Deuteronomy 16-17

I have used the preacher's outline in sermon Bible commentary in preparation for the sermon today. I was looking at past messages and where I've been over the last number of months. There was something I wanted to give to you, and I wanted to see how long it's been since we've been in this area. The book of Deuteronomy. For our guests, we are going through a chapter once a month.

During the sermon time, it's a Bible study. We've gone through a number of things since the last time we were in Deuteronomy. The last time we were there was July. It's been a long time since we've been in Deuteronomy. I want to go back there today. So turn over to Deuteronomy 16. Deuteronomy 16. Just to refresh your memory, we're going through chapters 16 and 17 today, or portions of those chapters.

But to refresh your mind, why do we in our modern age go through something like the book of Deuteronomy? Isn't that just an old book for long ago, and has no bearing upon New Testament, New Covenant Christians today? Well, the purpose of the book, or the reason the book was written, is Moses was giving three sermons.

Three sermons cover the great majority of this book to the children of Israel. They're about ready to go into and conquer the Promised Land. Moses realizes he's not going in there with them. He realizes that this is his last opportunity to teach Israel what they need to know as they cross over the Jordan to go into the Holy Land. So he gives a series of sermons, three of them. Two major purposes. One was to teach God's people. In this case, it was the children of Israel, or the Old Testament Church of the Congregation in the wilderness, to teach them how to live victorious lives.

Now, that's something we need today. We need to know how to live victorious lives as Christians. How to conquer the enemy, how to conquer the trials that we face, how to conquer temptation, and so forth. We need to know how to do that. Moses goes through and shows how we are to do that. God's people are to do that. Secondly, a second reason that Moses was inspired by God to write this book is this is a book of rededication. This is a book that tells God's people they need to renew their commitment to God. And that's something that we as Christians need all the time.

We need to be able to rededicate our lives to God. We need to renew our commitment to obey God. And so those are the reasons why the book was written, and those are very good reasons for us to study that book today. I made mention that the book is divided into three sermons. The first sermon covers the first five chapters. In the first sermon, chapters 1-5, God goes through what He's done for Israel. We've covered all of that. In the second sermon, which is rather lengthy, it goes through chapter 26. And in this section, what God expects of Israel.

So that's what we're going to be covering today, a portion of what God expects from Israel. Now, if you take a look at chapter 16 of Deuteronomy, I'm going to skip the first 17 verses. The first 17 verses of chapter 16 deal with the Holy Days. I'm going to skip that because, as you're well aware, one of the reasons why we've fallen a little behind in this study is somebody presented me with material from another church. The material that was presented was why that church no longer keeps the Sabbath.

It was the church that was our parent church a number of years ago. So I thought it would be good for us to go through why it was they split off and do what they do and don't keep the Sabbath anymore. That took six sermons, going through that bit by bit. Come spring, when the spring holidays are upon us, I'm going to go through this section of Deuteronomy. But I'm going to take a look at what that same church wrote as to why they no longer keep the Holy Days. I'm going to go through that bit by bit, line by line, as to why they don't believe they should keep the Holy Days, but why we believe we should be keeping God's Holy Days.

We're going to take a look at what they say, what basically the churches of the world say. We're going to take a look at what God says. We're going to see there's a great difference, just like there was with the weekly Sabbath. So we'll save that portion until spring time. But I do want to get into the rest of chapter 16, which begins in verse 18. It covers the rest of the book, and then we'll go through all of chapter 17.

Okay, let me give you an outline here for this. In chapter 16 verse 18 through chapter 17 verse 1, we see the idea that Moses wants to convey to the Israelites, and that is the administration of justice. They're no longer just a bunch of slaves who are coming out of Egypt. They are a nation. They are God's nation. And no nation can stand if it's not a nation that has justice. And certainly Moses realized the people of Israel needed to have this instruction.

Okay, then from chapter 17 verses 2 through 7, we see where God talks about the execution of justice against major crime. Major crime. And it's going to be interesting as to what God calls major crime. You know, as you're there in your seats, you may think, well, he's going to be talking about murder, or talking about kidnapping, or things of that nature. You'll be interested to see what God considers major crime, the major crime. Verses 8 through 13 in chapter 17, a discussion about what they should do with really difficult legal issues.

And then the balance of the chapter verses 14 through 20, how kings are to be appointed, and what kings are to do in their role as king. So, let's get right into it. Chapter 16 verse 18. You shall appoint judges and officers at all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Now, we don't have the time to go back through all this, but you remember back in Exodus, there was a point in time when Moses was judging everything. He was making all the judgments.

There were perhaps two and a half to three million Israelites. And so Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, comes up to Moses, you know, you're going to wear yourself out. You can't be a judge over three million people. It's not possible. Not only are you going to wear yourself out, Moses, you're going to wear the people out. Literally, we can have a line outside your tent, talking about tents, a line outside your tent stretching for a mile.

People are getting tired waiting to get a judgment from you. And so, as you're well aware, Moses heeded the advice of Jethro's father-in-law, and they divided the nation up into different sections, and there were different ones over each section to administer justice. Now, something for us to remember. Moses didn't have time to choose all these judges among two and a half to three million people.

Much like you see in Acts 6. In Acts 6, there was a need for today what we call the office of tikkun. What was said then in Acts 6? The brethren were told, seek out from among you, men who were full of God's Holy Spirit, men who were full of wisdom. You take a look, you bring us names, and of course then the ministry would then approve of the selection process. But even though God's church is a theocracy, God's in charge, the nation of Israel is a theocracy, not a democracy. God's in charge. He still wanted to know and have the people buy into the system so that they would have a certain say.

And they had their say. And they had the various judges and rulers and so forth in each community. But notice here in verse 18, not only do you have judges, you have officers. Officers of the court. Judges would make the rulings, but then just like in any court today, you've got people who've got to carry out the decrees of the judges. Verse 19, you shall not pervert justice, you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Now, brethren, as you and I are going through this section, please remember that this is true for us as Christians as well. There are vital Christian living principles here. We want to be just people. We want to be people of justice. And certainly it says here that you can't be just whether we're talking about an Old Testament judge or a New Testament Christian. We can't be effective and show perfect justice if we're partial. And the wording here for being partial is a respecter of faces, much like the New Testament.

James talks about that in his book. We can't be a respecter of people. We can't be a respecter of faces. We can't take a look at somebody and say, well, they're dressed nice, they're nice folks, and have a certain idea toward them. And, well, this person doesn't dress as nice, this person doesn't have the same kind of education, and we look down upon them. To God, that is very much an evil thing, and it should be an evil thing among us as well.

So they were not to show partiality. In other words, everyone was to get a fair shot. Everyone has an equal playing field before these judges. And again, we would have to ask ourselves individually, personally, in our own hearts and minds, is that the way we respond to people? Does everybody really get a fair shake, or are there times where some people get a more fair shake than other people? Some people start off in a hole because of certain issues or none.

That's something we need to ask ourselves. It also says, do not take a bribe. For a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise. You can have a wise person, but if money is involved, a bribe doesn't have to be just money. It could be somebody who does something for you, somebody who brings influence to bear in your life, to better your life. And maybe the other guy can't do that.

Maybe you've got two people standing before you, or two people you're thinking about, and you need to make a decision about something, and one guy can scratch your back and the other guy can't. Well, we've got to treat both equally. We can't take the bribe, whether it be money or influence or what have you, because it says here, it blinds the eyes, even of the wise, and it twists the words of the righteous. Somebody might be trying to present their case, but because you're thinking about what good, even subconsciously, you might get from the situation. Then when the person who is righteous is making their case, we don't fully listen.

So we've got to be very careful. This is what God was expecting from the judges then, and of course, when Christ comes and establishes this kingdom, we're going to be kings and priests and judges. So we've got to learn this principle today, if we want to apply it in the world tomorrow.

Verse 20. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God has given you. So, in verse 20 here, altogether just. There's a word that you and I might use for that today, and that word is integrity. How much integrity do we see in our culture today? I don't think we see a whole lot of integrity today. I think we see a whole lot of people today who have a hard time apologizing when they're wrong. A whole lot of people who simply won't own up to their issues.

They don't take responsibility. They cut corners. They do all sorts of things that are not altogether just, and they don't have integrity. Today, integrity is laughed at.

Now, starting here in verse 21, there's an interesting section here. And again, remember Moses is talking to and giving instruction to judges. Now, when I talk about a judge, I used to have a judge in my family. But when I'm talking about judges, what comes into your mind? Is it normally something really good and positive? But notice what it says here. Verse 21, You shall not plant for yourself any tree As a wooden image near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates. Chapter 17, verse 1, the thought continues. You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or a sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord.

So what are we looking at here? God is saying to the judges that one of your chief duties is you are the first line of defense against idolatry. You are the first line of defense against somebody not worshipping me properly. You see, God believes in church and state. Today's judges, well, we want to throw the Ten Commandments out the window. We want to throw God out the door. We don't want anything to do. People will talk about church and state and so on. And yet, here we live in a country, here we live in a country where our founding fathers, the great majority of whom were Bible-reading, Bible-believing men, a law was enacted or tried to be enacted in a local community recently where the local board was meeting and before the official business session would begin, they would have an opening prayer. Well, a woman said, we don't want that. We don't want any prayers before our business meeting. And that went all of its gone up to the Supreme Court of this country. It was a little tiny bird, I think, in New York someplace. But our founding fathers prayed before every session. Every session our founding fathers prayed. Our founding fathers were men of faith, for the most part. There were some agnostics and some atheists, but for the most part they were Bible-believing, Bible-reading men.

And they knew, and they, you know, what's his name? I think he's John Barton, who wrote so many interesting pieces on our founding fathers and their religious orientation. When you study the Constitution of this country, the founding documents of this country, apart from their own writings, what book is brought up or quoted more than any other? In our founding documents. 85% of the time, the book that's quoted most often is God's Word, the Bible. This is how this country was established and developed. Now we want to throw God out the window. But God says here to these judges, we want to make sure that you are the first line of defense against idolatry in Chapter 17, verse 1. And if people start coming with this makeshift offerings, we don't want that. We want to give God our very best. And as a judge, you teach the people. They need to give their very best to God. Very best. So there's an overarching lesson here that I want to add at this point. The overarching lesson is this. Judges must follow God's example in administering justice. Judges must follow God's example. And brethren, we must follow God's example. We must be studying the Scriptures on a daily basis. We'll get to that later on in Chapter 17 here. But God wants us to be studying His Word on a daily basis so we can be just people who live just lives, who administer justice in our walk with God.

We all, that Wayne was talking about in his sermon, that we've got to make decisions. God wants us to make righteous decisions. We've got to make judgments in our life. God wants us to make righteous judgments in our life. We can only make righteous judgments if we've got the proper foundation, and that foundation is the Word of God. Let's take a look at it. Put a marker here in Deuteronomy. Let's go to Psalm 89.

Psalm 89 and verse 14. Psalm 89 and 14. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Mercy and truth go before your face.

So this is how highly God thinks of this idea of justice. Righteousness, all of God's laws, righteous, all of His commandments are righteous. Righteousness and justice, we need the righteousness of God. We need the commandments of God. We need that basic understanding of God's ways so that we can have justice. And that is the foundation of God's very throne.

Moving up to Psalm 103 and verse 6. It says, the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

You know, the guy who doesn't have very much, that guy needs to be given a fair shake. He needs to be taken care of.

And God wants to make sure that we, as His righteous people, as His church, are executing righteous judgment and justice for even the little guy. The little guy who so many times doesn't get the fair shake. One last scripture before we go back to Deuteronomy is over here in Isaiah. There's a prophecy about the time when Christ comes back at His second coming to establish His kingdom on this planet. It's a scripture we quote from time to time. Very well-known scripture. Isaiah 9, verse 7.

Again, this is after the return of Christ. Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. Christ will rule forever and ever with the resurrected saints. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. I quote some of these scriptures just to show you the impact that this whole subject should have upon our thinking, upon our meditation, upon our future study. And we, you know, our meditation, asking ourselves, are we just people? Do we act in a just way? Let's go back now to Deuteronomy chapter 17 and continue on with the story flow here.

This next section of scripture, verses 2 through 7, Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 2 through 7, shows justice against what God considers the major crime. It's not murder. It's not kidnapping. Not rape. Not war. What does God consider the major crime? Let's take a look. Chapter 17 verse 2, if there is found among you any within your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven which I have not commanded, and has told you, you hear of it, then you shall make inquiry diligently. And if indeed it be true, and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.

It doesn't get any more serious than this. Here we've got a capital offense. And to God, the major crime here is that of breaking the first commandment, having another God before the true God. Now, why does God make such a deal of this? Why is this a capital offense punishable by death?

Brethren, the reason for that is, as God realizes, that if a nation like Israel, which Israel later on would do, if they would start wandering from the true God, accepting false gods, then the nation would be in peril. The nation would go down, and both the northern and the southern kingdoms did go down. They were both conquered. They were conquered because they weren't true to God. They were conquered because they weren't doing what God had told them to do. They worshipped other gods, and they lost their whole country. Today we talk about espionage. Today we talk about treason. In God's mind, idolatry was a type of treason. It was going to ruin the nation. A number of years ago, I gave a series of three sermons talking about our American idols. We don't fall down before an idol in the sense that these people did, but we've got our American idols. Cash, money, things, anything that we spend an inordinate amount of time with that separates us from God. Our idol can be watching too much TV. Our idol can be we want a bigger home than we can afford. There can be any number of things that knock God out of the picture and replace God. And when that happens, we go on a downward spiral. So God says this is a capital offense. This is very serious. We've got to watch this. Now, it's interesting as we continue to go through the subject here. Verse 6. Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. God wants His people to be involved. He doesn't want people to stand off as if they don't want to get involved. They don't want to name names. We'll talk more about that in a couple of minutes. We are our brother's keeper. But notice something else. Verse 7. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against them to put Him to death, and therefore the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. Now, today, it's easy for people to wag their tongue and point a finger and say, that person did X, Y, and Z. But God says, well, okay, well, then you've got a responsibility. In this case, the two or three witnesses that would point their finger at a person who was idolatrous and would not repent, those witnesses were the first to have to pick up the rocks and stone the people. God shows He means business. He wants His people accountable. He wants us accountable for our actions. Accountable for what we say with our tongues, with our mouths.

Now, we're going to take a look at it a little bit later at some other scriptures. Well, as a matter of fact, let's do it right now. You know, there's an overarching principle here, and that is that God's church must be kept pure. God's church must be kept pure. Just as the nation of Israel was God's church in the wilderness, and God wanted His church pure, to the place where people were stoned. And this was God's command. This was not something Moses and the judges dreamed up on their own. This is the righteous God of love who says, we've got to nip these things in the bud, otherwise the whole nation will go sliding into idolatry. That's God's wisdom. Put a marker here. Let's go to a New Testament section. Let's go to Matthew 18.

Now, today, we don't believe in stoning. No, God worked with Israel on a physical basis. Today, God's worked with people on a spiritual basis. So we don't believe in stoning. But we still believe in responsibility. We still believe in accepting responsibility. And notice what it says here in Matthew 18. Now, a word about Matthew 18 in the section I'm going to go through, verses 15-17 here. This is a process, an ordained process of God, that if properly used, is very effective.

On the other hand, if people don't properly use this, it's one of the most ineffective things you can have. It depends upon, like any tool, depends upon how it's used. If it's used the way God has designed, you can have great results. In the church, in my 30-plus years of being in the ministry, I have seen where this principle has been used to great effect, how this principle has been ignored, and how this principle has been abused. It depends upon the principles of who's putting this into action. Chapter 18, verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you... Notice, this is not eating crackers in church. We're talking about something serious here. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

Now today, it's common when somebody sins against us or hurts us, for us to go to other people, it's common for people to go on the Internet, to put something on Facebook, to do the social media thing. But God says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. It's personal business between the two principle parties. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

But if you will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, everywhere may be established. Now, isn't it interesting that here in Matthew 18, it talks about two or three witnesses? What did it talk about there in Deuteronomy 17? Two or three witnesses? This is the principle of God. Old Testament, New Testament, Old Covenant, New Covenant, the way God does things. Now, what is the purpose of these witnesses? Let's say, as an example, you've got two people who are... It could be two men, it could be two women, it could be two different groups of people. But what is the purpose of the witnesses? What's their function? What do they do?

The witnesses are not there to solve the principle's problem. They're not there to render judgment.

The witnesses are there to make a level playing field.

You can have two individuals, as an example, where one is very bombastic, very strong personality, maybe highly educated, and the other person is really introverted, very quiet, meek, kind of a wallpaper type of a person. Well, obviously, you've got an imbalance there. The guy who is the quiet one needs to have a level playing field if he's going to get a proper hearing. So that's the job of the witness, to make sure both parties have their opportunity. To express what the issues are. They don't solve the problem for anybody. Just make sure that everyone gets their chance to have a proper say. You can have an ordained person, and an unordained person. And again, that's not a level playing field, especially in our church culture. But what you want is a level playing field so everyone gets a fair hearing. So the two principles can, you know, well, here's what you say, here's what I say, here's the vouch for that we're putting everything on the table like we should, and we can make a decision. Verse 17, and if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.

Just back as in Old Testament times where there was a need to, at times, to go to the priest, to go to the judge, sometimes there's a need to come to the ministry. And the job of the ministry is not to solve people's problems for them. You know, my job is to make sure that the same thing that the witnesses were doing, that there's a fair hearing between the principal parties. It's not my job to render some decision, binding on some, it's my job to make sure both parties get a fair shot. And then it's up to them. Then it's up to them to make a decision upon whether they're going to mend the fence or not mend the fence, whether they're going to be at one with their brother or not one with their brother, and so forth.

Turn over to Galatians 6.

Galatians 6, another relevant section of Scripture here.

Galatians 6, verse 1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, again, we're talking about major issues here, we're talking about sin. We're not talking about some minor, you know, I was a house guest at so-and-so's house, and he kept on clicking the clicker on the TV, said I was going dizzy. We're not talking about that. We're talking about, you know, serious issues. If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual.

Now, who's spiritual? Well, if you're a member of God's Church, if you have God's Holy Spirit, that's you. You're spiritual.

If somebody's overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. That's what we want. We want restoration. But notice, as we continue reading, restore such one in the spirit of gentleness, humility, knowing that we too have our weaknesses. That today you are going to help somebody to help try to restore somebody, because that's your brother, that's your sister, and you want to help them. But you also might remember that the next day somebody might be coming talking about you and your problems. And so that helps blunt the situation, helps put everything in perspective, that we all are clay, that we all have issues. So in the spirit of gentleness, in the spirit of humility, it says here, Consider yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Yes, we are to bear one another's burdens. We are to be there for our brother or sister. We are to try to help. And what does James say? He says, If we help somebody repent and come back to the church, we've covered a multitude of sins. Because when that person comes back to the church, they can go before God in a repentant frame of mind and have their sins forgiven them.

But as a warning, let's look at one before we go back to Deuteronomy. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Now, Paul is not here in Corinth, but he hears what's happening in Corinth, and he's going to exert some power. The ministers of God, whether they be Old Testament ministers or priests and Levites or New Testament ministers, we do have certain power at our disposal. We need to make sure we use that power very judiciously, very carefully, with a great deal of wisdom. But there is power that we are invested with. Here in 1 Corinthians 5, you've got somebody who's committing sexual sin. That was not that uncommon in Corinth as a city. Corinth as a city was known as a very libertine type society. But here in this church, people knew about this man's sexual immorality, and they thought they were being very spiritual because they were just letting it go by the wayside. They weren't getting involved.

And brethren, there's a difference between mercy and permissiveness. These people probably thought they were being merciful. They weren't being merciful, they were being permissive. Notice what Paul says here, verse 3. For I indeed as absent in the body, it wasn't there in Corinth, but present and spirit have already judged, as though I were present, him who has done this deed. Justice has to be meted out here. Sometimes love must be tough. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That's a powerful statement. We're delivering this man to Satan. A church brother.

That his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now, what's that mean? What's it mean to deliver one to Satan? Well, as you are well aware, you've probably heard sermons on this and times gone by, and I've given sermons on this and times gone by. This man was asked to leave the church. If you want to use the word excommunicated or disfellowship, whatever word you are comfortable with, this man was said, look, we've tried working with you, but to no avail, you're not repentant, you're hurting yourself. As a Christian, because of what you're doing here, you're going to end up in a lake of fire. We don't want that. So to show you how much damage you're doing to yourself and how much damage you might be doing to others, we're going to ask you to discontinue coming to church. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story on this issue was, this man hated being out of the church. And when you were asked to go into the world, the world is Satan's world, right? So when Paul says here, deliver to such a one to Satan, when a person goes out into the world, they can't come back to church, that's being delivered to Satan. You're now in Satan's world. You don't have any guarantees, unless you're a repentant, that God's going to hear your prayers even, just like the rest of the world. But this man repented. This man saw the damage he was doing to himself spiritually and probably damage to others in the congregation. He came to his senses spiritually. He repented. And one of the reasons we've got a 2 Corinthians in the Bible is because Paul wanted to bring this man back to church. Paul saw this man had repented, and Paul said, you know, let's let this man be overcome with grief. He's repentant, bring him back. And so there are occasions where we need tough love.

We don't do this very often, but there are times when that's the only thing left in our ability to help somebody. Let's go back to Deuteronomy, chapter 17.

We're down to verse 8. What do we see here?

Throughout the land, every city has tribal elders, every city, every hamlet, every little bird. They've got their people who've got their wise men who render judgment. But there comes a point sometimes where they feel, well, this is really over my head. This has to go to a higher court.

Remember, our founding fathers were Bible-reading men. When they look at verse 8 and verse 9, what do they see? They see a supreme court. Israel had a supreme court, and here it is. What you have is you had a tandem of priests and a tandem of judges. And they would work on these cases together. They would confer with one another. And then the chief priest would make a judgment. We've come to know what the chief priest is. Well, you would have a chief judge. You would have a chief priest. And they'd work together and render a judgment.

Verse 10, So you shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you, in that place which the Lord chooses, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. Again, this is God's church in the Old Testament. But the principles, we can quote them in the New Testament, is when a church makes a pronouncement, it makes a pronouncement. These guys could be fallible.

Guys in the New Testament could be fallible. But God says, unless you want anarchy in the church, and this is not Moses' right, this is God inspiring Moses to write, when a decision is made, the decision needs to be upheld. Otherwise, you're going to have, like the book of the judges, everybody does what's right in their own eyes. When you've got that in society, you've got chaos. So God says, okay, you're going to go up to the Supreme Court of Israel, they're going to render a judgment, you be careful to do all that they order you.

Brethren, in our society today, if you go before a judge, you're standing there, and they tell you, you're going to do X, Y, and Z, you better do X, Y, or Z, or you're going to pay a price for not doing X, Y, or Z. Right? We take that very literally in our criminal system. The same thing makes people toe the line. That was the desire here by God. Verse 11, according to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do.

You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. Now, the man who acts presumptuously, I don't need to listen. That guy's fallible. They will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge. Notice the man or the judge. There's a principle here in verse 12 that nobody is above the law.

Now, the man who acts presumptuously will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge. That man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously. No longer act presumptuously. So the overarching lesson from this section is that nobody is above the law. Romans 13. Let's turn there for a moment. Romans 13, verse 1. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Now, brethren, there's a very important caveat here. You're probably thinking about this in your mind's eye.

There's another very important corollary or scripture that we're not going to follow any man if they ask us to disobey God. Obeying God always comes first. But if what the authorities ask us to do does not in any way break God's law or principles of God, then God says, be subject to those authorities. And remember, this is a book written to Romans. You've got the Roman Empire. Most of the people Paul wrote to were in vassal states. They weren't living in a free land.

They were living in a place that was conquered by Rome for the most part. Paul doesn't write and say, well, you know, if it's your own countrymen, then go ahead and obey them. But if it's Romans, ah, those Roman dogs don't obey them. Well, you know, were Romans the scourge of the earth? Any society can have bad people running the show. But as long as they're not breaking the laws of God, God says, be subject to those authorities. That's the law of God. Titus 3, verse 1. Titus 3, verse 1. Remind them to be subject to the rulers and authorities to obey. We had people in the church who were slaves.

Jesus Christ did not come and abolish slavery. We talked about that, I think, last Sabbath or the Sabbath before. We had people of all nationalities. We had people of all races who were slaves back in those days. We had white people, black people, oriental people, you name it. We had it in terms of slaves. God didn't free Israel from the yoke of Roman bondage. That's not why Christ came. This is still Satan's world, and we learn lessons. The biggest lesson we learn is we don't want Satan's world. We want God's world. Okay, let's go back to Deuteronomy one last time and finish up the chapter. There's some interesting words here as we finish up the chapter.

I thought the whole chapter to me was very interesting and very illuminating in terms of our Christian conduct. But here in verses 14 through 20, we've got a discussion about the appointment of kings. You know, again, Revelation 5.10, you will be kings, you will be priests, you will be judges in the world tomorrow, after the return of Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 17.14, When you come into the land which the Lord your God has given you and possess it and dwell in it, and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me, so Moses realized that people being what they are, that Israel is going to want a king.

Some of them appreciated God, they believed in God. But it's kind of like that little girl. Remember the story I told you about the little girl? Thunderstorm, awful thunderstorm, lightning, thunder, loud. Little girl is maybe five years old, she's scared out of her wits. Big flashes of light, big peals of thunder. She runs into her parents' bedroom, she jumps in between mom and dad, and dad realizing his little girl was scared.

She says, don't worry, hon, the Lord will protect you. He's saying that in his nice, deep voice. And the little girl says, I know that, daddy. But right now, I need somebody with skin on. You know, Israel, they realized they had a great God, but they also wanted somebody with skin on, somebody they could see. Now look at verse 15. You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. So remember, this is still a theocracy.

This is not a democracy. They're not voting for king. You know, they didn't give their input. But God has got to be the one who seals the deal. You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Wonder among your brethren, you shall set his king over you. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother. Again, it's interesting. Isn't that the law of this land? Remember when our former governor, Grandhomme, was in office? The Democratic Party just loved her. You know, man, she's pretty, and she's smart, and she gets things done. And let's tout her for our first female president. The only problem was, she was a native-born American.

She was born in Canada. So much for Jennifer Grandhomme was running for president. She can't do it. Again, the men who wrote our Constitution, who wrote our governing documents, they used the Bible for these principles. Notice verse 16, The king shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to each of them to multiply horses. For the Lord has said to you, You shall not return that way again. Here, the concept of verse 16 is, God is going to choose a king, and his king needs to be a man of faith. God doesn't want the king realizing that he's got to have a great standing army. That great standing army is going to be the thing that protects him.

No, the thing that's going to protect the king and Israel is God himself. Well, there came a time where both Israel and Judah had their standing armies. And there was a period in history when those standing armies were regionally something to be feared. But there also came a time when both of those standing armies were defeated in war, and the nations were sacked and taken into national captivity. That's because the kings were not looking to God as they should have. But again, the same thing is true for us in our lives.

What do we face? What issues are in your life right now? What Mount Everest are you standing at the foot of? God wants us as future kings to make sure we're not multiplying horses. We're not trying to get alliances with Egypt, the world, this person or that person. Our alliance is with God. Our faith is in God, not whatever things we can do for ourselves.

Not that we shouldn't do things for ourselves, but not have our faith in that. Our faith is always in God, not in man or ourselves. Verse 17, "'Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away.'" Now, why does he say this? That day, much like all through the ages, kings would marry other women from other areas to solidify agreements for treaties. And one of the things God was worried about here was that capital crime.

If you marry these women who come from another culture, who've got other gods, then they're going to turn your head away from the true God. And if the king said, "'It's turned away from the true God,' there goes the nation." Verse 17, last part, "'Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.'" You know, the king has to be of a sound mind, so he's not wanting riches for himself, which means his nation has got to go to war to get it, or he's going to tax his nation to death to get it.

The king is there to serve the people, not to be served by the people. He's there to serve them, not to have, you know, turn them upside down and get all the money he can out of them. But as we conclude here, verse 18, "'So shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Leibites.'" The king is to take the book of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

He is to take and write that word for word. He is not to ask somebody in the court to do it for him. He is to do this himself. Why? Today, people with any educator will tell you today that the more of your senses you get involved in a learning process, the deeper the material sinks into your mind. If you're reading, that's one level. If you're reading and your hand is skimming, that's another level. If you're reading and you're writing things out, maybe you're even vocalizing, you're getting everything involved, you can get involved in, that you're really learning deeply.

That's what God wants. He wants the king to write himself this book so he knows the ways of God thoroughly. Verse 19, Brethren, you and I as future kings in the kingdom of God, we need to be reading our book every day of our lives and preparing for that kingdom. Why do we do this reading? We learn to fear the Lord as God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes.

We can't live by every word of God if we're not reading every word of God. Lastly, verse 20, If we study the word of God and live by its principles and are just people, we will prolong our days in the kingdom of God. We'll live forever in God's kingdom. And as children in the midst of Israel, it will be well with our families. It will be very well with our families.

So, brethren, here we have a discussion, a very important discussion by Moses to the children of Israel about justice. And I want all of us today, as we leave here today, to be thinking about how just we are, how much we look to the things of God as the keys were to do. We need to be doing the very same things in our lives.

If we're doing those things, we are not going to fail. If we put our hearts into what God gives us, we're not going to fail. And there are many lessons to be learned here today. Hopefully we'll take all of this and stride and look very deeply upon what God has. The Old Testament is a thinking man's book. It's not something we just throw away because all we need is the Psalms and the Proverbs. There are so many nuggets of wisdom here. We need to grasp every one of them.