Deuteronomy chapter 33, the very
last verse of that chapter. You and I on a Wednesday night
have been going through the book of Deuteronomy, and I wanted
to look this morning at this very last words of Moses. This great man of God, inspired
as he was of God to write, to do what he did, He's coming now,
and He's probably standing on some elevated place. He's overlooking
all the twelve tribes of Israel. And this is the very last thing
this great man of God said. And it's a wonderful statement,
and I want us to look at it this morning. Now remember, we won't
have an evening service, so I'll get to take just a few minutes
longer. So remember that if you start getting tired and weary,
be patient. In verse 29, 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."
Now this man Moses He was appointed to lead God out of the land of
Egypt, often called the Iron Furnace, because they were slaves
there. And what a burden this was on
this great man, probably the greatest burden ever been put
upon a mortal man to do this task of leading the children
of Israel out of bondage. But what a great honor it was,
the greatest honor that God ever bestowed upon a mortal man. And Moses took this task to himself,
not out of a sense of going to be a hero, and it wasn't out
of a sense of patriotism to deliver God's people, but he was chosen
to this. And he was commissioned of God
to do it. And I imagine the same thing
could be said of him that was said of his brother Aaron. No
man takes this honor to himself. but he that was called of God.
And this man was surely called of God. And Israel was not delivered
out of the land of bondage by chance or by good fortune. But you know God had made a covenant
with Abraham, hadn't He, to deliver the children of Israel out of
the land of bondage. Four hundred and thirty years
before he called Moses, he says to Abraham, I am going to deliver
your people out of the land of bondage. And in Exodus chapter
12 verse 41 it says this, And it came to pass at the end of
four hundred and thirty years, the seventh same day, it came
to pass that all the host of the Lord went out from the land
of Egypt. And the Holy Spirit tells us
this because God has His timetable. He does nothing but chance. So
often, it may seem like it's chance in our eyes, but God doesn't
do anything but chance. He has His timetable, and He
works according to His own time. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman. And I tell you, when He saved
you at the very time that He had ordained to save you, Paul
said, when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by His grace." God knows the end from the beginning,
doesn't He? And it's because He's purposed
all things. He reserved this great man Moses
on purpose to deliver His people, the children of Israel. And when
Moses was just a baby, God saved this man from the watery grave
And He gave him to the daughter of Pharaoh to be her adopted
son. Now isn't that a mystery? The
same king that plotted the bondage of the children of Israel. God
raises up this little baby Moses to overthrow that same king. I'm telling you, God's ways are
much higher and wiser than our ways. And all the honor of being
the king and having all the luxury bestowed upon him that was Moses's. He was next in line. He was raised
in all the wisdom of Egypt. And Moses was loved of Pharaoh
and he was loved of Pharaoh's daughter. And he was next in
line for the kingship. Being a king in one of the greatest
nations, all the luxury that wealth could buy. The scripture
says this about Moses. When he came to age, he refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Why would he refuse
such luxury and honor? Grace had touched his heart,
hadn't it? Grace had touched his heart. And the Bible says
that he went out into the wilderness with Israel, choosing rather
to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. But when he was 40 years old
and trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, he wasn't qualified
to deliver God's people. All the training in the world
from all the seminars in the world cannot prepare a preacher
to lead God's people. God has to teach him. So God
took Moses to the back side of the desert and taught him what
it was to live the desert life. And there he revealed Christ
to him in that burning bush. What was that burning bush? But
an emblem of the Son of God incarnate. There in the bush, and the bush
never was consumed. And what is that? But Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son of God in our humanity, an eternal and holy
God in our humanity, and our humanity wasn't consumed, just
like that bush. And He showed Moses himself,
the great I Am, and now here He stands and He gives His last
words, this great Man of God, this great Deliverer. The last
words he ever spoke and he made this wonderful statement here
in verse 29. Happy art thou, O Israel. First of all, I want you to consider
with me this morning three places that speaks of who Israel really
is. I'm concerned this morning and
I know you would be. Since Israel is happy, I want
to know who Israel is. And the Word of God tells us
who Israel is. I'm not interested this morning
in human genealogies. I'm not interested in who Abraham's
natural seed are. I'm not interested in carnal
blessings of a physical land. But you and I are interested
this morning in spiritual blessings, in heavenly blessings. I'm not
interested in physical, natural Israel. God will take care of
those people. But I'm interested in spiritual
Israel. They're the happy people. I want
you to turn to three passages of Scripture with me because
this gives us the mark of who Israel really is. Look over in
Romans chapter 2. It's a very familiar passage. It's Romans chapter 2. If you
have a pew Bible, you'll find it on page 1224. 1224 in your
pew Bible. But look here, Paul is going
to tell us who a true Jew is. Look in verse 28. Romans chapter
2 and verse 28, page 224, look at this. He first tells us what
a Jew is not. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. Paul is going to tell us here
that being a Jew has nothing to do with flesh. It has nothing
to do with nationalities. It has nothing to do with cultures. It has nothing to do with who
your mother is or who your father is. Who then is a true Jew? What is true circumcision? He
tells us in verse 29. But he is a Jew, no matter if
he is a Gentile or a natural Jew. He is a Jew and he only
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men but of God. A man is a true Israelite whose
heart has been circumcised, who worships God here, he said, and
whose praise of God is in the Spirit, the heart praises God. So the issue is not who your
mom or dad is or who your family is, but has a work of grace been
done in your heart as the Holy Spirit of God circumcised your
heart? That's what circumcision is,
isn't it? It's a heart work. It's the Holy Spirit doing a
work of grace in a man's heart. And here, Paul tells us that
only that person can truly praise God. If a man's heart hasn't
been circumcised, all the praises that he could yield to God is
just from his lips and not his heart. Has your heart been circumcised? Has a work of grace been done
in your heart? Then you're a Jew. You've been
truly circumcised in your heart. Look at another place. Look in
1 John, or look in John, John's Gospel, back over to your left,
in chapter 1 and verse 47. John's Gospel, chapter 1 and
verse 47. You'll find this on page 1149.
in your pew Bible. Look at this. Here is a statement
the Lord Jesus Christ makes concerning this man by the name of Nathanael. And he is going to tell us what
a true Jew is. Who is a true Israelite? Nathanael
here in verse 46 came to the Lord Jesus. And Nathanael said
unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And
Philip said unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael come
unto him, and said, Behold, an Israelite indeed. Now there are
Israelites, but they are not indeed Israelites. They are physical
Israelites. But here the Lord Jesus said,
Here is a true Israelite. And what is it that marks a true
Israelite? Look at this, In whom is no God. The Savior tells us that a true
Israelite is one who's had his conscience washed. He's had his
heart washed. This word means hypocrisy. There's no hypocrisy. And listen,
when you come before God, hasn't He washed you from all your hypocrisy? We can't help sometimes from
being hypocrites, can we? If somebody comes to my house,
and I know they're coming, and they show up without being announced,
you may find me grabbing a broom and sweeping a lot of dust under
the carpet, straightening things up. I don't want you to know
and see how I really live. I'm a hypocrite in many ways.
But I tell you, when a man comes before God, he's honest, is he
not? Without God. And David interprets
this verse for us in Psalms 32, 1 and 2. Listen to this. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord will not impute iniquity and in whose spirit
there is no God. Who is a true Israelite? He's
a man that's had his sins forgiven. He's a man that's had his conscience
washed, his heart purged from his sins. He has no guile there
before God. He walks in the light as God
is in the light. He's cleansed. This is why the
Lord Jesus said to those Pharisees, I know that you're Abraham's
natural seed. But He said, you're not Abraham's
spiritual children because you're yet in your sins. And you draw nigh to God with
your lips, but your heart is far from Him. And a true Israelite
is one who's been washed, whose heart's been cleaned from its
hypocrisy towards God. Are you an Israelite? That's a mark. Look at another
mark. Look at one that Paul gives us
again over in Philippians, right over to your right. I love the
search of Scripture and finding these things, don't you? And
to look at them sometimes will make them stay with us. So look
on page 1,274 in your Bible. Philippians chapter 3, page 1,274. Paul is going to give us three
marks here of Israel. If you are concerned whether
you are of Israel or not, this is going to give us three marks.
And look what he says in chapter 3. And look in verse 3. The Apostle
Paul was riding here to warn these Philippians against these
Jews. They were trusting in physical
circumcision and other rites and ceremonies of the law. And
he's going to tell them what a true Jew is. Look in Philippians
chapter 3. And look in verse 3. For we are the circumcision. He's writing to Jews as well
as Gentiles. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. We are the circumcision, look
at this, who worship God in the Spirit. That's a mark of a true
Jew, of a true Israelite who worships God in the Spirit. Now
there was a time, brothers and sisters, in my life, and you
can probably say this about yourself, that all you knew about the worship
of God was fleshly. It was just things you did in
your body, in your flesh, and what you abstained from doing.
Your whole religion was made up of flesh. But what happened? The Lord was pleased to come
to you and give you a new life. You who were dead in sins has
He quickened by His Spirit. It's a spiritual life in your
heart. And now you worship God with
your spirit. What you have to do with the
old flesh, you just keep it subdued. but you worship God in your spirit. And you know what the Bible says?
They that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And God seeks out such to worship
Him. And isn't it different? I mean,
you know the difference now, don't you? And don't you wish
that every moment of every day that you could worship God in
spirit? Oh, how often we don't! And we
realize after a while we can't unless He enables us to worship
Him. But when He sends forth the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts crying, Father, Father, then our worship
of God becomes spiritual with our spirit. He said that's the
mark. That's the mark of true circumcision. And then notice this, secondly,
He says this, and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. Every Israelite rejoices in Christ
Jesus. Another passage says, We glory
in the Lord. And another passage says, To
you who believe, He is precious. Have you ever rejoiced that God
has made Jesus Christ to you? Righteousness and wisdom and
sanctification and redemption. Have you ever discovered by the
eye of faith the beauty of Jesus Christ in His all-sufficiency
as a substitute for you? Don't you rejoice when you see
that? Have you ever tasted, as Peter said, that the Savior is
gracious? Have you ever felt His love shed
abroad in your heart? Don't you rejoice in your total
access through Jesus to the Father in heaven? Doesn't that make
you rejoice in the low bottom of your heart? Do you really
rejoice in Christ Jesus? Then you know something? You're
a true Israelite. You're a true Jew. You've been
circumcised. And he adds to this, lastly he
gives this mark, and this is a mark that every child of God
feels deeply in his soul. and have no confidence, not one
grain, not one drop, not one hair's breadth of confidence
in the flesh. What does that mean? That means
we've seen the real character of our own righteousness. And
one of the greatest burdens to us is to know that our righteousnesses
are as filthy rag. Do you feel what you are by nature? Does it make you groan? Do you
see the wickedness and the deception and hypocrisy of your own heart? Do you hate yourself? Are you
more afraid of yourself than anybody else or anything else? Hasn't God stripped you from
trusting in your flesh? Then you know something, that's
a mark of a true Israelite. And I'm telling you, you've got
reason to be happy. Happy art thou, O Israel. And you know something? This
is the Israel that Moses is talking about. And I don't have to define happiness.
I don't know if I could define happiness or not. But you know
it when you experience it, don't you? Happy art thou, O Israel. But if we don't know who Israel
is, And if we don't have some evidences in our hearts that
we are indeed a true Israelite, then how can we be truly happy
according to the meaning of this text? Because who is happy but
Israel and only Israel? There's so much ignorance in
our day, especially in our day, as well as self-righteousness
and hypocrisy and presumption. We see everywhere. All of us
see this. people claiming the promises
of God who have no right to them. They talk about God loving them,
and them loving God, and they have no evidence of either. And
they talk about having a relationship with God apart from their new
birth, and that's impossible. And they talk about being born
again without being a new creature. And you and I have reason that
to believe a lot of people in our day has been deluded, has
been deceived by their own heart, and they have no grounds for
true happiness. They built their happiness upon
the shifting sand, and when the end comes, their so-called happiness
will be swept away. Israel and Israel alone is truly
happy. Everyone else has cause to be
miserable. Who are Israel? Well, we see
there, don't we? We see. We see who Israel is. It's not Israel after the flesh.
But it's those who have been circumcised in the heart. A work
of grace has been done in their souls. They've experienced a
new birth. That's God's Israel. And they
have a reason to be happy. What's the source of their happiness?
Well, first of all, let's see what it's not. Let's see what's
not the source of their happiness. It's not physical health, is
it? I appreciate my health. And the
older I get, the more I appreciate my health. And I don't want to
be sick. None of us want to be sick. But
listen to this. This world thinks that their
happiness is qualified by being healthy. And if a whirlwind loses
his health, he loses his happiness, doesn't he? And that's why some
people, when they get sick, they get bitter, they get so resentful,
because their health was their happiness. But sometimes God,
in His good pleasure, removes the physical health of His people. And He does that to teach them
this lesson. That's not the foundation. That's
not the source of your true happiness. Some of the happiest people have
been the children of God who have been very sick in this world. I've often thought of Fanny Crosby.
Crosby who was born blind. And the preacher said to her
one day, isn't it a shame that you were born blind? And she
said, if I had the choice, I'd be born blind again. The first
one I'll see in heaven, the first face I'll ever see is my Savior. Oh, it's not good health that
brings us happiness, is it? That's not the source of our
happiness. Poor old Lazarus laying there
outside the rich man's gate full of soldiers. If his happiness
depended upon his health, then he was the most miserable man.
But our happiness doesn't depend upon our good physical health.
Neither does it depend upon our riches, our wealth, our property,
our fame. How many rich people are the
most miserable people in this world? And the Apostle Peter
said this, silver and gold have I none, but he was a happy man,
wasn't he? Therefore, true happiness doesn't
depend upon things or money or what we possess. God has His
people in this world and sometimes He entrusts His own people with
riches. I have known and I've known of
the Lord's true people, that He's blessed them with the riches
of this world. But you know, He sends out a
warning with the riches that He gives them, not to be high-minded
or to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives
us all things to enjoy. And one of the things you'll
see about God's people in this world, if He entrusts them with
riches, He gives them a generous heart. A generous heart. I was just talking with two dear
friends of mine, a couple just the other day down south, and
they're pretty wealthy people. And they just gave two preachers
cars. Gave them cars. The Lord gives
His children sometimes wealth, but He gives them a heart to
share it. And I thank the Lord for those who do have riches.
There's not very many rich men who are called to come to Christ. But there are a few. And thank
God for it. But let it come time for the
Lord to say, I'm going to take them back. You know what they
do? They give it up. And they don't
get bitter about it. And they don't try to hang on
to it. And they don't become covetous about it. Because they
realize that their true happiness does not rest in their wealth
and the things that they have of this world. Israel's happiness is too pure
and is too holy and is too heavenly to be derived from such a polluted
stream as earthly wealth and things that corrode and rust
and things that moth eat. Their happiness is not resolved
from that. Israel's happiness is not based
upon family relationships. Well, you're so much today on
the radio, formulas, formulas of how to have a happy family.
I've listened to some of them. None of them have ever worked
for me. My whole family is dysfunctional. I've got nobody in my family.
Me and my wife are the only two I know of. Our children and all
of our in-laws and all the relatives. Me and my wife is the only two
I know that the Lord has called by His Gospel. But you know something? Because my happiness does not
depend upon having a good relationship inside my family. Man, if that
did, David would never have been a happy man, would he? Look what
a mess his family was in. Look at poor Isaac. I think of
all the patriarchs, I love Isaac more than any of them. But one
of his sons was going to kill his other son and had to leave
home because of it. Our happiness doesn't depend
upon having a functional, happy, close family. And thank God for
it. Look here back in our text again,
because Moses is going to make another statement. He says here
in verse 29, page 259 in your Pew Bible, Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verse
29. Happy art thou, O Israel. Now
look at this. Who is like unto thee? Now that's not a question, that's
a statement. That's a statement. Who is like unto thee? And the obvious answer is this. Nobody. That's what makes Israel
so happy. Distinguishing favor of God is
what sets Israel apart from everybody else. Who is like unto thee,
O Israel? And let's look at some of these
things. Who is loved of God like spiritual Israel? Nobody. Nobody. Somebody says God loves
everybody the same. That's not so. That's just not
so. He has a peculiar everlasting
love for Israel that He has for nobody but Israel. He says of
Israel having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them
until the end. He says of Israel, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. He doesn't say that of anybody
else but Israel. Does he? And I tell you something
else about Israel. Only Israel loves God. And Israel loves God because
God first loved Israel. Look at all the billions of people
that's in this world. I don't know how many billions
there is now that's in this world. There's several billions. But
you know, and this is strange and the world won't have nothing
to do with this, but nobody in this world loves God but Israel
only. Everybody else hates God but
Israel only. So we could say, oh Israel, who
is lacking to you? Loved of your God and you love
God. How peculiar that is. How distinguishing. And we could say this about Israel.
Who is like unto thee, O Israel, redeemed by so great a cost? Redeemed. Who is redeemed in
this world? There is people in this world
that's been redeemed. And that's Israel. When you went
down to Egypt, if you went down to Egypt that night, late that
evening when the Lord said, I'm going to come through about midnight
and I'm going to smite all the firstborn, If you had been some
stranger and you had walked down to Egypt and you would have said,
who are the Israelites? What's the difference between
Israel and Egypt? And you know how you could have
distinguished them? Every house you went to with
blood over the doorpost, that was a Jew. That was an Israelite. You could tell them by the blood,
that redeeming, protecting blood over the doors of the house.
And you could tell the Egyptians because there was no blood there.
And if you had the eye to see through the skull into the conscience,
into the heart of an individual, men and women, and you wanted
to know who are a true Israelite in our day. And God gave you
eyes. You know what you would see?
You would see the blood of Christ. You would see the blood of Christ
upon their conscience. The blood of Christ upon their
hearts. Because Israel today is just like Israel of old. She
lives under the redeeming protection of the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God says today, just like
He said of Israel of old, when I see the blood, I will pass
over you. And nobody but Israel had the
blood, did they? And nobody but spiritual Israel today is redeemed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, when
the death angel comes, there will be a difference made in
Israel and this world. Who is likened to Israel in this
sense that possesses the most holy faith? Oh my soul, isn't
faith precious? We begin this life, this new
life by faith. The Bible says, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And we believed and
we were saved. But you know, hardly anybody
believes. Faith is so valuable and so precious
and so unique because there's not much of it. How many people
do you run into through the week that truly believe that they
have the faith of God's elect? Who has this faith? Israel. Israel alone is given this faith,
the faith of God's elect. It's given to you to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Can we not say then, who is likened
to you, O Israel? You are possessed, and you possess
this faith, this saving faith. And I tell you, every Israelite
will die in that faith. It was said of old, about the
patriarchs, these all died in the faith. And the same thing
happens today. Has the Lord given you faith?
Is your faith in the Son of God? Then He has given you that faith,
and He is going to try that faith, and I tell you, He will uphold
that faith. And you'll die in it. You'll die in it. And your faith shall end in silence.
Who is likened to thee, O Israel? How many people, brothers and
sisters, have you and I seen started and quit? They seemed
to start by believing, but soon they were gone. But not Israel. Not Israel. Never Israel. Paul said, we are confident of
this very thing, didn't he? He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. And it brings
me to this. Who is lacking to thee, O Israel?
Kept by the power of God. Kept by the power of God. Boy,
we've seen them. I've been on the road now for
about 42 years. And I tell you, I've seen them.
I've seen them profess Christ. then go back into sin. I've seen
them say they love the truth of Christ and then turn around
and deny the truth of Christ. But you know something Israel
wants? Why? They're kept by the power of
God. And only Israel is kept. How many have been deceived by
the devil? But not Israel. Not Israel. Every one of them
are kept by the power of God. And think of this, who has a
righteousness like Israel? Who art thou? Who is likened
to thou, O Israel, that has such a righteousness? A righteousness
that's called, get this, the righteousness of God. Israel
has the righteousness of God. Does anybody else have that righteousness? They don't, do they? It's a righteousness
wrought out by the Son of God, by His obedience unto death and
given to Israel by faith. It's given to them. And that
old song says, I shall stand before the throne dressed in
beauty not my own. In flaming worlds shall these
array. In flaming worlds in this array
with joy shall I lift up my head. Who is likened to thee, O Israel?
And let me tell you one more. Who is likened to thee, O Israel,
as far as your inheritance is concerned? These are some distinguishing
characteristics of Israel. And what makes her so happy is
the distinguishing favor of God. Who has an inheritance like Israel? What does the Bible say about
Israel's inheritance? That it's undefiled. that it
is incorruptible, and that it fades not away, and it is reserved
in heaven for you. Now, brothers and sisters, who
has a hope like that? Who has a hope like that? We
have millionaires, and their hope is they're going to make
another million. And we have movie stars, and they're hoping
to make another big movie. We have politicians today, their
biggest hope, their chief hope is to be President of the United
States. Would you trade your hope for
theirs? And most of people's hope is
never realized, is it? But Israel's hope is sure and
steadfast because the object of their hope and the foundation
of their hope is already in heaven. He's Jesus Christ who has gone
into heaven. Oh, your path this morning may
be hard, dear child of God. Your road may be rocky and it
may be steep. The valley you're in this morning
may be long and dark, but if you're the object of Christ's
redeeming love, you would not trade your hope for anyone else's. There's light at the end of the
tunnel for you. You may be sunk under trials
and cares and burdens, and you sometimes may feel like you're
the most miserable soul in this world. But if God has put you
among the children, you're happy. You're happy because you're a
true Israelite, and there is none like Israel. Israel is the
object of God's distinguishing favor. And it said of Israel,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. And God has had compassion and
mercy on Israel. It was also said of Israel, the
Lord did not set His love upon you or choose you because you
were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest.
But because the Lord loved What could you have done, brothers
and sisters? What could you do now to earn any favor from God? Such a holy God. Such a high
God. Such a sovereignly free God.
There's nothing that you could have done. But He loved you because
He loved you. And He had mercy upon you simply
because He would have mercy. Oh, Israel. Who is like unto
you? Moses goes on in one more thing
here in verse 29. And look here what he says. This
is the most wonderful thing, I guess, of it all. Happy art
thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the
Lord. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Isn't that wonderful? Saved by the Lord. I was sitting around yesterday.
I was just thinking about God's Word and meditating upon it. And I do that sometimes and this
thought comes to me, Bruce, you're saved. You're saved. You know, you can't muster that
up. I've sat around and tried to get assurance and really get
that thought, the reality, I'm saved in my heart and you can't.
But boy, then sometimes when you're down or sometimes when
you're meditating on the things of the Lord, there it is, the
living reality. You're saved. You're saved. And oh, you just get caught up
just for a moment. You're caught up. And you're
happy. You're just so happy. And you're so content. And you're
so patient. You're saved. You're saved. This world don't think much about
being saved. They don't even want to talk
about being saved. If you go down there probably
to the city of Jerusalem of old, and there's two fellas there
in the city of Jerusalem. One of them, he's exceeding rich. He's called a rich man that fares
sumptuously every day. And if you walk into that man's
house, you'll see the finest of furniture that anyone ever
had in their home. He could set the table with the
finest of food that money could buy. He had all the flavors of
wine and imported wine that you could imagine sitting on his
table. He had well-dressed servants.
He could travel all over the world. He fared sumptuously every
day. And if you ask the world, what
would you want in this life? They would say, there's the life. That's what I want. I want His
life. I want to be like that. I want
to live like that. Look outside that rich man's
gate. Look laying there at a man called
Lazarus. And all over his body is running,
oozing sores. And he's dressed in filthy rags. And he stinks. And you can see
the bones pushing through his skin. He don't have anybody to bring
him a clean rag. He don't have a wife. He don't
have a child to help him down to the pool to bathe him in.
He don't have anyone to come and give him a piece of bread. All he can do is lay and beg
for the crumb that falls from the rich man's table. And if
somebody don't pick him up and carry him in out of the cold
when night comes, he'll lay there chilling until the sun rises
again. Who would you rather be? Well, let's go on just a little
bit longer. Let's live just a few more days
and watch and see what happens. I know what the world wants.
The world says, I'll take that rich man. Only Israel will say,
I want Lazarus alive. Because they both die. And the
rich man has a fancy funeral. And they say many good things
about him there at the funeral. The mayor is there and the governor
is there and generals are there. Talking about what a fine man
the rich man was. But when he died, the angels
wrapped him up and tied him up by the cords of his sins and
cast him into a hole, a pit called hell. And there he was tormented
in a flame. And he was tormented by devils.
And he was tormented by the screamed of the damned souls that was
there with him. But what about Lazarus? What
about that poor man? What about that beggar? The angels
wrapped him up too. But they carried him up to Abraham's
bosom. They carried Him up to the Father's
house. They carried Him up to be with His Savior. And He's
there now. And He's not poor anymore. And
He's not sick anymore. And He's leaping. And He's jumping. And He's singing. And He's crying
before the throne of the Lamb. Oh, happy me! Oh, healthy me! Oh, rich me! I am a man saved
by the Lord. Who would you rather be? Would you rather be the rich
man? That's what the world wants to be. Give it to me now. Or would you rather be a Lazarus
that's possessed with life eternal? I want Lazarus, don't you? That's
the life I want. And every Israelite says, give
me life. No matter what it costs me here,
give me that life. The life of Christ. O happy art
thou, O Israel. Two more things right quickly. Look at these last two things
right quickly. Here is a blessing. Who is likened to thee, O Israel,
a people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help? And who is
the sword of thy excellency?" Now, he's talking about the Lord
being this. The Lord is your shield and He's
your sword. Now, we have a sword, don't we?
We have a shield. It's called the shield of faith.
And we're to live by that shield of faith that quenches all the
fiery darts of the wicked. And we have a sword. That's the
Word of God, the sword of the Spirit. And we're to be diligent,
brothers and sisters, in handling this sword and this shield. But
you know, over and above that, Israel has another sword and
a shield. They have an offense and they
have a defense, and that's the Lord Himself. There's been times
when your defense fails, your faith fails. You ever had your
faith to fail? You couldn't get ahold of a promise. Your faith
got so little that you just had enough to know you had it, and
that's it. But you know something? When your faith fails and you
seem like you've dropped your shield, there's still a shield
there. And that's the Lord. That's the Lord. He's your shield. Satan called it a hedge, didn't
he? You built a hedge about it. What is that hedge? It's that
shield. Who is that? The Lord. If anybody
gets to a child of God, they've got to come through the Lord.
And then when you get through that shield, if He gives you
permission, you've still got to face His sword. I remember
when Joshua the high priest was standing before the Lord. Remember
that? And he was clothing these filthy rags. And he was standing
there before the Lord. And Satan was standing there
to resist him. And Satan was telling him, look
at your filthy rags. Man, you're damned. If anybody's
ever damned, you're damned. And he looked up to the Lord
and Satan did say, look at this wretch. Why don't you kick him
out of your presence? And you know what Joshua said?
Nothing. If he said anything, he'd have
said, I'm guilty, Lord, I'm guilty. But remember what happened? The
Lord said something. The Lord said, I rebuke you,
O Satan. Boy, there's that sword, isn't
there? When we can't defend ourselves, we've got One who can defend
us. The Lord rebuked you, O Satan. Is this not a brand plucked out
of the burning. Oh, a sword, and an excellent
sword at that. And something else here, He said
this, And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee. Your enemies shall be found liars.
My heart, it broke the other day, and yet it rejoiced at the
same time. I was down in Sylacauga, Alabama,
and Joe called me and said, They've taken Barb to the psych ward
at the hospital. She just broke down. She's lost
it mentally. So I came home Sunday night and
we got up Monday and went down to get the little dog, Barb's
little dog. Had to go up in her room to get it and all the stuff
was there just like she left it. And I saw a little note,
the last little note that she scribbled. was laying there on
her Bible. And I saw it and I thought, oh,
how precious, how precious. And this is what she said. It
was so much scribble you could hardly read it. And it said,
Rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. And when I sit in darkness, the
Lord will be alive to me. And I read that and I thought,
oh, how precious. I wonder what she was thinking
when she wrote that verse of Scripture down. I wonder what
Satan may have been telling her. Oh, you're gone now, Barb. You're
gone off into darkness now. The Lord's going to give you
over to confusion now. You're mine now. He's a liar,
ain't he? He was a liar in the beginning.
He's a liar now. And the Lord said he's going
to prove to be a liar in the end. There the poor woman is, shut
up in all her confusion and darkness. But you know something? The Lord
is going to prove the devil a liar in the end. And I tell you something else
He says here about Israel. He says, Thou shalt tread upon
their high places. I tell you, things ain't going
to be like it is right now forever. It's not going to be like this
forever. Now Satan molested us, doesn't he? Unbelief molested
us. They're going to tread on their
high places. Two things that Israel feared
more than anything else when they went to the land of Canaan,
and that was those high walls and those giants. He said, we
can't scale those walls and we can't kill those giants. But
they did. They did. They tread on those
high places. Can't you just see those Israelites?
I don't know how some of those walls, they tell us, were high. I don't know how they got on
top of it. But can't you see those Israelites as they climb
and here they are upon those walls, standing upon those walls,
looking down upon the people, shouting the victory? They tread them. And I can see
them standing over those giants, those huge giants, standing right
on their chest and putting their feet on their necks, and with
a spear in their hearts, subduing those high places. You know something, brothers
and sisters? I wouldn't be an enemy of Christ's church for
nothing. I tell you, I wouldn't. Because He's going to put every
enemy of the Lord's church under Her feet. He said, I'm going
to brew Satan under your feet shortly. I wouldn't want to be
him, would you? I'd rather sit down and keep
my mouth shut and never say a thing as to be an enemy of the church
of Jesus Christ. O happy art thou, O Israel, who
is likened unto you, a people saved by the Lord. What a blessed text. The Lord
bless it. Let's pray.