THROUGH THE BIBLE - Deuteron..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Deuteronomy chapter 17 from verse 1. You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatsoever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.

If there is found among you within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God in transgressing his covenant and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them or the sun or the moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have forbidden and it is told you and you hear of it, that you shall inquire diligently. And if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, that you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses. The one who is to die shall be put to death. A person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

The hand of the witness shall be first against him to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. and you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in the office in those days and you shall consult them and they shall declare to you the decision. And you shall do according to what they declared to you from that place that the Lord will choose.

And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you according to the instruction that they give you and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declared to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest, who stands to minister there before the Lord your God or the judge, that man shall die, so you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously When you come to the land that the Lord your God has given you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you who the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you.

You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for he himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of the law, according, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them.

that his heart may not be lifted above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, neither to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Our Lord said, the heaven and earth will pass away, but not even a dot or a diddle will pass away from his words. Let's come before our Lord and commit this time to him in prayer.

Father, we come before you at this point on this day, Lord, and we do come with grateful hearts for the opportunity to be here in this place, gathered in the name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, you know our hearts. You know our minds. You know the worries that we've been worried through the week, the thoughts that we've been thinking. Are there any anxieties, Lord?

there's any work that's yet to be done, anything that occupies our minds in this moment, Lord, you know it. So, Lord, I pray that you would meet us, every one of your people, this evening, where they are. Lord, I pray that you give us heart to hear your word. I pray, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts through your spirit. that your word will not only be heard in our ears, but to our hearts, that it will conform us, change us.

It will impact us and make us more like Jesus our Savior, and that is the desire of our hearts. He has these things in his name. Amen. Brothers and sisters, it's quite often that I've said, and I've probably said on many other occasions, that when I'm thinking or preparing for what I'm about to say, especially in the context of the Lord's reading in the Old Testament, I find myself sometimes, actually probably most times, in a bit of a dilemma. There's only a certain amount of time and so much richness in the word of God that it's incredibly difficult to be able to prayerfully ascertain what it is that I say and what it is that I have to just leave behind, because not everything can be addressed.

And as probably you've all become aware, those of you who have been among us for some period of time, you would know that the corporate reading of God's word started quite concise. over time and it has grown and grown, more and more time has been given to this segment during our service and I think that is because there's so much that we want to say when we hit these passages and we struggle keeping behind the things that we just cannot address because of time restraints. So in a way, we could We could spend the rest of our time together even just on the first verse. The first verse in chapter 17 of the book of Deuteronomy, a verse that speaks in particular to a people in the old covenant. Yes, a people who are under the old covenant and the sacrificial system of people who would come to the Lord in the temple of the Lord, at least the tabernacle in this time and offer an offering.

And here the Lord is very express in telling these people that when you do offer an offering to the Lord, it needs to be pure. It needs to be without blemish. It needs to be without spot or wrinkle. Don't bring your second grade goods to God Almighty. And it's not simply because the priests are there to see and inspect what you're doing.

It's not for that at all. It's not because of your neighbors that can see the offerings that you're offering or sacrificing to the Lord. It's not that at all. It's because God sees your heart. And he's worthy of the very best that you can give because after all, everything is from him.

He has provided it all. And whatever you give back is a small portion. And God loves a cheerful giver. It's the heart that he looks for. It's the heart that he looks at.

And we can apply that even though we are not a old covenant people, we're new covenant people. It's not very difficult for us as new covenant people to apply that text to our everyday life. Or we can spend the rest of our time meditating upon verse two and the few verses that come after that and see the abject foolishness and the absolute wickedness that it is for a people who have been redeemed from slavery in Egypt to now experience the mercy and the love of God who has placed his name upon them to now turn their backs and set their devotion and their love and their worship and their service to that which is no God at all, a false God, same as what the pagan neighbors and the nations do that surround them. to turn their back upon God, the only true God, and worship false deities, dead deities, or that which is created, rather than worship the creator, or that which they form from their hands, from metal, or from stone, or from wood, rather than serving the only true living God. That would be a truly an abomination in God's eyes, right?

That's what he says, that is so true. or we can turn our attention to the justice that is required and mandated by God for those who do worship false deities. Because justice needs to be done. There are consequences for our actions. There are consequences for us to divert our heart from what is true worship and turn it away to that which is false and abominable before the eyes of God.

And the people of Israel as a whole need to see those consequences played out in their everyday life so they would fear the Lord. They see it with their eyes, but also by seeing it with their eyes, they'll understand what God expects from their own hearts. Because after all, the manifestations of our lives, what we see is always rooted in in the heart. We could spend the next moments even just meditating on the beautiful judicial system that has been set up by Yahweh, because He didn't keep them in the dark, did He? It's an incredible, wise system that has been instituted by Yahweh, because injustice is a massive problem.

It was back then, and it is today. Why? Because we're dealing with sinful hearts. with sinful agendas and sinful motives. And you mix all that sin into the peace.

And what do you have? You have injustice. God set up a system in the previous chapter from verse 18. You'll be seeing that judges were appointed and officers were appointed in every town. Once they go into the land of Israel, the land allotted to the people of Israel, that will set up judges and officers to adjudicate on behalf of the people.

We saw that in the last chapter. And we also see that there would be two or three witnesses that would have to witness against a crime before a guilty verdict is handed out. You cannot hand a guilty verdict if only one person comes and says, I saw that person do this, that, or the other. God is just. He sits on a throne of righteousness and justice.

And his justice must be displayed among his people who bear his name. You might remember John chapter eight when we read this passage. The thing is that this judicial system that God has instituted for these people is when someone is guilty of a heinous offense and there's two or three witnesses, then that person, a man or a woman who committed that offense, if it's a capital crime, needs to be dealt with. That's the consequences. They may have to be stoned.

And so it takes place like this. The witnesses carry the first and they cast the first and then the rest of the town comes and contributes. You know why? Because purging the evil from among you and God says that he's serious about that. It is a collective.

ideology. It's not just the one person or the judicial system of the judges or the priests, but it's everyone in the people of God should be concerned with the purity of the people of God, the purity of the heart, the purity of the camp, because God dwells among us and God sees sin and he cannot look upon sin and unrighteousness. But I want you to think about this. It's one thing for someone to accuse someone of a crime, especially one that carries with it a capital penalty. It's one thing to accuse someone of a crime and maybe accuse them falsely, hand them over to the judicial system and then walk away and go, okay, they'll deal with it.

That's one thing, but when you've got to hang around. And listen, and hear the verdict, a guilty verdict. And then the judge, the officer, the Levite comes and says, come now, come now, now it's your turn to partake. Carry those stones. You're the one who will throw the first stone at this person.

You're the one who will throw that skull crushing stone at them. You're the one who needs to begin. That's another thing all together, right? You think twice if that's the case, because now blood is at stake. It's either guilty blood or it's righteous blood.

But even then, some will even go down that path and accuse a brother falsely in order to get their way. We're looking in the world today, how many do we know of who are being caught out, even our politicians and those in the public limelight, who even now, after years, we find out they lied to the public or they deceive some people just to get their own way. And we see that all the time. The heart is desperately wicked, and God knows that. And even though, even though that their blood, the blood of the victim might be innocent, the blood might be innocent of the person who's judged to be guilty, even though their blood may be innocent, God knows that there are so many wicked people, even among the people of Israel, that he needs to protect even further.

And so in two chapters time, Deuteronomy chapter 19, we get a little bit more insight about how this all plays out. and this is how it plays out. You may have a heart that's prepared to convict and accuse your brother of something falsely, but the Bible tells us in two chapters time that if you are that person, be careful, because once it goes through the judicial system, if they catch you out, whatever that crime, whatever that crime, the penalty was going to be dished out for that crime, it will now turn the tables and turn, and that's what you'll experience for saying that your brother's guilty when you knew that he was not guilty. Wonderful, a wonderful system of justice. God is concerned with justice.

And it's a collective thing to purge the evil from among them. And if the case is too difficult, we're told, then let's take the case to the place of the Lord's own choosing. We know that is Jerusalem. We know that would be the temple where the Levites will be serving the Lord. and the judge who is prescribing or residing at that time and whatever verdict is handed out, then that verdict must be obeyed.

Everyone needs to obey. It is dealt with before the Lord. You disobey, then you're showing rebellion against God himself, not against people. This is God's way of doing things. You're now showing rebellion against God himself.

This is treason against Yahweh. You see my point? That's not really what I wanted to tell you this evening. Most of what I just said is not the main thrust of what I want to tell you this evening. Half my time is gone.

Because the reason, or the main point I want to bring to you this evening starts at verse 14 in that text that is before us that speaks to the kings of Israel. The kings of Israel. The future king for these people. Remember, these people are still on the... Eastern crossed over in the conquest.

They still haven't been given the land that God has promised their father Abraham, but they will they will because they trust they will and God has said you will and our God is God who makes promises and he's a God who keeps his promises. We have the blessing to have the whole narrative of the whole Old Testament, don't we? These people at this point don't. They're hearing Moses preach these sermons. They don't know what's coming next.

They need to trust in the Lord and have faith, but they do not know what is coming next, but we do. We know some four centuries later, Israel will receive her first king. And we know the circumstances around Israel receiving her king when the first king is anointed as the king of Israel we know as Saul. But you know, when we think about that narrative, we may walk away thinking, maybe God didn't want Israel to have a king after all. You know, because an earthly king would signify the rejection of Yahweh, who is Israel's true king.

That's what we may come away thinking after we read that narrative, but that's not it at all. Yes, Saul was a flop as a king. He failed absolutely dismally, but beloved brothers and sisters, we have Genesis chapter 17. The father of these people, the patriarch Abraham, was promised. that not only from his loins would come a great nations, plural, and a great nation being Israel, but also kings will govern and rule this nation.

God had already decreed that kings would rule this nation. So how do we understand the words of 1 Samuel 8, which clearly articulate from the mouth of Yahweh to Samuel, that God is being rejected by the appointing of this king called Saul. How do we harmonize those two? In Genesis 17, you will have kings under my decree, and then God says to Saul, Israel has rejected me by asking for Saul to be king over them. Beloved, we don't have to go any further than what the people, when the people requested to Samuel, and when they said we wanted a king, to hear their words will give us the answer to that question.

In fact, it's reiterated for us here in verse 14 also. But let me just take you back to 1 Samuel. Let me just give you what the people said back then. This is what they said. Behold, speaking to Samuel, this is Israel speaking to Samuel.

You are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us so far. So good, nothing wrong with that, is there? Here's the next point. Appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Like all the nations. That's how they rejected Yahweh. Not that they were asking for a king. He had already planned that they would give them a king. And kings, in fact, in Genesis chapter 17, he gives a king like those around us.

Give us a king like the nations, like the wicked idol-worshipping Yahweh-despising nations that are around us. Oh God, give, O Samuel, give us a king like them. Give us a king like the Philistines, like the Canaanites, like the Hivites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites. Give us a king like those wicked nations. We want a king like that, and that is how God was rejected by his people.

These people have been called by the name of Yahweh. He rescued them from the land of Egypt. He's their God, and they are His people. He's made them a peculiar people unto Himself. His precious possession, holy unto Him, separated from the nations.

You belong to Yahweh. All the stipulations in the covenant, the law, the rules, the precepts, all of them, they speak to a people that are unlike the nations, a people separated from Yahweh. And here you have them at the top of their voices saying, we don't want to be different. We want to be just like those neighbors of ours that are wicked. We want to be like them.

Give us a king like the nations. Give us a leader to follow like the nations. In other words, we want to be like the nations. We want to be like them. The king, beloved brothers and sisters, if we read through the Old Testament and the New, we know the king is not like we think today.

He sits on a throne and that's all he does. The king leads by example. He's called a shepherd in the Old Testament. He walks the terrain that the people walk and he leads by example for the people to follow. The people ought to be a reflection of their king.

This is true spiritually because we see it in Yahweh. Yahweh is the ultimate king of these people. And he's the true king. He says in Judah, in Leviticus chapter 19, he's already said, be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy. I am your God.

I am your king. I am holy. Now be like me. Reflect my character. And that is the essence of his law, is not to reflect the goodness.

God. And it's true also with the earthly king. So here in Deuteronomy chapter 17, it's not that the Lord is forbidding Israel to have a king when they settle in the land. That's not that at all, but rather he's instructing the king. He's instructing the king for him to be an example for the people to follow, to be a king after his own heart.

and one that is nothing like the king of the nations. Firstly, he needs to be God's choice. We see that in the text. That's the problem with Saul, wasn't it? Saul was the people's choice.

They wanted a man who's tall and shoulders, he said, head and shoulders above the rest. Nice, wide shoulders, good looking, God said. You guys all look at the external appearance like the pagan kings do. The God looks at the heart. He needs to be after God's own choice.

Unlike the nation, this king is not to find security or safety in the multitude of horses, essentially the size of his army and the strength of his army. Why do you think that is? Because he should not find safety in these things. His safety and security is in Yahweh and Yahweh alone. That's it.

If God is for you, then who can be against you? No matter how great the opposition is. If the king was trusting in Yahweh, he mattered not how many horses he had. Nor should he send people back to Egypt, back into the land of slavery, to collect the horses or to be sold into slavery, depending on how you see that verse. This king, this king, unlike the pagan kings who acquired for themselves so many wives, is not to be like that.

Not only is he not to be given over to desires of the flesh, the uncontrolled desires of the flesh, but more to the point. Accumulating wives means that you accumulate wives from surrounding nations, people or nations who could one day come against you in war, and the best way you can maintain peace is to have one of their own as your own wife. This is a political alliance. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Once again, don't do it. You don't need to use your own brain to strategize against the will of God. If God is going to give you peace, he said he will give you peace. Your peace is not because of your own understanding, your own conniving understanding, your own shrewdness. Because God said, if you obey my commands and my precepts and my rules, I will be your God and you will be my people.

And there is nothing for you to fear, no nation, no principality, no power, nothing, no matter how big they are, they are no match against Yahweh. But the other point to that is this, you marry foreign wives, they will draw your heart away from Yahweh. We saw that as a perfect example with Solomon, did we not? Remember Solomon? Ask many wives.

You remember what we told about King Solomon, this wise man? He started off so well and then went downhill. You remember what we told? We're told that this Solomon amassed for himself so many wives and they drew his heart away from Yahweh to the point where he erected shrines and altars where in Jerusalem, in the very place that is called after the name of God, the place of his choosing, the place where he manifest his glory among his people, it was there that Solomon built shrines and altars so that his wives from other nations would be able to sacrifice freely One abomination in the eyes of God, a king ought to not be given over to many wives. And the final thing we're told here is the king is not to have excessive silver and gold.

Why do you think that is, brothers and sisters? Why is a king not to be so concerned with his possessions? Let me tell you why briefly. Because his treasure is not in silver and gold. His ultimate treasure is in knowing the only God of the universe, and that is more valuable than anything in this world.

The king must not be like the kings of the nations, but is to be holy as the Lord God is holy. is to reflect the righteousness of God, the virtues of Yahweh for those under His care to follow after, to follow His lead and subdue the enemy by the power of Yahweh to bring about peace from the enemy. But that comes through obedience to God, through looking to Him in faith, not through His own strength. And he is one who leads his people like a shepherd leads the sheep. And as I said earlier, there is no wonder the Bible calls the kings of old shepherds.

If I had time, I'd take you to Ezekiel chapter 34, and we'll explore the wonderful passage that speaks about the unrighteous shepherds and the true shepherd to come to save God's people once and for all. But we don't. Let me ask you then, how is it that this king is to walk? How is it that this king is to lead the people of God? How is it that this king is to lead them to green pastures?

Well, we're told here in verse 18 through verse 20, and in a word, it is according to the word of God. God has spoken, and he's given his word to this king, and the king ought to treasure the word of God in his heart. Listen, let's read together. how we see in verse 18 through 20, that the word of God has preeminence over the life of the king in every aspect. From verse 18.

And when he, that's the king, sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a book, a copy of his law. That's Torah, that's the word of God, approved by the Levitical priests, and it shall be with him, and he shall read it. Read in it all the days of his life, every day. that he may learn to fear the Lord his God. How does one learn to fear the Lord of God?

It's to read and to meditate upon the word of God. By keeping all the words of his law and these statutes and by doing them that his heart may not be lifted up against his brothers. They would lead by example, because after all, he's just one of them, isn't he? King is one of them. To look down on your brothers, the Lord God say, no, no, I've appointed you as king, but you are not to grow in pride against your brothers.

In fact, you are to be humbled and lead them humbly. And then he goes on to say, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. So much we could say here, but no time to say it all. I think about the first task the king is given. With his own hand, he is to write the law.

the word of God. Not only receive it and read it. Write it down. Get to know it. Become intimate with the word of God.

Know who your God is. You are not the ultimate one in control. God is, Yahweh is, you're his vice regent, given a responsibility to lead these people, do it righteously, and do it according to the word of God. Know his word. May the word have preeminence in your life.

And remember, he's an example to be followed. The word must be in his heart, must captivate his heart. It must dwell in him richly. It must be constantly on his mind, regulating his worship, determining his decision-making, forming his thinking, shaping his attitude towards how he governs God's people. In every aspect, the word of God is to govern the whole of the king's life.

Remember, he's leading by example. And in this way, he and his people will fear the Lord. In essence, beloved, a king, according to the statutes of God himself, is one who simply loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, and mind, and treasures his word in his soul. But every single king of the Old Testament, and we have the privilege of having the Old Testament, these people did it, we can look back and know what they don't know, because they would have to look forward. Every single king of the old who went off track, even the righteous one, it was because of their lack of love for God and neglect to keep his word every single time.

and it always resulted in harm, not only to them and detriment to them, but to their people, to the kingdom, to the people of God. Every single time Israel came under judgment, if you look at the king, you look at his attitudes, look at his affections, you will see that there is a direct correlation between the king's heart of diverting or moving away from the word of God and the judgment that befell the people. Every time, every time judgment came upon the people of Israel, you look at the king and the king was in abject evil and he was leading the people down the path of unrighteousness. Righteous king, a righteous king will turn the hearts of the people towards Yahweh. He has no control over the spirit, he has no control over the affections of the heart, but he can lead by example and he can turn their hearts to Yahweh and say, This Yahweh, this God of the universe has captivated my heart.

He's satisfied my soul. I'm gonna lead you towards him. And we're gonna deny everything from this world, follow after me. That's what the king was meant to do. Lead the people of Israel according to the word of God.

Virtually we know that when it all came to an end, Israel was overturned. as a nation, and in 2 Kings we're told that Judah's destruction, you know, when Nebuchadnezzar came in and completely destroyed Judah and burned down the temple, we're told that it was due to the sins of the kings. That's pretty important. Manasseh's listed there, but we know it's the sins of all the kings. Covenant was broken.

And it was because of the king's disobedience towards Yahweh. You see, I would imagine that if these people were experiencing this thing, the remnant people who truly love the Lord, not only externally doing the things, but of the heart, As they look upon the kings that came one by one, Saul was a flock, and then you have David, who seemingly was a man after God's own heart, and he was, but he was not perfect. David's sin caused him to put a man in the front line of battle and essentially committed murder so that he could satisfy the lust of his own flesh and have his wife. even though David is a type of Christ. His sin is not a type of Christ.

His position, his role is a type of Christ. And every king after him, even those who are called righteous in the word of God, they all had their downfall. None of them were perfect. None of them were perfectly harboring the word of God in their heart. None of them walked in perfect obedience.

None of them loved the Lord God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind. And the people who were witnessing these things, the remnant, they would cry out, I would think, if only we had a king who loved the Lord with all their heart. and all his soul and all his mind. If only we had a king, if only a king to lead us in righteousness, if only we had a king to treasure the word of God in his soul and to obey the word of God perfectly. If only we had a king to lead us and Yahweh would be for us, if only we had such a king.

Beloved, we do have such a king. My brother read it this morning. He's the stump of the root of Jesse, the righteous one, the one who was promised, the one who was promised to redeem his people, the one who was promised to sit on the throne perpetually. never to be deposed from his throne because of unrighteousness, because all he ever did was in perfect righteousness in the incarnation. This king exemplified absolute humility.

This is what the Lord is saying here in verse, I think it's verse 19. He says that I would not be lifted. His heart may be not lifted above his brothers. This is the creator of the heavens and the earth who came into this world and took on flesh like you and I. Can you get any more humble than that?

Beyond that, he was obedient to the word of the Father, obedient to the word of God, because he treasured the word of God in his heart. And his will and the will of God and the word of God was his absolute goal and purpose to be accomplished. And then through that obedience led, that obedience led him to be even obedient unto death. Death upon that cursed cross. There is, there is a king.

who will lead us into all righteousness. There is a king who is approved by God. There is a king who has fulfilled all the demands of the covenant. So the blessing of God and the promises of God are all yes and amen in this game. They will be never, ever taken away for those who trust, trust in this king.

And beloved, one day, every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is the King of kings. And the only question we have to ask ourselves today is this, have you bent your knee to this King Jesus? You will one day. Everyone will one day, but let's bend our knee before it's too late and embrace this King by faith, looking to him for the redemption of ourselves as a brain.