Schoolmaster to Christ
DEUTERONOMY CHAPTERS 22, 23, 24 & 25

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 22, 23, 24 & 25 (KJV)

Though not calling for elaborate exposition, this portion of our study of Deuteronomy teaches two important and practical lessons.

First practical lesson
In the first place, many of the institutions and ordinances here set forth prove and illustrate in a striking way the depravity of the human heart. With unmistakable distinctness, they reveal what man is capable of doing if left to himself. As we read some of the paragraphs of this section of Deuteronomy we must never forget that God the Holy Spirit has indicted them. In our fancied wisdom, we may feel disposed to ask why such passages were ever penned? Can it be possible that they are actually inspired by the Holy Spirit? What possible value can they be to us? If they were written for our learning, then what are we to learn from them?

Our reply to all these questions is simple and direct: the very passages that we might least expect to teach us, in their own peculiar way, the moral material of which we are made, and the moral depths into which we are capable of plunging. Is it not well to have a faithful mirror held up before our eyes in which we may see every moral trait, feature and lineament perfectly reflected? Unquestionably. In our present age, we hear a great deal about the dignity of human nature, and many find it hard to admit that they are capable of committing some of the sins prohibited in the section before us, and in other portions of God's Volume. But we may rest assured that when God commands us not to commit this or that particular sin, we are capable of committing it. This is beyond question. Divine wisdom would never erect a dam if there was not a current to be resisted. There would be no necessity to tell an angel not to steal; but man has theft in his nature, and hence the command applies to him. And so it is regarding every other prohibited thing; the prohibition proves the tendency. We either accept this or the blasphemy that God has spoken in vain.

But then it may be said; and is said by many, that while some terrible samples of fallen humanity are capable of committing some of the abominable sins prohibited in Scripture, yet all are not so. This is a mistake. Hear what the Holy Spirit says, in the seventeenth chapter of the prophet Jeremiah: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Whose heart is he speaking of? Is it the heart of some atrocious criminal, or some untutored savage? No; it is the human heart, the heart of each one of us.

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says on this subject. "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Out of what heart? Is it the heart of some hideously depraved and abominable wretch wholly unfit to appear in decent society? No; it is out of the human heart, the heart of each one of us.

Let us never forget this wholesome truth. We all need to bear in mind that if God were to withdraw His sustaining grace, there is no depth of iniquity into which we are not capable of plunging; it is His gracious hand that preserves us from becoming a complete wreck, physically, mentally, morally, spiritually, and in our circumstances. May we keep this in our hearts so that we may walk humbly and watchfully, leaning on the arm that alone can sustain and preserve us.

Second practical lesson
But, there is another valuable lesson furnished by this section of Deuteronomy that now lies open before us. In a manner peculiar to itself, it teaches us the marvelous way God provided for everything connected with His people. Nothing escaped His gracious notice; nothing was too trivial for His tender care. No mother could be more careful of the habits and manners of her little child, than the Almighty Creator and moral Governor of the universe was of the minutest details connected with the daily history of His people. By day and by night, waking and sleeping, at home and abroad, He looked after them. Their clothing, food, manners, and ways toward one another, how they were to build their houses, how they were to plough and sow their ground, how they were to carry themselves in the deepest privacy of personal life – all was attended to and provided for in a manner that fills us with wonder, love and praise. In a striking way, we here see that there is nothing too small for our God to take notice of when His people are concerned. He takes a loving, tender, fatherly interest in their minutest concerns. We are amazed to find the Most High God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, the Sustainer of the vast universe, condescending to legislate about the matter of a bird's nest; and yet why should we be amazed when we know that providing for a sparrow is the same to Him as feeding millions of people daily?

But there was one grand fact that was always to prominently be kept before each member of the congregation of Israel: God's presence in their midst. This fact was to govern their private habits and give character to all their ways. "The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up, thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy; that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee" (Deut. 23:14).

Having Jehovah waling in their midst was a precious privilege – a motive for purity of conduct and refined delicacy in their persons and domestic habits. If He was in their midst to secure victory over their enemies, He was also there to demand holiness of life. They were never to forget the august Person Who walked up and down in their midst. Would the thought of this be irksome to any? Only to one who did not love holiness, purity and moral order. Every true Israelite would delight in the thought of having One dwelling in their midst Who could not endure anything that was unholy, unseemly or impure.

The Christian student will quickly seize the moral force and application of this holy principle. It is our individual and collective privilege to have God the Spirit dwelling in us. Thus, in 1 Corinthians 6:19 we read, "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" This is individual. Each true believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and this most glorious and precious truth is the ground of the exhortation given in Ephesians 4:30, "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

It is vitally important to always keep this in the thoughtful remembrance of our hearts. It is a mighty moral motive for the diligent cultivation of purity of heart and holiness of life. When tempted to indulge in any wrong current of thought or feeling, any unworthy manner of speech, any unseemly line of conduct, what a powerful corrective is found in the realization that the Holy Spirit dwells in our body as in His temple. If only we could keep this before us it would preserve us from many a wandering thought, many an unguarded and foolish utterance, many an unbecoming act.

But, not only does the Holy Spirit dwell in each individual Christian, He also dwells collectively in the church. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16). It is on this fact that the apostle grounds his exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 – "Quench not the Spirit." How divinely perfect is Scripture; how blessedly it hangs together. The Holy Spirit dwells in us individually; hence we are not to grieve Him. He dwells in the assembly, hence we are not to quench Him, but give Him His right place and allow full scope for His blessed operations. May these great practical truths find a deep place in our hearts, exerting more powerful influence over our ways both in private life and public assembly.

We will quote a few passages from the section of Deuteronomy that now lies open before us, strikingly illustrative of the wisdom, goodness, tenderness, holiness and righteousness that marked all the dealings of God with His people of old. For example, take the opening paragraph: "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found shalt thou do likewise; thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again" (Deut. 22:1-4).

Here the two practical lessons mentioned above are distinctly presented. A deeply humbling picture of the human heart is mentioned in this one sentence, "Thou mayest not hide thyself." We are capable of base and detestable selfishness; of hiding from our brother's claims on our sympathy; of shirking the holy duty of looking after others; of pretending not to see the need.

But how blessedly the character of our God shines in this passage. The brother's ox, sheep, or donkey was to be brought home, cared for, and restored safe and sound to the owner without charge for damage; and so with raiment. How lovely is all this; how it breathes on us the air of God's presence, the fragrant atmosphere of His goodness, tenderness and thoughtful love. What a high and holy privilege for any people to have their conduct governed and their character formed by such exquisite statutes and judgments.

Again the following passage beautifully illustrates God's thoughtfulness: "When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence." The Lord would have His people thoughtful and considerate of others. Thus, in building their houses they were not merely to think of self and personal convenience, but also of others and their safety.

Can Christians learn anything from this? How prone we are to think only of our own interests, comfort, our own convenience and ourselves. In the building or furnishing of our houses, how rarely do we think of others. We build and furnish for ourselves; self is too much the object and motive in our undertakings. Actually, it cannot be otherwise unless the heart is kept under the governing power of those motives and objects that belong to Christianity. In order to get above and beyond the base selfishness that characterize fallen humanity we must live in the pure and heavenly atmosphere of the new creation. Simply self, in some shape or another, governs every unconverted man, woman and child. Self is the center, the object, and the motive-spring of every action.

True, some are more amiable, more affectionate, more benevolent, more unselfish, more disinterested, more agreeable than others; but it is impossible that "the natural man" can be governed by spiritual motives, or an earthly man be animated by heavenly objects. With shame and sorrow we confess an inability to be heavenly and spiritual; we are prone to live for self, to seek our own things, to maintain our own interests, to consult our own ease and convenience. Our daily prayer is that God will help us be alive and on the alert when, in any shape or form, self is concerned.

All this is sad and deeply humbling. It really should not be, and it would not be if we were looking more simply and earnestly to Christ as our great Exemplar and model in all things. Earnest and constant occupation of heart with Christ is the true secret of all practical Christianity. Rules and regulations will never make us Christ-like in our spirit, manner and ways. We must drink into His spirit, walk in His footsteps, dwell more profoundly on His moral glories, and only then will we be conformed to His image. "We all with open face beholding as in a glass [or mirror – katoptrizomenoi] the glory, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the, Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3; emphasis added).

We now turn to the following important practical instructions – full of suggestive power for all Christian workers: "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled" (Deut. 22:9).

What a weighty principle. Do we really understand it? Do we see its true spiritual application? It is to be feared that there is a terrible amount of "mingled seed" used in the so-called spiritual husbandry of the present day. How much of "philosophy and vain deceit," how much of "science falsely so called," how much of "the rudiments of the world," do we find mixed up in the teaching and preaching throughout the length and breadth of the Lord’s church? How little of the pure, unadulterated seed of the Word of God, the "incorruptible seed" of the precious Gospel of Christ is scattered over the field of the religious world in this present age. Comparatively few are content to confine themselves within the covers of the Bible for the material of their ministry. Those who by the grace of God are faithful enough to do so are looked on as men of one idea, men of the old school, narrow and behind the times.

With a full and glowing heart, we say God bless the men of one idea, men of the old school of apostolic preaching. We heartily congratulate them on their narrowness and for being behind these dark and infidel times. We are persuaded that every true servant of Christ must be a man of one idea, and that idea is Christ; he must belong to the oldest school, the school of Christ; he must be as narrow as the truth of God; and with stern decision he must refuse to move one hair's breadth in the direction of this infidel age. We cannot shake off the conviction that the effort on the part of institutionalized preachers and teachers to keep abreast of the literature of the day must have a bearing on the rapid advance of rationalism and infidelity. Sadly, desiring to adorn their ministry by the resources of philosophy, science and literature, they have gotten away from the Holy Scriptures; they have catered more for the intellect than for the heart and conscience. The pure and precious teachings of Holy Scripture, the sincere milk of the Word, the Gospel of the grace of God and the glory of Christ are found insufficient to attract and keep together large congregations. As Israel of old despised and got tired of the manna, pronouncing it light food, so organized religious institutions of man have grown weary of the pure teachings of that glorious Christianity unfolded in the pages of the New Testament. Instead, they sigh for something to gratify the intellect and feed the imagination. The teachings of the cross in which the blessed apostle gloried have lost their charm for many in this age, and any who would be faithful enough to adhere and confine themselves in their ministry to those teachings might abandon all thought of popularity.

But let all the true and faithful ministers of Christ, all true workers in His vineyard, apply their hearts to the spiritual principle revealed in Deuteronomy 22:9. With unflinching decision let them refuse to make use of "divers seeds" in their spiritual husbandry; let them confine their ministry to "the form of sound words." Let them always seek "rightly to divide the word of truth," so they may not be ashamed of their work, but receive a full reward in that day when every man's work shall be tried, determining what sort it is. We may depend on the pure seed of the Word of God is the only proper material for the spiritual workman to use. We do not despise learning; far from it. We consider it valuable in its right place. The facts of science and the resources of sound philosophy may also be turned to profitable account in unfolding and illustrating the truth of Holy Scripture. We find the blessed Master and His inspired apostles making use of the facts of history and nature in their public teaching. Who in his sober senses would think of calling in question the value and importance of a competent knowledge of the original languages of Hebrew and Greek in the private study and public exposition of the Word of God?

But admitting all this, as we certainly do, leaves untouched the great practical principle before us – a principle to which all the Lord's people and His servants are bound to adhere: the Holy Spirit is the only power, and Holy Scripture the only material for all true ministry in the Gospel and the Lord's church. If this were more fully understood and faithfully acted on, we would witness a different condition of things throughout the length and breadth of the vineyard of Christ.

---

    

Copyright © StudyJesus.com