If Only… | Sunday, August 28, 2022

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There’s a name that levels mountains, right off my feet. There’s a faith that stands defiant, sending Goliath to his knees. I've seen His praise around my shackles, right off my feet.

There’s no power like the mighty name of Jesus. There’s a hope that calls our curve in the furnace. That’s the power that I... There’s no power like the mighty name of Jesus.

I’m willing to bet that you have heard it before. I’m willing to grant you that you probably never said it yourself. If only we had righteous leaders! If only we had just judges! If only we had a good and godly king!

As I said, I’m sure you’ve never thought such a thing. I’m sure that hasn’t recently crossed your mind or been on your lips in conversations with friends, neighbors, co-workers, or with your spouse. None of those people. But can you believe that?

It is almost September. Next week will be Labor Day weekend, and that means that in just two months, your voice via your vote gets to be heard here in the U.S. It is at times like this that we might find ourselves thinking that exact sort of thing: if only there were a representative that stood up for truth, justice, and goodness.

Three thousand years ago, that's exactly what many people in the city of Jerusalem were saying. The king at that time had effectively abdicated his responsibility. In some respects, you could have accused him of being an empty robe; he was checked out and completely out of step with God's law. He was immoral sexually and had dishonored his father and mother. He had blood on his hands through murder, had committed adultery, was a thief, a liar, and covetous. If you're keeping track of all of those things, he had broken commandments five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. If you go back to Exodus chapter 20 or Deuteronomy chapters four or five and read through the Ten Commandments, you will see that those are commandments five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten.

And that wasn't even the full extent of the troubles that this king had or the things that were on his rap sheet, if you will. His household was in complete and total disarray; his kids were completely jacked up. The word going around Jerusalem three thousand years ago, in the midst of that situation, was certainly, "If only we had righteous leadership! If only we had just judges! If only we had a godly king!"

I'm sure, like I said, that you've never thought such a thing as you look at the leadership in our local community, in our state government—whichever state you might find yourself in. I'm in the state of California. Or if you look at the federal government, if you're in the United States, or wherever you might be.

I'm sure you've never thought, "If only we had better leaders." But before we deal with the predicament of Israel 3,000 years ago in Jerusalem, or even address the things that are happening in our day that you might be thinking about right now, we need to go back to the Book of Deuteronomy. That's right, we're going back to the Book of Deuteronomy, specifically Deuteronomy chapter 17.

All of the issues and problems that Israel faced while they lived out their days in the Promised Land are connected to the Book of Deuteronomy, and that's why we are going through this book. Deuteronomy, as I've shared many times over the last several years, is an essential link that connects the Old Testament narrative from the history books. When I say "history books" in the Old Testament, I'm talking about Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings, as well as 1 and 2 Chronicles.

The history books, the poetry books—when you get into Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon—and then the prophets, from Isaiah through Malachi, make up a very large section of the Old Testament. All of those books in the Old Testament, after the Pentateuch, including history, poetry, and prophecy, link back to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is an essential link; it is a bedrock, if you will, upon which all of the stories of Israel's history are constructed and built.

I hope to show today that Deuteronomy is a link that runs all the way through to our day as well, in 2022. So, Deuteronomy 17 is where we are at. We left off back in April, and through the summer, we have been going through the Book of Nehemiah. We finished that last week, and now we are coming back to Deuteronomy. Back in April, on Palm Sunday, I taught out of Deuteronomy chapter 16, and now we are moving into chapter 17 to pick up our story.

Before we do, there's a bit of a recap that is necessary because we haven't been in this book for several months. Deuteronomy is Moses's last great sermon to the children of Israel, whom he has been leading before he dies and before they enter the Promised Land. Moses is the same Moses who was rescued from an evil Egyptian king's decree of death when he was first born.

At the time that Moses was born, he was the child of parents who were slaves in Egypt. The king, or Pharaoh, in Egypt had given a decree that every male child born was to be thrown into the Nile River and killed. Moses's mother hid him for a time, and he was rescued from this decree of death. This is the same Moses who, after being saved by his mother, grew up in the household of the evil Egyptian king as an adopted son. It's an amazing story.

This is the same Moses who, through the first four decades of his life, was trained in all of the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians, the great world empire of that day. It is the same Moses who, at about 40 years old, seemingly flushed his position and power down the Nile, if you will, when he was exiled from Egypt for killing an Egyptian soldier. This is the same Moses who then spent the next 40 years of his life shepherding stinky, dirty sheep in an unknown desert. He went from a palace in Egypt to wandering in the wilderness, shepherding dirty sheep, which is interesting because Egyptians hated shepherds. You can see some irony in this whole situation.

Then God called Moses. After those 40 years of being a shepherd in the wilderness, God said, "Now you're ready. I need you to go down to Egypt, go to Pharaoh, and tell him, 'Let my people go.'" This is that Moses who is giving this message in Deuteronomy. At the time of Deuteronomy, Moses is now 120 years old. He spent the first 40 years of his life preparing to be great in Egypt, trained in all the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians. He spent the next 40 years of his life being humbled in the desert as a shepherd so that he could spend the last 40 years of his life, as the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, says, suffering affliction with the people of God as he wandered in the wilderness.

It's a pretty amazing life. After all of that, he and the people he helped deliver, whom he has now led for 40 years, are on the border of blessing. They are on the border of the promised land.

Unlike all of the people that he is speaking to, Moses is unable to enter the land. He is preparing the people of Israel for the earthly inheritance that he will not experience. Why is this book, the Book of Deuteronomy, and its message so important? For the last 40 years of Israel's history leading up to this book, Moses has been Israel's direct link to God. In one sense, you could say he was as good as God for the people.

When they were in want of food, which you can read about in the Book of Numbers, there were several times during their journeys through the wilderness when they were in need. In Exodus and Numbers, when they were hungry, who did they call out to? They called out to Moses. When they were thirsty and didn't have enough water, who did they complain to? They called out to Moses. When they had an issue or a problem, Moses was their man.

When there was an argument, a disagreement, a theft, a broken vow, immorality, or deceit, Moses was the arbiter of it all. For four decades, he was the person they would go to. But now, the children of Israel are going to enter the Promised Land, and Moses is not going with them.

What would be the obvious need if you were among the children of Israel? For the last 40 years, through your entire life, you have known only Moses's leadership. When there was a problem, you went to Moses. When you were hungry, you went to Moses. When there were serpents biting and killing you, you went to Moses. There was always Moses to turn to when there was some sort of issue.

So, among that group of people, knowing that the Promised Land awaits and that Moses is not going with you, what is going through your mind? I would assume that what would be going through my mind is that we are going to need a leader. We have the law, the great lawgiver Moses, who made sure that we have the law, but we are going to need a judge. We need someone righteous to ensure that there is justice. If only we had another Moses.

That is what Deuteronomy chapter 17 is actually all about—the mindset of the people as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. It is kind of like a what-if scenario: What if we get into the Promised Land and...

Someone does something wrong or unrighteous. Who is going to judge rightly? In the past, the people would go to Moses and say, "Moses, we have this problem. This guy broke this commandment, or he did this thing, or he broke this vow. What are we supposed to do?" Moses would tell them what they were supposed to do. These were questions that the generation Moses was speaking to had never had to concern themselves with. None of the people standing before Moses had ever worried about how to deal with a legitimate problem or issue according to God's law because Moses was their guy.

Now, Moses is reminding them of God's law. That's what the book of Deuteronomy is: him preaching or rehearsing to them the law of God one final time before they go into the Promised Land. The question must come to their minds as they hear Moses talk about the law: What if, when Moses is gone, someone breaks God's command? For instance, what if they offer an unrighteous sacrifice? An unrighteous sacrifice is actually a serious infraction. It was one of the original problems all the way back on page four of the Bible, in Genesis chapter four. Offering a sacrifice that is not acceptable to God is a significant issue.

So, what do you do if you are in the Promised Land and you no longer have Moses? How do you deal with this issue? Again, Deuteronomy chapter 17 provides some answers. Verse one states, "You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or a sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God." An unrighteous sacrifice, one that has a blemish or defect, is described by Moses as an abomination to the Lord your God.

What do you do if an abomination is committed in your midst? That is a word we don't use very often, but it carries significant weight. When there is a clearly unrighteous, wicked sin committed in your presence, how do you respond? In the past, they would just go to Moses, and he would deal with it. When he was alive, he took care of these issues, and they didn't have to think about them. But what do you do when Moses is gone? What do you do when you come into the Promised Land and you are not one people in one place with one leader, but now you are many tribes dispersed throughout many places, scattered throughout the land? How do you deal with these issues at that point?

But there's obviously more than just the concern over righteous sacrifices. That's not the only issue; he just uses that as an example in chapter 17, verse 1.

Look at chapter 17, verse 2: "If there is found among you, within your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God—not just offering an unrighteous sacrifice, but having been wicked in transgressing His covenant—who has gone and served other gods, this is idolatry. They have worshiped either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded. If it is told to you and you hear it, then you shall inquire diligently and look into this. If it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.

Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The hands of the witnesses—note this in verse 7—shall be first against that person to put him to death, and afterward, the hands of all the people are going to be involved in this. So you shall put away the evil from among you.

Can we just say that this is heavy? That's pretty rough. It would have been way easier when Moses was around to deal with issues because you kind of didn't have to be involved with it. You could just go to Moses and say, "Hey, this person committed an evil thing, a wicked thing; they committed an abomination," and Moses would take care of it.

But now, he says, when you're in the Promised Land and there has been an abomination enacted in your presence, you're going to look into it. You're going to inquire about it, and if there are two or three witnesses who all say, "Yeah, that's exactly what took place. We saw so-and-so do such and such on X date in that place, and we have the evidence, we have the testimony," those two or three witnesses are going to be the ones to first take up the stone to put that abomination from your midst.

Like I said, that is heavy. If someone were to do some wicked or abominable thing, let me just pause there for a quick moment and acknowledge the kind of anachronistic nature of this to 21st-century ears.

Us reading this sounds archaic, harsh, and maybe even crazy to you. However, let me tell you that for the world of the ancient Near East, where these words were spoken 3,400 years ago, this was actually a revolutionary reform. There are a number of different law codes from the ancient Near East that you can look at. Many of you may have heard of the Code of Hammurabi; besides the Bible, that's one of the most well-known law codes from about this same period, a little bit before this period. But that wasn't the only law code. The Hittites, the Canaanites, and various other groups had their own law codes that they adhered to.

Israel's law code here in the Book of Deuteronomy represents a revolutionary reform. It levels the playing field and calls all people to what is really a rudimentary form of self-governance that had not existed prior to this point. This is the conclusion of a writer from the middle of the 1800s by the name of Dr. Eric Wines. He was a Congregationalist minister, a professor, a university president, and a prison reformer in the 1800s. He wrote a huge book, almost 700 pages long, titled "Commentaries on the Law of Ancient Israel" or "The Ancient Hebrews," written in the early 1850s. It is a treatise on this exact subject.

Wines' conclusion was that the Mosaic law code in the Book of Deuteronomy was the earliest form of what he refers to as a republican form of self-governance in all of history. When it is said that we live in a Judeo-Christian culture here in the West or in the United States in 2022, it goes all the way back to the Book of Deuteronomy. What we have here in Deuteronomy chapter 17 is a national form of self-governance, one of the earliest forms of self-governance in human history.

Deuteronomy makes it very clear that the children of Israel were individually responsible to serve and follow God as their king. Let me say that again because it's really important, especially that word "individually." The children of Israel were individually responsible to serve and follow God as their king, and that is a lot of responsibility.

You think about it: God is sovereign. That is what we see in the Scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New. He is the Sovereign, but you are responsible to follow His ways. As came up in our pastor's meeting this last week, we were talking about this text. There is no enforcing officer; there is no police force to govern this sort of stuff.

What we have here in the opening words of Deuteronomy chapter 17 is that you are going to be one who has to follow God faithfully. If you see others who are not following God faithfully, then you are either going to come and exhort, encourage, and challenge them to do so. However, if they continue to not do it, then it is on you to take that before leaders within the city, at the city gates, and to deal with it.

Now, you may say, "Wait a minute! What if there is an abomination, some wicked issue that is being investigated? I'm looking into this, and it's a big deal. How do you determine how to deal with it? How do you settle a dispute? How do you decide on the outcome or the judgment? What are you supposed to do? What process are you going to go through to deal with this issue if there is an issue in your midst?"

Well, look at what he says. He goes on in Deuteronomy chapter 17, beginning at verse 8. "If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge," there it is right there. Here’s that question that comes up: If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another—matters of controversy within your gates—then you shall arise and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses, where the tabernacle is going to be.

You shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days and inquire of them. They shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. So, you are not going to come up with a judgment on your own; they are going to pronounce to you the sentence of judgment.

In verse 10, it says, "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses." You shall be careful to do according to all that they order you, according to the sentence of the law which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you. You shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence they pronounce upon you.

So, if there is a problem, a big issue that is something too hard for you to deal with, too big for you, then you are to go to those who are the mediators between God and His people. That is what the priests and the Levites were. The job of a priest was to...

Go to God on behalf of the people, and to come to the people on behalf of God. The priests and the Levites would open the law; they would open Deuteronomy, Exodus, and Leviticus. They would address whatever issue was being brought before them, whatever controversy it was. They would read the law, interpret it, and provide understanding on how to deal with the situation.

Then there would be a judge, a leader who, along with the priests and Levites, would determine a sentence. Imagine the scenario: you are in whatever territory of the Promised Land that has been given to the tribe you are a part of. You might be part of the tribe of Dan, all the way up in the north, or part of the tribe of Benjamin, close to Jerusalem. There you are in your city, Hebron or whatever it may be, and an abomination has been enacted. Someone has committed adultery or murder.

As a witness, you and other witnesses who saw the act are responsible for taking it to the city gates, where the judges of your tribe and city would be. If they are unsure how to deal with the issue, they might decide to take it all the way up to the supreme court—the priests and Levites. They would hear the case, look at the law, interpret it, and provide understanding. Then, a judge would determine what the sentence ought to be.

But here's the kicker: notice what Moses says in this passage. You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you. You shall be careful to do according to what they order you, according to the sentence they give from the law. Whatever they instruct you to do according to that judgment is what you must follow, and do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left.

At this point, one might think, "If only we had someone else who could deal with this for us," because that responsibility is heavy. It was one thing to have a police force, an enforcing law enforcer, to take care of these issues, but what about when the responsibility is placed back on you? That is a sobering thought for the children of Israel. God was their sovereign, and they were individually responsible to perform His statutes and judgments. The book of Deuteronomy makes this clear, and we see it here in this passage: God is your sovereign; He is your King, Israel, but you are individually responsible.

Responsible to perform His statutes and His judgments, you might find yourself saying, "Well, wait, I don't want to have to be the one to take up a stone in my hand." But the hands of the witnesses are going to be the first against this person to put them to death. I'm thinking of a passage from the New Testament, the Gospel of John, chapter 8, where Jesus says, "You without sin cast the first stone."

This introduces, I would think, a bit of sobriety. There's no mob rule here; it comes down to you. You're the first one. You're the witness. You're the one who brought this to the judges, and you've got other witnesses with you. You have to be the one now involved in taking care of this sin, dealing with this through capital punishment. It's not relegated to some other person who does it behind closed doors where no one gets to see it. You're involved in this, and that is sobering.

You may say, "Well, I don't want to do that. I don't want to listen to the priests, the Levites, the judges." That's not what I was hoping for. I was hoping they would take care of this, but no, they've said, "Yeah, you're right, this is a sin." You have a couple of witnesses who said, "Yeah, we saw them do that. It needs to be taken care of." Now it's on you guys to take care of it.

You might say, "Well, I just don't want to do that." Be careful if you say, "I don't want to be involved in this governance thing." In Deuteronomy chapter 17, look at what we read in verse 12: "The man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister before the Lord your God or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel, and all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously."

I'm not sure if it gets any more weighty than that. If you refuse to do as the law commands and as the priest and the judge have determined, it's on you. You shall die. That is considered a presumptuous sin, an abomination. If you are a witness of someone doing something abominable, wicked, and you bring it to the priests in ancient Israel—I'm not talking about today—and they say, "Yep, that's sin; that deserves a punishment," the judge says, "This person is to be put to death."

But now you, as the witness, along with the other two witnesses, are the first to take up the stone and put that person to death. If you say, "I ain't doing that; somebody else needs to take it," if you refuse, then the punishment falls back on you. That is heavy, and that is hard. Self-governance according to divine law, or what you might...

Even calling natural law self-governance is not self-evident, and it is not easy. In our nation, in our founding charter, we say, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

We believe, and Israel believed 3,400 years ago, that we are created equal by our Creator, by our God. As His equal creation, we have a right to life, a right to be free, and a right to pursue happiness. All of us, each of us, have these rights.

However, there are two things to consider in our founding charter, and we can trace this back to Deuteronomy chapters 16 and 17, where we see that the idea of self-governance is actually not self-evident and is not easy. This requires a submission to a codified, objective, and agreed-upon set of values, virtues, statutes, and ordinances. It requires an objective law that we all agree to surrender to and be under.

This is what the children of Israel did as they organized their nation 3,400 years ago. This is what we did almost 250 years ago when we organized our nation under this principle of law. It requires that there be an objective standard, but it also requires that each of us govern ourselves according to the statutes and judgments. We are each individually responsible to walk it out and to work it out.

Let me emphasize again that this is heavy and hard. It is not easy; it does not happen by default. Autonomy and self-governance are not automatic, which is why humans almost invariably default to monarchical rule. This is our tendency, our inclination.

This brings us to the very next thing we find in Deuteronomy chapter 17. Look at Deuteronomy 17, verse 14: "When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me.'"

Surely, set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your brethren whom you shall set as king over you. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not of your brethren.

Now, I find the logic of this 3,400-year-old text to be astounding. Moses says to the people of Israel, "You are Israel," a name which means "governed by God." That's the name by which you are called. You are governed by God. When you come into the Promised Land with your God, your sovereign King, which He is giving to you as an inheritance, you are to be directed and ruled not by an earthly authority but by a covenantal law with God as your King.

You're going to have to govern yourselves without His day-to-day oversight and direction according to the law that He has already given to you. When the law is broken, you're going to have to handle the judgments of the law according to the statutes of the law. You're going to have to be the one who takes care of this. It is on you. Self-governance.

To not see the revolutionary nature of this and the revelatory nature of this is bewildering to me. This did not arise out of nothing; this concept was revealed by God. This idea of self-governance is profound, but again, this is not easy. God sets the bar super high, as God often does. In His wisdom, He knew that His people, as ambitious, optimistic, and idealistic as they were as they stood before Moses, would fail.

They often said to Moses, "We're going to do everything that God has told us to do." God knew that they would default toward monarchy because that's what we do. Why did God know that we would move towards that, that we would want somebody else to take care of this? Because we're sinners; we're broken. It is just easier to have someone else handle all of the hard stuff.

Now, it's costly. If I am going to relinquish to someone else the rule, the authority to deal with issues and problems in society, it's costly. It costs me something, and it costs me giving up freedom. There is a giving up of liberty in that, but in the cost, it seems to...

In the cost-benefit analysis, it seems that the benefit outweighs the cost because it's easier, and we tend to opt for the path of least resistance. Individual responsibility is hard; it's easier to submit to an earthly king. That's what we're seeing here in this passage. Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 17, "When you come into the land, you're going to be ruled and governed by the law. If you see someone breaking the law, it's on you to deal with it because of self-governance."

Yes, there will be someone over you who knows the law and can articulate what the law says, but at the end of the day, it's on you to deal with it. Our inclination, our tendency, when that comes—because those kinds of decisions are hard—is to shift that responsibility to someone else. We often think, "I don't want to have to deal with it. I don't want to be the one to fix this."

You all have experienced this, whether it's in your household or in your workplace. If you're in the workplace and you're just one of the dozens of people on the team, and you see someone else doing something wrong, you sometimes feel more comfortable turning away and walking away because you're not the manager. You don't have to deal with it. It's easier, in a sense, to say that someone up the chain in management needs to handle this. You might tell them, "You need to deal with this," but you don't want to be the one to deal with it.

You don't want to be the one to fire someone or terminate someone, but you're happy there's someone else to do it. You might be willing to give up some of your rights, if you will, some of your liberties, to say, "You deal with the hard stuff." Individual responsibility is hard; it's easier to submit to an earthly authority, an earthly king.

God, knowing this, says, "Okay, here are the requirements. When you decide that you don't actually want to have Me as your direct ruler and you're going to be subject to Me alone, you are going to have to select someone whom God chooses—a person from among you." This means a person who's just like you. They are not, as was the case in other nations around the people during this time, a divine incarnation. The kings of Israel were just like the rest of the people.

We see that in the honest reports in Kings and Chronicles about how bad the kings were. If you look at other ancient texts from other civilizations and read about their kings, their kings were on the level of a god, especially among the pharaohs in places like Babylon. These kings were propped up as being pretty amazing; the propaganda was thick. But you read through Kings and Chronicles, and the Bible is honest about the shortcomings of its leaders.

Failures of the kings were not incarnations of the divine; they were just human. They are flawed, just like you. The requirement is that you are going to select someone from among your brethren. You need to recognize that they are on the same footing as you, but you are submitting yourself under their rule. It's going to be costly; you will give up some liberty, and it will cost you taxes and all kinds of different things. However, you need to select the right person.

In Deuteronomy chapter 17, there are more requirements. We read in Deuteronomy 17, beginning at verse 16: "But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt from which they came out." They had just come out of Egypt 40 years prior, and they were not to return there. The king should not multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, "You shall not return that way again."

Verse 17 continues: "Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself." In addition to being from the people of Israel, this individual who is going to rule as king has specific requirements placed upon him. Moses says that when you decide to select a king for yourself, you are to choose someone from your brethren. Three requirements will be on him: he is not to multiply horses, he is not to multiply wives, and he is not to multiply silver and gold for himself.

What is this all about? It might even seem a little strange at first glance. The prohibition against multiplying horses is an issue of trust in God. Seven centuries after Moses gives these commands in Deuteronomy chapter 17, the prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 31:1, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord."

This sentiment is echoed not just by Isaiah, who lived 2,700 years ago, but also by the psalmist, who lived about 3,000 years ago. Four centuries after Moses gives this decree in Deuteronomy chapter 17, the psalmist in Psalm 20:7 says, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."

Moses tells the children of Israel that when they go into the promised land, self-governance is going to be hard.

The whole concept of being led by the Levites, the priests, and the judges is going to be difficult. You will find that you do not do it very well. At some point in your future, you will say, "We want a king."

Here is one of the restrictions, one of the requirements for the king: the king is not to multiply horses. He is supposed to recognize that God's king must trust that God is his surety and shield. This is so important. The person you should choose to surrender to, submit to, and have as a leader in earthly authority would be best if that individual recognizes and trusts in God. They should look to God as their surety and their shield, not trust in external forces to give them power and strength.

Not only that, but he also says this individual is not to multiply wives. This also relates to the issue of trust. In the ancient Near East, multiplied wives were not merely the playthings of the king; they were connected to foreign treaties. Ancient kings often married foreign princesses to form political alliances. One commentator notes that if the king followed the Lord, he would not need political alliances.

Essentially, what is being said here is that when you have a king who is going to lead you, he should not rely on the size of his army, horses, and chariots, nor should he depend on the alliances he has made with those around him. In ancient times, a small nation-state would protect itself by surrounding itself with other nations that acted as buffers. These allies would often be the first to fall if an invading army came. To develop these alliances, there would be an exchange of princesses; the king of that region would give one of his daughters to be a wife, and she would become part of the king's harem.

The temptation for the king would be to trust in the size of his armies and in his alliances, as represented by the number of wives he had. However, God says, "No, you are my people. You are not to be like all of the other people around you." Therefore, He commands that you are not to multiply horses, not to multiply wives, and finally, you are not to multiply silver and gold for yourself. I love those last words: "for himself."

The occupation of a king, a ruler, or a leader is not to be a get-rich-quick scheme. A king is not to multiply silver and gold. Why? Because God's king is dependent upon God for his security, not on the storehouses that he has or his portfolio. One commentator on this passage notes that all three prohibitions were designed to reduce the king to the status of a servant, totally dependent upon his master, the Lord.

Thinking about that, do you not just wish we had that kind of leadership? If only there were a king who would embody those principles. Moses says that when you come into the land and find that self-governance is difficult, you will have to deal with it. You may be tempted to say, "I don't want to deal with this; someone else needs to take care of it." This leads to the desire for a king like all the other nations around you.

When you choose a king, he needs to be from your brethren. He must not multiply horses, wives, or money because his trust is in the Lord, not in his possessions or powerful forces. His ability and charisma should not be used to develop alliances. That is the kind of king you will need.

In Deuteronomy chapter 17, the last verse states, "It shall be when this king sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book." He needs to record the book of Deuteronomy in his own scroll, from one that is before the priests and Levites. This is the same law that is before the priests and Levites because he needs to become an expert in the law. He will be the one who has the authority to decide about the law.

The law shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life. This is so he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. His heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left. This will help him prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.

The king's humility before God and those he is to lead or serve is paramount. This humility can only be assured as he keeps closely to God's word. So, how did it work out?

How did all this play out? The children of Israel were on the brink of blessing, getting ready to enter the Promised Land. When we come to the end of Deuteronomy, we will see them preparing for this moment. Moses will be dead, and the book of Joshua will open with the children of Israel entering the Promised Land.

How did it all work out? Eventually, when we reach the book of Judges, we will find that their self-governance under the Levites, the priests, and judges did not go well. A number of times in the book of Judges, it is stated that the children of Israel did what was right in their own eyes, and they did evil in the sight of the Lord because they did not follow after the Word of God.

About four centuries after the children of Israel found rest in the land, following their adventure in self-governance that fell short in the book of Judges, Israel would come to the last great judge, Samuel. They would say to Samuel, "Look, you are old, and you are about to die. Your sons do not walk in the way that you walk, so we need you to make a king to judge us like the other nations." This request was exactly what Moses predicted in Deuteronomy chapter 17, after their failure at self-governance in Judges.

They came to Samuel and asked for a king, and thus began the list of kings: King Saul, King David, and King Solomon. You can read about all the kings in First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles. For many Christians and people who have attended church for a long time, the name David, King David, tends to light up their faces. Perhaps you have thought, "If only we had a king who was a man after God's own heart, like King David." That is what the Bible says about him.

However, the rest of the story reveals that after the initial fanfare of King David wore off, it was David who multiplied for himself horses, wives, and gold. His son Solomon did the same, but it was David who first amassed these things. We do not know the exact number of wives and concubines he had, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen. He accumulated wives, horses, and gold.

David dishonored his family when he coveted another man's wife. He stole that man's wife, committed adultery, and murdered to cover it up. He lied about his actions, and then, on the other side of all that, which is recorded in Second Samuel, his household fell apart. After he had committed adultery, murder, and lied about it, he dishonored his father and mother. His household fell apart; his firstborn son, who would have been expected to be the heir to the throne, named Amnon, raped his half-sister named Tamar. Then, his thirdborn son, Absalom, the full brother of Tamar, murdered Prince Amnon to bring justice for his sister.

David, good old King David, did nothing. There was no justice. Second Samuel is one of the most depressing stories of Scripture. David had some awesome highs. When we think about David, we think about him as a young boy killing the giant Goliath. We think about him defending his sheep from a lion and a bear. We think about him writing so many wonderful worship songs in the Psalms. We think about him running from Saul for many years and never laying a hand on the Lord's anointed, King Saul, before him.

We remember all these amazing things that he did, and we say, "Oh man, David was a man after God's own heart." He had so many high highs, but he also had some incredibly deep lows. All of that in Second Samuel—the sin with Bathsheba, the murder of her husband Uriah, the lie to cover it up—led up to an insurrection in Second Samuel chapter 15, where Absalom deposes his father and makes himself king. Then David flees from Jerusalem.

I obviously do not have time to go through that whole story; we will look at it again at some point in the future. But it is one of those stories that, when you read it, you find yourself thinking, "Oh man, if only we had a righteous king." When I think about David's low lows, and there were a lot of them, I am reminded of a quote from a great preacher who said, "The best of men are men at best." The fact is...

Humans will always fall short of righteousness. We think and hope that we can vote in a better, more just leader, but those leaders will always fail to satisfy the longing that we have within our hearts for a righteous ruler. I want to suggest to you that this is actually not a bad thing; it might actually be a good thing. Every human king, every human governor, ruler, president, or judge will, or should, leave us wanting because no earthly king will ever satisfy our longing for the coming of the King of Kings.

Moses knew that, and that's why, when we get into chapter 18 next week, we will see a prophecy from him in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15, where we read, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me." Notice the capital "P" in "Prophet" like me, from your midst, from your brethren. Him shall you hear.

Recognize that over the next couple of months, the political rhetoric in our nation is going to get thick. You are going to hear all kinds of political rhetoric on podcasts, on the nightly news, and in stump speeches from people running for local governments, school boards, city councils, governors of states, and national leaders involved with the Senate and Congress. You will hear all kinds of political rhetoric over the next two and a half months, and you are going to be told that this leader over here is evil, that he is the devil, totally unrighteous, while this leader over there is righteous.

But just remember that the best of men are men at best, and that goes for women too. Jesus alone is the King of Kings. He alone satisfies our need and desire for a righteous leader to be upon the throne. Only when we surrender and submit to His rule will we enjoy the blessedness of His kingdom. This is such an important truth for Christians to learn.

You see, the story of Deuteronomy and the story of Israel through Joshua to Malachi goes back to this book of Deuteronomy as the link. These things were written, as Paul the Apostle says in First Corinthians chapter 10, for our understanding and our instruction as we are living in the last days.

The days that we're living in require us to learn from these experiences. No one is perfect; the best of men are men at best. Even those individuals who appear to be the perfect king, ruler, judge, or president are not God. They are not the King of Kings. The only way we will see our culture transformed in a manner that brings about righteousness, which exalts a nation, is if the people of God fully surrender themselves to God as their King of Kings. As He sits upon the throne, we must direct our lives accordingly. This is what brings about revival and reformation in the church and in culture.

We don't often discuss political matters here at the church, and I know that can bother some people. However, I ultimately do not trust any earthly individual to bring about righteousness. There are some leaders who are better than others and seem to follow the principles of Scripture more closely. I believe we should seek out and support leaders who adhere to these principles. Yet, it ultimately comes back to you and me. We live in a government, a nation that is governed by the people. If we see things falling apart in our culture, it is because we, the people, are not living according to the statutes, judgments, and principles of God's Word. We have allowed this to happen in our lives.

Deuteronomy 17 serves as a call for us to be careful when we think, "If only." We must remember that it comes back to us to live in accordance with God's Word. God, I pray that You would impress these truths upon our hearts, especially because the volume and craziness of political rhetoric will intensify over the next six, eight, or ten weeks. We can easily be seduced and drawn into it, tempted to believe that a particular person will fix everything. However, there is no person who can resolve these issues. We need You as the King of our lives.

Lord, would You, by Your Spirit, teach us to walk in Your ways? Help us to have Your Word in our hearts, to meditate upon it day and night, and to not turn to the right hand or to the left from it. May we hold strong to Your Word and walk in Your ways, knowing that it is through this that we will be a light to our neighbors, co-workers, family members, and friends. Perhaps, as we align ourselves with Your principles, we will begin to see a transformation in those around us.

Their lives with Your Word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I see You taking ground. I see You pressing ahead. Your power is dangerous to the enemy's camp. You still do miracles; You will do what You said, for You're the same God now as You've always been. Your Spirit's breaking out; Your kingdom's moving in. Your victory claims the ground that the enemy has. You still do miracles; You will do what You said.

There’s no power like the mighty name of Jesus, and there’s no power like the mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you for joining us for our broadcast today. That was an excellent message, and I pray that it really impacted you. We heard from the Holy Spirit. If you’d like to find out more about Cross Connection Church, please visit our website at lifeinconnection.com. We would like to invite you to our in-person services at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. here in Escondido, California. If you're around, we would love for you to be here live in person at 8:30 and 10:30. God bless you guys, and have a great week.

Good morning, Cross Connection Church! It's Pastor Garrett here. I'm glad to welcome you to our service this morning. As we get started, I just had a verse that God was really putting on my heart as I was studying the Bible.

This week, I wanted to share something with you. A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life happy. Money is the answer for everything.

In all seriousness, though, church, I can do all things through a verse taken out of context. This is why it's important that we study our scriptures and know how to do that. I want to encourage each one of you to come and sign up for our Tuesday night Bible class, "How to Study the Bible," with Pastor Miles, starting September 20th.

From whatever background you've come from, if you've opened up the Bible and done some of the fun things we've done, you may have looked at a verse and wondered how to understand it in the context in which it was written. This means we need to consider what the original author intended to convey to the original audience.

We must understand that context before we directly apply it to our lives and claim all of the promises that God has in the scriptures for our current situations. It's essential for us to know how to study the Bible so we get it right.

I encourage you to sign up for the class. It will be held on Tuesday nights from seven o'clock to nine o'clock, starting on September 20th. You can sign up at events.lifeinconnection.com.

We also have a church family camping trip coming up at Herky Creek, which is local here. This trip will take place from September 22nd through the 26th. You can sign up again at events.lifeinconnection.com. There are ten spots available for RV and camper sites, so check that out. All the information is on the website.

If you're looking for a time of fellowship, fun, and great food, this will be a wonderful opportunity for your whole family. Check it out!