Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #164-Deuteronomy 13 - Shun Idolatry
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Welcome And Today’s Focus
Welcome 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. Alright, welcome back and thank you for joining me again as we go through the
Reading Deuteronomy 13 Aloud
Bible. Open your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 13. The title of today's lesson is Sun Idolatry. Now, the last time we were together, we were going through the laws of the sanctuary, and today we are focusing on idolatry. Deuteronomy 13, and let's read. Deuteronomy 13. If a prophet or one who foretells by dreams appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, Let us follow other gods, gods you have not known, and let us worship them. You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him, serve him, and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. He has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you. If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, Let us go and worship other gods, gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other. Do not yield to him or listen to him, show him no pity, do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people stone him to death because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again. If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in, that wicked men have risen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, Let us go and worship other gods, gods you have not known, then you must inquire, probe, and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true, and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town, destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock. Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square, and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. None of these condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the Lord will turn from his fierce anger. He will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers as he promised on earth to your forefathers, because you obeyed the Lord your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today, and doing what is right in his eyes.
Stay Faithful Reject False Teaching
Stay faithful to God and reject false teaching. That is the theme of what we are talking to today. Now, we live in a culture that constantly promotes religious tolerance. People say all religions are basically the same. Some of you have heard that. Everyone should just respect each other's beliefs. Or it is narrow-minded to say one belief system is wrong. But when you compare those ideas with the Word of God, they completely fall apart. See, the Bible is very clear that false teaching is dangerous because it leads people away from the true God. There are countless religious systems, movements, teachers, churches in this world that will tell people exactly what they want to hear. Some even encourage people to remain comfortable in sin while still claiming to represent God. And that it is. Now we are here in Deuteronomy 13. Moses specifically addresses false ministries and false religious influences. The main truth of this chapter is this God's people are to test and eliminate false ministers because they will lead people away from God and his word. God wanted his people serious about truth and he wanted them able to recognize and reject spiritual deception. And that is something very needed and very true in the times that we live in today. And there are a couple of uh false uh minister revelations we want to look at. The first is God's people need to eliminate false ministers who lead people away from God's truth. We see this in verses one through five. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises amongst you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, accord uh concerning which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other god whom you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear him, and you shall keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him and cling to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk, so you shall purge the evil from among you.
Signs And Dreams Tested By Scripture
Now, uh Moses explains that false religious leaders often appeal to dreams, visions, experiences, feelings, and supposed supernatural signs. Excuse me. But they are not anchored in the written word of God. Even if someone appeared impressive or claimed supernatural experiences, Israel was not to follow them if they were leading the people away from God. Uh now this is the principle that still matters today. Many false teachers rely heavily on emotional experiences and subjective claims rather than carefully teaching of scripture. Moses says if someone performs signs or predicts something accurately, but then tries to pull the people away from the truth of God, God's people, they must reject that. And then there are three reasons why God's people uh are to have. Number one, the first response is do not listen to them. Look, notice verse 3. You should not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. God sometimes allows false teachers to cross our paths as a test of whether we truly love him and remain loyal to his word. False teachers are often persuasive, charismatic, smooth, emotionally appealing. But God's people must not be led away from biblical truth. Real love for God is demonstrated by staying committed to his word, even when false teaching sounds attractive or popular. And some of us have seen that today. You got these topical teachers out here, and it sounds very appealing. It uh it grabs your emotions and it brings you in. But this is where your discernment comes in, and the Lord wants you to stay away from that and to shun that, and that is what Moses is explaining to the people here, which brings us to the next response. Follow the written word. Notice verse 4 you shall follow the Lord your God and fear him, and you shall keep his commandments. Moses emphasizes fear the Lord, obey his commandments, listen to his voice, cling to him. Where do we hear God's voice? Through his written word. That's why he left us his written word. God wants his people grounded in scripture, not driven by feelings or religious experiences. The third response is eliminate the false minister. In verse 5, he said, But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. Under Israel's covenant law, false prophets leading people away from God were to be executed. Now, in this present church age that you and I live in, believers are not authorized to physically execute false teachers because civil authority belongs to government according to Romans 13. Um, you know, I wasn't gonna take us there,
Three Responses To False Ministers
but let's let's go there real quick. Let me let's go. You can uh follow, you can uh follow me there, or you can uh just let me get there and read it so we can look at Romans 13 and see what it says. We will won't go through the we won't go through the whole chapter, but we will go through some of it. Romans 13 and verse 1 let every person be subject, I'm scared, excuse me, let every person in subjection to be subject in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Just want to give us a little bit of Romans 13 to remind us that you know we are living in a different dispensation. The dispensation in the time that we live in, it doesn't allow us to go and execute uh false teachers and uh false prophets, but in this time it did. Now, the principle still remains false teachers are spiritually dangerous and they must be rejected, they must be exposed, they must be removed, and they must be uh removed from any and all influence. God's people are not to support spiritual deception, which brings us to the second uh false revelation.
When Family Pressures You To Compromise
God's people need to eliminate false relatives who lead them away from God's truth. Notice verses 6 to 11. If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend, who is at your own side, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the people who are around you, near you, are far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end. You shall not yield to him or listen to him, and your eyes shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him, but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first among against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid and will never again do such a wicked thing among you. Moses now warns that false spiritual influence can come from people very close to you. Uh and he lists some of those people. He said he mentions brother, a brother, he mentions a son, he mentions a daughter, he mentions a wife, he also mentions a very close friend. Even family relationships were never to take priority over loyalty to God and his truth. If someone tried to lure Israel away from God and into false worship, there were five required responses. Response number one, do not yield them. Notice uh notice verse eight. You shall not yield to him or listen to him. Do not compromise truth to preserve peace. That's what the Lord wants us to know. Don't you're not trying, you're not trying to keep the peace. Don't don't compromise. Response number two, do not pity them. That is also in verse eight. And your eyes shall not pity him. False teaching is not harmless confusion, it is spiritual destruction, and you are not to give pity on them. Response number three, do not spare them. Verse eight says, nor shall you spare. Do not protect falsehood simply because of emotional attachment. Doesn't matter who the person is in your life, you are not to protect their falsehoods. Response number four, do not conceal them. Verse eight says, or conceal him. False teaching was not to be hidden or ignored, but you were supposed to bring it out in the open. The fifth response was to execute them. We saw that in verses nine and ten. But you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first among him to put him to death, and afterwards, the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Again, under Israel's covenant law, this involved physical execution. Today believers do not carry out civil punishment, but spiritually speaking, false teaching must be subjected and separated from. Even family members must not be allowed to pull believers away from the truth of God's word. The New Testament repeatedly warns believers not to tolerate false doctrine, and we see that a lot in the New Testament. And that is for us in the church age, which brings us to the third revelation.
When A Whole City Turns Away
God's people need to eliminate false places that lead people away from God's truth. We see this in verses 12 to 18. If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods whom you have not known, then you shall investigate and search out the inquiry thoroughly, and if it is true, and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it, and its kettle with the edge of the sword. Then you shall gather all its booty in the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God, and it shall be a ruin forever, it shall never be rebuilt. And nothing from that which is put under the band shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from his burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you, and make you increase just as he has sworn to your fathers. If you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God. Now Moses now moves from individuals and families to entire cities. If a city turned away from God and embraced false worship, Israel was to investigate thoroughly. Notice that carefully there was to there they were to investigate first. See, truth matters. But if the city had truly embraced false religion and rebellion against God's judgment, against God's judgment was to come. Moses says false teaching is an abomination to God. God places false religion in the category of serious evil because it destroys people spiritually. See, God didn't take that and say that it's a nice thing, and as I said a little earlier, well, you know, won't you leave people alone, let them believe how they believe. See, this is something God takes seriously. And according to the law given to Israel, such cities were to be destroyed completely and not rebuilt. The seriousness of this shows exactly how strong God views false doctrine.
Blessings And Responsibilities For Obedience
God then gives four blessings that will come if Israel remained faithful. Blessing number one, God's anger would be turned away. Verse 17 says, And nothing from that which is put under the band shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from his burning anger. Blessing number two, God will show mercy. We also see that in verse 17. His burning anger and show mercy to you. Blessing number three, God will show compassion. He says, and have compassion on you. Blessing number four, God would increase his people. We see in verse 17, he also says, compassion on you and will make you increase. Moses closes by reminding Israel of three responsibilities. Final responsibilities that God gave his people. And we saw that in verse 18. Responsibility number one, listen to God. Responsibility number two, guard God's word. Responsibility number three, do what is right in God's sight. And that's what he told them in verse
Final Warnings And Practical Discernment
18. And then I have some final thoughts on this chapter. This chapter reminds us that false teaching is never a small issue. False doctrine pulls people away from God, and that it does. It has led many people down that wide path. Next, it corrupts truth. There's truth out there that God has given us, and that false teaching pulls you away from that. It damages families. There have been families out there who have been split because you have uh people and families go uh in these cults, in these false religions, and it has absolutely separated families and destroyed them. It also destroys lies spiritually. You will never understand God's word if you never uh uh if you had that false teaching in your life because God wants his people grounded in scripture, he wants them loyal to truth, spiritually discerning, and he also wants them unwilling to compromise with falsehoods. And that's what you and I are to hold and cling to. See, love for God is demonstrated by faithfulness to his word. He preserved his word, so we are that we should stay faithful to it. So stay serious about doctrine, test every teacher by scripture, not by your thoughts or your feelings, but by scripture, reject what is false and remain firmly committed to the truth of God's word. Well, that brings us to the end of Deuteronomy chapter 13.
Prayer Requests And Personal Closing
As always, I hope that you got something out of this lesson. I hope that you enjoyed it, and I hope that it enriched you. As always, I ask you to continue to pray for me. Pray that I stay steadfast in the scripture, pray that I stay on that on that narrow path, pray that the Lord's word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, pray for my spiritual well-being, my mental well-being, my physical well-being. And I'm doing the same for you. As always, I appreciate you more than you will ever know. It uh gives me great joy that you take time out of your morning, afternoon, and evening to go with me through the word of God as we go through the Bible chronologically, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in the order that the events actually happen in. I am praying for you that you are doing well and that you are staying strong and steadfast in the scriptures. That brings us to the end of Deuteronomy chapter 13. That is all for now. God bless.
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