Let us turn to God's Word again. In the chapter we were reading,
Deuteronomy 32, and I read again from verse 12 through 15. Deuteronomy 32, reading from
verse 12 through 15. So the Lord alone did lead him And there was no strange God
with him. He made him ride on the high
places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the
fields. And he made him to suck honey
out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, butter of
kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the
breed of basher, and goats with the fats of kidneys of wheat. And they had each drink the pure
blood of the grape. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked,
thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered
with fatness. Then he forsook God which made
him, and like the esteem, the rock of his salvation. For the goodness of God and the
folly, the sin of the children of Israel. like the esteem in
the rock of salvation and we sought to say something last
Lord's Day evening with regards to that rock we considered really
those two incidents one in Exodus 17 there as they've come out
of Egypt at Mount Horeb and they chide with Moses because they
have no water, and Moses is commanded to smite the rock. God is upon
the rock there at Horeb. Moses must smite the rock and
the waters will flow forth. Well, that was in Exodus 17,
but we were considering more particularly another incident,
some 40 years later, where in Numbers chapter 20, there on
the very borders of the promised land, And again, they're in lack of
water. And again, how perverse. They behave just as they did
all those 40 years beforehand. And they begin to complain and
chide with Moses. Moses is now commanded not to
smite the rock, but simply to speak to the rock. But he doesn't
do that. He is angry. He stirred up in
his own spirit and he smites the rock twice. Still the waters
flow forth, still there is that provision made, but because of
his folly Moses is not going to enter into the promised land. And of course that's where this
chapter ends. We read right through the long
chapter. It is a long chapter, but I read through to the end
because of those things that we're taught. That here Moses
is to go up onto Mount Nebo and he will see the land afar off
but he won't enter in. Verse 50 God says to him, Die
in the mount whither thou goest up and be gathered unto thy people
as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered unto
his people because he trespassed against me among the children
of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kodesh, the strife of Kadesh. That incident recorded then in
Numbers chapter 20 where he offends God, he strikes the rock twice. All he needed to do was to speak
to it. And we spoke of the significance of that great sin because the
rock of course is Christ. As we're told here in verse 4,
He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all
His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity,
just and right is heard. Oh, what a favor! Many times
this rock is spoken of throughout the chapter. They're followed. They like to esteem the rock
of His salvation, the end of verse 15. Again, at verse 18,
of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful. thou hast forgotten
God that formed thee. Again, verse 31, their rock,
the rock of the nations round about Israel is not as our rock,
even our enemies themselves being judges. What a great sin it was
in that Moses had committed when he smote the rock twice. And it reminds us that Christ
the rock of salvation has been smitten but once. The rock is
a type of Christ. And Christ was once offered to
take away the sins of many. Some of those things that we
were trying to bring before you last Lord's Day evening. But I thought it might be profitable
to turn again to the days of Moses and the content of this
song It's the second song really that we have, back in Exodus
15, after they've come out of Egypt and God has made a way
through the Red Sea, we have a song of Moses, wonderful chapter,
Exodus 15. Well here we are some 40 years
later, they're on the borders now of the Promised Land and
we have this second song of Moses. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech I'll distill as the dew, as the
small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass,
because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness
to our God. He is the Rock. Oh, He is that
One who is indeed the Rock of salvation. And remember, what
we're told in the 15th chapter of the book of the Revelation.
In heaven they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy
works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King
of saints. Well, as we turn to this particular
portion of Scripture today, I want to direct you more particularly
to the words that we have here at verse 12. So the Lord alone
did lead him, and there was no strange God with him. Well, how the Lord led his people. We're told, aren't we, at verse
10? He found him in a desert land, in the waste-holding wilderness. led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. The Lord was their
God. He was the one who had delivered them from all the cruel bondage
of Egypt. How God was mindful of them for
that purpose, therefore he will raise up one to be their deliverer,
even the man Moses. Do you remember what we are told
at the end of Exodus chapter 2? How the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage and they cried and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage and God heard their
groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac
and with Jacob and God looked upon the children of Israel and
God had respect unto them. The margin says God knew them
All the Lord knows His people in all the trials, the troubles,
the tribulations of this life. And then immediately after that,
the end of chapter 2, we move into chapter 3 and we have the
call of Moses to be the one who is to come now and deliver them. Moses then is the one who leads
them out of Egypt, leads them through all the wilderness wanderings
and brings them to the very borders of that land that he had promised
to their fathers. He is God's servant. He is doing
the will of God, the work of God. And so the Lord alone did
lead him and there was no strange God with him. I want to say something
then with regards to God's faithfulness or God's trustworthiness and
his tenderness. God's trustworthiness and his
tenderness here in his dealings with the children of Israel.
We read of the Lord alone. So the Lord alone did lead him. Oh, he is the God of the covenant. And who has He covenanted with?
Why He has covenanted with Himself. It's a unilateral covenant in
that sense. It's the councils of the Trinity.
It's that great salvation that God has purposed from all eternity. The covenant between God the
Father, God the Son, witnessed to by God the Holy Spirit. He had promised the land to Abraham
and his descendants. When God called Abraham, remember
how he gives promise concerning the land. And when Moses is undertaking
that work that the Lord God has called him to, to deliver the
descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It reminds them of
all that God had sworn unto their fathers. And that promise is
now about to be fulfilled. They're going to actually go
into the possession of the lands. There in verse 49, the word of
the Lord spoke unto Moses, Get thee up into this mountain, above
him, unto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is
over against Jericho. And behold, the land of Canaan,
which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession."
Oh, they're about now to enter into the actual possession of
what God had promised long since to their fathers. And so, in
the following book, of course, the record that we have concerning
Joshua. After the death of Moses, the
servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto
Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant,
is dead. Now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, thou and all these people, unto the lands. which
I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place
that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given
unto you, as I said unto Moses." God is about to fulfill His great
purpose, to bring them into the possession. When Moses had gone
before the Pharaoh, time after time, what does he tell him?
These people must go into the wilderness to make a sacrifice,
to give a feast under the law. There in Exodus chapter 5 and
verse 1, for example, this is the call of God. They're coming
out there to be delivered, released from the bondage, and they're
going to go, and they're going to give a feast. And so, it is
the Lord Himself, really, who will then lead them into that
wilderness as they come out. After the 10th of the plagues,
the destruction of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, God brings
them out. The Egyptians, as it were, thrust
them out. Their presence is death to all
the Egyptians. And so they they come out and
it's the Lord God who is doing this thing. Exodus 13, 17, it came to pass
when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them through
the way of the land of the Philistines led them not through the way
of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God
said, Let's put an end to the people repent when they see war,
and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt." Now
God is that One who is always faithful. Even as he brings his people
out, and it might be that in the wilderness they will have
difficulties, but God will preserve them, God will keep them. He
doesn't take them the way of the Philistines, lest those people
should engage in conflict with the children of Israel. God is
in all these things. And God, of course, is bringing
them out in order that he might enter into covenant with them,
to become his special people by way of covenants. That's the
significance of the Ten Commandments. And the whole scene is set previous
to the commandments in Exodus 20. We read of them coming to
Mount Sinai. And now the Lord speaks to them
by and through Moses, Exodus 19, 20. You have seen what I
did unto the Egyptians. Now I bear you on eagles' wings
and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey
my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And
you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel." What is God doing?
He's taking the people to Himself. He's entering into a covenant
with them. And we know that that generation
sadly rebelled against the Lord God when they came first to the
borders of the promised land and they sent out the spies,
recorded in Numbers 14, spies from all of the 12 tribes,
but there's only two, there's only Joshua and Caleb, who having
gone through the land of promise, come back with a good report
and say that the people can go in and possess it, but the other
10 tribes, or they bring an evil report and they speak of there
being great giants in the land and walled cities and they make
the people afraid and alas, what was the consequence of that?
Well, they must wander some 40 years in the wilderness until
that whole generation has died and another generation has arisen.
They were out there searching the land for 40 days And for
each of the days they're going to now suffer the consequence
for each day a year. Forty years wilderness wanderings. Look at the language that we
have back in Numbers 14 and there at verse 33. Your children shall wander in
the wilderness forty years and bear your hoardings until your
carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. after the number of days in which
ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall
ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know
my breach of promise." It is quite remarkable in a sense because there were only, I think it says
eleven days to come from Egypt to the borders
of the promised land. And yet, they have some 40 years
wandering about in the wilderness. Here at the beginning of Deuteronomy,
in the second verse, there are 11 days journey, it says, from
Horeb by way of Mansur unto Kadeshbani. God has brought them to Horeb,
where Mount Sinai is. God's entered into covenant,
and we're told from there it's just an 11 day journey to arrive
at Cádiz, Spania. They're then on the borders of
the Promised Land. And yet, instead of that, they
make the journey, but instead of entering into the land, because
of the evil report of those 10 tribes, they're made to to wonder
and yet in all those wilderness wanderings how God is faithful,
is true to himself, is true to his word his word is not only promise
but also threatening they were in breach of covenant and so
God deals with them and yet he preserves them throughout all
those wanderings in the wilderness he makes every provision for
them that generation must pass away, but another generation
will arise and they will go into the possession of the land. Remember
how Stephen in Acts chapter 7 where he's making his noble defense
before the Jewish council. He's going to be martyred, he's
going to be put to death and he speaks of the history of the
children of Israel all leading up to the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ and I think recently we were looking at what he says
there in verse 38 of that seventh chapter where he speaks of the
church in the wilderness there was a church there in the wilderness
through all the years of those wanderings God preserving his
people God is faithful you see he's trustworthy he's true to
himself, he's true to his word Why? He has magnified His Word
above all His name. He cannot break His Word. And so He keeps those people
until He'll bring them eventually into that land that He had promised
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And the psalmist speaks
of these things. In Psalm 78, verse 52, He made
His own people go forth like sheep and guided them in the
wilderness like a flock, and led them on safely so that they
feared not. So, in the words of our text,
the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God
with him. Or that generation that arose
there in the wilderness, What does God say of them in Jeremiah
2? I remember thee, the kindness
of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when they went just
after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown. Israel
was holiness to the Lord. That generation that arose, you
see, so different to the generation that came after. And yet it's
a wilderness church. And God is true to them. how God brings them to Himself
He reminds them time and again of these things in and through
the ministry of the of the prophets words that we have for example
in the book of the prophet Hosea there in Hosea chapter 2 I'm
sure many of you are probably familiar with the words that
we have there Verse 14 of that second chapter. Therefore, behold, I will allure
her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. God takes His people into a wilderness. And yet there, as the margin
says, He speaks to her heart. He betroths Himself to her, you
see. Verse 19, I will betroth thee unto Me forever. Yea, I
will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment,
and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth
thee unto Me in faithfulness. And they shall know that I am
the Lord. This is the lesson they have
to learn in the wilderness here. It's God alone. He makes every provision for
them. They're not able to sow and to reap. What does God do? He sends bread from heaven. He feeds his people. God is the
one who is faithful. This is what Moses is teaching
them throughout his song, the trustworthiness of their God. But also this, his tender dealings,
his kind dealings with them. Verse 10, He found him in a desert
land, In the waste howling wilderness he led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As God is faithful
so God is also tender, compassionate, kind. What does he say at verse 13?
He made him ride on the high places of the earth. that he
might eat the increase of the fields, and he made him to suck
honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, butter
of kind, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the
breed of Bashan, and goats with the fats of kidneys of wheat,
and they did drink the pure blood of the great. Why, they did keep
a feast in the wilderness. Just as God had said through
Moses there in the opening words of Exodus chapter 5, they had
to go and keep a feast. God was with his people. Is there
not a lesson in it all for us you see? When we feel ourselves
to be in that wilderness and yet God is that one who is not
only faithful but also so kind and so gracious and tender in
all his dealings. is these two things at least,
there must be a preserving of them from temptations. First
of all, they must be preserved from all temptation. Although
secondly, they must also be severely tried and
tested. So I want, as we come to a close,
to try to say something with regards to those two things.
Now, temptations must be avoided. In a sense we've already seen
something of that when I referred to those words in Exodus 13 when
he first brings them out of the bondage of Egypt and the way
in which he leads them. Remember what it says there In verse 17, God led them not
through the way of the land of the Philistines. God led them
not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although
that was near. For God said, Lest peradventure
the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. God will keep them then. God
led the people about, He says, through the way of the wilderness
of the Red Sea. God is in these things. I like
to remark the comment by Bishop Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich
back in the 17th century, and he wrote a book entitled The
Contemplations. Contemplations really on the
history of the children of Israel, and good Bishop Hall makes this
remark, how carefully does he choose their way, not the nearer,
but the safer. The nearest way was to go through
the land of the Philistines, but God doesn't take them the
nearest way. He takes them the safe way. The
Psalmist says the same, doesn't he, in Psalm 107. And there, at verse 7, He led them
forth by the right way. God's way is the right one. God's way is perfect. And God doesn't lead his people,
you see, into temptations. He so leads them as that they
might be kept from temptation. Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God, says James. God cannot be tempted with evil
and God tempteth no man but a man is tempted when he is led away
of his own lust and enticed and then when lust hath conceived
it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth
forth death. Those words that we have there
in the opening chapter of the epistle of James were not to
say that God tempts. God never tempts. but God keeps his people, preserves
his people again the apostle Paul reminds us doesn't he there
is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but
God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that you are able but will with the temptation make a way of
escape that you may be able to bury God preserves his people
then so that they avoid the folly
of temptation. Are we not taught by the Lord
Jesus Christ to pray, lead us not into temptation? It's one
of the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, is it not? Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And God does that, He keeps us.
It's interesting what we have in verse 10. He found him in
a desert land, in the waste holding wilderness and it says he led
him about. Now you might see there that
there's an alternative reading in the margin. Always interesting
to look at the marginal readings because it indicates to us of
course the fullness of the word of God in the original. It's
very difficult to bring out everything that's there in what was originally
written in the Hebrew. And so you have an alternative
reading here. Instead of led him about, He compassed him about. He compassed him about. Now the
interesting thing is that the verb that is used is the same
verb that's used with regards to the children of Israel in
Joshua chapter 6 where they are to take the city of Jericho.
And remember what they did on that occasion. They compassed
the city about. Seven days they had to march
round the city. They're encompassing the city
about. They're going round, all the way round the city, each
day for seven days. On the seventh day, they had
to go round seven times, and they had to blow their horns,
and the walls of the city fall down flat, and they take the
city of Jericho. Well, it's the same words that's
being used here in verse 10. He led him about, the idea of
going round and round in circles. We can see the significance of
the alternative reading in the margin. It's as if God is all
around his people. He's not just leading them about,
he's surrounding them himself. The Psalmist says, Psalm 125
and verse 2, as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so
the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even forever. This is how God keeps us, isn't
it? He's about us, to protect us, so that we're kept in the midst
of temptation. Again, Psalm 34 and verse 7,
the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them. Who is the angel of the Lord?
Isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is round about His people? And being round about them, He
delivers them. Kept, kept by the power of God. through faith unto salvation. Here is God's tender care of
his people then. He sees to it that they will
not be overcome by temptations. He will preserve them from all
the wiles of that wicked one who is ever walking about seeking
whom he may devour. For we are not to be ignorant
of his devices, says the Apostle. were to be those who were looking
to the Lord. And yet, here is the truth, whilst
temptations are to be avoided, and God has to keep us from temptation,
yet, there is testing and proving. And the Lord is in that. As it
says in the text, the Lord alone did lead him and
there was no strange gods with him. And how does God lead his
people? He leads them in the way of instruction. Back in verse 10, you see, he
led him about, he instructed him. He kept him as the apple
of his eye. Oh, he's keeping his people,
but he's also teaching them, instructing them. And how does God instruct His
people? Well, at times He'll correct, He'll chasten them.
Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth, says the Apostle. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he? Whom the Father
chasteneth not, or no, Chastening for the present is
joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who are exercised thereby,
says Paul. Or there's instruction, as well
as correction. Where there's that exercise of
soul, it's profitable. And when They're on the borders
here in Deuteronomy. And Moses will remind them of
all that God has been doing with them through those 40 years.
We've preached in times past from the language that we find
back in the 8th chapter. We'll remember the things that
are written back in chapter 8. Particularly that second verse,
they shall remember. Thou shalt remember all the way
which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness,
to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thy heart,
whether thou wouldest keep his commandment or not. What did God do, verse 15, who
led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were
fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was
no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint,
who fed thee in the wilderness with manner which thy fathers
knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove
thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. Oh, this is God's
purpose, you see, to do thee good, to do thee good at thy
latter end. Better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof, says the wise man in Ecclesiastes
7 and verse 8. Better is the end. I know the
thoughts that I think unto you, says God, thoughts of peace and
not of evil to give you unexpected end. Well, this is the way of
God. He brings his people. ultimately
to recognize their complete and utter dependence upon himself, the Lord alone, no strange gods
with him. And you know, in comparison with
the Blessed End, the trial that is in the way is such a short
trial. When we contemplate the end.
What is the end? Well, the end is heaven, being
forever in the presence of God. What is the trial in this world?
Tribulation. But Christ said, Be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world. All trials may press of every
sort, they may be sore, they must be shorts, we now believe,
but soon shall view the greatest glories God can show," says the
hymn writer. That's the Christian's blessed
hope, is it not? Now for a season, says Peter. Just now, for a season, for a
little while, a short period of time. Now for a season you're
in heaviness through manifold temptation. Oh, but the blessed hand, the
trying of your faith, more precious than of gold, or it be tried
with fire, found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. You see, by the trials, all the
false props, all those vain Imagine supports fall away. This is the life of faith. So
the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God
with him. And yet, verse 16, they provoked
him to jealousy with strange gods. With abominations provoked
they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils,
not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came
newly up whom your fathers feared not, O our Father, when we turn
away from this God, who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the
gods, who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises, doing wonders." He did wonders there, didn't he?
Back in Exodus 17 and again in Numbers 20, where we were last
week, where waters flow from the rock. God makes every provision, you
see, He is the rock. His work is perfect, for all
His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity,
just and right, easily. Or, can we say that this God
is our God, and this God is our God forever, and ever. Their rock is not as our rock.
Even our enemies themselves being judges. Or the devil knows it. The devil himself knows it. He
is a vanquished foe. For it will be those then who
would look on to the Lord our God. So the Lord alone did lead
him. There was no strange God with
him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that
ye may take the increase of the fields. He made me to suck honey
out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, butter of
kind, milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams, of the breed
of baysheep and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat. And
thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. Oh, the Lord, help
us in. that we might look to this God
who is always the faithful one, a trustworthy God, a God full
of tender mercies. May the Lord be pleased to help
us and to bless his word to us. We're going to close our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 289, the tune is Walton 430, Thus far my God has led me on,
and made His truth and mercy known. My hopes and fears all
turn at rise, and comforts mingle with my sighs." So, hymn 289,
the tune 430.