In the sermon 'Holy Living in an Ungodly World', Scott Brown discusses Deuteronomy 7:1-12, emphasizing how Moses instructs the Israelites on living a holy life amidst pagan nations. The sermon highlights five key points: the need to destroy pagan influences, the affirmation of God's mighty hand, the acknowledgment of challenges, an appeal for holiness, and the assurance of God's blessings. Brown explains the interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, noting how God directs and assists His people. He warns against the dangers of tolerating pagan gods, forming covenants with pagans, and intermarriage with non-believers. Brown also draws parallels between Old Testament commands and New Testament teachings on idolatry, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a distinct identity as God's chosen people and relying on God's strength and faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 7, verses 1-12 When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Parasites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.

For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods, so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall deal with them. You shall destroy their altars and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of Bonvish, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments, and he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today to observe them. Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments and keep them and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers." In the words that have just been read, we're witnesses to an act of grace from God toward His people. God extends many acts of kindness and mercy toward his people and in this scene that has just the words of which have just been read, Moses is 120 years old. He's in the last month of his life. In some short number of days, he'll be dead.

And he's on the east side of the Jordan River. And he's speaking to the children of Israel. Deuteronomy is a collection of three sermons. The first sermon or speech extends from chapter one to the end of chapter four. And we are now in the second speech.

So when you read Deuteronomy 7, you have to sort of get your head out of the clouds for a moment and think, this is a speech hundreds, thousands of people are gathered. And it's a very dramatic moment. But if it is anything, it's at least this. It's an act of mercy toward a pilgrim people to help them know how they might live. And this chapter here, this small portion of the speech that we've just taken a slice out of, as we're just working our way through the speech, gives us a significant number of principles to guide a chosen people in a pagan world.

And Moses is warning the children of Israel of their greatest danger, friendship with the world. And in doing so, he sets forth a number of expectations that they need to understand. I'd like to give you sort of a summary bird's eye flyover of these 11 verses in five statements. All of them begin with the letter A. He announces instructions for the ban and there are instructions for the destruction of paganism and details for what to do in the Promised Land.

Number two, he affirms the presence of the mighty hand of God. Moses is comforting the people by saying that God will take them by the hand and He will do their work for them. And then thirdly, He acknowledges the odds and the fear factor. And He reminds us that There are, and I would just suggest there always will be seven nations greater than you in anything that you attempt for God. And then four, he appeals for the holiness of the people.

And fifth, he assures his blessing. And so after listing these things that the children of Israel should do, Moses does what he does dozens and dozens, and that's not an exaggeration of times. He reminds of the blessings that there are in following God, in keeping all of his statutes and his commandments. And he ends with the same heart appeal that we find in 529. Oh that they had such a heart in them that they might fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

So that's kind of the flyover view of this text. But we're seeking here in this text what you should do during your stay here on the earth while you are living in a pagan land, because that is the subject of Deuteronomy chapter 7. And if you have an outline before you, maybe you could just look at it and I'll show you where we're going and the progress of the teaching here this morning. There are three things that I want us to camp on and sink into. First, the responsibility, that's verses 1 through 5, duties in a pagan land.

Secondly, identity, a holy people in a pagan land, verses 6 through 8. And then thirdly, strength, a faithful God with an obedient people in a pagan land, verses 9 through 11. So chapter 7 continues the discussion. It's not an isolation. It's not a separate teaching.

It's part of a whole. And Moses picks up on the idea that he really ended chapter 6 with in 6-9 where he says, therefore know that the Lord your God, he is a faithful God. I'm sorry, in chapter 6.18, and you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your fathers to cast out all your enemies from before you as the Lord has spoken." So he's picking up that idea that he presented in 618 and is now expanding upon it. We find God's teachers doing this. They'll give a short sense of something, and then they'll expand on it and sort of explode its wider context.

And that's what Moses is doing here. He's taking off on what he has introduced near the end of chapter 6. And the first principle that we run into is the principle of responsibility in verses one through five. And in giving them responsibilities, duties in the land, he's really governing their expectations of what they should do and what they're going to run into. God is kind to do that in that he tells us what we will be facing.

The trials, the temptations, the difficulties are all outlined in Scripture. There's nothing new under the sun. There's no temptation that's common to man. And so here we're finding a gift again for helping us to know what we will face and what we must do in a pagan land. So the words, When the Lord your God brings you into the land introduces this principle.

Now first, we should notice that there's a promise right at the beginning. There's a promise of divine sovereignty. He says, when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you possess, it's the Lord your God that's bringing you in. God is doing this. This is not some great idea that Moses had.

This is something that God is doing. God is bringing his people into the land. Here we find this beautiful principle, that it is God who governs where we live and move and have our being. He governs our habitations. He alone causes us to live in the cities in which we live.

We might think it was some part of some beautiful great strategic plan to plant ourselves in the perfect place in America, but that's not so. You are where you are because God, by His sovereign hand, has brought you here. And then we come into a promise of deliverance. There's tremendous encouragement right on the front end of this text. There's a promise of deliverance in verses one and two.

He says, when you go in, and he has cast out many nations before you. Who's doing the casting out? God is doing the casting out. God is doing these things. And yes, he does use their swords.

But it is God who is actually doing it. We'll get to that in a little deeper level in a moment. But God is doing the casting out. God is bringing them into the land. And then He is leading them into the victories that He has ordained for them.

He brings them there just as He has brought you where you are today. And He keeps them there just as He is keeping you where you are today. And then He helps them there just in the same way that God Almighty in His great, kind heart that loves His people, He helps you there, as He helped His people there. Of course, God is the most important personality in every story, as he is in this story here. He says here that he will cast out seven nations mightier than you.

The term cast out is an interesting term that Moses chooses to speak of this reality, Moses uses a word that pictures the loosening of a sandal and then setting it free from the foot. Just as you would set your, unloosen your sandal and throw it, throw it from you. This is the term that he uses. And he, in beginning his explanation of their responsibilities, He's telling them something very important that all of God's people really need to understand. He's communicating to them that they have a force, they have a divine blessing that attends all of their activities, that they have a strategic edge that no one else in the whole world has.

And as they are going through these threatening situations, They need to realize that there's a strength greater than they have in themselves. But they are a chosen people for God's own possession who have the care of Almighty God. I pray even right now as we're together in this room that you would sense this for your own life, that you would know that it's God who formed you together in your mother's womb. He named your birth date, and He brought you into the world. And He caused you to be born in a pagan land.

And what do you have in this pagan land? You have God. You have this tender shepherd who walks with you and he talks with you and he tells you that you are his own and he carries you in your heavenly journey and that's what he's announcing here In the midst of all the responsibilities, don't forget that there is this great and mighty God who casts out the people and gives a strategic edge. In verse 2, he says, and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you. We learn again who is doing the work.

This is God. No one should ever, no believer should ever languish with the idea that there's no help in this world for them. But they should glory that there is a God in heaven. And He super intends all things. He controls every synapse of every brain in the world.

Are you worried that you may never get married? God controls the synapse of every brain in the world. Are you worried that somehow some evil person will destroy you through their machinations, their evil thoughts to take advantage of you? Don't forget, God controls every synapse of every brain in the world. Are you worried that someone's favor might not come to you?

Don't worry, God controls every synapse of every brain in the world. Are you worried that someone's favor might not come to you? Don't worry. God controls every synapse of every brain in the world. That's what Moses is communicating to his people before he gives them responsibility.

Isn't it marvelous the way that God works? He comes and He declares His great, loving kindness, His help toward us. And then He says, now go do the work. And that's what we find here. God is doing the work.

And yes, there always have been seven nations greater than you. You look at your culture, you think how horrible it is. You think how cruel, how terrible, how threatening the times are. There are seven nations greater than us. How will we do our work?

Just like God's people always have. One day at a time, obeying God in your house and teaching your children when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, continuing to obey Almighty God in all that you do. That's how you get through it. And so after giving all these blessings, he comes in with a command, you shall conquer them. After saying, I'm going to conquer them, he says, you shall conquer them.

Isn't that wild? That's contradictory. No, it's not contradictory at all. It's exactly how God works. Here in this text, you find this beautiful interplay of the sovereignty of God and the will of man mixing and working together for the glory of God.

And so he says, you shall conquer them. Do you see that? Keep your finger in the text here. And you shall utterly destroy them. Now, this is what is commonly known as the ban, the destruction of paganism in the land.

And Moses uses a word here for destroy that is different than the words for killing that we've encountered earlier in the book of Deuteronomy. The word of the Ten Commandments for kill, thou shalt not kill, is the word Ratsakh, which implies personal loathing or a neglect that leads to the death of another human being. It has to do with revenge and an unlawful destruction of human life. Because there are lawful ways to destroy human life in war or in capital punishment. So in the Ten Commandments he uses this word, Ratsakh, but here he uses a different word, Sharam, which means to devote to destruction.

There is no evil in it in its context here, but it is a lawful destruction, commanded by God, of paganism in the land. He says, You shall show no mercy to them. You know, one of the great challenges that we have in living in a pagan land is because the people in that pagan land are made in the image of God. They all have the marks of the glory of God upon them. They're nice people.

They're some of the most wonderful people you'll ever meet. And yet, they're pagans. And in our compassion for them, because we see the goodness of God upon them, because we see the marks of His image in them, and the winsomeness and the laughter, and the things that we can all relate with, we are duped by our heart of mercy. And we begin to have mercy toward paganism. Because they're so nice, paganism must not be so bad.

That's what happens to us in a pagan land. It's so glitzy. It's so glittery and winsome and happy. And think of the way that the great sins of the world are presented in our media outlets through just such beautiful colors and textures and tastes. And this is what happens to us.

And so we would make friends with those who hate God. We would say, well, it's not that bad. When in actuality, it is paganism. And this is a great challenge and attention that all of us face as we're born into these pagan nations, that we would would have mercy, we would show mercy when we ought to name it for what it is, a work of the devil. And so here we find this principle that we find all over Scripture.

We will encounter this many, many times in the book of Deuteronomy. And we will sink into each of the contexts and try to understand what Moses is saying in them. We also see this principle in the New Testament as well. We find tolerance for sin in the church in Corinth. And the Apostle Paul gives directions for what to do about that, to remove the leaven.

And then he speaks of church discipline, of casting out these things as you would unloosen a sandal and cast them out from your midst. These are the laws of holiness. We know that the law is spiritual. It is physical, but it is spiritual. Here's something that You can be confident in applying this principle of the ban.

You can be confident that when there is spiritual idolatry and paganism, it is lawful for you to cast it out and to identify the spiritual nature of it around you. The application goes beyond the physical. There was an established civil government by God that was ordered to go in and to physically destroy these things. And you have to consider how you would apply this. Does this mean that you as an individual are empowered to go destroy every property that has any taint of paganism in it.

I just don't believe that's what this text teaches. But what it does teach, at least at minimum, and we can argue whether it teaches this other thing, But at least at minimum, I think you can rest your whole weight on the idea that when you see paganism, you must cast it out of your household. You must remove the pagan idols of your heart and of your house in your business, in your thinking, in your relationships. That's at least at minimum what this must mean. Jesus said, woe to the world because of offenses.

For offenses must come, but woe to the man by whom the offense comes. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.

There's this principle of casting them out. Do you think Jesus was thinking about the language in Deuteronomy when he was saying this? I think it's quite likely that he was, that he was, as he is constantly quoting the book of Deuteronomy in his ministry, as we can easily see that the book of Deuteronomy was the book that Jesus loved. He loved this book. He quoted from Deuteronomy more than any other book of the Old Testament.

And so here we find Jesus actually using the same language and principle that we find in Deuteronomy. We read Peter saying in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13, he says, Gird up the loins of your mind and be sober, rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." Because it is written, be holy for I am holy. And he's quoting Leviticus and he's using the same term that's in this text. Do you think Peter, when he was speaking to the believers there, was thinking about this?

I believe he absolutely was thinking about Leviticus and this text in Deuteronomy. This is the first time the term holy in Deuteronomy is used to apply to the children of Israel. And so Peter goes on, he says, you shall be holy for I am holy, and if you call on your father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb, without blemish, without spot. He indeed was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who though you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory So that your faith and your hope are in God And so here Peter is appealing to this principle that we find right here in this text for holiness. We also know that there is a spiritual application for us in casting down idols, in destroying worldly altars that we have been worshiping in all of our lives.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians said that, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Here Paul is talking about high things. I really believe he's giving allusion to the high places and the idols and the altars that Moses is commanding to be destroyed. And here we find these same things raised up against Christ. And he says, anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

So do you see the connections between Deuteronomy and the New Testament regarding idolatry? There are at least at minimum spiritual applications that we must make. We can't pass by this language in the Old Testament of altars and idolaters and the ashtereths and the groves and bowing down to trees. We cannot pass that language without jetting straight to the New Testament to understand how Jesus understood idolatry and how also the The other New Testament writers understood it. We have to interpret the Old Testament in light of the New Testament That's just a principle that we always have to keep in mind, there are fulfillments, there are wider explanations and details given in the New Testament that we didn't know in the Old Testament.

As the Lord Jesus comes to fulfill the law, He gives it its clearer sense so that we can understand it better. So the first thing that we come to here is responsibility, duties in a pagan land. So our First responsibility is to identify everything, every high thing lifted up and to tear it down. And then secondly, identity. This is the next great principle that Moses is bringing, identity, a holy people in a pagan land.

Verse 6 says, look at it with me, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You see the transition? There's the word for. How do you read your Bible? You just read it like you read the newspaper.

What is the force of the language? What is the author trying to say? He's just spoken of duties in the land. Now he, and then he says, for, why? Now he's giving an explanation.

The explanation is collected around this idea of identity. Who are you? Who do you think you are? And here's who you are. You are a holy people to the Lord your God.

That's who you are. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you because you were more a number than any other people. For you were the least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." And so here we find the second appearance of the term holy associated with the people of God.

First Leviticus 19.2, you shall be holy for I am holy and now here in Deuteronomy 7.6, for you are a holy people. Now there are a number of things that we need to be very careful to observe. The first is the principle of possession. Who do you belong to? The idea here is you are not your own.

You are bought with a price. Believers have no right to go create their own way in the world. But they are possessions of God. You are mine is the principle that's here. And because you are not your own, that means that you can't do your own thing in the world.

And this means that if you want to be a believer, then you cannot fit in because you are not your own. And In fact, you will not fit in because you are a holy people. A holy people are a distinct people. A holy people are required by Almighty God to become blind to the world and to become alive to God. And so a holy people, first of all, they won't fill their minds with the same things as an unholy people will.

So therefore, they won't think the same way about things. So don't be afraid of thinking differently about things. You are required to think in a godly way about things. You won't probably live the same kind of life, nor will you have the same kind of schedule of life that those around you in the pagan nations will have. To try to emulate the schedule of the pagans running, you know, to and fro on this world would be a huge mistake.

To go look out into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, or the lifestyles of those you find in the tabloids, or in the media outlets, would be a terrible contradiction to this. If you would be a holy people, you would dress differently. You would look differently because you realize that everything about you, your clothing, the way you carry yourself, your countenance, your hair, your eyes. Everything about you is an expression of the glory of God because you are not your own. No, you are not allowed to go have your own style of life.

It's the style that God would ordain. And I recognize that we have difficulty in applying all these things. But we need to understand that a holy people cannot have their own way. And it's not for a holy people to go and try to create some personalized style that's out of kilter with what God would have them. And so We are a people for God's own possession.

That's what he's saying. And then he speaks of this principle that we sang about this morning, irresistible grace, election. I was so thankful for that song. I'll just have to say every word of that song was so precious to me. I loved to enunciate those words.

They were so wonderful. But here you find the same principle here in verse 7. Do you see it? The Lord did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any other people. For you are the least of all peoples, but because the Lord loves you." Isn't that wonderful?

This is the doctrine of election. This is the doctrine of irresistible grace. If you would be saved, if you're not saved this morning, and you would be saved, there's only one way you can be saved, and that is when you know in your heart that God has drawn you. When you know that you have love for God in your heart, when you know that you hate the idols of this world, when you know that you're bankrupt in your own sins and there's no way that forgiveness can come on your own merits, When you come to the end of yourself and you realize that only God can save you, only God can draw you, for no one can come to the Father unless he's drawn. Until you come to that place, you cannot be saved.

But when you do come to that place and you realize that your heart burns with love toward God, when you desire to repent of your sins, When you desire to turn away from every sinful thing, then you know that you are elect. Because God has drawn you. He has given you a new heart. He's given you new affections. Why do you want Him?

It's only one reason. Because He has made you to want Him. And would there be a recognition of salvation here this morning? Are there those that God has been drawing? He's been putting things in your way.

He's been giving maybe people to speak words to you. Maybe a verse of Scripture was heard and you knew when you heard that verse you were saved. But where did all those come from? The Words from someone's lips came from someone sent from God. A word of scripture, read maybe over the radio, came from all of the resources that God has collected to deliver His word to you.

God is sovereign in salvation. And He chooses His people not because of anything great about them, not because they figured everything out and they finally evaluated all the world religions and figured out this was the best one. No. It's because God did a supernatural work in their hearts and he drew them to himself and he made them believe. Well, this is the blessing that is spoken of here.

You know, Martin Luther had, I think, a fascinating statement about this text here. He says, the fact that God uses your sword does not happen because he needs your power or because he cannot do it without you. Since you are very few in number. The glory of the work is not yours, but his, who by using your small number destroys such a great multitude." And so here we find this identity, a holy people in a pagan land, holy because of God's choice, because of His great kindness. And then we come to strength.

The third great principle in this, this small slice of the speech, strength, the faithful God with an obedient people. In verse 9, therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments and he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them he will not be slack with them who hates him He will repay him to his face." So here in these verses, we find a beautiful description of God's faithfulness and His love toward His people. And his faithfulness cuts both ways. Do you see it? It cuts in two directions.

First of all, it cuts to those who love him and keep his commandments. A thousand generations. You know, the second commandment offers this promise of blessing to many, many generations. Here he says, 1, 000 generations. Now, how long is a generation?

A generation is calculated between 20 and 25 years. It probably depends on what kind of philosophy of life you have for how long a generation is. If you have a philosophy of life that says don't get married till you're over 30 then a generation is over 30. If you have a philosophy of life that says you should get married at 18, then your generation is 18 years. So let's just say it's 20 years.

This is 20, 000 years of promise. This is what he's saying here. And of course we know that it extends far beyond that if we've read our Bibles and particularly the statement in the Ten Commandments. So his faithfulness cuts both ways. First it cuts to those who love Him and His faithfulness rolls on.

But it also cuts the other way as well. It cuts to those who hate Him and His judgments toward those who hate Him are in their face, meaning that they are real, they are present, they are future, and they go on for all eternity. And God maintains His judgment toward the wicked to their face for all eternity. And the fires of hell burn in their face. Not only did they receive in their bodies the judgments of God in their life by rejecting the law of God.

Not only are their personalities broken on the law of God, not only are their minds polluted by the things that they drink, but God judges them while they do it. He does, though, cause his reign to fall on the just and the unjust, but he also judges them to their face. And I believe he judges them in their emotions, in the insanity of their thinking, in the destruction of their bodies, and in the harming of all of their relationships. This is how the judgment of God works in your face. Yes, if you reject God, He will be in your face.

You know people, you know people whom God has in their face and He's cutting them and He's wounding them as they are reaping the rewards of their sins. Anyone who rejects the law of God is dashed, is destroyed, because God is in your face. He's the hound of heaven, and He will not let you go. And so we find This sword of faithfulness cutting both ways. It cuts for 1, 000 generations for blessing, and then it cuts back to those who hate him.

And then there's a final appeal in verse 11. Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today and observe them." So again, verse 11, notice that word. Do you see that word? Therefore. It helps us to see what Moses is trying to say.

He starts out with this vision of his faithfulness and his goodness and gives responsibility. He also identifies the people for who they are. They are a holy people. And Then he declares his faithfulness. And then finally, as he will do so many times in Deuteronomy, he does it here.

He calls for obedience. He says, therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today to observe them. Can you see Moses actually saying this? I command you today. He's there in the midst of the people.

Remember, this is a speech. This is a long speech that's being given. And there they are in this one place on a specific day to hear this amazing speech. It was a long speech. And my guess is this speech went on for most of the day and maybe into the night.

I don't know, but it was a long speech. Now, I'd like to bring all these things down together in three applications. And we're going to kind of rest in these applications. We're going to labor in them and take some time. There are three things most likely to destroy you, And your family, and your city, and your nation.

Three things that will destroy you. And I'm confident as we see this first thing, you can see how it would apply to all of those different areas of life. The first is this. Toleration of pagan gods. Toleration of pagan gods.

What were these gods? What were these altars? What were these wooden images and these pillars? We know that there are a number of instances in scripture where the pagan idols were torn down. We saw how Gideon was commanded by God.

God said, tear down your father's idols. And I would just say that's a command for every son, to tear down his father's idols that affect his own life to destroy their altars. And here we find this principle of destroying the pagan gods. And what were these altars? What were they really?

I'd like for us to talk about what these altars are. When God says tear down the idols, when God says break up the altars, what is He talking about? I don't know of any altars or idols around now. And I would just like to say that what God was commanding the children of Israel on the east side of the Jordan River in the last month of his life is directly applicable to us today because of the nature of those idols and those altars. Let me read you what the Westminster Dictionary says about the goddess Asteroth.

She was the goddess of sexual love, maternity and fertility. Prostitution was a religious rite in the service of this goddess under the various names widely attested. The identification of the Asteroth, which is also associated with Aphrodite, is evidence of her immoral character. Asteroth, plural of Astereth, in connection with the plural Baal, a general designation for the female divinities of the Canaanites, refers to a wooden pole or a mast which stood at the Canaanite places of worship, Exodus 34.13. Originally, it was perhaps the trunk of a tree with branches chopped off and was regarded as the wooden symbol of the goddess Esherah, who like Ashtereth was a type of fertility.

He was erected beside the altar of Baal. It's interesting, archaeologists have uncovered some of these altars in Tel Aviv. A shrine for Baal was recently uncovered, perhaps going back to 1500 BC, which is right about the time of this writing. And in this, I'll just read the report, The long entombed Canaanite shrine offers a well preserved altar featuring idols that depict three manifestations of the ancient god Bael. And he gives the various manifestations.

And then other inscriptions from the drawings of the shrine on the hill show that large crowds, mostly intoxicated men, filled the spacious assembly hall before the altar, where large soft seats were provided as the men worshipped for hours in a reclining position. Worship appeared to involve frenzied yelling and shouting before the manifestations of bail on the altar and would go on for hours, interrupted frequently by a slave woman who would bring ale and food for the men. While our archaeologists are still puzzling over the full implications of this find near Tel Aviv, it's fascinating to find that ancient men would worship on Tel Aviv's Shun at the idols of Vaz Be'el and Foot Be'el and Basket Be'el, which were three representations of this god. Some inscriptions warn of violent outbreaks that could occur during bail worship when the declarations of the priest depicted were perceived as unfavorable omens. The participants would become violent in protest.

One inscription speaks of yelling, screaming, and tossing furniture. It appears that such tantrums become so closely associated with Baal worship that they were described as going Baalistic. Well, that's the article. So what was Baal worship really? What was it really?

It was it's why and why was it so popular? Why were people so enamored with what? What seems so stupid to us. Go and bow down before a tree. How stupid is that?

No one would do that. Well, that's because we don't understand what was happening here. What was happening there happens all the time. Usually lots of people gathered on a high hill observing public immorality, like we see in movies or on the internet. In First Kings 12 And in Numbers 22, we see these things happening.

It's nothing different. What we see today in our media outlets, I firmly believe, is nothing different than what was going on in that day. The whole community came out and all of the best pagan ideas for success in crops and fertility were promoted like a business seminar that promotes pagan ideas to justify the worldliness of their origin. The wicked personalities, the promoters and the performers were respected and given the platform, like the rock stars and the Hollywood people. Some of them, great dancers, like some of those in our own day that you might think of.

Some were great musicians, like we saw at the Super Bowl, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, wooing the crowds. It's nothing different. Super Bowl Sunday is nothing different than the high places that were happening in Israel. Don't think it's some other world. Don't disconnect from this, OK?

This is as real world as anything. So whenever you see paganism, wherever you see idolatry, wherever you see immorality, wherever you see any proposition raised up against Almighty God, That's the high place that needs to be destroyed in your realm. On the high places they had different kinds of physical experiences, immoral experiences, men with men, women with women, all kinds of combinations as we saw in 1 Kings 14, 24. The children were the real losers as some were actually sacrificed on the altars of success and sex. And in 2 Kings 16, 3 through 4, to participate you had to reject your children.

Does that remind anyone of anything going on today? The killing of 40 million, 50 million babies. For what? For the idols of this world. So Baal worship is really something that corresponds to things that we see every day.

And So we need to understand the nature of idolatry. The people were involved because they like the music, they like the excitement, they like the personalities, they like the benefits of it, and the fellowship, and the business contacts that came from it. And so believers in Yahweh were conflicted because they could not agree with everything happening on those high places. Because it also meant that if they didn't go, they couldn't be part of the trade guild. And their means of employment was harmed.

And so personal success and networking were dependent upon your appearance there. If you quit going, you would not be able to do business like you did. Your network would dry up. And you had to contribute. You had to contribute as well.

So If anyone questioned what was going on in the high places, they were immediately branded as subversive, like Elijah. Ahab says to Elijah, is that you, oh troubler of Israel? Because Elijah was contradicting the things that were going on in the high places. In fact, he called fire from heaven to destroy them. And Elijah said, I've not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, and that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord.

So the first application of this would lead us to consider our toleration of pagan gods, Our toleration of pagan gods. Three things that are likely to destroy your family, your town, your nation. Toleration of pagan gods. These are very sobering propositions here that God was giving to the children of Israel. I'm confident that the children of Israel were very well aware of the costs involved here, what Moses was saying.

They had already slipped into idolatry. They'd already made a golden calf. They had already drunk the elements of it that were ground up. They'd already understood the bitterness and the horrible nature of it. And now they're being warned that there's more.

And then the second thing most likely to destroy your family, your city, your nation, covenants with pagan people, making covenants with pagan people. This was mentioned earlier. He says, you shall make no covenant with them. Covenants, there are a number of examples of covenants with pagans that we see in scripture. There are good covenants and bad covenants.

Some are contrary to God's will. We saw the syncretism that took place because the covenant with the Gibeonites. It's an amazing story that we find in scripture. But there are different kinds of opportunities that believers have to enter into covenants that bring an unequal yoke. Here are some.

There are some in politics, some in business. He mentions marriage. There are opportunities for unwise connections that bring harm to our families and our churches. How could political coalitions become a snare? How's that for a question?

How could church unions or affiliations or denominations become a trap? You have to think through these things. When you think about covenants, there are various kinds of covenants that we make. What kinds of business partnerships are wise and lawful? What kinds of social organizations are right and good and which are not?

Which are reflective of this kind of covenant that was restricted. George Gillespie, the Scottish performer, wrote a brilliant treatise on this subject called Forbidden Alliances Concerning Associations and confederacies with idolaters, infidels, heretics, or other known enemies of truth and godliness. He writes this in 1648. I have a copy of it. I would love to read it out loud to a bunch of guys and just hash through this.

His arguments are absolutely amazing. The scriptural depth of it is mind boggling. Anyway, he says a number of things in this treatise on forbidden alliances, which really bears down on this whole issue of covenants. He says, God forbid all religious covenants with such and would not have his people tolerate the gods, images, altars or groves of idolaters. He speaks of the Apostle Paul speaking in 1st Corinthians.

Now the Apostle lays much more restraint upon us from conversing, eating, and drinking with scandalous Christians in 1 Corinthians 5.11. And then he adds a number of distinctions or tensions that we have to keep in mind when we're considering covenants. I'm just going to read a little section just to give you a feel for how Gillespie was interpreting this for the Scottish Church. First, distinguish between a confederacy which is more discreet and discriminative and a confederacy which is more unitive. In other words, some confederacies actually unite you and make you one.

Some allow you to be independent. He's saying just be aware that there are different kinds of confederacies. Some allow your independence and some don't allow your independence. That's one thing I think is brilliant that he brings this thought up. Secondly, distinguish between endeavor of duty and the perfection of things, which answers the exception.

In other words, in other words what he means by that is how perfect the people have to be. How pagan do they have to be before you don't go into covenant. You just have to ask. He says no, he says you know that The wheat and the tares even grow up in the church. So there obviously are problems in our discerning who to go in covenant with and not.

Then number three, he says, distinguish between particular wicked persons here and there, mixing themselves with us, between a wicked function and a malignant party. He's saying, make sure you understand, are you aligning yourself with something that is genuinely wicked? If you're going to go into a covenant, you have to ask that question. Is it a wicked covenant? Fourthly, he says, distinguish between such fellowship with some wicked persons as is necessary in the case of those that are married and of parents and children.

Or unavoidable, which is the case of those whose lot is to cohabit in one town or one family in a case of necessity. Traveling, sailing together, distinguish, I say, between these and an elective or voluntary fellowship with wicked men. When love to them or our own benefit draws us into them. So he's saying they're a natural thing. You know, if you're riding on a sailing ship, does that mean you've covenanted with everybody in the sailing ship?

Gillespie would say no, it doesn't. But you just have to think through how entangled are you with the pagans of this world? That's the proposition here. So these three main ways to destroy your family, your city, and your culture. Toleration of pagan gods, number one.

Number two, covenants with pagan people. And then three, marriages, marriages with pagan spouses. He says, you shall, nor shall you make marriages with them. In verse three, you shall not give your daughter to their son. Here's this language.

Daughters are given in marriage. Daughters are given. This language is consistent throughout scripture. And of course, we would just suggest that this is the way it should be. Daughters are given in marriage.

They're not snatched away. That There is a careful, godly process that leads to the giving of a daughter. You don't just throw your daughter out into the wild blue yonder to go connect with whoever. You give her carefully to another man. He says, you shall not give your daughter to their son.

There are some people your daughter cannot marry. There are some people that you must say, no, you cannot marry. We don't care how much you love his face, you cannot marry him. He has such a nice personality, you cannot marry him. And God has established parental authority for this, to help daughters and sons to marry well.

I believe marriages are some of the most important things that happen in the life of a church, based on this text. It's so important how people marry. And we've had the blessing of participating in beautiful marriages in the life of our church, haven't we? We remember the marriage of Penn and Janet Lender up here on this hill and Peter and Kelly, Bradrick, and we've just had such pleasures in these weddings. And they have been the kinds of weddings that are in obedience with this principle here in this text.

God is blessing that obedience that these couples have entered into. Balaam knew how to destroy a culture, tempt the men to marry ungodly women. That's how you do it. It's very easy. Just bring immoral allurements and you will destroy a nation.

So here we find this text, which touches on so many very practical issues of life. There are duties in a pagan land. There is an identity to be maintained as a holy people. And there is the love of a faithful God. And so each of these commands given to a people who are living in a pagan world are given for our blessing, that God would pour out his grace toward his people.

So here as we stand sort of as third party observers to a great speech given probably out in a great plane with thousands of people, we look into a window of how God would be kind to his people. He leads his people by his commands, and he cares for them by giving them good laws that they might be a holy people, a treasured people of whom God says, you are my jewel and I promise to take care of you all the days of your life If you love me and keep my commandments, would you pray with me? Lord, Lord, we thank you for these wonderful words that are here. We pray that you would send the ministry of the Spirit to us, that we might understand them and put them into practice. In Jesus' name, Amen.