God's Lawsuit Against His People

Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 32. It will be titled in your Bible, The Song of Moses. It's an instruction God gave Moses to write this song, which was to be a way by which people of Israel would learn this song and sing it at the time that they would gather to read the book of Deuteronomy, the law that Moses was required to write. And in this song, he is sort of predicting the destruction or the falling away of the people of Israel. So the song is focused on God's response to people when they drift away from him. It starts like several of the passages in the Old Testament do when God is trying to deal with his people. There are several different times in which God addresses the concerns of his followers by charging them like he's taking them to court and trying them. And this starts the same way. Verse one of chapter 32 says, Listen, O heavens, and I will speak. Hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. He's addressing this as you would if you were standing before a judge and jury, saying, I want you to hear the charges that I'm ready to bring against this defendant if you're the prosecutor. I'm bringing charges against this defendant, so listen carefully to what I'm going to say. Of course, God doesn't have people sitting on a jury for him, but he brings this trial to bear for the whole world. He's saying, I want everyone in the world to look at what's taking place, and I'm going to present to you my case against these people, my people. So the whole first section of chapter 32 is a introduction to a lawsuit that God brings against his own people. And the jury is all the people in the world. I want all the rest of you to look at what's taking place, and I want you to judge for yourself whether or not these people have violated the contract they have with me. I've talked a lot about the contract or covenant that God has. And this covenant or contract that God has made with the people of Israel is very much like a legal contract. The language is like a legal contract. It's framed like a legal contract. And in the earlier part of the book of Deuteronomy, he says, if you do the things I tell you to do, these are the results that are going to come, like if you had a contract. You go out and buy a car. You sign the papers. The guy says, we're going to give you this car. Now you have to pay us $100 every month for the next six years, or whatever it is that costs the price of the car. There are conditions on both sides of a contract. And there are penalties if either side does not fulfill the contract the way they're supposed to. So the setting for this is God has predicted that they're going to go into the promised land. And he's predicted already that they're going to violate the contract that they've made. They've not done that yet. But in this song, he's telling them, he did earlier, he said, when you get into the land of promises I told you, you're going to turn your backs on me. Now this song is designed for them to learn to sing. And they're to sing this song every time they read through the book of Deuteronomy, which every seven years all the people were together and they would read the legal part of the book of Deuteronomy. It would be read out loud. The men, women, children, and even the people who weren't Hebrews, the people who were immigrants or aliens, would come and stand and they would read the entire thing. And one of the stories is they read it in the rain, because it was raining and that was the time to read it. It was a very important thing. And then they would sing this song, which was God's lawsuit against them for violating the covenant or the contract that they were hearing. And the consequences of the contract, which is God's blessings if you do what I tell you, and his curses if you don't. So the first part of this introduces the reality that God takes seriously the requirements that he's placed in our hands. There's a lot of people who commit their lives to Christ and say, I'm going to live my life in obedience to you. I'm going to do what you ask me to do. I'm going to live faithfully the way you tell me. They drift away from that as if there were no consequences to what takes place. From the very beginning of the Bible, God lets us know that there are consequences for our failure to live up to the promises we've made to God. The consequences are that God holds us accountable. And that's what this story's about, chapter 32 of the book of Deuteronomy. Well, they read the law part of it, like it would be from chapter 10 to chapter 30, where the law was sort of spelled out, but mostly it was spelled out, if you do what I tell you, here's what's going to happen to you. If you don't do what I tell you, here's the consequences that are going to take place. Also, in that section, he talks about how the people are going in the future to turn away from him. So every seven years, they were to remind themselves that God knew that they were going to turn away and the consequences were going to be there when they did. Most people who come to church and they make a promise to God to live in obedience to him, they think, now that's over, I'm going to go to heaven. I can kind of live like I want to. And they don't take seriously the requirements that God has for a person who says, I belong to God. And this is true in the Old Testament, it's true even today. So God's showing us what he does. I'm going to bring charges against you. And I want everyone in the world to look and see whether or not my people have lived in obedience to what I've told them or whether they've just blown me off. So the charges are ready to be made and the jury is all the people, all the angels in heaven and all the people on earth. They're the jury that are to hear the charges he has against them. Verse 2 he says, it changes, it sounds like he's changing his whole direction. First he starts off with this lawsuit, but this, verse 2 he says, Let my teachings fall like rain, and my words descend like dew, like the showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. Now the picture here you get is not at all like a jury trial. It's instead like a wonderful blessing. The blessing that comes like rain that falls on crops that are thirsty and dry. So he describes it like the rain, falling rain, his teaching is going to be like falling rain. His words like dew that descends. You get up in the morning, you know, when the humidity is right and the dew is so heavy on the grass. It's just, if you planted seeds under it, the seeds would be watered so they'd be able to come up. And my words are like showers on new grass. Once it begins to sprout and the rain comes on it. If you notice the other day we had that rain. The next day all the lawns were a lot more green than they look like they were before. It's like the rain that comes on starved parched grass. Abundant rain on tender plants. Now, why does he say that the lawsuit is going to be such a delightful thing? Well, you know, whenever you bring a lawsuit, you bring a lawsuit to tell the person who's being charged the things that they've done wrong. Right? That's what a lawsuit is. And so if you go to court and they're bringing a charge against you, they will explain in detail what things you did wrong. What you should have done and the way you should have handled it. Now, what he's saying to the people of Israel is, you will learn a lot by the charges I bring against you. You may have just thought you were doing what felt good to you. But I want to let you know how the things you did were offending to me. I want you to understand that the things you did were violating the contract you made with me when you said, I will do everything you tell me to do. Now, that's all he asked of the people of Israel. When they were gathered at Mount Sinai, he said, I want to ask you, were you willing to do everything I tell you to do? Three times at that mountain, he asked that same question. And each time they said, yes, we will do everything you tell us. Now, I want you to understand what I see in your behavior that violates that promise you made to me. Sometimes you violate instructions or the law without even knowing it. Have you ever pulled out of a side road onto a main road and you weren't quite sure of the speed limit? There was no sign there. And it's pretty straight. You start driving. You say, well, this looks like a 65 mile an hour highway. And you get maybe a mile or two down the road and you see a sign that says 55. So you realize without even knowing it that you violated the speed limit. Sometimes because of our ignorance, we do that. Now, you have to remember the people of Israel were not literate people. They were not readers. So they didn't have the skill to be able to know the Bible the way we do. And you take the years of seven years going by, sometimes you drift away from knowledge of exactly the details of what you ought to do. Our mind sort of slips by that. So when you listen to this, you're going to hear my words spoken to you. They're the words of life. In the earlier part of Deuteronomy, he says, when you violate these things, here are the curses that are going to come to you. So you picture here the people who have drifted away from God and terrible things are happening to them. Their life is not as it ought to be. They know there's a better way somehow, but they can't seem to get it. So when you hear my charges against you and you hear me say what you're supposed to be doing, some of you are going to say, aha, now we know why the curses have come to us. And it will be like gentle rain falling on you. Parched grass that needs a drink. And you will find from my teachings life. Life that gives you energy and enthusiasm to be able to live. See, the whole purpose of God's charges were not to hurt people, but it was to help them find the correction they needed to do the right thing. You can, when you raise your children, you can get angry, and you can say and do things to them that hurt them. And it's just because you're angry. But if you've learned to discipline your children in a good way, you may say things to them that upset them, and you may do things that upset them. But if you're doing it for their benefit, then they actually learn. Have you ever heard adults say, you know, whenever I was a child, I thought my parents were so mean and cruel. But now that I've grown up, I understand what they were doing. What God is trying to do is to bring charges against His people. He's not going to be soft on them. He's going to be direct and straightforward. But His whole intention is that they might be refreshed and grow to be complete. That's His goal. God's discipline is always redemptive. Now, you think about that. Whenever you find yourself in a place where you've drifted away from God, and you realize some of the things that have happened to you are the consequence of your failure to be obedient to Him, and they're bad consequences, and you realize that this is part of God's judgment on you, you must stop and realize that God's judgment is always intended to make your life better. It's supposed to be like the rain that falls on the plant and makes it rejuvenated. He gets our attention by the pain. He draws our attention to what the answer is. And when we choose to do that, then we are transformed from recipients of the judgment of God to the people who have received the instruction of God and now receive the life He wants them to have. The judgment of God is intended to turn their lives around. And that's why He describes it not in terms of a law court, but in terms of agriculture. My words are intended to be something that helps you, even though I brought you to court and I'm suing you before all the people in the world. The third verse focuses on what God, what He intends to do with this. It is a law court, it is a trial, but there is a purpose to all of this. I will proclaim the name of the Lord, He says. In this trial, what I'm going to proclaim is who God is. That's a really important ingredient. I want you to understand who the person who's bringing this lawsuit really is. In the courts, they have a deal where you have to come in and prove, if you're bringing a lawsuit, that you have some stake in it, or you have some reason to be in the lawsuit. I couldn't bring a lawsuit against somebody I didn't know who'd never had any business with me. They would want to say, well, why are you suing them? What relationship did you have? There had to be something going on here that would give you the right to engage in a suit. You didn't buy a car from me. I didn't sell you a car. I didn't have any business with you, but I'm just going to sue you. You have to have some kind of relationship in which that's true. In this story, he's talking about God. You're going to see that the Lord is the ruler of the universe and is the ruler of His people. I think there's a little bit of a problem oftentimes we have when we try to tell people how to become a follower of Christ. We try to present the good things that God can do for people. Accept Christ and you can go to heaven. If you'll accept Christ and begin to live your life like you should, good things will come to you. Those things oftentimes are a way by which we tell the consequences of exalting Christ in our lives, but it draws attention away from the real reason, and that is that He is Christ, the Lord. It's true that the Bible oftentimes talks about the following God and the resulting benefits that come from that, the blessings that come from it. But if you put it in human terms, you might think of your parents and you say, my parents give me food, they give me clothes, they give me money to live on, they do all these nice things for me. And all you think of is your parents as the source of good things. Now, when the Bible talks about honoring your parents, it doesn't say honor your parents if they do the right things. You honor your parents because they're your parents. It is their position and place that deserves the respect and honor that we should have. Through this passage, this whole chapter, you're going to see the focus is on God and who He is. Just the fact that He's God, the creator and ruler of the universe, you should submit to Him. I had a lady one time that had constant difficulties with her parents and her mother particularly. And she, when we'd sit down and talk about it, she'd constantly say, I don't think I should have to honor my mother because she doesn't deserve it. She hasn't treated me the way I should be treated. The mother hadn't done anything nasty to her, nothing bad to her. She just didn't do what her daughter wanted her to do all the time, which was mainly give her money. And if my mom doesn't earn my respect, she shouldn't get my respect. The reality is the scripture says there is honor that you give to your parents regardless of whether or not they do what you want them to do. And this is true for God. He is the ruler of the universe and you recognize that. You see this in a child, you know, when they love their parents, small child especially, they run and grab hold of their dad when he comes home. When their mother's been away, they run and grab hold of their mother and hug them. Not because they're going to give them anything, but because this is my mom and my dad. The simple idea that this person is connected to me in this way brings a result of honor and respect. So God starts this by saying, or He uses in verse 3 to say, I will proclaim the name of the Lord. And when the Bible uses this phrase, the name of the Lord, it's talking about the power of a person's name. And whenever you hear your name, you automatically pay attention. You could be in a room and you could hear someone, maybe a little bit away from you, mention your name, and out of all the noise in the crowd, your attention's focused on that person who's mentioned your name. Because your name stands for you. When you say your name, that's who you are. It's who you are physically, it's who you are emotionally, it's who you are mentally. Your name represents everything that you are. There is only one person with your exact name and person attached to it. God and His name represents who He is, what He's like, what He thinks, what He does. He's the creator of the universe. He thought of everything that there is in this world. He has all power and authority in the universe. Everything in the world is held together by His simply holding these things together. The whole universe could not exist without God. I'm going to talk about, He's saying in this, in this charge that I have to bring against these people, the character difference between these people and God. And when I describe for you who God is, you're going to understand something about Him that will overwhelm you. And when you go to trial, you have two sides. And one side gets up and tells how bad the other side is. And when the other side gets a chance, they get up and tell how bad the other side is. So you have both sides trying to make the other side look terrible. Whenever I'm through with this presentation, you're going to see God with no fault, no flaw, and nothing that you can say against Him. For when I'm through, you will know who God is, in contrast to the people who say they're His followers. So, the words that He's going to speak are going to be instructions. That's why He says, let my teachings fall like rain. Whenever you understand the nature and character of God, you're going to be overwhelmed with who He is, and His character and His nature. And you're going to see something that will draw you to Him. You will see a person who deserves not to be treated the way He's been treated. Oh, praise the greatness of our God. I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God. Praise oftentimes is given for someone who does things that are good. So, we say Doug's a great friend of mine, because one time I needed some help knowing when to trim my oak trees, and which ones I should get rid of, and which ones I should keep. And he came over to my house, and he looked at those trees. He knew exactly what kind of trees they were. Told me when to cut the limbs off of them, exactly how I should do it, so that they would not be damaged. He is a great friend to me. Whenever someone does something for you, they are a friend of yours. They've done something that attracts, that makes you feel that they care about you, and are important to you. So, praise is talking about the qualities in a person's life that are good. When I get through with this, you will see the greatness of God. And you will automatically recognize His wondrous qualities. That is what's going to happen in this lawsuit. So, the lawsuit starts off with the idea that you're going to be in a fight, and then it quickly turns to a worship service. The worship service where you recognize the supreme authority of God, and who He is, and what He's like, until you want to say, this God is the most wondrous person I've ever known. How can He treat these people so well, when they've treated Him so badly? Of course, we see on earth, in His physical qualities, that characteristic in Jesus. When you read the story of His life, and you see how the people treated Him, how they made fun of Him, ridiculed Him, accused Him of things that were never really wrong with Him, and then killed Him on a cross, you see His greatness compared to the people around Him who were His enemies. He didn't lie about them. He didn't try to get even. He didn't try to hurt them. Even in His most difficult hour, He was asking the Father to help them, in spite of what they were doing to Him. In that time of trial, Jesus' greatness is seen. What you're going to see here, God is saying is, that I've done everything for these people that I could possibly do. And in spite of all the things I've done for them, they've turned their back on Me. And in this, you will see not only the charges I bring against them, but you will also see the character that I present. And in that, you will say how wonderful and great this God is. Would you bow your heads for a moment? It's a wonderful thing to trust God because you think He can save you and help you. It's another thing, quite different, to love Him and serve Him because He is God, the ruler of the universe. You find yourself sometimes praying to God, and even sometimes getting upset with Him, because things don't work out the way you want. I'd like you this week to, every time you pray, to begin your prayer by recognizing who God is. By His sheer creation of the world, we should have wonderful respect and awe for Him. How over and over again He forgives us, and we should have such amazing appreciation for His patience. He is a God of patience, power, of strength. All of these things cause us to say, you are far bigger and greater than I am. Lord, we are thankful for who you are. No one has the power you have. No one has the wisdom you have. No one deserves the kind of respect that we should give to you. Even if you were mean to us, you deserve respect and honor, reverence. Even if you didn't keep your promises, the sheer fact that you have all this power and authority, and you've exercised it by planning this universe, means we should stand in awe of you. But in spite of all this, you've never done anything wrong to us, or to anyone else. Teach us to see you in all your glory and majesty. Not just the guy upstairs, but the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. Your very presence demands our respect and honor. Remind us, you are the Lord. We are your creation. Amen.