Deuteronomy chapter 20, and let's
read the first four verses. Maybe we'll get a chance to look
at the first seven verses, but let's begin tonight with the
first four verses in Deuteronomy chapter 20. When thou goest out to battle
against thine enemies, and you see horses and chariots and a
people more than thou, Be not afraid of them, for the Lord
your God is with you, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto battle, that the priests
shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto
them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day unto battle against
your enemies. Let not your hearts faint, fear
not, and do not tremble. Neither be ye terrified because
of them, for the Lord your God is He that goes with you to fight
for you against your enemies to save you." As you and I study
the book of Deuteronomy, one of the differences between this
book and the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus is those
two books, especially those two books, They have a lot to do
with the priesthood, with the ceremonial law, the sacrifices
that they had to offer and things like that. If these Jews wanted
to learn about the priesthood and the sacrifices that they
were obligated to offer, they wouldn't go to this book here,
the book of Deuteronomy, because you don't see hardly anything
in here about the priesthood. We've not studied anything hardly
about sacrifices. and very, very little about the
feast day. But the book of Deuteronomy,
first and foremost, is about hearing. It is about words. What we hear of God as He reveals
Himself in this book. How we are to serve Him. How
we are to worship Him. How we are to follow Him. And
this book is concerning the Jews' daily heart relationship to God. That's mainly what this book
here is about. We've read in here about standing
against opposing views, standing against idols. We studied about
idolatry. Idolatry in the nation, false
gods in the nation or false gods in their family, they were to
stand against these things. It had to do with their everyday
lives. the practical things in their
life and the worship of God. They must worship God. They must
know Him. They must follow Him and serve
Him all according to this Word. And the Hebrew translation of
the title of this book is The Words. And the way it begins
is, These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel. Words to hear and words to believe
and words to practice. And I think as New Testament
believers, you and I probably can relate more to Deuteronomy
than we probably can any other book of Moses. Even the book
of Genesis, the book of Beginnings that tells us about God creating
the heavens and the earth. Because this is a book that will
help us in our daily experience. It's all about what we feel,
what we know, our experience in our daily life as we seek
to serve and worship the Lord and its importance in our daily
life. I was reading a book. I was telling some of you about
the book. I read Popoff, Arlen Popoff. He was in the Russian prison
torture camp for over 13 years and he said the thing that grieved
him more than anything and was the greatest burden to him when
he was in those camps was he did not have the written Word
of God. He said that was one of the greatest
burdens. The Communists had collected all the Bibles and burned them.
One of the fellows that were in camp with him one time found
the portion of a Bible that had been burnt. They didn't have
just the scant rations of food anyway, but Popov offered his
scant rations for two or three days for that Bible. He said
that's how he missed the instructions and the comfort from that Word.
Well, that's what we find here in this book here. The comfort and instructions
of the Word. Not so much just to practice,
and surely not bringing offerings and feast days, the Word that
I need in my daily life. And you know the Lord Jesus,
and we looked at this when we were going through this book,
but the Lord Jesus quoted three times from this book in the temptations
there when He was in the wilderness. And the devil tempted Him. He
had fasted forty days. Command these stones that they
may bear bread. And the Lord Jesus said, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God. That's in chapter 8 and verse
3 of this book. And the next temptation, why
don't you cast yourself from the tent of Pinnacle? God will
give His angels charge over you and they'll bear you up. And
He said it's written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. You find that in the 6th chapter
in verse 6 of this book. And in the last temptation, when
He said, All the kingdoms of the world will I give you if
you will fall down and worship Me, and the Lord said, It is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt
thou serve. That is in chapter 6 and verse
13. So the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
overcame the devil by the three places in this book where He
quoted. So it tells us that this book
is a very, very important book, practical. to their daily lives
as well as to ours. And the Apostle Paul quoted from
this book, and I want to read you the two places. I want to
read you the quote. Hold Deuteronomy chapter 20 and
look over in Romans. The Apostle Paul quoted from
the 30th chapter of this book in Romans chapter 10, and look
here at the unique way that Paul quoted this, and you'll see this
when we look at the 30th chapter of Deuteronomy. But look in Romans
chapter 10 and look in verse 5. For Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. Now that is out of Leviticus
18 and 15. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise, and he quotes Deuteronomy chapter
30 in verse 11 through verse 14, say not in your heart, who
shall ascend unto heaven, that is to bring Christ down from
heaven, or who shall ascend into the deep, that is to bring Christ
up from the deep, but what saith it, the word is near thee, even
in your mouth and in your heart, That is the word of faith which
we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." Now look over in Deuteronomy chapter 30 where
the Apostle Paul quoted that from. You draw me to chapter
30 and look in verse 11. Chapter 30 and verse 11. You'll see Paul changed this
just a little bit, but he quoted this from Moses' writings. Look in verse 11. For this commandment,
which I command thee this day, is not hidden from thee, neither
is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou
shouldst say, Who shall go up for us into heaven, and bring
it to us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond
the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for
us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But
the word is very near thee." Paul said it was near. Moses
said it is very near thee. in your mouth and in your heart
that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this
day life and good and death and evil." Moses sets two things
before us in this book, life and death, and what is that?
That is the law. Death is the law. It is a ministration
of death. Moses tells us about that law.
It judges our sins, it condemns us, it curses us, and it casts
us out as guilty and filthy. But then Moses tells us another
way that we can be righteous, that we can be accepted, and
that's by faith in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he's talking about here that Paul quoted these verses.
And he says, he talks about doing, that we may do it. Paul talked
about believing it, didn't he? Believing it. Believing in what?
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was wounded for our transgressions
and that he was raised again for our justification. So Moses
not only set before us the law that condemns us and judges us,
but he set before us faith too in this book of Deuteronomy. Back over here now in the 20th
chapter, this book here of Deuteronomy
was for Israel, words that they could live their daily life by
in their experience. And we see here in these first
four verses how important these words were for the children of
Israel. He says here in verse 1, When
thou goest out to battle against thine enemy. You see these horses? You see these chariots? A people
more than thou? Be not afraid of them, for the
Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt." The Lord is with thee. They needed this so desperately
bad because the Lord had redeemed them out of Egypt. Remember the
blood over the doorpost? They were redeemed by the blood
of those lambs. He delivered them from Pharaoh's
army. They were going across the Red
Sea and the Lord destroyed Pharaoh's army, drownded them in the Red
Sea. Now they're coming into this new land and they're going
to have to fight for it. The Lord has given it to them
for an inheritance, but their enemy is in this land. Their
enemy is more in number than they are. They're more experienced
in battle. They've got weapons that they've
never seen before, these chariots. And the only way that Israel
is going to keep from being afraid when they face these enemies,
these armies, is by this Word. Remember this Word. Believe His
Word. The Lord thy God is with thee. Be not afraid. What would keep
them from the slavish fear of their enemies? This Word. This Word. Hear these words. The Lord thy God, thy covenant
God, is with thee. Well, I'll tell you one thing.
That's the only thing that's going to help these people when
they went into the new land. That's the only thing that's
going to keep them from being afraid was to read these words and go
back and read them again that our covenant God who redeemed
us, who delivered us, is still with us. God is with us. If the Lord is with you, I tell
you, He's your nearest and dearest companion. If He's with you,
He's your chiefest comfort. If He's with you, He's your strongest
helper and most sure defense. God with them, therefore they
would not have to fear. That's what He told them, wasn't
it? What would keep them from the slavish fear? For the Lord
thy God is with thee. And you know the church today
and all of its members the same way, aren't we? This can apply
to us just as it applies to them in that day. We have this promise. Listen to this. He hath said,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. so that we may boldly say,
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear." The Lord is my helper. He is with me. If we are lonely,
then believe this, my chief companion is with me. If I am weak, and
I am, remember and believe this, the Lord who is with me is my
strength. Do I feel defenseless? Then believe this, the Lord who
is with me is my shield. And you know you and I have enemies
today. But they're not flesh and blood. That's not our enemies. Our enemies
are devils. Our enemy is our principalities
and powers. Our enemy is the God of this
world. And you know something? They're more than we are. And
they're more experienced than we are. And we can't overcome
them by physical weapons. We can't even see them. The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds. And if God is with us, If God
is with us, if our Lord is with us, and He's promised to be with
us, then we can't be defeated. We
can't be defeated. We have armor. We have armor. The Lord tells us to put on.
He tells us to gird about our loin with the truth. He tells us to put on the breastplate
of righteousness, to let our feet be shod with the preparations
of the gospel of peace, to take the helmet, the hope of salvation,
to take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and the shield
of faith. We are clad in this armor. But
this is something, brothers and sisters, we must never forget
above everything else, and we constantly have to remind ourselves
of this. This is why we need this written
Word. He is with us. The Lord who redeemed us, the
Lord who delivered us from the power of darkness is with us. I will never leave you, and I
will never forsake you. We must believe and remember
this in every blow that we give, every blow that we take in this
battle. We must believe this, that it's
all done in the very presence of the captain of our salvation. Why do we get fearful? Why do
we get fearful? I tell you, we're afraid of our
enemies, aren't we? And how He manifests, how these enemies
are manifested sometimes, it makes us afraid. And we have
to go back and keep reminding ourselves, the Lord is with us. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our covenant
God, is with us. And here in the 20th chapter,
notice this in verses 2 and 4. This shows you here what I'm
talking about. They had to keep being reminded
of this. Look in verse 2. And it shall be when you come
near unto the battle, that the priests shall approach and speak
unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel. See what this book is about.
It is about words. It is about hearing. Hear, O
Israel, you approach this day unto battle against your enemies.
Let not your hearts be faint. Fear not, and do not tremble,
neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God
is He that goeth with you. Every battle they had to be reminded
over again. The Lord is with you. He is with
you. And notice the last portion of
this, to fight for you. To fight for you. Ain't that a wonderful word?
Ain't that an amazing thing when you think that God is fighting
for these people? The Lord is called a man of war. And the first time we read that
is the children of Israel sang that song as they stood on the
banks of the Red Sea and saw the waves come back and dash
the Egyptian soldiers to pieces through those forces and chariots
up in the air. And they said, the Lord is a
man of war. Pharaoh and his chariots has
he cast into the sea. He's drowned his chief captains
in the midst of the sea. The Lord is a man of war. And
here he says here that he will fight for you. I was reading Josephus. He's
a Jewish historian. And he was talking about some
of the wars. It was very interesting, the
wars. I don't know if they exaggerated some of those things or not,
but he was talking about one war they had. They fought against
this one city that had the high walls and the enemies had moved
huge boulders up on the wall. And when the Israelis put up
their ladders and things and started trying to get up the
walls, they pushed these large boulders down on them to crush
them. And Josephus said this wind came out of nowhere and
took these boulders and got underneath it and shoved them back up the
walls and crushed their enemy. Now that seems pretty astounding,
but I could believe it. Because you remember the first
city that was destroyed when they went over Jordan was Jericho? And I imagine those were high
walls, don't you? But they never laid a hand on
those walls when they fell. The Lord tore those walls down,
didn't He? And when the Lord was fighting
for them, they were irresistible. None of these seven nations could
stand before this little nation of Israel when the Lord was with
them and fighting for them. And as long as they were diligent
and believed the Lord and watchful and obeyed Him and followed Him,
He was with them and He fought for them. And they found out
that nobody could withstand them. But I'll tell you something else
they found out too, didn't they? They couldn't whip nobody if
the Lord wasn't with them. The walls of Jericho fell down. Achan committed that awful sin
by stealing that which was dedicated to the Lord. And Aya, a little
old community, a little Newcastle, they said, don't let everybody
go up and fight against us. A few of us can go up there and
take that place. But the Lord wasn't with them, was He? The
Lord didn't fight for them. And boy, they got whipped. They
got whipped. When the Lord is with us, devils
can't stand before us. But if the Lord is not with us,
we're afraid of the little maid, aren't we? But this Word tells
us, this Word guides us. You and I are children of God,
and we're in a war, we're in a battle. We're not called to fight for
eternal life. We already have that as a free
gift of God in Christ. We're not called to fight for
salvation. We had that before we entered the war. But we're
called to fight the good fight of faith, to lay hold on eternal
life, that is, on the present reality of it. Lay hold upon
that eternal life that we already have and live in the enjoyment
of that life. We're called today to fight the
good fight, to stand against lies and stand for the truth,
to struggle against this old man, to subdue him, to stand
against this world and its temporal advantages and course and end,
to fight against Satan and wicked spirits and to fight under the
banner of Jesus Christ our Captain. And it is through Him that we
get the victory. And the victory is assured us
in Christ. I've fought a good fight, Paul
said, didn't he? I've kept the faith. I've finished my course.
Therefore, there's a crown of life laid up for me whom the
Lord shall give me at that day. So this word was very important.
They went back and read it. They went back and read it. And
the priest proclaimed it to them before every battle. And brothers
and sisters, this is what you and I need because we're in a
battle. Man, we're in a battle. And it
seemed like the deeper we get in to this, the worse our enemies
are. As Israel got deeper into the
promised land, the land of Canaan, man, the battle got thicker.
And that's the way it is with us, isn't it? And we need to
go back and remind ourselves over and over and over again
that our God is with us too and that our Lord is fighting for
us against our enemies. And notice quickly the last,
just look at these verses, Bob, right quickly. And the officers shall speak
unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built
a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to
his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate
it. And what man is he that hath
planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it, let him
go and return it to his house, lest he die in the battle, and
another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath
engaged himself to a wife, and hath not taken her, let him go
and return it to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another
man take her." Boy, some of these battles were so bad, some of
them were going to die. That's how bad it was. But notice
here in these verses, how accommodating our Lord was and how thoughtful
God was to the children of Israel. They weren't always to be fighting
their enemies without any thought of living and even enjoying something
of this present world. There was nothing wrong and there
was nothing sinful with them having a house or with them having
a vineyard. or with them having a spouse.
And there's nothing wrong with us having some things of this
world, is there? There's nothing wrong with that. The Lord is
willing that we should have these things and enjoy them if they
don't hinder us when it comes time to go out to battle. who can tell what we might be
entrusted with in this world if it doesn't interfere with
our entrusting the Lord Jesus Christ with our being, and if
these things don't keep us from worshiping Him and serving Him
with our hearts. Having a house won't hinder me
from serving the Lord unless I'm looking for an excuse to
hinder me anyway. Having a wife will not keep me
from serving God unless I am looking for an excuse not to
serve God. Having some things and having
a hobby will not keep me from the worship and service of God
unless I am looking for an excuse not to. These men have liberty to stay
home from the battle and dedicate their house Another one had liberty
to eat of the vineyard. Another had time to enjoy his
wife. And then when it came time to
war, they went out to war, and God gave them directions. He gave them wisdom to know and
to keep everything in its proper place and in the proper time.
See what I'm saying? You and I live in this world.
And the Lord doesn't tell us you need to go join a monastery.
If you're going to serve Me properly, you're going to have to separate
yourself from this world as though you don't even live in it. You
can't have anything. You can't enjoy anything. And
that's the only way you're going to serve Me. That was the old
Catholicism that Martin Luther and those guys had when they
separated themselves up in the mountains, would never go down
into town, slept on cold floors, tormented their bodies. We don't
serve the Lord that way. We're in this world and we work
in this world. We vacation in this world. We
marry wives. We raise our families. We go
on vacation, don't we? And yet we serve the Lord. And He gives us grace and wisdom
to keep all of these things in their proper place and at their
proper time. He's mindful of us, isn't He?
Just as He was mindful of them. We're going to look some more
at this in our next study. All right, I hope this has been
a blessing to you. We'll begin very probably in
verse 7, our next study.