Well, in these sections of Deuteronomy, the pace has slowed and you can sense that. There have been previous sermons where we have dealt with an entire chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, depending on the subject addressed. But the laws, the commandments of Deuteronomy have been so varied. and the themes and subjects easily dealt with in various blocks, that the goal has been to dig into some of these commands. And tonight, in verses 9 to 14, we're continuing that, thinking about the laws of Moses to Israel. They're being prepared by Moses to enter the promised land. These Israelites are situated on the eastern side of the Jordan River in the land of Moab, and they're going to go into a land filled with unclean people. The various rituals and commands that God gives them in His goodness and in His wisdom is for the sake of their holy lives in the camp. And the Bible covers all various aspects of life. Very blunt truths about their spiritual and moral life, even blunt and clear comments about their human bodies, as you'll see tonight. But all of this accumulates together to be part of the wisdom of God for their flourishing in holiness. Holiness is the aim. This is the reasoning for their laws. Now sometimes the moral reasoning is stated plainly. Other times what we've had to do is seek to connect some unexplained commands with other parts of the Torah in order to try to clarify what we can see as going on at a moral level. The study through Deuteronomy has involved reflecting on some peculiar laws. Peculiar laws that Moses gives to these Israelites that we might scratch our heads and say, why is he bringing up this exactly? And why now? We want to make sense of these regulations, what these rituals mean. Tonight's passage has some instructions that are going to require some explanation. Even as we're reading through this, you're thinking, it's not often that I read and focus on maybe this section of the Bible. I've never preached a sermon from this text. Have you ever heard a sermon from this text? Probably not. Unless you're in a church that's preached through Deuteronomy. It's the kind of text that doesn't show up. But nevertheless, here we go. In Deuteronomy 6 to 26, to situate our passage tonight, we are in a series of chapters that are building upon the content and the order of the Ten Commandments. The reason we want to keep that in mind is because we've been in a section of the book that is reliant on the Seventh Commandment. you shall not commit adultery. From chapter 22 verse 9 to chapter 23, 14, which is actually the end of our passage tonight, we've seen a reliance on the seventh commandment. Following this passage, the next time we're in Deuteronomy together, from Deuteronomy 23, 15 forward, there's a shift to the eighth commandment as what undergirds that set of instructions. So tonight, the emphasis continues to be on purity, faithfulness. That is the goal of the seventh commandment anyway, that they be a people of God walking wholly in the land of Israel. And in that promised land, they're going to have various truths that take place in their natural lives that are going to be referenced here in verses nine to 14, and part of what is then regulated. various ritual or cleansing information that must be dealt with. I want to draw an analogy of what I think can help us see this war camp instructions in the clearest light. It seems that the warfare of the Israelites is the context, because when you're encamped against your enemies, keep yourself from every evil thing. That's the opening in verse 9. And then it talks about in verse 14, the Lord walking in the midst of your camp. There is a war camp or an encampment of soldiers that I think is the primary context for verses 9 to 14. And the bodily processes of these soldiers away from maybe Israel's station at the moment or certainly away from the tabernacle nevertheless has an analogy with tabernacle life. Here's the connection, I think. The tabernacle had to be approached by you being ritually clean, first of all. If you had various things true of you, things you had eaten, things you had experienced bodily, or things you had made contact with, like a dead corpse, you were rendered temporarily unclean. And you could not approach the tabernacle, because the tabernacle contained in its most holy place, the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant symbolized the glory and presence of God, that when you're approaching the tabernacle, you are approaching the Lord, and the Lord is holy. And the Lord is whole. So there is a wholeness and holiness that go together. And having bodily defects, or being ritually unclean for a time, means you are unable to approach the Lord because you are not what you ought to be in approaching him. Your sacrifices had to be a certain way. Your livelihood had to be a certain way, so that both ritually and morally there was a cohesion, a coherence with your life. You were not offering animals that were one way, but in your life living in rebellion against God and thinking it didn't matter. The tabernacle was you approaching God as a worshiper, trusting God's provision by faith, and that in these rituals and sacrifices, you were considered externally clean. The reason I'm bringing up the tabernacle is that it seems like the war camp of the Israelite soldiers has a likeness to that. So that in the warfare camp of Israel, when the soldiers are at battle, they have a sacredness that seems to be a perimeter for their lives, and that whatever else might be happening bodily with them, there is an appropriateness of leaving the confines of that camp and going outside the camp. so that not only would you be ritually clean to approach the tabernacle, you also had to have the state of ritual cleanness in order to operate easily, thoroughly in the military camp. All right, so I think there's an analogy then between the tabernacle and the war camp. I think the connection is also furthered by the Book of Numbers. In Numbers 1 through 4, the Israelites are told how they are to live around the tabernacle. It's been a while since we've referred to this, but in our study through Numbers, one of the things we emphasized is that the tabernacle is at the center of Israel's life. Do you recall this? You have three camps on the north, three camps on the south. I didn't mean camps, three tribes. Three tribes on the north, three tribes on the south. We'll edit that out. Three tribes on the east. We won't. It'll be in there forever. Three tribes on the west. And so these 12 tribes are around Israel's tabernacle. And it seems to show, symbolically, God is to be the center of Israel's life. He operates as the king in their camp. Think of Israel as a kind of army spiritually. And I don't mean every Israelite was a military soldier. There were particular age ranges for the fighting force of Israel going into the land. But I mean, in a sense, the Israelites are a kingdom of priests, Exodus 19, God dwells in the midst of their camp, and therefore that tabernacle life of Israel has a kind of likeness to this war camp for the soldiers. The soldiers needed to be clean. And there could be things that defile them. And that defilement externally didn't mean they had sinned. It just meant that they had to recognize externally something was being lost. All right, so I know we haven't even looked at verse nine, but one more comment that I think helps to set the scene. And it has to do with the spectrum. Let's imagine a line. that goes from life to death. The tabernacle is the source and emanating presence of life because this is God in their midst. And so to approach God means, ritually speaking, you are pursuing wholeness of life, not just morally, but you are without some sort of external defect or uncleanness. A loss of bodily fluids, represents a loss of life. Knowing that helps explain a myriad of things that go on in Israel's laws. It's gonna be helpful tonight. This important principle must be clear in our minds. So to lose fluid, and this applies in Leviticus 12, when a woman gives birth, and there is a tremendous loss of blood. She has not sinned in giving birth, but the loss of blood, or the pouring out of life, so to speak, is a movement down the spectrum from life toward death. Now, when she gives birth to that child and begins to nurse that child, you would say, well, the woman hasn't physically died. That's true. But the loss of blood symbolizes the movement nevertheless. The same will be true with the loss of an emission or bodily fluids that we see in Deuteronomy 23. The movement from life toward death with some sort of bodily experience means you're unclean for a time. and that that uncleanness will pass, you will be restored, ritually fit, to once again be among the army, in this case, the camp of Israel's warriors once more. So, keeping that in mind, the Lord is holy, the Lord is the source of life, if I'm experiencing something that seems to be the pouring out of life, then I'm ritually unclean for a time, and will once again be able to be restored to tabernacle worship or interaction with the camp. Alright, verse 9. Verse 9 is the need to avoid defilement. When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. This is the need to avoid defilement. Now he's going to give some external examples in a moment, but I don't think verse 9 is only about external defilement in a ritual or bodily sense. I think that this is emphasizing the spiritual and moral dangers that face sinners in a fallen world, and it may face soldiers when they're on the battlefield. They have a focus, a job, a mission. They are encamped against their enemies, which means they have gone out to war. Israelites as a society, they're somewhere in the land and then you have these soldiers encamping against enemies. So we're not thinking primarily about Israelites in general in their camp around the tabernacle. We're thinking though about God dwelling with his army of warriors and that creates a kind of holy ground situation. So knowing that helps explain some of what's going on here. He wants them to keep themselves from every evil thing. They must pursue holiness. They are not to be just warriors in general, but holy men. They are to not be impure. The examples he's going to give seem to not be about moral issues. They're primarily about bodily functions in verses 10, 11, and then in verses 12 and 13 with these two examples. But nevertheless, I think these are to symbolize the deeper and most important reality of what can defile, what is unclean, what is truly evil. And they are to keep their hearts, their minds, from every evil thing. Because if they imagine their lives as a kind of pure cup of water, so to speak, as they're serving the Lord and seeking Yahweh, they don't want their lives defiled or poisoned by the lies of the Canaanites, the idolatrous worship, the immoral ethics of the land. So they must keep themselves from every evil thing. And camping against enemies could involve a variety of temptations. It could involve sexual temptations. It could involve false worship temptations. It could involve situations of covetousness and greed. It could involve situations of traitorous behavior and betrayal. When you're encamped against your enemies, he says, you've got to keep yourself from every evil thing. That is a kind of watchfulness over one's life, isn't it? That's not passive. Keep yourself from this. That sounds very active. When we see this in a trajectory biblically, moving from old covenant to new covenant realities, we can hear even the words of the Lord Jesus and his apostles to us, saying, as you walk in this world, keep yourself from the deeds of darkness and walk in the light. Keep yourself from every evil thing. Love the truth, speak the truth, be committed to righteousness. We can hear that resonance because, in a true sense, are we not a people engaged in spiritual warfare? Would this command not certainly apply for us? Not because we're an old covenant army in Israel, but because we are the people of God in the new covenant in Christ, and we have enemies that seek our destruction. And I don't mean merely in a social or political or earthly sense, but even principalities and powers that are allied against the people of God and the devil himself that seeks the destruction of the churches of Christ. We must keep ourselves from every evil thing. Oh, there is a vigilance that connects to holy living. Let's put it this way. There is no pursuit of holiness without vigilance over one's life. watchfulness, that every evil thing that might seek to set itself against you, you are paying attention to that. You are looking at the direction of your feet, the nature of the path you're on, and you are seeking to avoid temptation. You see the reasonableness and the brilliance of Jesus saying to his disciples, pray this way, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. You should keep yourself from every evil thing. Now example number one in verses 10 and 11 goes this way. 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. But when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come back inside the camp. There is this movement, isn't there, from inside to outside, and it has to do with the loss of bodily fluid from men. I would take this in verses 10 and 11 to be an involuntary experience, because in warfare, there is a forbiddenness of sexual intercourse, there is the geographical distance from family. And so with this involuntary experience, this is something that happens at night, but is a loss of bodily fluid in the camp. And because it is a defilement in the camp, a movement from life toward death, the loss of seed, then there is a movement outside the camp as a result. But temporarily. Temporarily. Do you see this in verse 11? When evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water. And as the sun sets, he may come back inside the camp. There's not a barring from military service or an actual exclusion from the warfare with the other soldiers. Instead, it's a recognition of the loss of fluid, which represents the pouring out of life. and therefore movement from life toward death. Keeping in mind that ritual and symbolic direction helps explain what might otherwise be a head-scratching moment, and we think, why is it that this experience would make him have to go now outside the camp and come back in later? This is similar to something we've seen in Leviticus. Now, it's been quite a while since we were going through Leviticus together. But back when we talked about the whole book of Leviticus, here's what we learned in Leviticus 15. I think this sounds like what we read tonight in Deuteronomy 23. Leviticus 15, beginning in verse 16. If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. So there you have it, Leviticus 15, 16, I think is very similar and focusing on a soldier in particular in Deuteronomy 23. And that's because we're trying to see the encampment of the soldiers as a holy ground perimeter, all right? So now they're going outside the camp. Now, then the second example in verses 12 through 13 This is not an activity that at first defiles and then the movement has to be outside the camp. Instead, going outside the camp is to avoid the defilement. So the two examples here operate a little differently. The first, this involuntary experience, means now I'm going to remove myself from the camp because of an uncleanness, ritually. And then in verses 12 and 13, This is an example of this bodily function to go outside the camp to avoid defilement. So in verses 12 and 13, here's a second example. You shall have a place outside the camp and you shall go out to it. 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. And so the Bible's being very blunt here, isn't it? About the human body and about the way God has designed the body to work and about the way the body is designed to process what we take in and what we excrete. And in verses 12 and 13, this is not something done near the soldiers. This is not something done in the confines of the camp. And immediately what might come to mind is, well, doesn't this have a hygienic benefit? I mean, certainly removing themselves to take care of this is certainly in the best health benefit for everybody involved. Now, that would be true. That would be true. But I think at the same time, The symbolism of the bodily processes is picked up by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. I'm going to turn to that in just a moment to recognize the importance of defilement and what is symbolized. bodily process in verses 12 to 13 where these soldiers have tools and among them a shovel, a trowel, and they go outside and they dig a hole and they cover up their excrement. That is to avoid defilement and the location is where it belongs, outside the camp. There are things that belong outside the camp and other processes like verses 10 and 11 that could take you outside the camp as a result of something that happened inside. I don't think it's merely hygienic. That's part of it. I think we would say that there's a moral principle being reiterated with these bodily processes. What proceeds from the body, Jesus brings up in Matthew 15. Matthew 15, beginning in verse 16, Jesus says, Are you still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. The rules and rituals that speak to and regulate defilement are meant to point to, even in the Old Testament era, not something Jesus reads into it later, I think he's rightly reading that these laws in the Old Testament point to moral matters. You want to avoid defilement, so these rituals are teaching them about avoiding defilement. But what kind of defilement ultimately? Well, they keep themselves from every evil thing. They're to be a holy people, and so various regulations of the body are a way of orienting the people toward holy thoughts. That the way they view the world and the way they operate in their camp emphasizes the presence of God and the need for a set-apart life. Jesus speaks very openly and honestly in chapter 15, 17 of Matthew, that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled. It kind of reminds us of Deuteronomy 23 and what he's talking about. But Jesus says, but ultimately defilement, where does that really originate from? Is it from the food your body processes? Of course not. Your heart is sick, isn't it? And from the heart come these other things, evil thoughts and murder and adultery and sexual immorality. And you realize he's listing things from the Ten Commandments here. The evil thoughts might remind us of the kinds of covetousness and even idolatry that the commandments speak to. Murder is certainly the 6th commandment. Adultery, the 7th commandment, along with sexual immorality being the 7th commandment. Theft is about the 8th commandment. False witness, the 9th commandment. You know what Jesus is doing is basically working through that our heart is defiled and that inwardly we have flowing out of us things that violate the moral laws of God. The Israelites are to keep themselves from every evil thing and that's not just an old covenant reality. The people of God must always keep themselves from every evil thing. Now the Israelites had various rituals and procedures that pointed to these truths that were part of the covenant in the Old Testament that passed away. But the moral responsibility for the people of God to be vigilant over their holy lives for the sake of the glory of God and the well-being of their fellow man, that remains. That is not merely an Old Covenant or Sinai Covenant idea at all. So we've seen so far, keep yourself from every evil thing, that's the principle. And then two examples in verses 10 and 11, and then verses 12 and 13. We come back full circle in verse 14, the importance of the holy camp. 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 what they're doing by paying attention to these various bodily processes is remembering, at least that is the goal, the intent, that inwardly they're to be a holy people because God walks in their midst. It's a kind of take your sandals off situation, right? Moses takes his sandals off in Exodus 19 and 20. This is holy ground. He's going to go on Mount Sinai. This is a glorious experience in Exodus 3, when he first encounters the Lord at the burning bush, where it is said explicitly that he removes his shoes in the presence of the Lord. We have this walking in the midst of your camp. And it reminds us of when this language was first used in the Bible. Go earlier than Israel, earlier than the patriarchs, all the way back to Genesis chapter three, when Adam and Eve dwelled with God and God would walk with them in the cool of the day. They were meant to walk with God. The origin of this language speaks to created purpose. The Israelites were to walk with God. The men in the warfare context were to remember God is among them because from the beginning God made his image bearers that he might walk with them. But the problem of moral defilement alienates us. We are corrupted inwardly and not just outwardly. We thought much about that, didn't we, this morning in Psalm 53. We are sick in our hearts and from our hearts flow all manner of wickedness. In our transgressions, we are declared spiritually dead and in need of new life, lest we be condemned and justly condemned. God walks in the midst of your camp. So he's not just asserting that, he says, hey, that means something, you gotta think this through. He doesn't just assert that the Lord walks in the midst of their camp, he says because he does, here's what that means. Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you, to give up your enemies before you. In other words, to give you victory. Therefore, your camp must be holy. It's like what he told him in verse 9. Keep yourself from every evil thing. Why? Because I'm a holy person. Why would that matter? Because a holy God is in my midst. I have to think about what God is like so that I see the kind of person I'm supposed to be. I have to think about the holy character of God so that I remember what I am called to reflect. I'm not the center of the camp. God walks in the midst of the camp. And the same point was for the Israelites. Moses is telling not just the soldiers, but the whole Israelite community in Leviticus, you shall be holy for the Lord your God is holy. He's there in the tabernacle symbolism and ritual. All of that dwelling place reminds the people in the center of their lives where they're all encamped around it. God walks in the midst of our camp. Why are we to be a holy people? Because God is with us. And because God is holy, that tells me the kind of person I am to reflect and be like. God is among us in the new covenant. More on that in just a moment. Therefore, your camp must be holy so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. You see, the danger for the Israelite soldiers is that they would feel overconfident because maybe they have some past victories and now they're very presumptuous. Maybe they've grown lax in the way they think about evil snares and temptations. And so they're just going to assume, well, we're descendants of Abraham. If we're going to go to battle, the battle is ours. Well, not so fast. In verse 14, he says, your camp must be holy so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. Now, the first example in verses 11 and 12, or verses 10 and 11, and the second example in verses 12 and 13 are things that are not as public, but rather private. So there is an important emphasis, I think here, and that when they are attending to these realities, not just about their bodies, but every evil thing, they're not doing so because everybody in the camp is aware of what happened and is going on. It's because the Lord knows and he walks in the midst of their camp. So the reason they're trying to avoid what is indecent morally and being guided and reminded and oriented toward that end with ritual and bodily regulation is because wherever they are, there is God. And therefore, because God is holy, it doesn't matter how widespread the knowledge is that any of these examples happen. It could be just that individual knowing what is the case. But because they want to fear the Lord, because they want to walk with reverence before God, because they want to please and glorify Him, They want to be holy and have a holy camp. And their victory seems to be something that should not be assumed. It says at the end of verse 14, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. Turn away, what this means with regard to an omnipresent God, is not that he will cease to be somewhere he is, for there is never any place where he is not. Rather, this is a statement about his favor and blessing in battle. To turn away from them is a way I think of invoking the face of God, which is for them in blessing or turned from them in judgment. And if they think we can be an unholy people, then they're presuming on the graciousness of God and will instead encounter his discipline and his judgment. lest he see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. You know, when we read this as New Covenant Christians, we're reminded here that these rituals are pointing to us, pointing out for us the importance of holiness, which is an Old and New Testament theme, a strong one. What is this walking among the camp in the Old Testament to mean for us as the Church of Jesus Christ? Thinking about this in a biblical theology way from the old covenant to the new, can't we say that Christ tabernacles among us? In John 1 14, the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And that we are united with Christ and that by his Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ is always present. The church gathers whenever they gather in the name of the Son and in the presence of the Son and by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we are reminded that these various rituals and regulations point toward an inner need for pardon from sin and a righteousness that we should be clothed with that we don't cultivate ourselves. We are cleansed by the mercies of Christ. We are washed from our uncleanness, and we're no longer talking about a mere bodily or ritual thing. Isn't there a bodily demonstration of this cleansing? Aren't we baptized into, with this public profession here, the people of God by our confession and the ordinance of baptism He has given us? There is a kind of washing that the people of God consider, where those on the outside are brought on the inside, and that the people of God form a kind of army for the Lord. We don't conquer by sword and spear. According to Revelation chapter 12 verse 17, the dragon goes to make war on the offspring of the woman, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Our warfare is one of faithfulness of the proclamation of the gospel through which Christ builds his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. No, there is a warfare. We don't look at the Old Covenant and say, well, there's no more reference or application for the fact that we in the New Covenant are not these Israelite warriors. There is a transposition, if you will, a movement across the covenants into something that is true and lasting. In Ephesians chapter 6, we are to put on the full armor of God. That's something warriors do. Taking up the sword of the Word of God in addition to the other elements for defense and warfare. How did they overcome the dragon and those against them that aligned with the dragon in Revelation 12? In Revelation 12, 11 it says, There's a paradox in Revelation, are we ready for this? That there's a conquering through suffering. of conquering through the faithfulness of holding to the word of the testimony of Jesus, there is a victory in which we hear Paul say in Romans 8, we are more than conquerors in Him who loved us. And the people of God in the new covenant are a people at warfare. We must keep ourselves from every evil thing. And these old covenant rituals were pointing toward the truths that we should orient our minds toward that what compromises our lives is sin and transgression, the deception and bankrupt promises of snares and temptations. We must pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation. but deliver us from evil, equip us for battle, help us to be faithful to the end, to give even our lives for the gospel, help us to hold to the testimony of Jesus. We will conquer by the blood of the lamb, by the word of our testimony, Revelation 12, 11. Christ is the tabernacling presence of God. Revelation chapter one envisions Jesus holding lampstands. And according to Revelation one verses 12 to 20, those lampstands are churches and Jesus is in the midst of those churches. The churches of Jesus Christ, they comprise his body, you see. And of course, Christ is with his people. He is the head of his body, which is the church. He is the shining and risen, glorious, ascended son of God, who walks with the lamp stands and sustains their light, for he is light upon them. So when we walk with God, which is what believers do, and when we follow Christ as disciples, which is our goal, We must seek to be a holy people. For Christ among us, what sort of Savior is he? Not unholy, but holy. And the truth that Christ is holy helps us to see the kind of character and reflection of likeness in people that we are to be and pursue. We are to be a holy people. In 2 Corinthians 6, we'll end with this tonight. In 2 Corinthians 6.14, Hear these words of Paul and see how much these resonate with these Old Testament themes and texts that we've considered. 2 Corinthians 6.14 says, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst. and be separate from them, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and then I will welcome you. I'll be a father to you. You shall be my sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Paul quotes this and then draws this conclusion. 2 Corinthians 7, verse one. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion, in the fear of God. I think what this means is Deuteronomy 23, 9, that we keep ourselves from every evil thing, that we mortify our sinful deeds, that we expose the lies of temptation, that we trust God's promises, that we rejoice we're clothed with Christ's righteousness, and that we seek to walk in a manner pleasing to Him. We're to be a holy people, for the Lord Jesus Christ among us is holy. Let's pray.