I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy 33.
Deuteronomy chapter 33. I'd like to read the first three
verses. Deuteronomy 33. And this is the blessing wherewith
Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before
his death. And he said, the Lord came from
Sinai and arose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from
Paran and he came with ten thousand of saints from his right hand
went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people. All
his saints are in thy hand, and they sat down at thy feet. Every
one shall receive of thy words." Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you this
evening for the blessed privilege to be able to call upon you. We thank you for your word. We
pray that you'd bless it. Help us to worship. Pray for
Gary, for his family, loss of his wife. Lord have mercy. We ask you now, forgive us where
we failed you. For Christ's sake. Amen. There are certain passages of
Scripture that are just so beautifully clear concerning the mark of
a believer that the Scripture just preaches itself. And this
is one such passage. I was looking over these verses
and my heart was just blessed and I want to share it with you.
We find that Moses, the scripture says, before his death in verse
1, this is the Moses that God had raised up. You know the history
of Moses. God miraculously preserved him. As a baby, mama kept him, hid
him in this little basket, put him out in the water. He was
found by Pharaoh's daughter. Went into Egypt, raised up in
Egypt, 40 years old. He defended one of the Hebrews
that was being abused by an Egyptian. Killed him. Killed that Egyptian. Next day realized that Maybe
he found out, so he fled. Forty years, God left him in
the backside of a desert, tending a flock, and his father-in-law,
eighty years old, and he's walking one day, and he comes to the
mountain of God, and God speaks to him out of a burning bush. And Moses started to walk over
there to it. The Lord called to him out of
the bush, Moses, Moses. He said, take off your shoes.
He said, where you're standing is holy ground. And God called
that man and sent him to Egypt, back to the very place. Another
Pharaoh had been raised up. And God told him, he said, I
want you to go and you tell Pharaoh to let my people go. Well, eventually
God moved Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. They go
out and for 40 years, 40 more years, they went around in the desert.
God used that man now to direct, lead, guide, teach the nation
of Israel. And within the nation, the natural
nation, there was an elect in that nation. Israel has always
been a picture of God's elect, God's people. But there were
a lot of them in that crowd that were rebels against God. They
died in the wilderness, but not all of them. And now very soon,
God's going to bring the ones that He had eternally purposed
to bring into the promised land. He's going to put them in Canaan. Moses can't go though. You know
what happened? God told him, He said, people
were thirsty. And people murmured. And they said, you going to let
us die out here? We're thirsty. And God told Moses,
He said, I want you to go to the rock and take that staff. And you strike the rock. There's
a picture of Christ, our rock. from whom flows the fountain
of living waters, bruised for our iniquities." Laying down
his life, he said, you strike that rock. And you go back and
read that account, and God said, I'm going to stand on that rock
when you strike it. It just caused him chills. He said, I'm
going to stand on the rock. You strike it. I'll be standing
there. And Moses did. You know, they continued murmuring
stuff. God said, now this time you go
speak to the rock. By one sacrifice for sin, he's
perfected forever them that are sanctified. He said, now this
time you speak to the rock. What did Moses do? He struck
the rock again. And God said, you're not going
in the promised land. He said, you're not going in
because of your sin. Moses was a picture though of
the law. The law would never leave us,
lead us in the promised land. Isn't that right, Neil? The law
is not going to... Moses struck the rock. God brought him up and showed
him the promised land before he died. But he wasn't going
to go away. Now, this is where Moses is found. The scripture says, this is the
blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children
of Israel before his death." Now I got to reading that and
I got to thinking about this. What a miracle of God's grace
that God is not going to be silent to His people, that God would
speak to His people. Listen to what David had to say
about God speaking. Here we are tonight and people,
someone might say, well, what did y'all do? Well, we went over
and we just went to church. No, you know what? We're coming
to hear the voice of the Savior. He speaks through His Word. Now when we hear these words,
these things that I was just relating, those weren't my words,
I didn't come up with that. I didn't know how old Moses was,
and God speaking, listen to David, Psalm 28, verse 1, unto thee
will I cry, O Lord my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou
be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit."
God Almighty sends a pastor. He said, I'm going to give you
pastors after my heart. And they're going to feed you
with knowledge and instruction. And here the Lord has raised
up this man Moses. Moses. Who was Moses? What was
the difference in Moses than anybody else? Nothing. Grace
of God. And God taught Moses. Taught him of Himself. And when
Moses wrote, Moses penned these words here, but this is God's
Word. This is under the inspiration of God's Spirit. And the Lord
Jesus said of Moses, Moses wrote of Me. So I know that the Lord
is here. I know He's here. So that's what
we're looking for. But how sweet it is just to witness
the tenderness and the love that God's minister and ministers
have for God's people. God sends a preacher and God
sent preachers care for God's people. They're overseers. They
watch for your souls. It matters. This is what God
has called me to do. This is my responsibility right
here. Feed the flock, which God has
made you an overseer. You feed the flock. Be responsible. And here's Moses. This is the
blessing. where which Moses, and listen
to his title, this is his title, the man of God. This is who Moses was, he was
a man of God. God had called him, and he blessed
the children of Israel before his death. And this is what he's
saying. He's going to give them a word
of encouragement as the Spirit of God has moved upon him. What he's about to say is what
God said to him, inspiration of God. This is what he said
in verse 2, and he said, here's the blessing, he said, the Lord
came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth
from Mount Paran And he came with ten thousand of saints from
his right hand, and went a fiery law for them." Now, here's the
blessing. What Moses is going to do in
blessing the people, he's going to tell them what God has done
for them. This is what he did. Here's where
he starts. Here's the beginning of the blessing. Now here's a sweet word. Listen. And he said, and here's
the foundation of the blessing, the Lord came. And he said, the Lord came. I mean, if that was all we knew,
there's a blessing. The Lord came. God was not silent. He was not absent. And he blesses
his people in telling them, right here, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst of you. Now
just think, if that's all we knew right now, what a blessing. The Lord is here. But he says
the Lord came from Sinai. Almighty God blessed the nation
of Israel in giving them His law. That was a blessing. The law of God is good. The law of God is holy, precious. The problem is not with the law
of God. The problem is us. We're the
ones that can't keep it. God's law is pure. And God blessed
them and Moses is telling them, he said, I'm going to bless the
people by telling you what God's done for us. Moses went up on
Mount Sinai and God wrote with His finger His law. In so doing, He revealed not
only what He demanded, but He taught the people their
inability. Now, the religionist, the one
that thinks that he's righteous in himself, he thinks that he
can keep God's law. Remember when that rich young
ruler came to the Lord and he said, good master, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord says, what sayeth
the scriptures? And he started quoting the Ten
Commandments. I shall love the neighbor, your wife, don't steal. And he said, I've kept all of
these from my youth up. I've never offended in any of
those. But the blessing is that Almighty
God will send a law telling you what God demands and revealing
to us what we're not able to do. What we can't do because
of the weakness. And God Almighty, it says He
came, when He gave that law, the latter part of that, He came
with ten thousands Ten thousands of saints. From his right hand
went a fiery law for them. Let me hold your finger up. Turn
to Acts 7. Acts 7. He's talking about the
angels. He came with ten thousands of
his saints and the angels that were there. Acts chapter 7 verse
51 to 53. Acts 7, Stephen is speaking just before
he got stoned, and he said, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers. who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it." Now, I tried
to look up the disposition of angels and there was many different
thoughts. It's very hard for me. a passage to understand the exactness,
but just holding that, also Galatians 3.19, look at this, there's something
here too, and I'll tell you what I believe is being said. Galatians
3.19, Wherefore then serveth the law,
it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in
the hand of a mediator." Now, let me tell you, without trying
to press more than I think I know or has been revealed, I know
this, that it wasn't ordained, meaning made by, or purposed
by. Angels. I know who purposed it.
Almighty God purposed it. Not angels. Angels were not the
originators of it. But as closely as I can find,
what it was saying was, in the giving of the law, there were
present ten thousands of angels. They were made use in the giving
of the law, but I cannot tell you exactly what they were doing,
but they were there. The Scripture reveals too often
of the presence of the holy angels, the ten thousands of His saints.
They did not come up with it, but they were there at the giving
of it. It was majestic. It was marvelous. God's presence was there. And
the hosts were there. Like when the Lord Jesus Christ
was born. And the angels, the heavenly
hosts, they cried, you know. And He was born this day in the
city of David. Angels. God used them. These ministering
spirits. So, the Scripture reveals here,
He said the Lord came from Sinai. And then it gives, down in that
latter part, what was going on. It says, he came with ten thousands
of saints from his right hand, won a fiery law for them, for
the people. Not for the angel, for the people.
But then he says, Moses says, so that's, there's that blessing
right there. The Lord came from Sinai. And
then it says, and rose up from Seir. Now, this is to remind
you, you know what happened there. I'll just tell you where this
was. In this place right here was where The people were murmuring
again against God. And God sent fiery serpents and
biting the people. And the Lord told Moses, He said,
I want you to take a piece of brass and fashion it into a serpent
and put it on a pole and hold it up. And whosoever looks, they're
going to live. Now, here's the blessing. God
sent them the law. to show them God's demand. But
then God sent them a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
satisfier of all that God demanded for the people that they couldn't
do. And those fiery serpents biting them a picture of sin.
Here's the blessing that God would tell them the remedy, that
it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself Nobody else had that. God blessed Israel with that. The Jews with that. And then
he says also, and he shined forth from Mount Paran. He shined forth
like the sun rising. Now this place right here, Mount
Paran, and there was a desert. It was a desert around this mountain. And this is what I could find
out. It was from this place that the spies were sent into Canaan. When they went in and they found
out all those huge vegetables and fruits and came back, you
know, Joshua and Caleb, only two that came back said, we take
it. God's with us. All the others said, no, no,
no, no, no, no. They're like giants over there. We can't do
it. We just can't do it. They did
it. Two men. Two men out of that group went
in and believed God. What did we learn? Here's what
we learned. The just are going to live by faith. God's people
trust God. How did they know that? God told
them that. Nobody else knew that. This is
God's law. Here's God's Christ that just
lived by faith, the blessing of God. And then verse 3, we're
going to set forth, they're given the particulars of that blessing
spoken by Moses from God, and this blessing is relevant to
us tonight. This is God's blessing. to God's
people in every generation. Now listen to this. Four things. Four marks of a believer. If
you want to know what God has to say, this is the verse right
here that I was talking about when I said it just preaches
itself. Here it is. Four marks. Here's
the four marks of a believer. Yay! Just right there. The first word. When God Almighty
Says, Yay! Amen! Yes! That's what he's talking
about. Yeah. Yes! Yes! He loved the
people. When God puts His Amen to a statement,
we ought to listen up. That ought to give us great,
great comfort. Here's the truth, the mark of
a believer. They're loved of God. They're
a loved people. Jeremiah 31.3 says this, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. His love for his people. He loved the people. It's a distinguishing love. Look at Exodus 11.4. Exodus 11.4. Exodus 11 verse 4 to 7, And Moses said, Thus saith the
Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt,
and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. From
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even
unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, all
the firstborn of the beast, And there shall be a great cry throughout
all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall
be like it any more. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Against man or beast,
that you may know how the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." The Scripture bears out that Almighty
God's love for His people is a distinguishing love. Malachi
1.2 says, I've loved you, saith the Lord, yet you say wherein,
or how, or in what way hast thou loved us? And the Lord's answer
concerning His distinguishing love was this, Was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord? Yet, I love Jacob. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. God Almighty loves distinguishingly. He sets His affection on whomsoever
He will. I'll have mercy and compassion
on whomsoever I will. So here's the blessing. He loved
the people. He everlastingly loved them.
He loved them distinguishingly. I love you. Put them in Christ
and loved them for Christ's sake. And I'll tell you, this love
is eternal. God doesn't change. Romans 8. Romans 8.33. I'll read this or you can turn
there. Romans 8.33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, as it's written,
for thy sake we're killed all the day long, we're accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now listen, to God's people,
to those that believe, let me tell you a blessing that God
has related to His people. He said, I love you. I love you. And I know this, herein is love,
not that I loved him, but that he loved me. That's love. I told somebody the other day,
I don't know, I might have said this in the message, I don't
know. I mean, I can understand there being grounds to love him,
but what grounds is there to love us? We're just rebels. Here's a mark of a believer,
they're loved of God. Secondly, all his saints are
in thy hand. All thy saints are in thy hand. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 2,
the scripture says this, all his saints are in his hands unto
the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified
And when it says all His saints are in His hands, set apart. Set apart to be holy. Under the church of God which
is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Called to be saints. Appointed
is what that word. God Almighty does call His people
out effectually. through the preaching of the
gospel by His Holy Spirit. He does call them. But that word
also means appointed, called or appointed to be saints with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord, both theirs and ours. God's people. Here's a blessing. God loves His people. And all
of His saints All of his saints, all of his set-apart ones, all
of those that he's eternally set-apart from himself, no difference
in them but the grace of God. But he said, you're mine. I set
you apart. I put you in Christ. He's going
to make you holy and without blame before me in love. All of his saints are in thy
hand. And in his hand, We are secure. John chapter 10, John 10, 27. Secure in Him. Scripture says, My sheep hear
My voice, I know them, they follow Me, I give unto them eternal
life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Here's a blessing. There's nothing that I can do
or anyone else can do that can take me out of His hand. Aren't
you glad? I tell you what, if there was
something that I could do to get out of His hand, I'd have
done it. And I'm doing it. I'm doing it. Almighty God securely
holds His people in His hand. And you know, I'm talking to
me now, you listen in, but I've just got way too many fears and
doubts when I realize that Almighty God has said to me, and I believe
God, I know I believe Him, Lord, help my unbelief, but I believe,
like Peter said, Lord, You know all things, You know I love You.
But for those that are kept, being kept, by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, all of His saints are in His hands, in His hand. Psalm 31 15, My times. David said, all the issues of
my life, all of them, whatever comes my way, whatever comes
my way, no matter what it is, God Almighty has sent it. Because
He worketh all things after the power of His own will, His own
might, His own blessing and purpose. He worketh all things. Well,
David said, my times, all the issues of my life are in Thy
hands. Deliver me from the hand of my
enemies and from them that persecute me. He says all his saints are in
his hand. Listen to this, I'll read this
to you. Isaiah 49. This is a precious thought here. Isaiah 49, 15-16. Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? And Isaiah says, yes. She can lose her mind, she'd
just lose it. Can she forget? Yeah. Isaiah
says, yeah. Yea, they may forget. He said,
yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me." Solomon said in Song of Solomon,
Song 8-6, set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine
arm, for love is strong as death. You know, whenever the high priest
would go in He had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
You look at a picture or a drawing, it had these stones and engraved
in the stones were the names of every tribe, twelve tribes.
And he had two stones, one on each shoulder, six names, six
names. And he went in bearing the names
of the tribes of Israel upon his heart, upon his shoulders,
the government. And here, the Lord Jesus said,
you're engraved on my heart, sent me as a seal upon your heart. He said, you're graven in my
hands. Thy people, thy saints are in
thy hands. So God's people are loved by
Almighty God and they're secure in Christ. It says, "...and they
sat down at thy feet." They're humbled by Almighty God, and
they desire to hear His Word. I think about that demoniac over
in Mark, you know, Mark chapter 5, the Scripture says, They came over to the other side
of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes, and when he had
come out of the ship, immediately they met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the
tombs, and no man could bind him, no, not with chains. He
had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had
been plucked and sundered by him, and the fetters broken in
pieces. Neither could any man tame him.
He came, and the Lord spoke to the demons. What's your name?
Legion. He said, you come out. Can we
go into the swine? Yes. And he cast those demons
out. And then listen, here's what
verse 15 says concerning that man after the Lord healed him. And it says, And they come to
Jesus, and they see him that was possessed with the devil,
that had the Legion, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind,
and they were afraid. There he was resting, clothed,
the picture of the righteousness of Christ. And he was in his
right mind. God said, I'm going to give you
a new heart. I'll give you a new mind. I'm
going to give you a new spirit. And here was a man sitting, resting,
hearing. Just tell me again, you know,
what the Lord has done for me. You remember when Martha and
Mary, the Lord did come, the sisters of Lazarus, in Luke chapter
10 verse 38, and came to pass as they went, He entered into
a certain village, a certain woman named Martha received Him
into her house. She had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. Martha was
cumbered about much serving. She came to Him and said, Does
thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me. Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things. One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from her. Here's the one
thing that's needful, just sitting at his feet. By faith, right
now, resting, knowing that all things are accomplished. We're
needy people and we're ignorant of that which we really need. What we need to do is just sit
down. By faith, in our heart, Mary
has chosen that one thing that's needful. It's not going to be
taken away from her. And then lastly, Everyone shall
receive of thy words. Everyone shall receive, that
is, shall desire, shall accept, shall hold as honorable and lofty
thy words. What a blessing that Christ would
send his word concerning himself and his people would love it. His people would desire. This
is what they know. Heaven and earth is going to
pass away. But He said, My Word is not going to pass away. The
Lord has magnified His Word. Almighty God speaks to His people
and His people shall receive it. They're going to hear. They're
going to believe. God's going to teach them. Who
are these people? Who are these people, these believers? Well, they're loved people, held
in the hand of Almighty God, blessed of God. God's people
that are given a heart of rest to just sit and hear what He
has to say, and they're going to believe Him. Lord, bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.