Deuteronomy chapter 30. It's on page 253 in your pew Bible. If you're using a pew Bible and
you want to know the page, it's 253. Last week we considered
basically the 10 verses, but not very thorough. But we looked
at it mainly as it was applied to the Jewish nation, the Jewish
people. We looked at it here in verse
1. If they rebelled against the Lord and they came to themselves,
he said in verse 1, it shall come to pass, when all these
things are come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which
I have set before thee, and you call them to mind among all the
nations, whether the Lord your God hath driven thee. And that
did happen. We looked at that last week and
it did happen. They were driven out of their homeland and taken
captive. And then in verse 2, the Lord said, And shall return
unto the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, according to all that
I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul. And they did that. They turned
in their captivity. They turned to the Lord. And
then verse 3, That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity,
and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee
from all the nations where the Lord thy God hath scattered thee."
And that happened too. If you read over especially in
Nehemiah chapter 1 and around verses 8 and 9, Nehemiah quoted
this verse. And he said, Lord, you said,
you told your servant Moses, if we sinned against you, and
we have, he said, and you gave us into our enemy's hands, and
we turn to you with all of our heart, you'd restore us back.
And that's the way he prayed. And the Lord brought them back,
and they built the temple. They built the wall. They restored
the sacrifices, the priesthood, when they would come back out
of captivity. And he said here in verse 4,
And if any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of
heaven. Now boy that is a long way isn't
it? The outmost part of heaven. Heaven is a big place isn't it?
And I guess that included all this earth and all the air, wherever
you are driven, the outmost part of heaven. From thence will the
Lord your God gather thee and from fence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring
thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it, and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above
thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
your heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy
God with all your heart, with all your soul, that thou mayest
live. Now one of the things I want
to repeat from what I said last week And let me reiterate that
I don't know very much about the Jewish nation. But I know
that from this time when he said and he predicted and he prophesied
that this is what's going to happen, that really happened. And in the Old Testament, when
they came back from captivity, they came back to the land of
promise. They came back and set up the
priesthood, rebuilt the temple, and began to offer the sacrifices.
But then remember last week we said when it comes to the New
Testament, things begin to change. They still turned to the Lord
God. They turned to God in Christ. Remember in Acts chapter 2? Peter
preached Christ unto them. You have taken by wicked hands,
you have crucified Him, and you have slain Him. And they said,
Men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said, Repent,
every one of you. Repent and be baptized for the
remission of sin, and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. And that day there were a thousand, was it two thousand?
That day, 3,000? 3,000 that day were saved. They turned to the Lord. And
you see through the book of Acts, multitudes of the Jews turned
to the Lord. But you know it wasn't about
going back to Jerusalem, was it? As a matter of fact, they
were run out of Jerusalem. They left their homeland. Paul
was writing to the Hebrews, the Christians among the Jews, and
he said, Here we have no continuing city. You've lost that city. You've lost the homeland. And
they went other places, didn't they? It became insignificant. And instead of circumcision in
the flesh that profited nothing, they come to understand what
true circumcision meant. Circumcision of the heart and
of the spirit. My wife one time, I was working
second shift, so I wasn't in the worship service, but the
guy that was preaching that night, he said, I can't understand where
these people are getting this thing about you're a Jew if you're
one inwardly. And circumcision was of the heart.
He said, I don't know where they're getting that. And he almost quoted
the verse. So my wife, she had a shame to
raise her hand and tell him, but she told the person sitting
there next to him, said that's in Romans chapter 2. He's not
a Jew which is one inwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is one in the flesh. He's a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcisions of the heart and of the spirit. And that's
what he said during our text in verse 6, wasn't it? The Lord
thy God will circumcise thine heart to love the Lord your God. And that's what happened to the
Jews in the New Testament. And you know Paul said even today,
There's a remnant according to the election of grace. But it's
not about going back to Jerusalem, is it? It's not about setting
up the temple and offering sacrifices. Christ is now their sacrifice.
Christ is the high priest. And the Holy Spirit has circumcised
their heart. And Paul said even today, and
so I would take that that even in our time, this present time,
still there's a remnant of the Jews according to the election
of grace. Look over in Jeremiah. This is
a very familiar passage. But look over in Jeremiah chapter
31. Here's what he said concerning
the Jews. And he talked about a remnant
here. A remnant according to the election of grace. And I
said last week, not all of them returned. All the Jews never
returned. There was only a remnant that
always came back to Israel. And not all the Jews are being
saved today. But there is a remnant, isn't there? according to the
election of grace. And look what he says here in
Jeremiah chapter 31. Look in verse 7. For thus saith
the Lord, saying with gladness. Jeremiah 31.7. For thus saith
the Lord, saying with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the
chief of the nations, Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord,
save thy people. Thy people. There He is by election. There He is by redemption. There
He is by faith. Save thy people, the remnant
of Israel. The remnant. Paul said there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. And here he
says, save them. What does the Lord say in verse
8? Behold, I will bring them. And look at this. Here's the
promise fulfilled. I'll bring them from the north
country. I'll gather them from the coast of the earth. and with
them the blind and the lame, the women with child, and her
that treveleth with child together, a great company shall return."
So He is saving them, isn't He? He is gathering them out of all
countries. He says to the North, Give up!
Give them up! I want them back! They are mine! Now back over in our text again,
look back over in our text again. And here is what He said in verse
4. I like this. This applies to every elect person
among the Jews or Gentiles. Every elect person. This is what
is said of them. Look in verse 4 of our text again.
And if any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of
heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and
from thence will he fetch thee. outmost parts of heaven from
thins. The Lord is going to the outmost parts to get them. And
He's going to gather them. He's going to fetch them. And
God has a remnant of people, doesn't He? He has a remnant
among the Jews and He has them among the Gentiles. A remnant
of people. And He says, I'm going to get
them. I'm going to gather them and I'm going to fetch them.
I'm going to fetch them. Here's what the Lord Jesus says
in John chapter 10. Listen to this. other sheep I
have which are not of this fold." They are the Gentiles, aren't
they? Poor, miserable, dead dog Gentiles. Lost as they can be. But Christ said, They are My
sheep. And listen, Them also I must bring. I am going to gather
them. I am going to fetch them. And
there is going to be one fold and one shepherd. Listen, He
went on to say, I am the good shepherd and though My sheep
and I am known of mine." He's got a bunch of sheep. The Father's
given to Him and they're His, they're mine. And you know good
and well if He says to Israel, if any of yours is scattered
into the outmost parts of heaven, I'm going to get them. You know
good and well if He says He's going to get them, He's going
to get His, ain't He? This is what He said in John
17, 9 and 10. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine, and Thine
are Mine, and Mine are Thine, and I am glorified in them. And
He went on to say, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on Me through their word, that they
may be one. If anybody asks us today what
the Lord is doing, you know what I tell them? He's the shepherd
that's gathering His sheep. We're in this world that's so
frustrated and everything seems out of control and we've almost
lost it and we're on our last stand, that's what we think.
But you know what the Lord's doing? He just sovereignly and
graciously set in heaven and He's finding one over here He's
finding one over here, and He's reaching out there and fetching
them, and He's going over here and gathering them, and He's
bringing them all to Himself, and they're one in Christ. And
I tell you, He finds them in some strange places, doesn't
He? Sometimes He finds them old and self-righteous and don't
have a lick of sense. Lord, how can these things be?
Sometimes He finds them on a cross in their dying hours saying,
Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. Sometimes
He finds them in jail. He finds them every place, don't
He? Where do you find you? Boy, He gathered you, didn't
He? He said, I'll gather the lambs with My arms. What a gracious arm! What an
omniscient arm! What a wise arm! A loving arm!
And I'll gently lead those that are with you. That's what He's
doing. He's gathering His sheep. I love Isaiah 27, verse 13. Listen
to this. I love the Lord's shalls. It
shall come to pass. that the great trumpet," that's
the gospel, "...shall be blown, and they which were ready to
perish shall come, and they shall worship the Lord." They shall. The Lord Jesus says, "...all
the Father gives to Me, He shall come to Me." Remember the story
the Lord told about the shepherd? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep
and he loses just one of them, what does he do? He leaves the
ninety-nine in the wilderness and he goes after that one until
he finds it. Until he finds it. No matter
where he's at, he goes after it until he finds it. The outmost part of heaven. Boy, that's what just keeps you
witnessing. That's what keeps you preaching.
That's what keeps us from going to the nursing home. One of His
may be down there in the outmost. But I know this much, if they
are, He's going to gather them. He's going to fetch them. He's
going to bring them home to Himself. That's encouraging just to keep
on witnessing that. Keep on witnessing. Now here
in our text in verses 11 through verse 14, let's look at that
too for just a few minutes. Look in verse 11. through verse
14. Well, this is concerning the
gospel. You know, we have the law, the
moral law in you and the ceremonial law, but right in the midst of
that, you find the gospel. And here's the gospel. Look what
he said in verse 11. For this commandment, which I
command thee this day, is not hidden from thee, neither is
it far off. It is not in heaven that thou
shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it
unto us, that we may hear it, and believe it, and do it? Neither
is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over
the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it,
and do it? But the word is buried nigh unto
thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart, that thou mayest do it."
Now, you know that Moses wrote of Christ. Christ said that Himself. And here is one of the places
that that happened. And we know that this is concerning
the Gospel because the Apostle Paul in Chapter 10, he quoted
this, didn't he? He quoted this very passage here.
And he linked it, connected it, said it's concerning salvation.
In Romans 10, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And we find this in the very
context of Romans 10. about this commandment here to
believe on Jesus Christ. And Paul there in chapter 10
was talking about imputed righteousness. And when he was talking about
imputed righteousness, he quoted this passage of Scripture. And
let me quote it to you again. I've got it written down here.
Let me quote. Here's what he said. The Word is nigh thee,
even in your mouth and in your heart. And what is that? The
Word of faith which we preach. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God
has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
a heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with a mouth confession is
made unto salvation." One of the most confident words I have
ever meditated upon that has ever come to my heart is this
word right here, man believes unto righteousness. never moving
a muscle, never doing a thing, believes unto righteousness.
Somebody else has worked out the righteousness. We're the
benefactors of it. It's given to us freely upon
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel is so near, Moses
said it's very near. Paul said it's near to you. Moses
said it's very near to you, and it's not hidden from thee. Neither
is it for all. The gospel is so near to us that
it can save us immediately. That's what I like about it,
don't you? Immediately it can save us. And it's so plain and
it's so simple that we can understand it in our hearts and speak of
it with our lips. How near is it in your heart?
In your mouth? You don't have to have a theologian
say, let me go up to heaven and I'll bring it down from the high,
or let me dig it up from the deep and bring it down for you.
No, no, no. It's near us. It's near you and
it's near me in our very heart, in our very lips. Everything
that we need to know and believe is made plain and simple in this
Word of Faith. Let me say it like this. The
Gospel describes our problem. The Gospel describes our central
problem, and you know something, it describes it in such simple
terms that nobody, if he's honest, can deny. What is our problem? We look at a lot of symptoms,
and we identify the symptoms as our problem. But the symptoms
aren't our problem, is it? What is our problem? What is
our central problem? You know what our problem is?
We're sinners. Isn't that simple? Oh, Bruce,
we need to get deeper than that. That's not our... That's our
problem. That's all the problem I'm having
inside myself right now, is I've sinned and come short of the
glory of God. This conflict that I'm having,
these doubts, these fears, these struggles, is because of inward
sin. And you know something? I've
had it all my life. I was born in it, and I can't
get rid of it. It's this old wretched nature
that's within me that causes me to think and do and say things
that I otherwise hate and deplore. You have that problem. That's
our problem, isn't it? And the Bible identifies that
as our problem. And we find men all through the
Bible make such statements like this, I am dust and ashes. Lord, depart from me, for I am
a sinful man. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I was shapen in
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. What is the matter
with me? What is the matter with you?
Our whole problem is sin, is it not? And the Bible in the
most simple terms tells us that. And for man to deny that is to
deny the simplicity of the Word of God and his own experience. I was talking with a preacher
one time, and I hope he's changed his mind by now, and I think
he has. I was talking to him about being a sinner, and he
said, I'm not a sinner anymore. That's not honest, is it? That's
just not honest. That's denying the plain truth. The Word is near you. You can't
escape this. And here's the truth about it,
the plain simple truth, that I was born in sin, I've lived
that way, and I'll die that way. I must be saved from my sin. I must be saved from myself. I tell you, if I was born right,
I'd have lived right. And you couldn't have stood it
around me because you're sinners. I'd be righteous. But here's
why we can get along, because we're all in the same boat, aren't
we? What's your problem? What's your
problem? It's simple. You're a sinner. You're a sinner. am chief. And the more a man
learns about that simple truth, the more he acknowledges, yes,
I am. Yes, that's me. That's me. That's the problem with us, isn't
it? What's the problem with the world around us? The same thing. The same thing. Let me tell you
how the Bible describes the world. And every one of you is going
to say, man, that's it. That's just it. I mean, it's
too evident. It's too plain. It's simple. I John 5, verse
19, listen to this. And we know that we are of God,
and the whole world lieth in wickedness. That's a strong word,
isn't it? Man, that's strong. Just like laying them in a bunch
of serpents. Lays and wickedness. Some says
that literally means the wicked one. Ain't much difference, is
there? Life and the wicked one. Life and wickedness. There's
been a long time, just about all my religious life, that I've
heard this world talk about. They talk about a way to remedy
our situation and our problem. And the academic world is always
saying education will solve our problem. If we could just get
everybody educated, one of the reasons they took the skills
out of high school, when some of you were in high school, they
had skills, didn't they? When we were in high school,
you could learn to weld, you could learn to build and do different
things. They took all that out now. One of the reasons they
did, they said we want everybody to go to the university. We want
everybody to get educated. Because if we can get everybody
educated, even bring those in other worlds, third worlds, and
bring them here and educate them, man's got to go a long way in
solving man's essential problem. And what's happened? The more
we get educated, the stupider we get. Ain't that so? And I'm not here to talk about
education being a bad thing. Get educated, but we're talking
about something else. We're talking about sin. and
the problem with the world. And when you look at our universities
today, it's a hotbed of open and profane sins. Those that
said they could help us by educating us, they're the very ones that's
promoting a lot of this stuff. Who's promoting the abortion
issue? Who's promoting a woman's right to kill her baby? That's
coming out of the universities. Who's promoting this gay rights
business? That's coming from our colleges.
Who gives these professors and scientists a platform to say
there's no God who created all things? That's coming out of
academia, is it not? The more educated people get
usually, the more stupid they get in the thanks of God. Now
that's just so, is it not? Our educators, for the most part,
remain ignorant of this world's essential problem. And one of
the reasons they remain willfully ignorant of it is because they
know they don't have a remedy for it. They don't have a remedy
for man's essential problem. What remedy can education give
for a world lying in wickedness? There is no remedy they have.
Mention this. And what will they do? Educated
people will laugh at you. They'll scorn you for even mentioning
such a simple thing. But I tell you, it shows their
willful ignorance. Does it not? Because it's too plain. Man's
problem, the world's problem, is just too plain. It cannot
be denied. What is man's problem? What is
the world's problem? This one thing. There's one thing,
it lays in wickedness. It's God's enemy. It's dead in
trespasses and sin. Now let a man come up with a
remedy for that. But you know something? The remedy
is near us, even in our hearts and in our mouths. When God came
up with a remedy, He came up with one that's near us, that
we can grasp, that you and I can understand. When the Lord sent
men out to preach the gospel, who did He send? Shepherds. The first ones that were sent
were shepherds, and they were working the night shift. They
couldn't even get on the day shift. They were second shift
fellows. And then who did He send when He went back up to
heaven? He sent a bunch of fishermen. And the wise and the prudent
of their days said, Those are ignorant and unlearned men. Yes, and God revealed to them,
and He brought near to their hearts what He has hid from you
fellows, the gospel, the gospel. He was that believed and understood
the gospel when the Lord Himself preached it. The common people
heard Him class it. The gospel may be hid from the
wise and prudent, but if it is, it's because of their prejudice. It's because of their self-righteousness. It's not that they can't see
it because it's up in heaven and they can't reach it, or it's
down deep and they can't dig it up. They can't see it because
of the prejudice of their mind or their self-righteous hearts.
But the gospel itself is plain and it's simple, is it not? Don't
you? Won't you tonight bear witness
with me in your conscience? Yes, it is. Everywhere you look
now, you see it, don't you? It's there and it's plain. It's
near us. My dad used to be a mason. And
he never could tell me about what goes on there. And he always
told me, he said, son, that's secret. That's just for the members
of the mason. Secret. The Mormon says that,
you know. I didn't know this, but I heard
the other night, I don't even know if this is so, but I heard
someone say this is right, that you can't go to a Mormon wedding
unless you're a Mormon. There's things that take place
there, they said, that's secret. They've got mystic secrets of
some kind. Christian scientists, they've
got that. And you can't find out anything
about them unless somebody comes out and reveals it. All these
secrets. You know something? What the
Lord did was not done in a corner. Boy, it's open, ain't it? And
it's plain. And it's so simple. It's near
you, even in your heart and in your lips. What does the Lord
say about the wise and the prudent with their mystic secrets? I
will destroy the wisdom of the I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribes? Where is the disputers of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness preaching to save those who believe. It is near us. The Gospel is
near us. Oh, the wise and the prudent,
they try to make everything so mysterious. Oh, what is the remedy? Well, if I had about two weeks
and we could have some sessions and I could call somebody out
of the seminar and come here and you could be in those sessions,
maybe, just perhaps, he could get through to you. No, no, no. That's not it, is it? It's near
you. as near as a man's heart is.
It's as near as our mouth to us. What is that? The Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Yes, it has to be revealed. I'm
not saying the Holy Spirit doesn't have to teach us, but what does
He teach us? That which is simple and plain. He's not out here teaching theologians.
He's teaching people just like you. Poor sinners. That's who He's teaching. And
the reason people make it complicated is not because it's complicated.
They just can't believe it's so simple and plain. The Bible
says, Hold, you that are thirsty, come and buy. Buy wine and milk
without money and without price. And what does a man do? He comes
with his pockets full of money, trying to buy something. Why
does he do that? He just can't believe. He just
can't believe that it's that free. in that plain and that
simple. Aren't you thankful, brothers
and sisters, that when the Lord calls a man, when He calls a
man, it becomes so plain and so simple? The remedy is so simple. Is it not so plain? God in great
love and tender mercy and goodness that's incomprehensible sent
His dear and blessed Son to this world And upon Calvary's tree
He paid every jot that justice demanded for sin. And the very
fact that He did it, that He's seated there at the right hand
of God now. And God turns to me and He turns
to you and He says, Here's what My Son has done. Believe Him
and be saved. Believe Him and be justified
from all things. Believe Him and you've got my
righteousness to clothe the shame of your nakedness. Believe Me
and you'll never die. Believe Me and you're forgiven
of all your sins. And that's how simple it is.
Is it not? That's how simple. That's how
plain it is. And I tell you, as I get older,
I'm so thankful that some of these know-it-alls some of these
theologians that are so deep that you have to follow them
with a dictionary on your lap. I'm so thankful that I heard
the plain Gospel before some of those fellows got to me and
confused me to no end. We had a dear young lady. I just
thought the world of her, but she left this congregation. And
I wrote her one time about it, and she wrote me back some stuff
that I couldn't understand what she was saying. I mean, she just
went into all of this long, drawn-out detail of what the Gospel was. I have studied the Bible and
these Puritans and theologians for 40 years, and she was so
far over my head, I didn't know what she was trying to say. And
boy, I tell you, I'm so thankful that the Lord showed me the simplicity
of Christ, that I'm a sinner. in need of a great Savior. And
God hath provided me one. And Christ is all I need. And you just cast your soul upon
Him. And you just believe Him. You
trust Him. You rely upon Him. And that's
it, isn't it? That's it. And man and his wisdom
come and complicate everything. It just upsets me. I'm getting
old. And I'm getting forgetful. And
it's going to get worse. I'm going to reach the place
where you're going to come to see me in the nursing home, and you're
going to say, you remember me? I have no idea who you are. It's
going to happen. Me and Clarence and Gail and
Joe went down to see Dave's mom down here at the Addison house.
And me and Gail walked in the room and was talking to her.
She didn't remember either one of us, Dave. She didn't know
me either until last year. She probably didn't know you.
It was sad. And I said, I'm your neighbor.
Gail told her who she was. She said, I don't know who you
are. We said something about the Savior. She said, oh yes,
I know the Savior. I'll never forget my Savior,
she said. That's the gospel. That's the
Christ I want. One that will stay in my heart.
when all my memory of everything else is gone. One that's not
complicated, that I have to figure out and go through all these
details, working my way to get to Him. There He is! He's the
Savior, and here I am, a poor sinner. Look to Him, and He'll
save you. Look away from yourself. Look
away from your guilt. Look away from your works. Look
to Him, and He'll save you. and He'll clothe your shame,
and He'll wash you from your sins, and He'll give you a new
life. That's the remedy. And God has
provided it. And it's simple. And it's plain. Why do we need it simple and
plain? Well, because He said here in our text, He said in
verse 12, that we may hear it and do it. Do what? Believe it. But if we can't even
understand it, how are we going to believe it? And then he says
there in verse 12, and he said in verse 13, that we may hear
it and believe it. He says it again. And look in
verse 14. It gets a little bit more personal
now. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." That thou! We hear it! And all of us hear
it! But then he says that you may
believe it. That's it, isn't it? You know
why men aren't saved? They won't believe God. Now that's
it, isn't it? Oh, I've just got to feel something.
I've got to see. I've got to know more and more
and more. No, believe what He says, that
you may do it. That's it, isn't it? I know the
Gospel. And you know something? I believe
the Gospel. I believe it. I believe Him. And that's why
it's so simple. So we can trust Him. So we can
believe Him. Bless his name. Shanna, dismiss
this, would you?