Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit, Sermons
I. INEXCUSABLE UNBELIEF. (Vers. 16-18.) The man who, turning from Jehovah, went after the gods by the nations, was doubly inexcusable. 1. The true God had been revealed to him. 2. The worthlessness of heathen idols had been demonstrated. He had the light, and could compare it with the darkness of the nations around. If not himself, a witness of God's mighty works in Egypt and in the desert, he had heard of them from his forefathers, or could read of them in his Scriptures (ver. 20). The existence of the nation was a proof that such things had been done. Unbelief is not less inexcusable in us: 1. With the Bible in our hands. 2. With so large a body of evidences of Divine truth. 3. With centuries of experience of the regenerative influence of Christianity. 4. With a wide knowledge of heathen nations, discovering to us by contrast our own advantages. Unbelief may be: 1. Speculative. 2. Practical. It is enough that our practice be shaped on the hypothesis of the untruth of God's Word, to constitute us unbelievers (1 Timothy 5:8). II. GROSS SELF-DECEIT. (Ver. 19.) The act of this wicked man is very remarkable. He blesses himself in his heart, and says, "I will have peace," at the very time that God's curses are being read out to him. Yet his case is not a solitary one. He does no more than men do every day in the teeth of the threatenings of the Bible. Satan whispers, "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4); "Be it far from thee: this shall rot be unto thee" (Matthew 16:22); and Satan, not God, is believed. We may explain this self-deceit: 1. From want of consideration (cf. Isaiah 1:3). The wicked man does not really trouble himself about the curses. They are mere words to him. The mind makes no application, scarcely even asks the meaning, of what it hears. The oracle with which the wicked man consults is in his own heart (Psalm 36:1-5), and the "oracles of God get no attention. 2. From want of faith. God's Word, even if attended to, could not compel belief in a heart already possessed by an opposite set of beliefs, and determined not to part with them. 3. From self-will. Will enters into the question of our beliefs; so long as it can twist evidence, resist unwelcome conclusions, find evasions and pretexts, it will not accept what is contrary to its ordinary bent. While, if the worst comes to the worst, it can cut the knot by a simple I won't," and obstinately refuse to believe aught but what it likes. The account of the sinner's unbelief and self-deceit is therefore this: 1. He has not liked to retain God in his knowledge. 2. Unwelcome subjects have been banished from his mind. 3. Through unfamiliarity to his thoughts, the supersensual world has become less and less a reality to him. 4. He acquires the power of ignoring it, and ends by disbelief in it. III. UNUTTERABLE FOLLY. (Vers. 20, 21.) Unbelief, unhappily for the sinner, cannot alter the actual state of the case. God's auger smokes against him, and will certainly destroy him. His sin, agreeable as it may appear at present, will yield at last gall and wormwood. Contending with the Almighty, he rushes on his ruin. The curses written in the Book will not fail to overtake him. It is easy for sinners to "laugh now" (Luke 6:25), but there awaits them a terrible undeceiving - a day when they shall "mourn and weep." - J.O.
A root that beareth gall and wormwood. I. SIN IS THE ROOT WHICH BEARETH GALL AND WORMWOOD.1. That this was true in the case of the Israelites is very manifest. Their history tells us the whole generation which came up out of Egypt died in the wilderness because of their sins. Their sin then was a root which bore to them the poisonous hemlock, for they left a line of graves along their line of march as a sad memorial to their iniquities, and only Joshua and Caleb ever entered into the promised land. 2. Again, not only does the history of the Jews prove that sin is a root of bitterness, but our judgment tells us that it is most fitting it should be so. If sin were in the long run pleasurable, and really produced advantage to man, it would be a very strange arrangement in the Divine economy. Sin is a root which has not always budded and blossomed in this life, but which will bud and blossom and bring forth its fruit in the life to come, and the fruit of sin will be more bitter than hemlock and wormwood. I gather this from my reason. Let an intelligent person only think a minute, and I am sure he will be convinced that there must be a terrible punishment for sin. Reflect, there are other laws in the world besides moral laws: there are what is called by the philosopher physical laws, that is to say, laws which concern matter rather than mind. Now, if men break these laws, does any ill result follow from the violation? For instance, the law of attraction, or gravitation, that certain bodies shall attract other bodies, can that be infringed without risk? If you rebel against gravitation, it will just crush you up as a man would a beetle, or a fly, and without a particle of pity will avenge its insulted authority. Again, we are not left to this argument alone, for there is one out of the Ten Commandments, to which I can only allude, which involves more especially the bodies of men. Now, when a man offends against the one command, we shall see if God does really punish sin; we shall see in the man's body whether or not sin does produce gall and wormwood. I allude, of course, to the command, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," which forbids all classes of lasciviousness and uncleanness. The men or women who violate this precept soon find that they have not only done wrong to God, but wrong to themselves. Our hospitals and asylums could tell you into what a fearful state men have brought themselves by sins of the flesh. Now, if the violation of this one command, which happens to touch the body, does beyond all doubt make men smart for it, why not with the rest? 3. But we are not, happily, left to our reason about it; we can turn to the Book of God, and call up the witnesses. Ask Noah, as he looks out of his ark, "Does sin bring bitterness?" and he points to the floating carcasses of innumerable thousands that died because of sin. Turn to Abraham: does sin bear bitterness? he points to the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah that God destroyed because of their wickedness. Listen to James, or Jude, or Peter, and you hear them speak of chains of darkness and flaming fire. Let the Saviour Himself speak to you. He cries, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." II. IS THERE SUCH A ROOT AS THIS GROWING IN THE HEART OF ANY ONE OF US HERE? Some have this root that will bear gall and wormwood in them who are not actually gross outward sinners: they are described as those who forget God. 1. The non-loving of the Most High, even though you never curse or swear, even though you do not break the Sabbath, is that root that will hear gall and wormwood. 2. Next we read of "men seeking after another God." Are you loving someone better than God? Are you living for money — is that your great object? Is there no one here who is living for self? If so, though you may be outwardly most respectable people, if you are living for anything but God, that root will bring forth gall and wormwood. 3. Again, this root is in every man who disbelieves the penalty. The verse following the text speaks of one who said, "I shall have peace though I walk after my own heart." Are you saying that? If so, you have the evil root in your heart. There is no more sure sign of reprobation than callousness and carelessness. III. The last point was to be, HOW ARE WE TO GET RID OF IT? Is there a possibility of being delivered from the gall and wormwood? There is. As many as trust in Christ shall be rid of the gall and wormwood. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) People Gadites, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Manasseh, Manassites, Moses, Og, Pharaoh, Reubenites, SihonPlaces Admah, Bashan, Egypt, Gomorrah, Heshbon, Horeb, Moab, Sodom, ZeboiimTopics Beareth, Bearing, Bears, Beware, Bitter, Clan, Family, Fruit, Fruitful, Gall, Gods, Heart, Lest, Nations, Poison, Poisonous, Produces, Root, Serve, Sorrow, Sure, To-day, Tribe, Turneth, Turning, Turns, Wormwood, WorshipOutline 1. Moses exhorts them to obedience, reminding of the works they had seen10. All are presented before the Lord to enter into his covenant 18. The great wrath on him who flatters himself in his wickedness 29. Secret things belong unto God Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 29:18 4500 poison 1640 Book of the Law Library Covenant Duties. It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made … John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting God Willing that all Men Should be Saved. The Parable of the Householder. A Sermon, by Bishop Latimer. Promises and Threatenings The Unity of the Divine Essence, and the Trinity of Persons. "He is the Rock, his Work is Perfect. For all his Ways are Judgment. A God of Truth, and Without Iniquity, Just and Right is He. Forasmuch as Each Man is a Part of the Human Race... Conflict. Manner of Covenanting. "Now the End of the Commandment," &C. Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago The Holy Spirit as a Teacher. "But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?" Covenanting Performed in Former Ages with Approbation from Above. Peace Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's Confession. Covenanting Confers Obligation. "The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are "Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. " Deuteronomy Links Deuteronomy 29:18 NIVDeuteronomy 29:18 NLT Deuteronomy 29:18 ESV Deuteronomy 29:18 NASB Deuteronomy 29:18 KJV Deuteronomy 29:18 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 29:18 Parallel Deuteronomy 29:18 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 29:18 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 29:18 French Bible Deuteronomy 29:18 German Bible Deuteronomy 29:18 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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