WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.240 Well, again, let me welcome those of you who are here, especially for the first time. 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:13.040 We have been in a series this summer looking at Psalm 106. 00:00:13.540 --> 00:00:19.160 And as I said last week, some Scripture passages are meant to be soothing and comforting. 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:23.539 Other Scripture passages are more like smelling salts. 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:25.320 They grab us. 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:26.300 They wake us up. 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:30.199 They get us to pay attention to things that God wants us to pay attention to. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:37.760 And as we've seen, I think, every week this summer, Psalm 106 is chock full of smelling salts. 00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:45.140 It's all about Israel's failure in the wilderness between the time when God set them free from slavery in Egypt 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:50.579 to the time that they entered into the Promised Land. 00:00:50.579 --> 00:00:56.739 And this song recounts some of their worst failures along the way, along that journey. 00:00:57.259 --> 00:01:03.679 And, you know, we ask, why would anyone write a song about all of their worst failures? 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:06.640 You know, we live in Washington, D.C. 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:12.379 There's a culture of success of putting your best version of yourself out there. 00:01:12.539 --> 00:01:17.099 You're not likely to see people writing songs about their failures, 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:19.559 sort of the opposite of the culture we live in. 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.019 But there's a deep wisdom behind Psalm 106. 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:31.619 There's a deep value in remembering your failures and then teaching future generations about them. 00:01:32.119 --> 00:01:39.439 Number one, the less aware we are of our weaknesses, the more likely they are to control us. 00:01:40.219 --> 00:01:40.659 Right? 00:01:40.699 --> 00:01:41.619 So that's the first thing. 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:46.900 The second thing is confessing our sins and shortcomings ultimately brings us closer to God 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:48.160 because He's a God of mercy. 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:51.920 And so in communities where people are very close to God, 00:01:52.100 --> 00:01:57.460 that goes hand in hand with an openness and a willingness to admit our weaknesses 00:01:57.460 --> 00:01:59.420 and our failures and our struggles and our sins. 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:02.460 And in communities where that is not happening, 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:07.500 you're not likely to meet people who are very close to God in their daily lives. 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:08.500 They go together. 00:02:08.500 --> 00:02:13.219 So up to this point, we've seen some examples of Israel's failures in the wilderness. 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:18.340 We've seen examples of like unbelief or discontent or jealousy. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:25.020 Now this week, we're going to look at the end of Psalm 106, verses 34 to 48. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:27.560 And let me just go ahead and tell you this one is a doozy. 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:29.900 Buckle up. 00:02:30.539 --> 00:02:35.680 Because the other failures in this Psalm are ones that we can resonate with. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:42.400 Unbelief, discontent, jealousy, we all recognize those are things that we don't want for ourselves 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.099 in our lives. 00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:45.460 This is a whole different story. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.400 So we're going to look at this in two parts, the failures of God's people 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.040 and then the consequences for God's people. 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:55.980 The failure of God's people and then the consequences for God's people. 00:02:56.140 --> 00:02:56.560 Let's pray. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.620 Lord, we thank you for your word. 00:03:00.140 --> 00:03:08.140 And we thank you that whether your word is clear and telling us exactly what we want to hear 00:03:08.140 --> 00:03:14.620 or whether it is hard to understand and telling us things that we would prefer not to read, 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:20.860 Lord, that in either case, these words come from God, our Father, who loves us. 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:24.160 And whether we know it or not, these are words that we need to hear. 00:03:24.640 --> 00:03:28.820 And I pray that as we open your word together that you would speak to us. 00:03:29.320 --> 00:03:32.200 You know what we need to hear from you now, each one of us individually. 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:37.700 And I pray that you would speak to us during this time as only you can in the power of your Spirit. 00:03:38.160 --> 00:03:39.720 We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus. 00:03:40.200 --> 00:03:40.480 Amen. 00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:44.980 So first of all, let's look at the failure of God's people. 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:52.599 Verse 34, which is really the final confession in this psalm, the psalmist confesses. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:54.259 Here's the confession. 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:55.079 Here's the failure. 00:03:55.539 --> 00:04:00.899 Their ancestors failed to carry out God's command to destroy the Canaanites, 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:07.579 which God gives them in Deuteronomy 7, to destroy them utterly. 00:04:08.739 --> 00:04:12.120 So God's people fail to destroy them utterly, right? 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:17.040 So when we think about discontent or jealousy, right, yeah, okay, those are failures. 00:04:17.180 --> 00:04:22.579 But failing to destroy people utterly, that is not something that we readily identify with. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:27.660 And, you know, I would say it's very tempting to sort of read this as a preacher 00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:32.300 and then to try to kind of quickly justify it and then move on. 00:04:32.819 --> 00:04:33.920 You know, let's get to Jesus. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:40.240 But if we're being honest, and we always try to be honest in this community, 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:46.520 we have to acknowledge that this may be the greatest ethical dilemma we face in reading the Old Testament. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:54.280 It's absolutely shocking and offensive to our ears to think of something like this happening. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:59.259 And honestly, it's a reason that many people have pointed to for rejecting the Bible 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:02.899 or the Old Testament or the faith entirely. 00:05:03.039 --> 00:05:05.659 People say, I can't believe in a God who would do this. 00:05:05.719 --> 00:05:08.240 I can't believe in a book that would condone this. 00:05:09.039 --> 00:05:14.819 So while we don't have time for a comprehensive discussion on this, 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:17.920 I actually do want to spend a little time talking about it 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.879 because I think that it's a good opportunity to do so. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:27.759 And, you know, if you read Richard Dawkins on this, Dawkins writes this. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.839 He says, the killing of the Canaanites was an act of ethnic cleansing 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:37.279 in which bloodthirsty massacres were carried out with xenophobic relish. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:43.279 And I think that's a decent summary of people's objections to this text when they read it. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:47.819 And so the question we want to ask for a few minutes is, is that accurate? 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:49.659 Is that an accurate way to read this? 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:54.580 Now, to answer that question, we can't view this text in isolation. 00:05:55.080 --> 00:06:01.420 Any good biblical interpretation begins with situating this episode 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:03.140 within the broader story of Scripture. 00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:06.740 So we need to figure out what's happening in the whole story, 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.240 and then how does this fit in? 00:06:09.260 --> 00:06:12.840 Let me give you a little background to this conflict here. 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:18.620 From the very beginning, God told Abraham that He actually intended to bless 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:22.280 all of the families of the earth through Abraham's descendants. 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:29.639 Israel's entire purpose, their entire reason for existing was to serve as an instrument of God's blessing 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:31.899 to all of the nations of the earth, 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:38.360 and ultimately to draw people from every tribe, tongue, and nation into relationship with God Himself. 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:44.120 Now, by the time we get to the Exodus, Exodus 12 tells us that when Israel left Egypt, 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.740 they brought with them a mixed multitude. 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:53.340 So this is not a racially homogenous group motivated by xenophobic hatred. 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.720 This is a racially diverse community of people all held together by God's covenant. 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:01.259 That was the thing that united Israel. 00:07:01.259 --> 00:07:08.019 And then we see as the law is given, God repeatedly commands Israel to show concern for the outsider, 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:12.759 show concern for the sojourner and the exile and the resident alien in your midst. 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:20.099 According to Israel's civil law, resident aliens living in Israel had the same legal rights as native Israelites, 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.439 which is fascinating. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.420 And if you compare that to other ancient Near Eastern laws and codes, 00:07:25.500 --> 00:07:30.199 you recognize that this was fairly progressive, fairly unique in the ancient world. 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:36.099 So there's really no justification that this was motivated by xenophobic hatred. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:41.719 In fact, if we follow the story of Scripture, what we see is that God's plan from the very beginning, 00:07:41.819 --> 00:07:46.620 as we said, was to create one great family made up of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:49.599 and then to establish peace and justice on the earth. 00:07:50.099 --> 00:07:54.899 So the idea that this is motivated by xenophobic hatred is one that we have to toss out. 00:07:54.899 --> 00:07:59.240 And by the way, that is why the land matters so much. 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:02.920 Why this piece of land, the promised land? 00:08:03.019 --> 00:08:03.420 Why not? 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:06.139 You know, it seems as though God just says, 00:08:06.479 --> 00:08:08.120 okay, I like this hill. 00:08:08.479 --> 00:08:09.620 Okay, everybody get out. 00:08:10.180 --> 00:08:12.719 And so we need to understand why this land matters. 00:08:12.980 --> 00:08:15.579 This land in question, if we go way back in the Bible, 00:08:16.219 --> 00:08:18.339 go way back in history, 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:24.659 this was originally the land that had been given by God through Noah to his son Shem. 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:30.000 And it was supposed to be Shem's land and belonged to his descendants. 00:08:30.860 --> 00:08:35.600 And some of Shem's descendants are the Hebrews, the Israelites. 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:39.379 And Abraham is actually one of Shem's descendants. 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:42.220 So when God comes to Abraham and tells him, 00:08:42.660 --> 00:08:44.340 go to the promised land, what He's saying is, 00:08:44.779 --> 00:08:48.879 go to the land that I gave to your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, 00:08:49.560 --> 00:08:49.920 Shem. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:54.000 He's wanting him to return to the land that was originally promised to his ancestors. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:57.439 And this is the land that God wants to use. 00:08:57.719 --> 00:09:01.419 This is supposed to be the place where Abraham's descendants become a blessing. 00:09:02.419 --> 00:09:07.000 This is where they're going to draw everybody back to God. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:09.099 But there's a problem. 00:09:10.279 --> 00:09:13.120 There are people occupying the land. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:17.799 Shem's brother Ham, and again, you have to go back in the Bible to read this, 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:24.120 Shem's brother Ham and his son Canaan had taken over the land. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.779 They had essentially poached it, come in, and refused to leave. 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:31.580 And so, Canaan's descendants, the Canaanites, 00:09:32.139 --> 00:09:36.480 that refers to a number of people groups who had taken over. 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:38.620 They had come in to land that didn't belong to them, 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.180 and they refused to leave, and they lived there for centuries. 00:09:41.179 --> 00:09:46.259 And they were idol worshipers, and we read that they practiced the most brutal forms of slavery 00:09:46.259 --> 00:09:52.219 and incest and bestiality and widespread human sacrifice, not only of adults, 00:09:52.359 --> 00:09:57.259 but Scripture pays special attention to the child and infant sacrifice 00:09:57.259 --> 00:10:00.439 that happened regularly in the Canaanite culture. 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:01.659 It's very widespread. 00:10:03.079 --> 00:10:04.519 So, these Canaanites had moved in. 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:09.360 Scott Hahn over at the St. Paul Center is talking about this text, 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:11.340 and he offers this thought experiment. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:13.460 Imagine you leave one day for work. 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:16.319 You go to work all day, and when you come home, 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.379 a brutal and violent gang has moved into your house. 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:25.240 And the door's locked and barricaded, and you look in through the window, 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.919 and you see they've tied your spouse up. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:30.399 They've tied all of your kids up. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.819 They're holding weapons, and they're destroying the place. 00:10:33.939 --> 00:10:34.959 They're wrecking the place. 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:38.500 And so, Hahn says, what would you do in that situation? 00:10:39.079 --> 00:10:42.319 Well, as good Christians, maybe you would raise your voice, 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.259 and you would start preaching the gospel to them 00:10:44.259 --> 00:10:48.939 and calling them to repent, calling them to lay down arms and come out, right? 00:10:49.059 --> 00:10:51.019 But what if they don't listen, right? 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.759 At some point, what are you going to do to keep your family safe? 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:55.980 You're going to use force. 00:10:55.980 --> 00:11:01.600 And so, what we read is that if you look at Genesis 15, 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:06.399 God had given the Canaanites hundreds of years to repent and turn from their ways, 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:10.779 and yet what we see in their trajectory is that their evil had just compounded upon itself. 00:11:11.300 --> 00:11:12.740 They had gotten worse and worse and worse. 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.440 So, that leaves one option, and that's to use force. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:18.320 So, that's a key question. 00:11:18.820 --> 00:11:21.320 How much force was used? 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:26.600 Were the Israelites literally supposed to kill every man, woman, and child in the land? 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.800 And that's where we run into a major interpretive problem 00:11:29.800 --> 00:11:35.460 because the Hebrew word harem, which we translate as utterly destroy, 00:11:36.260 --> 00:11:39.200 is much more complicated and nuanced. 00:11:39.300 --> 00:11:40.700 It essentially means a ban. 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:43.280 This is something that has to be cast out. 00:11:43.680 --> 00:11:45.700 It can't exist in God's presence. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.320 We have to completely do away with it because it's unclean. 00:11:48.920 --> 00:11:50.420 That's what the word implies. 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:55.759 And so, we read this word, and we read the text about utterly destroy, 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:59.699 and we imagine Israel as a kind of…this kind of blitzkrieg 00:11:59.699 --> 00:12:04.339 that just steamrolls through the land, just slaughtering everybody in their path. 00:12:05.179 --> 00:12:10.319 But it's very likely that this doesn't actually mean to kill every man, woman, and child. 00:12:10.539 --> 00:12:12.959 In fact, there's a whole range of interpretations. 00:12:12.959 --> 00:12:14.639 If you go back to the second century, 00:12:15.199 --> 00:12:19.399 Origen interpreted harem as an allegory for spiritual warfare. 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.939 He said it's all allegory. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.459 Now, I'm not inclined to accept that interpretation, 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:27.459 but it just shows the range of possibilities. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:32.159 Much more recently, scholars like John Walton, and I very much appreciate his work, 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:37.659 he said that the word harem is more about driving out people from the land. 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:44.699 Especially the concern is so that the Israelites do not absorb them as slaves or wives. 00:12:44.779 --> 00:12:45.879 We'll come back to that. 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.860 Now, this is more than we have time to get into now, as I said. 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:53.439 Paul Copen wrote a book where he addresses this called, 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:54.860 Is God a Moral Monster? 00:12:54.939 --> 00:12:56.539 That might be one that you want to check out. 00:12:57.139 --> 00:13:00.559 He has a few chapters devoted to this, but he summarizes it this way. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:01.019 He says, 00:13:01.019 --> 00:13:16.899 And we actually know from Scripture, from places like the book of Joshua, 00:13:17.399 --> 00:13:20.860 that even though there are some places when they say they wiped out everybody, 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:24.799 a few chapters later, they are readily acknowledging that people still exist. 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:26.600 There are plenty of Canaanites. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:28.279 So you wonder, well, are they lying? 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:33.259 And, you know, one of the things Copen puts out there, and I'm not sure how I feel about this, 00:13:33.299 --> 00:13:36.199 but he says, you know, in ancient Near Eastern military writing, 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:42.279 there are lots of examples of times when people use kind of over-the-top language 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:44.299 to describe a military victory. 00:13:44.459 --> 00:13:45.600 We slaughtered everybody. 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:47.860 And he compares it to kind of a sports analogy. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.860 He says, you know, in this day and age, your team has a victory. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:53.220 You say, oh, we killed them. 00:13:53.439 --> 00:13:54.339 We slaughtered them. 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:59.820 And, of course, if your friend says that, last night the basketball game was great. 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:00.800 We slaughtered them. 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:03.560 You're not going to call the police and report a mass murder. 00:14:03.680 --> 00:14:07.980 You're going to understand that that's just a very over-the-top way of saying we had a decisive victory. 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:10.639 So he says that's kind of like what's happening in Joshua. 00:14:10.780 --> 00:14:13.600 Now, I'm just going to leave that for you to consider. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:20.180 But there's a lot of reasons to think that this wasn't as widespread as we might think at first glance. 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:26.720 Now, having said all of that, it would be dishonest for us to soften this too much. 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:33.620 Even if there is more nuance, the fact remains that God commanded his people to go to war against another people group. 00:14:34.300 --> 00:14:35.960 And so we have to make sense of that. 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:43.460 And the only way I know to make sense of it is to own and be honest about what the text is actually saying. 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:47.940 God's command to conquer the Canaanites is an act of divine judgment. 00:14:48.680 --> 00:14:51.460 And he uses Israel to carry it out. 00:14:52.560 --> 00:14:55.820 God had used Israel to be a blessing to people in the world. 00:14:56.019 --> 00:14:59.580 God can also use Israel to bring judgment to people in the world. 00:14:59.580 --> 00:15:09.220 Now, does this mean that Christians can point to this text and use it as justification for using violence to spread our faith? 00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:10.720 Absolutely not. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.720 This is a very unique one-time occurrence. 00:15:13.900 --> 00:15:19.320 And there's nothing in Scripture that suggests that this was normative for Israel, much less anyone else. 00:15:19.560 --> 00:15:21.540 So it can't be used as justification. 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:28.860 At this particular moment in history, God chooses to use Israel to bring judgment on the Canaanites. 00:15:28.860 --> 00:15:33.340 And the truth is, He's justified in doing so. 00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:40.980 It is God's prerogative to judge people when and how He sees fit. 00:15:42.180 --> 00:15:47.580 Only God knows whether or not people will ever eventually repent. 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:50.240 And His judgment is just. 00:15:52.060 --> 00:15:56.539 So then we ask, well, why judge the Canaanites at this point in history? 00:15:56.539 --> 00:15:58.519 And the truth is, only God knows. 00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:04.539 Now, we might be tempted at this point, we have to be careful. 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:08.060 Because at this point, we actually might be tempted to make the mistake of thinking, 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:13.200 well, maybe the reason God did it, maybe the reason God finally pulled the trigger on the Canaanites, 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:17.899 is because they were so excessively evil that God simply couldn't help Himself. 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:22.159 It's this read that says, well, they were extra bad, and that made God extra mad. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.819 And God said, I'm fed up. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.000 But that's where we have to be really careful. 00:16:29.219 --> 00:16:35.139 You know, if you fast forward to Jesus' day, Jesus' disciples actually make that assumption 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:39.839 when they hear about some people who were massacred during a worship service. 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:44.879 And they come to Jesus and they say, hey, did you hear about what happened to those Galileans? 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.820 They were massacred while they were worshiping? 00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:50.980 Why did such a horrible thing happen to those people? 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:52.500 And then here's the assumption. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:58.519 They say, was it because their sin was worse than others or than ours? 00:16:59.899 --> 00:17:04.200 Were they so bad and they made God so mad that He just said, I've had it? 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.259 And look at what Jesus says. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:16.620 No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:23.340 So this is the thing that sort of grabs us and wakes us up, right? 00:17:23.500 --> 00:17:28.960 The question, in other words, that we need to be asking about the destruction of the Canaanites 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.000 is not, why did God bring judgment to them? 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.059 The question we need to be asking is, why hasn't God done that to me? 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:38.319 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.640 Now, here's where the smelling salts start to kick in, okay? 00:17:44.380 --> 00:17:46.339 Why would Jesus say something like this? 00:17:47.940 --> 00:17:52.680 In order to understand that, we have to look at the consequences of Israel's failure. 00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:58.859 So the major concern which we see in places like Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 20 00:17:58.859 --> 00:18:04.219 is that if the Israelites fail to drive out the Canaanites, they're going to intermingle with them, 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:07.219 and if they intermingle with them, they're going to become like them. 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:09.919 And that's exactly what happens. 00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:15.579 But they mixed with the nations, verse 35 says, and learned to do as they did. 00:18:15.639 --> 00:18:16.779 That was the big fear. 00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:20.839 They served their idols, which became a snare to them. 00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:24.359 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:26.819 They poured out innocent blood. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:34.019 You know, Isaiah 49 shows us that God had intended Israel to be a light to the nations, 00:18:34.139 --> 00:18:38.059 a beacon of hope and justice and peace and salvation for the world. 00:18:38.959 --> 00:18:41.099 But Israel abandoned God. 00:18:42.439 --> 00:18:43.379 They worshiped idols. 00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:44.799 They became like the nations. 00:18:46.459 --> 00:18:50.839 And thus that dream hangs in great peril. 00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:54.539 And the question here is, is the promise void? 00:18:54.879 --> 00:18:58.299 Is the plan, has it failed? 00:18:58.519 --> 00:18:59.199 Is it doomed? 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:02.659 And what we need to understand about an idol is, 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:05.939 idols are anything that we allow to become the ultimate thing. 00:19:06.879 --> 00:19:09.220 You know, the idol is the thing in your life that you can't live without. 00:19:09.379 --> 00:19:11.379 It's the thing in your life that you would do anything for. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.720 It's the thing that if you lose it, it's not worth getting up in the morning anymore. 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:20.380 And we have to ask, well, why does God hate idolatry so much? 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:24.200 There's a couple of main reasons. 00:19:24.360 --> 00:19:28.759 Number one, it steals glory away from God, and God's the only one who's worthy of glory. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:32.579 But number two, because idolatry is the root of all sin. 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:35.620 It's the root of all of the evil in the world. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:41.200 And one of the consequences of idolatry that we see here is that it changes us. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:46.039 Whatever idols we worship, they change us. 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:49.460 We become what we worship. 00:19:51.259 --> 00:19:53.779 We resemble what we revere. 00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:57.539 We are imaging creatures. 00:19:57.819 --> 00:20:01.259 We are meant to reflect our God into the world. 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:07.660 If that God becomes an idol, then we will reflect that idol into the world through our lives. 00:20:07.660 --> 00:20:12.320 It's no coincidence that the Canaanites are known for their brutality. 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:18.480 If you look at their gods and goddesses, they were indescribably brutal. 00:20:19.080 --> 00:20:25.900 We read accounts of their gods and goddesses, one goddess in particular wearing a belt of skulls 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:30.740 and bathing in and wading through rivers of blood from her massacres. 00:20:30.840 --> 00:20:34.960 She's killed so many people that there's a river of blood, and she's drenched in it. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:42.840 We have Canaanite art of the Canaanites bathing in the blood of their sacrifices, imaging their god. 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:50.440 And so, when Israel begins to worship these false gods, they became just as brutal as the Canaanites. 00:20:51.120 --> 00:20:55.180 They sacrificed their children to the Canaanite gods, and they polluted the ground with their blood. 00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:59.039 So, you say, okay, well, this is a nice Labor Day topic. 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:00.340 What does this have to do with us? 00:21:00.339 --> 00:21:04.319 What are the implications for us? 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:07.619 And I think the failure of Israel shows us something really important. 00:21:10.159 --> 00:21:12.799 Up until now, we've had this kind of vision. 00:21:13.199 --> 00:21:17.199 If you're tracking the story of the Old Testament, we've got the good guys and we've got the bad guys. 00:21:17.740 --> 00:21:18.939 Israel, they're the good guys. 00:21:19.439 --> 00:21:21.619 Canaanites, all these other people groups, they're the bad guys. 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:24.019 But what we see here is very important. 00:21:24.019 --> 00:21:30.200 Ultimately, the Bible is telling us there is no difference between the Canaanites and the Israelites. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:32.460 There is no difference. 00:21:32.740 --> 00:21:35.259 There is no such thing as the good guys and the bad guys. 00:21:35.980 --> 00:21:40.759 And if we follow the story of Scripture into the New Testament, this is Paul's great realization, 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:43.460 which he lays out in Romans 1, 2, and 3. 00:21:43.740 --> 00:21:46.720 He says, ultimately, there's no difference between Jews and Gentiles. 00:21:47.460 --> 00:21:50.119 There's no inherent superiority because you're Jewish. 00:21:50.119 --> 00:22:00.079 And what we take from that is ultimately there's no difference between these people who lived several thousand years ago and us. 00:22:00.639 --> 00:22:06.099 The Bible is making a sweeping claim about all human beings because of human nature. 00:22:06.659 --> 00:22:12.059 All human beings sin and fall short of the glory of God because we all worship idols instead of the God who made us. 00:22:12.059 --> 00:22:21.179 And listen, just like the Canaanites, just like the Israelites, we become what we worship. 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:23.819 We resemble what we revere. 00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:27.720 Now, we don't worship Baal or the Ashtoreth, right? 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:29.039 Those are the Canaanite gods. 00:22:29.139 --> 00:22:30.220 We don't worship Moloch. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.779 We use different names. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:34.399 Autonomy. 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:37.019 Ambition. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:38.279 Comfort. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:39.799 Approval. 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:40.399 Baal. 00:22:40.399 --> 00:22:42.759 We hear those and we think, oh, those are nice ideas. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:45.119 Well, that's how the Canaanites felt about their gods. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:47.460 Baal was a deity of fertility. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:49.000 Who doesn't like fertility? 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:50.879 Right? 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:52.119 Fertility is a great thing. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:58.899 So, who wouldn't want to build a culture around making sure that we have fertility, 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:00.299 that we're having plenty of healthy children? 00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:05.299 And who wouldn't be willing to lay down that there's a cost to these things, 00:23:05.299 --> 00:23:10.440 and everybody knows that, and it's a reasonable expectation that if we want a lot of babies 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:14.799 and great crops, we might have to sacrifice the things that mean the most to us to really 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:15.559 show our devotion. 00:23:16.700 --> 00:23:19.460 And in a culture that worships fertility, nothing means more than children. 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:26.220 But idolatry for us works just the same. 00:23:27.539 --> 00:23:28.980 We resemble what we worship. 00:23:29.059 --> 00:23:34.319 If we worship personal autonomy, if that's the thing that drives our vision of the good life, 00:23:35.100 --> 00:23:38.519 then we become people who live like we're the only ones who matter. 00:23:39.579 --> 00:23:39.920 Right? 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:47.779 We become people who assert our rights, assert our needs, and we're willing to trample on the 00:23:47.779 --> 00:23:51.700 rights and needs of other people because it's about my personal autonomy. 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:57.279 We will tend to have very shallow relationships because we're so afraid of commitment and obligation 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:58.980 because it's all about autonomy. 00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:00.180 Right? 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:07.460 If we worship ambition and success, then we become people who are willing to do more and more 00:24:07.460 --> 00:24:12.759 and more in order to climb the ladder, even if it means people get stepped on, even if it means 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:16.840 we cut some corners and do some ethically questionable things. 00:24:17.900 --> 00:24:20.700 Maybe we work so much that we neglect our friends and family. 00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:22.799 Have you heard the phrase quiet quitting? 00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:24.940 It's kind of making the rounds. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:31.400 Quiet quitting simply means working the hours that you're supposed to work and then not working. 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:32.559 Right? 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:33.600 People call that… 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:38.639 The fact that we have a term for that should show us that we have an idolatry of ambition 00:24:38.639 --> 00:24:40.500 and success in our culture. 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:44.879 Just working the hours that you're paid to work and then not working. 00:24:45.339 --> 00:24:45.779 Radical. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:46.779 Right? 00:24:48.139 --> 00:24:52.839 If we worship ambition and success, then we're going to tend to push our kids to work all the 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:57.819 time, to do all the extracurricular activities, to get into the elite universities, and guess 00:24:57.819 --> 00:24:58.099 what? 00:24:58.179 --> 00:25:00.079 We're going to crush them along the way. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:05.099 There are so many articles coming out now just talking about the meat grinder of the 00:25:05.099 --> 00:25:09.899 elitism that plays out among families as they try to get their kids into these elite 00:25:09.899 --> 00:25:10.399 universities. 00:25:10.539 --> 00:25:12.339 They just get ground up in the process. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:14.079 We're sacrificing them. 00:25:14.779 --> 00:25:16.720 And we don't call it that, but that's what we're doing. 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:18.099 Right? 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:22.699 If we worship comfort, then we become people who always take the path of least resistance. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:27.019 You know, instead of facing the challenges head on in our lives, we use food or alcohol 00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:30.160 or digital opiates to escape. 00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:32.579 You know, when I was growing up, the big enemy was big tobacco. 00:25:32.740 --> 00:25:33.980 Now the issue is big tech. 00:25:34.859 --> 00:25:38.240 They've figured out a more addictive substance than nicotine. 00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:39.660 It's called dopamine. 00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:42.440 And the nice thing is we produce it. 00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:47.319 They just have to pull the right levers and we'll make our own drugs. 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:48.759 Right? 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.579 This is why we, instead of engaging with our kids, we veg out on our phones. 00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:53.440 They're being sacrificed. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:58.220 If we worship other people's approval, then we become people who don't really know who 00:25:58.220 --> 00:26:00.620 we are or what we want or where our boundaries are. 00:26:00.900 --> 00:26:03.160 We allow other people to call the shots in our lives. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:05.779 We say yes when we should say no, and then we resent them for it. 00:26:07.360 --> 00:26:11.100 So if you look at your life and you look at the things that you most struggle with, you 00:26:11.100 --> 00:26:12.700 begin to realize this biblical truth. 00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:15.100 Idolatry sits behind all of the evil in the world. 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:17.460 Why is the world broken? 00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:18.220 Why is there injustice? 00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:18.940 Why is there evil? 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:20.019 It's because of idolatry. 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:21.259 It's the same thing. 00:26:22.320 --> 00:26:22.480 Right? 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:27.460 Think of the issues that I know many of you not only care about but work on in your jobs. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:28.420 Right? 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:33.480 Some of you are deeply concerned about environmental degradation and the sustainability of our 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:33.779 planet. 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:38.860 Some work on issues of racial justice and healing, and you've given yourself to that right 00:26:38.860 --> 00:26:39.460 here in our city. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:46.380 Some of you are passionate about abortion and what's going to happen now that this decision 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:47.000 has come out. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:53.039 Some of you are focused on sex trafficking and ending the modern-day slave trade. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:56.539 Many of you care about the plight of immigrants and refugees. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:04.759 Many of you focus on and care about the rising cost of housing and the lack of housing and the 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:06.660 reality of homelessness for so many people. 00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:15.840 wherever there is idolatry, you will find God's creation being devalued and destroyed. 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:19.139 That's the thing that we need to take from this. 00:27:19.139 --> 00:27:25.000 Wherever there is idolatry, you will find God's creation being devalued and destroyed. 00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:26.339 I have to tell you a little side thing. 00:27:26.399 --> 00:27:30.000 I was dictating this to my computer because I was doing something else, and I said, wherever 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.819 you find idolatry, God's creation is being devalued and destroyed. 00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:42.619 And my computer wrote, wherever you find a dollar tree, you will find God's creation being devalued 00:27:42.619 --> 00:27:44.419 and destroyed. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.139 I like laughed for 10 minutes when that happened. 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:49.720 I actually love the dollar tree. 00:27:49.879 --> 00:27:50.439 It's great. 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:55.379 It has nothing to do with the sermon, but I couldn't help sharing that story. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:02.200 So to be sure that there's a lot of hard truth in this passage, there's a lot of hard truth 00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.819 in the psalm, no matter how we try to understand it or draw out the nuances. 00:28:07.580 --> 00:28:12.700 God's judgment on the Canaanites is unsettling, and it should be. 00:28:14.460 --> 00:28:19.200 Because this is how much God hates idolatry. 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:28.400 He would rather see people killed than enslaved to idols, because in God's economy, that's a fate worse than death. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:33.480 But the psalm does not leave us without hope. 00:28:35.320 --> 00:28:39.980 All summer, we've looked at this psalm, which is about the greatest failures of God's people. 00:28:40.900 --> 00:28:45.680 We come to the end of this psalm, and it's this great, horrible, shocking failure. 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:50.920 And yet, this psalm begins and ends with praise. 00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:56.860 And we have to ask, how could a psalm all about failure begin and end with praise? 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:05.820 Because it points to a day when God will remember His covenant and save His people because of His steadfast love. 00:29:06.740 --> 00:29:10.539 It's Israel ultimately saying, this is why we cannot save ourselves. 00:29:11.300 --> 00:29:15.420 This is why we need a God who, because of His steadfast love, will one day remember His covenant 00:29:15.420 --> 00:29:17.539 and draw us back to Himself. 00:29:18.120 --> 00:29:20.140 God's going to have to do it because we can't. 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:27.160 Now, how can God possibly save people who have rejected Him and chosen to sacrifice to idols 00:29:27.160 --> 00:29:30.480 even though it destroys them and the world around them? 00:29:30.600 --> 00:29:35.259 How do you save people who are worshiping idols even though it's destroying them? 00:29:37.259 --> 00:29:43.340 How do you save people who are sacrificing to these idols even though it's destroying the world? 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:47.300 And God's answer is to become the sacrifice. 00:29:47.299 --> 00:29:51.059 To become the one who is sacrifice. 00:29:52.059 --> 00:29:55.059 You know, all of these idols demand endless sacrifices. 00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:56.539 And it's never enough. 00:29:57.299 --> 00:29:58.299 It's never enough. 00:29:58.399 --> 00:30:00.200 There's always more sacrifice required. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:04.859 But our God chose to become the sacrifice. 00:30:05.980 --> 00:30:08.759 The one sacrifice to end all sacrifices. 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:14.039 And what we see is that Jesus Christ came to do what Israel failed to do. 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:21.619 You know, Jesus lived in this world a full life and yet never allowed Himself to be seduced by the idols of this world. 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:29.640 He came to declare war, harem, but not against any nation or people group, 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:35.060 but against sin and death themselves, the true enemies of God's kingdom. 00:30:35.660 --> 00:30:38.860 And while the gods of the Canaanites demanded human sacrifice, 00:30:39.020 --> 00:30:42.560 Jesus was willing to sacrifice Himself to save His people. 00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:46.320 And so, this is why Jesus said to His disciples, 00:30:46.780 --> 00:30:50.300 unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:53.140 Repentance is your only hope. 00:30:53.140 --> 00:30:53.180 Repentance is your only hope. 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:58.660 Everyone who repents to the Lord will be saved. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.080 Repentance is the only way out of idolatry. 00:31:02.320 --> 00:31:03.840 We can't will our way out of it. 00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:05.759 We have to go to the Lord and say, 00:31:06.120 --> 00:31:07.620 I can't do this on my own. 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:08.420 I repent of it. 00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:09.540 Help me. 00:31:10.040 --> 00:31:10.920 Set me free. 00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:14.120 And you know, if we follow the story of Scripture, 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:19.400 what we ultimately see is that this not only ended up applying to the Canaanites, 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:22.860 because there were many Canaanites left alive for generations, 00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:28.380 but this salvation actually came through one of the Canaanites. 00:31:29.620 --> 00:31:36.000 Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute who decided to help some Israelite spies in Jericho, 00:31:36.259 --> 00:31:39.900 and she then repented and devoted herself to the Lord. 00:31:41.380 --> 00:31:43.460 And you know where she shows up next? 00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:48.520 She shows up in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, 00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:54.859 when Matthew is listing all of the descendants and ancestors who led to Jesus. 00:31:55.559 --> 00:31:58.480 He includes the name Rahab, 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:03.440 the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother of Jesus Christ. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:08.860 This, my friends, is a picture of the hope that we have in the gospel, 00:32:08.980 --> 00:32:10.539 a hope that extends to all people. 00:32:11.259 --> 00:32:11.799 Let's pray. 00:32:14.100 --> 00:32:15.580 Lord, we thank You for Your Word, 00:32:15.860 --> 00:32:22.120 and we thank You for the truth that even when we struggle or can't fully understand 00:32:22.119 --> 00:32:25.739 or come to terms with Your Word, 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:28.500 that ultimately, Lord, there's a power in this Word that we need, 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:34.139 that defies and goes beyond our limits, Lord, 00:32:34.159 --> 00:32:38.119 a power that reaches into us and that takes hold of us, Lord. 00:32:39.479 --> 00:32:42.599 These are the words of the God who is calling us home, Lord. 00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:47.019 So I pray that even as we gather to confess our faith and to pray, 00:32:47.419 --> 00:32:49.439 to confess our own sin and idolatry, 00:32:50.179 --> 00:32:52.119 that as we hear the words of absolution, 00:32:52.459 --> 00:32:57.139 that as we receive You, Your Son, in the bread and in the wine, Lord, 00:32:57.199 --> 00:33:00.980 I pray that You would loosen the hold that our idols have on us, 00:33:01.419 --> 00:33:02.519 that You would set us free, 00:33:03.159 --> 00:33:05.659 that we would be a people who glorifies You in our freedom. 00:33:06.199 --> 00:33:07.579 We pray this in Your Son's holy name. 00:33:07.779 --> 00:33:08.019 Amen.