Deuteronomy chapter 1 and 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. It's been somewhat difficult,
I'll confess this, to get into the book of Deuteronomy. Sometimes
it's difficult to know where to begin a study like this. I've had difficulty with this
book. I hope the Lord will give us
liberty to look at some things in it. But tonight we want to
look at is some things concerning the grace of God and the government
of God, what our forefathers used to call the government of
God, the government of Christ. But I want to begin reading here
in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1, because as you and I study the
Old Testament, especially the book of Deuteronomy, we're dealing
with Israel, the nation of Israel. I don't know of a single place
in the Old or New Testament, I'm sure there are some, but
they don't come to my mind. I can't think of a single place,
especially in the New Testament, where this generation that you
and I are studying on, the first generation that came out of Egypt,
not the second generation, but the first generation that came
out of the land of Egypt that wandered in the wilderness so
long, I can't think of one single place where they're set forth
to us as a good example. It seems like they're always
a beacon, a yellow light, a warning light for us to slow down, to
stop and consider their ways and be warned about their attitude
and their action towards God and be taught taught by them
not to do what they did. But let me just read a few verses
here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Brethren, moreover brethren,
I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers
were under the cloud. That is that cloud that led them.
All of them passed through the sea, the Red Sea. They were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They did all
eat the same spiritual meat And they drank the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples
to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as
they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were
some of them, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and
drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication,
as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither
murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed
of the destroyed. Now all these things happening
to them for our examples, and they're written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come. We have these two things
here in this passage. They're examples of warning to
us. They're written for our admonition
to teach us in a way of warning us about these people not to
do as they did. And you notice he kept saying,
there in verses 10 through 9, as they, as some of them, as
some of them, as some of them. He made a point of saying, don't
do as some of them, don't act as some of them, and so on. And
then, of course, secondly, we're warned about this, and that's
the judgment of the Lord. Did you notice that? Because
of their actions, they were destroyed. The judgment of the Lord fell
upon this people, upon many of them. Sometimes we'll see in
this book, and we see it all through the Old Testament and
sometimes in the New, that the Lord's judgment fell upon Israel
among those who did not believe. And sometimes it's judgment in
the way of chastening fell upon those who did believe. You know,
the Bible says God is known by the judgments that He executed. And I think we're going to learn
something from this lesson. The Lord is known by the judgments
which He executed. I fear the Lord's judgment, don't
you? I fear what He's able to do to me. Because of my slothfulness,
because of my errors, because of my sin, I fear what He is
able to do to me. Here in the 11th chapter of 1
Corinthians, just look right there for a second. In the 11th
chapter, look in verse 27. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27. Here
is what I am talking about is judgment. Look in verse 27. Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment."
That is what that word is, damnation. It is judgment. He eats and drinks
judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause
many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we
would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are
judged, we are chastened of the Lord. Why? That we should not
be condemned with the world. So the judgment of the Lord It can make us sick. It can make
us weak. It can even take us out of this
world. Now look here in Deuteronomy 1 in verse 37. Deuteronomy 1 in verse 37. This is a statement that Moses
made concerning the judgment of the Lord upon him in a certain
matter. Look in verse 37. Deuteronomy
1 in verse 37. And the Lord was angry with me
for your sakes, saying, Thou shalt not go in hither." In other
words, you are not going in to the land of Canaan. And he said
here, the Lord was angry with me. Now, let me quote this passage
to you. I don't want you to turn it over.
Let me quote it to you. It is written in Psalms 106, verse 32 and verse
33. gives just a little bit of light
why the Lord was angry with Moses. And here's what he said. They
angered him, they angered the Lord at the waters of strife,
so that it went not ill with Moses for their sakes, because
they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisably with
his lips. Now, it may seem strange to us.
that you have such an honored servant, such a chosen servant
that had said that God knew this man face to face. Moses was faithful
in all his house. And it may sound strange to us
that you have such a man because he spake unadvisedly with his
lips. He spake in haste even though
he was provoked, and because he did this, The Lord said, you're
not going in to the land of promise. One thing Moses desired at this
time more than anything else was to go to that land. He wanted
to go to the land of Canaan. He said, Lord, You begin to show
me Your power. You begin to show me Your might.
There's no God like You. Would You let me go in and see
that goodly mountain? I don't know what mountain he
was talking about. Probably the mountain where the temple was
built. Mount Calvary is probably what he wanted to see more than
anything else. He wanted to see Lebanon. But the Lord said no.
And why? The judgment of the Lord. The Lord is known by the judgment
that He executed. He made Himself known to Moses
and to us by that way. The judgment of the Lord. Listen
to Psalms 89.7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
and to be had in reverence of all of them that are about him."
To be feared. Why? Because of who he is. Because of what he does. Because
of his judgment. Our God is a consuming fire,
the Bible says, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God. Now, there is a definite sense
in which you and I are to be afraid of the Lord. To fear Him, but even to be afraid
of Him. When we have deliberately sinned
against Him, when we have been slothful in our service to Him,
there are times when we definitely are to be afraid of the Lord.
I remember when Usa, David's friend, they were moving the
ark. They wanted him to be hauling it anyway. They should have checked
on that. They were hauling it on this
new ox cart. The ox stumbled and the ark began to turn over,
used a wretch up to hold it, and the Lord killed him. And
the Bible says David was afraid of the Lord. Why was he afraid
of the Lord? His judgment. His judgment. He was afraid of the judgment
of the Lord. How often has this fear of the
Lord's judgment, a holy fear, a good fear of His judgment,
kept us from error. It's made us examine ourselves.
It's kept us from presumptuous sins. I fear the Lord's judgment,
don't you? I fear what He can do and sometimes
what He will do. He did it to Moses, His holy
servant. This religious generation knows
little or nothing of God's judgment. That's why they're so light-hearted.
We're not supposed to fear God. He's our Father, they say. Jesus
is our Savior. We're not supposed to fear. Well,
listen to these passages of Scripture. The time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. It begins with us, with His church,
with His people, with His family. And sometimes it's severe. We
saw that in 1 Corinthians, didn't we? And if it first began with
us, if the Lord deals with us sometimes harshly and almost
crushes us under the will of His providence, what's going
to happen to the wicked? What's going to happen to the
ungodly when He judges them? if he deals with his family sometimes
in his judgment. Paul said we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ that every one of us may receive
the things that's done in this body according to that which
we've done, whether it be good or bad. Listen, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord. If anybody knows the terror of
the Lord, it's a believer. It's somebody who knows the judgment
of the Lord. And we tell it to other people,
don't we? We tell it to lost people. We know something about
it ourselves. Listen to Isaiah chapter 8 in
verse 12 and 13. Say not a confederacy, a confederacy,
to all them to whom this people shall say, a confederacy. Neither
fear you their fear, nor be afraid. Now listen. Sanctify the Lord
of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be
your dread." Why would you dread Him? Why is this holy dread of
God? Well, He's made Himself known
to us, hasn't He? And sometimes when He makes Himself more known
unto us, He brings a judgment upon us. He lays us low. Listen
to this passage. where the Master said this to
those gathered around Him, and many were His disciples. Fear
not them which kill the body, and have nothing else that they
can do, but rather fear Him which after He has killed has power
to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear Him. Listen to Hebrews chapter 12. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for
our God is a consuming fire." So we do fear Him, don't we? We fear His judgments. He's known
by the judgments which He executes. Our forefathers talked about
two things. They talked about grace, the
grace of God. And they talked about the government
of God. They made a distinction in these
two things. They talked about grace that
pardoned us, the grace of God in Christ that comes to us and
saves us, justifies us freely, gives us a good hope of heaven
at last. That was the grace of God. And
then they talked about the government of God, the authority of Christ,
the rule of Christ, in His government. They made a distinction in these
two things. The grace of God that saves us
and gives us the standing before God, and that will never change.
Aren't you thankful for that? God is a tender Father to us,
a forgiving Father, a gracious Father for Christ's sake, and
that will never change. But when He saves us by grace,
our forefathers used to say that He brings us under His rule,
under His authority, into His government. And sometimes, either to show
us mercy, to manifest greater mercy, or either to correct our
errors or chasten us because of our sins, this government,
can change our lives in this world drastically. It can change
the difference in the conditions of our lives and almost crush
us under its providence. Grace never changes. It never
changes. It knows no change. I am the
Lord, I change not in my grace towards you, in receiving you
and accepting you in the beloved, justifying you. That will never
change. But in His government that you
and I are in, that can and often does turn our lives upside down,
chastens us sore and lays us low before the Lord. Let me give
you three examples of these two things, grace and His government,
and show you the distinction in them by just these three quick
examples. Adam and Eve. Remember when they
had sinned. The Lord called them out from
those trees and saved them. I have no problem at all believing
that Adam and Eve were saved by grace. I think that's what
those skins were about, clothing them. He sent them out with a
promise that the Messiah is coming. I think it was those two who
preached the gospel to Abel and to Cain. So you have grace. Grace that saved them. But the
government of God turned them out of the garden to earn their
living by the sweat of their face. See the difference? Grace
and government. You have the same with David,
King David, that had sinned. But grace said, You shall not
die. The Lord has put away your sin,
but the sword of God's government never departed from David's house.
Never departed the rest of his life from his house. And here,
the Lord brought Moses up to the top of Mount Pisgah, and
showed him all the land of Canaan. He said, you look to the north,
you look to the south, you look to the east, and you look to
the west, and I'm going to show it to you. Now, that's grace,
ain't it? That's grace. But God's government said this,
you're not going. You're not going. So see the
distinction in them. And it's very important that
we distinguish between these two things. If the Lord has chosen
us and redeemed us and called us, we're accepted in Christ
and that will never change. But we're talking here about
the government. Christ rules. The government is upon His shoulders. And those who are brought by
grace, they're brought by grace to submit to God in Christ, to
be saved by His grace. Listen to this now. This is so
important. This is what I'm trying to get at in this first chapter.
Those who are brought by grace to submit to God in Christ, to
be saved, to be accepted, to be pardoned, to be justified,
They also submit to the government of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
the rule and authority and the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's two things the Lord sent His disciples out to do. You
see this in the first three Gospels where the Lord was ready to go
back into Heaven. And these two things He told them to preach.
to enforce upon those that they preached to. One was the gospel.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. The first thing is preach the
gospel. That's grace. Believe the gospel. That's grace. But then he pressed
his rule, he pressed his authority upon those who had been saved
by grace, who did believe the gospel. Teaching them, he said,
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So there
you've got these two things. There you've got the gospel.
There you've got believing the gospel, saved by the gospel.
That's grace. And here you have Christ's government.
enforcing His rule, His authority upon you and upon me who believes
His gospel. How do you feel about the grace
of Jesus Christ? How do you feel about being called?
About being justified? About being pardoned? How do
you feel about that? Well, you say, Bruce, you know
how I feel. You don't have to ask me. I love it. How do you feel about His government?
How do you feel about His rule over you? What we think of grace really in our hearts and His
gospel will go a long way in telling how we really feel about
His government. And how we feel about His rule over us and His
authority in our daily life will truly go a long way in telling
how we truly feel about His grace. These things, we have to make
a distinction in these two things, but I'm telling you, they go
so hand in hand. In that sense, they can't even
be separated. His grace and His rule. And I think Moses here
is a beautiful, beautiful example of these two things. The grace
of the Lord and the government of the Lord. He loved both of
them. He loved both of them. I said
just a minute ago that that Moses wanted to go to this land. There's
four things, and you'll see this as you read Moses' writings. There's four things that stand
out. I thought of this today as I was thinking of this. There's
four things that stand out that Moses desired in his heart. And these four things were above
everything else. He desired the Lord's presence.
Remember in Exodus 32? If your presence don't go up
with me, don't take me up there. I don't care what kind of land
it is, I don't want to be there if you're not there. He wanted
the Lord's blessings and the Lord's favor upon the Lord's
people. When the Lord threatened to blot
out their names from the book, He said, if you blot theirs out,
blot mine out. That's how much He coveted the Lord's blessings
upon His people. And then the Lord's glory. Remember
that? Show me your glory. I want to see your glory. And
the Lord showed him that. And lastly, he wanted to see this
land. He wanted to see it more than
anything else. And the Lord said, No. And the Lord told him, Why? Because you didn't honor me.
You speak unadvisably with your lips. I'm not going to let you
see it. What was his reaction to that?
How did Moses react to the Lord's? We know how he reacted to the
Lord's government. He loved it. He was faithful
in all his house. Whatever the Lord said do, he
did it. But when the Lord judged him and refused to let him do
something he wanted to do more than anything in this world,
what was his reaction? So it comes down, doesn't it?
Not just to grace and not just to his rules. But when he lays
us low, when he takes something from us, when he deals with us
in judgment, when he's somewhat harsh with us, what's our reaction
to that? Look here in verse 38. After he told Moses he couldn't
go, look in verse 38. The Lord said, But Joshua, the
son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither,
encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it." Now, get
a picture of this in your mind. Here's this great man who has
been leading these people, been faithful to the Lord for well
over 40 years. put up with their bad manners
in this wilderness. And now the Lord says, you're
not going, but that young fellow you've been ministering, he's
going to take a mess. You're going to die, and he's
going to take your place. You're going to give up your
position, your authority, and you're going to give it all over
to him. How would that make you feel? Now, let's be honest. Would
there be a little bit of envy there? Would there be a little
bit of jealousy there? But you know what this great man did?
You know what this honorable man did? And we've got record
of it. He spent the last days of his
life telling Joshua, you have good courage now, buddy. The
Lord's with you, son. Don't be dismayed, buddy. You
be strong. God's going to use you. He's
going to take the spirit that was upon me and the fear the
people had towards me, and He's going to put it on you. You're
taking my place. The Lord said so. And what did
Moses do? He submitted. He submitted. Not only to be saved by the Lord's
grace, to be ruled in His government, but when judgment came, when
the hand of the Lord came, when the Lord said no, He submitted.
Lord, Your will be done. Boy, what example this man is,
what example this man is of grace and the government of the Lord
and even the wrath of the Lord that was upon him. The way we
think and react to God's government goes a long way in telling what
we truly think of God's grace. Moses demonstrated that. And this brings us quickly to
this second thing, and I want to look at Israel and what a
contrast they are, and what a warning they are. They're right the opposite
from what this man Moses was. It could be argued here in chapter
1 in verse 24 and 25 and 26, 24 and 25 especially, that Israel
knew a lot, at least in their head, about the blessings of
the Lord, the value of those blessings, and the grace. They knew something about grace.
Look here in verse 24 and verse 25. Look here what they professed. And they turned, this is the
spies, and they turned and went up into the mountain, and they
came into the valley of Eschol, and searched it out, and they
took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and they brought
it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is
a good land which the Lord our God doth give us. All twelve of the spies said
this. And the whole congregation acknowledged
this. What did they acknowledge? Well,
first of all, they acknowledged here that it was a good land. This is the blessings of the
Lord. Well, what do you think about His blessings? They're
good. They're good. There's wells over there that
are full of fresh water. Can you imagine what fresh well
water meant to these people that have been out in the wilderness?
And they said, there's houses over there that's already built.
And there's vineyards that's planted. And there's grape vines
that's full of grapes. You don't have to do anything
but go in and possess it. These are rich blessings of the
Lord. They acknowledge that. They acknowledge
that. And they acknowledge something
else here also in the last portion of verse 25, which is this. It
is a good land which the Lord our God doeth give us. It's a gift. We haven't dug a well. We haven't
built a house. We haven't planted a single grapevine.
It's the gift of our God to us. freely, graciously giving it
to us. Now that's a lot to acknowledge,
isn't it? That's a lot to acknowledge. Something of the value of His
blessings and how He freely and graciously gives it. But you
know something? Their profession was so shallow
at best. And the reason we know that is
because it had no sanctifying influence in their hearts. And
the reason we say that is found in here in verse 26. Look at
verse 26. Notwithstanding, notwithstanding
this great possession, you would not go up, but rebelled against
the commandment of the Lord your God. And not only that, look
in verse 27. And you murmured in your tents
and said, because the Lord hated us, He hath brought us forth
out of the land of Egypt to deliver us, and to the land of the Amorites
to destroy us. Where further shall we go up?
Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, The people
is greater and mightier than we. The cities are walled up
to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakimtha."
And look here in verse 35. You know, it didn't stop here.
It didn't stop here. It didn't stop with saying we
won't go up. Look here in verse 35. And the
Lord heard the voice of your words. He was angry. He was wrought. And he swore,
saying, Surely thou shalt not want that these men of this evil
generation see that good land which I swore to give unto their
fathers, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. To
him will I give the land that he is trodden upon. Verse 37,
also the Lord was angry with me. In verse 38, but Joshua the
son of Nun, which standeth before me, he shall go up thither, encourage
him. Verse 39, moreover, your little
ones, which you said shall be for a prey, and your children,
which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall
go up thither, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess
it. But as for you, turn you and take your journey into the
wilderness by the way of the Red Sea." Now, this tells us
something about these people. Notwithstanding their profession
of the Lord's blessings being good and how it was all a gift
of God, what did they do? They never submitted to His rule. They never submitted to His authority. When the Lord said, Go up and
possess it, what did they do? They said, No. They said, No. So He comes here in verse 40.
He says, OK, you're not going. You're not going. I'm going to
change the way that I'm dealing with you. There's the government
of God, isn't it? You had the opportunity to go.
When I said go, you wouldn't go. So I'm going to change now
the way I'm dealing with you. I'm going to judge you. Go back
out in the wilderness for 40 years. It didn't stop there, but it
didn't. What did they do then? Well,
look in verse 41. And he answered and said unto
me, We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight
according to all that the Lord our God commandeth us And when
ye had girded on every man his weapon of war, ye were ready
to go up unto the hill. And the Lord said unto me, saying
to them, Go not up, neither fight, for I am not among you, lest
ye be smitten before your enemies. So I spake unto you, and ye would
not hear, but rebelled against the commandments of the Lord,
and went presumptuously up unto the hill." What do we see here? Here we see a confession. We
have sinned. First, they seem to have some
knowledge. They seem to be enlightened about
the blessings of the Lord and about the grace of God, but it
had no influence on their life. It was empty, wasn't it? And
here we have a repentance. We have sinned. But what kind
of repentance was it? It's a world of repentance. It's
a selfish repentance. The Lord says, you're not going.
They said, we're sorry. Now we're going. What kind of
repentance is that? Is that selfish? You know, there's
a lot of people. There's a lot of people dependent
upon something like this. That they think they're right
with the Lord. I've sinned. And they feel better. Or they
pray the sinner's prayer and they feel better. But it's a
selfish repentance. Remember when Saul went down,
King Saul, he was supposed to kill the whole city of the Amalekites
of the country, wipe out everything, kill all the animals, and he
brought back the animals. And Samuel came down and said, you
know, you've rebelled against the Lord. And remember what he
said, I sinned. Turn now and honor me before
my brother. Isn't that some more repentance?
Yeah, I've rebelled against the Lord, but I repent. Turn now
and honor me before my brother. Make me look good. What a selfish
repentance. It's the same thing here. Whatever
knowledge they had of grace had no influence upon their lives.
Whatever repentance this was, it was really rebellion. The
Lord said we couldn't go. Then what you should do is humble
yourself and acknowledge the judgment of the Lord upon you
and go back into the wilderness. Wasn't that the thing to do?
But see, their whole problem was this. Their whole problem
was this. while they were ready to acknowledge
God's grace, while they were ready to acknowledge His blessing
and seemed to covet and desire it, they weren't ready to submit
to His Word. They weren't ready to submit
to His authority, to His government. And though we make a distinction
in those two things, if you try to separate them and say, well,
I'm under grace, I'm saved by grace, I don't want to have nothing
to do with His authority, it won't work, will it? The difference
between these people and Moses was Moses was saved by grace. He loved grace. And he loved
the Lord's rule. He loved His authority. And he
submitted to it. These people wouldn't. They wouldn't. And don't we see that all in
religion today? You see it at funerals. I see
it at funerals so much. This world is sorrow. The Lord
is with you. Oh, the Lord comforts you. These
poor preachers get up talking to a bunch of ungodly people
that has no interest in the Son of God. They've not been brought
to know anything of themselves. They don't feel their need of
grace. And here these poor preachers are trying to comfort them with
God's presence. Oh, I pray that God be with all
of you today and comfort you. And they think they're worth
it. Sad, ain't it? They believed in the blessings,
they believed in the grace, not in the government. One man said this, I thought
this was interesting, and I'm almost finished. He said there's two types of
prayer that the Lord hears, two kinds of prayer that the Lord
hears. The truly broken in heart, he hears that prayer. David said it's the sacrifices
of God, didn't he? A broken heart, a broken and
a contract spirit, O God, Thou wilt not despise. He saves. The Lord has never turned away
from a broken heart, a contract spirit. He hears that prayer
and He delivers. Not only a broken heart, but
He said that conscience that is clear and submissive to His
will. He hears that prayer. The Lord
said, if you abide in Me, My Word abides in you, ask what
you will, it shall be given unto you. And this man said, where
there is a brokenheartedness and a true acknowledgment of
our weakness and failure and unprofitableness, the Lord is
there to uphold, He is there to be gracious, He is there to
strengthen and meet our need. But no matter what profession
a man may make of God's grace, if he doesn't have a heart to
submit to the will of God, he will not find grace to heaven
in the time of need. And that's the distinction in
these two groups of people. Moses as opposed to these people. And here's the scene that we
leave. Look here in chapter 1 and look in verse 45. Here's the
scene that we leave. this people with in chapter 1.
And ye returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would
not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. What else do we have here? We
have tears, but what kind of tears is it? It's tears of despair,
isn't it? It's tears of despair. And here's
the thing. Here's my conclusion this evening.
The Bible says this. Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good.
There we have grace, and there we have His government. Trust
in the Lord and do good. We make a distinction in those
two things, but you can't have one without the other. You can't
have His grace without His government. Trust in the Lord. There's grace,
isn't it? And do good. So shall you dwell
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. And those who say they trust
in the Lord, and we've got a bunch of them to do, and yet they deliberately
live in rebellion against His government, their profession
is false. It's false, brothers and sisters.
No matter what they profess, They may profess free will, or
they may profess sovereign grace. But if that same grace that saves
them does not bring them under subjection to the rule and the
authority of the Word and Spirit of Jesus Christ, their profession
is banged. It's banged. I hope that's a
help to you. I hope it's a blessing. Next
week we'll try to go on to Chapter 2 and see what we can see from
that chapter. Some of these things are going
to be somewhat humbling.