Deuteronomy 20

I've used the preacher's outline and sermon Bible commentary to prepare the message for today. Let's turn over to Deuteronomy 20. We've not been there since February in the book of Deuteronomy. I try to go through a section of Deuteronomy once a month. Instead of having a midweek Bible study, we do this in services so you don't have to travel so much. Since it's been a while, let me go back and give you a little bit of the background to the book. Deuteronomy is a series of sermons that has been preached by Moses as he is preparing the second generation of Israelites to enter the Promised Land. The book of Deuteronomy is written at the end of 40 years wilderness wanderings just before they go into the Promised Land. Moses realizes he's not going to be able to accompany them into the Promised Land. He's very concerned about them, and he's very concerned about their spiritual state. Not just their physical state, but their spiritual state. The book was written with these purposes in mind. There was a historical purpose to prepare the generation of Israelites to enter and conquer the Promised Land. There was also a number of spiritual purposes. This book, and the reason I selected this book to go through once a month, since we've been going through it, is the book that teaches God's people. Not just Old Testament people, but New Testament people. It teaches all of us how to live victorious lives. You and I don't want to be victims by Satan. We don't want to be victims of our society. We want to be overcomers. And this book tells us how to be an overcomer. And secondly, the book of Deuteronomy was written to stir God's people to rededicate their lives to God. And I doubt there's a person in this room who would say, I have no need to rededicate myself to God. I'm betting every person in this room says, Amen, hallelujah, I need to do that. So let's keep that in mind as we're going through the book. The section of the book of Deuteronomy we're in right now is his second sermon. We've already covered the first sermon, which is the first five chapters. In that first sermon, the topic was what God has done for Israel. Now we're almost completing the second section, the second sermon, what God expects from Israel. And so that goes from chapter 5 through chapter 26. Now a little bit of background of chapter 20. You may wonder why I'm going to spend the full sermon talking about this. Deuteronomy chapter 20 deals with going to war. Now you've not been called up in a draft. We don't have a draft. And so why do you have to read something that deals with people who lived and died thousands of years ago? Why do you need to read anything about going to war? The church doesn't even teach we should be involved in military service and war. So why should we go and look at this chapter that deals with war? Well, this chapter, brethren, God has given his book for us to read and to take a look at the principles that are here. And there are a number of principles for New Testament, New Covenant believers. As to the warfare, we wage against Satan, against Satan society, and against Satan trying to get into our hearts and minds. We wage a spiritual battle. We are in spiritual warfare all the time. And so it is important for us to take a look at these wonderful principles we see here in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 20 and apply these principles to our life. So if you're taking notes, you can put across the top of your page Deuteronomy chapter 20, the believers spiritual warfare. Deuteronomy chapter 20, the believers spiritual warfare. I've divided this chapter into three portions.

Verse 4 verses, verses 1-4, give us God's assurance of victory. God's assurance of victory. The second portion of the chapter is verses 5-9, which give various exemptions from military service. Various exemptions. We'll talk more about that, obviously, a little bit later on as to why we're going to define that section that way.

In the last section, the third section, verses 10-20, are the various strategies for conquest. And we will take a look at those strategies, not only what they were to do, but what we are to do as believers, New Covenant, New Testament believers. Okay, the first section, verses 1-4, let's go through that. This is the assurance of victory. Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 1, when you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. From the land of Egypt. Moses is telling the people here not to count or number the enemy. We discussed this in a sermon here about a month ago, where we don't care if the odds are against us. If God is on our side, it's better to have God on our side than the odds on our side. And God never wants us to take a look at an army and say, well, how big is the army? I mean, is that what God told Gideon? No, God, Gideon had thousands of men at his disposal, and God says, you've got way too many men here. And so he narrowed it down and narrowed it down and narrowed it down. I forget what he started with, 12,000 or 20,000, but he narrowed it down to 300 men. And they were greatly outnumbered for the task that they were going to do. God doesn't care about the numbers. We don't need to care about the numbers other than the number one. And the number one is God. You know, when he's standing behind you, you might have all sorts of bullies in front of you. But when he's standing behind you, hey, that's a really wonderful feeling.

Let's go on to verse, and of course, as I made mention again as we're preparing for the Passover, we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith, not by sight. Okay, verses 2 and 3. So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, here, O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint. Do not be afraid. Do not tremble or be terrified because of them. So notice before, they were to go into battle. And brethren, think of it again, from your point of view as a New Testament believer. Before you enter a battle, are you in some battles right now? Are you in a battle with somebody at work? Are you in a battle with your next-door neighbor? Are you in a battle with one of your relatives? Is there somebody you're in conflict with right now? That's a type of a battle, isn't it? And it says here, before they do anything, they need to have the priest talk with them. And what does that mean to you and me? That means that we need to be in Sabbath services. If we're healthy, and our car is running, even if our car isn't running, we can maybe phone somebody and say, Hey, would you give me a lift? But we need to be in church. We need to hear the words that come from the pulpit. We need the conversation that we have individually. And, you know, brother, please don't ever think that the conversations we have, the discussions we have, aren't vital. They are extremely vital to our being strengthened in the Lord. Yeah, people can sit at home. They can listen to a tape. They've got high-speed Internet. They can get streaming video and podcasts and all sorts of things. But nothing takes the place of being with our brothers and sisters in the faith. Nothing takes the place. And here what we're saying is, he's saying, you need the minister, you need to be together, you need to be talking about these things, because you're about to enter battle. So, brother, let's make it a point where you and I are going to take that up. We're not going to just miss services because we roll out of bed and we just don't feel like coming.

Bert McMahon, as I was talking about, good old Bert, 86 years old, he gets to Ann Arbor probably a full half hour or 45 minutes before anybody else. He only lives a couple of miles from me. 86 years old. He gets there so early that Mr. Kaczmalski owns the building. He's given Bert a key. So Bert can get in there and make his coffee. He sets up his video equipment and he's there. I've got 20 year olds who don't get to church like that. Bert's 86. So, what's the reason that we can't get to church and be there if this gentleman can?

Now, notice verse 3, where it says, And he shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint. Do not be afraid. Do not tremble or be terrified because of them. So, again, the message is important to the soldiers to be encouraged, to be heartened. Verse 4, For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.

Moses wants the people to realize God is never going to leave them or forsake them. Let's put a marker here and let's go over to Hebrews 13.

Hebrews 13.

Hebrews 13, verse 5, Where it says, Let your conduct be without covenants, be content with such things as you have. For he himself says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

When you're in a foxhole, you want a strong person next to you. I've mentioned on several occasions I was really taken with the miniseries Band of Brothers that came out a number of years ago. Talking about the 101st Airborne, the paratroopers who may follow them from their drop behind enemy lines on D-Day, and follow that group of men, Easy Company, all the way to the time where they captured the Eagle's Nest Hitler's headquarters.

Follow them for a full year. And of course, it chronicled their time in Bastogne, where they were completely surrounded, they were cut off, how they only had summer clothing, it was bitter freezing weather. There were times where some of the men only had one bullet, and they were surrounded by the German soldiers and so forth. And there was this exchange by one of the officers with one of the men. Or maybe a couple of the officers, I forget exactly how this went down. The idea was, they were happy that they had their comrades with them in those foxholes, because they were a special band of brothers.

To be a paratrooper, it was almost like being a Green Beret or an Army Ranger. You had special training, you had special qualifications, and special determination and commitment to be one of those guys. And when you wanted to battle, you wanted one of those guys next to you. And, brother, that's the same thing that we want as well. Only we know that when we go into battle, we've got God with us. We've got God with us. Verse 6, So we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me?

So, if I take the first four verses of Deuteronomy chapter 20, and I boil it down to a lesson to be learned, the lesson would be this. That is, allow God to fight our battles. Are you and am I, are we fighting our own battles with our own strength, with our own flesh? Are we relying upon that fleshly arm for strength? Sometimes we fail, we wonder why we're failing. Well, how much of the battle did we commit to God?

How many of the principles we see in the Scriptures are we applying in the battle? Are we going in just as human beings to be like lambs to the slaughter? We've got to have God behind us, and God in front of us, God all around us as we go into battle. I'm going to read from, if you wanted to, you could turn to Isaiah chapter 43, verses 1 and 2. I'm going to read this from a different translation.

I'm going to read this from the New Living Translation. It's a very fine translation, the New Living Translation, Isaiah 43, verses 1 and 2. But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you, O Israel, the one who formed you, who says, Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. The King James says, I have redeemed you. So we're talking about God's elect here, especially when we're thinking about New Testament era. The redeemed ones, you are the redeemed ones. I have called you by name, you are mine. So we're getting now the focus on us as New Covenant, New Testament believers.

Verse 2, When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. That's because we have God helping us, being there for us, fighting the battle. As I was preparing the message today, I came across another source. It's John Maxwell's work, Deuteronomy, mastering the Old Testament. In his work, he talks about holy war. Now, we hear about the jihadists all the time, almost every day in the news, where they're talking about how they're waging holy war against us, the infidels.

But, brother, make no mistake. God, we're looking here at Deuteronomy chapter 20. God wages holy war. What does that mean? What does that mean, not only to Old Testament Israel, what does that mean to New Testament youth? How are you? What principles do you and I get from waging holy war? John Maxwell has six different points here.

I'm not going to spend a long time with this, but just kind of go through these with you. Number one, a holy war was not undertaken without consulting God. You didn't go into battle without consulting God. Brethren, do you sometimes miss a day or two or three days? You don't pray to God, and yet you're going into battle? I'm going into battle?

Living our lives, all that we face at work and in the community, and so on and so forth? Here, a principle, a first principle of waging holy war, and you and I as Christians are doing just that. We're waging holy war against Satan and things of Satan. A holy war was not undertaken without consulting God. Let's take a look at 2 Samuel 5. 2 Samuel 5, verses 19-25. We're going to take a look, a glimpse at the life of David and how he used this principle in waging holy war. 2 Samuel 5, verses 19-25. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?

Now he's asking God, God, you're going to be there? If I go to battle, are you going to be there with me? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will doubtlessly deliver the Philistines into your hand. So you've got a communication thing going here. We do it through prayer, we do it through study. I'm sure God's doing it the same way with David here, verse 20.

So David went up to Baal P. Razim, and David defeated them there, and he said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of water. So David asked for God's help. He consulted God, and God heard him. Verse 21. And he left their emidges there, and David and his men carried them away. Then the Philistines went up again and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim. Therefore David inquired of the Lord. Notice, notice, David's going again to God. He's about to go into battle, but before he does so, he wants to get God's input. Do we do this before we go into battle in the world? You're going to face your boss, you're going to face this, you're going to face that.

Do we take time? Do we just begin our cars? We're driving to the location. But are we, you may be going to the doctor's office. It's going to be any number of things that's a battle in your life. But do we inquire of God, or do we just simply go?

And God's not a part of the picture. Therefore David inquired of the Lord and said, You shall not go up. Circle around behind them and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. So here God is giving him direction. Have you gone to God and won a direction? You're facing an enemy, you're facing a battle. Here God is saying, Here's... Just just don't walk up there. Go around. God is giving him advice. God is saying, Here's how you do it. Verse 24, And it shall be, When you hear the sound of marching in the top of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly.

He's telling the speed of which to move. For then the Lord will go out before you and strike the camp of the Philistines. And David did so as the Lord commanded him, and he drove back the Philistines from Geba, as far as Gizaar. So first, principle of waging holy war, number one, you first consult God. I want to combine the next several here, principles two, three, and four. But to do that, let's take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 23.

Because we're going to see these principles come, boom, boom, boom, here, right together. Deuteronomy chapter 23 verses 9 through 14.

Let me give you the principles that we'll read the section.

Principle for waging war number two is that God's army was consecrated. You're a Christian soldier. You're consecrated. You were there at Passover. Your life is special to God. So that's something to remember. Principle number three of waging holy war is that the soldiers were to remove anything from the camp that offended God. That's a principle of unleavened bread, isn't it? What is it in our life that offends God? Let's get rid of that. We don't want that hanging around us. We want God with us. And if we've got things hanging around us that are offending God, He won't be with us.

Principle number four, that God was always present in the camp.

Brethren, can you and I put a sign in our house? I mean, some people have this, but is it really true that this house is governed by God?

As for me and my house, we will follow God. As for me and my house, we will obey God. People have those kinds of signs. But is it really meaningful? Is it true? Is your house known as a house that follows God?

Those are all principles of waging holy war. Let's take a look at this now. Deuteronomy 23, starting in verse 9. When the army goes out against your enemies, keep yourself from every wicked thing.

You're consecrated, and you remove anything from you that's wicked. If there's any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, but he shall be when evening comes, and he shall wash with water. When the sun sets, he may come into the camp.

Now, obviously, you know what's being talked about here? We're talking about being clean. Are you and I spiritually clean as Christian soldiers?

Verse 14. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp shall be holy. They may see no unclean thing among you and turn away from sin.

I have to ask myself, and perhaps you can ask yourself, how many of the troubles of life have I gone through? Because my camp wasn't holy and dedicated to God.

How many times have I, you know, stubbed my toe spiritually, gone through this trial or that, because I was like Achan, and I took the accursed thing and I stuck it under my tent.

Which is either in Joshua 6 or 7. I forget what it was. But, you know, the guy says, don't take anything. He took something. He took some piece of gold or something. He stuck it under his tent.

And because of that, the army met with failure, met with defeat.

How clean is your camp? How clean is mine? How clean is your house? How clean is mine? And I'm not talking about where you've got breadcrumbs on the floor. I'm talking about, spiritually speaking, principle number 5 of waging holy war.

That God will send terror into the enemy.

He will aid you by hindering the enemy.

Deuteronomy 2, verse 25.

This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you among the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.

You know, years ago when I was in college, I read a book by Hans J. Morgenthau, who was a standard work of the time. It was called Politics Among Nations.

It was a very interesting book. And one of the principles that Mr. Morgenthau pointed out was that perceived power is power.

If your enemy thinks you're so strong, he won't attack you.

We played that up in the Cold War with the turns thing.

If your enemy thinks you've got too many atomic weapons and this and that and the other, they'll leave you alone. If they think you're weak, they're going to pick on you. Perceived power. And here we've got something where the enemies of God, they're not willing to perceive the nation of Israel power. They're going to see it. It's not just a perception, it's a reality. It's a reality and a perception, all combined into one.

So that's God's part of the waging holy war. Lastly, principle number six. The spoils of war were gods. The spoils of the holy war were gods.

We are gods. God has rescued us from Satan. He's rescued us from society. We are his. We are bought and paid with a price. With a sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And because of that, we are Christian soldiers. And we should be using these principles of waging holy war. Okay, let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 20 and go into the second section of the chapter.

This is verses 5 through 9. And here in this section, verses 5 through 9, we've got the exemptions from military service.

Now, as we go through these exemptions, with each one, brethren, we can understand each one. And for most of these, we would say, well, what's the issue? What's the problem? And in some cases, there really isn't a problem. We'll cover that as we go through each of these exemptions. But when you take a look at them as a group, what God is getting at here was, He wanted His army to be totally committed. And there were various things in people's minds and hearts that would not allow them to be fully committed as a soldier. And if they were going to be fully committed, God says, I don't want you in my army. Because once again, it's not about the size of the army. God doesn't want the largest possible army. He wants the best army. He wants the best army. And commitment was absolutely necessary. How committed am I? How committed are you?

What stands in our way of really giving ourselves totally and fully to God? Only each of us in our own hearts and minds can answer that question.

But we need to be totally committed. And here we've got an excellent example. So let's go into this. Chapter 20, verse 5.

So one of the exemptions was that a man had a new home.

Is there something wrong with being a homeowner? Well, I hope not. I'm a homeowner. Most of you own your own homes. So there's no difficulty here. But again, the overarching principle is God didn't want people worrying about their home. He wanted people thinking about, I'm a soldier. I've got the work of a soldier to do.

We move to verse 6. What man is there also who has planted a vineyard? And has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, let's see him die in battle, and another man eat it. Now, here we've got another exemption. This is for employment. Is there something wrong with having a job? Is there something wrong with being a farmer? Of course not. I mean, what's the point of having an army that's going to go out and lay waste to the enemy if when you get home there's no food on the shelf? Right? But again, God is basically saying with this group of people, if your mind is too much on work, you don't want to do the work of being a soldier, then please go do your other work. I want people here who are going to be soldiers, and that's first and foremost on their mind. And again, God doesn't need great numbers. He needs great commitment, not great numbers. Verse 7. What man is there who has betrothed a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man marry her? You know, back in Bible times, I don't know how much this principle was applied, actually done, but if you were going to marry a woman and you married the woman, then you would take a year off. That sounds pretty nice. I think when I got married, I took a day off. That was my honeymoon, what a day! Driving back home from Pennsylvania back in those days. But, you know, again, there's nothing wrong with marriage. Marriage is a beautiful thing. God created marriage! But again, the overarching principle is, what is your mind on? Your mind is on your lovely bride. Your mind is not on being a soldier. Verse 8. And the officers will speak further to the people saying, What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his heart, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.

Now, this gets a little... this is not politically correct. God's saying, if you're a coward, if you're a fraidy cat, I don't need you. Go home! Go home! I don't need you. You're afraid. And notice the end of verse 8 there. Lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart. God says here, in this specific example explicitly, that cowardice is a spiritual issue.

You know, so many times, brethren, you and I, when we think of heroism, we think of bravery. We think of maybe World War II or Vietnam or Korea or something like that, where men with guns and knives, they attack an enemy position. We don't do that, obviously, in the Church. But can you show courage? Absolutely. Absolutely. Some of you in this room have shown tremendous courage. You have been told you've got cancer.

And you looked that in the eye, and you overcame that. You've gone to an employer. Maybe you've got a wife and kids, or you're a woman, you've got a husband and kids, and you need income. But you go to a prospective employer and say, I can't work from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. That takes courage. And even when you and I have been in the privacy of our own lives, no one's around, and Satan tempts you to think certain things. And you say, I'm not going to knuckle under. That takes courage. The frady cat just knuckles under and says, well, you know, I just don't have character. Let's just give in. So, you know, what kind of Christian are you and I? Are we the kind that refuses to knuckle under? When Satan is trying to spiritually torture us to have us do things that are not in our best interest spiritually by sinning, do we just give up the ghost, so to speak, and go his way? Or do we knuckle down and say, no, that's courage. So God wants His people to be courageous. And now notice verse 9. And so it shall be when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. So after all the exemptions have been made, and all the different ones who don't have the dedication to be a soldier, after they're all gone, then we make leaders, we make military leaders of those who have qualified. If you're going to lead the men, you better be committed like the men. Committed even more so than the men. Now again, I look at this and I ask myself as a pastor of two churches, how committed am I? How much do I lead? You as a member of the church need to ask yourself, I am a future king and a future priest in the world tomorrow. How committed am I to having the courage and to getting all these impediments out of my life and just viewing the Kingdom of God and staying with the task at hand? So to take verses 5 through 9, if I want to boil that down to a lesson to be learned. The lesson I learned here is the lesson of commitment and courage. Those are essential in battle. Commitment and courage. You don't have to be a Green Beret or an Army Ranger to be courageous. There doesn't have to be any noise. You can be sitting in your living room. You can be driving in your car and you can be courageous. Because you're refusing to knuckle under to an alien being who wants you to be like him. And you refuse to be like that alien creature. You don't want anything to do with Satan. He may pound you, he may spiritually torture you with all sorts of thoughts and different things, even in your life, like Satan came after Job. But you're not going to knuckle under that pressure. That's courageous. That's courage.

2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. God has not given us a spirit of fear. If we've got his Holy Spirit, we can be courageous. 2 Timothy chapter 31 and verse 6. 2 Timothy chapter 31 and verse 6. For it says, Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear to be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you. He's like that paratrooper of the 101st Airborne Division. He's the best. The best of the best. Eclipsing anything that humans can even think of as being good. He is with us. Notice what it says at the end of verse 6. He will not leave you nor forsake you. That's quoted again in Hebrews chapter 13, isn't it? We read that earlier today. It's an Old Testament. It's a New Testament principle. Let's move on to the last section of the chapter. This is verses 10 through 20. In here, verses 10 through 20, we've got three strategies for conquest. Three strategies for conquest. What is your strategy to overcome whatever it is you're facing in your life? Do you have a strategy? Have you talked with God about what your strategy may be? The other day I was speaking with a member in another church area, a member of the United Church of God, but in another church area. The member was making comment that they like to fast at the first Friday of every month. It's part of their personal strategy. They like to fast the first Friday of every month. Now, I don't know if that means from Friday's sunset to Saturday's sunset. I didn't really inquire about that. But I was impressed with the fact that here's a person who's got... Here's part of the strategy. I'm going to fast once a month. That's part of my strategy. I need that as part of my strategy. We talk about our economic portfolio. This is part of this individual's portfolio. I'm going to fast once a month. Knowing this person as I know this person, a member in God's Church, another church area here in Michigan, this person has really overcome quite a bit. I can't help but think that the reason this person has overcome, as happens to be a lady, is because of the fact that she's fasting on a regular basis. She sees the value of that. That was part of her strategy. Let's take a look at the first strategy we have here. This is verses 10 through 15. This was a strategy for conquering distant enemies. By distant enemies, we're talking about enemies who are outside the Promised Land. Any enemy that was outside the confines, the borders of the Promised Land, that's what we're talking about here. Chapter 20, verse 10.

The first thing you do is you make an offer of peace. Now, we as human beings, left to our own devices, the first thing we would do is nuke somebody. We would just knock them out of the picture. We would give them a sucker punch. I mean, they're down. They're down for the count. But, no, God says, don't do that. God says, and it's always been God's desire, we see a passover. Peace is what God desires first. Verse 11.

Now, God is not a politically correct fella. He doesn't care about political correctness. This is an aspect of control. Let's be clear about this. God says, you know, I want you, if you're going to go to war for these people, I don't want you to be weak and say, well, you know, you're under... No, you're going to make it a point. You're making a point that you are under the great God Jehovah. You're not going to turn around in a month or six months or a year, and you're not going to stab us in the back and come after us. You're going to be a good, vassal state to us. And this is from God's perspective. This is what God wants.

Now, if the city will not make peace with you but makes war against you, then you shall be siege it. And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. Every man who draws breath dies. Again, in our society, we say that's not politically correct. But what is God's thinking here? God's thinking. It's like unleavened bread. You don't leave a little bit of sin behind. You leave these men behind, and they are going to foment rebellion. They're going to come after you. They're going to start talking about their gods, and they're going to lure you away. God says, I know you. You've got that proclivity. You've got that weakness.

Slaughter them all. Verse 14, But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, and all that spoils, in this case, says, you shall plunder for yourself, and you shall eat the enemies plundered, which the Lord your God gives you. So in this specific case, God says, you know, this plunder could be yours. The women in this particular case, you don't need to fear them. You're a great distance away. Whatever God's reasoning is, He says here that don't kill the women, the little ones, the livestock. Just leave them be. So that's the strategy for the nations that were outside the boundaries of the Promised Land. A second strategy was the strategy for the enemy living within the boundaries of the Promised Land. We've got this in verses 16 through 18. Let's take a look at this in verse 16. But of the cities of the peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive. Nothing that breathes. Again, God's not being politically correct here. Man, woman, child, animal, they all are to be slaughtered, every last one. You shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, and it goes through all these various tribes here, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. Now, again, what is God teaching us here? Is God just a...is this the harsh God of the Old Testament? We've got the harsh God of the Old Testament, we've got the loving God Jesus and the new. No, this is Jesus talking. The God of the Old Testament, this is Jesus talking. But what does Jesus...what do you want us to understand here? He has a long view. The long view is, yeah, you're going to slaughter these people because they are so wicked, they will not repent, and they will do nothing but spiritual harm to you. And Jesus Christ realizes, you know, there's a point in my Holy Day plan where I'm going to resurrect the people who never knew me. I will give these people a chance, but we're going to erase them from the earth right now. We're going to erase them from the earth right now. But later on, I'm going to resurrect them, and you will teach them. So they will have their chance at salvation. And, brethren, again, if you think this is something that's totally odd, think about Noah and the Ark. God had to destroy everybody but eight human beings. Why? Because their wickedness was so great. God realized they're so bent, they're so twisted, they're so warped. They are beyond repair right now. I've got to place them in a different world, in a different environment, in a different setting. And once I do that, I'll work with them. So God slaughtered every human being with the exception of Noah and his family. God's not being heartless there. He's actually being merciful there. Because they were miserable people living apart from God's truth, God's way of life. And so that was, you know, the big thing here was the religious aspect of it. Verse 18, "'lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.'" You know, there's a principle, brethren, the Jews understood very clearly. Let's take a look at Genesis, chapter 15, for a moment. I've discussed this with you in times gone by, but it's been a while. Genesis, chapter 15.

Genesis, chapter 15, verse 16.

"'But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.'" The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. It's of God is saying, you know, the Amorites, they've got a mug. And in this mug, all their sins have been poured into this mug, but the mug is not totally full to the brim. And so God says, because their mug is not full to the brim, I will give them more time to repent. I will give them more slack. But there comes a time when that mug is full. That time came in Noah's day. The time is coming at the end of the age with the return of Jesus Christ. There comes a time where God says, you know, your iniquities, the cup is full, and now the price has got to be paid. But just God says the price has got to be paid. Same concept. Let's take Genesis 15 here and add it to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Then I may mention the Jews understood this whole concept. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 14 through 16. 1 Thessalonians 2, 14. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea and Christ Jesus. So we're talking about, you know, the homeland where the Jews are. For you also suffered the same things from your own contraband. For you have suffered at the hands of the Jews, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us. The Jews have done this. And they do not please God in our contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles. Now, why? For forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that the Gentiles may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. So you had... Now, the church was almost altogether Jewish. They were saying all the Jews were sinful people and awful people, but there were those who persecuted the church. And they didn't want Paul and some of the rest of the apostles to speak to the Gentiles, because if they spoke to the Gentiles, the Gentiles would repent. And if the Gentiles repented, then they could toss out that mug of sin. No! Don't talk to those Gentiles. Let the sins keep on piling in there and piling in there, and God's going to destroy them. That was the thought. That's a lovely thought for what are supposed to be God's people. The Jews. These are God's people, please. Let me see some other folks. And so that is the concept there, and that's why God had that... When you're destroying these nations within the Promised Land, you wipe them out. Pure and simple. You wipe them out. Just as Noah had, this is what God did during the Noah's Day. Last strategy, strategy number three, going back now to Deuteronomy chapter 20. You know, there are those people who say God's white. There are those people who say God's black. But you know what? We're going to see here in Deuteronomy chapter 20. God's green. God is green. Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 19. And when you beseech a city for a long time while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. If you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man's food.

Here you've got a third strategy, and that strategy was conservation. Conservation. Verse 20, only the trees which you know are trees for food, only the trees which you know are not trees for food, you may destroy and cut down to build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued. So God says, now, you've got some trees here, and there's nothing growing on you. Don't use the tree for food of any nature. Then, find, use that for your siege works. Use that for your weaponry and all that. Notice, until the city is subdued. Then, once the city is subdued, we want you to take care of things. When God created the garden, what did he give? He said, here's the garden of Eden. Take care of the garden. Nurture the garden, and so forth. And make sure that things grow, and things are growing well. It's always been God's strategy. Strategy of conservation. Strategy of conservation. Okay, lastly, lessons to be learned from this last section, verses 10 through 20. A number of lessons I see here. The first one is, God's intent is always to seek peace. God's intent is always to seek peace. Is that our intent? Or is my intent, nukem first, ask questions later? You know, there was a fellow who used to attend here. He said, well, you know, we'll just kill them all, and God could sort out the rest.

You know, that's not, that's not, you know, he was joking when he would say things like that. But that's not what God wants. He wants us to seek peace. Matthew 5, verse 9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are the peacemakers. Wayne quoted one of the verses I was going to turn to. I don't mean to. Wayne quoted it for us. Psalm 34, verse 14.

Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.

Seek peace and pursue it.

A second lesson learned from that section, that last section, there, verses 10 through 20, is that God will judge every evil deed in person.

Sometimes we go through life, and we see the horrors that are happening. And we say, why does God allow this? Well, God will intervene. God will have His time with everybody. I mean, right now in the news, there's this horrendous thing taking place. What is it? Nigeria? Where this terrorist came into a school, kidnapped 276 little girls.

And those little girls are being sold to wives or whatever, for as little as $12.

And so the various nations now are banding together, trying to hunt this terrorist fella down for what he's done. Now, that's a grievous thing in this country. We've got 100,000 young people who are sold every day, I think it is. 100,000. Or maybe 7,000 in a year. 100,000 in a year. So this whole idea of slavery, white, black, you name the color, that's not gone away. That's still very much a blight in our society. There's coming a day when God's going to resurrect these people or deal with these people and say, you know what? Let's you and I sit down and talk about what you did.

And maybe God will show them, look how you wrecked this poor little girl's life. Or this young man, look what you did to him. Or that family. You know, that people won't get away. God will have his dealings with people. John 5, verses 28 and 29.

John 5, verse 28. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming, which all who are in the graves will hear his voice, verse 29.

And come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

You know, if people simply resist God even after they've been resurrected and taught the right way, our loving God, who loves unconditionally, our loving God will march those individuals into the lake of fire.

Because that's a loving thing to do. If you don't, you just have another Satan on your hands, and God doesn't want that. Third lesson to be learned from that last section we went through in Deuteronomy, verses 10-20, is that God demands conservation. God demands conservation.

They were to dress and to keep the garden. I'm not going to turn there in Genesis 2, verse 15. We need to dress and keep what we have.

You know, if we've got a little plot, you know, we may be able to have a little garden, we've got a little bit of grass to mow.

We don't want to be known as the people. Oh, yeah, there's that Christian from United Church of God. I wonder how many jalopies are in all that grass there in the front yard. Maybe there's a washing machine we can rescue from that area. You know?

Let's turn to Romans chapter 8. This will be the last scripture we turn to.

Notice how even the world looks at... You know, God is as if the world can talk. Notice what God says, how the world would respond regarding conservation.

Romans chapter 8, verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creation, earnestly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

The creation is waiting for the return of Christ and for you to be resurrected to be a spirit being.

Verse 20, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly.

The creation was something beautiful in the Garden of Eden. But because of him was subjected in hope, because of the creation also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

If the earth would speak, it would say, I'm looking forward to the day when the sons of God rule everything and the whole earth will be a Garden of Eden again.

So, brethren, today we took a look at Deuteronomy chapter 20. Take a look at warfare, holy warfare, God's style. And I'm hoping that we were able to learn some lessons that apply in our lives today.