Understanding God's Judgment and Protection

Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 32. This is God's charge to his own people. He's concerned about their future in telling them what he knows because of their nature that they're going to do. God knows us better than we know ourselves. I think probably all of you have had some people in your life that you've known. And you could see in the way they behaved that if something didn't change, what direction their life was going to go. Some people you could see, they're ambitious, they're hardworking. They really jump on every opportunity and you can just see that they're going to do well. And you know they're going to make something out of their life. You see other people who sort of like, they start at something, they don't finish it. They just can't seem to get focused on anything. And you know for sure that unless something happens in their life, they're going to have one problem after another all the rest of their lives. God knows us better than anyone in the world. He knew the people of Israel better than they knew themselves. So he was telling them something about the nature of what was going to happen to them because of who they were. They were rebellious, they were resistant. There are just some people that if you tell them something, they're going to go the opposite direction. And it seems like that's the way the people of Israel were. So he was predicting for them what was going to happen when they moved into the land of promise because of their nature and their character. And he uses this Song of Moses as sort of a way by which he announces to them what he sees in them and the dangers that they have and tells them that unless some changes are made in their lives, this is what's going to happen, this is what's going to take place. They're going to turn against God, leave him behind and his judgment is going to fall on them. He does this in the form of a court case where he's arguing a charge against them. He's the prosecuting attorney. You know, this is a dangerous situation when the prosecuting attorney against you at the trial is also the judge. You pretty well know how that case is going to go. And so he's telling them, I am the prosecuting attorney. The jury is all of the world, but I'm the judge. So I know how this is going to turn out because I'm here in the place where it has to be. I want to go back and look at beginning with verse 26 of chapter 32. He's talking to them about the fact that they're going to come, they're going to rebel against him when they move into the land of promise and that desperate things are going to happen because of their rebellion. They turn against him. They begin to look at other gods. They begin to serve other gods. They depend on something other than God for the success in their life. And that's what idolatry is, depending on something in your life other than God for success. And when you see that taking place, even in our world, you know that people are in trouble. What do you think of when you see... What circumstances do you see people depending on other things now in our world for success other than God? Can you think of any things like that? What comes to your mind? Excuse me? Yeah, people who wrap their whole lives in themselves. Everything I do has to make me fun or enjoyable, has to please me. Being pleased, for me being pleased or happy is the most important thing in my life. When that's true, when God says, I want you to sacrifice something, give up something for me, they will immediately stop and refuse. So they don't mind going to church as long as they can get something out of it. Isn't that a good sound? I can get something out of it. So you go to church to give something to God. That's the real purpose of it. Whenever you hear people talk about, I don't get anything out of church or Sunday school, they're really self-focused. They're saying, it has to ring my bell or I don't come for supper. Anything else that you see that causes people to think that way? Money, big thing. Yeah, a lot of people focus everything on having things and the things that it buys, trips, vacations, weekends with friends or family or watching the ballgames, all those things are part of what money can provide. Yeah, it's a big one. So they trust that. Now, so they're looking for this to make their life complete. A person that's self-centered ends up being selfish. How many of you like selfish people? So they get to the end of it. They get to the end of it and they find themselves, nobody likes them. Nobody wants to be around them. And then they're not happy because they don't have anybody around them. People with the money, they get all the money. They don't have the happiness or the fullness of life. It's self-focused. Jobs, people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the job becomes a priority. And if anything gets in the way of the job, you know, you're through with that. And if God asks you to do something that would require you to change jobs or make a different job or take one with less responsibility or less prestige, you want to get away from that. I noticed Sunday morning, it's hard to get a parking place here at the church. Did you notice that? Parents got their kids up, brought them down here by eight or nine o'clock. They were there all day playing ball. And parents push that. They want their kids to be athletes, you know, to have popularity and to succeed at it. Less and less kids know anything about God. They know how to dribble a ball, how to kick a ball, how to pass a ball, but they don't know how to live. And so they trade following God for popular activities, wanting their kids to be popular. Well, all those are gods that people in our world use. And when the Bible talks about the Israelites following other gods, it's the same thing for us. Where do I get the meaning out of my life? Where do I get the value out of my life? And so God says, you have, you're going to go into this land and I'm going to give you the things you need, but you're going to follow these other gods, thinking you're going to get more out of life from them than you do me. But I'll tell you that the judgment is going to come on you. I'll send terrible times on you. Calamities will come to you. Everything will go the wrong way. Verse 26, and I said I would scatter them and erase their memory from mankind. He said, I'm ready to simply eliminate Israel so they don't even exist anymore and erase their memory from mankind. But I dreaded the taunt of the enemy. What kept him from doing it was the people who were these other followers of these other gods would look at the people of Israel who followed Yahweh God and they would say, and they would say, our hands have triumphed over Yahweh. All that he has done, lest the adversary misunderstand and say our hand has triumphed. The Lord has not done all this. Yahweh failed to be able to take care of his children. And so because of what people would say, I'm not going to destroy all my people. And we've learned later on, he talks about the remnant of people who remain faithful. So he kept those people alive because he wanted people to understand that when his people did follow him, they would be cared for and protected. Now verse 28 is where I really want to focus this evening. In this verse, the pronouns are key to this. They are a nation without sense. There is no discrimination. And them, if only they were wise and would understand this. So he's talking here about they. In the reference, he just talked about he was going to rescue some of the people of Israel so that they would not think, the enemy would not think that he was unable to protect and care for his people. The they here refers to the enemies of Israel. These people who are, I'm going to allow to take over my people and take over this country where they live. They're going to drive my people out because it's my judgment. I'm going to remove my hand from them and they're going to have the victory. But I'm not going to let them destroy them because I don't want them to think I don't have power. If I remove my hand from Israel, then the enemy can come in and defeat them. They think it's because they have power. But it's really because I've removed my protection from them. And I don't want them to think for a moment that their power is greater than mine. These people, the enemy of Israel, they're a nation without sense. They have no discrimination in them. They look at the circumstance where I've removed my presence from my people and then in the battle they win. And in their mind, he says, they have no sense. They can't figure this out. They think how strong we are. We've defeated Yahweh God and his people. And they're people who have no discernment. If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be. They don't understand that I'm still the judge of the universe. And even though they may have victories over my people because I've allowed it to take place, it doesn't mean that they're more powerful than me. It only means that I've taken my hand off and my protection is no longer there. If they were wise, they would understand this. And if they had discernment, they would understand that the end of their own life would be under judgment the same as my own people. If I would do this to my people, what would I do to these who were not my people who were living contrary to the way I want them? If they were wise enough, they'd understand the circumstances that they're facing. And you see, a lot of people when they look at circumstances, say a church or followers of Christ, and they see circumstances come into our life where maybe they have more advantages than we do. Maybe they have more money. All these gods that they're worshiping do bring benefits to them. And they look at that and they look at the followers of Christ and they think that they're winning. You know, I'll tell you, if you think about people that are self-centered and they get their way, they think that they're having success. If you look at people who are accumulating money and they see church people who are giving money to the church, they think that's the stupidest thing they've ever heard of. We keep our money. Look at all the things we've got. You've given yours away to churches. You're going to waste all your money. People that are sending their kids to all these athletic events and they have some success in school and the recognition in school, but they don't realize they're creating someone who doesn't know how to live. So you see all these big athletes who are in trouble with the law, put in jail, losing their means of a fortune because of their criminal behavior, and the destruction is there. You may think in the short term that you're winning this battle, but if you had any sense, you would understand where the end of this is going to lead you. It's going to lead you to destruction. There is not any way to avoid it. And it's not any way to avoid it because of one thing. Yahweh God made the world and he's the judge of everything. And he's the one we have to stand before to account for our life. So he's saying, if they were wise, they would understand this. If they discern what their end will be, then they would understand the circumstances far better than they do now. How could one man chase a thousand or two put ten thousand to flight unless the rock had sold them, unless the Lord, Yahweh, had given them up? He's saying, when you look at the power that I have and all the strength that I have, and these are my people Israel, and you go into battle against them, and you defeat them, you have to stop and say, how did this happen? How did the God, the creator of the world, how did his people get defeated? Whenever you take somebody and you run them away, he uses the language of just a small amount. When two put ten thousand to flight, when your soldiers come in and fight against my people, and they can take a small group of people and overcome them, how could they not realize that something else is going on here besides simply a military battle? When the difficulties come and bad things happen to my people, they should realize that it's not their strength that overcomes, it's because I've taken my hand away from them that the difficulty comes to them. Now, what God promises his people is, I will guide you with your choices, I will provide your needs, I will protect you, and I'll make you a great influence in the world. Whenever the people of God or an individual begins to see that these things are not taking place in their life, it's time to stop and check, has God removed his hand from me? Is he no longer standing there to give me wisdom in my choices? Is he no longer providing for me as he promised he would? Is he no longer protecting me as he said he would? Is he no longer giving my life a purpose and meaning and value? And if those things are not true and you have devoted yourself to God, then the fact that they're not happening to you is an indication that there's something wrong with you. He's talked about this before. What they've done is substituted obedience to God to following other things that would make their life more meaningful, they think. It provides meaning and value for them. So, whenever you see in the Christian life things overcoming a believer, there's a reason for it. And here he indicates that we should never think that it's the fact that the world is too powerful for us. That's not the case. The world is never too powerful for those people who are in the hand of God. For the hand of God is more powerful than anything in the world. I mean, when you stop to think about God's wisdom and his power, you know, you look at the universe and you look at the whole world and you say, there's a mind here behind all this. It's made it just so that it works right. We're exactly the right distance from the sun to have the earth and to grow the things we need. A little closer, a little further away would be disastrous. When you look at how life is organized on this planet with everything having what it needs to be able to live. Who can figure that out? We can't even figure out with all of our sophistication whether we're going to have enough oxygen on the earth for us to exist or whether we're using it all up with carbon dioxide. You have one bunch of science over here that are convinced one way, one bunch over here convinced another way. We can't even figure that out. God knew how to make this whole planet so from the very beginning it had everything it needed for all the plants and all the animals on the earth. And our greatest brains can't figure all this out. God knows. So because of the mind of God and the power of God, I mean, who can make the universe as extensive as it is? We don't even know where the limits of it are. You think of a mind that creates all that. And you're going to outsmart that mind? I mean, that's just foolishness. You're going to overpower that power? That's nonsense. You see, what God is saying, if you live on this earth and you think you're getting away with something, you're just foolish. You don't have good judgment, you don't have common sense to recognize that no human being is controlling all of this stuff that's in the universe. For I made it and I control it. And my people, with the power behind them, can be able to live in the middle of all of this and be successful. He calls himself the rock. The idea of a foundation that's built on stone. Solid rock. So, this rock that I have, if my people depended on me, nothing could move them. Since they've left me, then the enemy's ready to come in and put my people to flight. But it's not because they're more powerful than I am, but it's because I have taken my hand away from them. And in the ancient world, the people thought that their gods were the source of their success. And I should say, I guess, that maybe that's true today, too. I think it's true, for example, if you look at what's happened in the Middle East, they think Allah is giving them all the success over there in their battles. Depending on which one of them it is, the Sunnis or the Shiites, they believe their version of God is giving them the greater power than the others. And they believe their powers are going to defeat all the rest of the world. And the people who have atomic weapons think that their atomic weapons are going to protect them from everything in the world. People who have the money think that their finances are going to protect them from everything in the world. You see, their gods, they think, are the source of their success. And what God is saying is, I have power over all of this. I have more money than anybody in the world. I have more power than anybody in the world. And how this ends up is a result of what I do. And if you look at this and see, if your life is built on this rock of faith and trust in me, then nothing can move you. So when you see the people of God put to flight, and their circumstances different, you know that it's not because your rock is more powerful than the rock of Israel. It's because the rock of Israel has not allowed itself to be the foundation stone of the people who turned against him. For their rock is not like our rock, as even our enemies concede. Verse 32, their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the field of Gomorrah. He's talking about now another image. He started with the rock where you build your life on it. Their rock is just shaky. It's not really solid like the rock of God. Now he's saying, their life source, or their vine, or their strength is rooted in the rebellion against God that was found in Sodom and Gomorrah. And that vine growing with its roots in Sodom and Gomorrah will lead to the destruction that came to those two cities. The judgment of God will make sure that in the long run, the same thing will happen to them that happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. Their grapes that they eat, he says, are filled with poison. So you eat the grape, it tastes good to you, you think you've had a great meal, but it has poison and you die. What's the benefit? They think they've had the treasure of having grapes for a meal, and when they make wine out of it, they think their clusters are filled with venom, they're filled with the wine, but in it is the venom of serpents and the deadly poison of cobras. The very thing that people think is going to be their source of success becomes their source of destruction. And when you talked about things that people depend on for success in their life, whether it's money, or whether it's self-centeredness, or whatever else it is, the very thing that people think is the real source of their life becomes the very thing that destroys them. Because God alone gives life, and God alone gives victory over this world. So he's saying to them, the enemies of Israel will think they win, except this way, the enemies of the church think they're going to win. They're confident that they know more than the Bible, they know more than Christians, they have more wisdom, they have more power and strength. But in the end, God says, I win. There'll never be a time in the history of the world whenever the opponents of God or his people or the church will not think they're going to be victorious. In my lifetime, I remember the rise of the Soviet Union, and they were confident they were going to smash all religious activity in Russia. The Chinese communists believed that they would destroy all the Christian faith in China. We live to see the communist Soviet Union dissolve, and communism will be a thing of the past there. We're now seeing in China a tremendous change. Now it's become a capitalist country. Now it's a place where there are more Christians in that country than almost any nation in the world. Only six percent of China is Christian, but six percent of the millions of people that are there add up. So the total number of Christians in China are almost more than any other country in the world. The communists were certain that they would destroy Christianity, but communism is gone and Christianity is flourishing in the very places where they tried to kill it. This is what God's talking about. People can't see that what I'm telling you is the truth. My power is greater than all the power in the world. For a temporary moment you may think you won this battle, but it's not true. For when it's over, I will win because I'm God. And whenever you do win in certain places, it will be because my people have been rebellious and disobedient. And as soon as you see a people who are devoted to be obedient and following God, you'll see the power that comes because those who live without me are drinking poison wine and the poison of dead cobras. Have I not kept and reserved and sealed in my vault? You see, when he held himself back from protecting Israel, he still had all the power there. He still had it. Can't they see that I haven't unleashed all my power on them yet? It is mine to avenge. I will repay. In due time, their foot will slip, their day of disaster is near, and their doom rushes upon them. Nobody sees this while it's taking place. The self-centered person doesn't see it. They think they're getting their way all the time. The person that's building a fortune out of their money, thinking they've got the best of all the world that they have around them. All of these people think that they're winning. But if they stop to realize the truth of God, everything in this world made by me, every person in this world accountable to me, they will realize they're losing. And in the day, somewhere along the line, their foot will slip, and the day of disaster is near. I don't know if you've kept up or heard of the story of the lady that her dad was this millionaire miner in the old west and built this huge fortune for her. She had a penthouse in New York. She had a big place in California. Millions and millions of dollars. Spent the last ten years of her life in a hospital room. A hospital room. She was so wealthy that she was afraid everybody was going to get her money. And she moved into a hospital room and spent the last years of her life. I mean ten, fifteen, twenty years. I don't remember how much it was. Just there. No one to talk to her. She didn't trust her family. They were out for her money. And there she lived alone and died alone. People who were her friends that she trusted stole from her, lied to her. Now there's a big lawsuit, all of them suing each other. The people she was trying to keep from getting the money may not get it. The people she never heard of, who are lawyers, will. And it's gone. The stories like that are abundant and we see them all the time. Why isn't that we don't get this point? It's poison to have anything control your life other than God. It's deadly to have anything in the world to control your life but God. In due time as you watch people around you, you see that those who've left God behind, somewhere along the line their foot will slip, their day of disaster will come, and their doom rushes in on them. But he said in the beginning of this, they don't have the sense to see it and they don't have the ability to discern it. They are deceived by the apparent successes and lies of those who think they can beat God. Would you bow your heads please for a moment? So if we're followers of Christ, part of our responsibility is to make sure that we live lives in such a way so that the presence of God will be seen in us. And we live in such a way so that they will see, the world will see the power of God in the life of people who are devoted to him. What causes people to doubt God's presence is when he doesn't seem to appear in the lives of people who claim to follow him. That's what happened to Israel. The people you work with, the people you know, do they see the hand of God shaping your life, developing your character, shaping your home, building a life that is full and complete? This is our obligation, to let the world see God by our lifestyle, our thinking, and our choices. We can't change the way people around us think, but we can live in such a way so that who you really are is reflected in our lifestyle, in our character, and in our nature. Help us to be signposts for people who don't trust you, of what trusting you really means, life in all of its fullness. In the name of Christ, we ask this. Amen.