In the sermon titled 'The Wrath of God against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men,' Jason Dohm explores Deuteronomy 27:11-26, focusing on the curses pronounced upon those who violate God's laws. The sermon explains the symbolic division of the tribes of Israel between Mount Gerizim, representing blessing, and Mount Ebal, representing cursing. The Levites play a crucial role in pronouncing these curses, emphasizing the justice and judgment of God. Dohm highlights that these curses illustrate God's wrath against sin and serve as a warning to uphold His commandments. The sermon also connects these Old Testament themes with New Testament teachings, particularly the need for atonement through Jesus Christ, who diverts God's wrath from the guilty to an innocent substitute. The objective is to foster a deeper fear and love of God, understanding that the more we know God, the more we fear and love Him. The sermon concludes by urging believers to align their thoughts with God's, to recognize their need for Christ's atonement, and to diligently keep His commandments.

The sermon text for today is Deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 11 to the end of the chapter. And you'll notice through your study during the week that this text is actually a responsive reading. So that's what we're going to do today. And your cue is going to be, it's nice, and all the people shall say, and then you get to say amen. And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you have crossed over the Jordan, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

And these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Aftali. And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel, Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman and sets it up in secret, and all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Cursed is the one who treats his father and his mother with contempt, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road, and all the people shall say, Amen.

Cursed is the one who perverts the justice to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law and all the people shall say, Amen. Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, we stand before you, a condemned people, saved only by the work of Your Son. I pray that You would show us how that work accomplishes our salvation today. I pray that You would put Your hand on Jason as he brings us a message out of this text. And I pray that You would sanctify us and cleanse us. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I should have thought to count how many weeks we've been in Deuteronomy now. It's been a lot of weeks. And what a blessing it's been to be in Deuteronomy. I'll probably say this when we're coming to the end of any book, But I don't think hope Baptist will ever be the same as a result of having been in Deuteronomy. We have such a better understanding of the law of God and how it relates to everyday life of how it relates to the gospel.

Of what the heart of the matter is with all these laws. What a blessing it's been to be in Deuteronomy. Scott last week started us off in Moses' third sermon. This is his final sermon. There are only 34 chapters in Deuteronomy and we're in 27 now, so there's not too much left.

We're in the last sermon. Moses is in the last month of his life. And so this sermon begins in chapter 27 verse 1 and it will extend through chapter 31. And last week as Scott starts off this sermon, Moses is prescribing something that he'll never see with his own eyes. He's prescribing what the people are to do when they cross over the Jordan when the time finally comes when they're inheriting the promised land.

And they're to cross over the Jordan. And last week, Moses and the elders stood before the people and they started to tell them what to do when they crossed the Jordan. And the first thing that they're to do is they're to set up an altar of uncut stones. And then they're to whitewash that altar with lime. They're to put a lime covering on it so that the law of God can be clearly written on the altar.

And then they're to make a sacrifice. They're to make a burnt offering for the sins of the people. And then they're to offer a peace offering and rejoice before the Lord that the wrath of God would be turned aside to the burnt offering. And they're to rejoice that God is a merciful God and sin can be forgiven. And then the chapter ends with Moses standing with the Levites to exhort the people to remember the law, to carefully obey all of it.

And that leads us to this week. This week happens on the same day. The same day that Moses began to prescribe what the people are to do when they cross the Jordan. And now on the same day he continues this thought. And the title of the sermon comes out of Romans 1, 18, because this passage in Deuteronomy is about the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

And I just didn't want to get too crazy with the title, but the full verse of Romans 1, 18 is, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." This is what the chapter is about. We're going to see this dramatic scene with the curses being said and the people saying amen and it is about a God Who has given laws and his wrath is kindled when people would throw off those laws Dana read Psalm 2 and it does fit so well with this because it talks about the throwing off of the law of God in this kindles God's wrath. Psalm 19 is wonderful. It talks about the perfections of the law of God and there's this kind of rhythm to it where the virtues of the law of God are being extolled. And Psalm 19 says that the law of God is perfect, that it's sure, that it's right, that it's pure, that it's true and righteous altogether, that it's to be desired more than gold, that it's sweeter than honey.

And then Psalm 19 ends this way, moreover by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward." And this is also what this text is about. It is about the servants of God being warned that they would know that there is a God in heaven who keeps accounts And when his law is thrown off, his wrath is kindled. Week after week now we've been reciting the song of Moses. And part of that song that we read him this morning is, oh, that they were wise that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. Isn't God so kind to give us markers in history that would help us to consider our latter end?

This is what Deuteronomy 27, 11-26 is about. That we would hear the curses of God, that these curses would come in our ears and that we would affirm them and that we would consider our latter end. That we would know that God is wrathful towards sin. In a sense, the curses are a blessing. It's a blessing to know what God hates and He's telling us here.

We'll structure our time this way. I'll divide it into three parts. The first part is looking at what Moses is prescribing. There's certain things that he wants them to do, and he's directing them to do. So that'll be the first thing.

The second thing will be, we'll look specifically at the 12 curses, curse by curse, in order to understand them better. And then lastly, we'll draw some conclusions based on that. And we'll try to apply it as best we can. The objective of the whole time is twofold. One, that we would fear God more than we've ever feared Him.

And two, that we would love God more than we have ever loved Him. You would think that those things would go in opposite directions, that the more we feared Him, the less we loved Him, or the less we feared Him, the more we would love Him. That is not true. These things go in the same direction because the truth is the more we know God the more we fear Him and the more we know God the more of His perfections that we see and we see the beauty of God so as the fear of God rises among us the love of God will rise among us as well. Let's pray.

Oh God, how good it is to have your Word, to have a text before us that will help us to understand your wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. That we would be a people to learn to love what you love and to hate what you hate. And we would agree with you and say, you are good, God, you are right. We ask that you would use the time to help us in Jesus' name. Amen.

So we'll begin by looking at what is being prescribed by Moses. We find this in verses 11 through 14, the beginning of the text. And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse.

Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel..." And then he begins the curses, but that's not for this section, so I won't begin the curses. We'll just leave it at the colon there. Verse 11 says that Moses commands them. Most of the other translators have translated it, charged.

And it has the same meaning, but I like the translation of charged because there is a commissioning happening here for a sacred duty. Moses is with them now, but he won't be with them then. And so he's giving them a solemn commission. In a way, it's a last will and testament to say, when I leave you, when I hand over command to Joshua, this is what you're to do and it's a solemn charge. And he's not saying this for the first time.

He's introduced this concept already and he introduced it in Deuteronomy chapter 11. And he only gave them a little flavor of it then, but now he's filling it out. In Deuteronomy 11, 26-29, it says, Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 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. 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." So we only get a little snippet here in Deuteronomy 11, but Moses has introduced this to the people.

And what he's saying in Deuteronomy 11 is there's going to be two figures on the landscape which symbolize the blessing of God and the cursing of God. Now Scott spent some time in last week's sermon describing this place. He talked about Google Earth. I never could get the Google Earth thing to work, but I did find some pictures of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. They're lined up exactly with the words that you see above them.

Mount Gerizim on the left as you look at it, and Mount Ebal on the right as you look at it. And you can see that it is sort of a bowl shape. It is a natural amphitheater. In this next picture, you actually can see it even better. It's not the best, maybe not the best resolution of photograph, but you can see that there's a bowl there.

There is a natural amphitheater. And between these two mounts, you can see how close they are in proximity to each other. Between these two mounts in this narrow valley is the city of Shechem." What a rich history there is here. And we'd be remiss to talk about what the instructions were without touching on the history because these would not have been isolated instructions. In other words, when Moses begins to prescribe these things, visions of this place are going to come to mind, because this is a place that already has a rich history.

Their fathers have already been there. Their father has already bought a piece of land in the place that's being described. In Genesis 33 at the end of the chapter, Jacob has been away from home for 15 years or something like that and he's coming home. And the last time he was home, his brother was plotting to kill him. So he hears that his brother is coming with something like 400 men and he begins to send gifts out in advance.

You remember the story from Genesis 3. And then they come together, they are reconciled and Esau is actually glad to see him. And then immediately following that, Jacob settles in Canaan right here in Shechem and he buys a plot of land and he sets up an altar and he worships the Lord. This is the spot that Moses is saying that people are to come to, to separate the tribes and for the pronouncing of the curses. And then in Genesis 34, in my Bible, it has the very uninspired headings.

The heading for the chapter is just the Dinah incident. And we'll just say no more about that because you can tell from the heading that it can't be good. And so something that is not good but is not part of this sermon happens there and they have to leave town. But then in Genesis 37 you see them right back there again. They're feeding their sheep in Shechem.

Not only does it have a past, it has a future. When the people cross over, when we get to Joshua 24, we'll find out that the bones of Joseph are going to be buried here on the plot of land that Jacob had bought almost 500 years earlier. Isn't that amazing? Joseph saw out into the future that the people of God would leave Egypt someday and He commanded them that they would take His bones with them. And somebody's been lugging around this man's bones for all this time.

And now they're going to be buried in this plot of land in Shechem between the Mount of Blessing and the Mount of Cursing. And then in Joshua 21, we'll find out that Shechem, between these two mounts, is designated as a city of refuge. Isn't that rich with symbolism? And it will also be a Levitical city. So they're going to come and they're going to do what's prescribed here today and the Levites are going to be pronouncing the curses and then some of them are going to actually live here.

This is going to be the city where they'll continue to dwell. What a rich history. Ancient historians record that Mount Gerizim, because of how its position, is a place that's lush. It has vineyards on it, it has orchards on it, it has green slopes on it, and it's because of the afternoon sun, because of where the mount is, it shades itself from the afternoon heat. And so all sorts of things can grow there.

Now the climate has changed a lot, you can't really see it in this picture, but the ancient historians record it this way, that Mount Gerizim was lush and full of vineyards and orchards, but Mount Ebal had the afternoon sun beating on it every day, no shade, and so it's this barren lifeless rock. So you see the picture. The tribes are split and there's a Mount of Cursing and these tribes are on a barren, lifeless rock. And then there's a Mount of blessing and there are six tribes on it and it has green slopes and it has vineyards and it has orchards on it and so there's a physical representation of what actually is being pronounced. So There are three things that happen in what Moses is prescribing.

First, there's the dividing of the people. There's 12 tribes and they divide them up into six and six. Secondly, there's pronouncements by the Levites, the curses. And then lastly, there's an affirmation of the people. So we'll just talk briefly about each one of those three things.

First, there's a dividing of the people. Six tribes on Gerizim, six tribes on Ebal. And this is not random. It's not every other tribe or anything like that. What we'll find is that all of the tribes on Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing, are sons of the free women.

Jacob had two wives, Rachel and Leah, both free women who he married. And so all the tribes on Gerizin are sons of them. And then we'll find out that the Mount of Cursing, Ebal, that Jacob also had two other wives. And they were servants of the wives that were free women. So Leah and Rachel each had a maid servant that also ended up being given to him as wives, but they were not free women, they were bond women.

And This takes us to the book of Galatians where Paul begins to explain what that's all about. About there being two mountains. A mountain that represents the free woman and a mountain that represents the bond woman. And that it represents the fact that not all Israel is Israel. That there are sons of the free woman and there are sons of the bond woman and that they are very different in character.

And it's interesting, there are two sons of the free women who end up on the Mount of Cursing. One of them I can explain because he went up to his father's dead, and he disgraced and dishonored his father. And this will actually be one of the curses that is pronounced here today. And so we know why he is. And then there's another son of Leah, Zebulon, that ends up on the Mount of Cursing, and I have no idea why he's there.

But he is. And I'm not overly troubled by it because the pattern is very clear. Galatians 4.31 says this, So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. So even here in Deuteronomy 27, there's a picture of the children of the bondwoman and the picture of the free woman, and one being tied to the blessing and one being tied to the cursing.

Not all Israel is Israel, all six tribes, sons of Jacob, but not all will be blessed, some will be cursed. Some are sons of the bondwoman and some are sons of the free. So the first, there's a dividing of the people. And which tribes go where is very significant. Second, there's the pronouncements by the Levites, and it's the twelve curses.

At the end of his life, one chapter from the end of Deuteronomy, this scene happens where Moses prophetically speaks over each tribe. And In Deuteronomy 33, 10, Moses says of Levi, the tribe of Levi, they shall teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your law. They, the tribe of Levi, shall teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your law. So when we fast forward to Nehemiah, and the people of God are returning from their captivity, and they gather together for the reading of the law, who do you find next to Ezra who's reading the law, you find the Levites. And they're holding forth, helping the people to understand the sense of what the law is about.

This is what Levites do. And this is what we see them doing in this passage. The Levites have been set aside so that the people of God would have a sense of what the law is about. There would be people who are set aside to teach them what the law of God means and the significance of it, and to exhort them to obey it. This is what Levites do.

And Matthew Henry can't resist the opportunity to bring that forward today and talk about the significance of the Levites being set aside to teach people the law of God and them being directed to pronounce the curses here in Deuteronomy 27. Here's what Matthew Henry says. He's speaking of the Levites. But they must separate between the precious and the vile. They must not give that blessing promiscuously, but must declare to whom it did not belong, lest those who had no right to it themselves should think to share in it by being in the crowd." In other words, you're all Israel, so you all think you're blessed.

No, it was the Levites' job to say, no, that is not true. Some will be blessed, but some will be cursed. Continuing in the Matthew Henry quote, note, ministers must preach the terrors of the law as well as the comforts of the Gospel. Must not only allure people to their duty with the promises of blessing, but awe them to it with the threatenings of a curse." And this is a pattern so clearly given to us by Moses in Deuteronomy 11, and it carries forward today. Ministers of today should not only and always speak of the blessings of God, but they should also always bring the weight and condemnation of the law so that people will feel a need in their souls to be free from the condemnation of it.

So first there was a dividing of the people, second there were the pronouncements by the Levites, and thirdly there's an affirmation of the people. When each curse is pronounced, then all the people shall say, Amen, or as other translations render it, so be it. And it's to demonstrate that they understand and that they agree with what's being said. It's expressing their willingness to accept the justice and judgment of God, that all of our own thoughts would be submitted to His thoughts, that all of our own ways would be submitted to His ways, that we would say, God, You are right. This is what was required.

So now we'll look at the 12 Curses. We've looked at what's prescribed, Now we'll look at the 12 Curses. And I want to begin with several general observations, just about things that you notice when you read them. I have been living this passage for the last week or week and a half. I have been eating, sleeping, drinking, whatever in this passage.

And the more you read it, there are some things that just you see over and over again. And you begin to see themes and patterns emerge. And so I just want to comment on some of those. First, all this is very well established in the law. In other words, the curses being uttered here are for violations of laws that are clearly and repeatedly established in the Pentateuch.

We're right here at the end of the Pentateuch. And so these laws, you'll see them in Genesis, you'll see them in Exodus, you'll see them in Leviticus, you'll see them in Numbers. The people of God have seen these laws. And so to pronounce a cursing on the violation of them since they've been so clearly articulated and so repeatedly said would not be a surprise to these people. Across these 12 different curses, I ended up chasing down 56 different cross references.

And most of them were earlier in the Pentateuch. And so as we go through them one by one, I'm just going to take one cross reference for each one. It's the one I picked that I thought gives the sense. But I want you to know that there's a rich history behind every one of these curses, That there's repetition, that there's clarity about the law that is violated when a curse is given. Secondly, in the last curse, in the last verse of this chapter, we learn that they're representative.

It's not intended to be a comprehensive list of the things that God curses. As if, if it's not on the list, God would never curse anything else. Because when we get to the last one, we find that cursed is He who does not confirm everything that is in the law by doing them. And so, we think we're doing okay until we get to the last one, and then there's this catch-all one that lets us know that the curses are representative and not comprehensive. Next, Many, most of these are things done in secret.

Almost all of these are things normally when they're done, are done in secret. And God is saying that there is a day of reckoning, even if it's never caught by any other soul, even if it's never known by anyone else, even if you think that you have gotten away with it, with the murder or with the dishonor or with the stealing or with the sexual immorality. That if no one ever catches you, lest we would think that the day will never come, we would know that these things are cursed. Almost all of these are things to be done in secret, almost always. Next, many of these, 8 out of the 12, required the death penalty.

If it could be proven through witnesses that you had actually done this, actually violated the commandment in question, eight of the 12 required the civil magistrate to put you to death, at least in some instances. And here's what I mean by that qualification. There's one in here for dishonoring your parents. Well, there's different levels of that. And not all of them required the death penalty, but some of them required the death penalty.

And so in eight of the 12 instances, the death penalty could be a requirement of the civil magistrate. Next. We should not read these without contemplating the spiritual nature of the law. When Jesus starts to preach on the law, He goes right to the heart of the matter. He goes right to the spiritual nature of it.

And He explodes our little skinning down of the definitions that we would do to make ourselves righteous. Our lowering of the bar so we can say that we've cleared it. We've gotten over the bar. And so when we read these, we shouldn't read them in only their literal, technical, physical ways, but we should think about how Jesus used the commandments, how He thought about the commandments, how He thought that murder wasn't just striking down your neighbor with a club, but that it was hating him in your heart. How He thought that adultery wasn't just a physical act done behind closed doors, but it was lusting just in your mind.

And so, as we go through these curses, we should think about how Jesus expands the law from our tendency to narrow it down to something very technical, something very physical only. Next, these curses are a law. Not a law as in I'm telling you to do something, I'm requiring something of you, but a law like gravity. Cursed is the one who. Cursed is the one who.

This is a public acknowledgement of the reality. These things aren't cursed because tribes are saying amen to it, or that ministers are saying it. They're cursed because God stands behind it, because it is His law and He certifies His law and He needs agreement from no one else. It's a law like when you drop a rock, it goes towards the ground every time and always fast. Cursed is the one who.

Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess. On both mountains they will say amen. And every mouth will be stopped. And Every person will be guilty before God. Cursed is the one who.

And my last comment before we start looking at the curses one by one is that there's no attempt here to preach twelve topical sermons where we bottom out and we totally nuance every one of these curses and what's at the foundation of them. We could do that. There's a number of different ways you can do this. And that would be one of them, but it would take 12 weeks. So let's not.

Curse number one, verse 15. Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord. The work of the hands of the craftsman and sets it up in secret. Just as the Ten Commandments begin with the worship of God, so do the curses. This is the second commandment making an image and the second commandment is just join hand to hand with the first commandment.

There's no separating those two. And it has to do with the fact that the worship of God is paramount. There's no point in giving attention to anything else until we have attended to the right worship of God. And there is no right worship of God without a right understanding of God. And there is no right understanding of God if we're to make things physical representations and say God is like that.

It is a perversion. It is a twisting of what God is like. And we'll never think rightly about God. And we'll never worship God in a right way consequently unless we get rid of those images. God has given us words.

He's told us what we're like, and we are to trust them. Psalm 115 says this. I think it says this. Where did I miss that? Here it is.

Psalm 115. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes they have but they do not see. They have ears but they do not hear.

Noses they have but they do not smell. They have hands but they do not handle. Feet they have but they do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them.

The quickest way to have eyes but not see, to have ears but not hear, is to make something and say, God is like that. You will be like that. You will be like the idol that you made with eyes that don't see and ears that don't hear, if you make one or if you trust in it. To distort who God is through inventing some image, even if you think it has been done in secret, is to bring a curse on yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, I'm only going to let you sleep this one time.

The rest of the times, you're not off the hook. I expect attention. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Curse number two, verse 16. See, Jonathan primed you for this.

I'm so disappointed. Curse number two, Verse 16. Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt. Here we have exactly the opposite of the fifth commandment, to honor your father and your mother. In Ephesians 6-2, Paul quotes the fifth commandment, honor your father and your mother.

And then he says, it's the first command with a promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long in the land. And so the fifth commandment says, honor your father and your mother and I'll bless you. It'll be well with you. You'll live long in the land." But the curse in verse 16 says, if you dishonor your mother and your father, then you are cursed. The King James Version has an interesting translation and a very different sense of it.

Again, the New King James says, who treats his father or mother with contempt. Very strong wording. The King James is different. It says, seteth light by. Seteth light by.

In other words, you treat your father and your mother lightly. Sure, mom, whatever. Whereas in one translation you get this heavy duty contempt, dishonor, and the King James, which is a very legitimate rendering, it is to set a light by. Something much easier to do in secret, in the privacy of your own heart. And I want to quote Ezekiel 22, and I'm going to quote Ezekiel 22 a couple of times because it talks about a people who are going to be cursed.

It talks about a people who are going to be cursed. It talks about a people who are going to be judged by God and cursed. Ezekiel 22 says this about the princes of Israel. Look, the princes of Israel. Each one has used his power to shed blood in you.

In you they have made light of father and mother. In your midst they have oppressed the stranger. In you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow." I actually count three things in this one verse that are cursed in Deuteronomy 27, but the one to make mention of now is that this is one of the things that is bringing judgment on the people of God in Ezekiel 22, that they have made light of father and mother. And this is what's being addressed in this second verse. To treat your father and mother with contempt, to dishonor them and make light of them in your heart is to bring a curse on yourself.

And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Curse number three in verse 17. Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark. This is Clearly a violation of the eighth commandment. This is stealing.

There's a boundary marker that says where your property ends and your neighbor's property begins. And, ostensibly under the cover of darkness, I wouldn't be doing this in daylight, you move it over two feet and you annex another strip of his property. It's premeditated and it's obviously done in secrecy. And there are all manner of Cross references that tell you the same thing. Don't do this.

I thought, well, I'm not picking the ones that say don't do this. That's obvious. There's another one that I think gets at it from a different angle, but it's important to reference because I think it gets to the heart of what God is cursing here. It's in Proverbs 3.29, which says, Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake. He dwells by you for safety's sake.

The NIV says, he lives trustfully near you. And so here we're getting dangerously close to the golden rule. Would you want your neighbor moving your boundary mark two feet into your property? Here you have a neighbor. He's living trustfully near you.

He dwells by you for safety's sake. He has every reason to believe that both of you are acting in good faith and that it's a good thing to be your neighbor. And yet, under the cloak of darkness, you go and take a two-foot strip of His property. And then keep in mind, Jesus' broad definition of neighbor in Luke 10. That your neighbor is not just someone that you share a property line with, and this becomes a very expansive commandment and a very expansive curse.

To betray the confidence of your neighbor and take advantage of his good opinion of you is to bring a curse on yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. The fourth curse, verse 18. Curse is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road. Look at how active that is.

Curse is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road. Look at how active that is. Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off of the road. Our cross-reference for this is in Leviticus 19. You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God.

I am the Lord. When you curse the deaf, it's advantage you. He can't hear. What is he to make of it? Now, some of them are fantastic lip readers, so I think You're going to want to do this at an odd angle, but when you curse the deaf, you're capitalizing, you're exploiting his greatest weakness.

And when you put a stumbling block before the blind, it's advantage you. You're taking His greatest weakness and exploiting Him. To abuse the weak, to take advantage of their defenseless state is to bring a curse on yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. The fifth curse, verse 19.

Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, the widow. This is similar to making the blind wander off the road in that it exploits the powerless. Foreigners and widows and the fatherless have no recourse. They're defenseless in the same sense that a blind man on the road might be defenseless. In Deuteronomy 10, 18 and 19, God is being spoken of and it says this, He administers justice for the fathers and the widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.

Therefore, love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." And there's two foundations for this principle. One is you used to be in that state. Don't Forget it. You used to be that way when you were in Egypt. Don't forget what it was like to be in that state.

And two, God says, I'm not like that. God says, I administer justice for the fatherless and the widow. And I love the stranger. And think back to the title of the sermon, the wrath of God against ungodliness. Ungodliness means just that.

Ungodliness. Not like God. And the character of God is the basis for the commandments. That's why we have the commandments. That's why they are what they are because God says, here is what I'm like.

Act this way. And so to withhold what is due to the stranger and the widow and the fatherless is to be completely unlike God. And that's why we must not do it. We are to be holy as God is holy. In God's economy, justice is due the foreigner, the fatherless, the widow.

We're not doing them a favor. It is due to them. The fatherless and the widow and the foreigner have a right to justice, and we are not to deprive them of it. To pervert that and twist things so that they don't get the justice that they are due is to bring a curse on yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

Curses 6 through 9, these four, I'm going to, we're going to take them together. So we'll be looking at verses 20, 21, 22, and 23. Cursed is the one who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered his father's bed. Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal, who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother who lies with his mother-in-law. So verses 20-23 describe four very specific instances of sexual sin.

It's intercourse with a mother or a stepmother, with any kind of animal, with a sister or a step-sister, or with a mother-in-law. And we should just stop here and observe what it must have been to be a rubenite on Mount Ebal, the Mount of Cursing, where almost without, with one exception, all of your other natural brothers are over on the Mount of Blessing. And here you are on Mount Ebal, and the Levites are saying, cursed is the one who lies with his father's wife, and you just have to assent to the equity of it, to the righteousness of it, to the goodness of it, and say, amen, even though you know that's why you're on the Mount of cursing. Reuben did exactly that, and he was cursed by God for it. And these are instances of sexual misconduct that are particularly shameful.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 5.1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife. Now Corinth was not Rollsville. Corinth was known to be licentious, to be in anything goes culture and yet Paul when he's writing to them about this sin in the church says It has been reported that things that the Gentiles won't even talk about or do are happening among you. In Ephesians 5-12, Paul says, for it is shameful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

It's shameful even to speak of them. I think it was Dan on Tuesday morning who said, you have already run a lot of stop signs by the time you get here. Think of the stop signs you've already run past by the time you get to these very, very shameful sexual sins. Leviticus 18 is a chapter just devoted to all these things. It defines, Leviticus 18 defines sexual adeniency.

And towards the end of it, these two things are said, first in verse 25, for the land is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it. And the land vomits out its inhabitants. And then in verse 28, just a few verses later, lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. So this is a chapter devoted to sexual deviancy. All the things that we see in these four curses are specifically defined in Leviticus 18.

And then At the end of Leviticus 17, it said, this is the reason that the land is vomiting out the people you're displacing. Don't think that I won't displace you for the same thing. And God is saying this so clearly in Deuteronomy 27. And we have to ask about all these curses. Why are these things singled out?

Why did these things make the list and other things didn't make the list? I believe this is the primary answer to that question. God is telling the Israelites, on the day that they move into the land that He has promised to their forefathers, what will cause them to be vomited out of the land so that they'll be careful, so that they'll be thoughtful, so that they'll pay attention to sins that will cause the people to be vomited out by the land, that will defile the land. To cast off the government of God to such an extent that it's shameful even to speak of the things which are done in secret, is to bring a curse upon yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

The tenth curse, verse 24. Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly. And in looking at the different translations, I think this is probably the term, attacks is probably the term that had the most translational diversity. The King James and the Geneva say smiteth, the NASB and the ESV says strikes, and the Holman Christian Standard and the NIV says kills. But whatever case, the thing that is in view is the sixth commandment, the prohibition of murder.

So whether you just attack them and you don't get all the way to murder is really beside the point. It is the point that you're looking to harm your neighbor and you're doing it in secret. Psalm 10 is a psalm that is devoted to talking about the wicked. And here's one of the things it says about the wicked. He sits in the lurking places of the village.

This is speaking of the wicked. In the secret place, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly as a lion in the den. He lies in wait to catch the poor.

He catches the poor when he draws him into his net. To bide Your time and wait for the perfect opportunity to attack your neighbor undiscovered is to bring a curse on yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. The eleventh curse, verse 25. Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.

Back to Ezekiel 22 that we've already quoted, but again, it's Ezekiel speaking of a people who are getting ready to be judged. And here's what Ezekiel 22, 12 says. It's talking about Jerusalem. And earlier in the chapter, it's already called Jerusalem, the bloody city. Jerusalem, the capital of the city of God, has slipped so far that they have earned the title, the Bloody City.

In you, they take bribes to shed blood. In you, they take bribes to shed blood. You take usury and increase. You have made profit from your neighbor's extortion and have forgotten Me, says the Lord. A people who will take a bribe to shed blood are a people who have forgotten their God.

And the commentators take this particular curse way outside the bounds of simple murder for hire. And they do that because of Judas Iscariot. Has there ever been a clearer case when anyone accepted a bribe for the murder of another than Judas Iscariot? So to take a bribe to murder the innocent is to bring a curse upon yourself and all the people shall answer and say, Amen. The last curse, verse 26.

Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them. I know in some of your Bibles it doesn't have the phrase by observing them. Even among people who have New King James versions, we found this in men's Bible study. Some have it, some don't have it. I want to say the King James has it, the Geneva has it, the ESV has it, the Home of Christian Standard has it, the NIV has it.

Only a few of our New King James versions doesn't have it. And when Paul quotes it in Galatians 3.10, it has it. So your Bible should have it. The right rendering of this is cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them. And we're going to go to Galatians 3.10 where Paul quotes this.

And in Galatians 3.10, the argument that Paul is making is that if you are of the law, then what is required is full and perfect obedience from the time you're born till the time you die to observe the law. And he's contrasting that with being of faith. And in the next chapter he's going to talk about being either a son of the free woman or the son of the bond one. So you see how Galatians 3 and 4 are so intimately tied with our text in Deuteronomy. Paul says this in Galatians 3, 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." And he was quoting translations that were available to him in his time. This is quite a dilemma. This last one is a dilemma. There were probably many there that believed they were not in jeopardy through the first 11 curses.

Isn't this wonderful? Here we are. We all belong on Mount Gerizim. Here we are. We're the people of blessing.

Eleven curses and we are unscathed. And then along comes the twelfth curse, and the rich young ruler from Luke 18, who has heard the commandments and said, all these things I have kept from my youth. All of a sudden, along comes the twelfth curse and lays him low. And now we understand that we don't all belong on Mount Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing. We all belong on the other mount, the mount of cursing.

Because who can say rightly that they match up with this standard confirming all the words of this law by doing them? Who can stand when that's the criteria? So now we have a people, some of which have been symbolically put on the Mount of Blessing, but now understanding that they don't belong on that mountain, what is to be done? Well, they've already done it. They did it in verse 6.

When they took the innocent and they cut his throat, and as his blood ran out and His life ebbed away. They put it on the altar and they burn it up as a symbol that God's wrath would be poured out against sin. But an innocent substitute could be put in place of the guilty. We have this picture of the burnt offering, the smoke rising up, and the offering being completely consumed. It's the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

And friends, just because there's an atonement, just because there's an innocent who will die for the guilty does not mean that there's not a curse. It's exactly what it does mean, that there is a curse, that the wrath of God must find its home, that the wrath of God for sin must be poured out, but that it can be diverted from the rightful owner of it, and it can be turned aside to an innocent substitute. Hebrews makes it so clear. The blood of bulls and goats never atoned for one sin. Never.

They were to do it, But it was always and only and ever symbolic, pointing forward to a time where one sacrifice would be made for all. And Jesus Christ, the blemishless, spotless lamb, would lay down His life for many. Failure to perfectly obey every one of the commands of God all your life long is to bring a curse upon yourself. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Paul at the end of Romans 7 says this, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we've talked about what was prescribed. We've talked about what was pronounced by the Levites, and now we'll make some conclusions and applications. So the first is, this is what people should do.

We should agree with God. The people of God must put away their own thoughts in their own ways and learn to love what God loves and to hate what He hates. And I think we're doing that in a small degree, but I feel it happening in my soul in Deuteronomy. That my thoughts are being pushed aside and my ways are being trampled on in some instances, but I'm learning to love what God loves and I'm learning to hate what He hates. May God multiply the effect a thousand times among us.

So that when God says, I hate this, cursed is the one who does this, that we would be the first to stand up and say, amen, so be it. When I'm thinking about these twelve curses, the place where those things are really curses, considered to be curses among the people, it is a good place to live. This is where you want to raise your family, isn't it? And the converse is true. Think about the places where these twelve things are no longer considered to be a curse.

And in many ways, it is our own land. But we can think of lands that are further down that curve than ourselves. Go to a border town in Mexico where these drug wars are raging. And life is meaningless. And you can go there having no connection to it, but just having an association at a wedding and be slaughtered there.

Because there's no law, because the taking of innocent life is no longer considered to be a curse. We want to live in a land where there is a distinction between what is cursed and what is blessed, and where there is a clear articulation of it. What a blessing it is that God would take this as His people enter the promised land, and He would make a division so that people would know some things are cursed and some things are blessed. And it's for the blessing of all. Number two, recognize that this is the Gospel.

We all want so badly in our hearts of hearts, in our heart of hearts, to believe that Mount Gerizim is for us. All these things we've kept from our youth, and now all that awaits us is the blessing. But the truth of the matter is when we look intently at the law of God, and we see what manner of man that we are, we know, we know, that that thought must be overthrown. We must know that we are destined for Mount Ebal, for the Mount of Cursing, for the barren, rocky slopes of Mount Ebal, not for the green slopes and the vineyards and the orchards of Mount Gerizim. That our sin has made it impossible for us to be on the green slopes.

And to feel the weight of the condemnation of the law so that we will look for a remedy. God is so kind to do this for His people that He would heap up the condemnation of the law, that He would tear down our pride and our self-righteousness and make us see that we are due a curse so that we could find refuge in Christ. Number three, and lastly, Fear God and keep His commandments. Fear Him and keep His commandments. Just because there is an atonement for sin does not mean that the law of sowing and reaping has been universally repealed.

Did you hear? Now luckily, I have three shots at this. Scott's going to preach on blessings next week, and then I'm coming back two weeks after that to take up the mantle of curses again. We're going to speak about that. But just because there's an atonement, just because Christ has died for the ungodly and our sins can be forgiven, does not mean that the law of sowing and reaping has been universally revoked.

We should fear God. We should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Ecclesiastes, the book of wisdom, the last words of this book, where Solomon has seen it all, He says this, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil. So I have a homework assignment for heads of households And your homework assignment is Matthew 24, starting in verse 45, and then going through all of chapter 25.

When, now that we've studied the curses of Deuteronomy 27 in detail, go and look at these four parables of Jesus at the end of Matthew 24, extending all the way through Matthew 25, and you'll see Jesus was preaching, He was expositing Deuteronomy 27. I almost spent the whole sermon time just looking at these four parables because they talk about what the heart of the matter is in the curses. And I'll give you a whirlwind tour of these four parables. There's the faithful and wise servant. And he's contrasted with the evil servant.

And the faithful and wise servant is blessed. He is given command over all his master's goods. But the evil servant who begins to wonder if his master will ever come back and beats his fellow servant and begins to eat and drink with the drunkards, is cut in two and is appointed a portion with the hypocrites where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. You have one servant who is blessed. You have another servant who is cursed.

The second parable is of the ten virgins. Five wise virgins who have their oil. Five foolish virgins who have none and they slumber because the bridegroom is delayed. But he comes in the middle of the night and the ones that have oil are ready. And the ones that don't have oil scramble off into the darkness to go and buy some, but it's too late.

The wise virgins are brought into the wedding feast, and the foolish virgins, the door is shut. And when they knock and say, let us in, the voice from the other side of the door says, I never knew you. I don't know who you are. The third parable is the parable of the talents. Three servants all giving resources to Stuart.

The first two double what they've been given and the last one buries his in a hole. And the first are met with the pronouncement, well done, good, and faithful servant. Enter the joy of your master, and the One who did nothing with what had been entrusted to him, this is said of him, Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is a servant blessed and a servant cursed. And then finally, And most cuttingly, there are the sheep and the goats.

Where at the end of time, there will be a great judgment, and finally, the wheat will be separated from the tares all along. They've been allowed to grow together. But at the final, there will be a great separation, just like what we see in Deuteronomy 27. There will be a Mount Gerizim. There will be a Mount Ebal.

And the sheep, it will be said, Come, you blessed of my Father. Come, you blessed of my Father. Come, you blessed of my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and to the goats it will be said, depart from me, you cursed. Depart from me, you cursed.

Into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What could Jesus have been thinking of as he said these parables? As He pronounced the blessing on one group and the cursing on another. Let's pray. Father, Father, You have said it would be so, that there would be two kingdoms, that there would be two mounts, that there would be two roads, a wide one and a narrow one, that there would be children of the free woman and children of the bondwoman.

You said this in so many ways, help us to consider our latter end, Lord. Help us to consider our latter end. Thank you, God, that you put roadblocks in the way to make us to stop and consider to help us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Oh God, who among us in our own working has ever done anything but deserve to be cursed, to be on the barren rocky slopes of Mount Ebal? And yet God, you have set up an altar of uncut stones, and you have taken an innocent one, and you have poured out his blood.

That the innocent could die for the guilty. Oh God, I pray that we would take that blood upon ourselves. That you would take us onto the grassy slopes with the vineyards, with the orchards, and that You would bless us. You would forgive our sins, for they are many. They are things that we cannot even speak of.

Oh God, thank you for your mercy, even in showing us what you hate and what you curse. How kind it is that you would reveal these things to us. We ask these things, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.