May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let
us turn to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 33, and we'll read the
last verse, verse 29. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter
33, and reading the last verse, verse 29. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy
help, and who is the sort of thy excellency, and thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their
high places. Well we've read together this
evening this 33rd chapter which of course Moses spoke all those
blessings to the 12 tribes each one named and as he comes of
course down to the end he kind of draws it all together and
it's wonderful to know how these things are drawn together and
we read in the in verse 27 he was speaking about the god of
jeshurum and he says the eternal god is thy refuge and underneath
are the everlasting arms and surely that's a a wonderful statement
for the church of god to realize and to be strengthened by and
to think that this is not any God, this is the eternal God. Again, a God of such greatness
that you and I cannot understand. Our minds cannot really appreciate
eternity. It's good to think about it sometimes,
but we can't really understand that there was no beginning and
there is no end. But nonetheless, the Word tells
us here that the eternal God, this great God, is thy refuge. That means we have a God who
we can go to as a refuge in any time of need. A God who understands
us far better, perhaps, than we even understand ourselves. We can come and we can commit
our way unto this God. We can come and we can pray unto
this God. We can pour out our heart unto
this God. And you know, this sometimes
is a wonderful relief when we are troubled, when we are perplexed,
perhaps when we seem to be almost overcome. to realize there is
a refuge for sinners. The gospel makes known is found
in the merits of Jesus alone. And it's a wonderful favor and
blessing to know that you and I today have this same God that
Moses spoke to the tribes of Israel all those many, many years
ago, because the Lord says, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He is the eternal God. He is the unchangeable God. He doesn't have swings of temperament. He's the same and he understands
all our needs. And so we're told the eternal
God is our refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. It's quite a nice description,
isn't it? To think that the arms of God,
the almighty arms of God are underneath his people to support
them. We might feel like collapsing,
perhaps like giving up, and yet here we have a God who tells
us this great truth underneath are the everlasting arms. With
such a God, we have no reason to fear, do we? We often do fear,
we're often afraid. But here we have such a wonderful
statement. And underneath are the everlasting
arms. And he shall thrust out the enemy
from before thee and shall say, destroy them. Well, we do have
enemies. We have a great enemy, the devil. To think that God can thrust
out the devil. We might think we can. We might
think we're strong. We might think we have ability.
Well, let us never think that we are strong enough to fight
the devil by ourselves. But we have a great God. We have a great God on our side,
a great God who we're told He shall thrust out the enemy from
before thee and shall say, destroy them. Yes, our God is a great
God. Let us never underestimate the
ability of our God and how strengthening and supportive This should be
for us to recognise and to realise such a truth. And so we read,
Israel then shall dwell in safety alone. Well, in one sense, the
Church of God do travel on alone. We walk in a solitary path. Each one of God's children walks
in a personal path. None of us walk the same path. We can encourage one another
and we should encourage one another. And we should rely on our God. But let us just recognize this
truth that we are really alone. We live a life alone. We die alone. No one can die
for us. And so here we are, conscious
of the great truths of God, and conscious to know that this truth
is indeed wonderful. Israel, and that means the whole
Church of God, we can consider it as spiritual Israel, all those
who are true believers, It applies to Israel then shall dwell in
safety alone. It is a blessing to know that
we have these gracious and very positive statements. It's not
as though the Lord says, well, maybe I'll just see what I think
on that day. No, it's not at all. He tells
us very clearly. that he shall dwell in safety
alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine, or so his heavens shall drop
down due. So there's a description there
of a natural position, and we can align it to a spiritual position
to realise that there will be these blessings And they are
secure because they are spoken of by the great God who controls
everything. Let us never forget that. We
have a God who controls everything in this world. Sometimes we may
be fearful of the outcome of certain issues. Well, our God
reigns and he reigns forever. And our God knows what his purposes
are and what will be fulfilled. And there are sometimes those
testing times in our lives to see what we should do and what
we should think and what we should say, what brings us into times
of testing. But nonetheless, we know that
our God reigns. And what a mercy to know that
he reigns in our lives, in our hearts, and that we are controlled
by this great God. Oh, that's a great blessing,
isn't it, to think of. And so, surely we can therefore
enter in, in some little way, into these gracious and glorious
words. Happy art thou, O Israel, happy
art thou. Well, may we each be under that
wonderful blessing tonight, the blessedness of happiness, which
is to be found only in and through the way of Almighty God. We're
told, aren't we, in the 107th Psalm, He led them forth by the
right way, that they should go to a city of habitation. Yes,
God does lead his people. He does lead us. That 107th psalm
is a very descriptive psalm and it directs us into many difficulties
that Israel passed through, but constantly the words were, then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them
from all their distresses. Our God is the same still, Our
God still appears. Our God still hears the prayers
of his church. And therefore, surely there should
be a wonderful encouragement unto us today. Happy art thou,
O Israel. Happy art thou, O Israel. Well, tonight, I wonder if we
are happy because we know that Almighty God is in control of
our little lives and he is leading us in the right way. To think that almighty God has
looked upon us where we are, where we live. He knows everything. He knows all about us and he's
controlling us and he's directing us and he's teaching us. Isn't it wonderful that God That
great God looks upon us individually in your life and my life. And so we can then, I hope we
can tonight, join together in such a statement as this, as
Moses was able to speak to all those tribes, all Israel, as
they gather together on that short time before he died. Happy art thou, O Israel. He
didn't speak anything against them in this way. He encouraged
them. And what we know from the next
chapter, that Moses wasn't to live long because we're told
Moses went up from the plains of Moab under the mountain of
Nebo to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And
the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead under Dan. And then
he died there. And we're told Moses, the servant
of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the
word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley
in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor. But no man knoweth
his sepulcher unto this day. So here we have then the words
of a dying man. And the words of People, when
they come down to die, are always important, aren't they? The last
words that they perhaps say, the last words that are heard.
And here we have this wonderful statement of God's servant Moses. Well, God have been with him
for 120 years. in his life, 40 years in Pharaoh's
palace, 40 years in the back side of the desert, 40 years
leading Israel in the wilderness. And now within sight of the promised
land, the Lord has seen fit to take him from this earth. And
he's taken him because, as we spoke recently, he spoke to the
rock to command water. He should have spoken to the
rock, but he hit the rock with his rod instead. And because
of what we might think, a very simple disobedience, and we could
think it was quite justifiable. Yet you see, because of that,
Moses was forbidden to physically go into the promised land. But nonetheless, God was still
with him. God did still bless him. And
God granted him this wonderful favor of being able to speak
to all those 12 tribes then, before he died, and to come to
the end of that statement with these glorious words. Happy art
thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee. It's wonderful, isn't it,
to think that Moses was able to give that qualification, if
you like, Who is like unto thee? There is no God like unto the
true God. There are many false gods today. Sadly, sadly, many people, perhaps
the majority of people in the world, worship a false god, a
god of their own choosing. But here we have a great God
who is like unto thee. There's no one as great as our
God, a God who's spoke the world into being, a God who's created
all things, a God who's maintained the world in the position it's
in, the God who's been gracious and caused his word to be written. to be translated into many languages
and into our language today. Who is like unto thee? And food
provided for us, clothes provided for us, homes to be in. Who else
could do this? This is the God that we worship. This is the God that we adore. And as we come on to this next
phrase, Oh, people saved by the Lord. This is the only God who
can save our souls. The only God who can redeem our
souls. Israel had been redeemed. They'd been brought out of Egypt.
They couldn't free themselves. They were in nobility. They were
really captive in Egypt. And yet you see God in the appointed
time, after all those 400 or so years, the day came, the very
day came, when they were to be freed from that bondage in Egypt. When God brought them out, and
we're told with a high hand, yes, that they went out on that
wonderful Passover night of freedom. never to return physically into
Egypt. God's time had come to deliver
them, to redeem them from that place of bondage. And that was
the natural picture. And it's exactly the same in
our spiritual lives. It is God that redeems us. There we were. in bondage. You might say, what does that
mean? Well, it means that we were bound up in a sinful life
with no real desire to free us from that position until the
time that God came. God came where we were. And God then redeemed us. What did he do? He brought spiritual
life into our dead souls. What a work that was. What a
glorious work. And what do we do? Nothing. Why? Because we were spiritually
dead. It was all of grace. All of His
free unmerited favour. All because He loved us. with an everlasting love, surely
it's very humbling to think that God should have done this for
us. And so, O people saved by the
Lord, will it be a blessing tonight if you and I can join in with
these great truths and say, Happy art thou, O Israel? I'm happy
because of what God has done, because he saved my soul. He saved me from what I deserved
because of my sin. There was nothing in me that
could merit any esteem from Almighty God. And it's because of his
wonderful favour, because of his love. And to think of it
again, it's beyond our natural minds to appreciate. He loved
us in eternity past. But the time came, the appointed
time, as the hymn writer speaks so clearly, not to propose, but
to call by grace. God doesn't come and propose
something. God actually comes and he calls
us. He brings us into a time of spiritual
life. Our dead souls are alive. And the glory is this. Our dead
soul is then alive forevermore. Evermore. Just think of that. Happy art thou of Israel. I hope we can truly rejoice. I hope we truly can be happy. As we consider what God has done
for us, we have to then come and say, who is Like unto thee? Who is like unto this great God? Who is it who has come to us? Well, Israel
in a natural way could appreciate what Moses was saying. Yes, because
there they were all those years and couldn't free themselves,
but God came and saved them. And in a spiritual sense, we're
the same. We couldn't free ourselves. We
couldn't free ourselves because we had no ability, because we
were spiritually dead, and a dead person can't do anything. Let's
be quite clear about that. A dead person naturally cannot
do anything. That's pretty obvious, isn't
it? And it's also so true in our spiritual life. until the
Holy Spirit comes. And the word that the Lord uses
is to quicken, to make alive. And as the Apostle Paul tells
us when he wrote to the Ephesians, and you hath he quickened who
were dead. How true that is. What a blessing
that is then tonight. Happy are they of Israel. Oh,
people saved by the Lord. Well. Tonight. You know, whether you're saved
or not, I don't know. I can think I know. But only God and you know whether
you possess. The wonderful gift, which it
is. a wonderful gift of eternal life
given by almighty God. Mighty God is the one who gives
the gift of eternal life. Well, tonight, let us look into
our hearts, look into our innermost being and to trace out the blessed
evidence of God's work in our souls. You see, if we can trace
it out, if we can find there the life of God within, happy
are the whole people. Must be so, mustn't it? Must
be so. We must rejoice in what God has
done. to think that he's looked upon
us. He looked upon the Apostle Paul
when he was sort of Tarsus. There he was walking absolutely
contrary to God, pleasing himself. And yet he thought he was doing
God's service. But he wasn't. He wasn't. He was doing that which he thought
was right. Totally wrong. Until on that
Damascus road, God came. and shone into his heart that
light from heaven. And he tells us above the brightness
of the midday sun. And I sometimes said, of course,
he was in the Middle East and the sun is more powerful and
brighter in the Middle East. And that's how he describes it.
And the effect was it struck him down. And what had occurred, he was saved. by the Lord. And there was that
change in his life. Wonderful change. Now I know
we don't all have that experience. And that's why the Word of God
gives us another experience of a woman called Lydia, who the
Apostle Paul preached to. A group of women went down by
the river. And the Apostle Paul came and
they met there to pray. And the Apostle Paul preached
the gospel, and we're told this about Lydia. Very simply, the
Lord opened her heart to receive the words that the Apostle was
speaking. So there wasn't some great demonstration
of, we might say, perhaps like the Apostle Paul had, but there
was, nonetheless, a demonstration of the power of God in Lydia's
heart, brought her to that changed position, because her heart,
which before was closed, didn't want to receive anything about
the things of God. Now the Lord had opened it. And she was pleased to receive
the truths that the apostle was preaching. And we can be sure
that the apostle on that occasion preached Christ and Him crucified. Oh yes, because when the Apostle
was converted himself, the first thing he did was to go and preach
Christ crucified. What a blessing that is for us
today. When the Spirit of God comes
and touches our heart, we have a desire to speak about Christ
and Him crucified. The change has occurred. A wonderful
blessing. O people saved by the Lord. There we were, lost. There we
were, blind. There we were, dead. And yet the Spirit of God has
come upon us and, as I said, redeemed us. Redeemed us from
all our sin. Has caused us to have the evidence
that the Lord Jesus Christ's death really meant something
and does mean something to us, because without it we could not
be saved. But I think that Jesus Christ,
the second person in the Trinity, the Almighty Son of God, came
into this sinful world to die in order that our souls might
be saved. Surely it is an amazing and humbling
thought to think that God, consider the greatness of God, looked
upon us and saved our souls, brought us into spiritual life. Oh, happy art thou! Oh Israel,
Who is like unto thee? O people, saved by the Lord. What a blessing it is then to
be saved by the Lord. Most important, something all
of us must know before we die. It's not something that you can
think, well, I'm not sure. My friends, if you're not sure,
pray mightily unto God that he may show you that you are saved. You must be saved before you
pass out of time into eternity. You must have the evidence that
Lord Jesus Christ has died to redeem you. You must have the
evidence that it was done for you, same as I must have the
evidence it was done for me. You see, we can't go to heaven
on anybody else's religion. Religion is personal because
it's the work of grace in our soul. We may rejoice in what God's
done to other people, and that's right and true, but you and I
need to have a personal testimony of God's saving grace in our
heart. And what that means is this,
that we've been saved from all our sins, every sin, every sin
to be paid for, every sin. And sin can't be paid for with
natural currency. You can't pay for it with money.
That's totally inadequate. Can only be paid for before Almighty
God. with the precious blood of Christ. The hymn writer says, speaks
of it as invaluable blood. And so it is, because if it's
not for the blood of Christ being shed on your and my behalf, we
should not be saved. We should be forever lost. And
so is the night with the evidence of the blessed work of the Spirit
of God in our hearts, can we not come and say, happy art thou
of Israel? We may have been very sad, we
may have been very miserable, we may have been very cast down,
but when the glorious light of the Gospel has shone into our
hearts, we can then come and say, By the grace of God, I'm
happy because of the mercy of God, which has come to me. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee. Yes, happy as thee. You know,
we have wonderful words in the word of God, in Isaiah. which is a wonderful book, as
you know, often classified as the Gospel of Isaiah, gives some
glorious promises. And in the 45th chapter, that's
a wonderful chapter of blessing, and this verse occurs. But Israel
shall be saved in the Lord with everlasting salvation. Ye shall
not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. We might be
ashamed of many things. We might be confounded at many
things. But you see, if we're saved in
the Lord, and that's what it is, nowhere else saved in the
Lord to think that we should never be ashamed of what God's
done. Never be ashamed Never be confounded. And he says, world without end.
What a great blessing that is. What a great blessing that is.
And earlier in that same wonderful prophecy, in the 12th chapter,
the prophet says, behold, God is my salvation. He had a humble confidence of
it. He was able to declare it. Behold, that means take notice. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. And he also is become
my salvation. Oh, this great God. What a mercy. This great God, as I've said,
is still the same today. The God that saved Isaiah, and
Isaiah described himself as a man of unclean lips. He didn't describe
himself as a wonderful man, he was a man of unclean lips. And
yet, you see, God came and saved Isaiah. You see, we have these
great examples in the Word of God to encourage us. So we should
never think, well, that's all right for these people, but I'm
worse. I'm a terrible person. Remember, the Lord came to seek
and to save, and he comes and delivers to the uttermost, uttermost. You can't get beyond the favor
of God. You can't get beyond the blessing
of God. You can't get beyond the mercy
of God. We have those two characters
in the Word of God described, Manasseh and the woman, this
name's gone. Anyway, Manasseh, we can read
about his life, he was a king, and he did many, many wicked
and terrible things, but in due time, the Lord had mercy. The Lord had mercy upon Manasseh
and caused him to pray unto God, for forgiveness. What a blessing
it is, then, that we have these characters so that we can never
think, well, I'm just too bad. I can never be saved. The Lord
can save to the uttermost all that come unto him by the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord. The shield,
the shield of thy, the shield of thy help. You can think of
that in this way, the shield of faith. God gives faith to
believe. And you see, that's a shield
for us against all the accusations of Satan. Satan will endeavor
to turn us away and say, well, of course, these blessings are
not for you. Well, God can give us that faith. As a shield, a
shield is there to protect us. God gives us a shield of faith
to protect us. So although the devil may try
and thrust at us and tell us that
all the Bible's lies and your faith is nothing. Our faith stands
firm in what God has done because it's his faith that he's given
to us. We haven't suddenly cultivated
it or produced it. It's the faith that God gives
and therefore we can rely upon that. What a blessing it is.
the shield of thy help. And so he gives us this faith
and he does indeed help us in so many ways. Every day. David said, the Lord is my helper. And he proved it on many, many
occasions. You may remember the shortest
prayer in the Bible by that Syro-Venetian woman was very simply this. Lord,
help me. And you might say, well, why
is that considered as a shield? I'll tell you why. The devil
doesn't like you to pray to God for help. That's why it's a shield. See, the devil may try and destroy
you, but you keep that shield in place. Faith to pray to God,
to believe the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man should
do unto me. Yes, this shield of help. May we indeed thank God that
we have it. God gives it to us. He gives
it to us. All these things you see emanate
from God and emanate from God so that you and I can be thankful
to God, so that you and I can praise God for His goodness and
mercy, which has followed us all the days of our life. We
read yesterday, didn't we, down on the beach, that last verse,
23rd Psalm. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. David had been blessed with faith
to believe the great truth of God, and he resided comfortably
in that. And Moses knew by faith the promises
of God were fulfilled. You think of what Moses had to
pass through in his life. Sure, it seemed to him an impossibility
that he should be the person to actually bring the Israelites
out of Egypt. There was a time when he was
confident in his own ability. Perhaps that may be so in our
lives. We may be confident in our own ability. We may strive
to save ourselves. We find we can't. What are we
going to do? Look to the Lord. He is our helper. Look to the Lord. He is our shield. Look to the Lord. He is our deliverer. Isn't it wonderful that we have
such a kind and such a gracious God? Oh, yes. Oh, people saved
by the Lord, the shield of our help. Well, we have a great and
glorious helpers of we fail to realize it, don't we? And we
fail to Praise often. We struggle on ourselves trying
to do this and do that. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. God does not
fail. We fail. God does not fail. And what a blessing to receive
that faith, to trust in him. Yes, the shield of thy help. And so he comes on and says,
and who is the sword of thy excellency? The Lord is the sword of thy
excellency. Well, we know that the sword
of the spirit is referred to as the word of God. And it is
indeed a very vital weapon for us. I sometimes think of that
little account in the Pilgrim's Progress, which was written by
John Bunyan many years ago. And in that he pictures the journey
of Christian, who journeyed from the city of destruction to the
celestial city. And it was, of course, a long
journey and a very trying journey, but there was at that time once
when Christian was on the road and he slipped over and his sword,
which was of course the word of God in spiritual terms, he
lost it, it fell off and he couldn't, it was by the sign. And the devil
stood over him and he said this, here will I spill thy soul. Effectively,
I'm going to kill you now, Christian, so there won't be any hope for
you. But we're told the Lord gave Christian strength and he
stretched out his arm, was able to grasp the sword and to thrust
the devil that he that he flew away. The sword of the spirit,
the word of God, the excellency. And who is the sword of thy excellency? Well, we have the word of God. Haven't we failed to use it? We should turn to God's word
in every time of need and to seek for God's blessing and to
seek for God's direction because we can be sure that God will
not fail us. You may not perhaps open the
Bible and expect some word to jump out. You might need a bit
of labor. You might need to read a bit.
You might need to read a few chapters. You might need to read
a few pages. You may need to read a lot, but
read on. Don't give up. The Lord will appear. He will
give you the answer. He will give you the sword of
the excellency that you need to destroy the enemy. What a mercy then. And what's
the result? I'll tell you this. When you
find the word which suits your case. Happy art thou Israel. You'll rejoice. You'll bless
God. You've been directed to just
the right word which suits your case. What a mercy. And Thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their higher places. Well, the devil is a liar. He always has been. But he is,
we should remember, a conquered foe because the Lord Jesus Christ
has fought and conquered. He conquered the devil when he
died upon that cross at Calvary. He fulfilled all that was necessary
to redeem his church. All that was necessary to redeem
you and me. When he uttered those glorious
words, it is finished. The work was complete. And he dismissed his spirit. And as we know then, the devil
perhaps thought, ah, he's dead now. No, he wasn't. He was physically,
but he rose from the dead, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the
grave. And my friends today, may we be happy in the Lord because
he did rise from the dead. And now today he's seated in
glory on the father's right hand to intercede for our prayers. What a blessing that is. Think
we have such a saviour, a glorious God, there to intercede for you
and me. Well, surely the result must
be, must be, we find ourselves coming to this position and are
happy. Happy aren't thou? Oh, we're
happy tonight because of what God's done. because of his revelation, because
of his love, because of his grace, because of his mercy to such
unworthy sinners. Well, I hope tonight we can go
on our way rejoicing. We can go on our way thankful
that there are such words recorded in the Word of God for our encouragement
to be able therefore to trace out in our lives the great and
blessed work of Almighty God, the work of redemption, and to
praise God from whom all blessings flow. Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, O people,
saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help? And who is the sword
of thy excellency, and thy enemies shall be found liars unto thee,
and thou shalt tread upon their high places.