Deuteronomy 27 concerns helps to remember and love the law of God and to fear to transgress its precepts. Here now the reading of the word of almighty God inspired by his spirit and profitable for us. Deuteronomy 27 starting at verse one. And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people saying, keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones and plaster them with plaster. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law. When thou art passed over, thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day in Mount Ebal, And thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones. Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones. And thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God. And thou shalt offer peace offerings and shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. And Moses and the priests, the Levites, spake unto all Israel saying, take heed and hearken, O Israel. This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God and do his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day. And Moses charged the people the same day saying, these shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people when ye are come over Jordan. Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to curse Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall speak and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark, And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, because he uncovereth his father's skirt, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor secretly, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them, and all the people shall say, Amen. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 27. A few comments on this most important and critical passage in the word of God. Verses one through 10, we have helps to remember the law of God and not to forget it as if it were some strange thing. Notice here, verse one, Moses and the elders or with the elders of Israel, both speak these words. They speak it in the first person on God's behalf. Keep all the commandments which I command you. Notice, Moses as the inspired minister, the elders as uninspired ministers, both speak to them the word of God, inspired and ministerial authority. And what they say is to do everything that God commands. This is a reference to the inspired scriptures. not to anything added by them. I is God himself. Moses and the elders are merely ministers through whom the people hear the words of God. Verse two refers to plaster, which is a lime wash. They would typically burn bones or they would burn any kind of calcium, shells or limestone. Limestone becomes lime and they would make a plaster out of it and often would use other devices or other ingredients to make it last a good long while. In Washington DC, you'll see buildings that have big white columns. Those are lime plaster, and you can actually etch words into the lime as you plaster it out. That's what he's telling them to do. He says that all the words of this law are to be put on there. and that they were to do all the words of the law, as also in verse eight, since the whole of the Bible is God-breathed and is profitable to equip us unto every good work, therefore we must do all the words of the law. I note then this doctrine, that ecclesiastical authority, as the elders here of Israel, is ministerial and declarative. In other words, people who minister in the gospel have an office of ministry of service to the head of the household, which is Christ. They don't have the right as the head of the household to make laws for the house. They merely have a duty to reinforce those laws given by the head of the house. Christ's authority is original and legislative, The church's authority is ministerial and declarative. They can tell you, do what God says. That's what the church can do. They can't tell you, here's some new doctrines to believe. Here's some new duties you have to perform. Therefore, I exhort you all to recognize the duty of Bereans. Remember the Bereans, more noble than them in Thessalonica? How did you see the nobility? One, they received the word with all readiness of mind. They were willing to hear an argument from scripture. That's the first thing. And the second is that every day they tested what they heard according to the word of God. Examine what you hear by the scriptures themselves. Verses five through seven, instructions concerning the stone altar for temporary use. Verse eight says that the stones were to be set up on which all the words of this law were to be very plainly etched or written. so that he who runs may read it, in other words. Don't have to sit there and squint. Everybody could see plainly what the words of the law were. Note verse nine, he says, this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Do you remember in chapter 26, it says that they avouched the Lord to be their God? That's what he's talking about. That's how they became the people of the Lord, their God. God avouched them. He fulfilled his promise to Abraham. They avouched God. They accepted the promise made to Abraham. And note, what is the consequence of their becoming the people of the Lord their God? Verse 10, thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God. because you avouch him to be your God, because he has avouched you, because you are heirs of his testament, because you are covenanters in his covenant, therefore you should obey." Those are many reasons he stacks up why they should obey. Again, as we mentioned previously, duty is founded upon grace, And upon our avouching God, professing our faith, we are binding ourselves to obey the Lord. Let us then obey the Lord in all things whatsoever Christ has commanded us. Since we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, since we were made heirs and co-heirs with Christ, because we have taken God for our God, we are obliged to keep his commandments. Verses 11 through 26, we have the blessings and curses to properly regulate their affections toward God's law. Note verse 12, it's very interesting the tribes that the Lord chooses. He says, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin, these all have something in common. These are all sons of the free woman. And we see this in Galatians 4.22, with the contrast between the children of the slave girl, which was Hagar, and the child of the free woman, which was Sarah. One is blessed and one is cursed. And there's an allegory there, the apostle tells us. So the blessing comes from the children of the free. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin are all from the free women that Jacob had married. Now, Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali are either children of slave girls Or in the case of Reuben, he sinned so grievously that he demoted himself. Rather than be the firstborn, Jacob said, no, the sons of Joseph, they will be my firstborn. Manasseh, he and his brother Ephraim, they will be my firstborn, not you. He demoted him. And so he's part of the curse or the side of those who are not of faith. Now this does not mean personally that these men were unregenerate or cursed forever. What it does mean is God is teaching us that those who are of faith are children of the free and those who are of the law or who seek justification by the law are cursed and in slavery. Notice here the curses, verse 15. He gives us a summary of what he'll give in more detail in chapter 28. He says, he that maketh any graven or molten image. This is one of the precepts of the first table of the law taken as a notable instance for all the first table of the law. Now, God is not concerned in the form of your image, graven, molten, write a picture, doesn't matter, make a film, doesn't matter. It's the fact that you have an image. That's the problem. This is the issue. The image is what counts, not the form it takes, whether graven, molten or otherwise. And he says that you are cursed even if you put it in a secret place, even if you hide it from every human eye, God will still curse you. Why? Because he sees everything. That's why he says, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. And then he talks about putting it before his face. He can see everywhere. He sees everything. He knows if it's in a secret place. How much worse then if someone publicly publishes an idol, puts it out for everyone to see. That's even worse. Then he says, in reference to the fifth commandment, that there's a curse on those that set light by his father or his mother. To set light by someone means you esteem their words very lightly. You despise them. You give no weight to what they say, what they command, what they prefer. You don't defer to their wishes. This is the rebellious child. He's cursed. Then he says, cursed is he that removeth his neighbor's landmark, in verse 17, encroaching or extorting your neighbor's property, contrary to the law of love and the eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal. Well, I didn't steal, I just moved the landmark. I moved the boundary marker, remember? May him and to him, mine and yours. This is the line that says this is mine and this is yours. Let me move the line a little bit. That's stealing, isn't it? That's encroaching on your neighbor's property. So any kind of extortion or encroachment against your neighbor's property, it's his. Don't try to take it away. Then he says, verse 18, cursed is he that causeth the blind to wander out of the way. We've talked about the fifth commandment in the past. Those who are inferior to us in some way, here physically inferior, he doesn't have the capacity to see. Do you have the capacity to see? Yes. So what is your duty to the man who does not have the capacity to see? Well, you're to look after him. You're to take care of him. What's the opposite of taking care of him? Causing him to wander out of the way and laughing. Oh, this is so fun. Go up thou bald head is what they said to the prophet. He didn't have hair. They had hair. They made fun of him for it. He was their inferior in that regard. And God showed them they were cursed. So here God says, if you cause a blind man, if you take advantage of his weakness and inferiority, I will punish you, I will curse you. Then verse 19, cursed is he that perverted the judgment of the stranger fatherless and widow. Now this word pervert means to stretch something out, to twist it just a little bit, to extenuate it. Yeah, I know the judgment should be this, but their opponent is very powerful. They buy a lot of my goods. They take care of this thing over here. I'll have to just stretch this judgment a little bit in favor of the wealthy who pays my salary, for example. God says, do not do any such thing. These are judges being addressed as cursed. If they pervert the judgment of these helpless people, no one else is here to be their helper. Now, by the way, this is against every form of attorneys who cost a lot of money so that a poor person cannot win their case. Why? Because they don't have money to buy themselves the law. That is perverting the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Oh, but we're not perverting any justice. Yes, you are. You're making justice for sale. This is the problem with attorneys, with lawyers. Their profession implies a good degree of immorality. They pervert the judgment of the stranger, locking people out of the law. Woe unto you lawyers, our Lord said, and with good reason. Then verses 20 through 23, we have various violations of the seventh commandment, especially he cites incest and bestiality, which we've looked at in detail from Leviticus 18, so we won't go through it again. Verse 24, he talks about, cursed is he that smiteth his neighbor secretly Now, smiting is an injury, but often leads to death. God forbids murder, and therefore he forbids all the things that lead toward or tend toward murder, including slaying or smiting. The sixth commandment, verse 25, taking a reward to slay an innocent person. We would call this a hired gun, an assassin. You hire a person. Well, I didn't mean to kill them, but you were paid to do it. Or you could have a judge who is taking a bribe and therefore they hear the money. They don't hear the facts of the case. They hear the money. They take a reward and they slay an innocent person. Then finally, verse 26, cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law. Now this word to confirm means to stand up. It's like you're testifying. In a court of law, you have the witness stand up and they give their testimony. That's the idea. Stand up and speak on behalf of the law, he says. But then it's not merely that you may stand and speak, it's that you may do all the words of this law. The Septuagint or the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament says to remain in or continue in all the words of this law. That's how Paul quotes it in Galatians 3.10 directly out of the Septuagint. Cursed is he that does not continue in all the words of this law to do them, verse 26 says. This is the purpose for standing up and testifying on behalf of the law. This is the purpose for remaining within the law, not merely to know what it says, but to do all the words of this law. I note then this doctrine that the law requires obedience, but it provides no help. We saw this in Romans 7. The law commands, but it does not help you. And here it says, if you don't do everything I say, you're cursed. You're brought under the judgment of almighty God. God requires perfect obedience, all the words of this law, perpetual obedience, continueth not, he's cursed, and personal obedience, he that confirmeth not. Let me ask you, have you done all that the law requires? Have you done it in your own person? Have you done it at all times? If not, you are cursed. And you are required to say by God, amen. That's what he said. After every one of those curses, he says, the people shall say, I agree. So be it, amen. That's what that means. I believe this. I consent to it. I say it's true. I say it's right. What is that? It's confessing your sins. Amen. You're right, Lord. I am cursed. I deserve the judgment of God. What's the answer? Flee to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom the blessing comes rather than the curse in which you become the children of the free rather than the children of the slave. And this is why God brings this out. He wants us to know you're cursed and therefore you must seek for a remedy outside of yourself. And thus far the explanation of Deuteronomy 27 and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ preached through Moses.