God's Justice and Mercy

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We're at numbers. No, it's not numbers Deuteronomy chapter 20 hardest chapters, I think and ethically emotionally in the Bible, so I'm doing this with caffeine. Are you doing it with coffee and devotions? Yeah, I think it's an important chapter. It's kind of sobering. So I have some coffee. We'll pray. Oh, you're going to try the coffee. It's cold.
Because it is the Lord's gift I know. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for the blessing of getting to read your word. Lord, we have it in a language we can understand, but we pray that your spirit would help us as we come to a difficult topic, a topic about what the Israelites were to do when they entered the promised land. Lord, we pray that you would give us humble hearts. And that you would help us to read and comprehend and live in Jesus name.
Amen. All right. So here's what we're going to do, OK? We're going to go paragraph by paragraph and we're going to kind of do the A, what's this about? Deuteronomy chapter 20. Chapter 20 and we're gonna go It's not too long. We're gonna do paragraph by paragraph and we're gonna talk about we're gonna give the a what's this about for each part? Okay So I'll read the first paragraph verses 1 through 4 When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them.
The Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be when you are on the verge of battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people, and he shall say to them, Here, O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint. Do not be afraid and do not tremble or be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
So what's that part about? Well, if people come up to battle and you're not as strong as them, God will save you. Okay. Right. So it's, it's about this encouragement they'll need in battle or before the battle. Good. So don't be afraid. All right. You want to read verses five through seven?
Then the officer shall speak to the people saying, what man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated? Let him go, go and return to his house lest he die in the battle. Another man dedicated. Also, what man is there who planted who has planted a vineyard and has done eating of it. Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man eat of it. And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go out and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man marry her. All right, so what's that about?
Yeah, right, so isn't that interesting don't you normally want to Increase the number of people in your army It's very similar to what the Lord does with Gideon right why would the Lord do that I Because he wants to show them back. It's by his power good I'll read what you read eight nine. I'll read the next paragraph because it's bigger The officers shall speak further to the people and say, what man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart. And so it shall be when the officers have finished speaking to the people that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
Okay, so what's that about? What does it mean by faint-hearted? Yeah, so people who are like discouraged, they're not, they don't have a lot of courage. I didn't know if it meant like they could. They're afraid. I just didn't know what that meant because I didn't know if it because it kind of sounded like a fan of heart, like maybe they were like sick and they were just. Yeah. Here's being used like fearful. Yeah. So, yeah. So people who are fearful or being hearted or they're lacking of courage, they're going to be stirred up by the captains. Good. All right. Here we go. Versus 10 through 15.
When you go near when you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. Now if this city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall be seizured. and when the lord your god delivers it into your hands you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword but the women little ones the livestock and all that is in the city all its spoil you shall plunder for yourself and you shall eat the enemy's plunder which the lord your god gives you thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you which are not the cities of these nations all right so if they come to a faraway city what are they to do procedure oh no no first they make a peace yeah and if there's a peace offering right then then they are to actually put to death all the leaders right but what about the women the children all that type of stuff All right, they can live right if they've confessed the Lord and they're willing to pay tribute to him right to serve the Lord, okay They're allowed to live but if they If they make war though, then it's warfare.
I'm going to have you read verses 16 through 18. This is probably one of the paragraphs that causes more people to stumble about the God of the Old Testament than any other paragraph in the Bible. But of the sinnings of these people which the Lord your God gives you as inheritance shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, and the Ammonite, and the Canaanite, and the Pezzesite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. This is the Lord your God has commanded you, for they teach you to do according to all their abominations, which they have done for their gods.
Okay, so let's go ahead and stop there. So, if they're going to go into the promised land and when they go there, what are they supposed to do? Kill the people there. Okay. Does this include women? Yeah. Does it include children? Yeah. Why would God have them kill even the women and the children? Because... What was the verse where the person tricks them and he sends... Oh, so you're talking about Balaam sending the Moabite women? Yeah, they've already seen that before, haven't they? And we know that even with Solomon, what's one of the things that makes him have a downfall.
Yeah, all the foreign wives. Right. So so there's a purpose and reason for this. Right. Notice what it said in verse 18. Lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations, which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord, your God. I have that as what's underlined in my Bible. We'll talk about that in a minute. Why don't you go ahead and read verse 19 through 20? That's the last set.
When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it, do take it. You shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. If you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in their siege. For the tree of the field is man's food. Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy. Cut down to build siege walks against the city and makes war with you until it is subdued. Okay, so If they go and they're gonna fight against one of these towns right there walled cities are gonna have to build siege works this isn't besieging in the sense of like Starving them out probably but this is more like building up ladders and ramps and things like that to try to get over the walls and break down the doors and But if there's trees out there, are they allowed to cut them down indiscriminately? No. What are they not allowed to cut down?
Stuff that makes fruit. Fruit trees. Right. Good. Apple, cherries. Yeah. Olives, right? Olives, figs, probably in that area. Okay. So I have in my Bible as the best verse, verse 18, as the best verse to summarize this section. Maybe verse 16 would be good too.
But here's what I want to say, a sea calling, right? What are we called to do? How does this show us the covenant or point us to Jesus Christ? What do you think? I think it's called that God's not the guy who would like to save everybody, but it's just not what his plan is.
Yeah, okay, so were the Canaanites and Perizzites and Hittites and all of them and the Amorites, were they innocent? In what sense? Well, are they innocent? Is there a reason God is driving them out of the land? Yes. Yeah, right. He even told Abraham he wasn't allowed to go and take the land yet because their iniquity was not yet filled. The Lord had given them opportunities towards repentance. We don't know what those look like, but it's not because the Israelites are better or bigger or stronger or anything else, right? But it's because of their own sin that God was driving them out of the land. This was judgment for them.
Right. This is one of those hard things where as we think about God, we like to think about God. And we find a passage like this about women and children even being killed. And we think, oh, man, that's horrible. Right. And is it horrible? Yeah, it's absolutely horrible. This is exactly what's going to happen on the day of the Lord. As God told people to repent.
And if they don't, what's going to happen? Yeah, there's gonna come a judgment day There's gonna come a judgment day these people the Canaanites the Hivites parasites, right? I didn't want to submit to the Lord. I didn't want to repent. I don't want to turn away So this is this is just a small picture What I think the judgment day is gonna look like And so what's our only hope in the judgment day? I Yeah, that's right that Jesus Took our place that Jesus suffered that horrible death on the cross we deserved I mean, this is this is one of those hard things, right, that when we when we grieve for people and we look at a passage like that, there there's two ways to turn here.
Right. Some people will say, oh, I don't want to serve a god like that. That's horrible and wicked and wrong and everything like that. Right. Because they assume these people are totally innocent. Instead, the heart of why? To drive us toward. Evangelism. Because there is actually a story in the Old Testament. When they're going to go into the land. Remember who in Jericho. Repents. Was her name, I forget. Yeah, Rahab the harlot. Rahab repents.
And she's saved. She's preserved her and her whole household. Right. And so God gives room for repentance. But once the day of judgment comes. That's it. And so the heart now, even though it may be difficult to wrestle through these things, I think you should drive us towards trying to tell people the good news. Because does Jesus save?
Yep. Yeah, certainly does. But what's our job as people, as naturally Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Samurites. We're the same people and we should be killed. Yeah. But does it have to be the end of the story? Nope. No. Thanks be to God. You mind praying for us? Yep. You do mind? Yeah. You want me to pray?
Lord, thank you so much that you have remembered us according to your great mercy. Lord, we who were vessels fit for destruction, in your mercy you remembered us. You gave us new hearts to turn from sin and to rest in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Lord, we pray that you would please help us to love you and follow in your ways.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, may you have hope that even though it is appointed for every man to die once and then the judgment, I pray that you will know Jesus Christ. And when the judgment day comes, like Rahab, I pray that you will know that Jesus is your Lord. Pay the price that you might have eternal life. I'll see you next time. Say bye. Bye. Bye.