In the Lord's Camp
Deuteronomy: Changing Times and Our Unchanging God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 51:03
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A Standard to live by
A Standard to live by
What do we base our standards on?
Common sense?
If it ain’t broke . . .
I just try to be a ________ person.
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Our standard is not one of common sense . . . keeping with tradition . . . or just being a good person. God calls us to the highest standard of all, to be holy like he is. Our struggle comes with our inability to succeed in following the law. But holiness was not the purpose of the law. Helping us see our sin was the purpose of the law
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Today’s text reminds us of these issues and God’s patient provision with our struggle. I want to begin with the backbone of today’s text. The first and last verse of our section form the core of what we will discuss. Let’s read those.
The Key Lesson
The Key Lesson
9 “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.
14 Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.
The Examples
The Examples
10 “If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp,
11 but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.
12 “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it.
13 And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement.
The focus is on mundane things that make us unclean before a holy God. We find a similar law in Leviticus that applies outside the camp of the Lord but the has the same principle.
16 “If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening.
17 And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening.
18 If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening.
Here, all that is required is to go get clean so that you can come into the presence of God. Both of these practices did keep Israel clean and safe from disease or illness related to lack of cleanliness but the pocus is on God. Look again at the last verse:
14 Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.
How Jesus fixed it all
How Jesus fixed it all
He makes us right before God.
He makes us right before God.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
We are never removed from His presence.
We are never removed from His presence.
Matthew 28:20b (ESV)
20b And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We are fully equipped for battle.
We are fully equipped for battle.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Keeping the Lord’s camp clean today.
Keeping the Lord’s camp clean today.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.