ENTERING IN CALLS FOR A DRIVING OUT!

Deḇarim / Deuteronomy 7

Sabbath Service Message on 30 July 2010
Praise Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh, praise His Holy Name! Shabbat Shalom to you all, may the favour and peace of Yahweh our Elohim be upon us as we fellowship in His presence – HalleluYah!
As I reflect back on the messages we have been going through over the last few weeks, I am amazed at how YHWH is so in control and leading us forward into great promises and victories in Yahshua Messiah. The last few weeks we have been looking at the words we speak, turning trials into triumphs, and rising up to take a stand, the responsibilities of possessing our inheritance, assessing before possessing and last week – get up, lift up and be not afraid! All messages that clearly are about our ability to fully walk in Him and taking possession of the abundant life He has freely blessed us with. Tonight I want us to continue in that line of thought as we look at Deḇarim/Deuteronomy 7 as part of this weeks Torah reading, with a message called, “Entering in calls for a driving out!” As we read together let us be encouraged once again by the words of Moshe (Moses) in his instruction to the Israelites on what they are to do upon entering in to the Promised Land, giving us courage and strength today to heed the same instructions as we enter in to His Promises for us in our daily lives. Turn with me to Deḇarim/Deuteronomy 7 and let’s read together:

In this passage Moshe (Moses) is clearly given some valuable instructions to the Israelites that they were to adhere to if they were going to successfully inhabit the Land YHWH had prepared and given for them. This passage gives us such great insight that one evening is certainly not sufficient to unpack all these pearls of great wisdom, however I want to just highlight some basic principles being taught here for you to go and test and think upon as you meditate on the Word.
As we begin to enter and walk in His promises, there are responsibilities that we must embrace in order that we fully engage in the fruit filled blessed life He has given us and so here Moshe (Moses) begins in this chapter a theme that is carried through the next few chapters and that is the dangers to recognise and avoid in entering the Promised Land.
5 Dangers to recognise and avoid are:
1 – Compromise with the enemy (7:1-16)
2 – Fear of the enemy (7:17-26)
3 – Spirit of independence (8)
4 – Pride (9:1-10:11)
5 – Deliberate disobedience (10:12-11:32)
Tonight we will look at compromise with the enemy and fear of the enemy, and tomorrow as we read this weeks portion we will discuss the others as well.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 sums up what YHWH asks of us – it sums up our responsibility: “And now, Yisra’ĕl, what is YHWH your Elohim asking of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, 13 to guard the commands of YHWH and His laws which I command you today for your good?”
It is for our good when we hear and obey His commands – for our good – it is crazy to not do what is good for us!!! So what was Moshe (Moses) telling the Israelites?
Well they were about to enter the Promised Land, Canaan and YHWH was going to clear away the 7 pagan nations from before Israel and was calling them to destroy them. YHWH would deliver them up before Israel, Israel was to destroy them! They had a part to play – obedience in destroying the evil in the land! As YHWH leads us in His promises, He warns us to utterly destroy any form of pagan worship and not compromise in the slightest! The word used in verse two for ‘under the ban’ or ‘destroy’ is the Hebrew word ‘cha-ram’ which can mean the following: To devote to YHWH – give exclusively to Him, which once given must then be destroyed so that there will be no human use made of it. It also means to prohibit for common use, to exterminate, annihilate or dedicate to destruction! Ok, so you get the picture! They were to utterly annihilate the enemy! There are valid reasons for this –
Firstly, all false worship is wicked and is ripe for judgement and if left untouched would cause them to sin! Often people will remark that the Elohim of the O.T. was cruel and wicked to destroy nations! Let us be constantly reminded that YHWH is the same yesterday, today and forever – He does not change! The Elohim who hated sin back then, hates sin today! If you could understand just how wicked and sinful these pagan nations were and how they resisted YHWH, then these critics of today would instead be very grateful that Israel wiped them out!
These pagan nations deserved to die for their sin – studies of their religion, literature and archaeological remains reveal that they were the most morally depraved culture on the earth at the time and their roots of worship traced back to sun-god worship of Nimrod, son of Cush and nephew of Canaan, great grandson of Noah who cursed Canaan after Ham had exposed his father’s nakedness.
Secondly, they persisted in their hatred toward Elohim, and had they repented YHWH would have spared them as He spared the Ninevites who repented at the preaching of Jonah. We know that Nineveh was built by Nimrod. It was obvious that repentance was out of the question for these people, who for over 400 years had hated YHWH and were so steeped in pagan sun-god worship of Ba’al (Nimrod) and Semiramis (Nimrod’s wife who called herself the Queen of Heaven and later known as Ishtar or Easter) that there was no turning back!
Thirdly, The Canaanites constituted a moral cancer, and if even one of them was left alive would have the potential of introducing an idolatry and immorality which would spread rapidly among the Israelites, bringing about their destruction, and a defiled Israel could never give the world YHWH’s Word and YHWH’s Son.
What we must understand is that there is no contradiction between the El of the O.T. and the El of the N.T. – YHWH is One – He is a righteous and loving Elohim! There is a lesson is this for us as believers today – and that is to be as ruthless with sin in our lives as Israel was commanded to be and should have been against the Canaanites. As we know from history, Israel did not utterly destroy all the inhabitants and paid the price later when they were sent into captivity! May we heed these instructions to utterly destroy sin and idol worship in our lives, giving no room for any yeast to form!
Inter marriage was certainly not an option and Sha’ul stated this principle well in 1 Corinthians 5:6 when he said that a little leaven leavens the entire lump! Marriage to an unbelieving Canaanite meant disaster to Israel’s faith, and Moshe (Moses) reminded them that the righteous sword of YHWH cuts both ways – “If you marry them then you will be joined to their wickedness and therefore join in their judgement.” Listen if you want to mess around with pagan practices and joining in with those who do and in a sense marrying their practices into your lifestyle then there is but the same judgment coming to you as to them!!! That is why everything – even the Canaanite objects which may have aroused curiosity about false worship was to totally be destroyed!!!
The sacred stones or ‘massebot’ were stone pillars that were set up at pagan worship centres, and were phallic symbols that were linked to cult fertility worship, as well as Asherah poles that bore the name of the pagan goddess, constructed in her image our of wood. The practice of erecting stone pillars is still very much in effect today and mostly they are found at ‘worship centres’, that claim to be worshipping YHWH, yet we see from Scripture that these things He hates. How many steeples and pillars do you see outside many a churches today! This is nothing more than pagan practices that are being intermarried with an attempt to worship the True Living Elohim and the sad reality is that by intermarriage with these things that have enticed many into bowing down to will meet their judgement unless they too repent and tear down and smash all pagan symbols.
The basis for these commands to destroy the Canaanites and all their pillars, altars and images was that Israel was Elohim’s elect – they were chosen which is the Hebrew word ‘bachor’ and literally means ‘to be chosen for a task or a vocation’. Israel was chosen as His means to sanctify the earth with His presence and righteous standards. They were therefore ‘holy’ or I prefer the term ‘set apart’ for to me it carries greater meaning. It is the Hebrew word ‘qadosh’ which means ‘free from defilement of crimes, idolatry and other unclean and profane things’, it means ‘consecrated, sacred, holy’, in other words, ‘consecrated for service unto YHWH’. YHWH is holy, He is set apart and we as His chosen are to be set apart unto Him for His special use, for we are His treasured possession, which is the Hebrew word ‘segullah’, which carries the meaning of ‘valued personal property’ in other words what is ‘owned by someone and which the owner has a special affection for’ and ‘holds special value’. Those who fear YHWH become His treasured possession that He will never forget!
The Canaanites were polluting the earth and they either had to repent or be eliminated, and as I said they had refused to repent for over 400 years – they were now to be eliminated! Because where YHWH’s ‘chosen, holy and treasured possession’ must live there cannot be anything that would defile them and stop them form being the light to the nations!
Israel was reminded that YHWH had chosen her and redeemed her from bondage; not because of her goodness but solely because YHWH loves her and is faithful to His oaths given to their father’s Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ and the Elohim of Yitzhak. Elohim can mean the Mighty One of oaths’ where the ‘im’ being the plural for ‘oaths’. He is the ‘Mighty One of oaths’ of Abraham, Yaʽaqoḇ and Yitzhak, and He does not break His oaths. Israel having been redeemed and delivered was now to reflect the holiness of YHWH and live out His commands as they would reflect his standards in a life of wholehearted compliance with the terms of the covenant made at Mount Sinai and their renewed covenant at the entrance to Canaan. As we live out His commands, His Torah, in a life of wholehearted obedience then we would reflect His standards and be the reflection of His letters written on our hearts that Sha’ul speaks of to the Corinthians – for what is written on our hearts? The Torah, by His Spirit and we get to reflect that out before the world in how we hear, guard and do His Word! It was these very qualities that Kepha (Peter) wrote to us about in
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a set apart nation, a people for a possession that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
His election must never become a source of pride, and know that YHWH guards those who guard His commands! We are to guard, then Hebrew word ‘shamar’ which means to keep, to watch, to guard, to preserve, to observe for oneself, to do something carefully, to observe an order and to stick to an agreement! You get the picture? We are to ‘shamar’ His commands, all of them!!!
Terms that you will find often in Deḇarim/Deuteronomy are ‘hear and do’ or ‘guard and do’. In verse we see the concept of hear, guard and do and this is how it works – faith comes by hearing and in the hearing one is called to be careful and keep them in doing it – faith applied in action! When we hear, guard and do His word YHWH will guard us, and for this obedience He promises us the blessing of fertility of human, animal and plant life. Israel did not need to and were commanded not to worship false pagan fertility ‘gods’ for YHWH is the Living El who causes them to be and gives life. In following Him they would be free of the diseases they had come to know in Egypt. And so the obligation of entering in to the Promised Land was to destroy all the peoples in Canaan, for if they didn’t they would be ensnared by them and as a result would not experience the blessings that were mentioned.

Now the Israelites, like us, needed encouragement. Moshe (Moses) knew their hearts, in facts 40 years earlier their hearts had melted in fear of the giants of Canaan, and here Moshe (Moses) is speaking to them about setting their battles in proper perspective. They were not to concentrate on the strengths of the enemies, but rather on the greatness of YHWH! They had witnessed how YHWH had defeated Pharaoh and with His Mighty Hand and Outstretched Arm had delivered them from Egypt and from the kings in the Wilderness and they could now expect to see history repeat itself in the destruction of the Canaanites! Here Moshe (Moses) reaffirms their faith in verse 19 telling them that YHWH will do the same as what He had done, to all the peoples of whom they were afraid. Be not afraid as a commandment is not so much an emotion as it is a failure to act, which simply results from the assumption that the enemy threat is greater than YHWH.
We must always remember to remember – remember what once had held us captive and how He has brought us up out of the captivity! The assumption that what we face is too big for us must now cause us to simply not act, but rather go forward in faith knowing and trusting in the One we serve.
In walking in His promises we are to be set apart. Sadly today there are too many people who profess to be believers yet their lives are so intermingled with the world that it has become really difficult to tell who really belongs to the Messiah! We have been called out of the world that we might be a light and testimony to the world, and so worldly believers hinder the work of Elohim! But why is it that many get so mixed up in the world that they cannot even distinguish between the holy and the common? Well I believe that it comes down to obedience – and to be obedient you first have to hear then guard then do! Most ‘Christians’ today have simply adopted the pagan worship principles of the world and you cannot tell them apart from the world. But why is this? Why the compromise?
Moshe (Moses) warned the Israelites to not fear the enemy for fear ultimately leads to compromise! What happens is that when fear grips a person so much they tend to ‘give in’ in an attempt to protect themselves from exposing a weakness. Moshe (Moses) warned the people not to be afraid for YHWH was with them and He would give them victory. After all, did he not deliver them from Egypt and from the enemy kings in the Wilderness? Then He would certainly give them victory in Canaan. Victory would come in stages, as He would drive out the enemy little by little so that they could possess the land safely. I find that they same is true for us today – YHWH drives out the enemies before us bit by bit that we may fully possess the joy of our inheritance in every area of our lives. He delivers them up before you and then you must destroy them. Have you noticed that He didn’t show you some areas that needed to be dealt with in your life till later? That is what He does – he is continually leading us to perfection, and it is our job to destroy that which he delivers up before us. As he delivers up before us areas that need to be dealt with and sin destroyed, we must do it quickly and speedily so that it will not entrap us again!
2 Corinthians 7:1 “Having, then these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting set-apartness in the fear of Elohim.”
Let me make one thing clear – you cannot be involved in false or profane worship for that is spiritual defilement!
Romans 13:14 “But put on the Master Yahshua Messiah, and make no provision for the lusts of the flesh.”
James tells us that clean and undefiled religion is to care for widows and orphans and to keep oneself unstained from the world!
Keeping your house clean:
Verse 25 and 26 speak about keeping our houses clean, keeping our lives free from anything that can pollute our worship unto YHWH. Keeping oneself unstained from the world. Today, too many are still worshipping things of the world – they will worship gold even though it may not be shaped in to a recognisable idol.
These verses are something all should heed very carefully. Just as the Israelites were warned about not destroying everything in Canaan as it was an abomination to YHWH – so they same is for us today. We are to have nothing that has any resemblance or meaning of idol worship before the face of YHWH. Do not bring an abomination into your house! We must not covet or invite any images, gods, idols or any other pagan artefact into our homes. Just as they are detestable to YHWH, they should be detestable to us. Some will say about idols they may have in their home that it is ok because they do not worship it, it is just a nice to have thing! The Word says clearly that we are not to have any idols before Him, and it doesn’t matter what we think about it – if it is detestable to YHWH – then it must be detestable to us!!! We have a great teaching series in Afrikaans called, ‘maak skoon jou huis’ and will open up your eyes to some of the things we allow in our homes and the implications of the meanings behind the objects or items that so many of us treasure. There are also many symbols and designs that are linked with freemasonry and the occult that one often finds in a home and the people are unaware of it.
We bought two books for Catherine (our daughter) from CUM Books (a ‘Christian’ bookstore) a few months back that we recently discovered how full of ‘Masonic’ symbolism was just on its cover!!! Some may say, “so what, what does freemasonry have to do with me?’ It has a lot to do with us when we begin to realise how deep rooted freemasonry is in our country, in our churches and worship practices! The ‘church’ today is so intermarried with sun-god worship tracing back to Babylon and most of the pew warmers are unaware!

Spiritually though many of us can often find ourselves having idols and images formed in our hearts; by eating what YHWH forbids, by tolerating wrong associations, by even taking on a workaholic lifestyle or even self seeking a lifestyle that is contrary to the Word. We are ti keep the altar of our hearts clean and pure through repentance. As YHWH delivers up something before us, something we were not aware of, we are to destroy it! So often we allow detestable abominations into our home by buying that nice souvenir to remind us of a holiday and even buy gifts for our friends without knowing the implication of bringing these idols into our homes and so we have ‘covered them with gold’ by paying for then and we need to destroy them and more often than not this is where people get angry and stubborn in cleaning house, for it becomes a problem to destroy something they paid so much for! Do not covet the gold (the worth of it) and get rid of it!!!
How about when going to visit those nice monuments and sites for an afternoon picnic etc and end up bowing to them unknowingly!
We have repented of such outings, for being exposed to the idols that have been set up, in total disobedience to the Word. Places like the Fransshoek Huguenot Museum that is so littered with sun worship and Masonic symbols. The Taal monument in Paarl, museums in Stellenbosch and many more that are filled with symbols of sun worship and masonry. Many Theological Seminaries and schools, here in S.A and across the world, are founded by Masons and can be seen in the architecture and symbolisms that we then have to ask ourselves, ‘under what spirit are the people being trained?’
You see it is so easy for us to not be aware of what is detestable that we can find our lives so wrapped up in worldly pagan worship without knowing it and wonder why we struggle in many areas of our lives! YHWH has called us to purity and to rid ourselves of all idol worship. What are some of the things that many of us have brought into our homes and never thought anything of it? I am not talking about in your face satanic worship, but rather what the world at large has approved:
Christmas trees – which is the modern day Asherah pole of phallic symbol of Nimrod decorated with silver and gold balls as described in Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 10:3-4. How about Easter eggs and hot cross buns (cakes baked to the Queen of heaven – Ishtar) which I have spoken on before. How about little angelic figures, or dream catchers or occult books and movies like Harry Potter – just to name a few and there is hordes more! People we need to become aware of what is going on in the world and be separated from these things for we are called to be holy, undefiled in order to be a light to the nations – sadly the world is dimming many believers lights and we need to take heed of these warnings. Yahshua said that the meek shall inherit the earth – the earth is ours and we need to take back territory and destroy all forms of idolatry.

In order for us to enter in to His promises there needs to be a driving out – a cleaning house so to speak. But what are we to drive out, if we do not know what to drive out? It starts with getting back to Torah and following the Truth of His Word, Yahshua Messiah. For then we will be able to rightly divide the truth and present ourselves before YHWH as workman approved. The sad reality is that many ‘worshippers’ today are not worshipping in Spirit and in Truth and have been sold a lie!!! Much of what we see happening in charismatic churches today is not a manifestation of the Ruach HaQodesh (the true Holy Spirit) but a counterfeit called ‘kundalini’ where we see the same manifestations as you would in a Hindu temple.
It is time for the body of Messiah to wake up and come out of Babylon and clean up their house so to speak, if we are to live a set apart, holy life unto YHWH.

In this chapter we can see 6 privileges of living a holy life:
1 – We are distinguished from the rest – set apart, chosen and a treasured possession (7:6)
2 – We are Redeemed – By the Blood of Yahshua we have been bought at a price and set free (7:8)
3 – We are Highly Preferred – blessed above all peoples (7:14)
4 – We are Shielded and Protected – (7:15)
5 – We are Esteemed – we have YHWH our Elohim in our midst (7:21)
6 – We are Mighty in Him – If He is for us who can be against us (7:24)

That is the privileges for living a holy life, but there responsibilities too and they are:
1 – Do not compromise with the enemy – have no association with any form of sin and idolatry. Sin is sin, no matter how it may appear in just being a custom that everyone is doing – if it is sin do not do it – don’t compromise! We must walk in the Torah, for when we do the world’s ways will become strange to us!
Rachel came home with a note from school for us to sign giving permission for her to go on a class outing to a place called ‘magic academy’, where they train up wannabe magicians in the art of magic and we said no! She may be the only one in her class not going, but we are called not to compromise no matter what!!!
2 – Do not participate in false worship – we see it happening in our churches today – ripe with elements of Baal worship and freemasonry! Come out of her My people is the cry from Revelations 18:4 and we need to help those we know out of this system of false worship that has been called church. Much of what is going on in many western church worship today is evident of a clear practice of pagan worship in that the church is worshipping pagan holidays and feasts such as ‘Easter’ and ‘Christmas’, which have no root in Scripture at all but are founded on ancient sun worship from Babylon! The foundation of much of this country has been built upon Masonic worship, clearly seen in art, politics, religion, finance and education. For an in depth teaching on this you can get DVD series on sun-worship and freemasonry by Eben Swart from Trumpet Call Ministries, which we can give you details of, and learn just how steeped in freemasonry much of what we see today is! For instance the ‘Moederkerk’ in Cape Town – the first church is South Africa was built by the freemasons. Why am I mentioning this, what has this got to do with any of us? Everything!!! Our system of worship in this country has been founded and birthed by the ‘mysteries’ of Babylon through Masonry and the Roman Catholic Church, which is clearly the whore of Babylon as described in revelation.
It is time to come out and flee Babylonian system of sun-worship and bowing down to its rules and regulations set up by man and turn to the Living Word and live out the Torah of YHWH. You cannot engage in sun-day worship and call it ‘Sabbath’ and think it is worship unto YHWH – it is false worship that is going on.
3 – Do not depart from His divine commands – We are to live Torah, to live and walk in His instructions – do not depart from them for Yahshua, the Living Torah, is the Way and we are to walk in Him not turning to the left or the right, even if the world does so and calls it worship! Do not add or take away from his commands, for if you do you open yourself up for defilement! One way in which the church at large has departed from His commands is through not remembering to keep Sabbath holy and have ‘changed’ it to ‘Sun-day’, totally against the fourth commandment. The church at large has also broken the third commandment by bringing the name of YHWH to nought and exchanging for titles that are also associated with false pagan deities such as ‘lord’ and ‘god’ which are not the Name of the Almighty. YHWH (Yahweh) is His Name and the Name of our Saviour is Yahshua (Yahweh is our Salvation). One other command that most believers and the church at large has departed from is not to have idols in any form before Him. We see monuments erected in idol Masonic worship, we see church emblems and buildings carrying many Masonic symbolisms and most do not even realise it. It is time to turn back to the Word and follow wholeheartedly the Commands of Elohim!!!
4 – Do not fear men – We are to fear YHWH and walk in His ways – don’t worry what others will say when you obey YHWH! Do not worry about the comments that come from those who are involved in a intermarried Babylonian system of worship, labelling it as worship unto ‘God’ – mixed worship is pagan worship and we have been called to purity!
5 – Do not go after the riches of the world – Our blessing come from our obedience to His Word!

What we can take from this passage tonight is simply this – Every promise in the Word is yes and amen in Messiah, and for us to walk in the fullness of them we must drive out that which does not belong, lest it causes us to stumble in our worship.
What things in your life still need to be driven out? What ‘enemy’ has YHWH delivered up before you that HE is calling you to destroy? Perhaps you need to clean up house – both physically – that is where you live and spiritually that which is living in your heart! Know and be reminded of how He has delivered you in the past and do not be afraid to tackle and destroy those enemies that lie before you – He is with you – you are His treasured possession, chosen and set apart fro service unto Him. As you ask Him daily to deliver you from all evil, will you destroy that evil giving it no room that you may truly enter in and enjoy the promises He has freely given you?
YHWH will no longer wink at ignorance for He is calling everyone everywhere to repent – He is calling His children to purity, and that means we are to act and live according to His Word and destroy all that is not of Him, even if it has been an inherited tradition that is not in line with His Word, as we enter in to His promises!

Entering In calls for a Driving Out!!!