It looks like everything's balanced.
So we won't do any problem tipping. But now he's going to disrupt
it. Brian's going to disrupt it. He's going to sit right down
there. OK. OK. Well, the funny thing is, is
Darwin, he called me a week or so ago. He goes, well, I guess
you heard. I said, yeah, I did. But I texted Bruce Crabtree.
I don't know if you know Bruce Crabtree. He just got married
too, remarried. So all the old guys are getting
married, the old pastors. So they went down to Florida. And Donny Bell, he married them
down in Florida. And he texted me yesterday and said they got married
the day before. And I said, well, I'm covering for Darvin. He says,
well, we all need covering, don't we? I said, yep, we do. But it
is a joy to be here. I do delight to meet other brethren,
other churches, to see how the Lord is prospering you all and
what he's doing for you. And he's doing the same for us
as he's doing for you and for his people. He's just that kind
of a God. He's just gracious. His people see that and understand
that. What we're going to be this morning
for Bible class is in Deuteronomy chapter 9. Deuteronomy chapter
9. I'm going to read you two quotes. I want you to remember these
quotes. as we look at this passage before us in Deuteronomy. The
first one is by Arthur Pink, and he says, holiness is the
very excellency of the divine nature. Holiness is the very
excellency of the divine nature. And this second quote is probably
by the man who Peyton got a lot of his information on the attributes
of God by Stephen Sharnock. And he says, God is oftener styled
holy than almighty and set forth by this part of his dignity more
than any other. This is more fixed on as an epitaph
to his name than any other. You never find it expressed his
mighty name or his wise name, but his great name and most of
all his holy name. This is the greatest title of
honor In this ladder does the majesty and venerableness of
his name appear. So God's holiness in this, the
Holy Bible. So it's an attribute, and I know
we have a tendency to rank because our finite minds. But God is,
as he says, is often more styled holy than he is in any of his
other attributes. So keep that in mind. Deuteronomy chapter
9, verse 1. Here, O Israel, thou
art to pass over Jordan this day, to go into possessed nations
greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to
heaven, a people great and tall, the children of Anakims, whom
thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard it said, who can stand
before the children of Anak?" Now this Deuteronomy, Moses is
recounting this. I think this book only lasted,
or the time period is a couple months. Moses is going to pass
away, Josh was going to lead him in. So Moses is kinda recounting
what's happened. The first generation of Israelites,
their carcasses fell in the wilderness, but Moses, Joshua, and Caleb,
he's speaking to the second generation. He says, you're gonna go in.
But he starts this chapter with, hear, O Israel, hear. Listen,
now this word is a specific call. And the word is to understand
with intelligence, to understand with intelligence and obedience
to all of God's people. Hear, O Israel. I'm not talking to anybody else.
I'm talking to you, the Lord's people. Hear. So my question
was, what are we to note? What are we to understand? What
are we to take heart to or listen with intent? Now, verse three. Understand therefore this day
that the Lord thy God is he which goes over before thee as a consuming
fire, he shall destroy them. God is holy. God is holy. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire, and that's the first thing we need to understand, or we
will understand, and that's why God's people, I don't know about
you, but I just get so tired of this flippant attitude about
Jehovah, this flippant attitude in religious circles, you know,
oh, he's my best friend, the man upstairs, all these phrases
that are so disrespectful. Because God is holy. He's a consuming
fire. So 1 John says that in him is
light and no darkness, no darkness at all. At all. Matter of fact, when Isaiah saw
the Lord in his glory, he says, holy, holy, holy. Isaiah 6 and verse 3. So that's
the first thing we are to understand, to note, to listen with intent,
is that God is holy. He's a consuming fire. Read on. The second thing, in verses 4,
5, and 6, but verse 4, speak not thou in thine heart, after
that the Lord thy God hath cast those folks out from before thee,
these giants, these People who, in the flesh, we
can't fight these folks in the flesh, they're greater than us,
they're mightier than us, but God's gonna take care of it,
because our God's on the throne, our God's holy. But don't speak
within your heart and say, for my righteousness, the Lord hath
brought me in to possess this land. Don't say that, don't ever,
and we do. And why is he saying these things?
Why are we to hearken? Why are we to listen with intent? It's because we're prone to do
this. The flesh is ever with us. What he's saying is the second
thing to note is God's salvation or deliverance is not based,
never based upon our righteousness. It can't be. It can't be. We're
born in sin. We're born in trespasses and
sins. We went forth from the womb speaking lies. So that's
the second thing we are to note, to understand, is God's salvation
or deliverance is not based, it doesn't initiate with us.
For we are, as all others, born in sin. If this were the case,
if our righteousness meant something, then salvation would originate
with man, women, boys, or girls, and that says the scriptures
is impossible. With this, it is impossible. Go move on. Look at the latter
part of verse four. But, why did God do what he did
for his people? And this is what threw me. I'd
never really seen this before. But for the wickedness, of these
nations, the Lord drives them out from before thee. So it's
kind of, it's not funny, but it is kind of funny. Because
I know folks, I've talked to folks, you believe in that doctrine
of election. You believe in that doctrine
of predestination. Oh, aren't you special? And they
act like we think God chose us because we're something. Not
according to this. Not according to Deuteronomy
or anywhere in the scriptures. He did it because the other folks
were vile, contemptible, and sinful. That's why he's done
what he's done. That's one reason why. Now he
does love us with an everlasting love. I'm not discounting any
of that. I'm just zeroing in on the fact that we've got nothing
to boast on. Not a single thing to boast on.
Well, God drove out the inhabitants for their wickedness, so there's
absolutely nothing in man to promote himself unto God. God is holy. Look at verse five. He keeps bringing this up, like
we need to hear this. This is so us, and this is so God. Not for thy righteousness or
for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go and possess
their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy
God drives them out from before thee. He did it all, well we'll keep
reading here, Drive them out from before thee, that he may
perform the word which the Lord swear unto thy fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Hear, O Israel, hearken, understand
with intent. God is sovereign. God is holy. He's a consuming fire. We had
nothing to do with our salvation. He called and quickened us because
the others were vile, contemptible, and unrighteous. And now he brings
in the covenant. You see that in verse 5? That
he, and also that he may perform the word which the Lord swear
unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did all this, this
saving, this delivering. This is all pictured in the Old
Testament. That's why I love going through the Old Testament.
It shows his gospel so very clearly. He did it all in covenant mercies.
And when you start talking covenant, you've got to talk about substitution. You've got to talk about his
son. who's, as it says, I like how it says, that he may perform. Well, who's the great performer
of the covenant? Who's the great ratifier of the
covenant? The Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
I don't see the gospel, it's right there. It's right there.
You can't talk about the word, which Abraham, the word of promise,
who against hope believed in hope, they saw Christ, he wasn't
there yet. And then we look back, we look
back at everything he's done. But the word of his promise,
the great performer. And then he says in verse six,
what are we to consider? What are we to understand? And
look, he uses that word understand. He uses the word understand in
verse three. He uses the word understand in
verse six. In verse 1 here, O Israel, understand,
hearken to what I'm saying. He reminds them again of God's
sovereignty, God's holiness, and our extreme sinfulness. Look
at verse 6. Understand, therefore, the Lord
thy God giveth thee, there's grace, the Lord thy God, there's
his sovereignty, the Lord thy God, there's Jehovah, that's
his holiness, giveth thee not this good land to possess it
for thy righteousness. How many times are you gonna
say that? How many times do we need to be reminded? How many
times do we need to remind, remember our Lord as often as you gather
together? You would think, oh, we get busy
with our jobs, we get busy in our home life, we get busy With
the world, the world encroaches, it takes our time, and there
are certain things that we ought to be. We're in this world, so
we have to perform and we have to do these things to the honor
and glory of Christ, but it's way too deep in our hip pocket,
way too deep. So he's gonna remind us, remind
us, remind us, oh, I got a promotion. Scripture says he gives promotion.
He gives life, health, soundness of mind. He gives breath. If
he just stops, we're gone. So here, O Israel, people of
God, people of the grace of God who understand a little bit about
who he is. We look through a glass dimly,
but he's given us a revelation of himself. We're no different than these
folks. We have to be reminded, that's why we gather together,
that's why we desire to gather together, to hear and to learn,
to fellowship and encourage one another. But never forget, we
don't have any righteousness of our own, we have his righteousness. I like this last phrase, I got
it underlined. For thou art a stiff-necked people,
Now, if you could have gotten my mind just in the last, in
the drive from Scamp's house to here, if you could have gotten
my mind, you'd say, what's he going to have to say to us? What could he possibly have to
say? His mind's wandering. full of
sin and pride. Yes, you're right. I'm just like
you. I'm cut from the same cloth. But thanks be to God, we have
a Redeemer. His name is Emmanuel. God with
us, God for us, and God never against us. I like, I like, he
reminds us of his sovereignty in this verse six. And you think
about the context of what we're in, Deuteronomy 9. God is so
sovereign, he brings them out of Egypt. He forces the unbelievers
to give them gifts of gold, jewelry, some things they could make for
the tabernacle and the tent of meetings. He gives them all that. Their shoes don't wear out, isn't
that what scripture says? They walked 40 years, I think
it's 11 days, from point A to point B, I think it was 11 days.
It took them 40 years. They had manna, they had quail,
they had the clouded pillar. Fire by night, the pillar would
shade them. It's a wilderness, it's hot. That tells me God is totally
sovereign, and his word to his people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
it's gonna come to fruition. Who stayed God's hand from the
time they left Egypt all the way, if we look at Joshua and
Judges and all that's going on, who stayed God's hand? Pharaoh? What about their unbelief? This is my problem. I don't believe
God can do this. God's purpose is still gonna
stand. God's purpose is still gonna
stand. Little church here in Louisville
ain't much. There's bigger churches everywhere
you look. Same thing in Jackson. We've been here over 35 years. Former pastor tried to destroy
us. Just about got it done. We didn't know what to do. We
just keep meeting. Nobody wanted to leave. Nobody wanted to break
ship. Nobody wanted to leave, so all right, we'll look for
a pastor. Looked and looked and looked. His purpose is going to stand.
His gospel is going to be preached. He's going to have a few people
who are going to believe. And I'm thankful. And I have
to remind myself that. Even their unbelief in His promise. God promised them. That didn't
thwart it. The desert, the 40 years of wandering,
no, nothing can alter God's ways or actions. whether it be for
a man or against a man. It can't be done. So every time
you gather here, when you go to work, if you're retired and
you don't have to work, but you wake up in the day and you start
your day, you can bank on this. God is on his throne. Whether we like the way the country's
being ran or not, I'll throw that in there. I mean, he's sovereign. God is sovereign, nothing's taken
him by surprise. Now today's religion, yes, you
gotta do this and you gotta do that and you gotta help them.
Not our God. It speaks in verse six of God's
holiness. Now this is interesting and Tim James brought this out
in his commentary in Deuteronomy and I'd never really seen it
this way. He said God's holiness is the cause of our eternal salvation. Hmm. You know, we always hear
about God's love, his mercy, his justice, and these are all
included. But perhaps the initial cause of God saving us is his holiness,
his name. Look with me at verse 26, same
chapter. Moses said, I prayed there in
front of the Lord and said, Lord God, destroy not thy people and
not inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness,
which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Remember, thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, look not unto the
stubbornness of this people, nor of their wickedness, nor
of their sin, lest the land which broughtest us out say, because
the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised
them, and because he hated them, He hath brought them out to slay
them in the wilderness, yet they are thy people and thy inheritance. There's covenant grace right
there. And that's all bound up in our substitute, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who cannot fail. Can't fail. Which thou broughtest out by
the mighty power and by thy stretched arm. He says in Habakkuk, One,
that God is a purer eyes than to behold iniquity. And the reference
and the context of that in any commentary you read or you just
look at it, God is a purer eyes than to behold iniquity and not
do something about it. And what did he do? Okay, these
folks are as contemptible, intrinsically so, as everybody else. But my holiness is going to shine
forth in this covenant that I established with God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Spirit before time was. And I'm going to send
my Son, my only begotten Son, born of a virgin, flesh of our
flesh and bone of our bone, yet no sin. He's going to suffer,
bleed, and die. Not for his sins, he had no sins, but this has to be, as Maurice might,
this has to be the greatest mystery that the world has ever known.
And you, handfuls of folks, are privileged to hear this, and
I pray to believe it. to believe it. My, oh my. And again, we're brought face-to-face,
the last thing, as God's children, verse 6, for thou art a stiff-necked
people. God's holy, God's sovereign,
God's gracious, and we don't deserve it. We don't deserve
it because we will try to And I suspect, and I'm just saying
this, I don't speak for Darvin, but speak for me, I suspect pastors
are probably the worst of the lot. So we think we're just a
little bit more spiritual. The Lord's using us to lead. We're vile, we're sinful, we're
no better than anyone else. We're just as capable of corrupt
actions as any other, and intrinsically, From birth, no difference, absolutely
no difference. May we praise the God of sovereign
grace in his eternal covenant, which the great performer performed
for us. Now, in closing, turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I know you've heard this story.
I'm sure Darwin has said it before. I think John Bunyan got done
preaching a message. It was a good message. He walked
down from the pulpit. One of the prisoners came up
and said, Pastor Bunyan, that was an excellent message. He
said, I know Satan already told me. And that's how we get. Satan's already told me, but
we like to hear it. And I'm not saying don't encourage
your pastor. I'm not saying don't that, but
he's just like you. I'm just like him. We're all
sinners saved by grace. First Corinthians chapter four
and verse seven. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what have you that you did
not receive. Now, if you received it, why
are you glory? As though you didn't receive
it. Now, yes, we believe in sovereign election. Yes, we believe in
eternal predestination. Yes, we believe God is a consuming
fire. But we also believe He has not dealt with us what we deserve to be dealt with.
He's dealt with us in mercy. And that's because He's holy.
He's holy. Well, that's all I got for this
morning's Bible class.