Deuteronomy 8. Deuteronomy 8. You've heard me
quote my pastor so many times how he said the scriptures are
full of warnings lest we presume, promises lest we despair. And this one chapter is full
of both in it. Warnings and promises. I am convinced
beyond a shadow of a doubt from God's Word that we are in the
last days, the very last of the last days. 2 Timothy 3 clearly
describes the last days and Paul calls them perilous times. Now,
there's nothing mentioned in 2 Timothy 3 about dirt and droughts and disasters
and wars. None of that's mentioned. It
just talks about men being heady and high-minded and proud and
so forth. Well, our Lord said this. He
said, As in the days of Noah, shall it be in the days of the
Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they
were given in marriage, till the day Noah entered into the
ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. They just weren't expecting
it. Likewise, in the days of Lot,
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted,
they built. The same day that Lot went out
of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed
them all. So he said, Even thus shall it
be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed, when our Lord
come." Men weren't expecting it then. And what he described
was prosperous times. That's what makes these days
so dangerous. I believe these are the most
dangerous times in the history of the world because it's such
prosperous times. Peaceful times. Remember Thessalonians
where he said, when they shall say peace and safety, sudden
destruction. You know, when things are prosperous,
when people are prosperous, they're real proud. They're real boastful.
They've got a lot to talk about. When there's peace, when there's
no threat of war, there's no danger, when their lives are
not in danger, everybody's so cocky and heady and high-minded. Back when there were wars going
on, the Second World War, everybody didn't talk so proud, did they?
Everybody was afraid for their lives. They didn't know if they
were going to live or die. So, we all know the story of
the children of Israel, don't we? They're wandering through
the wilderness, and then when they came to the Promised Land,
and this is exactly what Noah, our Lord, warned through Moses,
That's exactly what happened to them. They bought and built
their houses and they became prosperous and idolatry. The scriptures talk so much about
idols of silver and gold. That's not necessarily a statue
made out of silver, it's just money that people idolize. Well, in Deuteronomy 32, this
is what it says. And, you know, Deuteronomy means
a rehearsal of the law, the second law. He's rehearsing what he's
already said. He's repeating. He's reminding
everybody of what he's already said. And we need that. When it said that the Lord found
Jacob, or that is the sons of Jacob, he said, I found him in
a desert land, in a waste, howling wilderness. And this world is,
in the Scriptures, is a wilderness. That's what he's speaking of.
He said, I found him in a waste, howling wilderness. Waste means
worth howling people. wilderness, a wild place full
of beasts, dangers. And it says, He led him about,
instructed him, kept him as an apple of His eye, as an eagle
stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad
her wing, and taketh them and beareth them on her wing. So
the Lord alone did lead Jacob, made him ride on the high places
of the earth, eat the increase of the field, suck honey out
of the rock, butter, milk, fat of lambs, All that the Lord did but went
on to say he waxed fat and got in trouble. So many scriptures. This is one of those passages
that we need to read just often. There's so many scriptures we
need to read as often as we can. 1 Corinthians 10. Go over there. 1 Corinthians
10. This is a reminder by Paul the Apostle about the children
of Israel in the wilderness and how many of them fell, overthrown. There's so many scriptures we
need to read constantly. Isaiah 53, Psalm 90, Psalm 91. Just on and on it goes. And this
is one, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1, Brethren, I would not, moreover
brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant. Now that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through
the sea, all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, in the sea, and
they did all eat the same spiritual meat, That's manna. And they all drank the same spiritual
drink. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. With many of them, God was not
well pleased. They were overthrown into wilderness. So this is a necessary and needful
message, isn't it? One we need to think about and
consider all the time. Now go back to Deuteronomy 8.
You know the story of Israel. It's told over and over and over,
isn't it? All the way through the Old Testament.
It's retold and told in the Gospels and in the Acts. Stephen's whole
message was a rehearsal of what the children of Israel went through.
And in the Hebrews, the whole book of Hebrews. And how many
times in Hebrews does it warn us? Don't let these things slip. Don't provoke him like they did
and on and on it goes. So, it's told time and time again.
Israel, they were God's chosen people. God said, I didn't choose you
because you were more than others, because you were great, but you
were less than the least. I chose you because I did. Now
think of yourself here, because we feel like we're chosen people. He said, I chose you just because
I did. Sovereign election. They were
favored people, highly favored of God. They were pitied. The
Lord pitied them, had pity on them. He's angry with the world
and the wicked every day, and Israel did things just like the
rest of the world. But God pitied them, had compassion
on them. God delivered them. He gave them
the land. But nobody in Egypt had a lamb.
Everybody in Israel had a lamb. Because God taught them. They
were redeemed. They were bought. They were taught.
They were brought out, led, fed, provided for. Oh, how merciful. How merciful. That's us, isn't
it? So here in verse 2, this is our text. We're not going
to deal with the whole chapter, but this is the The theme, this
is the text, verse 2 says, Thou shalt remember all the way which
the Lord thy God led thee. It's 40 years in the wilderness.
Thou shalt remember. Here's some things to remember.
Now, God has given us a book to remember. Malachi 3, go over
there. I'm not going to have you turn
it too much. told the men not to have everybody turn to too
many scriptures. We just can't find them. And about the time we find them,
he's moved on to something else. But Malachi 3, don't you love
this? And I want to be more comforting
to you all tonight, and I want to tell of these promises and
the Lord's goodness to us than war, but we need the reproofs
and rebukes, don't we? Verse 16, then they that feared
the Lord. We do, don't we? We really do.
In a world that Clearly, like David, the transgression of the
wicked saith within my heart, there is no fear of God for them. It's the last thing that Paul
said in Romans 3, no fear of God for them. And they that fear the Lord spake
often one to another. Don't you love to fellowship
with one another, talk to one another? It's not fellowship
though if you don't talk about Christ. That's who we love to
talk about. And the Lord hearkened. He hears
this. He hears us. He loves this. He
loves those that love His Son. He will bless those that honor
His Son. Yes, He will. And the Lord hearkened, heard,
and a book of remembrance was written before Him. God had this
book written. had men, no scriptures of any
personal, private interpretation, and holy men spake as they were
moved by the Spirit of God. And God had them write this for
His people, a book of remembrance, for them that feared the Lord
and that thought on His name. Do you think on His name? Do
you? Sure you do. There's rarely a
day that goes by, I'd venture to say, That there is not a day
that goes by that you don't think on your Lord. Right? We're ashamed of what all else
we get bogged down with and think about and talk about. We're ashamed
of it, but we do think on Him. There was a time that I never
thought about Him. Never gave Him a thought. Didn't
you? But God. And he said, They shall be mine.
They're mine, saith the Lord of hosts. And today I make up
my jewels. Jewels in his crown. He didn't have a big crown, did
he? And I will spare them. For doing
what? fear in Him and think on His
name, believe in Him, worship Him. I'll spare them as a man
spareth his own son that serveth them. We serve His glory, don't
we? We really do. We really do want
God to be glorified and honored. Yes, we do. I see it. I see the
sincerity. I see it. I hear the amen. It's
just so. So the Lord has given us this
wonderful book to remind us of things to remember and chiefly
Our Lord said, this do in remembrance of me. Speaking of the Lord's
table, and we're going to look at this in John 6 in a little
bit, how that the Lord said, except you eat my flesh and drink
my blood, you have no part in me. But he that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath life. As I live on the Father, he said,
you live on me. And that's either there or it's
not. So He's given us this book to remind us all the way our Savior led us. All the way. It says in our text,
all the way that He led us. Now, first of all, we need to
remember where He found us. Like Jacob, in a waist howling
withers. Jacob was running. Jacob was
worthless. Jacob was a sorry old sinner,
wasn't he? He only thought about himself.
And he was running, running scared. Didn't know where he was going.
He was running, running somewhere, but he didn't know where he was
going. And that was all of us, wasn't it? But God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
came to him that night and wrestled with him. A man laid hold of
him and wrestled with him. And he was never the same after
that. He's a changed man. He knew the Lord from that day
on. And that's where the Lord found us in. He found us. Let's remember where He found
us. And let's try to remember all but some of the mercy and
the grace of our Lord. How merciful has the Lord been
to you? How gracious has the Lord been? What all has He given
you? What all has He done for you? All the provisions. After the
Lord was with His disciples for three and a half years and He's
leaving, He said, while I was with you, did you lack anything?
And they never worked a job. They never earned a dime. He
paid their taxes for them. Fish did. To prove that you're
not going to be without. If the Lord is your shepherd,
he shall not want. He's going to provide everything
for you. And protected them. And the children of Israel, they
walk through the wilderness 40 years. And that's the type of
us. Most believers, if the Lord saves them in their 30s, they
live 40 years. They walk by faith for 40 years.
It's about how long I've known the Lord. 40 years. I've never lacked for anything.
Have you? All the mercy, all the grace, all the provision,
what all He's given me. And protection. You look back
on your life and see how the Lord has protected you. And you know what? You haven't
seen, you've only seen a fraction of what he's protected you from. Just a fraction. We were not
wrestling with flesh and blood. Satan desires to sift God's people
just like he did you. Yes, he does. The Lord won't
let him have them. We're surrounded. We've got chariots
of fire around us. Oh, the protection of our Lord.
The truth. And when he talked about what
all God had done in the world and His creation, and then the
last thing was at Psalm 105, he said he made known His Word
unto Jacob. He didn't do that for any other
people. He's made known His Word. And
that's what He's done for us. He's made known His truth. And
that's what old Jacob said in Genesis 32 when he awoke. No, Jacob's prayer was this. He said, Lord, I started out just me. And this
is when he was going to face Esau. He said, I started out
as just me. And now look. Look at all I have. He said, I'm not worthy of the
least of all thy mercies. I'm not worthy of any. He said,
and the truth, all the truth that you've shown me. Keeps telling
us the truth. You know, God sends strong delusions
to the world that they believe a lie. God does. He said, I will
choose their delusions for them. Didn't He say that? And so God
sends strong delusions. Wise men think they're wise.
He lets them think that. Rich men think they're rich.
He lets them think that. Strong men think they're strong. He
lets them think that. And they trust in all these things. And
in the end, it all comes crashing down. But He shows God's people
the truth, the truth about things, the truth about us, the truth
about Him, the truth about this world, the truth about Christ,
our great Me. He shows us the truth. This is
the truth. We need Christ more than anything
else. That's the truth. And that's what old Jacob said,
I'm not worthy. of all the truth that you've shown me keeps reminding
us that here I go again. Well, good. You better hope I
do. Go show John again. That's what
he told those two fellas, to go back, tell John again. He knows it, but he needs to
hear it again for his assurance. Ah, look at our text, it says,
Remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty
years, the way, all the way, thy set my Savior leads me. What is the way that he leads
his people in? Huh? Who is the way? Listen to Psalm 25, and John
read Psalm 27. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Well, in Psalm 25, it says, Good
and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the
way. Can I quote it again? 1 Timothy
1.15. Want me to? Okay. This is a faithful saying. It's
worthy of all acceptation. No, people don't. No, God's people
do. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And God shows He's good, He's
upright, He shows His people Christ this way. There's a way
that seems right to me. Modern man, natural man, religious
man, a way that seems right. And it ends in destruction. It's
the broad road that many are on, isn't it? God's people are
in a straight and narrow way, which is Christ. Let me keep
reading to you. The meek will He guide in judgment.
The meek will He teach His way. The meek. What's that? People
that... I'm nothing. I'm a nobody from nowhere. I
need to be taught. I can't do anything. I'm a follower. That's the meek. I submit, I
bow. Lead me, guide me, direct me.
The meek will He teach His way. That's Christ. And it goes on
to say in Psalm 25 verse 12, it says, What man is he that
feareth the Lord? Him will He teach in the way
that he shall choose. On and on it goes. So He, remember,
all the way The Lord thy God hath led thee all these years. Christ the way. The children
of Israel all came out of Egypt. How? One way. Blood. They all knew that, didn't
they? They all came out. None of them
died. They were all spared. Why? A lamb. Blood. Alright? They all passed through.
They all passed through the cloud. All those things of Christ. The
cloud, it covered them. And it was darkness
to Egypt, but light. All the children of Israel had
light. But the world, Egypt, was under a cloud. Dark. Couldn't see each other. Children
of Israel could see clearly. The way. Fire. Fiery pillar. The fire. God's consuming fire. And they
all came out by blood. They all passed through the what
sea? The Red Sea. That Red Sea parted
for them. That's Christ crucified, isn't
it? And they walked through on dry
ground. Every one of them. It says it
wasn't a weak one up. It wasn't one weak person. They
all walked through. They all passed clean over. How can you walk through a Red
Sea and end up white on the other side? That's nailing it. All right, the same Red Sea that
the Egyptians are saved to go through, destroyed them. Destroyed them. This world trods
underfoot the blood of the Son of God where the blood of Christ
is going to come down on them. So they all passed through the
Red Sea. They all did. They all ate bread. They all
ate that spiritual meat. It's called spiritual drink. Did you notice that? Spiritual. How could you drink something
spiritual? You know. There's not a person in here
that doesn't know. That rock is Christ. They followed
Him. Christ the way. So it says, Thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee. Now here's some
things that humble us. I've already said it. God's sovereign,
electing love ought to humble us. He does. It humbles God's
people. When Abraham found out, God chose
him. Seventy-five years old. Amazing. Isaac. God chose me, not Esau,
or not Ishmael. Jacob. I cheated my brother. We get
God chose me. Lied to my father. God chose
me. God's sovereign elect in love.
That ought to humble us, shouldn't it? It does. God's mercy and
truth. Like Jacob said, I'm not worthy
of all this mercy. worthy of the least of thy favors,
of all the truth. Our sins are the humblest sin. Our backslidings, our wanderings,
our failures. Children of Israel, almost, well,
most of them wanted to go back. Most of them. God wouldn't let
them. Do you know that? They said, let's go back. God wouldn't let them. Let me give you a couple of names
that remind you of yourself. Gomer. How many people in the world
know that story? Very few. Hosea. Ephraim. Leave him alone. Leave him alone.
He's gone to his idol. Just leave him alone, God said.
Hey, go. And he did for a while. And boy
did he get in trouble. And then later God said, I can't
give him up. He put a yoke on him. He wanted
to unaccustom the yoke. And Ezekiel 16. The child cast out in the field.
Remember? Where the Lord found her. I said,
it's a time of love. I passed by, I said, love. I
decked you, I cleaned you, I washed you, I took you in. Live. I sent my love. It's time
of love. And he said, I decked you. And he said, you were beautiful
through my comeliness. OK? I made you beautiful. But
you know what she did? She got lifted up with pride.
Have we ever gotten lifted up with pride? Have we ever been
proud about anything? I tell you what, he that walketh
in pride, the Lord is able to abase. And God's people, He will
every time. He'll wear you down. Thank God. Thank God. Oh, these things,
humblest, humblest. And look at the next thing. It
says, humble you and to prove thee. Know what was in thine
heart. to prove thee what was in thy
heart, whether his word. He kept talking about, and don't,
don't, brethren, you know, we read and talk about the law and
obeying his commandments and all that. And it, you know, it
makes us feel so guilty. But see, Christ is our righteousness. We're not under the law. We're
in Christ, okay? Christ kept the law for us. You
know that. You know that. God's people, though, want to
be obedient children. They were disobedient, all right? But they want to be obedient
children. We are accepted by our God for the obedience of
Jesus Christ. We're complete in Him. We're
accepted in the blood. One hundred percent. Do you hear me? If you didn't
hear me, I'll say it again. Alright? When God creates a new creature
though, He makes them obedient. Let me give you a good illustration
of it. My daughter was an obedient child. She loved me. She loved me. We loved her. Was she always
obedient? Was she perfectly obedient? She tried to be, but she's a
sinner. Okay? God's people, they want
to be. They want to be. But we're not
trying to please Him to be His sons to earn heaven, just because
we love the Father. You see? It's not merit, it's
love. You know, God, for salvation,
God only accepts perfection, and Jesus Christ did that. But
when His people do anything to try to please Him, He's pleased. He's pleased. Aren't you? Are you more gracious
and merciful than your Heavenly Father when your children do
thank, don't you praise them? Well done, now, good job. Sophie has always been such a
hard worker and, you know, she always wanted to do, help me
pop all out and she would help me out. And I have to, Now, Sophie,
if you hear this, this is when you're real young. But I'd have
to redo what she'd done. You understand? But I would say,
oh, good job, honey. It just pleased me that she was
obedient. Is she perfectly obedient? No.
Far from it. Does that make sense? Our obedience
is not to be sons. We're sons made sons by new birth
and by adoption and in Jesus Christ. Okay? Disobedience in
wanting to please our Father is because we're sons. If you
weren't, you wouldn't care. Okay? That make sense? What's
in your heart? Whether you would keep his commandment. We want to keep... Our Lord Jesus
Christ has given us many, many commandments, all through the
Gospels and all through the Epistles, hasn't it? And any man that says
no is a fool. He said, He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he that is in love with me. Many. His commandments
are not grievous. His yoke is not heavy. It's light. It's the good way.
To be willing and obedient and eat the good of the land, that
doesn't mean you go to heaven. It just means they won't chase
you. What's in your heart? Word of
God in your heart? David said, Thy word have I hid
in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Can you say
that? Order my steps in thy law and
let no iniquity have dominion over me. Don't you say that?
We all do. Sure we do. That's what we want.
What's in your heart? The world? These children of
Israel were going through the wilderness. They were walking
through the world. They were not of the world. They're not
supposed to be. Some of them were. It ended up
some of them were of the world. They went back to the world,
but some were not, many of them. God was not pleased, but not
all of them. And I'm looking in the face,
we don't have too many people in here tonight, but I'm looking
in the faces of people that want to be here. What's in your heart?
I believe Christ is in your heart. I believe the truth is in your
heart. Christ in you is a hope of glory. Well, he said, to prove thee what was in thy heart,
and to humble thee, and look at verse 3. Look at verse 3. It says, He suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna. Suffered thee to hunger. You know, our Lord said, blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. What is
righteousness? Somebody tell me. Do you know how blessed you are
that you know that? Well, do you hunger? John, you
read Psalm 27. That is really your heart's desire.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire into his
temple. You said that's one of your favorite scriptures, Dick.
I believe you mean it. Don't you? This is what we love
to do. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, after Christ. Christ said, He
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood. You eat because you're
hungry. Don't you? It's a sign of life.
It's a sign of life. If you lose your appetite, something's
wrong. You're sick or dead. So the Lord blessed us to give
us a hunger and a thirst. Look at verse 15. He said, I
brought you through a place of drought. What's that psalm that
says, my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and thirsty land? There
was no water. He brought deep forth water out
of the rock of Flint. That's Christ crucified in it.
Smite the rock, Moses. He did. That's Christ crucified. Out came water, the water of
life. That woman at the well, you know,
she was thirsty and didn't know it. She's trying to fulfill. fulfill her thirst with husbands
and things and all this stuff, whatever she can get in her water
pot. They're in her house. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
sitting on that well one day, waiting on her. Of all the people
for Him to wait on. And the disciples came by later
and said, God, who He's talking to? Does He know who He's talking
to? He sure does. He purposed to
meet her before the world began. There he is sitting and waiting
on her. And he made her thirsty. And she said, give me this water.
Give me that water. I want that water. And when he finally spoke to her,
he said, I am. Drop the water. I don't need
that. Well, suffered thee to hunger
and fed thee with manna. And he said this manna, And this
water was to prove them, verse 16, fed thee in the wilderness
with manna that your fathers knew not. Do you see that? Most people in this room had
fathers that were unbelievers. Right? And you knew not too. You didn't
know. But the Lord was waiting on you,
waiting to be gracious at the well. Everyone in here is a woman,
that woman at the well. And it says, He proved that He
might humble thee and prove thee. And old David, David, you listen
to this? It says, To do thee good at the latter end. He's
out to do you good. This manna and this water proved
the children of Israel. Proved who was hungry and who
was thirsty. They ate, and I was going to have you turn to Exodus
16, but we'll do that when we get to John, if we get to John
6. All right? Description of that manna. Every
one of them, when they woke up in the morning, what is it? Ooh, that's the sweetest thing
I ever tasted in my life. And they ate it for 40 years. Every day, it was there. Forty
years. And on the Sabbath day, all ain't
whole, like you. Oh, man. And in Numbers 21, some
of them said, retired of this library. Those are the ones you see that
God is not well pleased with. You're tired of this. You want
something else. And how many people want something
more than Christ? This is what proves us. This
is what proves God's people from pretenders. This is what separates
the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff. This water
of His Word, which is Christ, the water of life, and this manna,
this wonderful, marvelous, sweet-tasting bread, which is Christ and Him
crucified. This is what proves God's people. from the pretenders. God's people never tire of hearing
the gospel. This is what He meant by eating
His flesh and drinking His blood. When you eat, you eat for hunger. You drink, you drink for thirst. And Christ is the only thing
that can satisfy the hungering soul for righteousness and the
thirsty soul for the water of life. And you eat and you drink
for the taste, too. They tasted that bread was so
sweet, wafers dipped in honey. David called God's word, honey.
Sweeter than honey in the honeycomb, he said. Job said, I steam it
greater than my necessary food. Really? Is that you? I believe it is. I hear so many amens, and heads
nodding, smiles, because Christ is all to his people, and it's
all they need. You know, that's all we're going
to have in glory. That's it. Except we're going
to have the capacity to enjoy Him fully. And here's the thing,
one more thing. He said, you hunger and thirst,
you'll be filled. Well, all right, you eat. If you're really hungry, you
just fill up, don't you? You just fill up. Right? Is that all you'll eat? You don't
eat again? No. You get hungry again. And so you keep coming back to
the table. And hopefully there'll be bread on the table. Hopefully there'll be Christ
served because He's the only thing that will fill us. You
know that? He's the only thing that will fill us with peace
and joy and assurance and rest and salvation. Are you hungry,
Peter? Okay, I'll stand with that.