifice and offering. Israel must not pay any sacrificial tribute to other gods, for such an impossible attempt to serve two masters would be rebellion against the great commandment of God's covenant."

To breach the terms that God laid out for the people was to rebel against God and to put them in danger of being left out of the collective of His people, and risk destruction. 

This is a message for us still today. How many times do we see a church bring elements of the world into a worship service today? Last year, there was a church that kicked a Bible across the stage in a celebration of the Super Bowl. Yes, you read that right. A “Christian” church’s pastor kicked a Bible.

 

[“Pastor” Alli] Patterson is then seen taking a few steps back as another pastor squares up the Bible — which had a football-style book cover on it — before kicking the Bible off the stage and into the crowd. Patterson then high-fives her colleague in celebration.  “Patterson back with the kick ... Oh my goodness!” the announcer is heard saying over the PA. “For the first time in 18 years, there’s a touchback for the kickoff.” In another sequence, the Bible is kicked yet again — this time a shorter distance — as the rest of the “players” on stage jump on top of the book as they tackle one another. “We’re gonna get some emails; here we go,” the announcer remarks. (ibid.) 

How low does one’s view of God’s word have to be to kick it like a football? Think you’d ever see a Muslim kick a copy of the Qur’an? Or an LDS kick a copy of the Book of Mormon? Do you think a Jew would kick a copy of the Mishnah? Or a Buddhist kick a copy of the Bhagavad Gita? No other religion would kick a copy of their texts across the room like this “Christian pastor”. That is nothing short of mocking God. He was using the world’s methods to somehow make church “fun”:

 

In an introduction to the video, Andy Reider, community pastor for Crossroads Anywhere, the church’s mobile app, offers a greeting — and a disclaimer — warning viewers the church service has “little to nothing to do with actual football or the Super Bowl.”

 

“Today, you are tuning in for a church service that is unlike any other,” said Reider. “Disclaimer: it has little to nothing to do with actual football or the Super Bowl, but no matter what you believe, you're going to laugh. No matter what you believe, you might be a little confused at some point, but I believe you will and can experience God and church in a fresh new way.” Reider also acknowledged the question many viewers of the service likely had. “You might be wondering why on Earth would we do something like this,” he said. One of the reasons, said Reider, was because “we believe that church can and should be fun. You're going to experience hilarious commercials filled with middle school humor, really great music and some good old-fashioned smack talk,” he added. “But secondly, we believe that there are spiritual truths and realities that can be drawn out from sports and that's what each of our teachers are going to be doing today.” (ibid.)

Should a church service be a dark and dreary and dour thing? Should we dread going because we will sit there bored while some guy stands on a platform and speaks us into boredom? No. But here’s the thing: when we go to church, we are going to hear the word of God preached, to pay reverence to the very God who created the universe, created us, and it should be, truly, a service of worship of God, not simply something to do on Sunday morning. And it certainly should not be a place (as there is no place) where we should kick a Bible. Listen to what English clergyman Henry Alford had to say about this sacred text:

 

The Christian Church throughout the world is now the guardian of the Holy Scriptures.  All that the Jews had, we have, with the inestimably precious addition of the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These Scriptures all Christians regard as the revelation of God to man.  Other works rise and are built up from below: this alone we receive as let down upon us from above.  All art, all science, all theology, which is but a system built up by inferences from Scripture, these are of man, and constructed on earth.  They may rise higher, and become truer, as one race is advanced in skill or in knowledge; but they began below, and will ever carry with them the infirmity of all that is born on earth.  Whereas the sayings and the lessons of this book are not of man, nor did they take their beginnings here.  They have come to us indeed through human words, and by means of human action; but they did not arise originally in the breasts of men; they came from Him who is Himself the first spring of morals and the highest fountain of truth…because this Book is unlike all other books, because its voice comes to us from another place, and is heard in deeper and more secret chambers of our being than all other voices, because its sayings have for our humanity a searching and conserving and healing power which none other possess, therefore it is that to keep these Holy Scriptures in all their integrity as delivered down to her is the solemn trust of the Church throughout the world: a trust simple, direct, indefeasible [i.e., not able to be lost].

We are entrusted with this very book that God gave us, spoken to men to write down and pass along to other men and women. It is by this book that we know God, that we know His Christ, that we know how to please Him and how we know what things displease Him. It is how we know the way of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ and His glory. It is by reading it and meditating on it that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a football. A church service is not a game. Neither should be treated as such!

Part 2 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 11 (Part 2)

Deuteronomy 11:16-32—16 “Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17 lest the LORD's anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you. 18 "Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. 22 For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. 25 No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you. 26 Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 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. 29 Now it shall be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh? 31 For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it. 32 And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.” 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.

What is the chant we here from the Pro-Palestinian crowd today? “From the River to the Sea/Palestine shall be free!” What do they mean by this? That there will be a partition of land for Palestinians separate from the nation of Israel? No. The goal is the elimination of Israel. All this started with the attacks on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked innocent Israelis and killed hundreds and took another >100 hostage. For these attacks, Israel retaliated against Gaza, which is home to the Hamas terrorist organization. Yet the cry of the Hamas sympathizers is against Israel for doing what any nation would do when their people were attacked. (Note to Hamas: if you don’t want to be killed in a war with Israel, don’t start a war with Israel!) So what is the goal of the Hamas sympathizers? A portion of land where they can live side-by-side with Israel? No. “From the River to the Sea/Palestine shall be free!” This is what they mean:

[Hamas] in early 2006 won legislative elections in the Palestinian territories, ending the secular Fatah party’s hold on the Palestinian Authority and challenging Fatah’s leadership of the Palestinian nationalist movement. HAMAS continues to refuse to recognize or renounce violent resistance against Israel and in early 2008 conducted a suicide bombing, killing one civilian, as well as numerous rocket and mortar attacks that have injured civilians. The US Government has designated HAMAS a Foreign Terrorist Organization. (https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/hamas.html)

Does this look familiar? It should. This is the nation of Israel, which Hamas has vowed to “push into the sea.” Hamas doesn’t want a two-state solution. They don’t want Israel to exist any longer, and will fight until Israel does not exist anymore. “Well, they don’t believe that anymore!” Yes, they do. Look at the picture above, and consider their violent and inhumane attacks on Israeli civilians and one cannot come to any other conclusion but that Hamas wants to end Israel once and for all. We must not let that happen. Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that is keeping the Muslim terrorist organizations in check.

Now, let’s focus on another passage in this section. Deuteronomy 11:26-29—26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 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. 29 Now it shall be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.” We will get to the blessings and curses and the geography of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal when we get to chapters 27-28. For now, let’s focus on the words spoken here by Moses. It’s real simple: live by the commandments of God, or perish when you turn away from them. FB Meyer wrote, “All along our lives are Ebals and Gerizims, with their ‘Come, ye blessed’ and ‘Depart, ye cursed.’ Always we are arriving at the crossways, on the one of which lies the smile, and on the other the frown, of God. Let us be attracted by the one and dissuaded from the other, till we climb the spiral staircase into the land where there is no cooling love or faltering faith.” We are, in this life, always beset on all sides by blessings and cursings. Helping the poor is a blessing; ignoring the poor is a curse. Fleeing sexual immorality is a blessing, giving in to it is a curse. Loving your neighbor is a blessing; hating your neighbor is a curse. As we walk through life, we will find myriad opportunities to be a blessing and myriad opportunities to be a curse. Thus Jesus said to those who were a blessing by helping the neighbor, “‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (Matthew 25:34) and to those who were a curse by ignoring the plight of their neighbor, “‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41).

But now here’s a curious thing: today, the Old Testament Law is a curse. It has been done away with in Christ, and now those who seek to keep it are still under the curse—the Law now has no blessing for those who seek to be righteous by keeping it, but are only cursed. Galatians 3:10—For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Nowhere in the New Testament is anyone who seeks to keep the Law called “blessed”. Why? Because the Law was not meant to make anyone righteous; its only intent was to show how sinful we are and prescribe remedies for when we do sin. Romans 3:20—Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. What did Paul say later in the same epistle? Romans 7:7—I would not have known sin except through the law. Does a child know that if he touches a hot stove he will suffer burns if he has never been told? Probably not. All he knows is that he feels heat from the hot stove. If he gets near it, he may sense heat, but does not think any more about it. So his parents warn him, saying, “Don’t touch this stove when it is hot, or you will get burned.” So what happens in the child’s mind? His curiosity has been aroused, and he now wants to touch the stove. Has his parents’ warnings dissuaded him from touching the stove? No, it has made him now want to touch the stove. So he does, and what happens? His hand is burned, and he feels the pain that has befallen him because of his decision to go against the warnings of his parents and do what they warned him not to do.

This is the Law. God warned us not to partake of certain things because they are sinful and can have negative repercussions. There are certain things that we do not know are sinful, but our Father warns us about them. Does this warning prevent us from doing these things? No, in fact it gives us a curiosity about these things, and our flesh is stimulated to do these things. Romans 7:9—I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Sin revived. Henry Alford says “sin sprang to life”. That sin that was lurking under the surface came to life when he heard the words “you shall not covet.” Paul may have thought within himself, “What does it mean to covet? Does it mean to want to buy something that is for sale? Or does it mean to harbor a desire for something I should not have?” So he pondered the meaning, and learned that these words meant that he should not desire something that belongs to another and that is not available to him to have. And the desires of his flesh welled up inside of him, and he felt an urge to have those things which he could not have—his neighbor’s wife, his neighbor’s servants or ox or donkey. The desire to have these things became strong within him, and the lusts of his flesh led him to desire these things more and more. But…

Romans 7:10-12—10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.  This is the curse of the Law. Is the Law good? Yes. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. “But the commandment brought sin to life in his flesh.” Yes, it did. But is that the fault of the Law and the commandment? Certainly not! The commandment [against coveting is] holy and just and good. The Law of God is good, but we are not. We are flesh, and our flesh is sinful. Does this negate the righteousness of the Law? If you drive a good nail into a rotting board, and the board fails and falls, is it the fault of the nail? Or the board? The nail was good, and was driven in properly. It was the board that was rotten, and it failed for that reason. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. It is sin in us that kills us, using the Law to do so, being incited by prohibitions and regulations and commandments to do things that are contrary to the Law of God. The sin that dwells within us sees and hears of these things which are sinful and wells up in us, and tells us that we want to do these things. Romans 7:13—Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Notice Paul says that sin brought forth death by the righteous commandment given by God. The commandment told him to not do a particular thing. His flesh, rebellious like the flesh of all of us, decided it knew better than God, and led him to do that thing. Was it the fault of the Law of God? Or was it the fault of his flesh? Well, was it the fault of the good nail that the rotten board failed, or was it the fault if the rotten board? When God commanded Adam to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, was it the command that was evil, or was it Adam’s act of eating that fruit that plunged all humanity into sin? That, of course, is a rhetorical question. It is sin—the flesh—that produces death in us by using what is good against us. Was God’s command to Adam good? Yes. “Don’t eat of the tree and you won’t die.” But Adam went against the good command of God—and when you go against good, that is evil and sin. So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains this part of the verse thus:

Here we meet with a great problem, of course. Why did the holy God allow sin to do this with His Law, which is "holy, and just, and good?" The Apostle's answer is that this was allowed in order that sin might appear sin, which means, that sin might be "shown up for what it really is." The difficulty with sin is to recognize it for what it is. Sin is deceitful, sin is very clever, sin is like a fisherman who hides himself and conceals the bait. Sin has to be shown up in order that it might appear sin, that it might be "shown" to be sin.

“Hath God indeed said?” Yes, He hath said. And what He hath said is good and just and holy. It is sin that makes it appear as though God is keeping the best from us. This is the cry of the atheist, that belief in God is just a tool to keep us stupid people in line. To keep us dependent upon the preacher to tell us what is right and wrong and that truth is up to each individual person, because there is no absolute truth. The atheist author, whether Voltaire or Bertrand Russell or Neitzsche or Christopher Hitchens or Neil deGrasse Tyson, think they have the only truth because they don’t believe in some “Sky Daddy”®. They only believe in science, in things we can touch and see and feel. We can't see God, so He must not exist. “We want something we can know is real and know by the senses! Show me; prove to me your god is real! You can't do it, so I won’t believe he exists! And I hate him!” Psalm 14:1 (Young’s Literal Translation)—A fool hath said in his heart, 'God is not'. The one who does not believe in God is the fool, for he thinks that all creation just appeared and, as the fool Carl Sagan once said, “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be.” Those, my friend, are the words of a fool.

Who do these people sound like? They sound just like the worshippers of Ba'al and Ashtoreth. They sound like those who carve images of wood and who fashion idols of gold and silver, who form statues of Mary and the saints and bow down to them and do reverence to them as though these icons were real. But we who know the true God know better. We do not worship a god made by human hands. We worship a God who is grander than all of His creation. We worship a God who made all things, both visible and invisible. We know that His commands are good and holy and just, and that in these feeble houses of flesh we will never even begin to live up to the righteousness His Law demands. Romans 8:3—For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin. The Law was weak because our flesh is weak. The Law is a good nail, we are rotting wood. That Law became a curse to us, since none could fulfill it. But hang on, that is not the end of the story. That Law was fulfilled by our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who fulfilled every jot and tittle of that Law and became righteousness for us, and by our faith in Him we become the righteousness of God (2nd Corinthians 5:21). And now instead of being a curse, we can now be called “Blessed”. Blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure in heart, those who are reviled and persecuted, and they who hunger and thirst for righteousness—the righteousness found only in Jesus Christ our Lord!

Jesus, Thou art my Righteousness,/For all my sins were Thine:

Thy death hath bought of God my peace,/Thy life hath made Him mine.

Forever here my rest shall be,/Close to Thy bleeding side;

This all my hope, and all my plea:/For me the Saviour died.

My dying Saviour and my God,/Fountain for guilt and sin.

Sprinkle me ever with Thy Blood,/And cleanse and keep me clean.

Jesus, my Strength, my Life, my Rest,/On Thee will I depend,

Till summoned to the marriage-feast,/Where faith in sight shall end.

(“Jesus, Thou Art My Righteousness” by Charles Wesley)

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.