Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy
chapter 33. In this chapter, Moses is continuing
his final discourse with the children of Israel, knowing that
the Lord is about to take him to glory. His work on earth is
finished. And knowing that he speaks as
God's prophet, He's giving his blessings as God's prophet to
the children of Israel. These are not just blessings
that he wished the Lord would bring upon them, but rather blessings
that he prophetically declares the Lord would bring upon his
chosen. In this chapter, here and in
chapter 32, Moses gives Israel a title that's used only here. only in Deuteronomy 32 and 33,
and once in Isaiah. It's used four times to describe
the children of Israel. Look at verse 15. The name is
Jeshurun. He calls Israel by the name Jeshurun,
even in their most ungodly fallen condition. Jeshurun. The word means upright or righteous
people. Look at chapter 32, verse 15. Jeshurun is waxed, fat, and kicked. Thou art waxed and fat. Thou
art grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness.
Then he forsook God. Jeshurun, the upright, the righteous
people. forsook God, forsook God which
made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. Now, just a few weeks ago, we
were in chapter 32, and I called your attention to how the Lord
God is called our rock. Israel said our rock is not like
their rock. And speaking of comparison between
God, the true and living God, in whom we trust, and all the
gods of men, our rock is not like their rock. But here the
Lord God speaks of Jeshurun, the children of Israel, and calls
them even in the time when they had forsaken God, the upright
and righteous people. How can that be? Does God, the
holy, the just and the true, call that holy which is unholy? Of course not. Here, the Lord
God is here using this name Jeshurun, not to describe the physical
seed of Abraham, the physical descendants of Abraham, but the
Israel of God, God's true Israel. I keep re-emphasizing this. I
want every one of you, when you read the scriptures and read
these certain unconditional promises, these certain declarations of
God to Israel, understand he's not talking to that physical
seed of Abraham. but rather he's talking to the
Israel of God, God's chosen people, that holy nation that's in Christ
Jesus the Lord, of whom the physical nation was but an Old Testament
type. He's talking about the church
of God. Here he speaks of us, God's elect, the Israel of God,
even in our fallen rebel state, as the objects of His mercy and
grace, as righteous. upright. As righteous and upright. Now listen to me. God always
beheld his own as righteous and upright even when we were fallen. We are by nature children of
wrath even as others. This is what that means. We are
by nature children of wrath in that we are wrathful toward God,
hateful toward God. The wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly, even God's elect, in the sense that we are condemned
and cursed by the law consciously. But there never was a time, there
never was a time when we were under the wrath of God. Christ
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We were accepted
in the beloved as Jesuit. the upright and the righteous
people, even when fallen in our father, Adam. And God always
deals with his Israel accordingly. He always deals with his elect
as the upright and righteous people whom he's determined to
bring to glory in the perfection of holiness. Look at chapter
33, verse one. This title Jesuit is not only
used to describe God's covenant. People, even in their fallen
state is just used to describe us as the objects of God's love,
the people loved and blessed of God. And this is the blessing
where with Moses, the man of God blessed the children of Israel
before his death. Verse two. And he said, the Lord
came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth
from the Mount Paran. He came with ten thousands of
saints. From his right hand went a fiery
law. See that next word? For them. The law not against us never
has been. The law is for us. The law satisfied
in Christ, fulfilled in Christ demands our everlasting salvation
just as surely as God's justice viewing men outside Christ demands
their everlasting damnation. He sent forth the fiery law for
them. Yea, he loved them. All his saints are in thy hand
and they sat down at thy feet. Everyone shall receive of thy
words. Moses commanded us a law. Now
look how again he describes the law. Even the inheritance of
the congregation of the tricky, deceitful, conniving, worthless
sons of Jacob. God's inheritance set forth in
the law. And he was king in the upright
and the righteous people, in Jesuit. when the heads of the
people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together. Now,
in the last part of this great chapter, Jeshurun is used in
connection with our everlasting safety, our everlasting security
as the people of God. Look at verse 26. There is none
like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in
thy help. And in His excellence say, on
the sky, none like the God of the upright, the righteous people,
who rides upon the heaven in help for His own. He rides upon the heaven to help
you all the time. Been that way since the beginning
of time, yea, before time was and shall be until time is no
more. He rides upon the heaven in thy
help. Verse 27, the eternal God is
thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. He shall
thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say, destroy them. Israel then shall dwell safe
in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also, his heaven shall drop down
with dew. Happy art thou, O Israel. Blessed art thou, O Israel. Oh, hear me, sons and daughters
of God Almighty. Blessed 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. Turn over to Isaiah 44. Keep
your hands here in Deuteronomy. Turn to Isaiah 44. Here's the
only other place where this word Jeshurun is used. The context
is similar to Deuteronomy 33. It sets forth the blessedness
and the security of God's elect. on my mind preparing a message
for you for the last several months about a blessed obsession
with one thing. Well, here is one thing I wish
we should be obsessed with in these turbulent, turbulent days. You just read these perilous
times back there in the office, Bob. Be obsessed not with the
perilous times. Not with the perils and the turbulence.
Not with the difficulties and trials. Not with the things that
seem so apprehensible to our, apprehensive to our minds and
causing us trouble. But be obsessed with this one
thing. God rides on the heavens in your
help. And all he does is for your benefit
and mine. He speaks here of this blessed
security of God's elect, this chosen, redeemed people made
righteous in and by the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 44, verse 1. Yet now here, O Jacob, my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen, thus saith the Lord that made
thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. The Lord made you. He chose you. He formed you from the womb.
He redeemed you. He will help you. So he says,
fear not. Oh, Jacob, my servant. And thou, Jeshurun. You people whom I made upright
and righteous in my son. Whom I have chosen. Verse three.
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon
the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy
seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. And they shall spring
up as the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall
say, I am the Lord's and another shall call himself by the name
of Jacob. And another shall subscribe with
his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the
Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last. Beside me, there is no God and
who as I shall call and shall declare it and shall set it in
order for me since I appointed the ancient people and the things
that are coming and shall come. I appointed it all. Let them
show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have not I declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea,
there is no God. I know not any. All right, let's
go back to Deuteronomy 33. In verses 13 through 17, Moses is blessing the children
of Israel. And it comes now to Joseph. He's blessed all the tribes of
Israel. And it comes to Joseph. Remember, Joseph is perhaps,
I won't say the most imminent, but certainly one of the most
imminent types of Christ in all the Old Testament scriptures.
Joseph is held for us repeatedly through the book of Genesis as
a picture of our exalted Lord and Redeemer when the The sons
of Jacob came to seek goods in Egypt. They said, go to Joseph. You want anything from Pharaoh?
Go to Joseph. Everything is in his hands. And
so our Lord, like Joseph, was made prime minister of the universe.
You want anything from God? You go to the Savior. Joseph
is a picture of our Lord Jesus. He represents Christ in so many
ways. All the tribes of Israel were
blessed by Moses. But Joseph was exactly as he
said it would be in his dreams, exalted above his brethren, just
as the Lord Jesus is exalted above all and given a name greater
than all. Joseph's brethren were blessed
with much. Moses gave each of the tribes
great, great blessings. But Joseph was blessed with all
things. Moses put everything in Joseph's
hands. Look at verse 13. And of Joseph
he said, blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious
things of heaven, for the dew and for the deep that coucheth
beneath and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun
and for the precious things put forth by the moon and for the
chief things of the ancient mountains and for the precious things of
the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth,
and fullness thereof, and for the goodwill of him that dwelt
in the bush. Let the blessing come upon the
head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was
separated from his brethren. His glory is like the first sling
of his bullock, and his horns, his power like the horns of the
unicorn. With them, he shall push the
people together. With his power, he shall push
the people together to the ends of the earth. And they are the
ten thousands of Ephraim. And they, the people, he pushes
together to the ends of the earth, this special remnant, the thousands
of Manasseh. What a bountiful package of blessedness
is here described. Joseph's land was blessed. He
was blessed with the precious things of heaven. I mark those
precious things and I can't help but to think the precious things
of heaven set forth in the scripture that are ours, our precious savior
unto you, therefore to believe he's precious. The precious blood
by which we are redeemed. That precious faith that's continually
tried, the precious trials that are ours that prove our faith
that will at last make heaven more glorious than it otherwise
could have been, and the precious promises that are ours. Joseph
was blessed both with the dew falling from heaven and from
the depths crouching beneath. He was blessed, look at the passage
here, with the precious fruits brought forth by the sun and
the precious things brought forth by the moon. He was blessed with
chief things of the mountains and the precious things of the
everlasting hills. Blessed with precious things
of the earth and all its fullness. That's all things, all things. He was given horns of power. Horns of power with which he
would push. rule over all people, all the
while pushing all the seed of Ephraim and Manasseh, all his
sons and daughters, all those chosen in him and blessed in
him, pushing them together to the ends of the earth. We've
all talked a good bit, probably too much, and concerned ourselves
a lot. I know too much about the upcoming
elections. We're concerned about what has
happened in the last few years and what's going to happen in
the next. Concern yourself more with this blessed revelation
of God, our mighty Joseph with his omnipotent horns, ruling
over all things and all men. This is what he's doing. He's
pushing to the ends of the earth. together his people. How can I illustrate what I'm
saying? You ladies like to bake, fix
various things. I don't have any idea what goes
on in it. Y'all forgive me, but I'm not
a modern day house husband. I just watch Shelby and don't
watch close when she's cooking. I don't want to interfere. She
does it wonderfully. She goes to make a cake and she
gets all kinds of ingredients and puts them together. and puts
them into a pan and bakes them and serves it up on a plate to
me. Oh, man. And they're not anything she
put in there till she got done that I would have wanted. Nothing
in that mix that I would have wanted by itself. But when she
gets it all done, oh, if you haven't had the pound cake, you
haven't had a pound cake yet. Oh, wonderful pound cake. Go
home and bake one. And not anything goes in there
by itself, no. But when it all comes out, I
can smell that thing cooking in the oven, looking over life's
finished story. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. Have you got that? Fret not thyself
because of evildoers. Our Joseph with his mighty horns
rules the universe and he is pushing together to the ends
of the earth his people, saving his chosen. Joseph was blessed
with all things for time and all things for eternity, all
things in heaven and all things in earth. Blessed for his own
glory, yes. but blessed for the benefit of
his own, Ephraim and Manasseh. Then, look at verse 16. Here's
a text. In addition to all these bountiful
blessings, we read that Joseph and his children, that is Christ
and all God's elect, are blessed with the goodwill of him that
dwelt in the bush. And for the precious things of
the earth, and fullness thereof for the goodwill of him that
dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come upon the
head of Joseph and upon the top of the head of him that was separated
from his brethren. Now, that's my subject this evening.
The goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. Unless I'm mistaken,
I know I'm not. This is the only place in all
the Old Testament where any reference is given back to that place where
God met Moses in the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3. The
only time it's ever referred to again in Old Testament history
is right here in Deuteronomy chapter 33. How appropriate. Moses has come now to the end
of his days. He's about to meet God in his
glory. And his thoughts are wrapped
up in the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. His thoughts,
Alan, are wrapped up with the first time he really met God
and saw his glory. His thoughts are wrapped up with
the Lord God revealing himself to him in the burning bush. What
was that bush in which the Lord revealed himself to Moses? The
word means a prickly bush, a thorn bush, the bush. What was it that the Lord told
Adam what happened to the earth as a result of his sin? And he
said, cursed be the earth. That earth that brought forth
nothing but bountiful fruit, nothing but beautiful flowers,
nothing but the most fragrant blossoms, nothing but trees in
abundance, that earth that was so greatly blessed before the
fall. Now God says it's cursed. And it brings forth nothing but
thorns, nothing but prickly thorns. All that comes out of the earth will just hurt you. There's nothing you're going
to get here that won't hurt you. Nothing. Except for the overruling
hand of God's mercy. He speaks of the goodwill of
God, wherein God reveals his glory, overruling this curse. God appeared to Moses. The Lord Jesus appeared to Moses
and showed his redictive name, Jehovah, for the first time in
the midst of the cursed, prickly thornbush. God overrules all
evil. to bring forth the everlasting
salvation of his people. Our Lord Jesus, with his mighty
horns, pushes everything together to save his own. People talk
about the fall of Adam as if somehow that took God by surprise. Isn't that absurd? Or somehow
Adam, he kind of sneaked up on his blind side and God had to
decide what he was going to do. God doesn't react to anything. He's the first cause of everything.
Had there been no fall, there would have been no salvation.
Had there been no fall, there would have been no redemption.
Had there been no fall, there would have been no revelation
of Christ the Redeemer. Mark, had there been no fall,
we could never have known the blessedness of forgiveness. The angels look with wonder upon
this blessedness we enjoy. Daughters persuade him to commit
incest twice in drunkenness. And he produces two cursed peoples,
Moabites and Amorites, from whom came a Moabitess woman by the
name of Ruth. through whom came the Redeemer
of our souls. Tamar plays the role of a harlot
and deceives Judah to go into his own daughter-in-law because
Tamar saw the value of that birthright that God had given to Judah. And she said, I'll have Christ
no matter what it costs me. And she conceives and bears a
son, and from her comes the redeemer. Are you excusing the evil that
men do? Never. Never. You justifying
the corrupt deeds of men? Never. Not in the least. Emelech,
when he was filled, his house filled with riches, and the brethren
of Emelech and Bethlehem Judah God sent judgment on the land
and there's starvation everywhere. Imalek, in his greed, gathered
his riches together and fled away to Moab. And Imalek suffered the consequences,
but nothing happened but according to God's purpose. It was there
that the Moabitess woman Ruth was found by Naomi and taught
by Naomi and brought back to Bethlehem Judah at the harvest
time and introduced to a man named Boaz, our kinsman redeemer
through whom Christ came, our redeemer. God rules everything. Our Savior rules everything for
the saving of his people. David took Bathsheba. And the thing that David did
when he had murdered his friend, his faithful servant, Uriah,
displeased the Lord. And God made it manifest to everyone
to this day that what David did displeased the Lord. But Merle
Hart, neither David nor Merle nor Don, in all of our faults
and failures, will thwart or hinder God's purpose. From David and Bathsheba came
Solomon through whom came a redeemer. Have you got that? By the goodwill
of him that dwelt in the bush. What is his goodwill? Turn to
Romans chapter 8. Read it with me one more time.
Romans chapter 8. God's goodwill is just this,
he delighteth in mercy. The goodwill of God is the salvation
of his people. For this end, he raises up nations
and he treads them down. I am a patriot. I am perfectly
willing. I believe unless I deceive myself. to make any sacrifice needful
for the liberties God's given us in this land and to protect
those liberties against any invader, against any act contrary. Some folks think we ought to
be pacifist. Well, I've known lots of folks
who pretended to be, but everyone I've met was a fake. Just get
close enough to home and he'll show you. You remember Mr. Donahue, don't you? on television years ago. And
he yacked and yacked during the Vietnam War. He's a pacifist. He mocked folks for spanking
their children. Oh, that's violent. I'm a nonviolent man. Until somebody
got too close and he popped him in the jaw. And I'm a pacifist. I'm not.
And God doesn't teach such a thing. No, not at all. Not at all. I've
often said, you've heard me say. It's a man's responsibility to
protect his family. And I'll protect mine. I'll protect
it to my death, as any of you men would, and it's right. No
matter what the laws that are invented by men say, it's right
and it's your responsibility. The same is true with us as patriot
loyal citizens. Having said all those things,
understand this, Bobby, God raised up the United States of America
for the saving of his elect. for the glory of his name. And
when we no longer serve that purpose, God will tread down
this nation as he has every other. God created this world to save
his elect. And when his elect are all saved
by his grace, he will destroy this world then and not until
then, and he'll make all things new. Now, if that bothers you,
you got a problem. That's just the way things are,
and bless God it's so. This is the goodwill of him that
dwelt in the bush. Isaiah 8, 28, and we know, and
we know, we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us. Who can be
against us? Did I tell you all about Audra
Grace's current events paper a couple of weeks ago? I got
a copy of it, bragging my granddaughter a little bit. She, writing about
the Chilean mine disaster, and she said, she read about this
report and she observed that the news media about all spoke
about these folks and they're all talking about God. And some
people had suggested that the, that this disaster and the way
it was handled raised the political standing of the country of Chile
in the eyes of the world. And Audre Grace wrote, God caused
this disaster, and God tended to the miners through the disaster
for 70 days. 70 days keeping them 2,000 feet
below the surface of the earth in safety. And God brought them
out of the disaster, all of them, every one of them, in safety. And she said, it may be that
God did this to promote it chilly in the eyes of the world. Or
it may be that God caused the disaster and tended to the miners
and brought them out of the disaster just to remind everybody he's
God and he's in control of everything. I needed the reminder about you. He exercises omnipotent power
according to the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. And
that goodwill is the everlasting salvation and blessedness of
all the sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh. And his goodwill,
he is performing and he shall perform. And when he's finished,
everybody will observe what God has done and say to God, be the
glory. Everybody in heaven, everybody
on earth, and everybody in hell shall praise Him for the goodwill
of Him that dwelt in the bush. Amen.