The Lord took the Israelites out of Egypt by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And they began to travel through weeks and weeks of wilderness toward Mount Sinai, a particular mountain of such significance in the Old Testament that it's difficult to overstate the importance of all that went on there. They arrive at Mount Sinai as a group of people comprising a nation. They come to Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, and at that important location, They hear the Lord speak 10 commandments in chapter 20. Moses mediated other laws to them after that. In Exodus 24, they entered into a covenant with the Lord who had redeemed them. The famous Sinai Covenant, from which we get the language Old Testament, the Old Covenant. To contrast the New Covenant or the New Testament, which the Gospels and forward announced to us. This Old Covenant was an agreement arrangement at Mount Sinai between God and the Israelites. Moses, after that covenant, went to Mount Sinai's top for 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites later built a tabernacle at the bottom of the mountain as Moses had conveyed instructions of this mighty construction project for God would dwell with the people of Israel in their very camp as they traveled to the promised land. All of that was 40 years before the words of Deuteronomy 17. 40 years ago, those things happened. And in those 40 years that followed up to Deuteronomy 27, a whole generation of Israelites died out in the wilderness because of their rebellious hearts and their wickedness. And now a new generation of Israelites was ready to inherit the land. Moses's sermons in Deuteronomy are a reminding of the words of God, and an exhorting of the Israelites to follow God's will for their lives as he has made it known. For they're going into the land filled with temptation and snares. And they need to be a people committed to following the leadership of God by wholly living, faithful lives, delighting in the truth, committing themselves from the heart, from the very depths of their soul to the words of the living God. Now in Deuteronomy 27, there are instructions of what they're to do when they get into the land because they're very close. Nearing the end of Deuteronomy, we recognize Moses's life will not be much longer. He will die at the end of this book. And so they are closer than ever before to entering this land of promise. What should they do? There are instructions about some activities that are gonna mark their commitment to live for God's name. A ceremonial set of activities that are to be fulfilled shortly after entering the land. The gist of Deuteronomy 27 is this. Israel's renewing commitment. Their renewing commitment to the Sinai covenant. They're renewing their allegiance to Yahweh, to his laws. They're freshly submitting to the Sinai covenant that their ancestors had entered into. And the reason that matters for these new Israelites is because many of them were not merely young 40 years earlier at Sinai. Some of them weren't even alive 40 years earlier when the Israelites had entered into a covenant at that mountain in Exodus 19 and following. And so this is a kind of bringing Sinai into the promised land, if we can think of it that way. There's going to be some stones and some laws. There's going to be some setting up of things for remembrance, and there's going to be some understanding of God's commandments to guide their living in the land of promise. So while they, many of them, were not even present at Sinai, they're going to undergo their own kind of Sinai renewing of the covenant. There's even some mountain images involved in the ceremony that will follow. Now, this paragraph is followed by a lengthy section of blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28. These two chapters need to be seen together. Because some of what we're going to hear in chapter 27 is that the Israelites were reminded of their blessings and the curses of the law. The blessings if they kept the law, the curses if they didn't. But Deuteronomy 27 doesn't lay out all of those. You actually need the next chapter for even more information. So it's important that what we see today is something we continue starting even tonight at 5 as we look into Deuteronomy 28. Now the site for the renewal of the covenant is deliberately chosen. They're going to be told to go into the land and go to a city called Shechem. Now the promised land, the land of Canaan, had many different towns and cities. And there were many neighboring non-Israelite pagan peoples and tribes that traversed the promised land and lived accordingly. They were told to go to a specific city throughout all that land for the ceremony we're gonna read about today. The town of Shechem. Now, why was Shechem important? This was the town Abraham went to in Genesis 12, when he's passing through the land. And in Genesis 12, six, he goes to the place called Shechem and to the Oak of Moreh. And it tells us the Lord appeared to Abram, to your offspring, I will give this land, God says to him. And Abram built an altar to the Lord. There is a sense of full circledness that we should see today then because Abraham goes to Shechem and builds an altar and the Israelites in Deuteronomy 27 are told when you go into the land go to Shechem and build an altar. The background of that ceremony is in the days of Abraham and its importance. They were told, Abraham was told, to your offspring, I will give this land. Marking that promise, that they are the inheritors of that promise. They'll go to that same town and they'll build an altar before the Lord. Because now the inheritance has begun. The conquest of the land will have begun. Now Moses has to tell them this, and we're told in verse one that Moses and the elders are commanding the people this. Moses needs to do this ahead of time. He's not going into the land. So when he dies, these Israelites, led by their various elders and tribes, they have to be led accordingly without Moses' presence there. They have to be prepared ahead of time of what to do. So they're gonna plaster some stones for writing, they're gonna set them up on a mountain called Mount Ebal, they're gonna build an altar for sacrifices to be given, and then there's going to be a series of cursed bee, cursed bee, 12 of them that are going to be offered. What is going on with this ceremony? Now, verses one to eight give us the instructions for a ceremony. We're gonna look at that part first, obviously, in verses one to eight as we work through the chapter. But this unit, verses one to eight, that we heard a moment ago, are instructions for a ceremony that Moses and the elders command the people. The gist of the opening two verses is you're going to set up stones of remembrance that you might keep all the law of God. Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. Now sometimes we speak of a commandment as a singular one. But collectively, you could also speak of the law or the commandment as encompassing everything Moses has been telling them. That's what this means. In verse 1, the whole commandment that I command you today is not one idea, but the fullness of the law seen as a collective whole. Keep all the commandment. And in verse 2, you're to cross the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster." This is an ancient Near Eastern writing practice. People who were non-Israelites have left artifacts that archaeologists and ancient Near Eastern scholars have discovered, and there are various stones of quite impressive height and breadth, with many things written on them. It was a way of making a public record for a time. This kind of plaster was no doubt to serve as a kind of contrast between a very light background, which this plaster on the stone would serve as, and then the impression of the writing instrument on the stone making the writing stand out against the background. That's the purpose of plastering over the stone and they are to be large stones. So don't think of the Israelites kind of walking around picking up a rock saying, do you think this will do? We're thinking about something that's going to come from a mountainous area, something that's going to be massive, not easy to move, but something that would hold a lot of words. You have to have a big rock to do that. And they're going to have large stones for this. And on these stones in verse 3, you're going to write on them all the words of this law when you cross over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey as the Lord, the God of your fathers has promised. You know, Moses once heard these words about a land of milk and honey. He was approximately 80 years old, and he went to a mountain with a bush that was on fire and not being consumed. And the Lord said, you're going to go and deliver the people. You're going to go to Pharaoh. You're going to go through all of this and be my vessel, my mediator, my prophet. And they're going to be taken under your leadership to a land flowing with milk and honey. And Moses has led them there. They're at the border. They're now east of the Jordan River. He has come all these years later, now at approximately age 120 years old. And Moses sees that land flowing with milk and honey right across the Jordan River. And they're going to write on these stones, these Israelites, when they're in the land, all the words of this law on those stones. All the words. So we're thinking about all the book of Deuteronomy, sections of Deuteronomy, specific commandments, maybe the Ten Commandments. He doesn't elaborate here. I would say at the very least the Ten Commandments, but of course there are many commandments and instructions after the Ten Commandments of Deuteronomy 5 that are present. But instructions and wisdom of God, His good commands. Why? Because writing that out on large stones serve as visible reminders we're to live in light of these things. And the words of God are rooted in who God is as the only one worthy to be worshipped. They're going to need that reminder in the land because that land has people worshipping all kinds of things. Offering all manner of pagan sacrifices including the sacrifice of children. These people who are crying out to the gods that are no gods and serving idols that are no gods, they are going to be temptations and snares to the Israelites. So these stones are reminders that there is one God. We're not to make an image to serve, but rather to serve the living God and worship Him only and in the way He has deemed appropriate to approach Him. And then in the other commandments, not only of the Ten Commandments, but many of the laws that follow, they're to live in a manner of justice and righteousness with one another. Because in the land they're going into, there is much murder and immorality. There is much distortion of ethical soundness of mind and action. And these immoral and sinful transgressions all around the land will be snares and temptations for the Israelites. So these stones, these large stones, will be written upon with words of the law. And in verse four, when you've crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones concerning which I command you today on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. All right, so Mount Ebal is right north of Shechem, like super close. Shechem is basically in the valley of this mountain. But what you need to know is Shechem has a mountain north of it called Mount Ebal, and south of it, there's another mountain. called Mount Gerizim. So this city, Shechem, is like a place between two mountains. It's in this valley area. You've got Ebal that's north of it. You've got Gerizim that is south of it. And we're told here in verse 4, set up these stones on Mount Ebal. And there in verse 5, you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Now this is different from the big gigantic commandments on the stones that they've just set up. This is a separate thing in verse 5, an altar of stones that are not the result of you crafting them, cutting them, shaping them. You shall not wield iron tools on them. The ancient world had plenty of pagan peoples crafting altars and idols using tools. It seems that that may be the background for the Israelites being forbidden to do that kind of thing. We're not even going to approach the semblance of what might be pagan worship and activity. So no iron tools. In fact, build an altar in verse 6 of uncut stones. an altar to the Lord your God, and there you're going to offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God." Now, one of the reasons they're going to rejoice is because they're in the land now. This is to take place as a ceremony shortly after the entrance into the promised land. What an absolutely grand situation. This is like a ribbon-cutting ceremony, if you can imagine. This is like, we're here, We're here after all this time and this is the ceremony that we're undergoing that God has brought us to this place. So we're going to offer a burnt offering to the Lord. And the burnt offerings from the book of Leviticus represented whole life devotion to God. And of course the Israelites should demonstrate that. An offering that would at least symbolically communicate what their heart should have true of it. Whole life devotion to God. The peace offerings, part of which would be offered on the altar, other parts of the peace offerings would be eaten. So these Israelites are coming to God with particular offerings that show their whole life devotion and their fellowship together eating food before God. It's a way of saying we've come into the land, Our lives are dedicated to God's glory and we are a people in fellowship with Him. We are a people in covenant with Him. And so in verse 8, you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly. No doubt referring to those stones from the opening of the chapter, those stones of remembrance. Very plainly is a way of saying, well, of course, not incoherently. But evidently and obviously, clearly, plainly, make sure that the person with the best handwriting is putting these things on the stones, right? You know, being cheeky for a moment, but in all seriousness, let's have clear, plain writing. We don't want anything unclear or confusing. Right on the stones, all the words of this law, very plainly. Now in verses nine to 10, there's a call to obey the Lord's commandments. Moses and the Levitical priests say to all Israel, keep silence in here, O Israel. This day you've become the people of the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today. So in addition to the elders of Israel being present, you have these Levitical priests, and they're saying to the Israelites, I need you to listen carefully, and in order to listen carefully, you need to be quiet and hear. It's in order to give their undivided attention. You can imagine that situation if you're trying to talk to somebody about a thing, but there's other noise happening, and maybe they're in the middle of some other kind of conversation. The focus you're needing, the undivided attention that's warranted, isn't happening. Well, here the Israelites are to recognize that this preface of statement of words, this keep silence and hear, whatever follows this must be of incredible value. He says, this day you've become the people of the Lord, your God. And a reader might look at that and say, but I thought they were the people of the Lord, their God. What about all of these earlier chapters, the book of Numbers and Leviticus before it and Exodus before it? Didn't they become the people of God? He brought them out of Egypt. They formed a covenant with him. Yes, this is a way of renewing the covenant with freshly appropriating the covenant identity to yourself as the new generation of Israelites. Because remember, these, many of them, the overwhelming majority of them, would not even have been present at Sinai. They are owning for themselves the truth about their covenant identity, and they're doing that that day. They're becoming the people of the Lord, if you will, but not because they never had been. It's the fresh appropriation of their covenant identity. Who are we? Well, this day we are the people of the Lord. And you shall therefore obey the voice of God, in verse 10, keeping all the commandments and his statutes. In verses 11 to 13, Moses returns to this ceremonial situation that's gonna happen in the promised land. Now, so far, we're remembering a few things. When they go into the land, they're gonna go to this place called Mount Ebal, and they're gonna set up this stone with all the words of the law on it. They're gonna build their own altar of uncut stones and have fellowship and offerings to the Lord. But in verses 11 to 13, some more information is going to be given about this setting. Moses has to charge them to do this, but he won't be there when it happens. Again, he's going to die at the end of the book. That day, Moses charged the people saying in verse 12, when you have crossed over the Jordan, These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. Those names are the names of Jacob's 12 sons, which become the heads of tribes. So this is a shorthand way of saying all the people who belong to Simeon and Levi and Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin, all those people, they're going to go to Mount Gerizim. And they're going to go there for the blessing. And then in verse 13, these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali, meaning all the people of those tribes. So let's imagine these two mountains, which are super close to each other with a city in between them, the city of Shechem. The Israelites are going to divide six tribes and six tribes for this ceremonial action. Six of them are gonna go south, south of Shechem to Mount Gerizim. Six of them are gonna go north of Shechem to Mount Ebal. But what happens on either location, on either location is different. In the South, those who stand on Mount Gerizim will be there to bless the people. And those for the curse will be on Mount Ebal. It's covenant remembrance that's happening. The blessing and curse language means there is a condition to this covenant. The Israelites have entered into this covenant at Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. And if we obey the covenant, we will be blessed. And if we disregard the covenant, if we rebel against God and disobey Him, we will be under the curse of the covenant. And so these tribes divide so that the words of blessing and cursing are rehearsed in their hearing in a fresh way. And these mountains provide these grand elevated locations where their booming voices of many thousands of people of these tribes would call to one another the blessings and the curses over this valley which carries their tones. I mean, just imagine, wouldn't you like an audio of that recording? I mean, it's just an incredible situation, where these tribes, across from one another, with this valley and shechem in between, are calling blessing and cursing language, not because they're pronouncing it on each other at that moment, they're rehearsing the promises and warnings of God. They're remembering together, we are people to follow the Lord. We will be blessed if we keep His covenant. But if we turn from God, if we reject Him, what would we expect but the curse of the covenant? Because these are the covenant stipulations. Now there is an actual description of this ceremony to a degree in Joshua chapter 8. In Joshua 8 verse 30, Listen to some fulfillment language. Joshua 830, they're already in the land, and here's what happens. At that time, Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. Just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the people of Israel. Where did Moses command the people of Israel? Deuteronomy 27, that's where he did. And then we're told, that they did at an altar of uncut stones upon which no man has wielded an iron tool. They offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. Why did they do that? Because Moses said to in Deuteronomy 27. So they're keeping the words of the law. And then in verse 32 of Joshua 8, there in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses. Why did he do that? Because Deuteronomy 27 said to do that when you're in the land. And then in verse 33, all Israel, sojourner as well as native, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in the front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal. Why did they do that? Because Deuteronomy 27 said that's what you're to do. And so what you're to get a little, there's a little more information here than is in Deuteronomy 27, when they go into this area to divide, in the middle, these Levitical priests are there with the Ark of the Covenant. So it's as if these priests, symbolized with the Ark here, the presence of God, the presence of God and these mediating figures, it's as if they are showing there the mediation of blessing and curse before the Lord's presence, following the Lord blessing, rejecting the Lord curse of the law, And then what follows in our chapter are a series of 12 statements of curse. They are framed, interestingly, because they don't actually pronounce what the curse will be. They say cursed be the one who does this. I think for the content of the curses, you have to go to that next chapter to actually see what the rejection of the Sinai Covenant leads to. But here are 12 violations of the law. So we would look at verses 15 through 26 as 12 examples of what law breaking could be. It's not exhaustive, because there are many commandments and rituals and ceremonies, and most importantly, the moral law of God and violating the laws of God will lead to judgment. So in verses 15 through 26, 12 of them, I counted ahead of time. 12 of them, what an important number, it's not 13, not 11, but 12, there are 12 tribes. Six of them and six of them dividing between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim with Shechem in the valley in between? This list of 12 curses seems appropriate to the number of the tribes so that they can remember here are examples of what it would look like to violate the law. So in verse 14, the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice, and these Levites here are probably the priests from the Levites, or selected leaders from the Levites, but I think mainly the priests would be involved, just like in Joshua 8, they're the ones in the middle with the ark. These Levites declare to the men of Israel in a loud voice. Here's violation number one. Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, amen. So these, these curse and be statements are announced and the people publicly a minute. It's their reminder together publicly corporately. We are adhering to the law. We submit to Yahweh. His will shall direct our lives. So when we hear this warning, we say amen. And that give and take that call and response is through all 12. The cursed bee statement is given and the people say that that is right and good with their amen. This first one, how appropriate is this? It has to deal with worship. This isn't like buried somewhere else in the 12, it's the first one. And it reminds us of the importance of the 10 commandments opening with language about you shall worship the Lord only, no other gods before me, and you shall not make for yourself a graven image. So the first two commandments would actually be violated with this example in verse 15. Because here's somebody making a carved and cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, made by the hands of a craftsman, and it's set up in secret. Now there are public idol places. The ancient world was filled with them. Temples and places you could go, and with others that would already be there, and others journeying after you left, people who would go publicly to worship. But some people would set up idols in secret. And the Israelites should not be okay with living publicly one way and secretly a different way. They are to have pressed upon their hearts that the Lord knows what is done in secret. So they should not have even in the confines of their home, which wouldn't be visible to other people unless brought into that confines of the home, that in verse 15, this should not even be set up in secret. Cursed be someone who does, because the all-knowing and all-seeing God is sovereign over our lives. And this presses upon the point from the Old and New Testaments. All that we do is always done before the Lord, whether or not anybody else sees. And therefore, the theme that you can see running through these 12, these are examples of things that are violations of the law that wouldn't necessarily be publicly known. A theme that carries through all 12 of these are these are violations of the law that you might be able to keep from the eyes of most people, if not everybody. And therefore, the importance of this is that God is pressing upon the Israelites, obey me with your heart, love me with your heart, with your mind, with your soul, with your strength, all that you are, love me above all, not these other things. Don't set up this stuff in secret. The second example in verse 16 of a violation of the law, cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother. and all the people shall say amen. Now this is something that would take place in the confines of a home, but it might also have some manifestation with a dishonorable heart, leading into some dishonorable words and actions toward parents. He said curse would be anyone who lives this way. Well we're reminded here not of the first and second commandments, but the fifth commandment. You shall honor your father and your mother. So someone who violates the law in this way is violating the 10 commandments. The third example in verse 17, cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark and all the people shall say amen. If you wanted to move a landmark, it's because you weren't comfortable or content with the property boundary that you had and you wanted to make your neighbor's landmark work in your benefit. in your favor. And you probably wouldn't do it with his permission or her permission. You'd probably do it when they didn't know. You'd probably do it when you think you could get away with it. So you're gonna take advantage of something, move a landmark so that more property is yours. Well, we would say that's a violation of the Eighth Commandment. You shall not steal. You shall not steal, or not just from possessions your neighbor owns that your neighbor might carry around, but even the livelihood and property of your neighbor. Don't take what doesn't belong to you, including what would be the moving of a boundary marker that you think would benefit you. Cursed would be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark, and all the people shall say amen. So I'm trying to give you some examples to see that in these 12, these are things that would probably be done with very little knowledge that others would have, maybe even altogether a secret thing, but that the Lord would know. The Lord would know. So if they move the neighbor's landmark, nobody else might know, the Lord knows. So this is key, not just to Old Testament covenant living, but to new covenant Christian discipleship. Shall we follow the Lord and fear the Lord for His own glory, or as long as people are looking? Shall we follow God because He is God? Shall we worship God because He is God? Shall we love Christ because He is the risen, ascended Lord? Or shall there be lesser reasons that we think will justify one manner of religious activity or another, but when it comes right down to it, could be the thing we easily compromise if we think it will benefit us. These Israelites have to deal with where the law is ultimately aiming. They need to be a people who love God in their heart, and they need to be a people who love their neighbor in their heart. And that means I want to worship God truly, and I don't want to sin against other people. And therefore, these violations of the law, part of this covenant, brings to mind love of God and love of neighbor. In verse 18, the fourth example, cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road. and all the people shall say amen. So here's a situation of vulnerability. A blind man on the road might be dependent on the guidance of another. But here you've come along and the blind man is there and you're misleading a blind man. Now misleading a blind man might mean that you are going to benefit from something. Maybe the blind man is looking for something and you wanna get there first. Or maybe the blind man has something that he's looking for and you find it and so you're just gonna mislead the blind man for reasons that will be for your personal gain. He says, cursed be anyone who does this. All the people shall say amen. And then verse 19 gives us the fifth example. Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. More examples of the vulnerable. So there's a disability mentioned in verse 18, but here are entire categories of people that could easily be exploited in verse 19. A sojourner, someone who's passing through a land not theirs. The fatherless, so here you have an orphan who would be in great need and easily taken advantage of in the ancient world and in modern world. The widow, all categories of people named here. Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to them. And all the people shall say amen. The sixth one, verse 20, the sixth violation, cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife because he's uncovered his father's nakedness and all the people shall say amen. This is a movement in verses 20 through 23 toward particular pronouncements of curse toward ungodly and wicked activity at the sexual level. In verse 20, these are things that are prohibited, in verses 20 through 23, really all of those verses, prohibited earlier in Leviticus and in Exodus. Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered his father's nakedness. It's a violation of sexual integrity. It's a violation of the proper boundaries that God has set up in his design for men and women to flourish together. Here's one instance of that violation. Another in verse 21, cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal, and all the people shall say amen. So this seventh example is an act that again seems to denote the kind of thing someone might try in secret or in private, just like in verse 20, continuing that theme of sins that might not be widely known, but that somebody may have a desire or distorted instinct to have. And in verse 21, this particular violation is rooted in Exodus and in Leviticus with the sin of bestiality. You should know that Canaanite practices included sexual behaviors that here are prohibited. So in Deuteronomy 27, the reason certain things are prohibited is because of snares and temptations that people are giving into throughout the land of Canaan, the Israelites are going to enter. They need to know, I'm going to go in that land and I'm going to think about worship the way God has designed it. I'm going to think about sexuality the way God has designed it. I'm going to think about my neighbor the way God has designed it. I'm not going to take my cues from the people who don't know God. Instead, I'm gonna say, what has God said? Because God is good, and God is wise, and God is sovereign, and God knows what I need. And so if God prohibits a thing, then that's for my good. That's for my good that that is denied. In verse 22, the eighth example, cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and all the people shall say amen. The incestuous activity that is prohibited in Leviticus is reiterated here in this violation, the eighth violation. The ninth one, cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law, and all the people shall say amen. This ninth violation is also rooted in Leviticus. In verse 24, cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret. There's that emphasis on secrecy. Not continuing the sexual prohibitions here, but now something that would deal with a homicidal or premeditated murderous plan. Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor. And maybe no one knew about it, and maybe you thought you would get away with it. He said, cursed be anyone who does this. But the question would be, well, if it's done in secret, how will anyone know? Well, the point is, God knows. Do you not fear God? Do you not fear the Lord? Would you only fear if it were publicly known and you have no problem with it if God is all the one that knows, the only one who knows? So cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret and all the people shall say, Amen. The 11th example, cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood. The bribe, again, something done under the table, something done just between you and maybe one or more where you are trying to have this discretionary action that what will be beneficial to you, and you don't care if innocent blood is the result. So cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood, and all the people shall say amen. This is the 11th violation. The final one, verse 26 says, cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them, and all the people shall say amen. Now that didn't give a specific scenario. We've seen examples that might remind us of the first commandment, second commandment, eighth commandment, sixth commandment, seventh commandment. We've seen examples of love of God and love of neighbor compromised with these kinds of violations. But here, it seems quite general. And I think that's the point. That at the end, here is the fitting capstone to the 12 violations. Cursed be anyone who doesn't confirm the words of this law by doing them. It's a way of saying, keep all the law. Keep all the law. How many of the commandments, God? All of the commandments. How many of them shall weigh upon us as a covenant people as we go into this promised land? How many of them should we attend to among our tribes? The whole law. All of them. Cursed be anyone who doesn't confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all the people shall say amen. So that 12th violation is the capstone to these 12, that it might remind the people of Israel, while there are specific examples we've just thought about and heard and amened publicly in response to, they're just samples. The point is the whole of the law is to aim at the obedience of the people of God from the heart in their covenant relationship with God. But we know the turn that Israel's history is going to take after they enter the land. Because Joshua is followed by the book of Judges. And even when David becomes king from Judah's tribe in first Samuel, he will not rule, he and his successors over a united kingdom forever. David's grandson oversees a fracturing of the kingdom. And so even the establishment of the monarchy will not remain over the entirety of the land. The land becomes broken and various prophets are raised up by God to proclaim the word of God. And the prophets love to appeal to parts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. and try to remind the people, don't you remember you're the covenant people? You're in the nations here with all kinds of snares and temptations, but don't you remember what you've committed to? Blessing for obedience, curse with disobedience. And the prophets hold up passages like Deuteronomy and Leviticus like a mirror in front of the Israelites so that they are reminded through these prophetic reminders that we have fallen short of our covenant obligations. We have been those who have said, we will come into covenant with you with this law, but they have proven unable to keep this law. And therefore, they shall bear the curse. It's a tricky situation because Israel is supposed to be a light to the nations. And through these Israelites, there's going to be blessing to all the families of the earth, as God promised to Abraham. A people who can't keep a law, but rather in their actions actually bring the curse of the law upon themselves seem to be a huge redemptive historical problem. Would there be anybody who could bear the weight of the law? Yes. Yes. Listen to Paul quote from Deuteronomy 27 in Galatians 3. Paul says in Galatians 3, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, curse it be everyone who doesn't abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Where did Paul get that language from, it is written? From Deuteronomy 27, 26, the very last and 12th violation of the law. Paul's using it in an argument. In Galatians 3, why is Deuteronomy 27 important to Paul? Because Paul knew of the Israelites and his ancestry and he knows of his present day readers, works of the law cannot be a basis by which we are approaching God. He says, all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. And so he says, it is evident, no one is justified before God by the law. It was never true that the Israelites could have ever been justified by the law. They were to walk in obedience to God, but they would never be able to perfectly keep the law and receive a blessing of life and communion with God that was based on their own works, a justification according to works. So this language of curse is very important to Deuteronomy. Because they're blessed if they keep the law, they're cursed if they break the law. And Paul says, all who try to rely on the law, their works, their actions, their attempts to keep it, to say, I'm keeping the commandments. All who rely on the works of the law are under the curse. This is an indictment against everyone who thinks, I believe that in the end, I will be a good enough person in the eyes of the Lord, and everything's gonna turn out okay. Because when I compare my life to the life of this other person, you know, I just, I think I'm doing better. I think I'm mostly good. I think in the end, it's all gonna weigh out. Paul says, and you need to hear from Galatians 3.10, that all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. And that's another way of saying, you're gonna try to be righteous before God, and you're gonna count on that. That's terrible news. It's terrible news. So Galatians 3.13 says, in Paul's argument, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. So there you have the gospel news. How do you get the gospel in Deuteronomy 27? Because Deuteronomy 27 says here are the people coming into covenant with God in an old covenant that they can't keep. We must need a new covenant then. We must need a new one because this old covenant is one they broke. This old covenant is the one where in their works, they've brought only the curse of the covenant upon themselves. So Jeremiah says, from the words of the Lord to his people, I will make a new covenant with the house of David, with the house of Judah, with the people of Israel. I will make a new covenant with you. And I'll write my law on your hearts. You'll be my people and I'll forgive your sins. And when Jesus is with his disciples on the night of the Last Supper, and he says, this bread and this cup is my body and my blood, he says in Luke 22, it's the blood of the new covenant which is for you. What Paul's argument is, is that these people amened in that Valley of Shechem between Ebal and Gerizim in this ceremony, that yes, these are the covenant blessings and curses, but as it came clear in the many decades and centuries that followed, there would only be the curse of the law if they're to count on their works. There is no basis of justification according to works. This has never been the case. It is by grace through faith. It is by grace through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God so that no one can boast. So you ought not to look to some manner of internal righteousness to feel better. You need to look to Jesus. You need to look to the cross because Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse for us. Christ was no lawbreaker. He died for lawbreakers. Christ never spurned the commandments of God. Instead, he died for us who have spurned the commandments of God. Christ did love the truth and wisdom and commands with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. So he died in the place of we who have not loved the Lord's words with our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. Christ has died in our place as the curse bearer. Deuteronomy 27 proves very important to Paul's argument to the Galatians. because some in Galatia claimed to know Jesus and yet were quickly turning from the gospel. The gospel had not remained the banner over them, a centrality in the heartbeat of their lives as a people and as a group of churches in Galatia. He indicts them in Galatians 1 for quickly turning to nonsensical things that end up being a false gospel and that rely on human works. And his argument throughout Galatians over and over again turns our attention to the cross so that we can see, I could never have kept the works of the law. That's why Jesus has come. I can never be justified by works, it must always be by grace. Should there ever be atonement for sinners, it will not be because sinners have found themselves good after all. It will only be because atonement was accomplished by one who would not have deserved the curse, but could bear it mightily in our place. And so the news of the gospel is that we deserve the judgment and condemnation of God. Yet Christ Jesus has died on behalf of sinners, taken our sins and our condemnation upon his righteous head. And he has become the curse of sin in our place. And therefore, therefore, our hope, our hope is Jesus and only Jesus. It is His great mercy toward us and His sovereign grace and forgiveness toward us. Ebal, Gerizim, Sinai, there is a better mountain. Calvary is the better mountain. Calvary is the better mountain. The new covenant is the greater covenant. Jesus is the perfect savior. So we look in our hearts in light of the mirror of God's word and we see afresh, Lord, what great need we have for Christ. How truly despairing we would be apart from his saving work with no hope in ourselves to ever deliver ourselves by our righteousness. It must be righteousness of Jesus. Praise God for his atoning work, for his saving grace, for his faithful sacrifice. Let's pray together.