Turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy
chapter 32. Deuteronomy chapter 32. I want to deal with verses 8 to 10, and before we read, Let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, we bow before You
this evening by the mercy and grace of God.
And we thank You that we can call upon You, and in the precious
name of our Savior, approach You in Him as our great
High Priest, He who ever lives to make intercession for us.
Father, I pray that You would bless the Word, bless it to our
hearts, bless it to our comfort, to our joy. Father, we love You. We thank You. We bless You, praise
You, and ask that You might be honored in the preaching of the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in His name that we
pray, Amen. Just holding your hand right
there in Deuteronomy, the Scripture says there was
a demoniac in the land of the Gadarenes Men could not bind. Tried to
bind Him with chains and break the chains. And the Lord Jesus
Christ crossed His path and delivered Him. You know the story. Delivered
this demoniac. And after that demon-possessed
man had been delivered. The Scripture says that he desired,
he asked the Lord if he might be with Him, might go with Him,
might be where He is. And the Lord said these words.
It said, The Lord suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home
to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath
done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." It is with that thought in my
mind tonight, with that command, you go home and you tell your
friends what great things the Lord has done for you. Brother Scott told me one time
of all the precious conversations that I had with him. That was
one of the things that I remember him telling me. He said, you
can always remember this. He said, you want to give a good
witness? He said, you tell folks what
great things the Lord has done for you. No passage that I can think of
gives a sweeter expression of what the Lord has done for His
people than is found in Deuteronomy chapter 32. And I'd like to consider
In those verses 8, 9, and 10, this is from Moses' psalm after
the Lord had delivered him, gone through the desert. How those
many years after Moses had witnessed the Lord's hand of mercy and
compassion, and Moses You want a blessing, read Deuteronomy
32. I'm just going to deal with 8,
9, and 10 tonight. But just the wonder of that psalm
and the deliverance of God's people. But I want us to start
in verse 8 and look at these precious truths. This is what I've entitled it.
that He's done for me. These are great things He's done
for me. And every believer in this room tonight can enter in
to what the Scriptures has to say. Great things from all eternity. You know this, Almighty God established
according to His covenant of grace. He established His purpose
to show mercy to His church. You know that. He loved the order of man and
was going to show mercy to the order of man. And before the
foundation of the world, He chose a people out of the sons of Adam,
out of Adam's race, He chose some out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue for His own. These are mine. And He betrothed
them, gave them to the Son. All power, the Scripture says
in John 17, 2. All power. in heaven and earth is given
unto me. Thou hast given him all power
that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given
him. Not that the son was inferior
to the father. When it says all power is given,
it was given unto him to be the dispenser of it. The son is God. The Father is God. There's no
inferiority with the Son. It says it was given to Him as
the mediator, as the federal head, the Son of Man. It was
given unto Him to be the dispenser of it. He's equal to God. Almighty God betrothed a people
out of all the men and women that would ever be born in Adam,
mercy and compassion was going to be shown to God's elect. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. In Christ, chosen her in Christ,
considering her in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ expressed the
very heart of God Almighty when that verse of Scripture that
we quote so often out of the Song of Solomon, he said, You've
ravished me with one of Your eyes. I love You. I love You. He will surely do
us good. And now the Scripture sets forth. This is how it is. This is what
God Almighty has to say. This message tonight is for the
comfort of God's people. Verse 8, it says, When the Most
High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated
the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according
to the number of the children of Israel. Do you know what He just said? He said, made mankind. When all the sons of Adam, when
God Almighty made all men that came out of Adam, they grew and
they multiplied and there was nations and there was countries
that was raised up and there was the Hittites and the Perizzites
and the Girgashites and there was the Americans and there was
the British and there was this. Almighty God divided to the nations
their inheritance. This will be the Americans. This
will be the British. This will belong to Norway. This
is going to be Russia. This is going to be Australia.
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,
when He separated the sons of Adam, when He put everybody where
He put them, He put some in Fairmont and some in Danville. He put
some here, some there when He divided and separated the sons
of Adam. He set the bounds of the people
according to the number of the children of Israel for spiritual Israel. Everything
that's said concerning natural Israel back in the Old Testament,
God's promise to them, the type of God's promise to them in Christ
for the spiritual Israel. Everybody in this world, Almighty
God, those that are still lost in sin, those that know Him not,
when He separated and divided them up and gave everybody their
inheritance, He put them where He put them for one purpose,
for the benefit of His elect. You say, well, what about people
in cities where there's no gospel? What about it? What about it? If Almighty God is pleased to
raise up a Pittsburgh, a prosper Pittsburgh, to benefit Carl Born,
then Almighty God can do what He wants to do. If He raises
up a New York City and has no one in that city that He ever
calls out of darkness and establishes that place, He's done it according
to His will and purpose for the benefit of His elect. Now, knowing
that, read it again, when the Most High divided to the nations
their inheritance, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the
bounds of the people according to the number of the children
of Israel. I'm telling you that everything in this world right
now, everything is going on. All the nations, all of this,
that and the other, all the commerce, everything. Almighty God has
done it according to His everlasting purpose and counsel to show mercy
and grace in Christ to His elect. There's a reason that all of
this is going on. All things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. All mankind is the works of His
hand. God Almighty has called a people. And verse 9 says, For the Lord's
portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. The Lord's portion. The Lord's
share. That's what that means. The Lord's
share is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. I looked up that word lot. You
know what it means? Held by a pledge. I will show
you mercy. I will do you good. I will not
leave you. I will not forsake you. God's
people is His garden in the midst of this world's wilderness. He made her for Himself. But now Isaiah 43, verse 1, Thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not, For I have redeemed thee, I have called
thee by name, thou art mine." You're mine. Mine. Well, for those that He's everlastingly
loved, everlastingly redeemed, called by name, what does the
Scripture say that He's done for them? What great things has
He done? Where do you start? Where do
you start in talking about the things, the great things? Go
back and tell your friends what great things the Lord has done
for you and had compassion on you. Remember, everything that's
said to natural Israel in this song right here is a spiritual
promise to what God Almighty has done for His spiritual Israel. Verse 10. Four things listed
in this verse of Scripture that He's done for His people. Number
one, He found Him in a desert land and in the waste, howling
wilderness. In the wilderness of this world
where no provision of life, spiritual life is found, having fallen
in Adam, estranged from Almighty God by sin and dead spiritually
before God Almighty. That's where the Lord found His
people. He found us and we were not looking for Him.
Remember this. We were just like everyone else. We were children of wrath. And
remember this, I want to reiterate this, God's people have never been
under the wrath of God. Almighty God does not change
in attitude. He doesn't change. There's no
shadow of turning with God. Almighty God has always looked
upon His people in Christ. He's always seen them in a substitute,
always seen them in the surety. He's always had compassion on
them. He's always loved them. But when it says we were children
of wrath, even as others, we had the same attitude toward
Him that every unbeliever has right now. I hate you. That's the attitude of every
unbeliever. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is absolute
rebellion against God. I will not have this God rule
over me. lost in the bondage of sin. And in that state, that's where
He found us. Not that He didn't previously
know where we were. He said He found us. People speak of Him as if He
doesn't really know what's going on. What it means is when He
found us, it means when He was pleased to reveal Himself to
us. You know, when I realized that I was found is when He revealed
to me that I was lost. He found Him. What great things
has the Lord done for you? He found me. He found me in mercy. Ezekiel 16, 6, When I passed
by thee, and I saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto
thee, When thou wast in thine own blood, Live. Yea, I said
unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. And when He
speaks the words of life, He is omnipotent. He is the Giver. He is the Giver of life. He has
life within Himself. He is life and He gives life. I said unto you, live. What great
things has the Lord done for you? He found me. He found me. He looked upon me in mercy. I
didn't find Him. He found me. Oh, I do know this. In time, His people do find Him. But their finding is the result
of Him finding them first. Isaiah 65 says, I am sought of
them that ask not for Me. I am found of them that sought
me not." John 15 and 16, you've not chosen
me. I've chosen you and ordained
you that you should go forth and bring forth fruit and that
your fruit should remain. We love Him because He first
loved us. What great things has the Lord
done for you, Marvin? He found me in the midst of my
rebellion in a place where I thought Almighty God would never find
this sinner. How is it that Almighty God could
look upon one such as I am and look and see me in Christ and
show mercy to me? What has He done? He's found
me. Look at the next thing. In that same verse, He led him
about. I tell you, this world does not
come with a map. One that's just laid out and
just said, now this is the way the world is going to be for
every man, every woman. There's not a person in this
room tonight that would say, let's just lay our lives down
parallel and just see if they just go hand in hand. Not one. There's not one person. has ever
led the exact same life. But for Almighty God's people,
He is their God. He is their Shepherd. He places
every member of the body as it pleases Him, which is best for
the body. Almighty God called me Be a preacher. Marvin, a servant of God, called
to be a pastor. That's what we are. We're His
servants. Wherever He's placed us, that's
where we are. In the wilderness, back in the
Old Testament, the Lord led His people by a pillar of cloud in
the day and a pillar of fire at night. And the people knew. They knew their need of Him.
For His people tonight, they know something of their need.
Listen to Jeremiah 10.23, O Lord, I know that the way of man is
not in himself. It's not in man that walketh
to direct his steps. There's not a person in this
room that would have chosen the path that God Almighty has set
forth for them. I would have never chosen this. Psalm 25, 5, Lead me in thy truth
and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee
do I wait all the day. Psalm 32, 8, I will instruct
thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide
thee with mine eye. That is to say, I will make you
understand. I will teach you not to stray
by hedging you about. I'm going to keep you. And I'll
counsel you as My eye is upon you." He leads. And He will not forsake. What's
the Lord done for you? He found me. He led me. Directed me. I'm so glad that
He's directed me where I am right now. I'm home. I'm home. This is where I want to be. This
is where the Lord put me. This is where the Lord has directed
me. What great things has the Lord done for you. He put me
in Katy, West Virginia. And I love it. Number three,
He instructed him. I've thought of this many times. What marvelous things in the
desert, in that wilderness they saw. Now you think about this. They were there for 40 years. Forty years. They came out of
Egypt. They were hemmed up between the
Egyptians and the Red Sea. And God caused a wind to blow. And the Scripture said it blew
all night. And that wind blew and it parted
that water. That sea parted. And it said that the sides, the
walls of that sea stood up. And the Israelites, the Hebrews,
they walked across the Red Sea on dry ground. They weren't bogged
down. They walked on dry ground. God
Almighty parted that sea. And they got to the other side
and the Egyptians were following them. And God caused that sea
to come back and drowned every one of them. He instructed them. They saw His faithfulness. They
were thirsty. And God told Moses to take a
staff and take a rock and strike it. And He struck that rock and
water came out of that rock. And that rock followed them.
That rock followed them. And they drank from that rock.
You know the Scripture says, and that rock was Christ. Now
Carl, that rock followed them. It followed them. They were out there in the desert.
There was no way of growing food, and God gave them manna every
day, say for one. And they would gather on the
day before the Sabbath, they'd gather enough for two days. But
if they tried to get too much, On another day, more than it
took for just that next day, it spoiled and worms. God gave
them manna every day. Christ said that was a picture
of Him, the heavenly bread. They were out there and fiery
serpents were biting them. And God told Moses to take a
piece of brass and make a brass serpent out of it and hold it
up on a pole. That which is biting them was
a picture of sin. There was a brass serpent, a
picture of Christ made sin, made what was biting them. He made
a brazen serpent. He raised it up and whoever looked,
lived. He instructed them. Oh, has Almighty
God not taught us? Think of the miracle of God's
grace. How many years have so many here? sat and listened and heard and
heard and heard and taught and taught and taught. How much has He instructed us? We have the Scriptures. You say,
well, a lot of people have got the Scriptures. Yes, but you
understand them. You see Christ in them. You see? We have preachers. I'll give
you pastors according to My pleasure." They'll teach you, lead you,
direct you as the Spirit of God. Oh, how He has taught us. That's what He said. He found
him in the desert, laying in a waste-housing wilderness, led
him about, instructed him. Look at the fellowship that we
have with the saints. You know what a precious thing
this is. You try to find a place where you can go and just have
some fellowship with some believers and sit around and just... I'm
not talking about people that want to talk religion. People
want to talk religion. It just makes me sick. Just like
that last week. He was looking at Proverbs. Loathsome.
It just stinks. It stinks. People start talking
about what God, you know, tries to do. We have the unction of the Holy
Spirit. It brings back to our memories these things that the
Lord has taught us. Every time you hear something
right now, what you're hearing and understanding right now,
faith cometh. This is not last week's faith.
God Almighty has just given you faith. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. Hearing,
yes, but hearing. Hearing in the heart. What great
things has He done for us? Instructed us. Taught us. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. And then lastly, in that tenth
verse, He kept Him as the apple of His eye. Kept Him. You know, I was thinking back
on those things that I just mentioned concerning when He instructed
us and remembering those ways how He's kept us. Just think
how they'd think back. And they'd think, you know what?
Boy, what if that sea wouldn't have opened up? What if God wouldn't have sent
water out of that rock? What would we have done If there
wouldn't have been a brazen serpent to look at, what if we'd have
got up and there wasn't no man out there? There's millions of
people out there. What would we have done? Oh, the Scripture says, 1 Chronicles
16, verse 21, He suffered no man to do them wrong. Yea, He
reproved kings for their sakes. How will I ever know? what Almighty
God has preserved me from and kept me from. I'm telling you,
oh, listen, I was creative. I was very, very creative in
rebellion. I mean, I could think of some
of the best of them. And when I think about what Almighty
God... You think about that. What has
He kept you from? What has He delivered you from?
What did He keep you from from driving home over here? He purposed
that you'd be here tonight, that you'd sit in the midst of His
people and hear the Gospel preached. What you've heard tonight, you've
heard what you are by nature. You know that He has absolutely
borne your guilt, redeemed you by His precious blood. The Spirit
of God has called you out of darkness and taught you these
things right here. Kept you. What great things has the Lord
done for me? He found me. He led me. He instructed me. And He's kept
me. That's some great things. I thank
God for His infinite mercy and grace that He would show mercy
to this sinner. I pray that He would take these
words, comfort His people, call His elect out of darkness. The
Spirit of God, if the Spirit of God takes the gospel of God's
grace and brings it to a lost sinner, one object of God's mercy,
and teaches Him. You know what constrains us?
The love of Christ. You hear the message of what
God's done for His people. And the Spirit of God take that
and give you a new heart and teach you those things. And you'll
say, that's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life.
Oh, that God would do that for me. May the Lord bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.