Why Did God Command the Destruction of Nations? Part 2

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Why Did God Command the Destruction of Nations? Part 2

So here are the four doctrines, or topics, that we are looking into to help us understand this passage:
The holiness of God
Sin (and the dangers it brings)
God’s Wrath
God’s Sovereignty (In everything, including salvation)
We return this morning to that very difficult passage we began to look at last week, with the question we are attempting to answer: “Why did God Command the Destruction of nations?” The reason for the question, of course, is because the passage we are studying, and also some other passages of scripture, can cause us to pause, or they can cause people who are new to the faith, or those who are against the faith to say something like this: “how can a loving God command the destruction of nations?” Of course, along those lines there is also the objection people have to hell and God’s punishment of the wicked. If he loves everyone, how could he do this?
But as we began to see last week, to ask this question shows a lack of understanding in the holiness of God, how sin brings danger, including God’s wrath, and that ultimately, God is indeed sovereign over all things, including salvation. Of course, that bothers people as well, since if he is sovereign to save some he is also sovereign in not saving others. We will be looking at that in a couple of weeks, Lord willing. So let’s start by looking at this passage once more, and then we will get into our topic, which is Sin and the danger it brings.
Deuteronomy 7:1–11 ESV
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
God, in this passage, is telling the Israelites that when they enter the Promised Land, they are to wipe out all those people groups mentioned. If they waved the white flag, they were not to be given quarter. They were not to be given a peace treaty. They weren’t even supposed to be captured and used as slaves. No mercy was to be shown. Israel was to devote them to complete destruction.
And they were not to intermarry with them, because they were an idol worshiping culture, and they would be a bad influence on them. Just as a parent may warn their child that they should not hang out with friends who are bad influences, or to date only people who share their same beliefs, God was warning the people of Israel that there is a real and present danger in associating with people who are worshiping a pagan, Satanic religion. When you do that, you may not bring them to belief in Yahweh, but they are likely to cause you to compromise your faith or leave it altogether.
This is why parents in the church used to warn kids against a concept that was called evangelism dating. A girl sees a guy they think is pretty nice, yet he does not have faith in Jesus, but the girl thinks that through dating him, he will be converted and they will live happily ever after as a happy Christian couple. Yet what is just as likely or perhaps more likely to happen, is that the girl, to please this guy she has a crush on, will compromise her own values to keep him, and often this means disastrous consequences.
So when we look at answering this question, our topic this morning is sin and the consequences that come with it. We will look at three thoughts about sin’s consequences that apply to this passage.
First, That when we spend time around it, we will be more likely to do it.
Second, That sin separates us from God, and Third, which will carry us into next week’s topic, Sin Provokes God’s Wrath
The more we spend time around sin, the more likely we will be to sin
Sin separates us from God
Sin provokes God’s wrath
We will consider these three consequences from two angles: First, as they pertain to the reason God commanded the destruction of those nations, and Second, as they pertain to the duty of every Christian to put their sin to death.
The more we spend time around sin, the more likely we will be to sin
This is the reason given on why the people were not to intermarry with the pagans. Deut7.3-5
Deuteronomy 7:3–5 ESV
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.
I mentioned last week that these cultures were among the most depraved cultures on earth at the time. We can imagine the high level of sin because our own culture reflects much of this. So it is today. If a child is growing up in a Christian home and trained as a Christian, but spends most of their time in the world, and if most of their education comes not from their family but from secular sources, then the same could happen. They could be turned away from their family values and be found to be serving other gods.
Yet if this is true for the children, isn’t also true for the adults? And yet many adults would claim that the things they hear, read, and see do not have an effect on their own moral compass. It simply isn’t true. I had a Christian man once tell me he was unaffected by nudity in movies. And this reflects the attitude of many who think that their exposure to the sinful parts of the world will not impact their own actions.
Yet, we all know that this cannot be true. In fact, what we spend our time thinking about impacts our emotions, and our thoughts will ultimately play out in our actions in some way or another. This is why our recent D6 lessons are so important. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are to think about those things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise.
You will hardly see any of these on your cable news networks, nor on Twitter or Facebook. You won’t find them in most places. You have to look for them. Yet how many times do we end up focusing many of our daily hours on these things, and at the same time not focusing on things like Paul writes about in Philippians 4:8? You see, it isn’t enough to avoid the negative, you need to search out the positive as well. The more time we spend around sin, the more likely we are to partake in that sin. And that includes the sins that happen in our thoughts, because ultimately those thoughts will affect our actions.
You can see this happening in the political arena today. Both of the two main parties have particular new sites that their folks go to. Both of them portray their opponents as enemies who are dangerous to America. Both of them stir up anger and hatred at every bill passed, every election won by the opponent. Their fundraising is most effective when it is negative and paints the opponents as enemies. And I don’t care which side you are on, if you spend a lot of time watching those shows, or reading those blogs, or however you engage with this, your mind will become very negative very fast.
And just like those people of influence in the political arena, you yourself will begin to see others as an enemy rather than as someone who just disagrees with you. Instead of having a discussion to try to win the over, you will end up not talking at all, or if you do, you may end up shouting at someone. But if you are in Christ, this cannot be who you are. And if you are that person right now, who has been sucked into the lie that people who disagree with you are automatically an enemy, you need to recenter your thoughts to be in line with God’s word. You see, we don’t put on the armor of God to fight people, we put it on to fight evil, beginning with the evil inside of ourselves.
Ephesians 6:10–12 ESV
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
I gave the example of the political landscape today as an example. Remember the main point, that what we spend time thinking about will affect our emotional state, and ultimately our actions as well. Do not spend too much time thinking about what makes you angry or sad or scared or anxious, but replace those thoughts with the good things of God. And in Deuteronomy 7, God’s people are told, if you do not remove this sin from your midst, it will take you down. And that is another reason why God was right to tell them to eliminate those sinful people. It really was not the people that were the enemy, it was the sin that they lived in. If those people had been morally upright and of good character, then this necessity would not have been there.
But God’s people were to be holy people. Remember holy means set apart. They were set apart for God, and they were to set themselves apart from the world. We end up being affected by the sin around us, so we must be careful with we expose ourselves to. Paul told the Corinthian church that they cannot avoid entirely the sinfulness of the world, or they would have to leave the world altogether.
Sometimes you will hear a Christian say, when challenged about the activities they participate in, that they are there for the evangelistic opportunity of being with sinners. “Jesus ate with sinners” they will say. So they justify taking part, if not in the sin itself, with being around it. And yet, could anyone say they have the capacity of Jesus to stay clean in the midst of the sinful people? And can anyone say that they, like Jesus, spend hours each day in prayer and meditation on God’s word? Don’t fool yourself to think that because Jesus ate with sinners, you are safe in spending most of your time in places abundant with temptation. Until you model the devotional life of Christ, you may be in great danger if you try to model his evangelistic life by spending all your time among the sinful people of the world. Instead, spend most of your time with fellow believers, and in God’s word, and in prayer, so that when you do go out into the sinful world, you will have armed yourself with the armor of God that protects you from the spiritual attacks that will come.
And watch out for the anger all around us. Anger about politics, anger about the economy, anger about the people around you that can’t seem to figure things out the way you were intelligent enough to figure them out. James1.20
James 1:19–20 ESV
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Our next main point is that sin separates us from God. This is illustrated first in scripture in the very beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned, they no longer could have full fellowship with God as they had before that. Isaiah 59.2
Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
David realized his sin had separated him from God when he confessed. He linked his plea for forgiveness to a desire to be restored to fellowship with God: “Cast me not away from your presence”.
God did not want his people separated from him because of sin, so this is another reason why they needed to drive out the very sinful culture they were coming into. We know that if we are in Christ, that we are free of Sin Romans6.22-23
Romans 6:22–23 ESV
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yet while the Christian can rest with assurance in salvation, we are still commanded to fight against sin in our lives. In fact, scripture uses some very strong language regarding how we are to deal with sin. We are to put it to death. Some of our predecessors in the faith referred to the mortification of sin, which is another way of putting sin to death. As strong as this language is, we must not begin to believe that we fight sin as Christians because we may lose our salvation or because sin may destroy us in the end. If we are in Christ, we are in no danger of this happening. That is, if we have come to a real saving faith in Christ, we are no longer identified with by our sin.
Romans 8:13 ESV
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
The good news is, for those in Christ, we are not going to face eternity bearing the penalty of our sins. And yet, until that day when he perfects us, we are to fight it. We fight sin in our own lives not because we fear the eternal consequences of sin, but we fight sin because now we identify with Christ. I sign my emails, “In Christ”. It reminds me that I am in Christ, and my identity comes from this. But it also reminds me that all believers are one In Christ. When I sign my email in Christ, I want the believer receiving the email to be reminded as well that we are one in Christ, and we are unified in Him.
But if I send an email to someone who is not a believer, I do not sign it that way. For those in Christ, we are a new creation. We walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. Sin ultimately is defeated in our case, since we in Christ will not be held liable for sin because he paid the penalty for us. So we are to put off sin becasue we are in Christ, not because we are hoping to win a place in His Kingdom. If we are in Christ, if we are saved from the wrath of God, it is His work and his alone. So in gratitude and rejoicing we fight sin.
Maybe it helps to think of it this way. There are times recorded in the Old Testament where God’s people inquired of God whether they should go to battle, and if they would win. And sometimes God answered clearly, go up, you will win the battle. To all who have saving faith in Christ, we are told in our battle against sin, “Go up, you will win this battle”. While God fought with His people, they still had to go up. And while God has promised we, who are His in Christ, will be victorious against sin in the end, we still have to go into the battle.
Colossians 3:5–10 ESV
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
This brings us to our last point about sin, which will spill into next week’s sermon on the wrath of God. Sin brings the wrath of God. Notice what is said by Paul. Put to death what is earthly in you. On account of these sins the wrath of God is coming. On whom is the wrath of God coming? On those who live in that sin and are not identified as being among those iN Christ.
Let’s go back for a moment to remember the question we are trying to answer: Why did God command the destruction of Nations? and we are looking carefully at 4 points, or reasons why god was right and just to command this.
The holiness of God
Sin (and the dangers it brings)
God’s Wrath
God’s Sovereignty (In everything, including salvation)
God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. His people were set apart for him, and they were to set themselves apart from the world. The people God commanded to be eliminated were very wicked. Sin brings many dangers. Sin is dangerous to be around because it can affect everything and everyone it comes in contact with. Sin separates people from God, and sin brings the wrath of God. And finally God is Sovereign over all. So ultimately whatever God has said is right and good is right and good. He is sovereign over everything, including salvation.
Sin brings God’s wrath. And because we know the wrath of God will come on all of the unrepentant, or in other words, those who do not turn away from their sin and turn to Christ, we try to persuade people to turn to Christ, in order to avoid the wrath of God that will come.
2 Corinthians 5:10–11 ESV
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
Job knew he could not face God in his holiness without a provision being made for him. Job31.23
Job 31:23 ESV
For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.
Hebrews 10:31 ESV
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And Jesus warned us not to fear people. After all, the worst thing a person can do is kill our body, and really that’s not so bad. But we are to fear God because of his wrath against sin: Luke12.4-5
Luke 12:4–5 ESV
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
Now, the sermon is being given, and there are categories of people listening. I know, we aren’t supposed to put people into categories, that isn’t politically correct. But these are not categories of race or status or wealth in this world. They are categories of spiritual position. perhaps there are two categories of Believers here: One category will hear and receive this message with gratitude and though it may challenge them, they realize it is good for them. Prov17.10
Proverbs 17:10 ESV
A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.
These believers will take to heart what was said. And the other category may be those believers who haven’t really considered sin to be that big of a deal. I hope that all believers would seek the scriptures and come to the conclusion that in fact, we are to mortify, or kill, our sin. It will be a never ending battle until our dying breath, but the victory is already won. God has told us to go up in this fight, for we will ultimately win the battle. Actually, ultimately, he wins the battle for us, but we need to fight it.
There may also be categories of those who are listening to this sermon and have not believed. Perhaps you have not believed in the need for salvation because you don’t believe in the wrath of God. Perhaps you have believed that God loves everyone unconditionally so that in the end there is no need to fear him. Perhaps you don’t believe in God at all. Perhaps you don’t care, or as some have flippantly said, I want to go to hell, that’s where all my friends will be.
If you are not a believer, whatever category you may be in, I plead with you to take seriously these things. God’s wrath will be on all sinners, and our God is a consuming fire. Your eternity in hell will not be a party with your friends, it will be, according to the bible, eternal conscious torment. That means forever, you will experience pain and suffering because of your sin. You may think your sin is not that bad, so your punishment will not be so bad. Yet every sin against the holy, eternal, self-existent, omniscient, all powerful God is cosmic treason. Not matter how mild you think your sin is, God does not think it mild. And his wrath upon sin will be fearful.
The greatest example of the wrath of God ever witnessed by mankind was when he poured out his wrath on Jesus, who voluntarily took the place of sinners who could never pay their debt of sin to turn away the wrath of this holy God. Next week, we will talk more about the wrath of God. You should fear it. But you can escape it. Put your faith in the one who took the wrath of God upon himself.
The consequences of sin are many.
The more we spend time around sin, the more likely we will be to sin
Sin separates us from God
Sin provokes God’s wrath
If God took sin so seriously that he commanded entire nations to be wiped out because of sin, then how much more should we seek to eradicate sin form our lives?
If you are in Christ, then leave this message today with this in mind. God has promised the ultimate victory against sin, so go cheerfully into battle with it, knowing that the battle is a guaranteed victory.
You see, this is something we can do with joy. Celebrate the victories when we come. When we face a temptation and choose the way out God has provided, let us celebrate that win! And when we fail, then let us take a moment to consider what went wrong, and confess it before our King and the commander of this battle.
1 John 1:8–9 ESV
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And that is how the war against sin is eventually one. Battle after battle will come. Some battles we will win, and then we can celebrate and give glory to God. Some battles we will lose, and we must go to our faithful King and confess. And when we do that, we need to go to the book of his battle plan and review it so we can do better next time. Many years ago I went to the Marine Corps boot camp to be trained to be a Marine. One of the surprises I found there was how much time is devoted to the classroom. Studying Marine Corps History, learning battle strategies, and having to memorize things from the Manual were a vital part of training.
We studied the history of the Marine Corps to learn about what can happen in battle as well as be encouraged to have confidence in our identity as US Marines. We admired the heroes or the past and wanted to be like them. We had to memorize certain things. We learned why we had to wear certain armor and how the different weapons worked and when each one was most effective.
And so for the believer who wants success on the battlefield against sin, we need to know the history and to admire those heroes of the faith. We need confidence in our identity in Christ. We need to learn God’s strategies and how to wear His armor.
Let us go into the battle with energy from our King, and confidence in our victory and joy in our service to him.
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