Let us turn again to the Word
of God, Deuteronomy chapter 7, and I'll read again verses 22
and 23. Deuteronomy 7, 22 and 23. And the Lord thy God will put
out those nations before thee by little and little, thou mayest
not consume them at once, Lest the beast of the field increase
upon thee, but the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee,
and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. He read the chapter, it's a remarkable
chapter, speaking just previously in the vestry about some of these
Old Testament portions, the history of the children of Israel, as
they were delivered out of Egypt and came into the possession
of the promised land and now unbelievers would reject these
accounts and say this is genocide there is a mystery in these things
when we think of what all of this must have entailed with
the slaughter of the women and also the little children and
yet we know as we read that this was God's dealings, it was God's
judgment upon wicked people, those who had departed from Him and worshipped
gods of their own making, they were idolatrous peoples. And
yet all of them, of course, were those who owed their very being
to their Creator God and God said He would visit judgment
and God is that one who will visit judgment yet there is to
be that awful day, that great day when the Lord Jesus Christ
is to return in power and great glory and to sit as that one
who will make the final judgment and separates the sheep from
the goats But reading these words for our text here in verses 22
and 23 I want us to consider something of that spiritual conflict
that God has appointed for his people. Here we see something
of God's method of grace when we think that the children of
Israel are atypical people this is not just history that we're
reading, this is the Word of God and there is some instruction
for us, there's some spiritual significance even in these passages
that we find in the Old Testament Scriptures and so as we come
to the Word of God we need to look to the Holy Spirit that
it might not just be that that is instructing us in our minds
Bible study itself is good and useful and interesting, but we
want more than merely to have an intellectual knowledge of
the Word of God. We want to find out that will be meat and sustenance
to our souls. What is the spiritual significance?
Well, I say again, here we have God's dealings with the children
of Israel, and they are atypical people. They are not all Israel,
that are of Israel. There is a spiritual Israel.
Again we are told He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither
is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But He
is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. His praise is
not of men, but of God. It's these New Testament statements,
these words that we've just referred to in Paul's epistle to the Romans,
that are a key to our understanding, our opening up of the Old Testament
Scriptures. There is that that is typical
here. And so, in the goodness of God we trust we can in some
way relate it to ourselves. Israel are typical people. Canaan
itself also a type. Now some see the land of Canaan
as a type of heaven. Some of the hymns contain that
idea. But really Canaan is not so much
a type of that eternal rest that the people of God enter into
when they go to heaven. It's more a type of that rest
that we know under the gospel. Canaan is more a type of the
gospel. In heaven there won't be any
conflicts. Sin cannot enter that place. But whilst believers are
here in this world, whilst they're in a state of grace, they know
something of spiritual conflict. And isn't that what we read of
here in this verse? as they come into the possession
of the land, as believers are coming into the possession of
all the blessings of salvation. What does it say? The Lord thy
God will put out those nations before thee by little and little.
Thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beast of the
field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver
them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction,
until they be destroyed. We don't believe in a progressive
sanctification, we recognize that our sanctification is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why, He is the one who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
says the Apostle. That as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. No progression, no, in
that sense, growing more whole. The old nature is ever there.
there's a conflict with it. But there is such a truth as
growth, growth in grace. Peter says growth in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And here surely we see something of that growth
in grace entails as they come into the possession of that land
that land of Canaan the type of the state of grace
think of the language that we find in Hebrews chapter 4 and
there at verse 8 if Jesus it says the reference is of course
to Joshua if Joshua had given them rest then would he not after
would have spoken of another day there remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God." Doesn't that clearly indicate
that there's a connection between Canaan and that rest that the
believer has as he comes to place his trust and his faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Well I want us to consider then
the content of these two verses tonight and divide the subject
matter into some three parts. First of all to look at the nations
and then secondly to look at the conqueror and finally the
method that God employs in obtaining this glorious victory first of
all the nations the nations that are being spoken of the Lord
thy God will put out those nations before thee it says by little
and by little. And we read in the opening verse
of the nations, seven nations, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites,
Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations
greater and mightier than they. And they are typical nations. They're typical nations, typical
of all those spiritual foes that Christian believers have to fight
with as they engage in that good fight of faith. We're told in
Zechariah, there shall be no more the Canaanites in the house
of the Lord of Hosts. The house of the Lord of Hosts,
it's ultimately referring to heaven, no Canaanites there,
no opposition there that place of perfect rest but here you
see as they come into the land as they cross the river Jordan
and there is that promised land before them that land flowing
with milk and with honey well what do the spies say when they
come back with their report there we saw the giants the sons of
Anak which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight. That's the
report of the spies. And now, believers have to deal
with giants. Doubtless, at some stage, I'm
sure you've read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and how he speaks there
of that terrible giant, giant despair. Well, these are the
sort of nations that believers have to deal with. There is Satan. Oh, there is Satan. There is
that one whom Bunyan speaks of as Apollyon. What a fearful conflict it is
that the believer is engaged in with that archenemy of sorts. Oh, we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, says the apostle. It's not just the physical conflict
or warfare that the believer is engaged in, it's much worse
than that. Not against flesh and blood, against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. And how many
there are, multitudes. Think of the ministry of the
Lord Jesus. And how as the eternal Son of God is manifest in the
flesh, why we see in the Gospels there's so much activity by Satan,
there's so much opposition. And when the Lord comes into
the region of Gadareh and he meets there that madman amongst
the tombs who is cutting himself day and night. And remember how
the Lord asks after his name and the answer that says that
his name is Legion. For we are many. Oh, there is Satan and there
is all the host of those demons that serve that wicked one. And we're not to be ignorant.
We're not to be ignorant of these things. We're to be aware that
there is a conflict with the devil himself. And he is a great
giant. And all those host of fallen
demons are like these nations. They're mightier and they're
greater than we are. Or we're not to be ignorant.
But there's not only the giant despair, there's not only that
giant Apollyon, that great fiend. What of sin? Isn't sin also an
enemy? Can we not think of sin in terms
of these nations that the children of Israel are having to enter
into conflict with. And we can think of sin in a
two-fold sense. We can think of sin in the singular. And we can think of sins in the
plural. When we think in the singular,
we think of what we are, what we are in our fallen nature.
how we are conceived in sin, how we are shapen in iniquity. And yet the Apostle says, sin
shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law
but under grace. This is not reminding us here
that there's a connection between sin and law. Isn't law that makes sin strong,
as it were, strangely. Paul speaks of sin taking advantage
by the commandments. Wrought in me, he says, all manner
of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. Always when we come to the Lord
of God It's in the light of that Lord of God, it's when God deals
with us in terms of that truth that He has revealed in His Holy
Lord, His righteousness, His justice, His holiness. It's then that sin is seen in
its true colors, we see what we are, we feel what we are.
And then we become aware of the particular sins And we know how
God sees these things. God sees that the wickedness
of man is great in the earth, we're told, and every imagination
of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. All that
we do, all that we do, affected by what we are. We're sinners
in nature, we're sinners in deeds. And there's a multitude, again,
there are many devices in a man's heart, says the wise man. The
multitude of wicked devices, all the thoughts, all the imaginations. Our sin is everywhere. We're
riddled with it through and through, and it's that that will overwhelm
us. It's like these nations. Oh, there's Satan, there's sin,
and then, of course, there's that awful giant self. Oh, what a wicked giant is this
giant self. Oh, that I had none of my self,
said Ralph Erskine. There was his chief enemy. What he was in himself, and he
felt it. And God says, you see, that self
must be brought down, this giant must be overcome, the lofty looks
of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed
low." The Lord alone is to be exalted in that day, in the language
of Isaiah. When the Lord Jesus himself is
here upon the earth in the course of his ministry, what is the
message that he preaches? Those who come to him, those
who would be his disciples, those who are true believers in the
Lord Jesus why let that man deny himself let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me well we have to be brought
to that the end the end of self the end of self or the Lord will
put out those nations before by little and little the Lord
thy God shall deliver them unto thee and shall destroy them with
a mighty destruction and they shall be destroyed. What are
we? We are so much of the earth. Man of course with regards to
his physical being was made out of the red earth. God takes of
the dust of the ground and forms man and then breathes into his
nostrils the breath of life, he becomes a living soul. But our thoughts, our affections,
so often bound up with the things of earth, the things of time,
the things of sense. That's a very striking address
that we find in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 22, 29. Oh earth, earth,
earth, hear the word of the Lord. That's how God comes to us at
times. He addresses us just as we are.
We're of the earth. Earth. And we have to hear the
words of the Lord to all these nations. These nations that are
spoken of here. Yes, it's real history. We don't deny that for a moment,
but Or does it not tell us something about that spiritual conflict
that we're to be engaged in? Against Satan, against sin, against
self. Against all those giants who
would seek to come and to destroy any life of God in our souls. But then here we also see where
the conquest lies. We're told just who the conqueror
is, and it's the Lord's. It's the Lord's. The beginning of verse 22, the
Lord thy God will put out those nations. The beginning of verse 23, the
Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee and shall destroy them.
It is the Lord. And who is the Lord? Well, you
know the significance of the name, as we have it here. It's the covenant name. It's
Lord in capital letters. It's the great I AM THAT I AM. It is truly the God of the covenant. And what a God is this God? nor he will altogether overcome
all the enemies of his people. He will ultimately give to his
people the victory. And what do we learn concerning
the character of this conqueror? Why, he is the friend. He is
the friend of his people. He doesn't just say the Lord,
no twice it says the Lord thy God the Lord thy God always the
language of appropriation is their God and is their God of course in
terms of that eternal covenant is that one who is their friend
that friend that sticketh closer than a brother this is the one
that their to look to the one by and through whom they will
overcome all their enemies all those many nations those many
nations God knows what he's doing with his own people he is bringing
them into this land when the Lord thy God shall bring thee
into the land whither thou goest to possess it he knows what enemies there are
there. He has cast out many nations
before them. He will do it. He will do it
in his own way. We will come presently to the
way in which God works, the method that he employs in accomplishing
his great purpose. Oh, but observe here that this
God is their God. And what does the Apostle say
if God before us? Who can be against us? with God
before us remember that incident that's told in 2nd Kings chapter
6 concerning the prophet Elisha and his servant how that the
king of Syria is seeking to destroy the prophets
his own counsellors have told him whatsoever he does in his
bedchamber they say this prophet knows everything there's no secrets
that can be kept from this man Elisha and the king of Syria
wants to destroy this man and he sends forth his armies and
the servant of Elisha is full of fear and trepidation at this
dreadful the prospect, the armies of the Syrians. It's there in
that sixth chapter of the second book of Kings. And it's a very
striking incident. Verse 15, when the servants of
the man of God, that's Elisha, was risen early and gone forth,
behold, and host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him,
Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he, that is Elisha, answered,
Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be
with them. And Elisha prayed, and said,
Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man, he saw, and, behold, The
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about
Elisha. Oh, the angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him. And that's what the man saw,
you see. Though it seemed that the odds against Elisha and his
servant were overwhelming, all the armies of Syria, and jets,
more were those with them than those that were against them. Oh, God is truly the friend of
his children, the Lord's, thy God, it says. Oh, it's the Lord
thy God. And he's not only that one who
is the friend, the friend that sticketh closer than the brother.
He is also that one who is a faithful friend. He's a faithful God. why we have that covenant name,
remember, He is the Lord He is Jehovah, He is the Great I am
that I am what we read back at verse 9,
know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God the faithful
God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him
and keep His commandments to a thousand generations Friends,
these are not just words, this is the Word of God, this is God
declaring to us something concerning Himself and His own character.
"'I am the Lord,' He says, "'I change not.' Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed." Well, here is the safety and the security
of the people of God. Though there is a terrible conflict
If we're those who know the grace of God, if we're those who have
been brought by faith into that blessed rest of the gospel, that
rest that remaineth to the people of God. If that's the case, we'll
know something of a spiritual conflict, the good fight of faith. There are those who are opposed
to us, but if God's before us, who can be against us. But look at the way in which
God works, His methods, in all this spiritual conflict. It's amazing really what He said
here. The Lord thy God will put out
those nations before thee by little and little, thou mayest
not consume them at once, lest the beast of the field increase
upon them. What are we to make of this?
Not the first time that God speaks of the conflict and the progression
being but little by little. We find something very similar
back in Exodus 23 when they were first coming out of Egypt before
ever they had entered into the possession of the land. There
in that 23rd chapter Verse 29, I will not drive them
out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate,
and the beast of the field multiply against thee by little and little. I will drive them out from before
thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. It's by
little and little. The hymn writer says, concerning
the newborn child of God, so in the soul that's born anew
he keeps a gradual pace. It's a gradual pace, it's little
by little, it's growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour. Now what of God's methods then
here? Observe some three things. First God, in his dealing, shows something
of his own greatness and his own glory. Look at the language of Guy and
the Jews. God says he will put them out. There at verse 22, the Lord thy
God will put out those nations. the margin says the Hebrew is
literally pluck off God will pluck off those nations back
in the opening verse it rendered that he will cast them out when the Lord thy God shall bring
thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it and hath
cast out It's really the same words that we have here in verse
22 put out. It's a strong verb, you see.
It's a very strong verb. It's speaking of God and the
power of God. And this is what God will do
in all His dealings with His people when He saves us. Why
is it that God, in saving His people, doesn't immediately take
them to heaven? Why does the Lord save us, do
that great work of regeneration in the soul of the sinner, he's
newborn, he's a child of God, he has a new nature, he's a partaker
now of the divine nature, why doesn't the Lord take us immediately
to heaven? Why does he leave us in this
world? This world that lies in the wicked world. This world
which is full of all these wicked nations. and the wicked nations
are not only round about us, it's not just the devil and the
world, it's so much that's still within us. Why does the Lord
deal with us in this fashion? Well, there's a reason. God,
you see, will increasingly teach us something more and more of
Himself. There's more and more for us
to learn concerning who this God is and the greatness of this
God, and the goodness and the grace of this God. or we will
learn increasingly our complete and our utter dependence upon
Him." And we have this assurance, verse 23, "...the Lord thy God
shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a
mighty destruction until they be destroyed." There is no ifs
or buts or maybes or possibilities or even probabilities. It is
all so sure and so certain. because it's God, not by might,
he says, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. And
we have to live to prove it. We have to live to learn it.
Our dependence upon God, our dependence upon the Holy Spirit
in particular, it is the Spirit, is it not? It's His prerogative in the covenant
to make that salvation that the Father purposed, and that salvation
that was procured by God the Son. It's the Holy Spirit, the
third person in the Trinity, who makes it such a reality.
Boy, we need the Spirit to be our teacher and our instructor.
And now it's through the Spirit, you see, that we're to overcome
all these nations, all these giants. If ye through the Spirit
Do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. We can't do it
in our own strength. We have to learn our dependence
upon the Spirit Himself, that we might glorify God, the Holy
Ghost. This is God's great message. He shows us something of Himself.
We discover something more concerning the character of our God. But it's not only the greatness
of God. There's something glorious. Observe in the second place just
what it says, you see. The language. The Lord thy God
will put out those nations before the itchings. He'll put them
out before the little by little. What does it mean before they're
going to get a sight of their enemies? All God's going to make sure
they get a sight of these things, they understand these things.
We have to get a sight of ourselves. I spoke of that great giant sap,
what an enemy. What does Paul say? You know
the content of Romans chapter 7, that remarkable chapter. What
does Paul say there? I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. Oh, this was a man who
was once a self-righteous pharisee, and reckoned touching the righteousness
of the Lord he was blameless. But how the Lord taught him,
how the Lord was teaching him all his days, what he was in
himself, in me, that is in my flesh, the good that I would,
I do not, the evil that I would, not that I do, or wretched man
that I am. We have to get a sight of these
things. Important that we know ourselves, you know. We know
ourselves and know what we are. God shows his people terrible
things. He shows his people something
of their own hearts. And how it's spoken of there
in Ezekiel chapter 8 as the chambers of imagery. Look at the language. These books that we find in the
Old Testament, we read them, they're not easy to understand,
but what remarkable statements we find time and again in these
difficult to be understood books. There in Ezekiel chapter 8, Verse 12, Then said He unto me,
Son of man, Thou shalt see what the ancients of the house of
Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery,
for they say, The Lord seeth us not. The Lord hath forsaken
the earth, He said unto me, Turn ye yet again, and thou shalt
see greater abominations that they do. Always before us the
Lord gives us a sight, It causes us to see something of ourselves. There is a dark side. There is
a dark side to religion. You know, they used to say of
dear J.C. Philpott that he was such a corruption
preacher. They said all he ever dwelt with
was the dark side of the Christian's experience. How the Christian
is beset by these giants, giant despair. Now there are those,
you see, who have doubts and fears and they seem to live in
that way all their days. Well, I don't believe that those
who made that judgment upon Mr. Philpott's ministry were right. I know our late dear friend Sidney
Norton certainly did not agree with it. I remember him telling
me on one occasion, he did suffer that man, he had a breakdown.
He spent some time in the mental hospital when he was in Oxford.
And he was well known in Banner of Truth circles. He knew men
like Ian Murray, of course, and Jim Packer, Sidney Horton. They were familiar friends with
him. And he told me on one occasion how one of his friends came to
visit him when he was in the hospital there and he'd lost
all his assurance. And the friend said to him, Sidney
says, this is what comes of reading too much of the sermons of J.C. Philpott. This is the trouble. You're not reading the right
books. But Sidney said the man didn't know what he was talking
about. He said, Philpott didn't fill me with doubts and fears.
It wasn't Philpott, he filled me with much comfort. He traced
out so much of my experience. But He always directed me to
the Lord Jesus Christ. These people who often make these
statements concerning the ministry of men in a previous age, often
they've read nothing of those men. They're just trotting out
what they've picked up from other people. Well, that was Sidney
Norton. But you see, the Lord does, in His methods, work in
this way. He causes us to see something
of ourselves. And when we see ourselves as
we really are, it's not a very nice sight at all. Our true self,
our sinful self, our old nature. But there is a bright side. There's
a side of self. There's also a side of the Saviour. Oh dear, McShane used to say,
one look itself, ten, a hundred, a thousand looks across. Oh,
how important that we look away unto Jesus, that we look only
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the sight of the
Saviour. But when we have that sight of
the Saviour, the sight of self becomes even worse. Look at the
language that we find at the end of Ezekiel chapter 16 it
says that thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open
thy mouth any more for thy shame when I am pacified toward thee
for all that thou hast done or when we get a sight of the Lord
Jesus Christ having had that awful sight of ourselves how
we see the glories of the work of Christ, all that He accomplished
for us here upon the earth, when He came to make that great sin-atoning
sacrifice, when He was pleased to have laid upon Him all that
guilt of our sins, and there bear that punishment in our room,
in our stead. It's a wondrous thing, is it
not, to have a sight of the Lord Jesus. There's where our victory
comes, you see. It's only in Him. Or the Lord
does it. The Lord thy God will put out
those nations before them. There's something to be seen
with the eye, the eye of faith. And ultimately the eye of faith,
of course, has to do with Him who is the only object of faith,
even the Lord Jesus. But then what of this expression,
thirdly, little by little, God's message, you see. It's great,
we see the glories of God, we see much of ourselves, and we have to learn how God
works by degrees, line upon line, line upon line, precept upon
precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little,
by little and little it's said. All the deliverance is sure. There's a hymn in the book, there
are a number of hymns in Gadsby's selection that aren't really
suitable for public worship. But the book's useful, you know,
for private devotions. I don't know if you ever use
a hymn book, Gadsby's or whatever book you might want, so long
as it's a good sound book, use it in private devotions. And
I commend to you the reading, the careful reading of the hymn
782. It speaks of deliverance as something
that is sure. Oh, it's certain, and that's
what we have here in verse 23. But it's not all at once. It's
by little, and little and why? Well, there are other giants
that we have to be aware of. This is why it's little by little.
What of the giant pride? What of the giant pride? Our pride can so easily entrap
us. It's the condemnation of the
devil. It's there in the Garden of Eden,
remember, when the serpent as Satan's instrument comes to to
we ye shall be as God there's pride and we need to
be kept from pride if we should have an immediate glorious victory
over every sin for how proud we might grow and God will preserve us you
see from that fearful pride. His pride, the cursed pride,
that spirit by God abhorred, do what we will. It haunts us
still and keeps us from the Lord. God is determined to hide pride
from man. He will deliver his children
from pride. He'll deliver his children from
presumption. Isn't that presumption a twin
brother to pride? Pride goes hand in hand with
presumption. But when we're brought to that
place where we have a sense of indwelling sin, how that keeps
us all. Again, the language of the hymn
writer. What does he say? Corruptions make the mourners
shun presumption's dangerous snare. force us to trust to Christ
alone and fly to God by prayer. Or we don't want to be those
who are in any way presumptuous. God preserve us from that. He
has His ways, His means, His methods. And He will have us
remember always our complete dependence upon Him. We're not
to be forgetful. Isn't forgetfulness another giant
that can so easily overwhelm us? God says in the Psalm, Psalm
59 verse 11, Slay them not, lest my people forget. Whilst we're
here in this world, we have to remember all our days, our dependence
upon God. But without Him, we can do nothing at all. Look
at what it says here in Chapter 8, in the second verse, Thou
shalt remember. all the way which the Lord thy
God led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, to humble
thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether
thou wouldest keep his commandments or not. And he humbled thee,
and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which
thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know that he might
make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord
doth man live. Oh, the Lord will not have us
to forget, you see. And this is why His method is
so strange. And why it is by the grace that
we come into the possession of that salvation. Oh yes, we're
saved, we have the fullness of salvation, but there's so much
more that we have to learn of God and the ways of God, and
the wonders of that salvation that God has wrought in our souls,
and our complete dependence upon Him. The Lord, thy God, will
put out those nations before thee by little and little. Thou
mayest not consume them at once, lest the beast of the field increase
upon thee those beasts that pride and presumption and forgetfulness,
or they must not increase upon us. But here is our assurance,
the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy
them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. Oh, the Lord then bless this
word to us. Amen.