Thursday, June 13, 2019

Israeli's Walk with God-5 (GL22)

   'Appreciating God's Love'

A) Holy People of God
Deu 7:6  "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth."
    Since the Israelites were God's people and He was going to bring them into the Promised land, He wanted them to be a holy nation for He is holy.
   To be holy, they must love Him by keeping His commandments which could transform them into the holy people of God.
    Similarly, God wants every Christian to be holy and perfect just as He is holy and perfect.
Deu 7:9-10  "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.

Choice of Serving God
Jos 24:19-21  But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good." And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the Lord!"
    Joshua told the Israelites that the choice whether to serve God or not was solely theirs to make. He also warned them of the consequences of failing to keep His covenant.
    For after God had saved and blessed them and even used them mightily in the conquest of Canaan land, He could still destroy them when they disobeyed His words or rebelled against Him.
Lev 18:26-27,29  You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled)... For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

B) Abominable Statutes of Nations
Lev 20:22-23  "'You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them."
    The acceptable practices (statutes) of the Canaanites then, were idolatry, human sacrifices, incest, homosexuality, bestiality and adultery.
    These wicked practices are abominations to the Lord and all those who practiced them would be cut off from the people.
Note - the approval of sodomy and same sex marriage in so-called Christians nations have defiled and destroyed many Christians. God will soon judge the churches, pastors and leaders, who approve, accept or practice them in the coming WW3.

Kill All in Canaan Land
Deu 7:1-2  "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them."
   God had to annihilate all the inhabitants of Canaan land for they would corrupt and turn the Israelites to rebel against God, into idolatry.
Deu 7:3-4  "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly."

C) No Covenant with Canaanites
Deu 7:2  "and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them."
    God did not allow the Israelites to be merciful but to annihilate all the inhabitants of Canaan land, for they would deceive them into idolatry and to practice abominations.
    They were also not allowed to make any covenant with them.

Deception of Gibeonites
Jos 9:6,14  And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us." ...Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the Lord.
    Even Joshua and these godly Israelites were deceived by the Gibeonites. They believed the stale bread instead of consulting the Lord.
   Since they had made the covenant with the Gibeonites, who were actually their neighbours meant to be annihilated, they could not break their oath by killing.
Joshua 9:19-20  Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, " We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them. This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them." ...And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, in the place which He would choose, even to this day.

Brethren, beware of the heresies of false christs and false prophets, for they sound reasonable but are deceptions. These will destroy your faith in God and His words.