Thru the Bible - #169-Deuteronomy 18 - Portion Of The Levites

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Passage

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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 or tea, and let's get into today's lesson. Alright, welcome back. It is time to get into God's Word again.

Levites’ Portion And Support

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Open your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 18. The title of today's lesson is Portion of the Levites. This chapter will also cover Spiritism Forbidden. So, Deuteronomy 18, and let's read.

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Deuteronomy 18. The priests who are Levites, indeed the whole tribe of Levi, are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the offerings made to the Lord by fire, for that is their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. The Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or sheep, the shoulder, the jowls, and the inner parts. You are to give them the first fruits of your grain, new wine and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep. For the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord's name always. If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites, who serve there in the presence of the Lord. He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcrafts, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you will dispossess, listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God, nor see this great fire any more, or we will die. The Lord said to me, What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death. You may say to yourselves, How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord? If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

When A Great Leader Is Gone

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Supporting true ministers and rejecting false ministers. I have heard it said that you never truly replace a great man or woman of God. And uh I believe that myself, uh, you know, I have actually had the pleasure and still do actually of being uh under a great man of God who takes the scriptures very seriously, systematic, and takes uh studying as seriously as they can come. And that is absolutely true. See, when God uses someone in a unique way, the minister may continue after they are gone, but it is never quite the same. And I should say the ministry, and that's what I'm getting at. You know, for those of you like myself, for example, who have an older pastor uh who you uh adore because he is hard on the word of God and takes it very seriously. Have you ever sat around and thought about, you know, what's gonna happen when he's gone? What's gonna happen, you know, who's gonna replace him, who's gonna come after that? The truth is, is that while they may never be replaced, the ministry does go on. Moses was nearing the end of his life. Israel was about to lose the man God had used to deliver them from Egypt, give them God's law, and write the first five books of the scriptures. Joshua would follow Moses, and Joshua was a great leader, but he was not Moses. See, Moses understood something important. God's work does not stop when one servant of God is gone. And that's exactly what I was saying. As much as we can adore the man who taught us the word of God, the ministry moves on and the work of God moves on. The work continues as God's people remain faithful to God's word. The central truth of this chapter is God's work will continue to go on to God's blessings as God's people follow and obey God's inspired word when it comes to supporting true ministers and eliminating false ministers. Moses gives four critical realizations that God's people must understand if they are going to continue experiencing God's blessings after a great leader is gone. I just want to touch on that again. Remember, this is the last book that Moses will be involved in, and there's a reason why he is retelling all of these things because he is getting the next generation ready.

Supporting True Ministers Today

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The first thing is God's people are to provide for God-ordained leaders. We see that in verses 1 through 8. In every dispensation, God calls specific men to serve in ministry. God gifts them, God appoints them, God equips them, and God expects his people to support them. In Moses' day, the tribe of Levi had been set apart for ministry. Unlike the other tribes, uh, they did not receive a land inheritance. Their inheritance was the Lord Himself. And Moses actually gave a few stipulations uh to go along with this. The first is leaders were to live off the offerings made to the Lord. Notice verse 1. The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion of or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord's offering by fire and his portion. The priests were supported through the various offerings brought by God's people. These offerings provided for both the minister and his family. God wanted his ministers focused on ministry, not distracted from it by other pursuits. And that's how it was in those days. See, when they gave a tithe and they brought the tithe into the storehouse, this is what it did. See, remember, the Levites were not given a land inheritance like the other tribes. So they were to be taken care of by their fellow believers. That's why they were given a portion of the food and the and the supplements and the things that they needed from the people. This was an old testament way of taking care of the man, the uh the man that God appointed. See, as we just as we just read, they were to focus on the word of God from the morning, the afternoon, and the evening. They were supposed to get up and be focused on that word of God, but not worrying about all these other things they had to do. Now, this is what's unfortunate. There are a lot, there are a lot of men over the last hundred, I'm not even gonna say dozens, hundreds of years, who have abused this, who have put themselves in the Levitical seat that doesn't exist anymore, and they have uh plundered the people for offerings, they have bludgeoned the people for offerings, and and uh they have lived a crazy lifestyle off of it. Now, these ministers in these days, they it wasn't about a lifestyle, it was about survival. What they were given by the people was they were given shelter, they were given food, they were given provisions. The things that God wants us to have to uh to go and live on. The ministers uh back then were not, they didn't have you know fancy animals to ride on like these men nowadays have fancy cars, they didn't have eagles backs to fly on, like these people have private jets. They were to have the provisions, they were supposed to give the word of God to the people, and the people will give them the provisions, which brings us to the second stipulation. Leaders did not receive a land inheritance. Verse 2 says, And they shall have no inheritance among their countrymen. The Lord is their inheritance as he promised them. The other tribes received land, homes, and fields. The Levites did not. God intentionally arranged things differently because he wanted them devoted to his work. That's why God did it that way. Stipulation number three Leaders were old offerings from the people. Notice verses three through five. Now this shall be the priest's due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall have, excuse me, they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of the Lord forever. Now, the people were to provide support uh uh to these oliv excuse me, and to uh to these olivic uh Levitical priests. I apologize for that. I actually was uh coughing and got a little tongue-tied at the same time, so I'm sorry about that. Uh the sacrifice, uh the uh the people were to provide this support through sacrifices, first fruits, grain, new wine, oil, and even the wool of sheep. Why? Because God had chosen these men to minister in his name. God expected his people to take care of those that he called, which brings us to number four. Leaders uh relocating to new places were still to be supported. We see this in verses six through eight. Now, if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides and comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. They shall eat equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their father's estate. If a Levite moved because God led him elsewhere, he was still to receive support. God's people work to care for him wherever God placed them. The New Testament carries forward with this same principle. Those who labor faithfully in preaching and teaching God's word are worthy of support. The principle is simple. If God's people want God's blessings, they must take good care of those whom God has called to minister. And I want to touch on something. Yes, I know you if you've been with me for a while, you know that I have a big issue with charlatan preachers, with people who who plunder the people and they and they pillage the people. But don't get it twisted. I do believe that a minister who is worthy of his call should be supported. And I'm not necessarily saying that that minister shouldn't have a job because there are ministers who have jobs, they have jobs and they also feed uh God's people the word of God, and then there are those, particularly when they get older, who are in full-time ministry. And I do believe that if that person is really going through breaking down chapter by chapter, verse by verse, the word of God, that that man should be taken care of. Let me be very clear, not a lifestyle, but he should at least have the provisions to live. And that was the same with these ministers. Wherever they went, they were to be supported, and that's the way that the Lord wanted, which brings us to the second realization.

Spiritism And Occult Practices Forbidden

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God's people are to protect themselves from demonic religion. Now we're getting into spiritism here. Verses 9 through 14 talk about this. As Israel entered the promised land, God warned them to stay completely separated from the false religions surrounding them. God's people must never dabble in demonic or occult practices. Moses gives 11 guidelines. The first would be do not implement or imitate any detestable practice. Verse 9 says, When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. God does not want his people borrowing practices from false religion. Anything God calls detestable must be avoided. It's really that simple. And the same goes for you and you and I. The Lord wants us to stay away from those false religions, don't entertain them. As it says later in the scriptures, you know, don't even sit down and eat with them. You are not to imitate them or to do anything, uh, to imitate anything of them. You're not supposed to imitate the way that they dress, not to imitate the way that they do service, not to not don't you don't imitate the way that they that they preach or teach. You are to avoid it at all costs, which brings us to number two. Do not allow your family to participate in false religious practices. Verse 10 says, There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire. Israel was never to imitate pagan child sacrifice rituals. God's people must guard their families from false worship. Why is the Lord saying this? Because some of these lands they're going into, people literally sacrifice their children to fire, and he does not want Israel picking up on this. Number three, do not associate with anyone who practices divination. It also says in verse 10, one who uses divination. Divination involves attempting to gain supernatural knowledge apart from God, and that is something that God forbids. And you already have an idea of what those type of things would be. You know, we're talking about tarot cards, uh, for fortune telling, horoscopes, reading the stars, those type of things. People uh uh, you know, conjuring the dead, trying to get knowledge that's supernatural outside of God. Number four, do not associate with anyone who practices witchcraft. Also in verse 10 it says, one who practices witchcraft. God's people are not to seek spiritual power through satanic or occult means. I think that's plain and simple enough. Number five, do not associate with anyone who interprets omens. Also in verse 10 it says, or one who interprets omens. This includes those who claim supernatural insight through objects, signs, or mystical practices. You know, those type of people who are one with uh uh they're they're one with inanimate objects. This is pretty much what it's talking about. They're uh you know, they they practice these, they got these old mystic religions, old mystic practices that they hold on to. This is what the Lord is referring to. Number six, do not associate with sorcerers. Also in verse 10 it says, or a sorcerer. Sorcery seeks power and knowledge through demonic sources, just plain and simple. That's how they try to get their knowledge. Number seven, do not associate with spell casters. Verse 11 says, or one who casts a spell. God forbids attempts to manipulate others spiritually through curses or spells. First of all, God's God's people, if you are a child of God, you cannot be cursed, you cannot be possessed. But there are those who try to say they're gonna put a curse on you or a spell on you. There was a famous uh pastor a couple years ago. Some of you may know who who he is. I remember I would see this Joker on TV, and he would be saying things like, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna put a spell on you, you know, if you say anything about me, anything negative about me, you know, they use that manipulation tactic to try to keep you silent. That's what the Lord is talking about here. Be careful of people who talk about that they're casting spells on you or on or on anyone. Number eight, do not associate with mediums. Uh also in verse 11, it says, or a medium. Mediums claim to contact spirits of the dead. God says stay away. A medium would be what what we would uh in today's terms will call a psychic. Stay away from that. Stay away from that stuff. Number nine, do not associate with spiritists. Verse 11 says, or a spiritist. Spiritus claim to receive information from the spirit world. Believers are never to seek spiritual guidance through these means. That's something you do. Listen, you don't want to play around with this stuff. Number 10, do not associate with those who contact the dead. Also in verse 11, it says, or one who calls up the dead. God forbids attempts to communicate with deceased individuals. Listen, when your loved ones or whoever it is, when they're gone from this world or from this realm, they're gone. And by no means are you supposed to try to find ways to reach out to them or contact them. Which brings us to number 11. God's people are to be blameless before the Lord. Verse 13 says, You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. God is not calling his people to sinless perfection because none of us have that. He is calling them to be wholehearted, devotional, and separation from these detestable practices. God makes it clear that the nations practicing these things were being judged because of these very sins. God's people never want to embrace the practices that bring God's judgment. God is going to bring a judgment on those people, and he is doing this, so you will stay away from those things. Which brings us to the third realization.

God Raises Up A True Prophet

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God's people are to know God will always raise up a true prophet. We see this in verses 15 through 22. God knew false religion would always exist. It existed then and it exists still to this day. But he also wanted his people to know that he would always provide true revelation through his chosen spokesman. God says, I will raise up a prophet from among your countrymen. This was immediately true of the prophetic ministry that would continue in Israel. Ultimately, this points forward to the coming of Jesus Christ, the final and ultimate prophet. Remember that, the final and ultimate prophet. Moses reminds Israel that when they stood at Mount Sinai, they were terrified by God's direct voice and asked for a mediator. God approved of that request. Therefore, God promised to provide human spokesmen who would faithfully communicate his word. One characteristic always marks a true man of God. He faithfully communicates God's actual words. A true minister does not merely offer religious opinions, he does not just offer motivational speeches or personal ideas. He faithfully proclaims God's word. God says anyone who refuses to listen to his true prophet will answer to him, and that's just how it was. The fourth realization was God's people are to know there will always be false prophets. And we see that in verses 20 through 22. Now I'm sorry, let me back up. Let's go back to 15 through uh 19. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like uh like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all you ask of the Lord your God in Horab on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire any more lest I die. And the Lord said to me, They have spoken well. I will rise, I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. Sorry about that. I skipped a couple of verses because I jumped ahead in my notes and started uh reading a couple of other

How To Spot False Prophets

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things. Realization number four, God's people are to know there will always be false prophets. Just as God raises up true ministers, false ministers will always exist as well. Moses gives four pieces of information concerning false prophets. Number one, false prophets presumptuously speak. Notice verse 20. But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded in him to speak. False teachers often speak boldly and confidently. The problem is that they proclaim things God never said, they speak religious ideas, not divine truth. And if you're wondering, what does he mean when he says they speak presumptuously? Exactly what I just said. They speak boldly and confidently. A lot of these people who are great orators and orators, these are the people that the Lord are, you know, that's exactly what he's talking about. They Are false prophets. See, you are not to look for people who can speak. Uh, you know how they say, you know, so so-and-so he speaks so well. That's not what you're supposed to be looking for. Because remember, Moses also did not speak well. That was one of the things he said back in Exodus. Remember, he said, Oh Lord, you know, why would you call me to speak for you? You know, I have a stuttering problem, uh, my words are not clear. You know, he came up with all these excuses. But he was the man God chose. Now, yes, it is true that the Lord used Aaron to be his mouthpiece, but Moses was the man that the Lord chose, not the man who can stand up and basically sway a crowd. Which brings us the false prophet data number two. The false prophet was to be put to death. In verse 20, it says, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. Under Israel's covenant law, false prophets were to receive capital punishment, just like that. Today, believers do not execute false teachers. However, we are still commanded to reject, expose, and separate from false teaching. Now, I want you to understand that we're living in a different dispensation, so we don't execute false prophets the way that they did then. We're under different laws. But you are to reject them, separate yourself from them, and that key word is expose them. And there's a reason why I'm touching on that. I was listening to uh one of my uh uh favorite pastors the other day, another brother in Christ, and he was uh he was talking and commenting on a modern-day false prophet, a real modern-day false prophet. And someone in the comment after he did the video said, you know, this is not helping anybody. What are you helping by talking about him like that or bringing out those things? See, that's a man who doesn't know the word of God because the word of God says that we are to expose those who are taking advantage of the people. We are to expose the false prophets, we are to expose the false teachers. That is a godly principle. A manly principle says, uh, don't say anything about someone who's who's a minister, you you know, you're not helping the people by calling him out. The Lord says to expose their deeds, which brings us to false prophet data number three. False prophets make predictions that do not come true. In verse 21, it says, and 20 uh all the way through 22, it says, And you may say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. A false prophet's message ultimately proves false. What he predicts does not happen because the Lord never sent it. And if you're wondering, well, how do we know in this day and time? How do we know if somebody is a false prophet? It's very simple. One time, it's not multiple times, it's one time. If one time they prophesy something that doesn't come true, that person is forever labeled a false prophet. There is no mistakes, there is no, well, every no one's perfect. There is no, well, you know, we fall short of the glory of God. There is no, you know, God's grace is covering him. There is none of that. If a man or a woman in a lot of these cases stands up and gives a prophecy that does not come true, that person is a false prophet. And let me be very clear about what I mean by a prophecy. A prophecy is not someone standing over your loved one who has an internal sickness and say, The Lord said this sickness is gonna be gone. No, that's not how the Lord operates. It had to be something that could be seen. Uh, a person is not supposed to say, in three years, the Lord is gonna deliver you from this. No, when the prophets of the Lord prophesied, they prophesied things that were gonna happen, they would say, in three days, this exact thing is gonna happen. In in this very hour, a day from now, or three hours from now, this thing is gonna happen. That's how the people back in this time, in Israel's day, that's how they knew who a false prophet was. Because he would come, he would say something, that thing would not come to pass, and he would be labeled a false prophet. Which brings us to number four. False prophets are not to be feared. In verse 22, it says, The prophet has spoken has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him. God's people do not need to fear false prophets. We do not need to fear the occult, we do not need to fear Satan. We need to fear God. That's the only fear we need to have. That's the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. God's truth always triumphs over falsehoods. It always has and it always will.

Final Encouragement And Berean Call

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Conclusion. Deuteronomy 18 reminds us that God's word continues through God's word. This is why the Lord gave us this written word. God's people are called to support true ministers. They are called to avoid demonic religion, listen to God's true messengers, and reject false teachers. The chapter repeatedly emphasizes that God's people must remain anchored to his inspired word. Great leaders may come and great leaders may go, but God's truth never changes. And as long as God's people remain faithful to his word, God's work will continue and God's blessings will follow. And as we said at the start of this chapter, yes, it is hard to think about what it's gonna be like when your pastor retires or he passes away. What's gonna happen? You know, who's gonna teach us? This is what you need to remember. God's word is going to continue on until he puts an end to this earth and rem and makes things new again. So don't worry. He may not seem to be your cup of tea at first, but the Lord is going to put the right man in place to continue to lead his people. He is gonna show it at the end of this chapter with Moses when Joshua takes the mantle. All right. That brings us to the end of Deuteronomy chapter 18. As always, I hope that you got something out of this lesson. I hope that it blessed you and encouraged you. As always, I ask you to pray for me. Pray for me spiritually, mentally, physically. I pray that the Lord is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, that he keeps me on the straight and narrow way, and that he continues to bless me to go through this word of God with you. And as always, I thank you very much for taking time out of your morning, your afternoon, your evening to listen to me go through the word of God. It does it gives me great joy, and uh I am more grateful to you than you will ever know. As always, I am praying for you as well. I am praying that you stay steadfast. I'm praying that you stay daily in the scriptures. I'm praying that as we go through these scriptures, that you are going back and checking for yourself and going over everything that I've said. I am a big believer in that, that you are to not only listen to the man who was teaching you the word of God, but you are also follow behind that man who was teaching you the word of God to make sure things are always on point. Listen, this thing, this thing isn't called Berean's Corner for no reason. Acts 17 is one of my favorite chapters, and the Bereans study the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. I uh principal myself after that, and I'm asking you to do the same, even with me. Study the scripture daily to see if these things are so. Okay. I know I ran it on a little bit at the end of my message, but you know I get a little happy sometimes. That brings us to the end of Deuteronomy 18. That is all for now. God bless. Thank you for listening to Berean's Corner. We appreciate you joining us as we dive into God's word and seek biblical truth together. If this episode encouraged or challenged you, be sure to subscribe, share, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. You can find Bereen's Corner on Buzz Sprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon Music, and more. Let's stay connected. If you have questions, comments, or prayer requests, reach out to us at BereansCorner.buzzprout.com where you can follow along with show transcripts and leave a message in the fan mail slot. Also follow us on YouTube at Berean's Corner and don't forget to subscribe. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep searching the scriptures like a Berean. Stay discerning, stay faithful, and God bless you.