6-1-25 - You Shall Consume All The Peoples

This morning is a tough text. I like it, but I like it because it it it's direct. It forces you to deal with it. If you just read it and you just pass over, like, oh, yeah. Well, there it is.

You're not paying attention. But if you're paying attention, you're gonna be like, wait. What? I tend to like these kinds of texts because they get my attention. And I hope that they get your attention.

And I hope that God is gracious to us and does business with our hearts this morning as we study it. We're just continuing our study in Deuteronomy chapter seven. We're going to consider the goodness of the command, as well as the reasons behind God giving this command to his people. Israel. My hope is that as we study this, that God will overcome our fears and our apathy, and he'll make us willing to obey him in all areas of life, especially the ones that are difficult for us or scary to us or intimidating to us.

Would you please stand now as we read the word of the Lord from Deuteronomy chapter six, and then -There's a -There's

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Nor shall you serve their gods. For that would be a snare to you. If you should say in your heart, these nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them? You shall not be afraid of them.

You shall well remember what the Lord your God did to pharaoh and to all Egypt. Of that command. The command is to consume all of the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you. And I want to begin by asking, does this command align with the second greatest command? The greatest commandment, to love your neighbor even as your How can wiping out these people have anything to do with loving your neighbor?

First thing I would do is I'd remind you that that is the second greatest commandment in not the the first commandment, Jesus teaches Is God calling his people to do something mean? By our accounts, I'd say yes. Going and wiping out women and children and animals and men of war and men of old age. By our accounts, that seems to be a mean thing to do. But we're going to come to why it's not a mean thing to do.

But a just thing to do in a moment. But in terms of squaring this command to consume all the peoples with the second greatest commandment, beyond saying there's a first greatest commandment, we have to be able to distinguish between a general command given to guide all of our interactions, meaning to love our neighbor as ourself, and a specific command to execute God's will. We are to love our neighbors at all times. And in every situation, we're even to love our enemies. Unless God singles out a specific group of people for destroy.

That's what you find in this passage. There's no way to get around the consuming, the destroying, the horror of the command. It's awful. If you I mean, it's awful in terms of the loss of human life. It's awful in terms of the gore.

Another group. Of course. From a scriptor, perhaps from a government that he's And I want you to understand the uniqueness of this passage. I don't want you to miss, The canon of scripture has been we should not expect this sort of communication to come down from him. Now maybe that you a legitimate thing for them to say it's just When we read the Bible, we have to be able to put it in its proper context.

Ways that command is intact with us today. And I realize some of you might be uncomfortable with me saying this because you're like, but isn't all the Bible applied to us just straight on through today? And I say, yes, but we do have to know how. Sort of command that was given to their people at the time in a specific, context that we should not be presuming to receive our selves.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So I'm gonna go ahead and go straight on through today.

And I say, yes, but we do have to know and this is an example of the sort of command that was given to their people at the time in a specific, context that we should not be presuming to receive our selves.

A guy went in and killed him while he was their worst. And the question was, was that just? Or right. And the answer is, no. And the answer is, no.

That's not to say that the guy That's not to say that the guy didn't deserve it, or to say that Christians aren't glad that it happened. But it wasn't an execution of justice because that execution of justice didn't belong to an individual citizen to to take it upon himself to take the sword upon himself, but it belonged to the government that God had set up. And they were failing. So these things take work for us to sort out. So why did God call that these people should be commanded?

Why was there this extraordinary command? Contrary to loving our neighbors, contrary to bearing with them, contrary to evangelizing them, contrary to sending

Jonah to Nineveh. Nineveh was a wicked place.

Nineveh was a wicked place. And they rip and here the command is different. It's not go and evangelize, go and preach. It's go. Have nothing to do with them.

And exterminate. I'm saying it that way because I want you to feel how tense it is. If you were being told to do this. So, jurors in armies have trouble being told to go kill the guys shooting at them. They're being told to go kill women and children.

The intensity of this passage is and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and

and and and and is a is an execution of a previous judgment against the inhabitants of this land. This was actually proclaimed to have been done hundreds of years before. Years of slavery in Egypt. And so the Israelites at this time are being appointed as God's chosen instrument to execute the Lord's judgment from long before.

And so the Israelites at this time are being appointed as God's chosen instrument to execute the Lord's judgment from long before. And so the Israelites at this time are being appointed as God's chosen instrument

to execute the Lord's judgment from long before judgment from long. So when you hear this command, how does it sit? Yeah. So when you hear this command, how does it sit? Yeah.

And Do you just see it as, well, Lord said to do it, so it's the right thing to do. And that's Do you think it's a good command? Do you think it's an unjust command? You might not like me asking the questions because you feel like I'm saying, well, you should question scripture. You should you should evaluate whether you agree with it or not.

And I assure you, I'm not actually asking you to to sit in judgment of scripture. I'm trying to get you to look at your own heart

and see whether or not you have a response to

something this gruesome being commanded by to something this gruesome being commanded. If you don't, you're broken.

It's

just what it is. It's a very hard hearted and callous response. It's a very hard hearted and callous response to Well, just as what it is. So why did God command so many hundreds of years before that these people, that these nations should be exterminated? Is it just because he's vindictive?

I'll give you an example. When you were a child and your mother said to you, wait till your father gets home. Was it a faithful is that a faithful thing for a mother to say? Sure it is. As you waited, what was worse?

The waiting, or when he actually got home? It was the waiting. Right? Did you ever wait so long that you thought maybe they'd forget? Did they ever forget?

They didn't? Well, then you had good parents. Have you ever forgotten? I'm gonna spank you when we get home. Do you ever said that to one of your children only to not do it when you got home?

We have this idea that if discipline is not immediate, we we always think we're going to escape it. And it's really a dangerous thought to think that we can act without God responding to it. To think that if he doesn't respond right away, he won't respond at all. But when we come to passages like this, literally four hundred years, the judgment was declared. And now it's time to pay the piper.

You could look at that four hundred years and say, what was the purpose of that four hundred years? What does scripture tell us the purpose of that four hundred years was? Could've. They didn't. And so now it's time for them to get what's always been coming to them.

God, I don't want you to think that because he doesn't discipline you right away, or that he won't deal with you, or that he won't deal with those who sinned against. A just A just and good command.

They deserve this. A just and good command. They deserve this.

A just and good command. They deserve this. Couple of warnings. He says, your eye shall not sympathy and empathy and apathy and all these types of things. And pity is a word that runs in the same herd as sympathy and empathy and compassion.

Don't

Don't seek to understand their, just their plight. Don't seek to mitigate it. Don't seek to protect them from it. Don't seek to lessen it. Don't believe the lie that surely they should have they didn't mean it all that much.

Do

you want to be in that crowd? Woman or a child at that point? Because largely it's the men who are going to have to do this. Right? JL maybe, you know, that type of thing.

But mostly it's the men. Your eyes shall not pity them nor shall you serve their gods. And as I mentioned earlier, when we read the accounts of this command being carried out, the bloodshed and the death are immense. The women, the children, the animals, the houses, everything consumed. Just as God commanded.

So while we know that it's a just command and a good command, we do still have to question in our own hearts of whether or not we agree with that. We have to get below the fact of the matter to see what we think about it. If we think that it's unjust, that there must have been another way, that the extent was was over the top. What we're really saying is that God isn't dealing with these people in the best way, that we know better how to discipline. But we may not say it that that plainly.

That is what we're saying. Have you never had something that you knew God required of you to do and you thought, well, I think I know a better way to do it. Maybe I'll just do it a little later. Maybe I'll just do it a little later. Maybe I'll just do it a little bit.

Maybe I'll just do it without that one barb in it. Wouldn't be loving. They wouldn't understand. It wouldn't be be

things

that are hard and difficult? Does he always call us to do things that are hard and difficult and painful? No. But the question is, if he ever calls us to do something that's hard or difficult or painful, will we do it? Or do we know a better way of accomplishing the same ends?

Why doesn't he do for them what he did with Nineveh? It's an honest question. It's a fair question. Why does he insist on their utter destruction? Questions we ask ourselves as parents, as husbands, as mothers, as bosses.

Maybe there's a better way than discipline. Maybe there's a better way than judgement. Line with the will of God and that you don't have anything to worry about? Perhaps. And perhaps not.

How can we look at the destruction of How can we look at the destruction of people and delight in it? Or be indifferent toward it? Do we think it's just just because it serves our bloodlust? Because we like seeing people suffer and have a hard time. Do you like seeing people struggle?

Do you make decisions to cause other people to struggle? To see if they can do it themselves? That response. God were to leave you to fend for yourself, how would you do? It's a good Presbyterian answer.

Lawyers says poorly. You should not delight in the destruction of the whole source of their destruction is their own choices. Did you know that Proverbs warns you against rejoicing in the destruction of other people? Proverbs twenty four seventeen and eighteen says, do not rejoice when your enemy falls. I mean, that's the time to rejoice.

Right? When your enemy falls and you go now. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.

And

the nations do deserve it. I'm not arguing that they don't. They deserve everything that they're gonna get, or that they got. Unless, of course, you delight in the destruction of the wicked. But what does God say about the destruction of the wicked and his delight?

He says, I take no delight in the destruction of the wicked, rather that every man would turn. So you really do have to do business with this passage as they're told to consume all of the peoples. On the one hand, we think it's too severe. That there must be a better way, a more moderate way. While at the same time, when we see destruction, we go, that's exactly how it should happen.

So when we consider this command, we should accept it as a just command and glorify God for saying it and doing it.

And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it.

And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it.

And doing it. And doing it. And doing it.

And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it.

And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it.

And doing it. And doing it. And doing it.

And doing it.

And doing it. And while the nations deserve this sort of. And

You

know what? I woke up this morning thinking about I haven't even told my wife yet this year, so she'll probably be mad at me for not for telling you something. I haven't told her yet. But it was just this morning. Pride That's what I thought this morning.

And then I thought, I know people and then I thought, I know people Because Joseph would keep track of things like that and say it's not a good thing, not a Christian thing. And I thought, you know, there's lots I disagree with those Christians about that theologically and practically. That go down there and make such asses of themselves preaching in front of such And it's you know what? I should go. Yeah.

I thought I should go. And I thought, you

know, I have so many arguments with my kids about how to live like a Christian and how to be salt and light and how to how to honor God. I should take them. At least the older ones. I should take them. At least the older ones.

Yeah. And I thought, you know,

I I should take them. At least the order one's to see what it actually looks like. Because they're living in this bubble. Pornography is the worst possible thing they could ever imagine. Or getting a girl pregnant out of wedlock, which is bad, and so much less offensive than what's going to be paraded around for the next thirty days.

It's a natural sin, or it's a sin arising from a natural desire as opposed to an unnatural and wretched desire. And part of that, few days long event was that you had to go down to abortion clinics with all these Christians from every stripe and all kinds of places. And it was a lot of And You remember that, Dan? Oh, yeah. And I thought, you gotta be a Christian to be here and deal with this mess.

Like, all

your theology is just conflict. And it was a good place to be. And it was a good place to be. And it was a good place to be. And for women and children, I would say.

Necessarily, especially not young children or sheltered women. What is a good place for men to be? Why is it a good place to be? Because in that moment, you could see the sort of things that God commands to be. Consumed.

Consumption. Yeah. It's commanded us to love our neighbor, to love our enemies, to love the law. And so are you gonna do anything this month other than share stupid memes about it? This month other than share stupid memes about it, in an effort to love your neighbor?

I don't give a plug nickel for your memes. However true they might be. We need, we need a new civil government that won't allow them to do things like that. I mean, like, we're surrounded by death and destruction and we just sit here. Glad for them to be We're we're for them to be consumed because then we wouldn't and our children wouldn't have to deal with them.

And we we've been

and our children wouldn't have to deal with them.

And we we've been passage, then we ought to say, yes, it's a good thing, because God's clearly and obviously commanded in this context and in this situation, the consumption of the wicked. But you do have to ask yourself, if you spend your life around surrounded by the wicked and you've done nothing to lift a finger to see them saved, you failed them. I'm not saying it's your job to save them. But I am saying we should aim to be able to stand before God at the last day and say, I loved my enemies. So this is a just command and a horrific command.

And if God hadn't commanded it, you'd be right in opposing it. But since God's commanded it, we ought to rejoice in his command, while at the same time saying, it's a terrible tragedy to see those made in his image come to destruction. And we ought to work against their destruction. Really, if we make common cause with them, if we sympathize with them, now you may not sympathize with the

pride parade. But if you sympathize with them, now you may not sympathize

with the pride parade. But if you sympathize with them, sinners, with the difficulty, with their brokenness, if all you do is excuse it and accept it

and then and then,

then, the scripture says, that will be a snare to you. And so what really comes down to is, do we trust that God, when he says no to something, do we trust that his no is right? Or do we always have a kinder, more gentler, gracious way that also happens to be less painful for us,

or at least less costly, or time consuming?

Better of God's commands, when we think we know better how to accomplish his ends than he does when he commands us, we're facing in this One of the principal reasons God's commands is real. To destroy the people is to to destroy the people is to protect them from temptation. But how many of us think that we can walk right into the center of temptation, sit down, build our homes and our lives in that land, and not

be corrupted by it. You ought to think

of Lot and his family. You ought to think of Lot and his family. Does anyone I don't know if you want to name your kids Lot. You thought, there's a good Christian name. He's in the hall of faith.

Right? Right next to Ray. Right next to Ray. Right next to Ray. Righted lot get what he got.

The good land. You can stay up here on the mountain tops and in the weather. I'd like to go down in the valley, where it's green. What else was down in that valley? Sodom.

Sodomy. Men who men who were so corrupt, they didn't wanna rape his daughters. They wanted to rape angels. He pitched his lot with them, final judgment.

And so

God's ways are our protection. When you as parents command your children, why do you tell them no? They think you tell them no because you don't care about them, because you don't understand, because you're just spoiling their fun. But why is it that you as a parent tell your children no? Isn't it because you love them and you want to protect them?

And aren't they foolish whenever they miss that point? He commands us to protect us. We can protect ourselves. And many times we're the worst for it. You're more sophisticated than God.

And we suffer for it. It turns out that the reason that God tells us when we become Christians to count the cost of being his disciple is because we're notoriously bad at counting the cost of our decisions. We need help. We need his help. We go through our lives half blind thinking that we see clearly.

When you're a young parent, whatever it is you're doing, you you think you're doing a good job. Then you kids get older. You know, it's to realize you weren't as good at it as you thought you were. You weren't as good at it as you thought you were. But boy, you sure thought you were at the you thought you knew what was worth disciplining for and what was worth letting You You're really good at taking that speck out of their eyes.

Because the kids are the sinful ones. Does. The reason is because we don't perceive the danger that surrounds us. If you think that staying away from the pride parade will keep the danger away from you, respectfully, you're an idiot. You really are.

You really are an idiot. If you think corruption is just going to stay over there and not invade your little bubble, you're really blind. So you have to decide. Am I on God's side? Or not?

And of course, you say, well, I'm on God's side. And I'm like, well, are you on God's side if it's costly or dangerous or inconvenient? What if you get afraid? How many of you would be afraid to go to the If you should say in your heart, these natures and nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them? You shall not be afraid of them.

Afraid. You've heard the saying that courage is being afraid and doing the right thing anyway. You guys heard that saying? That's the definition of sort of the common definition of courage is you're afraid, but you do the right thing anyway. There is also the potential that you'll be afraid and not do the right thing, because of your fear.

So instead of saying that that's the definition of courage, I would rather say it's the definition of faith. And in their account, at this time, for them to be afraid is to discount their deliverance from Egypt. And all that God had done for them those forty years in the wilderness preserving them, they had to forget about all of his faithfulness to be to justify their fear. And so do we. Many times when we're afraid, what we have to do is shut our eyes to all of God's faithfulness and say, no, no, but I'm scared.

Shame on us. For forgetting so easily and so often, the might of God and his deliverance and our lives. Pride parade? You will get yelled at. You'll get flipped off.

You'll see things that you'll remember. And not because they were pleasant. It's true. Maybe someone will be that'd be so bad. For some of you, it'd be good to get in a fight.

Some of your soft You surely will not die. But ma'am, where's the fear really is gripping. And that's the real issue that's being addressed in this passage. God gives a simple command. Enormous, but simple.

Go and consume them.

They're bigger than us. And how Was Egypt bigger or smaller? Was Egypt more powerful or less powerful than these nations? Well, it's bigger. And pharaoh was more powerful.

And God just laid him low. Now I realize, I sound like a hillbilly or a hick or an idiot to say this to you, but God actually did that and he does that. And your fear requires you to deny, and it's a And it's a And it's a Yeah. And it's a Yeah. And it's a Yeah.

And it's a Yeah. And it's a Yeah. And it's a Yeah. And it's a Yeah. And it's a Yeah.

And it's a Yeah. And your and your and your and your and your

and your and your

and your and your and your and your being free of them, we ought to then turn to obedience. You ever get frustrated when God calls you to do things you don't have the strength or the faith to do? Like, do you recognize God calls you to do things that you're like, that's why you called me this week. Timothy has to preach at presbytery. It's not a trick passage, and he was paralyzed with fear.

He couldn't write a sentence. And he has to go preach on Thursday to be licensed. And he doesn't just have to preach like after lunch when no one's paying attention. He has to preach in the worship service at the beginning, where ordained pastors normally do the stand up and preach. And he has to submit his manuscript ahead of time.

And then he has to be evaluated on what he says in front of About sixty Minutes. And he has to answer for his his his exams. It's scary. I talked to him about his sermon a week and a half ago. He called me.

He's like, I don't know what to do. I can't write a sermon. I don't know how to read. It's how he felt. And yet and I was his second phone call.

He'd already taken up Eric's time with this stuff. We get scared. It really does affect us. And we really have to do it anyway. And you still have to do them.

Still have to do them. In the strength that God provides for you. You won't do it any other way. So when you find that your strength isn't enough, or your intellect isn't enough, or your know how, or your grit, isn't enough, it's no excuse to you to give in to fear and despair. It's not gonna work.

And so it's Christians. We ought to live our lives saying, this crap I'm believing, am I gonna say this to God? Like, seriously, am I gonna stand before his throne and say, but I was It's sort of like if you went to your boss and you were like but I was tired. Tired. I mean, what would your boss say?

He might say you're fired. He might be just in saying, if you're so tired, why don't you just go home the rest of the week and get some sleep? I don't have a place for you here. Now, is that a good boss or is that a mean boss? Is that a just boss?

Was he being unreasonable? All the same questions I just asked you about this passage? How hard is it for bosses to do that? It's a lot harder and be judged according to our deeds, which means according to the things we did, or that he commanded to do. That's it.

Day. You don't get to say, it was this woman you gave to me. It was that man you gave to me. You won't get to say any of that junk. Well, I got The Democrats won.

Whatever it is you want to say is some excuse for your bad attitude and your rebellion. It's not going to fly before God. So give it up now. And just be a Christian. And be committed to his word and to obeying it.

And when you fall short and you fail, to repentance. That's it. That's our whole lives. God calls us to do things that we are not able to

do as a mercy

to draw us near to him. And as a mercy to draw us near to him. He uses our sufferings to reel us in. He uses our sins to call us back to him.

A

that's the point of the that's the Let's pray.