Introduction

I have been looking forward to doing a series on Deuteronomy for a long time. This is such a foundational book - a book that is quoted by the New Testament more than any other Old Testament book. And though I normally start a series by giving a broad overview of the book that I am preaching through, from my perspective, I've already done that in the Bible Survey series. So if you want to see the broad overview of the book of Deuteronomy, you can either read the printed version at Biblical Blueprints,¹ or the audio of that overview on the Dominion Covenant Church website.² I think reading or listening to that sermon from 2019 will give you a good idea of how the book as a whole maps out and the inter-relationship of all of the parts.

And since it's a big book, Gary and I will occasionally interrupt this series with other sermons.

The role of Moses in Deuteronomy

But I will briefly mention a couple of introductory issues this morning – first, the role of Moses. He was not just an ecclesiastical leader and a civil ruler. He was much more than that.

Moses was the mediator of the covenant (Gal. 3:19-20) representing both God (vv. 1-6) and Israel (v. 6)

Later Scriptures (like Galatians 3:19-20) make it crystal clear that Moses was acting as a mediator of the covenant with Israel, and as such stood as a type, or picture , or foreshadowing of Jesus. And you can see his mediatorial function in these verses (at least hinted at), and you will see this role that he plays much more clearly in later passages in the book. But even here, we see Moses acting as a mediator who represented God in verses 1-6 and who gave God's very words, and yet at the same time acted as a representative of the people in verse 6, where he says, "The LORD our God spoke to us." So he includes himself among the people. So he represented God to the people and he represented the people to God. He was a mediator of the covenant. Of course, Galatians says that Moses was not an adequate mediator, so in Deuteronomy 18:15-22 Moses prophesied about the need for the Perfect Mediator, Jesus, to come. Deuteronomy 18 says:

Deut. 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, "Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die." 17 And the LORD said to me: "What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him."

That was a prophecy of Jesus – the ultimate Mediator between God and men.

As a type of Christ, he spoke both Law (vv. 1a, 3b) and Gospel (v. 8b)

And as a type of Christ, Moses spoke both law and Gospel. The "words" (that verse 1 talks about) are declared to be God's laws in verse 3, where he says, "Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him as commandments to them." OK? So that's the law. But the Gospel, that is so richly exemplified in this book, is at least hinted at in verse 8 where he speaks of them benefiting from the unmerited blessings that "the LORD swore to your fathers - to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - to give to them and to their descendants after them."

I won't say more about that here since it is so clearly stated later in the book. But I wanted you to at least see a couple of the many seeds that God plants in our minds in these first eight verses.

From Mountain to Mission

And I’ll give you one more introductory issue. These verses also give the first hint in this book that having received everything that they needed on Mount Sinai, and having believed the Gospel (unlike the previous generation), they were now ready to go on God's mission of conquest - a conquest that also foreshadows in physical form the spiritual conquest given to the church via the Great Commission. So it typologically foreshadows the Great Commission. Israel is now standing on the threshold of the Promised Land. And by the way, this idea of the conquest foreshadowing the Great Commission is not controversial. It's fairly standard stuff.

After forty years of wandering, the people are poised to enter the inheritance that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This passage is not just a historical account but is also a call to faith, obedience, and forward movement into God’s purposes.

But it is also anticipating the need to completely replace a pagan culture with a radically Biblical culture. And since we face some of the same pagan cultural issues in America that they faced when they entered Canaan, I think God's admonitions to Israel are much needed admonitions to us today. In any case, these verses just give us introductory hints to the things that will be coming later in the book. So I think in its own right, these first eight verses stand as a fantastic introduction to the book. They actually provide fourteen foundational presuppositions.

Moses begins with fourteen presuppositions needed for success

So yeah, I'm not following a proper homiletical outline. This sermon would receive a bad grade in seminary homiletics class. But I don't you want to miss any of the cool stuff in this paragraph by putting homiletical restrictions on myself. So bear with me. This is more teaching than preaching.

Christianity is founded upon God's propositional truth ("words" - vv. 1a, 3)

The first presupposition is that Christianity is founded upon God's propositional truth. I don't think there is a more fundamental presupposition than this one. Verse 1 begins, "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel." Christianity is first and foremost about God's Words to us. It's a word-based religion where every Christian can test everything that a preacher says against what God's word has objectively said. It puts in check the tyranny of the pastor since the pastor is subject to God's Word. The church is really not supposed to go beyond God's Word.

And someone might say, "But Moses was just a man, and human words can be fallible." But Moses was graced by God with the gift of prophecy, and every word he spoke when he was inspired was indeed God Himself speaking. You can see that doctrine of inspiration all through this book. So verse 3 clarifies that this book of Deuteronomy is going to be words that are "according to all that the LORD had given him as commandments to them." So it is both/and. It is God’s words communicated through human language.

Now, commentators point out that the Hebrew word for "words" (dĕbārîm), can refer to a single word, a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, the entire book of Deuteronomy, and the Bible as a whole, since the entire Bible is called "the Word of God." And what did Jesus say about the entire Bible? He prayed to the Father saying, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth."

2000 years ago, a skeptic by the name of Pontius Pilate sarcastically asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). He had seen so many contrary claims to truth that he was skeptical when Jesus Christ dogmatically claimed that He had an objective source of truth (John 18:37). Pilate was skeptical. And we have to admit – in this day and age there is much to be skeptical about. The world abounds in claims to truth that let us down, from the slick salesman who says his product will last to the politician who promises prosperity to all citizens. Yeah, right! We should be skeptical about the conflicting and constantly changing truth claims of politicians, economists, psychologists and other social theorists. But I would say that even science has not given us any more certainty than Pilate had. This point has been cogently made by both secular philosophers of science like Thomas Kuhn,³ who brilliantly showed that even science is constantly changing. I really enjoyed Kuhn's book. It’s a must-read book. And I've read a couple of recent essays showing that a whole new scientific paradigm is poised to overthrow some of the foundations of Einsteinian physics. Whether that happens or not, who knows?

But there are also Christian books that help us to not treat science as absolute truth on the level that the Scripture is. And along these lines, I believe that Gordon Clark’s book, The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God⁴ is a must read, as it shows very cogently how nothing but the Bible is infallible. And you might say, "Well, math is." But the Bible gives us the foundations of math. In any case, dogmatic claims of science and medicine keep changing from generation to generation. But as 1 Peter 1:25 says, "The word of the LORD endures forever." Praise God!

But back to the main point, Christianity is first and foremost about words. Christianity is not just feelings (which can be fleeting - however wonderful they are), or liturgy (which comes and goes from week to week), or right living (as important as that is, but it is right living based on God's words), or prayer (since even pagans pray). Christianity would be nothing without God's revelation of His inspired Words in the Bible. If you can't back up a claim from the Bible, you can't claim that it is Christianity. So Moses is laying the groundwork for showing the authoritative standard that he is about to give to the people. The Bible is an incredible gift. It is the main protection of your liberties.

We need to understand that Christianity is rooted in history (vv. 1ff)

But all of these verses also show that Christianity is rooted in history. And you might say, "Christianity?!! What are you talking about? This is Judaism!" And my answer is, "No, no, no, no. Judaism was an abandonment of the Old Testament restrictions. Jesus showed how the Judaism of the Pharisees departed from the Old Testament, and departed rather radically since they substituted human words and human traditions that can't be found anywhere in the Bible, and actually contradicted the Bible." Judaism is not founded on the Bible. It is founded on the unbiblical traditions of the elders. And I've talked to Jewish rabbis who admit that that is exactly the case. From our perspective, Judaism is a false religion that failed to heed the admonition in Deuteronomy 5:32, which commnands us to keep all that God had commanded and to not add to it or turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left. God has only one people, and they were all saved by the same Gospel of Jesus and all followed the same law. And this law was intended for their good. Deuteronomy 32 says,

46 Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.

Praise God for His words! Did you know that Christ considered Deuteronomy to be so important that he quoted from Deuteronomy more times than from any other book of the Bible? He did. Indeed, it is one of the most frequently cited Old Testament books in the New Testament as a whole (being alluded to nearly 200 times.) You might consider it boring to read all the name places that they traveled, from Sinai, to the wilderness, to Suph, Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. You might have wondered what relevance each of those stops on their journey might have for us, but it shows us that the Bible is not an isolated tablet from the sky. It enters history, penetrates history, and transforms history. Unlike Mormonism and other religions that make fictional histories, Christianity shows the good, bad, and the ugly of its people without varnishing the story. And that is what makes it so practical. By giving an unvarnished history of Israel's rebellion and wanderings, sinners can identify with the Bible and find answers to the issues that they are facing. Now, granted, history is not the foundation for our faith - the Bible alone is. But the Bible gives us an infallible history through which to make sense of His commands and His gospel and know that both apply to the real world. It gives us concrete examples of how to live out the law by grace. We need to understand that Christianity is rooted in history and changes history.

God works through leaders (vv. 1b, 8ff)

The next presupposition is that God works through human leaders. And some people might think, "How sad! Human leaders are messed up." That is true, but God makes checks and balances to deal with even those mess-ups. Leaders mentioned in this chapter include Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the numerous leaders mentioned in verses 9 and following. We will look at this more when we get to those verses.

But what kind of leaders does God work through? He works through humble leaders who depend upon him. And the more leadership a man is given, the more humble he needs to be. Numbers 12:3 says of Moses, "Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth." Wow! If humility is a key to leadership, I don't think I need to comment on modern politics to know that we are in deep trouble. Pride is rampant in the political arena. We need to make sure that our pride is crucified within leadership of the church. And no, that's not an invitation to go whip Gary and me and the deacons every day. But if pride wells up in our hearts, it should be a red flag to you.

God's Word is the domain of everyone (not just the experts) and everyone has a part to play in God's economy ("all Israel" v. 1c)

The next presupposition is that God's Word is the domain of everyone (not just the experts) and everyone has a part to play in God's economy. Verse 1 says, "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel..." In some religions, only the priests had access to their god's laws, and all the people were dependent on the priests, and their knowledge of that religion. But our true God wanted the leaders to empower the people to live out the Bible in every area of life. He wanted the leaders to pass on their knowledge of the Bible to the people. In Deuteronomy 6:6-9 God told everyone,

Deut. 6:6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

God's point was that the Bible was supposed to affect all that we thought, said, and did in our private lives, at home, and in culture. God wanted Israel to know that they were "people of the Book." That's what Christians used to be known for, but the average church today sadly downplays deep study of the Bible. And because Christians don't know how to live out the Bible in every area of life, they fail to see how important they are to the local and national issues. Everyone was instructed in this chapter because everyone has a role to play in God's economy - if that economy is to function smoothly as God wanted it to function. Christianity is not a religion of the experts. It's a religion in which even the least of the brothers and sisters is taken into account.

We need to learn from God's wilderness preparation (vv. 1d, 2-3)

The next presupposition is that we need to learn from God's wilderness preparation. Verse 1 goes on to say, "on this side of the Jordon in the wilderness." And then verses 2-3 outline some of those wilderness wanderings that God made them go through. God sometimes puts the church (and individuals) through dry times so that they will learn to value the rivers of water that flow from His throne and not take those for granted. It's when you are spiritually dry that you appreciate the waters of God's grace the most. And this book will have much to say about God's use of tough times to train his people to be powerful soldiers of the cross. The wilderness wanderings were kind of like a boot camp to train the next generation to be soldiers. Don't despise the times God has you in the wilderness. Make good use of that time to grow. I think the Lord has helped me to grow a great deal through the health issues that I have been experiencing the last few years. I can honestly say that my bad health issues have been good for my soul - very good. That’s the amazing thing about God - He can bring good out of wilderness.

We need to learn from past failures (vv. 1e-3a)

Next, God also wants us to learn from our past failures. Past failures don't need to write us off - if we are willing to learn from them. Some people are too prideful to learn. They don’t want to admit that they have made mistakes. But if you know anything about God's history of these wanderings in the book of Numbers, you will realize that Moses is having them retrace their previous missteps (embarrassing missteps - every one of those places was an embarrassment), but to now look at those things through the eyes of faith. Even though verse 2 says that it is only eleven days journey, verse 3 reminds them that it took them forty years to make that trip. They took forty years to make an eleven day journey. Think about that! And the only reason it took forty years was because the previous generation repeatedly failed to learn from God's disciplines. Just as some children have to get disciplined for the same issue over and over and over again because they are stubborn, or are slow learners, that was situation with the previous generation of Israelites. They didn't learn quickly. Everyone sins, but when God disciplines us, He wants us to be like this next generation that quickly repented and quickly learned their lessons. They learned from past failures. Praise God! We need to as well.

We need to be sensitive to God's timing (v. 3a)

But verse 3 also calls for patience. It says, "Now it came to pass in the fortieth year." It was no fault of this present generation that the had to wait so long. You might wonder, "Why do I have to wait so long to enter into what I believe God has called me to do? It's so frustrating." Well, it may be that others are not ready for you yet. Or it may be that you are not ready for your calling.

This was a faithful generation, yet they had to wait because others weren't ready. And that might not seem fair. But even waiting can teach us to depend upon the Lord. Waiting can be a sanctifying opportunity. It certainly prepared this generation to be an incredibly faithful generation who were used by God to conquer the land of Canaan. You might be frustrated by the impossibility of working with the faithless Christians who are in politics today (for an example), but don't let your frustration make you compromise in order to make some tiny progress. That tiny supposed "progress" will eventually be shown to be a regress, not a progress. Be faithful and wait for God's timing. After all, Moses never got to go into the land. He wished he could have. But because he remained faithful, God used him in powerful ways that have impacted countless generations since him.

We need to embrace a complete Biblical ethic (v. 3b)

The second part of verse 3 gives the eighth presupposition - that we need to embrace a complete Biblical ethics, not a truncated one. So many Christians today have a truncated ethics. It says, "that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him as commandments to them." According to all that the Lord had given him as commandments. There might be certain commandments that you might prefer not to have, but they are all important in various ways - some of which were typological. And we will see that.

This is why Deuteronomy 32 says,

"Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe - all the words of this law. For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life." (Deut. 32:46-47)

If Deuteronomy is so important that it can be said to be "your life," we certainly ought to be familiar with it. And God says that Deuteronomy was intended for the life and well-being of every segment of society. You can tell that I am trying to do a sales job on why we need to look at the book of Deuteronomy. We will see that this book gives instruction for rulers, church leaders, parents, business men, artists, children, foreigners, and so many others.

According to Acts 20:27, Paul taught the whole counsel of God from the whole Bible, and in 2 Timothy 3:14-17 Paul told Timothy to continue in the Scriptures he had learned as a child (which would have been the Old Testament, since the New Testament hadn't been written when he was a child). So Paul is clearly including the Old Testament in his statement. And then he went on to say, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable [let me repeat that - "is profitable, is profitable, is profitable.' Profitable for what? Paul goes on to say it is profitable] for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." Therefore, if we neglect Deuteronomy, we will not be "complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." Just sayin'.

"But we are not under law!" some might say. It is true that we are not under law as far as its curse is concerned. And I praise God for that fact. But in the same place that Paul says that he is not under the law, he goes on to make clear that his relationship to Christ now makes law keeping possible without the curse. Paul clarifies, "not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ" (1 Cor. 9:21 NKJV). Since we are not justified by the works of the law, some Christians have carelessly concluded that the law has no bearing upon the Christian life. But Scripture makes clear that while law cannot give grace, grace makes law keeping possible. And the same is true of faith. Paul said, "Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." (Rom. 3:31) People like to ignore that verse. Faith and grace establishes the law and does not nullify the law. So that's another good reason to be studying the passages on grace and law in this book.

Just as a by-the-way, the Reformers spoke of four uses of the law:

1. The first use of the law was convicting men of sin so as to drive them to Christ. That's an incredible use of the law; it's evangelistic.
2. The second use of the law was restraining evil through fear of punishment. That's what law does for even criminals. It restrains them to some degree because of fear of punishment.
3. The third use of the law was providing a way of life and sanctification for God's people.
4. And the fourth use of the law was providing a basis for social and political righteousness.

That's standard Reformed theology. And I actually got the wording for those four uses from a paper published on the PCA website. So, in our sermon series in this book, we will be seeing examples of each of those four uses of the law. And in the process we will be seeing how this book of the law can also be said by many to be the Old Testament equivalent to the Gospel of John. It is absolutely filled with grace. But one of the many reasons we are studying this book is this presupposition - "We need to embrace a complete Biblical ethics." You won’t have a complete ethics without the book of Deuteronomy.

We need to learn from past successes (vv. 4-5a)

But we need to not only learn from past failures (an earlier point), we need to learn from past successes as well. Beginning to read at verse 4:

after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei. On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab...

Since they had already been through all that, Moses didn't need to explain what he was saying. Each of these spots were places where the Israelite's faith was tested and God gave them miraculous victories. But reminding them of those victories was designed to encourage them to (by faith) attempt similar victories in the future. As one commentary said, "some victories had already been experienced and the address of Moses anticipates further victories in the future."⁵ Or as another book worded it, "Remembering past victories and giving glory to God will help you to have victory in your own life. Past victories build up your faith."⁶ And I agree with that. We just have to keep reminding ourselves of God’s faithfulness in the past to get over our discouragement.

We need to have God's law explained and applied (v. 5b)

But then Moses goes on to give another principle that is important to remember (and this is in part what pastors are for) - that all of us need to have God's law explained and applied. Verse 5 ends by saying, "Moses began to explain this law, saying..." The word for explain is ba-air בֵּאֵ֛ר which Keil & Delitzsch define as “to expound clearly.” So the book of Deuteronomy is a clear and practical exposition of the ten commandments. Chapters 1-5 give an exposition of the prologue, and chapters 6-26 take each of the ten commandments in order, and shows what difference that commandment should make to us in the various dimensions of life. The first commandment is chapters 6-11. The second commandment is chapters 12-13. The third commandment is chapter 14. Etc. Many people ignore the bulk of this book thinking that it was only for Israel. They say that we follow the ten commandments, not all those other laws. Weeeellll - I beg to disagree. This book is simply applying the ten commandments to the rubber meets the road situations of life. It's not enough to have the law of God as expressed in the ten commandments. God's law needs to be explained and applied in our lives. And that is what preaching is all about. And this book gives us examples of how to rightly apply the law.

We need to be sensitive to God's timing (v. 6)

Another important principle is given in verse 6, which says, "The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.'" God knows when to turn our situations around, and until that time, it is good to have patience and cheerfully learn from the difficult situations God has us in. When we are ready, God will let us move on. But sensitivity to God's timing is a key component of success. We don’t want to rush ahead of Him or lag behind.

We need to know the extent of our conquest (vv. 7-8a)

The next principle is that we need to know the extent of our conquest. Otherwise we might be satisfied with far less than God's design. Beginning to read at verse 7:

Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you...

God gave them a specific calling and specific boundaries, and their task was not finished until that was done. God dictates the boundaries of conquest. God staked out Israel’s claims for them. Moses didn’t decide on the territory Israel was going to conquer; God did. They may have preferred to have lesser claims or to coexist with at least some of the enemies. But God didn’t give them the option of modifying the claims. He wanted every enemy conquered; every square foot of territory taken. And lest there be any confusion, He gave them the boundaries in verse 7 and spelled it out in far greater detail in chapters 2-3 (which also contains some other cool lessons in the process).

And in much the same way God has already staked out our claims in the Great Commission. The New Testament says that Canaan was merely a downpayment on what would be taken - this time not with a physical sword, but with the Bible, which is called the sword of the Spirit. Romans 4:13 for example says, "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Abraham and all of his seed were promised the world according to Paul, and so Christ tells us “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.” And so many commentaries demonstrate that you cannot believe that verse without seeing a tight correspondence between the promise to Abraham, the book of Deuteronomy, and the Great Commission. They are tightly linked. And in the Great Commission Christ specified that we must disciples of every nation. But God's claims don't just go outward; God’s claims go all the way to conquering our inner thoughts, motives, and words. "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded."

And by the way, the moment you hide any area of your own personal life from obedience to God’s Word you are neglecting the claim that God has staked out in your life, and you are missing out on some of His blessings - just like the previous generation had some blessings, but missed out on so many. You need the smile of His approval on what you are doing, so daily reestablish your vision of what God wants in your life. (I hope you have devotions every day, because every day you need to get His marching orders.) In any case, our warfare against Satan does not just rage out there. It's not just culture wars. It rages within us. We battle our own flesh.

But back to the world conquest, in modern missions, many have lowered the claims of the Great Commission. They teach evangelism, but not holy living. They teach evangelism of individuals but not discipleship of nations. That's truncating the Great Commission.

We need to possess our possessions (v. 8b)

The next phrase says that we need to possess our possessions. "go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them." God was not going to miraculously give them victory until they took the actions of faith and started by faith to possess their possessions. Many Christians are passively waiting for Christ to come back and for Him to miraculously conquer the land at the Second Coming without any human help. Sorry. That's not the way it works. God told Joshua, every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you. But he had to tread on the land. He had to get active. If Joshua wasn't willing to walk the land and possess His possessions, then he wouldn't get the land. It's as simple as that. And everywhere we go we are to be involved in extending His kingdom and taking every thought captive into obedience to Christ. Well, that involves apologetics and other disciplines.

And I would encourage fathers to get involved in the culture wars of our own day - at least to some degree. Don't do so to the detriment of your family; your family is your first priority. But there are all kinds of ways that we can possess our possessions like Joshua did. We can get involved in grassroots politics. We can write letters to the editor, letters to our representatives, and letters to businesses. We can pray imprecatory psalms against God’s enemies. But in some way or another, we must fight with an object of winning, and watch God do the impossible. There are a lot of impossibilities around us, but our God is a God of impossibilities. Why did so many corporations begin to have woke agendas? It's because the enemy has been more faithful to possess the land than we have. And why have some of those same corporations completely backtracked? It's because Christians have gotten involved again, and given pushback. It makes a difference.

When William Carey and his tiny band of missionaries faced the impossible task of penetrating India, his motto was, "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." I love that motto. He had what successful business leaders call BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals - BHAGs. They were not goals that would be achievable apart from God – and yet he achieved them. He achieved them because God engendered faith in his heart and God always blesses faith. God is glorified when we have Scriptural BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Verse 11 ends by saying, “But I delivered them into your hand.” He refused to deliver the Canaanites into the hand of the previous generation because they didn’t have faith and they were willing to compromise, they used the methods of the world, and they were willing to make God’s goals smaller than Scripture made them. They weren't willing to possess their possessions. God delivered the enemies into the hands of this generation because they had the Big Hairy Audacious Goals of Scripture, and they pursued them with energy and faith. Courageous Christians of today can see similar success if we are willing to do the same. Don’t be like the ten spies and lose heart. Be men with the vision of Joshua and Caleb.

We need to believe God's promises (v. 8c)

The last principle is stated in verse 8, and that is that we need to believe God's promises. That's such an obvious truth that it should need stating, but it does. The land they were about to possess was a land that God not only promised, but verse 8 says that it was a land "which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them." The previous generation didn't believe it, so they didn't get it. We need to believe God's promises if we want to see them fulfilled. That's what God expects. Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him".

And this is a message that the church desperately needs to hear today. They do not need to hear Hal Lindsey’s message that Satan is alive and well on planet earth. He may be alive, but He is not well. And don't let Mark Hitchcock, Thomas Ice, or others rob you of your faith for the future. I'm not questioning the giants that they see in the land. There are giants out there. And yes we are facing scary times with the exhange of missiles between Israel and Iran, and Iran's threats against America. But Deuteronomy is a book that encourages people to take on giants, and it ought to encourage us to do so in the face of overwhelming odds. This is a book that ought to give us backbone in the face of the world’s hostility. And it is important that we as Christians not become overwhelmed, discouraged, and helpless with the conspiracies that we face. As long as there are demons around, there will always be conspiracies out there. Demons hate us. That should be no surprise. There is no question about the fact that demons are behind a conspiracy in the News Media, a conspiracy in the schools, a conspiracy by politicians who are world federalists, a conspiracy by big business, and the Trilateral Commission, the CFR, and so many other organizations. All of these have been ganging up against God’s eternal principles and His people. And unless we are absolutely convinced that God is in charge it will be so easy to just give up on the pro-life cause or whatever other Biblical cause may be dear to your heart.

As a teenager I used to get so depressed reading conspiracy theory books that I wondered if it was any use resisting. Those books took the wind out of my sail. According to the those Christian books, it was guaranteed that the conspirators would win. Well, if our defeat is guaranteed, why fight? Why bother? I became paralyzed as a Christian because of the overwhelming odds. It seemed useless to fight. There was every appearance that Satan was in charge. And if you had lived in the time of Moses there would have been every appearance that Satan was in control of Canaan back then as well. It didn’t make sense to go in and take over the land of Canaan. From start to finish there were conspiracies against them. Where they came from - the centralized government of Egypt used zoning laws to keep people from worshiping. Exodus 2-4 makes that clear. And between Egypt and Canaan there was a long string of impossible situations to get over. But if you want a Biblical persective on conspiracy (and I'll end with this), read Psalm 2. In fact, please turn there with me. I'll end with this. But let's read every verse of Psalm 2. It says,

Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? [There were plots and conspiracies being hatched back then, but they were vain plots. It goes on.] The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His anointed, saying, “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” [Isn’t that descriptive of today as well? Many leaders are clearly conspiring on how to overthrow God’s bonds of what makes decent literature, or what consititutes life, or what is legitimate debt, what constitutes honest money, or what constitutes truth in the schools, or what is the basis for judgment in the courts. God has set boundaries and it seems that conspiracies arise to shake off those bonds that God has given. Life never stays static. We are either making advances, or the enemy is making advances. There can be no neutrality. Satan has always ensured that there would be conspiracies. That’s nothing new. But what is God’s response to the conspiracies in Psalm 2? Was it to shake His head sadly and give up? No. Psalm 2 immediately goes on to say,] He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. Why does He laugh? Because God knows that these conspiracies are so futile. But He wants His people to learn to laugh the laugh of faith with Him. He goes on: Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: [Do you see nations in distress? I do. People are pretty shook up over the distresses in Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Israel, and in other places. Well, not everyone is shook up. Some people enjoy that kind of thing. but here is the point: God has advanced the cause of missions in the past in many, many countries precisely through distresses. Those distresses made citizens abominate the faulty worldview of those that was distressing them, and the very tyranny of humanism opened them up to the Gospel and God's blueprints. But it only happened because Christians seized the opportunity to give God's blueprints and to share the Gospel. Christianity has grown like crazy in those countries. Our nation is heading there. Yet overriding all of that is a prophecy of the victory that Jesus would bring in with the Gospel. Psalm 2 goes on to say,] Yet I have set My King On His holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” The Gospels record that this was fulfilled in Christ’s first coming. That’s when His kingdom began. And the Father says to Christ here, Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. This is what Christ received in the Great Commission. He was given the nations as an inheritance and He is sending us out to take the conquest with Gospel and Law. God aids us in two ways: Judgments to humble the nations and grace to convert them. And verses 9-12 of Psalm 2 speak of both. Christ continues to judge nations that reject Him and through those judgments prepares peoples to receive a Savior. He says,] You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potters vessel. Now therefore, be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son less He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Now that is a perspective on conspiracies that gives hope. It acknowledges that people like the liberal Media, the World Federalists, QAnon, the Illuminati, and others will do everything they can to overthrow God’s bonds, but it also makes clear that God is in charge, and He will not allow anything to happen that will ruin the chances of victory for His beloved Son, Jesus, in history. Now, God is patient; and He needs to be patient because we are a part of His plan of world conquest. I'm sometimes astounded at God's patience with us. But here is the thing, if God was in control at the time of Joshua, a time when true Christianity was a tiny minority, and when evil seemed to triumph, then how much more so should we be able to trust God to turn events around in America? Don’t give up hope. Don’t stop fighting for the Lord. Remember, God is in charge. Amen? Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you that you have given to us everything that we need for life and godliness. You have given us grace, and faith, and the sufficient Scriptures, and the warfare Psalms, and so many other tools for taking the Gospel forward. And thank you for assuring us in 2 Corinthians 10 that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." We desire to have every part of our thoughts and our inner and outer life to be captive to the obedience of Jesus. Bless this your people with that kind of a victorious faith, and fill them with a joyous hope for the future. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.

I charge you to make the most of the blueprints that will be uncovered in the book of Deuteronomy. And as we go through it, may the blessing of 2 Corinthians 9:8 be true of you - may God "make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." Amen.