As I have been doing on a Thursday
evening, when asked to step in to take the Thursday evening
service, I would read a sermon of the late Mr Matronola, who
was the pastor here for many years, and there are many here
who are blessed under his faithful ministry. This particular sermon,
which I'm reading this evening, is entitled Underneath Are the
Everlasting Arms. It was a sermon preached on the
Lord's Day morning 24th of May 1992. The text is the first part
of Deuteronomy 33 verse 27. The eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms. The eternal God is thy
refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. These words are a part of the
farewell blessing of Moses, the man of God. Moses, the great
leader of the children of Israel, out of bondage in the land of
Egypt and throughout the wilderness wanderings, was now 40 years
after the exodus, about to be taken by death from the position
of leadership. He would not himself enter into
the land of promise, but he gives a prophetic word of God's favor
upon the tribes that will enter in and claim their inheritance.
It is reminiscent of the occasion recorded in Genesis chapter 49
when Jacob upon his deathbed pronounced a blessing upon his
sons. The blessing of the individual
tribes is followed by that which embraces all Israel, all God's
people. There is none like unto the God
of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in
his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel
then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also his heavens shall drop down
dew. 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 thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee. and thou shalt tread upon their
high places. Here is a declaration of blessing
upon the old Israel as it is about to enter into the land
of Canaan. God will be a refuge to his people. God will support them. God will
thrust out the enemy from before them. God will be with them as
they dwell in the land and there shall be the provision of the
land of plenty. The land flowing with milk and
honey. They are a favoured people. Indeed, who is like to this people
amongst all the nations of the earth? But I believe that these
Old Testament words can be spiritually applied to the New Israel. And
it is in that sense that we shall consider them. These verses which
speak of Blessing upon the Israel of old, declare blessing upon
the new Israel, which is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a oneness in Christ,
whether men be Jews or Gentiles. If they are according to the
election of grace, then there is a putting away of all that
which would divide. All distinctions are overcome.
we have the words of the Apostle Paul writing to the Ephesians.
Remember that ye, being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ for
he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down
the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man. So making peace. To those who
are in the mind of God to bless, whether they be Jew or Gentile,
as many as are called, there is the making of one new man. It no longer matters whether
they are in circumcision or in uncircumcision. All that matters
is that they are in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new, and all things are of God. There is therefore this newness,
this oneness, as of a new man in Christ. For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there
is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are
ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. There is the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him,
where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. These verses in Deuteronomy chapter
33 belong therefore to all the elect. They belong to the church. whether of the Old Dispensation
or the New Testament Church. Therefore the blessing of the
God who rideth upon the heaven in thy help and in his excellency
on the sky belongs to all of us who are in Christ. There is none like unto this
God, the God of Jeshurun, our God has made the heavens
and the earth. He is the high and lofty One
that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, the Lord who declares,
Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. He is described
here by Moses as the God of Jeshurun. Jeshurun is a name found only
four times in the Old Testament, three times in the book of Deuteronomy
and once in Isaiah. It's a term of endearment towards
Israel. Jeshurun means a righteous people,
a people who have been chosen of God to be his righteous people. The God of Jeshurun is the great
God who fills all things and yet he is the God who is nigh
unto us. Although the heavens are his
throne, and earth his footstool, yet he looks unto that man that
is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word. He condescends to dwell with
him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite
one. Oh, the blessing of God's electing
love and of his sovereign grace, that this God is our God. Our rock is not as the rock of
other nations. Our rock is the Lord. There is none like unto the God
of Jeshurun. Happy art thou, O Israel. Who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord? It is this God who
has condescended to be our refuge. This is then a word to the election
of grace, to the new Israel. Indeed, in these verses there
is all of spiritual experience, all the outworkings of grace. There is the great origin of
electing love. which was in the mind of deity,
before time began, before the mountains were framed, or the
seas filled. For it was then that God decreed
to be as a refuge to the people of his choice, and covenanted
that underneath his people, throughout all generations, until time should
be no more, there should be the everlasting arms to support them. But there is also the discovery
of it in the individual's experience. When they shall discover their
many enemies, he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee
and shall say, Destroy them! In spite of those who would oppose
us and our doubts and fears, Israel then shall dwell in safety
alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine, also his heavens shall drop down
dew. Until we are brought where there
are no more enemies, when we shall know that our enemies are
found liars unto us, we shall tread down upon their high places.
These words belong to the experience of the Lord's people. My dear
friends, do you know something of this experience? I ask you
this day, do you know the God of Jeshurun? Can you say that
the greatest blessing which you have ever come to experience
is to know that your God lives? If so, happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee a people
saved by the Lord? This is the setting. These Words
are for us. We have a right to them. We have
a title to them. We will now, with the Lord's
help, turn our attention to the words. The eternal God is thy
refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Oh, do you
know the underneath-ness of God? The underneath-ness of God. What
a rich truth it is to the believer to know that underneath are the
everlasting arms. We have been brought to a place
of safety. Like Noah, as he extended his hand to the dove, which he
had sent out after 40 days, when as the waters began to abate,
the mountains again appeared, but the dove found no place for
the sole of her foot. And so she returned. And we are
told that Noah put out his hand and drew her into the ark. We have been drawn into Christ. As Wesley memorably puts it,
Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the
raging billows roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide me,
O my Saviour, hide, till the storm of life be past. Safe into
the haven guide, O receive my soul at last. Other refuge have
I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee. Leave, ah, leave me
not alone, still support and comfort me. We have that refuge,
but we need to know that support. We want that comfort, we want
to know that we are upheld because underneath are the everlasting
arms. Where are these everlasting arms? We are told they are underneath
us. Let us pause to consider the
word underneath. Let us change the figure for a moment, although
not the sense of the word, from that of arms to support us to
that of having foundations in place. We need foundations under
us. A house will only stand if it
has proper foundations. The Lord spoke of two houses,
one built upon a rock, the other built upon sand. These houses
were indistinguishable, one from the other, except that their
foundations differed. When the weather was fine, when
the sun shone, both houses seemed to stand as if they would stand
forever. But when the storm arose, when the wind blew, when the
rain fell, when there was a beating upon these houses, when they
were put to the test, the one which was built upon the rock
stood, but the one built on the sand collapsed, and great was
the fall of it. What is underneath is so important. What is underneath us? Are there
foundations there? Are there supporting arms of
covenant love under us? Or are there not? If there are
no sound foundations in place, then how will they do in the
swelling of Jordan? As Hart says, vain is our best
devotion if on false foundations built Vain is our best devotion,
if on false foundations built. There are false foundations.
Remember the parable of the soils. A sower went forth to sow. There
was the sowing upon the hard wayside path, where there was
no soil underneath. And there was no growth at all.
There was the sowing of the seed upon stony ground, where there
was shallow soil underneath. And there was an apparent growth
but it didn't last. There was no fruit. There was
the sowing of the seed among thorns. Underneath that seed
there was a soil full of weeds which choked the growth. And
again there was no fruit. But there was the sowing upon
good soil. And the seed yielded fruit, some 100 fold, some 60
fold, some 30 fold. There are these different soils
and there are these different hearts, different foundations. What is the foundation upon which
our hope is built? Are we built upon good ground?
Have we got a foundation in place? Are there everlasting arms underneath
which will support us, come what may? What is underneath? What is underneath? A man may have a false foundation
of a religion, which is in the letter, the form only. The Pharisees had plenty of religion,
and there are those today who will be found in places of worship
that are full of religion, and yet their religion bears no relationship
to the Word of God. There are those who are very
zealous and very devoted, those who even fall down before idols,
but these will not deliver them. There is no lasting foundation
under those who worship idols. There are those who think that
their keeping of the law will support them. When have we kept the law of
God? Even if we have managed to keep
it outwardly, after a fashion, what about our hearts' lusts
and our states within? We cannot come to God on the
grounds of our law-keeping. Suppose we manage throughout
one day of our lives to keep God's law. What about all the
other days? One violation of the law of God
is enough to damn us forever. There are others who trust in
the foundation of their own good works, who feel they will be
alright because they're not as bad as other men. There are even
those who foolishly and naively hold to an innate goodness that
everyone is born good. Oh, the folly of that! The folly
of that! We are born crooked. We are estranged
from the very womb, speaking lies. Others realise perhaps that they
are sinful but hope to offset their sinfulness by doing something
which will compensate. Which God will be pleased to
look upon and accept. Men have done all sorts of things
in their attempt to merit heaven but we cannot merit heaven. The
most spectacular of man's good works are but sinful. Augustine
summed it up long ago when he said, The good works of the natural
man are glorious sins. They are never done out of a
desire to glorify God and they are never done out of love to
God, which is the fulfillment of the law of God. They are therefore
merely glorious sins. there are those who are trusting
in the benevolence of deity that God will receive them at the
end they may have done wrong but they claim it's God's business
to forgive all men but their God is not the God of scripture
as the spare knots of Peter's second epistle show For God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered
them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.
God spared not the old world, but sent the flood and delivered
only the eight souls which were in the ark. God spared not Sodom
and Gomorrah, but brought eternal fire upon them. there was a breaking
forth of his eternal character against the very sins such as
sodomy which are so prevalent in the contemporary world and
even in our own land. But note also that God spared
not his own son but delivered him up for us all, all of his
people. And that means that there will
be a difference. That there must be a judgment
and there will be no saying that it does not matter in that day.
It would negate the whole moral law of God if at the end sin
was overlooked and injustice was condoned. We do not look
to the courts of our land anymore for justice to be done. For we
are often grieved at the things which are done in the courts
of men, but there will be no injustice in the court of heaven. The great supreme judge before
whom all flesh will stand will see to the very heart of the
matter. He will not take a bribe, nor be turned from a righteous
sentence in that day. We need good foundations. For these, if we are trusting
to them, will never support us. We need there to be the work
of God underneath us. We need God to have put foundations
in place. We need foundations which belong
to the eternity of God and which are as sure as God is sure. The foundation of God standeth
sure. having this seal the Lord knoweth
them that are his nothing else will do for us in
this life but to have these good foundations under us and it is
certain that nothing else will do in a dying day nothing nothing will hold us up in the
day of judgments unless we know that there is now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is our life, our
glory and our hope. The Word of God, the Word of
the truth of the Gospel declares that there is life in Christ
through the covenant of grace. Old preachers often spoke of
the everlasting arms of covenant love that are underneath. It
is covenant love which puts the foundations in place. The underneathness
which will support us is in place by God's eternal covenant love. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
one God in holy council together, predetermining, predestinating
the salvation of God's people on covenant terms. the Father
giving to the Son the great responsibility and charge of the Church, the
Son accepting it, in love to the Father and in love to the
people, now entrusted to His care. And all that ensued in
time, in His coming, in His doing and in His dying, it is by the
covenant that all mercies flow to us and foundations are put
in place which will support us. Do you see the implications of
these words? Underneath are the everlasting arms. The covenant
is the ground of all our blessing. The underneathness which will
support us, come what may, is because there is something in
place. Foundations are under us, everlasting arms hold us
up. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God. to them who are the called according
to his purpose. The all, which makes the all
things work together for good for us, is because of that which
is at the end of the same chapter, 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. It is the covenant foundation
in place which makes all things work together for good. Do you believe that the purpose
of God is behind all that happens? There is a purpose, as Paul says,
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. The ground of that promise is
his love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. It is because he has willed that
that all other purposes will be outworked. Because these eternal foundations
are in place, there is an underneathness which will support you. Not only
in all that you experience now, but in all that you may experience
in the future. Calvin, in the Institutes of
the Christian Religion, says that the devil is wholly bent
on contumacy and rebellion. But as God holds him bound and
fettered by the curb of his power, he executes those things only
for which permission has been granted him, and thus, however
unwilling, obeys his Creator. If therefore the foundations
are in place to support the Lord's people, not even the devil can
get the better of them, and not even their own wicked hearts
can overturn the will of God. there is a sufficiency of grace.
The rebellion of angels could not annul God's saving purpose,
and the rebellion of men only magnifies the grace. For it shows us that the God
who has loved us, notwithstanding our sinfulness, is the God who
deserves to have all the love of our hearts and all the glory
which we are capable of expressing unto him. There is therefore a foundation
under the people of God. Is this foundation unto you?
Is your trust in this God? Can you say with David, although
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things? And sure, for this is all my
salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
Can you say with Peter, humble yourselves therefore unto the
mighty hand of God, that he may exhort you in due time, casting
all your care upon him? Can you say with Jude, He is
able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. That is what
it means to have the right foundations, the foundation of the Lord which
standeth sure, or in the lovely words of this verse, to have
underneath the everlasting arm. Let us now consider the next
words, the everlasting arms. The arms of God indicate active
engagement and powerful influence. The God who is set before us
in this text, therefore, is the God who is powerful to save. When the word everlasting is
coupled to the word arms, it speaks of an eternal power. which
is towards his people. It speaks not of that which is
merely temporary, but of that which is abiding. As God is the
eternal God, so his arms, which are about us and underneath us,
are arms of everlasting might. Oh, the wonder of this! Oh, that
we might rest in his never-changing purposes towards us, because
we have an unalterable God. These words, which were uttered
by Moses to the people of Israel as they stood on the borders
of the promised land, are as true today, three thousand years
or more after they were first spoken, as they were true then. For the counsel of the Lord standeth
forever. And his truth endureth to all
generations. They are the same because God
is the same. God orders not. His covenant doesn't change.
Because of covenant foundations, because of an eternal refuge,
based on everlasting love, these are everlasting arms. And these everlasting arms are
constantly and forever underneath us. These arms cannot fail. There is no weariness with the
divine arms, for the everlasting arms partake of the eternal freshness
of our God. When Israel strove with Amalek
at Rephidim, Moses interceded on behalf of the people, and
Moses' arms were lifted up in prayer, but Moses' arms soon
became weary. So Aaron and Herb, one on either
side, had to support them. there is no weariness without
God. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting
God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth
not, neither is weary. There's a lovely word in the
prophecy of Amos Seek him, that maketh the seven stars and Orion,
and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh
the day dark with night, that calleth for the waters of the
sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord
is his name, that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong,
so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. A guilty, weak and helpless worm,
on thy kind arms I fall. Be thou my strength and righteousness,
my Jesus and my all. Our text has another word, Ah,
which is in italics because it's not in the Hebrew, but it's been
supplied by the translators to supply the sense and to help
us better to understand what is intended. But if you take
it out, it's even more stark. Underneath the everlasting arms,
Underneath the everlasting arms. This emphasizes the fact that
the text does not say underneath were the everlasting arms, but
rather underneath are the everlasting arms. Not underneath shall be the everlasting
arms, but underneath are the everlasting arms. The translators
in their wisdom settled on the word are because it speaks of
the presentness, of the underneathness of God. It is a present continuous
tense which stresses that the arms were there in the past,
yesterday and last week, in our experience when we needed to
be upheld and they will be there tomorrow and the next day as
they have ever been. The word which describes them
shows that they are ever in position. They are ever in their place.
They are beyond time. I love the first hymn in the
hymn book. Thy throne eternal ages stood,
ere seas or stars were made. Thou art the ever-living God,
where all the nations dead. Eternity with all its years stands
present in thy view. To thee there's nothing old appears. Great God, there's nothing new. Our God is an ever-present help
in time of trouble. This text meets us in the present. Does it meet you this day? Please
God that it will. Believers have the arms in position
right now. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. We do not have to say that we
know we can face adversity tomorrow because then God will put his
arms under us, because they are in position now. They are there. We can trust Him for what this
day will bring forth. We can trust Him that the arms
of covenant love will be there in every period of life. Even when in the heedless paths
of youth, with all its self-confidence, we do not feel we need them,
are there. In middle years, we may feel
we need them more, and they are there. They are there when in
old age we feel our own weakness and we wonder what lies ahead
of us. They are ever in place, everlasting arms. Everlasting
arms are underneath to support us in every situation. In the
rough and in the smooth, in the sorrows, the trials and disappointments. They are in place even when we
do not realise it. or we are brought ultimately
to rest on the underneathness of God's everlasting arms. What
a mercy that when you seem to fall because of your sin, your
innate weakness, and the things which seem to crowd in upon you,
yet you'll never fall from grace. If you could, You would fall
forever into the bottomless pit. But you never will because he
will keep you and he will bring you up again. What mercies. there are. That is what David
means when he says, although my house be not so with God,
I see everything which causes me sorrow in my family, they
have not turned out as I hoped and prayed for, grace does not
run in the blood, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation
and all my desire. And in the last analysis, That
is all a person needs to know, that his salvation is secure. The Lord will supply the needs
of those to whom he is minded to be gracious, but the thing
to concern you is your salvation. There are those who are concerned
about the salvation of others who do not seem to have any hope
or even concern to seek the Saviour for themselves. Have you got
a personal salvation? Some feel to be sinking like
Peter on one occasion, but the Lord stretched forth his hand
and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt? Or may the Lord stretch forth
his hand and support you who seem to be sinking for whatever
cause and make you know underneath are the everlasting arms. Although
we are so sinful, there is something underneath all our sin and that
is the blood and righteousness of Christ. not that we should
continue in sin, but that we might know where sin abounded,
grace did much more about. The verse in which our text is
found continues, He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee,
and shall say, Destroy them. We will be continually at war
with our sinful lusts, as much as the old Israel was at war
with the inhabitants of the land. But it was when Israel ceased
to struggle and fight that the inhabitants got the better of
them, and this is a picture of our hearts. The Canaanite still
dwells in the land, and if we are content to have it so, we
will know much misery. Indwelling sin remains, but sin
must be resisted. Save them. Destroy them. The
Lord will forgive all your sins. None has been overlooked in the
provision that Christ has made. And yet, this does not give us
a warrant to continue in sin. If you know the Saviour, you
will know a deliverance from sin. Thou shalt call His name
Jesus. from their sins. It does not say in their sins
or with their sins or indifferent to their sins but he will save
them from their sins. What if it's death which causes
us to fear? Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Remember the words of Christian
in the Pilgrim's Progress when he came to the waters between
him and the celestial city. I sink in deep waters, but hopeful,
was a little ahead of him, said, be of good cheer, my brother.
I feel the bottom and it is good. Even in these chill waters, there
was a foundation which could be felt. And there is a foundation
which will support us through death. To die in the Lord is
a covenant blessing. He will never be parted from
his own. Do not look to men or even to
ministers for deliverance or for support. Look to the Lord. The eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms. Trust Him, the Mediator
of the New Covenant, whose name is Jesus, He who saves His people
from their sins. Lean hard upon Him. The church
in the Song of Solomon comes up as the Bride, leaning upon
her Beloved. Lean all your weight upon Him. He will support all the weight
of all His people, that multitude, which no man can number. He will
support them and bring them through death to the place where he has
gone to prepare for them. Beloved friends, underneath are
the everlasting arms. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord. Amen.