Christian Education and Discipleship

The Hallelujah of Confession - Part 15 of 16

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Education and Discipleship

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2000-09-10

Synopsis: In this sermon, John Weaver examines Psalm 106:34-39, highlighting that the root of Israel's post-conquest troubles was disobedience to God's command to destroy the Canaanites. He traces the progression from disobedience to mingling with the heathen, learning their works, serving idols, and ultimately sacrificing children to devils. Weaver applies these principles to the New Testament believer, emphasizing that Christians are called to mortify spiritual Canaanites (sinful desires) and avoid unequal yoking with unbelievers. The sermon warns that failure to obey leads to defilement and spiritual adultery, urging faithfulness to God's Word.

[John Weaver] Alright, let's open our Bibles then today to Psalm 106. Psalm 106, and let's begin reading with verse 34. And we're going to read down through verse, let's see, probably verse 39 anyhow. In fact, we'll just go ahead and read the entire passage here through verse 48 someone six beginning with verse 34. They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learn their works, and they serve their idols, which were a snare to them.

[John Weaver] Yea, they sacrifice their sons and their daughters of the devils and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed in the eyes of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and when a whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

[John Weaver] And he gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought in subjection under their hand. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry. He remembered for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. He made them also to be pitted of all those that carried him captives.

[John Weaver] Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say amen. Praise you, the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now we are approaching the last portion of this chapter, as you can see. And it is my intention, if the Lord allows it. to wind this passage up next Lord's Day. I hope I can do it. There is one important subject on down in these verses that I want to deal with, but hopefully I'll be able to finish the passage next Lord's Day as well. But I hope you've noticed something beginning with verse 34. Look at it carefully. They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. I want you to know there is a break. between verse 33 and verse 34, and I will tell you what that break is.

[John Weaver] Remember this series is known as the Hallelujah of Confession. Once the psalmist began specifically confessing the sins in verse 7, on down through verse 33, those were the sins that were committed prior to the Canaan conquest. When you get to verse 34 on down through the rest of the chapter, here are the sins that were committed after the Canaan conquest. So, as you can see very easily, the sins continue after they conquer the land as well as before they entered into the land. In fact, the sins increased in intensity and in wickedness so much so that God judged the people. Skip down to verse 40. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people inasmuch that he abhorred his own inheritance, and he gave them into the hand of the heathen.

[John Weaver] and they that hated them ruled over them." Now, it is my intent to deal with this passage as a whole because it is tied together contextually. Moreover, if you observe this passage as a whole, it's much easier to discern how one sin not only leads to another sin, but how those sins then increase in intensity when they are compounded. Now, I want to basically deal with one point today.

[John Weaver] And in doing so, I'm going to cover Lord willing from verse 34 through verse 39. Here's the one point I want to emphasize. The source of sin.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just give you another subtitle or sub point. You could make this point the source of troubles or the source of problems. I want you to understand that the cause of Israel's problems in the Old Testament is the cause of our problems in this day and age as well. Well, what was the source of their problem? Look in verse 34. They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. So the source of their problems, you could summarize in one word, disobedience. they literally disobeyed God.

[John Weaver] Now, the Bible says in 1 John 3 and verse 4, Whosoever committed sins, sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Now, allow me to emphasize once again that the source of our problems, the source of our troubles, 99.9% of the time comes from our own disobedience to the Word of God. Now, I realize that God is sovereign. And God could, if he saw fit, to sovereignly intervene in our lives the way he did in the life of Job, or occasionally the life of other individuals that are recorded in Scripture.

[John Weaver] But those cases are few and far between. Most of the time, it is not God just dumping problems upon us. We bring the problems upon ourselves because of our own disobedience. And inevitably, our disobedience leads to multitudinous problems and heartaches as well. And the amazing thing is this. When we begin to disobey, And when we begin to sin, our sin and our disobedience seems so small, so insignificant, and so trifling, we think, well, surely this cannot possibly bring the heartache and the trouble, like the Word of God says. But inevitably and invariably, it does so.

[John Weaver] In fact, I want you to note this. Everything recorded In Psalm 106, verses 35 on down through the rest of that chapter, is the result of their disobedience in verse 34. Everything that happened, happened as a result of their disobedience. So the truth is this, we not only reap what we sow, we also reap more than we sow. And that's simply a wall, not only of nature, but of scripture. You can plant one grain of corn and reap hundreds of grains. One peanut and reap hundreds of peanuts. But let me tell you, you sow one sin and you can reap 100 heartaches as well. Now look at verse 34 before we go back in the Scriptures.

[John Weaver] They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. Now let me show you how God commanded them to destroy the nations. Hold Psalm 106 but go back in your Bibles first of all to Exodus chapter 23. Exodus chapter 23 and let's begin reading there with verse 20. Exodus 23 and verse 20. Look what God says. Exodus 23 verse 20. Behold, I sent an angel before you to keep thee in the way and to bring thee in the place which I have prepared.

[John Weaver] Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversary. For my angel shall go before thee, and bring thee into the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off. Look what God says. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and break down their images. And you shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread and thy water, and I will take sickness away from midst of thee. Now God says, I want them cut off. I want them executed, and I don't want you making any kind of covenant with them. I don't want you bowing down to their guns. I want them all destroyed.

[John Weaver] Look, if you would please, to Exodus 34, beginning there with verse 11. Exodus 34 and verse 11. Notice again. God says, Observe thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorites, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, take heed to thyself, look now, take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, with the Valgoists, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.

[John Weaver] But you shall destroy their altars, break down their images, and cut down their groves. For thou shalt worship no other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous god, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. And they go a-whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods. And one called thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice. And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods, thou shalt make thee no molten gods." Once again, God says, you are not to enter into covenants with them. You're to throw down every altar, cut down every grove, destroy everything that has any religious significance, get rid of it.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 7. And beginning there with verse 1, Deuteronomy 7 and verse 1. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 7 verse 1. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter shalt thou not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

[John Weaver] For thus you shall deal with them. You shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. Why? For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all that are upon the face of the earth."

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note God said two simple things in reality. Number one, I want you to execute all of them. Number two, you destroy every vestige of their worship, of their religion. You make no covenant with them whatsoever. You make no marriage with them. You don't take their daughters. You don't give your daughters. You make sure you stay away from the heathen.

[John Weaver] Now, Israel failed to obey and consequently reaped a fearful harvest. You say, I can see that and I understand that, but how in the world would that relate to our lives? Well, very simply, as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face. Do you realize the command of God is still the same? We are to mortify, we are to execute our spiritual Canaanites. You say, what in the world are you talking about? Well, look in your Bibles to two, well actually three passages.

[John Weaver] The first one is Romans chapter 13 and verse 14. Romans chapter 13, and notice if you would please verse 14. Here's a powerful passage, a simple truth, and yet very often disobeyed. The Bible says in Romans chapter 13 in verse 14, but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.

[John Weaver] What is he talking about? He's talking about our lusts. He's talking about that which we want by nature, which is absolutely wicked and wrong and contrary to God. So he says, here's the answer. You put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you obey Him, and you don't make any provision at all to fulfill the lust of the flesh.

[John Weaver] Now, go back in your Bibles to Romans 6. Here he says it very plainly. Romans 6. Notes, if you would please, beginning there with verse 11. Romans 6 and verse 11. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, that is, as a means of justification, but under grace. Now look what he says, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin.

[John Weaver] What in the world is he talking about? Well, the fact is our old man has been crucified with Christ. And what he says is we need to count We need to impute ourselves dead and be under sin. Let me ask you a question. What effect does lust have upon a physically dead man? None. He can't sense anything. He's dead. What about greed? What about power? What about evil thoughts? What about wicked desires? They have no influence over a dead man.

[John Weaver] So this is what our Lord is saying. Our Lord is saying we have to reckon ourselves spiritually dead indeed unto sin. Sin is not to have dominion over us. It is not our Lord. It is not to exercise kingship over us. We do not have to obey sin because we have been delivered from sin by the power and by the blood of Jesus Christ. And consequently, when sin comes along, we're to say, no, we're dead. We're dead in Christ. And our life is hid in God, in Jesus Christ, and we refuse to do that which is wicked and wrong.

[John Weaver] Now, many times, guess what? We don't do that. And consequently, we reap a fearful harvest. Here it is again if you look in the book of Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Let me show you how thoroughly the Apostle Paul outlines this same truth. Colossians chapter 3, beginning there with verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ, that is, if you're genuinely converted, you've been saved, you've been resurrected in Christ, look, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

[John Weaver] In other words, He is to be our source of attention. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. Why? For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.

[John Weaver] Now watch what he says. Mortify. What does the word mortify mean? kill or to make dead, that's where we get our word mortician from, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for the which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which you also walked sometime when you lived in them, but now you put off all these." And then he tells you what all to put off.

[John Weaver] So what is he saying? We have the same command as the Old Testament Israelites, that is, we are to make dead the spiritual Canaanites in our lives, and we're to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So he's called us then to subdue and to mortify and to make dead these spiritual Canaanites. But wait a minute. We've got to ask a question. What happened to Israel in the Old Testament when they failed to obey God? And what happens to us in the New Testament era when we fail to obey God in the same sense?

[John Weaver] Well, let's go back to Psalm 106 and find out. Let's look, if you would please, at verse 35. Psalm 106, verse 35. Verse 34 tells us they did not destroy those nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. Here's the first result, verse 35. But were mingled among the heathen. But were mingled among the heathen.

[John Weaver] Now the word mingled is the Hebrew word Arab, which means to become a surety for. to undertake for, to give a pledge to, or to intermix.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to hold Psalm 106, but look back in your Bibles to Joshua 23. I want you to see that Joshua gave the Israelites a fresh warning even after Moses had warned the people repeatedly. So here they are. Joshua has taken them into the land, so he gives them a fresh warning. Look at it. Joshua 23, beginning there with verse 11. Look what he says. Joshua 23, verse 11.

[John Weaver] Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Else, if you do any wise, go back and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even those that remain among you and shall make marriages with them and go into them. And they to you know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you, that they shall be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you."

[John Weaver] Ah, what did Joshua say? You better make sure that you obey. Because if you don't, you're going to have problems. Well, what did the people do? They mingled with the heathen. And if you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezra chapter 7, I want you to note something. Their mingling with the heathen was not just simply limited to business dealings. It was not limited to political and or military alliances.

[John Weaver] It even got deeper than that. Look in Ezra chapter 9. It is Ezra chapter 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 1. Ezra 9 verse 1.

[John Weaver] Now, when these things were done, the princess came to me saying the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites and the Hittites and parasites, the Jebusites and the Ammonites and the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites, for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons. Watch so that the holy seed have mingled themselves. for the people of those lands, yea, the hand of the princes and the rulers have been cheap in this trespass."

[John Weaver] So their political alliances, their military alliances, their business alliances culminated in marriage covenants, mingling with the heathens And the consequence was, which I'm going to point out, they were learning the ways of the heathen. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to second Corinthians, chapter six. I can quote this passage, but I want you to see it. You see, the same principle. Is taught in the New Testament. Look what he says, second Corinthians, chapter six, beginning, beginning there, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. Look what God says.

[John Weaver] Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now that's a simple command. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord or agreement hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

[John Weaver] Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Now, what is he saying? Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Let's say, for instance, Henry is an unbeliever. Thankfully, he's not. But he's an unbeliever. And I'm a Christian. And we're talking about going into a business partnership together. What does God say? Don't do it. Why? Because Henry's standards are not going to be my standards. His rules are not going to be my rules. And inevitably, invariably, Darkness and light are not going to mix. Righteousness and unrighteousness are not going to mix. And there's going to be problems. There's going to be trouble.

[John Weaver] Now, if that is true in a business partnership, how much truer is it in a political partnership, a military partnership, and how much even truer is it in a marriage relationship? So God says, We're not to enter into covenants with the heathen. Does that mean we cannot be civil toward them? Well, of course not. Does that mean we cannot be kind and gracious to the heathen? Well, of course not. Does that mean we cannot evangelize them? Well, of course we may. But what God says is you don't enter into a covenantal relationship with the heathen. It's just that simple. Look at it.

[John Weaver] Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That's why the law forbade the plowing with an ox and a mule. It's an unequally yoking together. And so Israel, of course, refused to obey. And very clearly Christendom today is refusing to obey as well. Because Christians think nothing of entering into business alliances, marriage relationships with the heathen.

[John Weaver] Now, we'll look at the result. Go back to Psalm 106. Once again, verse 35. He says,"...but were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." "...and learned their works." Now, I want you to note, the heathen were not learning godly works. The godly were learning ungodly works. Let me put it to you like this. The godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down. Now, the Bible says they learned their wicked works.

[John Weaver] Now, the word learned literally means to goad or to teach. How is it? And why is it? that when a godly man yokes up with an ungodly, it's not the ungodly that learns from the godly, it's the godly that learns from the ungodly. Why is that? The answer is very simple. Because there is nothing in the ungodly man that will respond to righteousness and holiness. What does the Bible say in Romans 8 and verse 9?

[John Weaver] So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. In other words, there is nothing in an ungodly man that can please God. There is nothing in him that is righteous and holy and that is wanting to do right. So he's not going to respond to a godly man, but although here's a man that is godly, he is still in a sinful world, in a sinful environment, and he still has his flesh, and his flesh will respond to the wicked works of the ungodly.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. Even righteous people need money. What's that mean? Well, the unrighteous can get money in ways the righteous cannot get it. And you let a righteous man get in a tight, and sometimes he's willing to compromise truth and principle if the ungodly man offers him a way to get out quickly. The point I'm trying to make is there's nothing in an ungodly man that's going to respond to God in this, but there is something in a godly man that will respond to a wicked man.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 9. Deuteronomy 18, verse 9. Look what God says, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abomination of those nations. God says don't do it. Don't learn their works. Don't learn their deeds. Look in Deuteronomy 20, beginning there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 20, verse 17. God says, but thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods, so you should sin against the Lord your God. Why did God say to destroy them? So they won't teach you to do evil. So you won't learn from them.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. We are forbidden to learn from the wicked. Their ways are not God's ways. Their thoughts are not God's thoughts. Their plans are not God's plans. And what do we do basically as Christians today? We constantly listen to the world. We constantly learn its ways, use its wisdom, rely upon its provisions, and seek its pleasures. We're doing exactly the opposite of what God has commanded us.

[John Weaver] Many of you can quote Psalm 1. So let me just quote a little bit of it. someone blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

[John Weaver] Now let me stop there. Now I want you to think about that verse with me. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel, c-o-u-n-s-e-l, the counsel of the ungodly. That's advice. We do not take the advice of the ungodly. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. You see, When you start taking the advice of the ungodly, pretty soon you're going to take the next step. Watch it. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners. That's association. Once you start taking their advice, you're going to start associating with them. And then he says, and sitteth in the seat of the scornful, the last step is you'll finally end up agreeing with them. The way to stop agreeing with them is never associate with them, that is, in these covenantal relationships, and never, ever listen to their advice.

[John Weaver] The godly man delights in the law of the Lord, and in that law does he meditate day and night. Why? He wants the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of the man. What does God say in 1 John 2 and verse 15? Listen carefully. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life. He that doeth these things passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

[John Weaver] Now, God has told us not to learn the works of the wicked, and yet we do it every day, many times unconsciously, sometimes deliberately. What do we do? We bring God's judgment upon ourselves exactly the way Israel did in Psalm 106, because we're disobeying God's command about not mingling with the heathen and learning their wicked words. Now, go back to Psalm 106, because that's not the only the result of disobeying God.

[John Weaver] Look at it in verse 36. and served their idols, which were a snare unto them. You see, when you begin taking their advice, associating with them, you're going to end up eventually agreeing with them, and consequently, you'll be serving their idols, which were a snare unto them. Now, the serving of the idols in the Old Testament was the cause of multitudinous heartaches to the Israelites. I want you to compare two passages. I want you to look, hold it, Psalm 106, but I want you to look at Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 7. OK, go back to Exodus 20 and find Deuteronomy 7 and hold that passage. We'll look at Exodus 20 first. Exodus 20. And. I'm sorry, it's Exodus 10. Exodus 10, not Exodus 20. Exodus 10. I knew I did not have the correct verse. Exodus 10. And look at verse 7. Then we'll turn over to Deuteronomy 7. Exodus 10, verse 7.

[John Weaver] And Pharaoh's servants said unto him. Now, we're talking about Moses, when Moses was bringing the plagues upon Egypt. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man, Moses, Be a snare unto us. Let the men go that they may eat and serve the Lord their God. Now look, knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? What does a snare mean? It means misery, destruction, heartache. They said, this man's a snare to us.

[John Weaver] We've been caught in a trap. We're destroyed.

[John Weaver] Now, look in Deuteronomy 7. Here's the same word, verse 16. Deuteronomy 7 verse 16, God said, And thou shalt consume all the people which thwart thy God shall deliver thee. Thine eye shall have no pity upon them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare unto thee. Now just like the snare was the destruction of Egypt, when we serve idols, it is our destruction as well. Now, I can hear people say, but Pastor, I don't serve idols. I don't bow down to a graven image. May I remind you that an idol can be an idol without being a graven image. May I remind you of Ephesians 5 and verse 5. In fact, turn there.

[John Weaver] I want you to see. Ephesians 5 and verse 5. Then we'll turn over to the book of Colossians. Watch this carefully. Ephesians 5 and verse 5. Look what scripture says. Ephesians 5 verse 5. For this you know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and of God. So you don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater as long as you're covetous. You're an idolater. Look at the book of Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5. Colossians 3 and verse 5. Look what he says.

[John Weaver] Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. One of them. Turn back just a few pages to the book of Philippians, chapter 3, and let's look at verses 18 and 19. Philippians 3, verses 18 and 19. Look what Scripture says. For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction. Watch. Whose God is their ballot. and whose glory is their shame, whom I unearthly things, whose God is their belly."

[John Weaver] Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they just love to eat all the time. Certainly food can be an idol to us. But when he says whose God is their belly, he clarifies that, whose glory is their shame and who mine earthly things. In other words, they're consumed with this life. They're consumed with this world. They're consumed with pleasure and greed and money and power and sex and family and convenience and anything else other than God. You don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater. Anything that comes before God is an idol.

[John Weaver] Whether it's literal, or mental, or emotional, or spiritual. Now, go back to Psalm 106. Let me start tying this together for you. Just showing you that the consequences are the same. In verse 36, they serve their idols, which were a snare to them.

[John Weaver] Now look at the fourth result or the consequences of their disobeying God. Verse 30, 30, 39. Or verse 37 and 38. Yeah, they sacrificed. Yeah, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters and the devils. And shed blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed under the eyes of Canaan and the land was polluted with blood.

[John Weaver] Now, you're going to object and say, but Brother Weaver, I don't know anyone in this country who would physically sacrifice their child to a false god. Well, I believe I can change your mind on that subject. Let me tell you that the key evil in the Old Testament was Moloch worship. Now, Moloch worship was an aspect of Baal worship. Now, the word Moloch is used different ways in the Bible.

[John Weaver] Sometimes it is Melech, or Melech, or Milchem, or Malem, or Malchem. Spelled different ways. But it is still Moloch worship. Now, Moloch was the god of the Ammonites. The word Moloch means king or kingship. I'll have to bring an entire message on this sometime. But I want you to understand that Moloch worship was a political religion. where the king was worshipped as God. Political correctness. We almost have that today, huh? The government as God. Now, I want to show you some things about Moloch worship. First of all, who can tell me who it was that introduced Moloch worship into Israel? You know. Who was it? Who's the king? A good king. What was his name? Solomon. Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 11. You don't have to turn there, but you remember Solomon loved many strange women. Women that God had forbidden him to love and to marry, but he married.

[John Weaver] And what did he do? He sinned against God and he built altars for his pagan wives. One of those altars was to Moloch. Now, I want you to understand that Moloch worship sometimes involved the actual burning of children to this false god. He was worshipped in the valley of the sons of Hinnom. Which was the garbage dump, basically, of Jerusalem. Sometimes that valley is referred to as Tophet.

[John Weaver] In fact, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah 32, and look at verse 35, Jeremiah 32, verse 35, notice if you would, What Scripture says, Jeremiah 32 verse 35. And they built the high places of Baal, which were in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and to Molech, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin. Now noted, it's called Molech here. It is in the valley of the Son of Hinnom. Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings 3. 2 Kings 3, verse 27.

[John Weaver] You will find that sometimes children were indeed sacrificed. Here's an illustration of it. 2 Kings 3, verse 27. Second Kings 3 verse 27. Then he, that is the king of Moab, took his, who happened to be the king of Edom, you'd have to read the context to get this, eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall.

[John Weaver] And there's a great indignation against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land. Now, look in your Bibles, to 2nd Kings 23. 2nd Kings 23 and verse 10. I told you earlier sometime the valley of the son of Hinnom was called Tophet. I'll tell you why. Verse 10, 2nd Kings 23 verse 10. And he defiled Tophet which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. Now, Molech was a huge brass statue of standing with his arm out like this, arms out like this.

[John Weaver] There was a hole in his belly. A fire was kindled in the bottom of the statue until his hands and arms began to glow with red hot heat. At that time, they would take a baby. and put him in the hands of Molech and the baby would roll down the arms screaming in pain into his stomach to be consumed in the flames. So they would roll the drums and the word tofit means to roll a drum to drown out the cries of the baby as the baby was literally burned to death in sacrifice to Moloch.

[John Weaver] If you look back at Psalm 106, I want you to hold 2 Kings 23, okay? Look back to Psalm 106. Evidently, a lot of children were sacrificed that way. Psalm 106, beginning there with verse 37,"...Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood." So numerous children were sacrificed physically.

[John Weaver] Their lives were given up to Molo. However, if you look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings 23 and verse 10 and read this, And he defiled Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch. Now, there was another way of passing through the fire to Molech or to Moloch that did not involve the death of the child.

[John Weaver] That was just simply called lustration. Lustration was nothing more than an act of purification. And so what the priest of Baal would do is he would take the dedicated child, or the child to be sacrificed to Moloch, and pass him over the flame, or pass him over the heat in the hand, without the child actually being hurt. It was an act then of dedicating that child to Molech. He was Molech's child. Molech's servant. And thus it was called a passing through the fire as well.

[John Weaver] Now, do we physically sacrifice our children to devils today? Yes. What do you think abortion is all about? We're sacrificing children to the God of convenience, to the God of political correctness, to the God of population control. And unhappily, even some Christians have done it. Ignorantly, stupidly, some may have done it purposely and deliberately, and it's still murder. You know why? Because they've learned the ways of the heathen. They've mingled with the heathen. And those Christians who would never, ever have an abortion, would never sacrifice their child physically, yet they do sacrifice their children to the God of political correctness to the God of public or government education, and that the children turned out to be great little statists and great global citizens. And that doesn't count how we sacrifice our children to the gods of fashion.

[John Weaver] Isn't it amazing how children always want the latest in style? We sacrifice our children to the gods of humanism, to greed, to lust, to pleasure. Let me put it to you rather bluntly. When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.

[John Weaver] Paul said in Romans 1 in verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, separated unto the gospel of Christ. You cannot be separated unto Christ and separated unto Moloch at the same time. And what we do is basically this. We sacrifice our children to Moloch by failing to set them apart for Jesus Christ, teaching them His Word, His Law, His Wisdom. There's a proverb in ancient Israel that went like this, He who does not teach his son the Law, that is the Law of God, and a trade, teaches his son to be a liar and a thief. If you're not set apart for Christ, you're set apart for more. Now look in verse 39 of Psalm 106.

[John Weaver] Let me try to tie it together. We'll pick up here next Sunday. Look in Psalm 106 and verse 39. Thus, they were defiled with their own works, and went a-whoring after their own inventions. Verse 39 is certainly applicable today. We're defiled as a nation, as a people, many times as churches and as families with our own works. The word defiled literally means filthy, contaminated, that which is foul. So he says we are actually contaminated, we're fouled up. with our own works. Why? Because our works are contrary to God and His Word. Do you remember what Isaiah said in Isaiah 64 and verse 6? He said, All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

[John Weaver] We are all as an unclean thing in sight. You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3, verse 19, about all of his works of righteousness which he had done? He said, I do count them, but what? Done. Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than done. And look what he says in verse 39,"...they were defiled with their own works and went a-whoring after their own inventions."

[John Weaver] And that's what has happened in our land today. We've gone a-whoring after our own inventions. It's like Isaiah 53 said, we've turned each to his own way. We like what we like and we want what we want. And it doesn't matter what God says. You see, Instead of being faithful to God and His Word, we've turned into a nation of spiritual adulterers. And we're sacrificing to the gods of humanism and political correctness. The results are the same as to whether you lived in the Old Testament times, or New Testament times, or today. As the Apostle Paul put it, Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

[John Weaver] Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And he that soweth the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your mercy to be given to us. Lord, our nation is in a mess. Our churches are in turmoil. Families are divided. All because of false gods and disobedience to you and to your word. Lord, regardless of what other people may do, enable each of us to be faithful to thee and faithful to thy word. May we honor thee and be true to thee and bring our lives into conformity to your truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.

The Hallelujah of Confession - Part 15 of 16

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	117091520404
Subject	Education and Discipleship
Course	Christian Education and Discipleship
Genre	Sermon
Date	2000-09-10
Dictation Name
Book	Book 053: The Hallelujah of Confession — Chapter 15
Source Timed Segments	77

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Context of Psalm 106:34-39

Weaver introduces the passage, noting the break between verse 33 and 34, where the psalmist shifts from sins before the Canaan conquest to sins after it. He states his intent to cover verses 34-39, emphasizing the source of sin.

Alright, let's open our Bibles then today to Psalm 106. Psalm 106, and let's begin reading with verse 34. And we're going to read down through verse, let's see, probably verse 39 anyhow. In fact, we'll just go ahead and read the entire passage here through verse 48. Psalm 106, beginning with verse 34:

Scripture Reading — Psalm 106:34-48

"They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works, and they served their idols, which were a snare to them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a-whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

And he gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought in subjection under their hand. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry. He remembered for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives. Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say amen. Praise ye the Lord.

Now we are approaching the last portion of this chapter, as you can see. And it is my intention, if the Lord allows it, to wind this passage up next Lord's Day. I hope I can do it. There is one important subject on down in these verses that I want to deal with, but hopefully I'll be able to finish the passage next Lord's Day as well. But I hope you've noticed something beginning with verse 34. Look at it carefully. "They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them." I want you to know there is a break between verse 33 and verse 34, and I will tell you what that break is.

Remember this series is known as the Hallelujah of Confession. Once the psalmist began specifically confessing the sins in verse 7, on down through verse 33, those were the sins that were committed prior to the Canaan conquest. When you get to verse 34 on down through the rest of the chapter, here are the sins that were committed after the Canaan conquest. So, as you can see very easily, the sins continue after they conquer the land as well as before they entered into the land. In fact, the sins increased in intensity and in wickedness so much so that God judged the people. Skip down to verse 40: "Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance, and he gave them into the hand of the heathen. and they that hated them ruled over them." Now, it is my intent to deal with this passage as a whole because it is tied together contextually. Moreover, if you observe this passage as a whole, it's much easier to discern how one sin not only leads to another sin, but how those sins then increase in intensity when they are compounded. Now, I want to basically deal with one point today.

And in doing so, I'm going to cover, Lord willing, from verse 34 through verse 39. Here's the one point I want to emphasize: the source of sin.

The Source of Problems: Disobedience

The primary cause of Israel's troubles was disobedience to God's command to destroy the nations. Weaver asserts that most of our problems stem from our own disobedience, which may seem small but leads to multiplied heartaches.

Now, let me just give you another subtitle or sub point. You could make this point the source of troubles or the source of problems. I want you to understand that the cause of Israel's problems in the Old Testament is the cause of our problems in this day and age as well. Well, what was the source of their problem? Look in verse 34: "They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them." So the source of their problems, you could summarize in one word: disobedience. They literally disobeyed God.

Now, the Bible says in 1 John 3 and verse 4,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:4

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

Now, allow me to emphasize once again that the source of our problems, the source of our troubles, 99.9% of the time comes from our own disobedience to the Word of God. Now, I realize that God is sovereign. And God could, if he saw fit, sovereignly intervene in our lives the way he did in the life of Job, or occasionally the life of other individuals that are recorded in Scripture. But those cases are few and far between. Most of the time, it is not God just dumping problems upon us. We bring the problems upon ourselves because of our own disobedience. And inevitably, our disobedience leads to multitudinous problems and heartaches as well. And the amazing thing is this: when we begin to disobey, and when we begin to sin, our sin and our disobedience seems so small, so insignificant, and so trifling, we think, "Well, surely this cannot possibly bring the heartache and the trouble like the Word of God says." But inevitably and invariably, it does so.

In fact, I want you to note this: everything recorded in Psalm 106, verses 35 on down through the rest of that chapter, is the result of their disobedience in verse 34. Everything that happened, happened as a result of their disobedience. So the truth is this: we not only reap what we sow, we also reap more than we sow. And that's simply a law, not only of nature, but of Scripture. You can plant one grain of corn and reap hundreds of grains. One peanut and reap hundreds of peanuts. But let me tell you, you sow one sin and you can reap a hundred heartaches as well. Now look at verse 34 before we go back in the Scriptures.

God's Command to Destroy the Canaanites

Weaver reviews Old Testament passages (Exodus 23, 34; Deuteronomy 7) where God commanded Israel to utterly destroy the Canaanites, make no covenants, and tear down their religious sites. He emphasizes two points: execute them and destroy their worship.

"They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them." Now let me show you how God commanded them to destroy the nations. Hold Psalm 106 but go back in your Bibles first of all to Exodus chapter 23. Exodus chapter 23 and let's begin reading there with verse 20. Exodus 23 and verse 20. Look what God says. Exodus 23 verse 20:

Scripture Reading — Exodus 23:20-25

"Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off."

Look what God says:

Scripture Reading — Exodus 23:20-25

"Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee."

Now God says,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 23:20-25

"I want them cut off. I want them executed, and I don't want you making any kind of covenant with them. I don't want you bowing down to their gods. I want them all destroyed."

Look, if you would please, to Exodus 34, beginning there with verse 11. Exodus 34 and verse 11. Notice again. God says, "Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.

But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods." Once again, God says, "You are not to enter into covenants with them. You're to throw down every altar, cut down every grove, destroy everything that has any religious significance, get rid of it." Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 7. And beginning there with verse 1, Deuteronomy 7 and verse 1. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 7 verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:1-6

"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." Now, I want you to note God said two simple things in reality. Number one, I want you to execute all of them. Number two, you destroy every vestige of their worship, of their religion. You make no covenant with them whatsoever. You make no marriage with them. You don't take their daughters. You don't give your daughters. You make sure you stay away from the heathen.

Spiritual Application: Mortifying Our Canaanites

Weaver applies the command to New Testament believers, explaining that we must mortify spiritual Canaanites—sinful lusts and desires—by reckoning ourselves dead to sin and not making provision for the flesh (Romans 6, 13; Colossians 3).

Now, Israel failed to obey and consequently reaped a fearful harvest. You say, "I can see that and I understand that, but how in the world would that relate to our lives?" Well, very simply, as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face. Do you realize the command of God is still the same? We are to mortify, we are to execute our spiritual Canaanites. You say, "What in the world are you talking about?" Well, look in your Bibles to two, well actually three passages. The first one is Romans chapter 13 and verse 14. Romans chapter 13, and notice if you would please verse 14. Here's a powerful passage, a simple truth, and yet very often disobeyed. The Bible says in Romans chapter 13 in verse 14,

Scripture Reading — Romans 13:14

"But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

What is he talking about? He's talking about our lusts. He's talking about that which we want by nature, which is absolutely wicked and wrong and contrary to God. So he says, "Here's the answer. You put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you obey Him, and you don't make any provision at all to fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Now, go back in your Bibles to Romans 6. Here he says it very plainly. Romans 6. Note, if you would please, beginning there with verse 11. Romans 6 and verse 11: "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Now look what he says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin."

What in the world is he talking about? Well, the fact is our old man has been crucified with Christ. And what he says is we need to count, we need to impute ourselves dead indeed unto sin. Let me ask you a question. What effect does lust have upon a physically dead man? None. He can't sense anything. He's dead. What about greed? What about power? What about evil thoughts? What about wicked desires? They have no influence over a dead man.

So this is what our Lord is saying. Our Lord is saying we have to reckon ourselves spiritually dead indeed unto sin. Sin is not to have dominion over us. It is not our Lord. It is not to exercise kingship over us. We do not have to obey sin because we have been delivered from sin by the power and by the blood of Jesus Christ. And consequently, when sin comes along, we're to say, "No, we're dead. We're dead in Christ. And our life is hid in God, in Jesus Christ, and we refuse to do that which is wicked and wrong."

Now, many times, guess what? We don't do that. And consequently, we reap a fearful harvest. Here it is again if you look in the book of Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Let me show you how thoroughly the Apostle Paul outlines this same truth. Colossians chapter 3, beginning there with verse 1: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

In other words, He is to be our source of attention. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Now watch what he says. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these..." And then he tells you what all to put off. So what is he saying? We have the same command as the Old Testament Israelites, that is, we are to make dead the spiritual Canaanites in our lives, and we're to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So he's called us then to subdue and to mortify and to make dead these spiritual Canaanites. But wait a minute. We've got to ask a question. What happened to Israel in the Old Testament when they failed to obey God? And what happens to us in the New Testament era when we fail to obey God in the same sense?

First Consequence: Mingling with the Heathen

Because Israel disobeyed, they mingled with the heathen, forming covenants including marriages. Weaver cites Joshua 23 and Ezra 9, then applies 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 to warn against unequal yoking with unbelievers in business, politics, and marriage.

Well, let's go back to Psalm 106 and find out. Let's look, if you would please, at verse 35. Psalm 106, verse 35. Verse 34 tells us they did not destroy those nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. Here's the first result, verse 35: "But were mingled among the heathen. But were mingled among the heathen."

Now the word "mingled" is the Hebrew word "arab," which means to become a surety for, to undertake for, to give a pledge to, or to intermix. Now, I want you to hold Psalm 106, but look back in your Bibles to Joshua 23. I want you to see that Joshua gave the Israelites a fresh warning even after Moses had warned the people repeatedly. So here they are. Joshua has taken them into the land, so he gives them a fresh warning. Look at it. Joshua 23, beginning there with verse 11. Look what he says. Joshua 23, verse 11:

Scripture Reading — Joshua 23:11-13

"Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you."

Ah, what did Joshua say? You better make sure that you obey. Because if you don't, you're going to have problems. Well, what did the people do? They mingled with the heathen. And if you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezra chapter 9, I want you to note something. Their mingling with the heathen was not just simply limited to business dealings. It was not limited to political and or military alliances.

It even got deeper than that. Look in Ezra chapter 9. It is Ezra chapter 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 1. Ezra 9 verse 1.

Scripture Reading — Ezra 9:1-2

"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass."

So their political alliances, their military alliances, their business alliances culminated in marriage covenants, mingling with the heathens. And the consequence was, which I'm going to point out, they were learning the ways of the heathen. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. I can quote this passage, but I want you to see it. You see, the same principle is taught in the New Testament. Look what he says, 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, beginning there, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. Look what God says.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Now that's a simple command. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Now, what is he saying? "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Let's say, for instance, Henry is an unbeliever. Thankfully, he's not. But he's an unbeliever. And I'm a Christian. And we're talking about going into a business partnership together. What does God say? Don't do it. Why? Because Henry's standards are not going to be my standards. His rules are not going to be my rules. And inevitably, invariably, darkness and light are not going to mix. Righteousness and unrighteousness are not going to mix. And there's going to be problems. There's going to be trouble.

Now, if that is true in a business partnership, how much truer is it in a political partnership, a military partnership, and how much even truer is it in a marriage relationship? So God says, "We're not to enter into covenants with the heathen." Does that mean we cannot be civil toward them? Well, of course not. Does that mean we cannot be kind and gracious to the heathen? Well, of course not. Does that mean we cannot evangelize them? Well, of course we may. But what God says is you don't enter into a covenantal relationship with the heathen. It's just that simple. Look at it.

"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." That's why the law forbade the plowing with an ox and a mule. It's an unequal yoking together. And so Israel, of course, refused to obey. And very clearly Christendom today is refusing to obey as well. Because Christians think nothing of entering into business alliances, marriage relationships with the heathen.

Second Consequence: Learning Their Works

Mingling led to learning the wicked works of the heathen. Weaver explains that the godly are pulled down rather than lifting up the ungodly, because the flesh responds to evil. He references Deuteronomy 18:9 and Psalm 1 to urge delight in God's law instead.

Now, we'll look at the result. Go back to Psalm 106. Once again, verse 35. He says, "...but were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." "...and learned their works." Now, I want you to note, the heathen were not learning godly works. The godly were learning ungodly works. Let me put it to you like this. The godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down. Now, the Bible says they learned their wicked works.

Now, the word "learned" literally means to goad or to teach. How is it? And why is it that when a godly man yokes up with an ungodly, it's not the ungodly that learns from the godly, it's the godly that learns from the ungodly. Why is that? The answer is very simple. Because there is nothing in the ungodly man that will respond to righteousness and holiness. What does the Bible say in Romans 8 and verse 9?

"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." In other words, there is nothing in an ungodly man that can please God. There is nothing in him that is righteous and holy and that is wanting to do right. So he's not going to respond to a godly man, but although here's a man that is godly, he is still in a sinful world, in a sinful environment, and he still has his flesh, and his flesh will respond to the wicked works of the ungodly. Let me tell you something, folks. Even righteous people need money. What's that mean? Well, the unrighteous can get money in ways the righteous cannot get it. And you let a righteous man get in a tight, and sometimes he's willing to compromise truth and principle if the ungodly man offers him a way to get out quickly. The point I'm trying to make is there's nothing in an ungodly man that's going to respond to God in this, but there is something in a godly man that will respond to a wicked man.

Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 9. Deuteronomy 18, verse 9. Look what God says:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 18:9

"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations."

God says don't do it. Don't learn their works. Don't learn their deeds. Look in Deuteronomy 20, beginning there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 20, verse 17. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 18:9

"But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God."

Why did God say to destroy them? So they won't teach you to do evil. So you won't learn from them.

Let me tell you something, folks. We are forbidden to learn from the wicked. Their ways are not God's ways. Their thoughts are not God's thoughts. Their plans are not God's plans. And what do we do basically as Christians today? We constantly listen to the world. We constantly learn its ways, use its wisdom, rely upon its provisions, and seek its pleasures. We're doing exactly the opposite of what God has commanded us.

Many of you can quote Psalm 1. So let me just quote a little bit of it. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."

Now let me stop there. Now I want you to think about that verse with me. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel"—c-o-u-n-s-e-l—"the counsel of the ungodly." That's advice. We do not take the advice of the ungodly. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." You see, when you start taking the advice of the ungodly, pretty soon you're going to take the next step. Watch it. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners." That's association. Once you start taking their advice, you're going to start associating with them. And then he says, "nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." The last step is you'll finally end up agreeing with them. The way to stop agreeing with them is never associate with them, that is, in these covenantal relationships, and never, ever listen to their advice.

The godly man delights in the law of the Lord, and in that law does he meditate day and night. Why? He wants the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of man. What does God say in 1 John 2 and verse 15? Listen carefully. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

Now, God has told us not to learn the works of the wicked, and yet we do it every day, many times unconsciously, sometimes deliberately. What do we do? We bring God's judgment upon ourselves exactly the way Israel did in Psalm 106, because we're disobeying God's command about not mingling with the heathen and learning their wicked works. Now, go back to Psalm 106, because that's not the only result of disobeying God.

Third Consequence: Serving Idols as a Snare

Learning their works led to serving idols, which became a snare (destruction). Weaver broadens idolatry to include covetousness, belly-worship, and anything placed before God (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5; Philippians 3:19).

Look at it in verse 36: "and served their idols, which were a snare unto them." You see, when you begin taking their advice, associating with them, you're going to end up eventually agreeing with them, and consequently, you'll be serving their idols, which were a snare unto them. Now, the serving of the idols in the Old Testament was the cause of multitudinous heartaches to the Israelites. I want you to compare two passages. I want you to look, hold Psalm 106, but I want you to look at Exodus 10 and Deuteronomy 7. OK, go back to Exodus 10 and find Deuteronomy 7 and hold that passage. We'll look at Exodus 10 first. Exodus 10. And I'm sorry, it's Exodus 10, not Exodus 20. Exodus 10. I knew I did not have the correct verse. Exodus 10. And look at verse 7. Then we'll turn over to Deuteronomy 7. Exodus 10, verse 7.

"And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" What does a snare mean? It means misery, destruction, heartache. They said, "This man's a snare to us. We've been caught in a trap. We're destroyed." We've been caught in a trap. We're destroyed.

Now, look in Deuteronomy 7. Here's the same word, verse 16. Deuteronomy 7 verse 16, God said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:16

"And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee."

Now just like the snare was the destruction of Egypt, when we serve idols, it is our destruction as well. Now, I can hear people say, "But Pastor, I don't serve idols. I don't bow down to a graven image." May I remind you that an idol can be an idol without being a graven image. May I remind you of Ephesians 5 and verse 5. In fact, turn there.

I want you to see. Ephesians 5 and verse 5. Then we'll turn over to the book of Colossians. Watch this carefully. Ephesians 5 verse 5. Look what Scripture says. Ephesians 5 verse 5:

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 5:5

"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

So you don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater as long as you're covetous. You're an idolater. Look at the book of Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5. Colossians 3 and verse 5. Look what he says.

Scripture Reading — Colossians 3:5

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

One of them. Turn back just a few pages to the book of Philippians, chapter 3, and let's look at verses 18 and 19. Philippians 3, verses 18 and 19. Look what Scripture says: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." "Whose God is their belly."

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they just love to eat all the time. Certainly food can be an idol to us. But when he says "whose God is their belly," he clarifies that, "whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." In other words, they're consumed with this life. They're consumed with this world. They're consumed with pleasure and greed and money and power and sex and family and convenience and anything else other than God. You don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater. Anything that comes before God is an idol.

Whether it's literal, or mental, or emotional, or spiritual. Now, go back to Psalm 106. Let me start tying this together for you. Just showing you that the consequences are the same. In verse 36, "they served their idols, which were a snare to them."

Fourth Consequence: Sacrificing Children to Devils

The ultimate result was child sacrifice to Moloch. Weaver describes Moloch worship, including literal burning and lustration (dedication). He applies this to modern abortion and sacrificing children to gods of convenience, humanism, and government education.

Now look at the fourth result or the consequences of their disobeying God. Verse 37 and 38: "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood." Now, you're going to object and say, "But Brother Weaver, I don't know anyone in this country who would physically sacrifice their child to a false god." Well, I believe I can change your mind on that subject. Let me tell you that the key evil in the Old Testament was Moloch worship. Now, Moloch worship was an aspect of Baal worship. Now, the word Moloch is used different ways in the Bible. Sometimes it is Melech, or Melech, or Milcom, or Malcam, or Malcham. Spelled different ways. But it is still Moloch worship. Now, Moloch was the god of the Ammonites. The word Moloch means king or kingship. I'll have to bring an entire message on this sometime. But I want you to understand that Moloch worship was a political religion, where the king was worshipped as God. Political correctness. We almost have that today, huh? The government as God. Now, I want to show you some things about Moloch worship. First of all, who can tell me who it was that introduced Moloch worship into Israel? You know. Who was it? Who's the king? A good king. What was his name? Solomon. Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 11. You don't have to turn there, but you remember Solomon loved many strange women. Women that God had forbidden him to love and to marry, but he married.

And what did he do? He sinned against God and he built altars for his pagan wives. One of those altars was to Moloch. Now, I want you to understand that Moloch worship sometimes involved the actual burning of children to this false god. He was worshipped in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, which was the garbage dump, basically, of Jerusalem. Sometimes that valley is referred to as Tophet. In fact, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah 32, and look at verse 35, Jeremiah 32, verse 35, notice if you would what Scripture says. Jeremiah 32 verse 35: "And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin." Now note, it's called Molech here. It is in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings 3. 2 Kings 3, verse 27.

You will find that sometimes children were indeed sacrificed. Here's an illustration of it. 2 Kings 3, verse 27. 2 Kings 3 verse 27: "Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land."

Now, look in your Bibles to 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23 and verse 10. I told you earlier sometime the valley of the son of Hinnom was called Tophet. I'll tell you why. Verse 10, 2 Kings 23 verse 10: "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech." Now, Molech was a huge brass statue standing with his arms out like this. There was a hole in his belly. A fire was kindled in the bottom of the statue until his hands and arms began to glow with red hot heat. At that time, they would take a baby and put him in the hands of Molech and the baby would roll down the arms screaming in pain into his stomach to be consumed in the flames. So they would roll the drums and the word "Tophet" means to roll a drum to drown out the cries of the baby as the baby was literally burned to death in sacrifice to Moloch.

If you look back at Psalm 106, I want you to hold 2 Kings 23, okay? Look back to Psalm 106. Evidently, a lot of children were sacrificed that way. Psalm 106, beginning there with verse 37, "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood." So numerous children were sacrificed physically. Their lives were given up to Moloch. However, if you look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings 23 and verse 10 and read this, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech." Now, there was another way of passing through the fire to Molech or to Moloch that did not involve the death of the child.

That was just simply called lustration. Lustration was nothing more than an act of purification. And so what the priest of Baal would do is he would take the dedicated child, or the child to be sacrificed to Moloch, and pass him over the flame, or pass him over the heat in the hand, without the child actually being hurt. It was an act then of dedicating that child to Molech. He was Molech's child. Molech's servant. And thus it was called a passing through the fire as well.

Now, do we physically sacrifice our children to devils today? Yes. What do you think abortion is all about? We're sacrificing children to the god of convenience, to the god of political correctness, to the god of population control. And unhappily, even some Christians have done it. Ignorantly, stupidly, some may have done it purposely and deliberately, and it's still murder. You know why? Because they've learned the ways of the heathen. They've mingled with the heathen. And those Christians who would never, ever have an abortion, would never sacrifice their child physically, yet they do sacrifice their children to the god of political correctness, to the god of public or government education, and that the children turned out to be great little statists and great global citizens. And that doesn't count how we sacrifice our children to the gods of fashion.

Isn't it amazing how children always want the latest in style? We sacrifice our children to the gods of humanism, to greed, to lust, to pleasure. Let me put it to you rather bluntly. When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.

Paul said in Romans 1 in verse 1, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, separated unto the gospel of Christ." You cannot be separated unto Christ and separated unto Moloch at the same time. And what we do is basically this: we sacrifice our children to Moloch by failing to set them apart for Jesus Christ, teaching them His Word, His Law, His Wisdom. There's a proverb in ancient Israel that went like this: "He who does not teach his son the Law, that is the Law of God, and a trade, teaches his son to be a liar and a thief." If you're not set apart for Christ, you're set apart for Moloch. Now look in verse 39 of Psalm 106.

Defilement and Spiritual Adultery

Weaver concludes with verse 39: Israel was defiled by their own works and went a-whoring after their own inventions. He compares this to modern spiritual adultery, where people turn to their own ways instead of God's Word, and warns of reaping corruption.

Let me try to tie it together. We'll pick up here next Sunday. Look in Psalm 106 and verse 39: "Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a-whoring with their own inventions." Verse 39 is certainly applicable today. We're defiled as a nation, as a people, many times as churches and as families with our own works. The word "defiled" literally means filthy, contaminated, that which is foul. So he says we are actually contaminated, we're fouled up with our own works. Why? Because our works are contrary to God and His Word. Do you remember what Isaiah said in Isaiah 64 and verse 6? He said, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

We are all as an unclean thing in sight. You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3, verse 19, about all of his works of righteousness which he had done? He said, "I do count them but dung." Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than dung. And look what he says in verse 39, "...they were defiled with their own works and went a-whoring after their own inventions." And that's what has happened in our land today. We've gone a-whoring after our own inventions. It's like Isaiah 53 said, "We have turned every one to his own way." We like what we like and we want what we want. And it doesn't matter what God says. You see, instead of being faithful to God and His Word, we've turned into a nation of spiritual adulterers. And we're sacrificing to the gods of humanism and political correctness. The results are the same as to whether you lived in the Old Testament times, or New Testament times, or today. As the Apostle Paul put it, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your mercy to be given to us. Lord, our nation is in a mess. Our churches are in turmoil. Families are divided. All because of false gods and disobedience to you and to your word. Lord, regardless of what other people may do, enable each of us to be faithful to thee and faithful to thy word. May we honor thee and be true to thee and bring our lives into conformity to your truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Disobedience as the Root of Problems

Summary: The source of Israel's troubles and our own is disobedience to God's commands. Small acts of disobedience lead to multiplied heartaches and judgment.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the source of their problems, you could summarize in one word: disobedience. They literally disobeyed God.' He adds, 'Most of the time, it is not God just dumping problems upon us. We bring the problems upon ourselves because of our own disobedience.'

Progression of Sin

Summary: Sin compounds and intensifies: disobedience leads to mingling with the world, learning its ways, serving idols, and ultimately sacrificing what is precious.

Evidence: Weaver traces the sequence from verse 34 to 39: 'Everything recorded in Psalm 106, verses 35 on down... is the result of their disobedience in verse 34.' He later says, 'when you begin taking their advice, associating with them, you're going to end up eventually agreeing with them, and consequently, you'll be serving their idols.'

Spiritual Warfare and Mortification

Summary: Believers are commanded to put to death sinful desires (spiritual Canaanites) by reckoning themselves dead to sin and not making provision for the flesh.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We are to mortify, we are to execute our spiritual Canaanites.' He cites Romans 6:11-14 and Colossians 3:5: 'Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.'

Separation from the World

Summary: Christians must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers in covenantal relationships (business, marriage), as such alliances lead to spiritual compromise and defilement.

Evidence: Weaver quotes 2 Corinthians 6:14: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.' He explains, 'you don't enter into a covenantal relationship with the heathen.'

Idolatry in Modern Forms

Summary: Idolatry extends beyond graven images to covetousness, belly-worship, and anything prioritized above God, including pleasure, money, and convenience.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'You don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater as long as you're covetous.' He references Ephesians 5:5 and Philippians 3:19: 'whose God is their belly.'

Child Sacrifice Then and Now

Summary: Ancient Moloch worship involved literal child sacrifice; modern parallels include abortion and dedicating children to secular ideologies instead of Christ.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Do we physically sacrifice our children to devils today? Yes. What do you think abortion is all about?' He adds, 'When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.'

Reaping What We Sow

Summary: The principle of sowing and reaping applies universally: disobedience yields corruption, while obedience to the Spirit yields life.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Galatians 6:7-8: 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'

Key Arguments

Disobedience is the primary cause of personal and national troubles.

Summary: Weaver argues that 99.9% of our problems come from our own disobedience to God's Word, not from God arbitrarily sending trials.

Evidence: He says, 'the source of our problems, the source of our troubles, 99.9% of the time comes from our own disobedience to the Word of God.'

Small sins lead to multiplied consequences.

Summary: Just as one seed produces many, one act of disobedience can yield a hundred heartaches, as seen in Israel's history.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'you sow one sin and you can reap a hundred heartaches as well.'

The command to destroy Canaanites typifies the believer's call to mortify sin.

Summary: Old Testament physical warfare prefigures New Testament spiritual warfare against indwelling sin.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face.'

Unequal yoking with unbelievers inevitably leads to spiritual decline.

Summary: When believers enter covenants with unbelievers, the godly are pulled down rather than the ungodly being lifted up, because the flesh responds to evil.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'the godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down.'

Idolatry is any ultimate allegiance other than God.

Summary: Covetousness, gluttony, and worldly-mindedness are forms of idolatry, making idolaters of many who would never bow to a statue.

Evidence: Weaver cites Colossians 3:5: 'covetousness, which is idolatry,' and Philippians 3:19: 'whose God is their belly.'

Modern child sacrifice occurs through abortion and secular indoctrination.

Summary: Abortion is sacrificing children to gods of convenience; failing to disciple children in God's Word dedicates them to Moloch (the world's system).

Evidence: Weaver says, 'What do you think abortion is all about? We're sacrificing children to the god of convenience... When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.'

Human works apart from Christ are defiled and worthless.

Summary: Like Israel's own inventions, any righteousness done apart from God is filthy rags; only obedience to God's Word produces lasting fruit.

Evidence: Weaver references Isaiah 64:6 and Philippians 3:8, saying, 'Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than dung.'

Scripture References

Psalm 106:34-48

Context: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. Weaver focuses on verses 34-39 as the post-conquest sins of Israel.

1 John 3:4

Context: Quoted to define sin as transgression of the law, supporting the point that disobedience is the root problem.

Exodus 23:20-25

Context: God's command to destroy the Canaanites and not serve their gods; used to show the original command Israel disobeyed.

Exodus 34:11-17

Context: Reinforces the command to make no covenants and destroy altars, warning against intermarriage and idolatry.

Deuteronomy 7:1-6

Context: Detailed command to utterly destroy seven nations, make no covenants or marriages, and destroy their religious items.

Romans 13:14

Context: Put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh; applied to mortifying spiritual Canaanites.

Romans 6:11-14

Context: Reckon yourselves dead to sin; sin shall not have dominion; used to explain spiritual mortification.

Colossians 3:1-5

Context: Seek things above, mortify earthly members; cited to show the New Testament command to put sin to death.

Joshua 23:11-13

Context: Joshua's warning that if Israel cleaves to the remnant nations, they will become snares and thorns.

Ezra 9:1-2

Context: Post-exilic example of Israel mingling with heathen through marriages, showing the ongoing problem.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Context: Command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers; applied to business, political, and marriage covenants.

Deuteronomy 18:9

Context: Prohibition against learning the abominations of the nations; used to warn against adopting worldly ways.

Deuteronomy 20:17-18

Context: Reason for destruction: so the nations would not teach Israel to sin; reinforces the learning theme.

Psalm 1:1-2

Context: Blessed is the man who avoids ungodly counsel, way, and seat; used to illustrate progression of compromise.

1 John 2:15-17

Context: Love not the world; the world passes away; cited to warn against worldly affections.

Exodus 10:7

Context: Pharaoh's servants call Moses a snare, meaning destruction; used to define 'snare' in Psalm 106:36.

Deuteronomy 7:16

Context: Serving other gods will be a snare; parallels the warning in Psalm 106.

Ephesians 5:5

Context: Covetous man is an idolater; used to expand the definition of idolatry.

Colossians 3:5

Context: Covetousness is idolatry; reinforces the point that idolatry is not limited to graven images.

Philippians 3:18-19

Context: Enemies of the cross whose god is their belly; illustrates worldly idolatry.

Historical References

Canaanite nations (Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, etc.)

Context: The peoples God commanded Israel to destroy upon entering the Promised Land; their continued presence led to Israel's sin.

Joshua's warning to Israel

Context: After the conquest, Joshua warned Israel not to cleave to the remaining nations, predicting they would become snares.

Post-exilic intermarriage (Ezra 9)

Context: After the return from exile, Israelites had married foreign women, repeating the sin of mingling with heathen.

Moloch/Molech worship

Context: An Ammonite deity associated with child sacrifice; introduced to Israel by Solomon (1 Kings 11) and practiced in the Valley of Hinnom.

Solomon's idolatry

Context: Solomon built altars for his foreign wives, including one to Moloch, introducing this abomination to Israel.

Valley of Hinnom / Tophet

Context: The garbage dump outside Jerusalem where child sacrifices to Moloch occurred; later defiled by Josiah to stop the practice.

King Josiah's reforms

Context: Josiah defiled Topheth to prevent child sacrifice, as recorded in 2 Kings 23:10.

Lustration ritual

Context: A non-lethal dedication ceremony where a child was passed over flames to consecrate them to Moloch.

Important Quotes

the source of their problems, you could summarize in one word: disobedience. They literally disobeyed God.

Significance: Succinctly states the central thesis of the sermon: all troubles stem from disobedience.

Most of the time, it is not God just dumping problems upon us. We bring the problems upon ourselves because of our own disobedience.

Significance: Emphasizes human responsibility for suffering, countering a fatalistic view of sovereignty.

you sow one sin and you can reap a hundred heartaches as well.

Significance: Illustrates the compounding nature of sin's consequences.

as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face.

Significance: Key hermeneutical bridge from Old Testament warfare to New Testament mortification.

the godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down.

Significance: Explains the one-way influence in unequal yoking.

You don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater as long as you're covetous.

Significance: Broadens the definition of idolatry to include internal sins.

When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.

Significance: Stark application of child dedication to modern parenting and education choices.

Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than dung.

Significance: Summarizes the worthlessness of human works and inventions.

Discussion Questions

In what ways do we tend to minimize the consequences of 'small' acts of disobedience? How does Psalm 106 challenge that mindset?

Context: Weaver argues that small sins lead to multiplied heartaches, using the progression in Psalm 106.

What are some 'spiritual Canaanites' in your life that you have failed to mortify? How can Romans 6:11-14 help you reckon yourself dead to them?

Context: Weaver applies the command to destroy Canaanites to putting sin to death in the believer's life.

What does it mean to be 'unequally yoked' with unbelievers in today's context? Are there relationships or partnerships you need to reevaluate?

Context: Weaver discusses 2 Corinthians 6:14 and warns against covenantal relationships with unbelievers.

How can we identify modern forms of idolatry in our lives? What 'gods' compete for our ultimate allegiance?

Context: Weaver expands idolatry to covetousness, belly-worship, and anything before God.

In what ways might we be 'sacrificing' our children to the world's system rather than setting them apart for Christ?

Context: Weaver parallels Moloch worship with abortion and secular education, urging dedication to Christ.

What are some 'own inventions' or self-devised ways that Christians and churches rely on instead of God's Word?

Context: Weaver concludes with verse 39, warning against going a-whoring after our own inventions.

How does the principle of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7-8) give both a warning and a hope in the Christian life?

Context: Weaver ends with the sowing/reaping principle as a summary application.

Applications

Examine and repent of disobedience

Summary: Recognize that most personal troubles stem from disobedience to God's Word, and turn from even 'small' sins before they multiply.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the source of our problems, the source of our troubles, 99.9% of the time comes from our own disobedience to the Word of God.'

Actively mortify sinful desires

Summary: Reckon yourself dead to sin and make no provision for the flesh; put to death specific lusts and temptations through the power of Christ.

Evidence: Weaver urges, 'we are to mortify, we are to execute our spiritual Canaanites,' citing Romans 6 and Colossians 3.

Avoid unequal yoking with unbelievers

Summary: Do not enter binding partnerships, business deals, or marriages with those who do not share biblical values, as it leads to spiritual decline.

Evidence: Weaver applies 2 Corinthians 6:14: 'you don't enter into a covenantal relationship with the heathen.'

Guard against learning the world's ways

Summary: Delight in God's law and meditate on it rather than adopting the advice, methods, and values of the ungodly.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'We are forbidden to learn from the wicked,' and quotes Psalm 1.

Identify and renounce modern idols

Summary: Examine your heart for covetousness, love of pleasure, or anything that takes God's rightful place, and repent of idolatry.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Anything that comes before God is an idol,' referencing Ephesians 5:5 and Philippians 3:19.

Dedicate children to Christ, not the world

Summary: Set children apart for God through biblical discipleship and education, rejecting secular indoctrination that sacrifices them to humanism.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.'

Rely on God's Word, not human inventions

Summary: Reject self-devised religious practices and philosophies; bring every area of life into conformity with Scripture.

Evidence: Weaver laments, 'we've gone a-whoring after our own inventions,' and calls for faithfulness to God's truth.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T22:36:04Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-05T22:58:40Z

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The Hallelujah of Confession - Part 15 of 16

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Alright, let's open our Bibles then today to Psalm 106. Psalm 106, and let's begin reading with verse 34. And we're going to read down through verse, let's see, probably verse 39 anyhow. In fact, we'll just go ahead and read the entire passage here through verse 48. Psalm 106, beginning with verse 34: "They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works, and they served their idols, which were a snare to them.
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Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a-whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
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And he gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought in subjection under their hand. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry. He remembered for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.
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Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say amen. Praise ye the Lord.
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Now we are approaching the last portion of this chapter, as you can see. And it is my intention, if the Lord allows it, to wind this passage up next Lord's Day. I hope I can do it. There is one important subject on down in these verses that I want to deal with, but hopefully I'll be able to finish the passage next Lord's Day as well. But I hope you've noticed something beginning with verse 34. Look at it carefully. "They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them." I want you to know there is a break between verse 33 and verse 34, and I will tell you what that break is.
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Remember this series is known as the Hallelujah of Confession. Once the psalmist began specifically confessing the sins in verse 7, on down through verse 33, those were the sins that were committed prior to the Canaan conquest. When you get to verse 34 on down through the rest of the chapter, here are the sins that were committed after the Canaan conquest. So, as you can see very easily, the sins continue after they conquer the land as well as before they entered into the land. In fact, the sins increased in intensity and in wickedness so much so that God judged the people. Skip down to verse 40: "Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance, and he gave them into the hand of the heathen.
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and they that hated them ruled over them." Now, it is my intent to deal with this passage as a whole because it is tied together contextually. Moreover, if you observe this passage as a whole, it's much easier to discern how one sin not only leads to another sin, but how those sins then increase in intensity when they are compounded. Now, I want to basically deal with one point today.
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And in doing so, I'm going to cover, Lord willing, from verse 34 through verse 39. Here's the one point I want to emphasize: the source of sin.
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Now, let me just give you another subtitle or sub point. You could make this point the source of troubles or the source of problems. I want you to understand that the cause of Israel's problems in the Old Testament is the cause of our problems in this day and age as well. Well, what was the source of their problem? Look in verse 34: "They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them." So the source of their problems, you could summarize in one word: disobedience. They literally disobeyed God.
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Now, the Bible says in 1 John 3 and verse 4, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." Now, allow me to emphasize once again that the source of our problems, the source of our troubles, 99.9% of the time comes from our own disobedience to the Word of God. Now, I realize that God is sovereign. And God could, if he saw fit, sovereignly intervene in our lives the way he did in the life of Job, or occasionally the life of other individuals that are recorded in Scripture.
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But those cases are few and far between. Most of the time, it is not God just dumping problems upon us. We bring the problems upon ourselves because of our own disobedience. And inevitably, our disobedience leads to multitudinous problems and heartaches as well. And the amazing thing is this: when we begin to disobey, and when we begin to sin, our sin and our disobedience seems so small, so insignificant, and so trifling, we think, "Well, surely this cannot possibly bring the heartache and the trouble like the Word of God says." But inevitably and invariably, it does so.
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In fact, I want you to note this: everything recorded in Psalm 106, verses 35 on down through the rest of that chapter, is the result of their disobedience in verse 34. Everything that happened, happened as a result of their disobedience. So the truth is this: we not only reap what we sow, we also reap more than we sow. And that's simply a law, not only of nature, but of Scripture. You can plant one grain of corn and reap hundreds of grains. One peanut and reap hundreds of peanuts. But let me tell you, you sow one sin and you can reap a hundred heartaches as well. Now look at verse 34 before we go back in the Scriptures.
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"They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them." Now let me show you how God commanded them to destroy the nations. Hold Psalm 106 but go back in your Bibles first of all to Exodus chapter 23. Exodus chapter 23 and let's begin reading there with verse 20. Exodus 23 and verse 20. Look what God says. Exodus 23 verse 20: "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
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Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off." Look what God says: "Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." Now God says, "I want them cut off. I want them executed, and I don't want you making any kind of covenant with them. I don't want you bowing down to their gods. I want them all destroyed."
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Look, if you would please, to Exodus 34, beginning there with verse 11. Exodus 34 and verse 11. Notice again. God says, "Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.
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But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods." Once again, God says, "You are not to enter into covenants with them. You're to throw down every altar, cut down every grove, destroy everything that has any religious significance, get rid of it."
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Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 7. And beginning there with verse 1, Deuteronomy 7 and verse 1. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 7 verse 1: "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
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But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."
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Now, I want you to note God said two simple things in reality. Number one, I want you to execute all of them. Number two, you destroy every vestige of their worship, of their religion. You make no covenant with them whatsoever. You make no marriage with them. You don't take their daughters. You don't give your daughters. You make sure you stay away from the heathen.
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Now, Israel failed to obey and consequently reaped a fearful harvest. You say, "I can see that and I understand that, but how in the world would that relate to our lives?" Well, very simply, as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face. Do you realize the command of God is still the same? We are to mortify, we are to execute our spiritual Canaanites. You say, "What in the world are you talking about?" Well, look in your Bibles to two, well actually three passages.
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The first one is Romans chapter 13 and verse 14. Romans chapter 13, and notice if you would please verse 14. Here's a powerful passage, a simple truth, and yet very often disobeyed. The Bible says in Romans chapter 13 in verse 14, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
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What is he talking about? He's talking about our lusts. He's talking about that which we want by nature, which is absolutely wicked and wrong and contrary to God. So he says, "Here's the answer. You put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you obey Him, and you don't make any provision at all to fulfill the lust of the flesh."
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Now, go back in your Bibles to Romans 6. Here he says it very plainly. Romans 6. Note, if you would please, beginning there with verse 11. Romans 6 and verse 11: "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Now look what he says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin."
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What in the world is he talking about? Well, the fact is our old man has been crucified with Christ. And what he says is we need to count, we need to impute ourselves dead indeed unto sin. Let me ask you a question. What effect does lust have upon a physically dead man? None. He can't sense anything. He's dead. What about greed? What about power? What about evil thoughts? What about wicked desires? They have no influence over a dead man.
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So this is what our Lord is saying. Our Lord is saying we have to reckon ourselves spiritually dead indeed unto sin. Sin is not to have dominion over us. It is not our Lord. It is not to exercise kingship over us. We do not have to obey sin because we have been delivered from sin by the power and by the blood of Jesus Christ. And consequently, when sin comes along, we're to say, "No, we're dead. We're dead in Christ. And our life is hid in God, in Jesus Christ, and we refuse to do that which is wicked and wrong."
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Now, many times, guess what? We don't do that. And consequently, we reap a fearful harvest. Here it is again if you look in the book of Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Let me show you how thoroughly the Apostle Paul outlines this same truth. Colossians chapter 3, beginning there with verse 1: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
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In other words, He is to be our source of attention. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
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Now watch what he says. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these..." And then he tells you what all to put off.
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So what is he saying? We have the same command as the Old Testament Israelites, that is, we are to make dead the spiritual Canaanites in our lives, and we're to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So he's called us then to subdue and to mortify and to make dead these spiritual Canaanites. But wait a minute. We've got to ask a question. What happened to Israel in the Old Testament when they failed to obey God? And what happens to us in the New Testament era when we fail to obey God in the same sense?
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Well, let's go back to Psalm 106 and find out. Let's look, if you would please, at verse 35. Psalm 106, verse 35. Verse 34 tells us they did not destroy those nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. Here's the first result, verse 35: "But were mingled among the heathen. But were mingled among the heathen."
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Now the word "mingled" is the Hebrew word "arab," which means to become a surety for, to undertake for, to give a pledge to, or to intermix.
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Now, I want you to hold Psalm 106, but look back in your Bibles to Joshua 23. I want you to see that Joshua gave the Israelites a fresh warning even after Moses had warned the people repeatedly. So here they are. Joshua has taken them into the land, so he gives them a fresh warning. Look at it. Joshua 23, beginning there with verse 11. Look what he says. Joshua 23, verse 11:
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"Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you."
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Ah, what did Joshua say? You better make sure that you obey. Because if you don't, you're going to have problems. Well, what did the people do? They mingled with the heathen. And if you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezra chapter 9, I want you to note something. Their mingling with the heathen was not just simply limited to business dealings. It was not limited to political and or military alliances.
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It even got deeper than that. Look in Ezra chapter 9. It is Ezra chapter 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 1. Ezra 9 verse 1.
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"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass."
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So their political alliances, their military alliances, their business alliances culminated in marriage covenants, mingling with the heathens. And the consequence was, which I'm going to point out, they were learning the ways of the heathen. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. I can quote this passage, but I want you to see it. You see, the same principle is taught in the New Testament. Look what he says, 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, beginning there, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. Look what God says.
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"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Now that's a simple command. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
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Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Now, what is he saying? "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Let's say, for instance, Henry is an unbeliever. Thankfully, he's not. But he's an unbeliever. And I'm a Christian. And we're talking about going into a business partnership together. What does God say? Don't do it. Why? Because Henry's standards are not going to be my standards. His rules are not going to be my rules. And inevitably, invariably, darkness and light are not going to mix. Righteousness and unrighteousness are not going to mix. And there's going to be problems. There's going to be trouble.
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Now, if that is true in a business partnership, how much truer is it in a political partnership, a military partnership, and how much even truer is it in a marriage relationship? So God says, "We're not to enter into covenants with the heathen." Does that mean we cannot be civil toward them? Well, of course not. Does that mean we cannot be kind and gracious to the heathen? Well, of course not. Does that mean we cannot evangelize them? Well, of course we may. But what God says is you don't enter into a covenantal relationship with the heathen. It's just that simple. Look at it.
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"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." That's why the law forbade the plowing with an ox and a mule. It's an unequal yoking together. And so Israel, of course, refused to obey. And very clearly Christendom today is refusing to obey as well. Because Christians think nothing of entering into business alliances, marriage relationships with the heathen.
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Now, we'll look at the result. Go back to Psalm 106. Once again, verse 35. He says, "...but were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." "...and learned their works." Now, I want you to note, the heathen were not learning godly works. The godly were learning ungodly works. Let me put it to you like this. The godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down. Now, the Bible says they learned their wicked works.
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Now, the word "learned" literally means to goad or to teach. How is it? And why is it that when a godly man yokes up with an ungodly, it's not the ungodly that learns from the godly, it's the godly that learns from the ungodly. Why is that? The answer is very simple. Because there is nothing in the ungodly man that will respond to righteousness and holiness. What does the Bible say in Romans 8 and verse 9?
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"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." In other words, there is nothing in an ungodly man that can please God. There is nothing in him that is righteous and holy and that is wanting to do right. So he's not going to respond to a godly man, but although here's a man that is godly, he is still in a sinful world, in a sinful environment, and he still has his flesh, and his flesh will respond to the wicked works of the ungodly.
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Let me tell you something, folks. Even righteous people need money. What's that mean? Well, the unrighteous can get money in ways the righteous cannot get it. And you let a righteous man get in a tight, and sometimes he's willing to compromise truth and principle if the ungodly man offers him a way to get out quickly. The point I'm trying to make is there's nothing in an ungodly man that's going to respond to God in this, but there is something in a godly man that will respond to a wicked man.
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Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 9. Deuteronomy 18, verse 9. Look what God says: "When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations." God says don't do it. Don't learn their works. Don't learn their deeds. Look in Deuteronomy 20, beginning there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 20, verse 17. God says, "But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God." Why did God say to destroy them? So they won't teach you to do evil. So you won't learn from them.
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Let me tell you something, folks. We are forbidden to learn from the wicked. Their ways are not God's ways. Their thoughts are not God's thoughts. Their plans are not God's plans. And what do we do basically as Christians today? We constantly listen to the world. We constantly learn its ways, use its wisdom, rely upon its provisions, and seek its pleasures. We're doing exactly the opposite of what God has commanded us.
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Many of you can quote Psalm 1. So let me just quote a little bit of it. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."
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Now let me stop there. Now I want you to think about that verse with me. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel"—c-o-u-n-s-e-l—"the counsel of the ungodly." That's advice. We do not take the advice of the ungodly. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." You see, when you start taking the advice of the ungodly, pretty soon you're going to take the next step. Watch it. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners." That's association. Once you start taking their advice, you're going to start associating with them. And then he says, "nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." The last step is you'll finally end up agreeing with them. The way to stop agreeing with them is never associate with them, that is, in these covenantal relationships, and never, ever listen to their advice.
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The godly man delights in the law of the Lord, and in that law does he meditate day and night. Why? He wants the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of man. What does God say in 1 John 2 and verse 15? Listen carefully. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
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Now, God has told us not to learn the works of the wicked, and yet we do it every day, many times unconsciously, sometimes deliberately. What do we do? We bring God's judgment upon ourselves exactly the way Israel did in Psalm 106, because we're disobeying God's command about not mingling with the heathen and learning their wicked works. Now, go back to Psalm 106, because that's not the only result of disobeying God.
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Look at it in verse 36: "and served their idols, which were a snare unto them." You see, when you begin taking their advice, associating with them, you're going to end up eventually agreeing with them, and consequently, you'll be serving their idols, which were a snare unto them. Now, the serving of the idols in the Old Testament was the cause of multitudinous heartaches to the Israelites. I want you to compare two passages. I want you to look, hold Psalm 106, but I want you to look at Exodus 10 and Deuteronomy 7. OK, go back to Exodus 10 and find Deuteronomy 7 and hold that passage. We'll look at Exodus 10 first. Exodus 10. And I'm sorry, it's Exodus 10, not Exodus 20. Exodus 10. I knew I did not have the correct verse. Exodus 10. And look at verse 7. Then we'll turn over to Deuteronomy 7. Exodus 10, verse 7.
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"And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" What does a snare mean? It means misery, destruction, heartache. They said, "This man's a snare to us. We've been caught in a trap. We're destroyed."
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We've been caught in a trap. We're destroyed.
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Now, look in Deuteronomy 7. Here's the same word, verse 16. Deuteronomy 7 verse 16, God said, "And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee." Now just like the snare was the destruction of Egypt, when we serve idols, it is our destruction as well. Now, I can hear people say, "But Pastor, I don't serve idols. I don't bow down to a graven image." May I remind you that an idol can be an idol without being a graven image. May I remind you of Ephesians 5 and verse 5. In fact, turn there.
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I want you to see. Ephesians 5 and verse 5. Then we'll turn over to the book of Colossians. Watch this carefully. Ephesians 5 verse 5. Look what Scripture says. Ephesians 5 verse 5: "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." So you don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater as long as you're covetous. You're an idolater. Look at the book of Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5. Colossians 3 and verse 5. Look what he says.
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"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." One of them. Turn back just a few pages to the book of Philippians, chapter 3, and let's look at verses 18 and 19. Philippians 3, verses 18 and 19. Look what Scripture says: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." "Whose God is their belly."
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Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they just love to eat all the time. Certainly food can be an idol to us. But when he says "whose God is their belly," he clarifies that, "whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." In other words, they're consumed with this life. They're consumed with this world. They're consumed with pleasure and greed and money and power and sex and family and convenience and anything else other than God. You don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater. Anything that comes before God is an idol.
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Whether it's literal, or mental, or emotional, or spiritual. Now, go back to Psalm 106. Let me start tying this together for you. Just showing you that the consequences are the same. In verse 36, "they served their idols, which were a snare to them."
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Now look at the fourth result or the consequences of their disobeying God. Verse 37 and 38: "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood."
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Now, you're going to object and say, "But Brother Weaver, I don't know anyone in this country who would physically sacrifice their child to a false god." Well, I believe I can change your mind on that subject. Let me tell you that the key evil in the Old Testament was Moloch worship. Now, Moloch worship was an aspect of Baal worship. Now, the word Moloch is used different ways in the Bible.
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Sometimes it is Melech, or Melech, or Milcom, or Malcam, or Malcham. Spelled different ways. But it is still Moloch worship. Now, Moloch was the god of the Ammonites. The word Moloch means king or kingship. I'll have to bring an entire message on this sometime. But I want you to understand that Moloch worship was a political religion, where the king was worshipped as God. Political correctness. We almost have that today, huh? The government as God. Now, I want to show you some things about Moloch worship. First of all, who can tell me who it was that introduced Moloch worship into Israel? You know. Who was it? Who's the king? A good king. What was his name? Solomon. Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 11. You don't have to turn there, but you remember Solomon loved many strange women. Women that God had forbidden him to love and to marry, but he married.
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And what did he do? He sinned against God and he built altars for his pagan wives. One of those altars was to Moloch. Now, I want you to understand that Moloch worship sometimes involved the actual burning of children to this false god. He was worshipped in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, which was the garbage dump, basically, of Jerusalem. Sometimes that valley is referred to as Tophet.
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In fact, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah 32, and look at verse 35, Jeremiah 32, verse 35, notice if you would what Scripture says. Jeremiah 32 verse 35: "And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin." Now note, it's called Molech here. It is in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Kings 3. 2 Kings 3, verse 27.
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You will find that sometimes children were indeed sacrificed. Here's an illustration of it. 2 Kings 3, verse 27. 2 Kings 3 verse 27: "Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land."
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Now, look in your Bibles to 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23 and verse 10. I told you earlier sometime the valley of the son of Hinnom was called Tophet. I'll tell you why. Verse 10, 2 Kings 23 verse 10: "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech." Now, Molech was a huge brass statue standing with his arms out like this. There was a hole in his belly. A fire was kindled in the bottom of the statue until his hands and arms began to glow with red hot heat. At that time, they would take a baby and put him in the hands of Molech and the baby would roll down the arms screaming in pain into his stomach to be consumed in the flames. So they would roll the drums and the word "Tophet" means to roll a drum to drown out the cries of the baby as the baby was literally burned to death in sacrifice to Moloch.
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If you look back at Psalm 106, I want you to hold 2 Kings 23, okay? Look back to Psalm 106. Evidently, a lot of children were sacrificed that way. Psalm 106, beginning there with verse 37, "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood." So numerous children were sacrificed physically.
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Their lives were given up to Moloch. However, if you look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings 23 and verse 10 and read this, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech." Now, there was another way of passing through the fire to Molech or to Moloch that did not involve the death of the child.
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That was just simply called lustration. Lustration was nothing more than an act of purification. And so what the priest of Baal would do is he would take the dedicated child, or the child to be sacrificed to Moloch, and pass him over the flame, or pass him over the heat in the hand, without the child actually being hurt. It was an act then of dedicating that child to Molech. He was Molech's child. Molech's servant. And thus it was called a passing through the fire as well.
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Now, do we physically sacrifice our children to devils today? Yes. What do you think abortion is all about? We're sacrificing children to the god of convenience, to the god of political correctness, to the god of population control. And unhappily, even some Christians have done it. Ignorantly, stupidly, some may have done it purposely and deliberately, and it's still murder. You know why? Because they've learned the ways of the heathen. They've mingled with the heathen. And those Christians who would never, ever have an abortion, would never sacrifice their child physically, yet they do sacrifice their children to the god of political correctness, to the god of public or government education, and that the children turned out to be great little statists and great global citizens. And that doesn't count how we sacrifice our children to the gods of fashion.
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Isn't it amazing how children always want the latest in style? We sacrifice our children to the gods of humanism, to greed, to lust, to pleasure. Let me put it to you rather bluntly. When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.
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Paul said in Romans 1 in verse 1, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, separated unto the gospel of Christ." You cannot be separated unto Christ and separated unto Moloch at the same time. And what we do is basically this: we sacrifice our children to Moloch by failing to set them apart for Jesus Christ, teaching them His Word, His Law, His Wisdom. There's a proverb in ancient Israel that went like this: "He who does not teach his son the Law, that is the Law of God, and a trade, teaches his son to be a liar and a thief." If you're not set apart for Christ, you're set apart for Moloch. Now look in verse 39 of Psalm 106.
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Let me try to tie it together. We'll pick up here next Sunday. Look in Psalm 106 and verse 39: "Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a-whoring with their own inventions." Verse 39 is certainly applicable today. We're defiled as a nation, as a people, many times as churches and as families with our own works. The word "defiled" literally means filthy, contaminated, that which is foul. So he says we are actually contaminated, we're fouled up with our own works. Why? Because our works are contrary to God and His Word. Do you remember what Isaiah said in Isaiah 64 and verse 6? He said, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."
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We are all as an unclean thing in sight. You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3, verse 19, about all of his works of righteousness which he had done? He said, "I do count them but dung." Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than dung. And look what he says in verse 39, "...they were defiled with their own works and went a-whoring after their own inventions."
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And that's what has happened in our land today. We've gone a-whoring after our own inventions. It's like Isaiah 53 said, "We have turned every one to his own way." We like what we like and we want what we want. And it doesn't matter what God says. You see, instead of being faithful to God and His Word, we've turned into a nation of spiritual adulterers. And we're sacrificing to the gods of humanism and political correctness. The results are the same as to whether you lived in the Old Testament times, or New Testament times, or today. As the Apostle Paul put it, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked.
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Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your mercy to be given to us. Lord, our nation is in a mess. Our churches are in turmoil. Families are divided. All because of false gods and disobedience to you and to your word. Lord, regardless of what other people may do, enable each of us to be faithful to thee and faithful to thy word. May we honor thee and be true to thee and bring our lives into conformity to your truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.
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Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And he that soweth the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your mercy to be given to us. Lord, our nation is in a mess. Our churches are in turmoil. Families are divided. All because of false gods and disobedience to you and to your word. Lord, regardless of what other people may do, enable each of us to be faithful to thee and faithful to thy word. May we honor thee and be true to thee and bring our lives into conformity to your truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T22:36:04Z

The Hallelujah of Confession - Part 15 of 16

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, John Weaver examines Psalm 106:34-39, highlighting that the root of Israel's post-conquest troubles was disobedience to God's command to destroy the Canaanites. He traces the progression from disobedience to mingling with the heathen, learning their works, serving idols, and ultimately sacrificing children to devils. Weaver applies these principles to the New Testament believer, emphasizing that Christians are called to mortify spiritual Canaanites (sinful desires) and avoid unequal yoking with unbelievers. The sermon warns that failure to obey leads to defilement and spiritual adultery, urging faithfulness to God's Word.

Introduction and Context of Psalm 106:34-39

Scripture Reading — Psalm 106:34-48

"They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works, and they served their idols, which were a snare to them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a-whoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

And in doing so, I'm going to cover, Lord willing, from verse 34 through verse 39. Here's the one point I want to emphasize: the source of sin.

The Source of Problems: Disobedience

Now, the Bible says in 1 John 3 and verse 4,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:4

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

God's Command to Destroy the Canaanites

Scripture Reading — Exodus 23:20-25

"Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off."

Look what God says:

Scripture Reading — Exodus 23:20-25

"Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee."

Now God says,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 23:20-25

"I want them cut off. I want them executed, and I don't want you making any kind of covenant with them. I don't want you bowing down to their gods. I want them all destroyed."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:1-6

"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

Spiritual Application: Mortifying Our Canaanites

Scripture Reading — Romans 13:14

"But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

First Consequence: Mingling with the Heathen

Scripture Reading — Joshua 23:11-13

"Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you."

It even got deeper than that. Look in Ezra chapter 9. It is Ezra chapter 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 1. Ezra 9 verse 1.

Scripture Reading — Ezra 9:1-2

"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass."

Second Consequence: Learning Their Works

Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 9. Deuteronomy 18, verse 9. Look what God says:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 18:9

"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations."

God says don't do it. Don't learn their works. Don't learn their deeds. Look in Deuteronomy 20, beginning there with verse 17. Deuteronomy 20, verse 17. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 18:9

"But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God."

Why did God say to destroy them? So they won't teach you to do evil. So you won't learn from them.

Third Consequence: Serving Idols as a Snare

Now, look in Deuteronomy 7. Here's the same word, verse 16. Deuteronomy 7 verse 16, God said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:16

"And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee."

I want you to see. Ephesians 5 and verse 5. Then we'll turn over to the book of Colossians. Watch this carefully. Ephesians 5 verse 5. Look what Scripture says. Ephesians 5 verse 5:

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 5:5

"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

Scripture Reading — Colossians 3:5

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

Fourth Consequence: Sacrificing Children to Devils

Defilement and Spiritual Adultery

The Hallelujah of Confession - Part 15 of 16

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	117091520404
Subject	Education and Discipleship
Course	Christian Education and Discipleship
Genre	Sermon
Date	2000-09-10
Dictation Name
Book	Book 053: The Hallelujah of Confession — Chapter 15
Source Timed Segments	77

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Context of Psalm 106:34-39: Weaver introduces the passage, noting the break between verse 33 and 34, where the psalmist shifts from sins before the Canaan conquest to sins after it. He states his intent to cover verses 34-39, emphasizing the source of sin.
The Source of Problems: Disobedience: The primary cause of Israel's troubles was disobedience to God's command to destroy the nations. Weaver asserts that most of our problems stem from our own disobedience, which may seem small but leads to multiplied heartaches.
God's Command to Destroy the Canaanites: Weaver reviews Old Testament passages (Exodus 23, 34; Deuteronomy 7) where God commanded Israel to utterly destroy the Canaanites, make no covenants, and tear down their religious sites. He emphasizes two points: execute them and destroy their worship.
Spiritual Application: Mortifying Our Canaanites: Weaver applies the command to New Testament believers, explaining that we must mortify spiritual Canaanites—sinful lusts and desires—by reckoning ourselves dead to sin and not making provision for the flesh (Romans 6, 13; Colossians 3).
First Consequence: Mingling with the Heathen: Because Israel disobeyed, they mingled with the heathen, forming covenants including marriages. Weaver cites Joshua 23 and Ezra 9, then applies 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 to warn against unequal yoking with unbelievers in business, politics, and marriage.
Second Consequence: Learning Their Works: Mingling led to learning the wicked works of the heathen. Weaver explains that the godly are pulled down rather than lifting up the ungodly, because the flesh responds to evil. He references Deuteronomy 18:9 and Psalm 1 to urge delight in God's law instead.
Third Consequence: Serving Idols as a Snare: Learning their works led to serving idols, which became a snare (destruction). Weaver broadens idolatry to include covetousness, belly-worship, and anything placed before God (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5; Philippians 3:19).
Fourth Consequence: Sacrificing Children to Devils: The ultimate result was child sacrifice to Moloch. Weaver describes Moloch worship, including literal burning and lustration (dedication). He applies this to modern abortion and sacrificing children to gods of convenience, humanism, and government education.
Defilement and Spiritual Adultery: Weaver concludes with verse 39: Israel was defiled by their own works and went a-whoring after their own inventions. He compares this to modern spiritual adultery, where people turn to their own ways instead of God's Word, and warns of reaping corruption.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Disobedience is the primary cause of personal and national troubles.

Weaver argues that 99.9% of our problems come from our own disobedience to God's Word, not from God arbitrarily sending trials.

He says, 'the source of our problems, the source of our troubles, 99.9% of the time comes from our own disobedience to the Word of God.'

Small sins lead to multiplied consequences.

Just as one seed produces many, one act of disobedience can yield a hundred heartaches, as seen in Israel's history.

Weaver states, 'you sow one sin and you can reap a hundred heartaches as well.'

The command to destroy Canaanites typifies the believer's call to mortify sin.

Old Testament physical warfare prefigures New Testament spiritual warfare against indwelling sin.

Weaver says, 'as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face.'

Unequal yoking with unbelievers inevitably leads to spiritual decline.

When believers enter covenants with unbelievers, the godly are pulled down rather than the ungodly being lifted up, because the flesh responds to evil.

Weaver explains, 'the godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down.'

Idolatry is any ultimate allegiance other than God.

Covetousness, gluttony, and worldly-mindedness are forms of idolatry, making idolaters of many who would never bow to a statue.

Weaver cites Colossians 3:5: 'covetousness, which is idolatry,' and Philippians 3:19: 'whose God is their belly.'

Modern child sacrifice occurs through abortion and secular indoctrination.

Abortion is sacrificing children to gods of convenience; failing to disciple children in God's Word dedicates them to Moloch (the world's system).

Weaver says, 'What do you think abortion is all about? We're sacrificing children to the god of convenience... When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.'

Human works apart from Christ are defiled and worthless.

Like Israel's own inventions, any righteousness done apart from God is filthy rags; only obedience to God's Word produces lasting fruit.

Weaver references Isaiah 64:6 and Philippians 3:8, saying, 'Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than dung.'

Scripture References

Psalm 106:34-48: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. Weaver focuses on verses 34-39 as the post-conquest sins of Israel.
1 John 3:4: Quoted to define sin as transgression of the law, supporting the point that disobedience is the root problem.
Exodus 23:20-25: God's command to destroy the Canaanites and not serve their gods; used to show the original command Israel disobeyed.
Exodus 34:11-17: Reinforces the command to make no covenants and destroy altars, warning against intermarriage and idolatry.
Deuteronomy 7:1-6: Detailed command to utterly destroy seven nations, make no covenants or marriages, and destroy their religious items.
Romans 13:14: Put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh; applied to mortifying spiritual Canaanites.
Romans 6:11-14: Reckon yourselves dead to sin; sin shall not have dominion; used to explain spiritual mortification.
Colossians 3:1-5: Seek things above, mortify earthly members; cited to show the New Testament command to put sin to death.
Joshua 23:11-13: Joshua's warning that if Israel cleaves to the remnant nations, they will become snares and thorns.
Ezra 9:1-2: Post-exilic example of Israel mingling with heathen through marriages, showing the ongoing problem.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18: Command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers; applied to business, political, and marriage covenants.
Deuteronomy 18:9: Prohibition against learning the abominations of the nations; used to warn against adopting worldly ways.
Deuteronomy 20:17-18: Reason for destruction: so the nations would not teach Israel to sin; reinforces the learning theme.
Psalm 1:1-2: Blessed is the man who avoids ungodly counsel, way, and seat; used to illustrate progression of compromise.
1 John 2:15-17: Love not the world; the world passes away; cited to warn against worldly affections.
Exodus 10:7: Pharaoh's servants call Moses a snare, meaning destruction; used to define 'snare' in Psalm 106:36.
Deuteronomy 7:16: Serving other gods will be a snare; parallels the warning in Psalm 106.
Ephesians 5:5: Covetous man is an idolater; used to expand the definition of idolatry.
Colossians 3:5: Covetousness is idolatry; reinforces the point that idolatry is not limited to graven images.
Philippians 3:18-19: Enemies of the cross whose god is their belly; illustrates worldly idolatry.

Historical References

Canaanite nations (Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, etc.): The peoples God commanded Israel to destroy upon entering the Promised Land; their continued presence led to Israel's sin.
Joshua's warning to Israel: After the conquest, Joshua warned Israel not to cleave to the remaining nations, predicting they would become snares.
Post-exilic intermarriage (Ezra 9): After the return from exile, Israelites had married foreign women, repeating the sin of mingling with heathen.
Moloch/Molech worship: An Ammonite deity associated with child sacrifice; introduced to Israel by Solomon (1 Kings 11) and practiced in the Valley of Hinnom.
Solomon's idolatry: Solomon built altars for his foreign wives, including one to Moloch, introducing this abomination to Israel.
Valley of Hinnom / Tophet: The garbage dump outside Jerusalem where child sacrifices to Moloch occurred; later defiled by Josiah to stop the practice.
King Josiah's reforms: Josiah defiled Topheth to prevent child sacrifice, as recorded in 2 Kings 23:10.
Lustration ritual: A non-lethal dedication ceremony where a child was passed over flames to consecrate them to Moloch.

Important Quotes

the source of their problems, you could summarize in one word: disobedience. They literally disobeyed God.

Succinctly states the central thesis of the sermon: all troubles stem from disobedience.

Most of the time, it is not God just dumping problems upon us. We bring the problems upon ourselves because of our own disobedience.

Emphasizes human responsibility for suffering, countering a fatalistic view of sovereignty.

you sow one sin and you can reap a hundred heartaches as well.

Illustrates the compounding nature of sin's consequences.

as there were physical Canaanites in the land in Old Testament times, there are not only physical Canaanites in our land, but there are spiritual Canaanites that we all have to face.

Key hermeneutical bridge from Old Testament warfare to New Testament mortification.

the godly do not lift up the heathen by joining into covenantal relationships with them. Rather, the heathen always pulls the godly down.

Explains the one-way influence in unequal yoking.

You don't have to bow down to an idol to be an idolater as long as you're covetous.

Broadens the definition of idolatry to include internal sins.

When we do not set our children apart for Christ, we set them apart for Moloch.

Stark application of child dedication to modern parenting and education choices.

Anything that we do apart from Christ, apart from His Word, His truth, His law, is nothing more than dung.

Summarizes the worthlessness of human works and inventions.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways do we tend to minimize the consequences of 'small' acts of disobedience? How does Psalm 106 challenge that mindset?

[Context]

Weaver argues that small sins lead to multiplied heartaches, using the progression in Psalm 106.

[Question]

What are some 'spiritual Canaanites' in your life that you have failed to mortify? How can Romans 6:11-14 help you reckon yourself dead to them?

[Context]

Weaver applies the command to destroy Canaanites to putting sin to death in the believer's life.

[Question]

What does it mean to be 'unequally yoked' with unbelievers in today's context? Are there relationships or partnerships you need to reevaluate?

[Context]

Weaver discusses 2 Corinthians 6:14 and warns against covenantal relationships with unbelievers.

[Question]

How can we identify modern forms of idolatry in our lives? What 'gods' compete for our ultimate allegiance?

[Context]

Weaver expands idolatry to covetousness, belly-worship, and anything before God.

[Question]

In what ways might we be 'sacrificing' our children to the world's system rather than setting them apart for Christ?

[Context]

Weaver parallels Moloch worship with abortion and secular education, urging dedication to Christ.

[Question]

What are some 'own inventions' or self-devised ways that Christians and churches rely on instead of God's Word?

[Context]

Weaver concludes with verse 39, warning against going a-whoring after our own inventions.

[Question]

How does the principle of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7-8) give both a warning and a hope in the Christian life?

[Context]

Weaver ends with the sowing/reaping principle as a summary application.

Applications

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