Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #163-Deuteronomy 12 - Laws of the Sanctuary
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Welcome And Settle In
SPEAKER_01Welcome to Bereen's Corner, the podcast where we go through books of the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Wherever you are in the world, thank you for joining. Grab a glass of water, a cup of coffee, a tea, and let's get into today's lesson. Welcome back.
Opening Deuteronomy 12
SPEAKER_01Open your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 12. The title of today's lesson is Laws of the Sanctuary. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. Deuteronomy
Reading The Laws Of Worship
SPEAKER_01chapter 12, and let's read.
SPEAKER_00Deuteronomy 12. These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord the God of your fathers has given you to possess, as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills, and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods, break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and burn their ashra poles in the fire. Cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from those places. You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, but you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes, to put his name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go. There bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your free will offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your family shall eat, and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to because the Lord your God has blessed you. You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you will live in safety. Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, there you are to bring everything I command you, your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. And there rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your men servants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please, offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you. Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns, and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the Lord your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean you may eat, but you must not eat the blood, pour it out on the ground like water. You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your free will offerings or special gifts. Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose, you, your sons and daughters, your men servants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, and you are to rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to. Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land. When the Lord your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, I would like some meat, then you may eat as much of it as you want. If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. Eat them as you would gazelle deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood. Pour it out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord. But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the Lord will choose. Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God. The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same. You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you, do not add to it or take away from it.
SPEAKER_01Now,
The Core Theme God’s Terms
SPEAKER_01worship God on God's terms. That is pretty much the theme of this chapter as we get into Deuteronomy chapter twelve. People often talk about the most important things in life. Usually the list includes things like health, family, friendships, love, purpose. And while those things absolutely matter, Scripture teaches that the most important thing we can do with our lives is to know, obey, and worship God according to his word. See, everything else in life finds its proper place when God is first. When you put God first, as they say. That is one of the major themes running throughout Deuteronomy, if you notice. God's people must take God's written word seriously. Now, in this chapter, Moses emphasizes that when it comes to worship in daily life, God's people are not free to invent their own methods or redefine true according to culture or personal preference. The central theme of this chapter is this if God's people want God's blessings, they must precisely obey God's word in worship and in life without adding to it or taking away from it for as long as they live on the earth. See, verse one reminds us that Israel, it reminds Israel that disobedience was to continue throughout their entire lives. You notice verse 1 says, These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. Moses has spent the previous chapters driving home one major reality, and that is carefully guard, protect, carefully know, and apply the written word of God. Whether we fully understand every detail or not, our responsibility is still obedience if we want the blessings of God. That brings us to a few instructions. The
Destroy Idols And Reject False Worship
SPEAKER_01first is completely destroy false religion and never practice worship in their way. Notice verses two through four. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their asherine with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods, and you shall oblivate their name from that place. You shall not act like this towards the Lord your God. God did not want Israel tolerating false religion. When they entered the land, they were to completely destroy the pagan altars, idols, and places of worship. The Canaanite religions, they were corrupt, they were immoral, they were offensive to God. God specifically warned Israel, do not worship me the way they worship their gods. Now that is important. God determines how he is to be worshipped, where he is to be worshipped, and what kind of worship is acceptable. Israel was not to copy pagan worship styles or their practices, and the principle still remains and matters today. God's people must carefully evaluate everything called worship by the standard of scripture. Not everything labeled worship is acceptable to God. There's a lot of things out there that people say is worship and they label it as worship, but it's not all acceptable to God. Truth matters in worship, doctrine matters in worship. The word of God matters in worship. God's people must reject false religion and stay grounded in biblical truth. As I mentioned a little earlier, it was very important to Israel, and that is still important to us today.
Offerings Joy And God’s Chosen Place
SPEAKER_01You are not to tolerate these false religions, which brings us to the second instruction: go to God's appointed place of worship and worship him with offerings, fellowship, joy, and praise. We see this in verses 5 through 7. But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God shall choose, from all the tribes to establish his name, therefore his dwelling, and there you shall come. And there you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your uh vault your voatile offerings, your fruit offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. There also you and your household shall eat before the Lord your God and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you. At this point in Israel's history, worship centered around a tabernacle. That was the place where God designated. God said, This is where my name will dwell. God determines the place and pattern of worship. The people were to bring their offerings there and worship God according to his instructions. Moses listed several kinds of offerings. He listed the burnt offering, offerings completely consumed before the Lord. He mentioned sacrifices, various voluntary and required offerings. He mentioned tithes, offerings connected to produce, livestock, and increases. Contributions, offerings supporting ministry and worship, volatility, voluntary offerings connected to vows, free will offerings, offerings given willingly and joyfully, first fruit offerings, giving God the first and the best portions. A major part of worship involved giving to God out of gratitude and obedience. And according to verse 7, worship was also to involve fellowship, rejoicing, and it was to involve gratitude. It also was to involve praising God for his blessings. Worship was never meant to be an afterthought, but it was meant to be something that was out there in the front. Which brings us to the third instruction. Never
Do Not Do What Seems Right
SPEAKER_01fall into the trap of doing what is right in your own eyes. Notice verses eight and nine. For you have not as yet come to the resting place and inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. God never approved of self-designed worship. Not never. That's never happened. It didn't happen then, and it doesn't happen today. Israel was not free to improvise worship according to personal preference. God expected his people to worship according to his instructions. Moses warned them not to become casual or careless once they entered the land of blessing. That warning still applies today. Do not worship based on convenience, culture, or personal taste. We worship according to the truth of God's word. And let me touch on that for uh a moment. You are to worship in the way that the Lord shows in his written word that he wants to be worshiped. In other words, there is not these various styles of worship. I have had plenty of conversations, dozens and dozens and dozens of conversations with people over the years who say, Well, that's just the way we worship. That's how it was in that time, that's the way the folks did it there, that's the way they did it in the old country, whether that old country was uh was Africa, Europe, or Asia, because those are the old countries. That's how we worshiped over there. That that's not how that works. You are to worship in the way that God called reverence, the what the things that God reverence. Now, if you were with me through Leviticus, we talked a lot about that. You heard Moses a lot of times say, Thus saith the Lord. In other words, those things that saith the Lord is how you were supposed to do things. You were not supposed to do things your way, you were not supposed to do things according to your culture or your belief or what you thought was right, but what was right in the sight of the Lord. Which brings us to the fourth instruction. When God brings you into blessing, continue giving to him and rejoicing before him. We see this in verses 10 through 12. And they say, When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security. Then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God shall choose for his name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice, volatile offerings which you shall, excuse me, you will vow to the Lord, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, and you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion of inheritance with you. Moses reminds Israel that when God gives them peace, stability, and blessing in the land, they must not forget him. They were still to bring offerings to the Lord. These offerings included burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, contributions, voluntary offerings. And once again, Moses emphasizes rejoicing before the Lord. Worship was to be joyful because it recognized the goodness and faithfulness of God. Families were to gather together and worship and celebrate what God had done for them. Which brings us to the fifth instruction: do not invent your own place of worship. Verses 13 and 14 tell us, Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. God specifically warned Israel not to offer sacrifices just anywhere they wanted. Worship was to happen at the place God designated. This reminds us that worship is not about personal creativity or independence, it is about submission to God. And the place where worship occurs should always be serious about the word of God. Always. Not every religious environment honors God truthfully. That's something we need to remember. Which brings us to the sixth instruction.
Blessings With Boundaries Blood Forbidden
SPEAKER_01Enjoy God's blessings, do not eat the blood. Verses 15 and 16 tell us, however, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessings of the Lord your God, which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it as of the gazelle and the deer, only you shall not eat the blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water. God allowed his people freedom to enjoy the blessings that he provided, including eating meat from their herds and their flocks. But ceremonially clean and unclean people could participate in these blessings. But one restriction remained: they were not to consume the blood. God established boundaries even within the liberties. Now they had the liberty to eat the meat, but they were not to eat the blood. And let me uh touch on what that means. That means that when they were when they slaughtered one of these animals, they were to hang it upside down and drain all of the blood from it. Then they were to cut it up, butcher it, if you will, and then eat it. Once all the blood was drained down. And let me make something very clear. When you're eating particularly red meat, I'm talking about now, and you see that red in there, that's not blood. You need to remember the blood has already been drained out. So when you eat a steak or you're cooking hamburger, that's not blood that you're eating. I just want to make sure I throw that out there. Which brings us to instruction number seven. Do not use what belongs to God for yourself. Verses 17 and 18 say, You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil or the firstborn of your flock or excuse me, herd or flock, or any of your volatile offerings which you vow, or your free will offerings, or the contribution of your hand, but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, and your male and your female servant and the Levite who was within your gate, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all your undertakings. The portion that belonged to the Lord was to be brought to him. Israel was not to keep God's portion for themselves, they were to bring their tithe, their offerings, their firstborn animals, their dedicated gifts, and they were to rejoice before the Lord with thankful hearts. God's people were to honor God first with what he had provided. So, in other words, God gave them liberty of the things they could have, but they were not supposed to take the first which belonged to the Lord. Which brings us to the eighth instruction: do not neglect the minister and his needs.
Honor God’s Portion Support Ministry
SPEAKER_01Look at verse 19. Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. The Levites and ministers were to be supported by the people of God. Remember, the Levites did not have land. Those who labored in spiritual ministry depended upon the support of God's people. Scripture consistently teaches that those who faithfully labor in preaching and teaching are worthy of support. God blesses people who support faithful people. Now, yes, I am a fan of a minister still having a job because there are times where a minister still needs to have a job and he needs to work his craft, just like Paul did that time with Priscilla and Aquila, uh, you know, because they were all tent makers. But the Lord makes it very clear that when a man is digging into the word of God, when he is faithful in that study and bringing that word, I'm not talking about that off the head, off-the-cuff topical preaching. When a man is hard in that systematic theology, there's nothing wrong with supporting that man, and he should be supported by the people. That was the thing with the Levites. The Levites were the ones who brought the word of God to the people, and God did not give them an inheritance. In other words, they didn't have land that they could build tents on, but they were to be taken care of by the people. The Lord didn't say they would have they were supposed to have a luxurious lifestyle, he did say that they were to have support. You know, that would be a place to live, food, clothing, things like that. And I am in agreement with that as well. The ninth instruction, as God expands his boundaries, enjoy his blessings responsibly. Notice verses 20 through 25. When the Lord your God expands your border as he has promised you, and say, I will eat meat because you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat whatever you desire. If the place which the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock with the Lord, excuse me, which the Lord has given you as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates whatever you desire. Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you shall eat it, the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. You shall not eat, you shall not eat it. You shall pour it on the ground like water, you shall not eat it, in order that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. As Israel grew and prospered, God permitted them uh greater freedom in enjoying food and meat. God was not restricting his people from enjoying life. Obedience to God does not eliminate joy, it actually leads to fuller enjoyment of life. But again, the command remained do not consume the blood. I would like to touch on that when it comes to your liberty. Liberties, God absolutely wants you and your Christian walk to enjoy liberties. I never understood some of these churches that put all these restrictions on people and you cannot enjoy the things because they'll say, Well, that's being of the world. It's not being you're you are in the world, but not to be of the world. And when it says not to be of the world, it's talking about the evil that the world does. But there are things that you can do in the Lord. You can enjoy a good movie. You can enjoy a good show. You can read a good book. You can play video games. You can listen to music. You can take trips. You can go to other you can go to other lands and you can do things. You can enjoy things in the Lord, but you know in your spirit the things that you should do and you shouldn't be doing. And the things that are in the Lord that are enjoyable, the Lord has no issue with it and makes no issue with it. Which brings us to the tenth instruction. God brings offerings to God's appointed place of worship. We see this in verses 26 and 27. Only your holy things which you may have and your volatile offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. You shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood on the altar of the Lord your God, and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh. Things consecrated to the Lord were to be brought to him at his appointed place of worship. The principle is clear. What belongs to God should be handled according to God's instructions. New Testament believers are not under Old Testament tithing laws, but believers are still called to give generously, they're called to give faithfully and systematically as God prospered them. I kind of touched on that earlier. The tithing of the Old Testament is not the same as the New Testament. They were under a law. We are under a law of grace. So when you go to church, if you want to give, you give. If you don't, you don't. But what I am a believer in is that if you enjoy the things of the church, if you enjoy uh the heat in the wintertime, the air in the summertime, uh the good clean water, uh sometimes the food they provide. You know, certain sometimes churches have, you know, meals. I do think that you should give. You should give something to help keep those things go along because we live in a time where we pay bills. Bills don't get paid on their own, and you should give something. Now, do I believe there's a certain amount you should give? No, I do not. I believe you give what's in your heart. And what you do is between you and the Lord, not between you and the person in the seat next to you, or you and your pastor, or you and the elder. Uh, it is according to what you want to give. But I do believe that if you attend a church service on a regular basis, you should uh give and do something. Which brings us to the 11th instruction.
Do Not Copy Pagan Ways
SPEAKER_01Carefully obey God's word without adding to it or taking away from it. Excuse me, had to get a drink. We see this in verses 28 through 32. When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to depossess, and you dispossess, I should say, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, beware that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise. You shall not behave thus towards the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire of their gods. Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add nor take away from it. Now, Moses closes this chapter by stressing careful obedience. If God's people will listen to and obey God's word, it will go well with them. But Moses warns Israel not to become curious about false religion or pagan practices. Now, there are some forms of knowledge that are spiritually dangerous. God's people are not to pursue godless and immoral religious systems. The pagan religions around Israel have become so corrupt that they even sacrifice their own children. God says, do not follow those ways, do not imitate those practices, do not add to my word, do not subtract from my word, stay faithful to what I have revealed. And those are the instructions that God gave his people. And then
Do Not Add Or Subtract
SPEAKER_01I have some final thoughts. This chapter teaches a powerful principle. Worship must be on God's terms, not ours. God's people are called to reject false religion. And I am a very big believer in that. Stay serious about scripture. And you know, here at Berean's Corner, as we go through the Bible, we are believers in that. Worship according to truth, honor God with their lives and giving, obey his word carefully and completely. And God repeatedly promises if his people will stay faithful to his word, it will go well with them. So do not drift into casual worship or selective obedience. Stay grounded in the scripture, worship God his way, and never add or subtract from what God has said. Alright.
Final Exhortations And Farewell
SPEAKER_01That brings us to the end of Deuteronomy chapter 12. As always, I hope that you got something out of this chapter. See, let me remind everyone of something. These old chapter, these excuse me, these old testament chapters, it is very important to us today. You know, it's not dry, dusty theology. In every bit of this, it is something important. See, I am a believer in that everything in the Bible is breathed by God and poured out of the mouth of God. That He used men to write these words down for you and I to have to consume. So don't ever go through the scriptures and think that, well, you know, the scriptures really begin in the New Testament. Or, hey, if you're reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you're doing just right. No, you got to go through all 66 books. God made it his business to preserve these 66 books, for us to inherit these books, for us to take in these books, for us to digest these books. And that's why here at Berean's Corner, we go through every book of the Bible, every book of the Bible, chapter by chapter and verse by verse. As always, I hope that you got something out of this lesson. Hope that it nourished you. I hope that it strengthened you. As always, I ask you to pray for me. Pray that I stay steadfast in the scriptures, pray that I stay on the straight and narrow path. Pray for me that the Lord is always a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And I am doing the same for you. As I always say, and I will say as long as I have breath, I appreciate you a great deal. It means a lot to me that you take time out of your morning, afternoon, and evening to go uh through the word of God with us. And I am praying for you as well, wherever you may be. Alright, that brings us to the end of today's lesson. That is all for now. God bless. Thank you for listening to Bereen's Corner. We appreciate you joining us as we dive into God's Word and seek biblical truth together. If this episode
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