Chapter 26, we want to try to
cover it all if we can. And I promise you, if I get too
long, I will stop. But this is instructions to the
children of Israel. As this whole book of Deuteronomy
is, they are right on the border of going into the land of Israel,
the land of Canaan, the promised land. Moses is given these last
instructions. He is going up on Mount Nebo,
and the Lord is going to put him to sleep and take him to
glory. And these are the last instructions that He's given.
Chapter 26 is the instructions concerning their activities,
what they're supposed to do when they get into the Promised Land.
Once the Lord establishes them there, this is what they're supposed
to do. Look at verses 1 through 3, first
of all. This is a wonderful, wonderful
passage of Scripture. Verse 1, He says this, and it
shall be, when thou art come into the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwelleth
therein, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit
of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land, that the Lord
thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt
go unto the place which the Lord thy God shalt choose to place
his name there. Now anybody remember where that
place was going to be? They didn't know it at this time,
did they? They had no idea of the name of the city and the
place the Lord was going to choose to put His name there. Anybody
remember that place? Jerusalem, wasn't it? Jerusalem. David took it over, established
it as the capital. They built the temple there and
everybody up in Dan and all the way down in Bathsheba, everyone
came here to Jerusalem to the temple to worship. That's what
he's telling them. You take your little baskets
of first fruits and you come here to the temple to worship.
And thou shalt go unto the priest that shalt be in those days,
and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that
I am come into the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers
to give to us. Now, here's the first thing they
were to do once they got established there. in the land. It was probably
three years after they went in there. They brought this land,
this fruit. They put their fruit in a basket.
I don't know what all it was, but they put all their fruit
in a basket. And then they traveled from far up is Dan to all the
way down in Beersheba and they all came to Jerusalem with this
basket and set it before the priest. And here is what they
professed. I am come this day unto the land,
which the Lord promised. I am come this day. Now, no doubt
they were thankful in their hearts. They had to be thankful in their
hearts. They professed in their hearts to the Lord. They were
thankful He brought them into the land. But this also was not
an open profession. I am come. Confidence in the
Lord, a confession to the Lord, I am come unto the land." Now,
let's be honest, they didn't say, I hope to come, or I'm coming
unto the land. They may have said that when
they were still in the wilderness, but now they said, I am come. Boy, there was this reality that
had dawned upon them. They were in the land, and now
they were to confess it. I am come. Isn't it the same
thing with you and me? Have we come to Christ? Have
we come to the Lord Jesus? Then we confess it, don't we?
That's our profession. Now, if you're seeking the Lord,
you may not be able to say, I've come. If you're still hoping to find
Him, but if you're here tonight and you've come to Christ, here's
what you've professed. I have come. I have come. I know people, and I've talked
to pastors about them. And it's sort of a mystery to
me. And I'm not here to judge them, but it's sort of a mystery
to me. They bear evidence, and the pastor
says they bear evidence that they've come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they sit under the Gospel,
and they seem to love the Gospel. But they've never been baptized,
and they've never made a profession of Christ. I can't understand
that, can you? Maybe there's some doubt or something
that needs to be settled, but brothers and sisters, if we've
come to the Lord Jesus Christ, then this is our profession of
Him. I have come. I've come to Him. And if there's some doubts there
or fears that's causing us not to confess that and profess Him
in water baptism, okay, let's get those fears settled. But
when we come to Christ, Jesus our Lord, this should be our
confession. I just can't imagine a Jew being
here in the land, and all of these fruits are coming in, and
he's ready to harvest them, and he goes out and gets the first
fruits, and for some reason or another, he won't go up to Jerusalem,
or he won't go down to Jerusalem with his basket of fruit. Wouldn't
you think that man was strange? What would you say if somebody
like that was so full of doubts that he wouldn't go up? But somebody
say, now Bruce, that was eyesight. They could see the land. We have
to live by faith. Well, you're telling me faith
is not as certain as eyesight? Peter said, I saw the glory of
Christ with my eyes, didn't he? I was there in the mount, and
I saw His glory. But he said, we have a more sure
word of prophecy. If our faith is in the Word of
God, and this Word tells us that God has sent His only begotten
Son into this world, that we might live through Him, and I've
come to Him, and I've taken Him at His Word, isn't that more
sure than my eyesight? I would think so. If I've come
to Christ, You know what the Scripture says? Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Let them say so. Say it publicly. If we confess with our mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts that God has raised
Him from the dead, we shall be saved. You come to Christ, then
confess it. I have come unto the Lamb. I have come unto the Lamb. We've
come to Christ. He's our land, ain't He? He's
our land of promise. They come into these deep waterholes
and man-cold water. Haven't we come to the fountain
of living water? He's our still waters, is He
not? Is He not our green pastures
that we eat of and lay down to rest in? Christ is our land. That land that they've got over
there now, I'd love to see that, I ain't got the money to go over
there and wouldn't pay for it if I did. We've got the real land,
haven't we? We've come to Christ, to Emmanuel's
land. Paul said, You've not come to
Mount Zion, or that might be touched, and where these angels
were speaking and all this lightning and thunder, but he said, You've
come unto Jesus. the Mediator of the New Covenant
and to the blood of Spranklin, you've come to Christ. I confess
that, don't you? I have come. I have come to the
Lord Jesus. I'm still coming, but I have
come. Have you come to Him? If you
have, then confess it, profess it. Something else here that
they professed in verse 4. They professed this. Their coming
into the land of promise was not owing to anything in their
nature, or their position in life, or anything they had done
or merited, but it was holy of the goodness of God, this covenant
God, to them. Now look here in verse 4. Look
at this. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine
hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God,
and thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian
ready to perish was my father, and he came down into Egypt and
sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation great and
mighty and populous." What did they confess? Their father, Jacob. Who was he? Well, they called
him a Syrian, probably because his grandfather was from that
part of the world. and probably because he fled
to Syria and had 11 of his sons there in Syria. So they called
him a Syrian. Well, you know what a Syrian
was. He was just an old idolater, was he not? That's all Syrian
was, just an idolatrous bunch of people. You remember when
Jacob came back, going back to where Abraham lived there in
the land of promise, Rachel brought some of her father's gods back
with her, those little gods. Who was your father? He was Assyrian. He was Assyrian. His birth was
no better than heathens. That's what he said. I can't
depend on who my father was. My father was Assyrian. He's
a heathen. Boy, those Jews that begin to
call Abraham their father and trust in that, remember, Remember
when they came to John's baptism and they came to fuss with the
Lord about it? We've got Abraham to our father
and we were never in bondage to any man. Ain't that what they
said? That wasn't a good profession, was it? That wasn't a good profession. You know the Bible never would
teach that the Jew could trust that he was saved, that he had
an interest in the Lord just because of who his parents were.
Just because he was the seed of Abraham never gave him no
right to have any assurance that he was the child of God. They
may be a child of Abraham and not be a child of God. To be
a child of God you had to have faith in the Son of God that
was coming. Abraham was our father. We've
never been in bondage to any man. What a bad, bad profession. Here is a true profession. Jacob
was my father, but who in the world was Jacob? He was the supplanter. He was the Syrian who came out
of heathen idolatry. Can't trust in your nature, can
you? And look in verse 6. That's what they were to profess
about their father. And the condition they found
themselves in. Look in verse 6. And the Egyptians'
evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Why did the Lord require them
to confess this? This is the profession they made.
Well, so often throughout the wilderness journey, They had
a habit of saying this, some of them did, just every whip
stitch, this is what they'd say, would to God that we were back
down in Egypt. Why do you want to be back down
in Egypt? We had our flash pots down there. We had all kinds
of onion and garlic down there. We had it made down there in
Egypt. So here he brings them to meditate and to think upon
the life they had in Egypt and face the reality of it. What
was life like down in Egypt? His hard bondage, boy, is tough
down in Egypt. Man, they felt the whip of Pharaoh's
soldiers on their back, cussing them, working them all hours
of the day, hungry. It was bad. Life was bad. And now the Lord brings them
here to confess what they had suffered. What was your life
like? life down in Egypt. I want you to tell me. And here's
what it was. Afflicted. Bondage. And look what they did in verse
7. And when we cried unto the Lord
our God, the God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and
looked on our afflictions and our labor and on our oppression. What did they do? They cried
unto the Lord God of their fathers. What else could they do? They were defenseless. They were
helpless. They were slaves. What else could
they do? But notice this, their helpless
cry came into the throne room and to the heart of God, and
He not only heard their cry, but you know what He did? He
came right down in the very midst of their slavery and delivered
them. Oh, the goodness of God! Listen
to how Moses said it in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 7. Listen to this. This is what
the Lord said about it. The Lord said unto Moses, remember
when Moses was standing before the bush and he pulled off his
shoes because it was holy ground? And then the Lord spake and said
unto Moses, I have surely seen the afflictions of my people
which are in Egypt. I have heard their cry by the
reason of their taskmakers, I know their sorrows. I have come down."
See that? He just did not hear their cry,
but he says, I have come down to deliver them out of their
Egyptian bondage and to bring them into that good land, that
large land, the land that is flowing with milk and honey. So who was their father? He was
not Egyptian. What was the condition they were
in? Terrible bondage. What did they do? Out of their
desperation and their defeatlessness, they cried unto the Lord. And
what did He do? He came down and delivered them. And notice what else now they
profess. They profess this in verses 8 and 9, that when God
did come down to deliver them, when He took in hand to deliver
them, this is so important, nobody, Either devils or men could hinder
God from bringing them out of the land of bondage and bringing
them in to the promised land. What a confession that is. Look
in verse 8. And the Lord brought us forth
out of Egypt, look at this, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched
arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders. And He has brought us into this
place, and has given unto us this land, even the land that
floweth with milk and honey." What a confession! A mighty hand! God's got a mighty hand, and
we experienced it in our deliverance. when they were to perform this
ceremony, when their little children saw them putting all this fruit
in the basket, and they said, ìWeíre going up to Jerusalem.î
And they saw them go up there and take this and set it down
there before the priest. The little children asked their
dad and mom, ìWhat do you mean by this?î And hereís what the
Lord told Moses to tell them. When your children, when your
sons asked you in time to come, saying, ìWhat means these What
means these statues, these judgments, these testimonies? Which the
Lord your God has commanded you, taking this basket of fruit up
there and so on. Then shall thou say unto thy
sons, We were Pharaoh's slaves. We were Pharaoh's slaves. But
the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and the LORD
showed His signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt, upon
Pharaoh, and upon all his household before our eyes. And He brought
us out from thins, that He might bring us in, and give us the
land, He swore to our Father." That was what they professed
to their children. And notice verse 10 because this
is very important. Notice who they were rehearsing
this profession before. Notice who they were talking
to. Verse 10, And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruit
of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me, and thou shalt
set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy
God. Who were they professing all
this to? Before the Lord. You would think they were talking
to other people, but they brought this basket of fruit and set
it down there to the priest, and now they begin to talk to
the Lord, and profess all of this before the Lord, and He
said, they worshiped. What is worship? You know what
heart worship is? It is just telling out in the
presence of God what He has done and what He is. His great hand,
His mighty axe, especially in our salvation. That's all in
the world worship is. They've just rehearsed unto God
in His presence who they were and how He had delivered them
and brought them out of bondage into this land, this land of
promise. Sometimes you and I We cannot
see eye to eye on all our theology, can we? Sometimes we are a little
bit different. Sometimes we get in a debate
over all these terms. We get these terms confused and
we have the little divisions between us. But I tell you, when
it will really tell what you really believe, when you are
standing before the Lord, when you are kneeling your heart before
the Lord in prayer, that will tell what you really believe.
How do you really feel about yourself? What do you really
think about yourself? A man may get confused about
free will and free agency and all this stuff, but let him go
before the Lord, and you know what he'll confess? Lord, I was
in bondage. I don't know what you call it,
but I know where I was, and I know who brought me out, and I know
why you brought me out. By your sovereign grace and your
power and your goodness, old Spurgeon said, we may fuss and
fight when we're standing on our feet, but let us get on our
knees and every child of God will agree. I guess that's right,
ain't it? This was their profession before
the Lord. And boy, that's where you'll
find out what a man believes. Remember those two fellows that
went up to the temple to pray? The one a Pharisee and the one
a publican. And how did the Pharisee pray? Man, he didn't pray like
these guys prayed, did he? The Bible said he prayed with
himself, and I believe he's praying to himself too, don't you? First
thing he said was what? I'm not like other men. Ain't
that what he said? Well, the Lord told these fellows,
you're no better than anybody else. Your father was a Syrian. You know better than anybody
else. But here this fellow said, I thank you that I'm not like
other men are. And then he got off on his good
works, what he was doing. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes
of all that I possess. And then he got off on what he
abstained from doing, the evil. I'm not like this fellow. I'm
not an extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. You think
that man was worshiping God. He is worshipping himself, wasn't
he? And the publican stood there and beat on his chest and said,
Lord, my father was a sinner and I am a sinner. All I have
done is sin all my life and now I am in bondage to it, in bondage
to sin and Satan. God be merciful to me a sinner. God be propitious to me a sinner. And the Bible says he went down
to his house justified and you know something? He worshipped.
He worshiped. That's the way we worship God,
by telling Him who He is and all how gracious He is, how good
He is, and reminding Him who we are, where we were, and how
He's delivered us by His great power and goodness. We take no
credit, no merit for ourselves, and ascribe all glory to Him,
and that's the way we worship. One thing is for sure, brothers
and sisters, we cannot worship a God. We don't know. And to know God is life eternal. And God has come near to us in
the person of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, and has made Himself
known to us in saving mercy and has delivered us from the power
of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. That's what He's did for us.
And now we know Him and we love Him and we trust Him. And we
spend a lot of time just telling back to Him who He is and what
He's done for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Look in verse 11 and look in
verse 12. I love this order. It's such
a beautiful order. Look in verse 11, And thou shalt
rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto
thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levi, and the stranger
that is among you. Here is what they were to do,
always be rejoicing in the Lord and all that He gave and all
the blessings upon others that they knew. Now, they would have
had to have been dead indeed and so selfish when they began
to meditate upon all that the Lord had done for them and all
that He had given them if they did not rejoice continually before
the Lord. What has He done for us? If you
begin to meditate, really and honestly face the reality, dear
child of God, all the things that He's done for you, all the
things that He's given to you and promised you, you know what
you would spend your whole day doing? Rejoicing. Because look
what He's given you. And you could think of a half
a dozen things right off the top of your head, couldn't you? And now in verse 12, look at
this. That is the first thing they
were to do, spend their time rejoicing in the Lord God for
all His goodness and gifts to them. And then in verse 12, they
were to turn to the Levites and these strangers and fatherless
and widows and give their tithes to them. Look at it. And when
you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase,
the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hath given
unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, that
they may eat within thy gates, and be filled." See the order
there? They were to spend their time
rejoicing in the Lord. That was first. And then they
were to give their portions, their tithe, to these other people. What does this tell us? It tells
us this, that the heart that is filled with the knowledge of the saving
grace of God in Christ to it. You spend your time rejoicing
in the Lord and delighting yourself in Him. You see yourself complete
in Him, always accepted in the Beloved. And you spend your hours
rejoicing and delighting in Him. You know what this tells us? You'll be so bubbled over and
so full that you'll spend a lot of time just caring for all the
needs of other people. You can't have it. You just can't
have it. It's something that's spontaneous. Here's the order. Rejoice in
all that the Lord has given you and given to who? Well, he says
the Levite, who in the world was the Levite? He's the man
that had no portion. He had no earthly portion. He
had given his life to the service of the Lord. And they said, I'm
going to help that fellow. And the stranger, who was the
stranger? He was the fellow that had no land. He had no home. And the fatherless, who was that?
He had no earthly protector. His mommy and his daddy was gone.
and then the widow had no earthly support. If they were living in the enjoyment
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you and I are living in the
enjoyment of Him, the awareness that we are continually accepted
in the Beloved, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, our hearts go out to those who are in need. I want you to turn over to Hebrews,
the whole Deuteronomy chapter 26, and look over to Hebrews
chapter 13. It is amazing how Hebrews 13 and
Deuteronomy 26, the verses we are studying there, correspond
with one another. Look in Hebrews chapter 13. Look
in verse 12. page thirteen hundred and fourteen
in your pew bible. Look in verse twelve. Hebrews
thirteen twelve. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without
the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the count, bearing his reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Now look at this.
By him therefore, by Jesus Christ our Lord, Let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God, when? Continually. That is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks unto His name. David said, I will
bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Why? Can't you think of enough
things that would keep you busy all the day long? when you think
about the blessings of a covenant God. Every time you wake up in the
morning, as old Ralph Barner said, instead of waking up and
saying, good Lord, it's morning, wake up and say, good morning,
Lord. And from there, begin to think,
He's blessed me with a night of rest. He has set before me
another day that He's made. And just start from there. to
give you thanks over the breakfast that He's given you, and not
giving you what you deserve, and giving you what you don't
deserve, and just go all the day long. And before you know
it, you're doing just what David told us to do. I will bless the
Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. In all things give thanks. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Why everything? There's nothing
bad that comes to a Christian. Nothing bad ever comes to a Christian. In our own apprehensions, it
may seem bad, but nothing bad comes to a Christian. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to those who are
the called according to His purpose. I just took a big old deep breath.
Thank you, Lord, for our deep breath. Thank you. Giving thanks
always continually. And look what he said in verse
16. But to do good and to share. Share with who? Well, the widows,
the Levites, the orphans, the widows, sharing. You see needs
everywhere, don't you? Do good and share, forget not,
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. And you know,
sometimes we think of just giving. That's all we think about sometimes. Well, we need to give something.
You know, it's not always giving money. You know, our Lord never
had any money, did He? He became a poor man. Peter himself,
when he faced that crippled man there at the Gate Beautiful,
he said, Siber and gold have I not? Then what are we to share? It's not always thinking about
sharing money. What about sharing our time? What about sharing a smile? What
about sitting down with some sick person in the nursing home
and listening to them share their burden? Well, there's a lot of
things we could share with people, aren't there? Don't forget to
share. And don't forget this order.
If we turn this order around, we start thinking what all we
can do and what all we can share. And then after that, we're going
to rejoice in the Lord. It doesn't work that way. We
begin and continue with enjoying our Lord and our Savior in our
own selves. And out of that, comes this sharing,
seeing and meeting the needs of other people. But to do good
and to share, forget not. For with such sacrifice God is
well pleased. That's a good ordering. And I would say this without
fear of doing any of you any hurt. Enjoy God and do as you
will. Enjoy God and do as you will.
Rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and do as you will. Because if
your heart is truly rejoicing in Him, you are going to do everything
you can for His glory. Let's turn back over here again
and I'll finish this. I'll mainly just read this to
you. In Deuteronomy chapter 26 and
verse 13. Let's just finish reading this
chapter. Then thou shalt say before the
Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out
of my house. I have collected them up and
brought them here to Jerusalem. And also have given them unto
the priest, unto the stranger, to the fatherless, to the widow,
according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me.
I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them."
Now what are they saying here? They are just saying, Lord, by
your grace. I've done what you've told me to do. I've not neglected
what you've told me to do. Brothers and sisters, as you
and I live in this world as believers, shouldn't this be our attitude?
When we go before the Lord and we pray, Lord, give us grace
to serve you. Give us grace to serve you better,
not to neglect anything that you tell us to do. We're always,
as true children of God, having to mend our ways, are we not? We're not careful, we'll grow
so lazy and slothful and neglectful. And we need a revival in our
own souls. So here's the way it begins.
Lord, give me grace to follow You more fully. Give me grace
to live like You tell me to live and be a follower of God as dear
children. That's all they're saying to
you. Lord, what You've told me to do, You've given me grace
to do it. You've enabled me to do it. That's
what He's saying. I have not eaten therefore in
my mourning, I have not served you with my sadness and hesitation,
neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the
dead." Boy, ain't that good instruction. How much money, how much time
do we waste? Isn't that something to think
about when the scripture says redeeming the time? Do we waste
our time? Then let's ask the Lord to help
us to redeem the time. All this is is Christian growth. But I have hearkened to the voice
of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that Thou
hast commanded me. Look down from Thy holy habitation
from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the land which Thou
hast given us, as Thou swareth unto our fathers, a land that
floweth with milk and honey. This day the Lord thy God hath
commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments. Thou shalt therefore
keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. Thou hast avoused the Lord thy
God to be thy God and to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes
and His commandments and His judgments and to hearken unto
His voice. And the Lord has avoused thee
this day to be His peculiar people, His special people. as He has
promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments,
and to keep thee high above all nations, to make thee high above
all nations, which He hath made in praise, and in name, and in
honor, that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy
God, as He hath spoken." I tell you, being a Christian is not
just profession. I preached on the doctrines of
grace Sunday morning. But I tell you, a lot of people
have just taken that as a system and trusted in a system. There
is a vast difference in that and being a true believer and
following the Lord, isn't there? Really following the Lord with
all our hearts. That is what we need today. So
here we have got these three things. We have got the first
thing, looking up to God. and offering the sacrifice of
praise continually, we saw that first, looking around us and
seeing the needs of others, and then looking within and by grace
keeping our own selves unspotted from the world. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this. To visit the sick and the widows
in their affliction and to keep ourselves unspotted from the
world in our motives, in our thoughts, in our words, in our
deeds. May God bless His Word. I thought
that was a wonderful chapter.