The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. Sermons
II. THE GRACE OF OUR ELECTION. (Ver. 7.) This puts another powerful weight into the scale. Standing in so close and honorable a relation to God, the believer is bid look to the rock whence he is hewn, and the hole of the pit whence he is digged. Who made him to differ? Whence this mercy shown peculiarly to him? We need not press texts on election in favor of any special theory. Sufficient that every believer is willing to confess, as regards his own salvation, that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Romans 9:16). An elective purpose comes to light in his spiritual history (Ephesians 1:4, 5). When tracing his salvation to its source, he is constrained to say, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4, 5). All this implies special obligation to God's service. III. THE NIGHT OF OUR REDEMPTION. (Ver. 8.) The redemption from Egypt, with its tragic accompaniments and mighty signs and wonders, was but a faint type of the greater deliverance which God has now wrought for his Israel in Christ. We are entitled to put the greater for the less, and to plead the stronger claimers which the redemption from sin and wrath establishes on the redeemed soul. The cost of our salvation is Christ's blood. What return can we conceivably make exhaustive of our obligations to Father and Son for so great a sacrifice? - J.O.
Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold. Showing, as he always shows, a most penetrating mind, Moses points to a very subtle temptation which would arise in connection with the progress of Israel. The graven images of the heathen nations were to be burned with fire. Moses says in the twenty-fifth verse: "Thou shalt not desire...lest thou be ensnared therein." How subtle is the temptation in that direction! Shall we cast in the hideous gods and the valuable gold, and consume them both in the unsparing fire? How much better first to strip the god of his golden coat and then burn the wood or clay or grind the stone to powder! Moses, foreseeing this temptation, and by the very inspiration of God, knowing the mysteries of human nature, said: "Touch not; taste not; handle not." In such abstention is the only possible safety of the Church. The temptation operates today. Men will sustain a questionable mode of earning a livelihood on the pretence that they can gather from the forbidden trade gold and silver which they can melt down and mint with the image and superscription of God; they can allow the devastating traffic to proceed, reeking like the pit of hell, destroying countless thousands of lives, and yet justify the continuance of the iniquity by taking off the gold and the silver and throwing part of it into the coffers of the Church. Missions so sustained are dishonoured. The gold torn from any evil way of getting a livelihood and given to the Church is an abomination to the Lord thy God. He does not want even good gold stolen for His purposes, or gold won by unholy means thrown into His exchequer. Let us give honest money. Let us eat bread unleavened by wrong-doing; there may be little of it, but Christ will break it with His own hands, and it shall be more than our hunger needs. Marvellous, too, is the prevision of Moses when he lays down the only law or principle by which all these abstentions and all these actions can be sustained. Do not let us ascribe these regulations to the prevision of Moses unless we understand by that term the inspiration of God. What is the principle which guarantees safety and protects the soul from the unclean things of heathen nations? That principle is laid down in the twenty-sixth verse. Speaking of heathen abomination Moses says: "Thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it." There is no middle feeling; there is no intermediate way of dealing with bad things. "If thy right, hand offend thee, cut it off"; "if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Thus the Testaments are one: the moral tone is the same; the stern law never yields to time — its phrase changes, its words may come and go, its forms may take upon them the colour of the transient times, but the inner spirit of righteousness is the Spirit of God, without beginning, without measure, without end.(J. Parker, D. D.). People Amorites, Canaanites, Egyptians, Girgashite, Girgashites, Hittites, Hivite, Hivites, Jebusites, Moses, Perizzites, Perrizites, PharaohPlaces Beth-baal-peor, EgyptTopics Attached, Choose, Chose, Chosen, Delighted, Didn't, Fewest, Fixeth, Least, Love, Nations, Numerous, Peoples, SmallestOutline 1. All communion with the nations is forbidden5. for fear of idolatry, 6. for the holiness of the people, 9. for the nature of God in his mercy and justice, 17. and for the assuredness of victory which God will give over them. Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 7:76512 salvation, necessity and basis 1443 revelation, OT 5013 heart, divine 1055 God, grace and mercy Library God's Faithfulness'Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him.'--DEUT. vii. 9. 'Faithful,' like most Hebrew words, has a picture in it. It means something that can be (1) leant on, or (2) builded on. This leads to a double signification--(1) trustworthy, and that because (2) rigidly observant of obligations. So the word applies to a steward, a friend, or a witness. Its most wonderful and sublime application is to God. It presents to … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Match-Making. The First Covenant That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful. The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation Why all Things Work for Good John's Introduction. The Holiness of God The Covenant of Grace Deuteronomy Links Deuteronomy 7:7 NIVDeuteronomy 7:7 NLT Deuteronomy 7:7 ESV Deuteronomy 7:7 NASB Deuteronomy 7:7 KJV Deuteronomy 7:7 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 7:7 Parallel Deuteronomy 7:7 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 7:7 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 7:7 French Bible Deuteronomy 7:7 German Bible Deuteronomy 7:7 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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