The Behavior of Israel
Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 12 14 and 18
In our world of today the existence of our Creator God is denied and this is what skeptics do, but this is simply a copout.
We see that most of the nation of Israel had the same thought. They either asked for more proof or they asked for a clearer proof.
In order for Israel to do this, they had to deny the things God had already shown them and He had shown them many miracles and many other things!
All those ten plagues shown to Pharaoh, the crossing on dry land at the Red Sea, the water from the rock, the manna, and the many other miracles God had shown them.
It is the same today!
If we used the evidence God has already given to us, we would conclude that God does certainly exists and what we see did not come about by some accident.
These Jews had witnessed clear demonstrations of the power of God!
Just like today, they simply tossed that evidence away and said no evidence does exists.
This is the way of the unbeliever!
They believe what they want to and slander everyone who disagrees with them!
We see this in our world today and we see it in the politics of today.
When we mention the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus, they say it was impossible that it took place.
Even today virgins can have children with the use of artificial insemination.
When we mention the parting of the Red Sea again, they say it was impossible.
When the destruction of Pharaoh and his mighty army is mentioned, they say it did not take place, but you can still find the remnants of Pharaohs army on the floor of the Red Sea.
All the things of Creation and the Prophets are all treated this same way!
Doing these things means to them that the Bible is a book of fables.
The Bible tells us of a God who is a friend of humanity, and the world does not want such a God!
The Bible teaches us of the faithfulness of our Holy God and since this cannot be seen in humanity, then it certainly must not exist at all.
It takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe in a Creator yet, these people would rather believe a lie just so they do not have to acknowledge a Creator.
Just like Israel, the world has allowed such disbelief and deception to rule in this world, where they cannot prove anything, they say they believe.
Responsibility requires two things:
1) Sufficient information
2) The ability to obey
If there is any possibility that God exist, and He does, then we had better be obedient to His Word!
Hesitating to acknowledge the existence of God, is then a criminal action toward our children and grandchildren deserving of severe punishment which God has said will certainly take place.
There are two great pillars on which the revelation of God must stand:
A) Miracles. Impossible to humans yet not to God.
B) Prophecies. Not one prophecy has failed up to today’s history and the Word of God will always be found to be true.
We worship the same God as does these Jews!
God simply told Moses, these are the things they will do, when they go into the Promised Land to possess it.
*Deu 12:1 These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.
Deu 12:2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
Deu 12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
We know of the Ten Commandments given to Israel, we call these the Moral Laws, but there were in fact 613 commandments given to these Hebrew people and God simply says for as long as you are on this Promised Land you will observe these statutes and judgments.
Some of those they never did!
This was a commandment!
Today people worship everything from animals to gold and some even carve out their own gods and they worship them in as many ways as they can and much of that worship includes perverted sexual expressions.
Those who say there are no gods and who go another way simply worship themselves as little gods while making demands upon all other people.
When man is worshipped, then it leads to the worship of science, the worship of medicine, the worship of business, the worship of government, the worship of sports figures, and today the big thing is the worship of “power”.
The greatest downfall of these things is the short lifespan of humanity and as they die off something new will always creep in to make itself known.
Problems arise when we become enemies of each other and meet in this battlefield called life!
When we understand these things, then we will understand God’s Judgment.
All those places of false worship were to be destroyed because only Jehovah was to be worshiped and this has not changed today.
We can read about all these laws from chapter 12 through chapter 26 in this same Book of Deuteronomy.
To worship Jehovah begins with “obedience” and the world and much of the Church has forgotten this first rule of worship.
There is no worship without complete obedience to the Word of God!
This is not a brief time event, it is for the rest of our lives and why should we think God changes, when the same Bible says He does not ever change.
The same Bible still says that the Word of God is never going to change!
Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
True worship means we are incredibly careful to be obedient to the Word of God.
To keep all His commandments.
To keep all His laws.
To keep all His regulations.
To keep all of His statutes
This way we never have to guess if we are doing right, if we are obedient to the Word of God!
Deu 26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
These Jews were to utterly destroy all the places of false worship.
We can understand this when we realize the confusion that would come from a worship service that took place in a house that once taught false worship and blasphemy.
Even if we knew that we were worshipping the true God, those on the outside could not be sure!
These places had to be destroyed no matter how ornate they were.
Any false worship is an affront to Jehovah God!
All symbols of false worship were to also be destroyed.
1) So, for the Church we must understand that we must reject all false worship.
2) We must never compromise with the false worship of the world.
3) We must have nothing to do with “idolatry” and false worship anywhere in this world.
This is what God demands and we can readily see where so many of the mainline denominations have failed in this early commandment of God and these things will never change.
So there is no such thing as Chrislam!
There are no other roads to Heaven but by the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ!
Deu 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deu 11:17 And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
Psa 81:9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
We serve a Holy God, and we must make ourselves to be holy with His help.
*Deu 14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
The basic meaning of “holiness” is to be “set apart” or “separation from the ways of the world”.
If we see God as our Father, then why in the world would we want to do things that He is opposed to?
God is absolutely distinct from all His creation and is exalted above them in infinite majesty.
Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Since we know these things and believe these things, then why don’t we act like it?
Lev 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
It is like we are making demands of our Holy God to be allowed to live as we wish and then be accepted into His world.
This is not going to happen!
We must strive to be holy as is our God!
The Holiness of God is the moral and ethical standard by which we must live!
God sets the laws we are to follow, and it is He that is the standard in obedience.
God will not break one of His own laws and neither should we!
*Deu 18:13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
Deu 18:14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Psychics, fortune tellers, palm-readers, diviners, are no more than self-proclaimed prophets of the New Age movement.
Almost everyone that lives want to know more about the future and use these charlatans to try to find out their future.
They want the blessings of all these false gods they have heard of all their lives.
Many of them have now heard of Jehovah and they want the blessings of Jehovah without making a commitment to Him.
Well guess what, Jehovah tells the entire world about a future so grand that no one wants to believe it.
They think it should be given to them freely and it is!
The one thing God demands is a commitment and the world does not want to commit to Him.
They want only good things to happen to them as they live their lives, but guess what life is not fair!
They want more and not less.
They want everything done their way without making a commitment.
This is not the way the Lord Jesus Christ works so, much of the world seeks out the occult world and its promises.
To Israel a Prophet of God was the actual voice of God and this was certainly true of God’s true prophets.
Moses was an incredibly old man at this time and the children of Israel were worried that Moses would soon die, and they did not know what would become of them.
We should be aware that God appointed each true Prophet, but the Priests were selected according to the line of the tribe of Levi.
The job of the Prophet was to speak only the words God gave them to speak and the test of that prophet was the fulfillment of those Words of God!
The prophet spoken of in verse fifteen would be the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as Moses was the founder of God’s Kingdom with Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ would be the founder of the Church.
Moses was the mediator between God and the children of Israel, and our Lord and Savior is the Mediator between God and the Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew from the tribe of Judah.
We should understand that God cannot communicate with humanity because of our sin.
He will communicate with us by and through His own Son Jesus!
*Deu 18:16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
We should clearly understand that God will never fail to speak directly to those who love Him.
This is the greatest purpose of the Bible, the direct Word of God to His Church!
We have the complete Bible and there will never be another book added or chapter or even one verse.
We have the complete Bible, and we also have our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ and we also know He will never change, and He cannot die so He has an unchanging Priesthood.
There will be no one else beyond the Lord Jesus Christ!
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
The Bible will not change, and the Lord Jesus has already warned those who would change the Word of God in any way!
When the Lord Jesus Christ stepped upon the scene in Israel the religious leaders of that were still looking for the fulfillment of this Scripture!
John the Baptist emphatically told them it was not he, but it was Jesus who was the Lamb of God.
Philip declared it was Jesus.
Most all the people who knew the Scriptures at that time, said Jesus was that promised prophet.
Jesus Christ declared that He was that promised Prophet.
Joh 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
Joh 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Joh 5:47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Jesus Christ claimed that He fulfilled the requirements of that promised Prophet.
Joh 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
Joh 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Even Peter declared that the Lord Jesus was that Prophet.
And Stephen at his execution, boldly proclaimed that the lord Jesus Christ was that promised prophet.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
If we believe the Bible as we say we do, we will believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Redeemer, and He will soon return to take us home!
Amen
LESSONS IN GOD'S WORD 