Thank you so much. Let us all turn together to the Word of God this evening. We're going to read from the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy and the opening chapter. Lovely to see you and it's a privilege and a joy to be here for your Soul Winners annual convention. Tonight I would like to speak about the Soul Winners Bible. because the Holy Spirit uses God's Word and blesses God's Word, and it is in the realm of things worth our while to give attention to this subject. the sole winner's Bible. We'll read about it here. And I hasten to add, there are many, many scriptures all about the value of the Bible. Deuteronomy chapter 1 is only one of them. But there has to be a starting point. We have to begin somewhere. And we're looking into this opening chapter tonight, although we want to make reference to other chapters here at the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy. We need help from God, so we value your prayers. And it's lovely to hear God's presence already in the meetings. I thank the brethren, too, for their message and song. Both of those messages, in fact, were very, very encouraging, very appropriate. I believe the hand of God was with you in your singing. It's so important, isn't it, to have the Lord's song and always to radiate that joy, the joy of a full, free salvation. Yes, maybe we will make reference to this little book here. It's priced five pounds, but as you'll appreciate, hardback copy and superbly bound, very well printed. You would have to agree that it has been heavily subsidized to make it available for that price. We have seen the number of copies reduced, so everyone involved in the production of this volume must be immensely pleased to see all the copies disappear as they have. A little word about that in a moment. Remember the subject tonight, the Word of God, the sole winner's Bible. So, if you're going to go out and outreach work or personal witnessing, for that may be, your compulsion as well as you think about the hand of God in your life, then we'll keep this in mind. God uses his word. God blesses his word. What does the scripture got to say about it? Deuteronomy chapter one is a very informational chapter. Beginning verse one. Maybe you put a marker in the place, because if we do refer to another passage of Scripture, we'll be able to get back again very conveniently to Deuteronomy chapter 1. To begin with, then, from verse 1, these be the words, or equally we can say, these are the words, It helps you in the understanding of the passage, and that's how we'll take them. These are the words. Quite happily, we can stay with the text here, but we do note that the word bee is in italics, which means it's not represented in the original, but our translators have supplied it just to help fill out the sense of the passage in English. So it's immaterial then, whether we use R or B, they're both part of what, in the school teaching grammar, they would say this is part of the verb to be. These are the words, or these be the words. Which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side, Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain. I may say there the Hebrew word is the Aravah, the Aravah desert. We might mention that in a moment. in the plain over against the Red Sea. I suppose we may add in here the thought that These place names that are given here are all there in the course of their experience traveling in the wilderness. We're looking back in this opening part of the chapter, looking back to those years of wandering in the wilderness, all with the prospect and view of getting at length to the land of promise. So we'll keep that in mind, that we have a consideration made of the Red Sea, and Paran, which was a wilderness too, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazoroth, and Dezavib, the place where precious gold—we think spiritually, of course, the precious gold of the Word of God. Then, by way of explanation, There are eleven days' journey from Horeb. That's the mountain range where Mount Sinai is placed. So you can certainly insert the words there, if you please. Mount Sinai, out there in the desert. There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir onto Ceres Barnea. And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them. After he had slain Sihon, the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Hespod, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt in Astaroth, in Edreai. On this side, Jordan, in the land of Moab, You see, they had yet to cross over the Jordan and get into the land of promise. And Moses knew that he was not going to be privileged to make that journey. It was very much the thought of his heart to be there in the land of Canaan. But thank God Moses got to glory, and that was better, even with all respect to the land of promise. But Moses felt this great desire in his heart to get across the Jordan with the rest of the people and see for himself the land of promise. But He's speaking about it in anticipation. He knows that the nation will cross the Jordan, and they will not only cross that river, but they will cross it in full tide, and they will cross it at the same time on dry land. That will be God's dealings. And Moses, in anticipation, is speaking about these things. Began Moses to declare this law, saying, that Lord our God speak unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites. Now, men and women, we have a description of the land. land of Israel." This verse happens to be quoted in the last chapter of the book here. So, those who have the volume may say, well, oh, let us look by all means at this verse, because we have a great deal of interest in discovering this verse and its context. You see, Moses is saying, turn you and take your journey and go to the Mount of the Amorites. Now follows a topographical description of the land of Israel. The statement is, onto all the places now they're onto, in the plain. In the Hebrew Bible, if you'll allow me to make a reference, the word translated plain in this passage is the Aravah. The Arab Desert. As it happens, there are seven chapters in this little book. You can see the title, The Land, in the book, and some of you have it, maybe most of you have. But the subtitle is striking. It takes our interest right away. God's future dealings with Israel. And there are seven chapters in the volume. Now, the first six belong to a series of meetings that I conducted here in Newton Abbey way back in 2013. The years have slipped by since then. I'll never forget the series, not only because of its importance and the messages that are brought to our notice in the Scriptures, but I started that series with a very, very sore throat. which gave me a great deal of concern. For I thought, if this gets worse, I'll have no voice left by the middle of the week. It did get worse. And by Wednesday, I was seriously troubled. Well, I have to finish the meetings early. Well, I have to say apologetically to all the friends. I'm sorry. I can't carry on. This throat is so severe. My voice is likely to disappear altogether." So, by Wednesday night, it was very serious. However, we kept praying, and everybody else prayed. And the Lord answered prayer. Indeed, you know, grace was given to come to the last amen on a Friday night, when the series was due to end anyway. I found that As soon as I said, Amen, I think I didn't have a voice left. So how's that for an answer to prayer? A series to be remembered. The subjects there, the great tribulation, the first one. The second, God's everlasting covenant. The third one, the title deeds of the land. These three messages come from the book of Jeremiah. from those chapters that we have called here in this volume, the little apocalypse. So these chapters are just like a miniature version of the book of Revelation. Chapter 30, the great tribulation, that's Jeremiah we're speaking about. Chapter 31, in the book of Jeremiah, God's everlasting covenant. The message there in the text is powerful. And then the title, Deeds to the Land, drawn out of an exchange that Jeremiah was involved in. And it's absolutely fascinating to read the chapter. And what God told him, Jeremiah's in jail, he's lamenting, I don't blame him for that. It was hard going. And then the Lord said, the sense, I have news for you, Jeremiah. I want you to buy a field. Only for it being the word of the Lord, if it had been some friend, Jeremiah would have answered back immediately, you're crazy. First of all, I'm a prisoner. It's not worth my while to be buying anything. And furthermore, and most importantly, The 70 years, think of it, the 70 years of captivity have begun, just begun. There are 70 more years to rule. And then he leaves the rest unsaid. I'm at such an age now, I'll not be around. When the 70-year day comes and the captives are released from their bondage, I'll not be here to claim the field." And then God prompts Jeremiah to say, really, a marvelous thing in prayer. Is anything too hard for the Lord? And I'm just left with the question, Is it the intention of the Lord to say, all right, Jeremiah, you missed being there when the 70-year period of the captivity concluded, but when the trumpet blows, when the King comes, When the land is transformed and repossessed, Jeremiah, I'll still have the deeds. Jeremiah, you can still have the field. And to me, that's why Jeremiah exclaims, is anything too hard for the Lord? That's a remarkable question. It's found also in connection with the impossible, let's say, the impossible birth of Isaac. So it has to be something impossible, I argue with myself. Something impossible. And many a Christian in Northern Ireland will say it's absolutely impossible for Jeremiah to inherit a field in Anathoth when the Lord comes back. Well, I mustn't detain you there. The last chapter, if you'll allow me to just fit in this word, is about the Aravah. The Aravah desert may be indicated by the roadway called Route 90. It runs all the way down from Northern Galilee, from the slopes of Mount Hermon, down the Jordan Valley, past the Dead Sea and onwards until it terminates in Eilat, the tourist resort on the shore of the Red Sea. It's the longest road in the land of Israel, Route 90. And our bus pulled out. I can give you the date, if you like. It was Wednesday, 17th of July, 2019. And our bus, we were staying overnight in a resort on the shores of the Dead Sea. And because it was going to be a three-hour bus journey, three hours, stretching out some 100 miles in length. We had to start early. That wasn't a popular thing for our group from Northern Ireland, who had enjoyed coffee and biscuits and lovely chat the night before, and then woke up bleary-eyed the next morning and were ushered into the bus. And I was a guide in the bus that morning, And I thought as we pulled out into the Aravah, into Route 90, running right down the length of the Aravah, that I'd talk about the Aravah in the Bible. That's fascinating. I looked over, our bus was well-filled. We had two buses that year. Our bus was well-filled, and I looked over my companions in the bus, Half of them. Half of them were asleep. But I saw that the others, the other half, were bright-eyed and eager. So I say, well, let the others sleep. But you want to hear about the Arava desert. That's where you are now. And the bus would lumber right onto the road and then set off at full speed. The other bus was in front of us. and communication was kept between the two vehicles all the time. I said, look out the window. Tell me what you see. And your answer will be, I see the distant hills. I see dust and stones. That's the Arava Desert. And then in an hour's time or so, I would say the repeat of that, look out the window. I had a purpose for the repetition. Look out the window and tell me what you see. I can see the distant hills. I can see dust and stone. I said, you're still in the Arava. I just want you to know the Arava isn't the size of, say, a sizable garden that you have at the back of your house. The Arava desert is a huge, huge area of land. And what God says about it is absolutely overwhelming. And this is a subject set out at length. And this verse here is quoted in the course of teaching the lesson that morning in the bus. And people were greatly blessed, those who were awake, and thanked me heartily for the study. But look at this. Just let me refer to the outline of the country in verse 7, if you'll allow that. In the plain, in the Arava desert, Then in the hills, the mountainous plateau, the backbone of the land of Israel, and in the vale, which is called the Shefilah in Hebrew, and it refers to that low land, roughly speaking, on the west of Jerusalem and running down to the coast. The northern part of the Shefilah would be the Vale of Sharon. And everybody here has thought about the Vale of Sharon. It's a part of the same territory. Any Jew born in the land of Israel would recognize right away these place names and could identify them. In the south were the Negev Desert. I venture to say, everybody here with half an interest in Israel, you've certainly heard about the Negev Desert before. This is a topographical description. on the land of Israel, by the seaside, down the Mediterranean coast, where Joppa is, and the modern day city of Tel Aviv, way up to Caesarea. Some of you have been there. It's just reminiscent of our tours to Israel, to the seaside, and to the land of the Canaanites, way on up to Lebanon. And from there, heading out east to the great river, the river Euphrates, God is saying, you see, in keeping with the title, God's saying, this is the land. This is the land. And now, you see why he's saying this is the land? Look at verse eight. Behold, I have set the land, that very same land, including the Aravah desert. Everybody here knows the words, the desert shall blossom like a rose. And you've known those words for a very long time. But perhaps the one thing you don't know is that in the Hebrew language, the word for desert there is very precise. It happens to be the Aravah. The Aravah shall blossom like a rose. So those friends who were wide awake that morning, when they looked out the window and said to themselves, this is the Aravah. And then after an hour's motoring, this is the Aravah still. And then an hour later, looking out the same window where they sat in the bus. This is the Aravah desert. It does make a difference when you're there. And you can see this is huge, this is huge, huge territory. And in that study, it's the seventh chapter, the last chapter of the book. Maybe some of you have the book, or I should say a lot of you have the book, but you haven't really got round to it yet. You should do. I tell you what, You see that it's probably too far away for you to look at these pages, but there are subheadings throughout the book so that even if you're not a great reader, You can only read a wee bit at a time. I would suggest pay attention to the subheadings and stop your reading right there so the place is marked for you, the subheading in that chapter. And then you can begin again the next night or maybe two nights later. Do read these studies and think about the last chapter, the Aravah desert, because here it is mentioned. The reason that topographical study is given in verse 7 is, in verse 8, Behold, I have set the land before you. What's the message? Go in! and possess the land, which the Lord swear unto your fathers, Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them." Personally, you see. To give unto them and to their seed after them. And praise the Lord for that. Let's just keep our Bibles open. We need help from God tonight and we can have it. We can have help from God by asking him. Maybe you've had a very busy day, although it's the Lord's Day. May have been Sunday school and the service earlier, and so on. If your strength is running out, I tell you this, just ask the Lord for this favor. Ask the Lord to renew your strength now and to say, Lord, take me through this portion. Open this book to my soul now. Open this book to my soul, Lord. If God answers that prayer tonight, before you leave this building, you will go away saying, thank you, Lord, for drawing alongside opening this precious Word to my soul." Shall we just pray for a moment? Lord, we do cry to Thee. We need understanding. Many a thing, Lord, we look at in the Bible, and we miss it altogether, because it just takes wings and flies away on us. for all our sincere intention. We have forgotten that Word that we dearly wish to remember. Help us tonight, Lord. We're feeble, Lord, we're still flesh and blood. We cry aloud for an understanding of Thy Word. Make Thy presence felt among us, we beseech Thee. Lord, grant to this preacher the infilling of the Holy Ghost with power. In Jesus' name, Amen. I'm sure you'll remember that this book of Deuteronomy has 34 chapters, and the name itself, which derives from the Latin, means the second law, or to put it another way, the repetition of the law. And that in itself shows us if we need something repeated, for example, something so tremendously important as the law of God, if we need a repetition at all, that must argue the case that we're all very forgetful. You may be sure that God already has prescribed for our need, and he sees our vulnerability. You don't have to grow old to be forgetful, although it helps when you're looking for an excuse. And I'm just keeping that handy anytime if I need one. But I tell you this, we're all forgetful. in spite of our good intentions. And we set out, is it a verse? You're memorizing a verse. And then suddenly, how does it start? Oh, five hours ago, five hours ago, I knew that well. And my memory's slipping up. I'm slipping up here. Well, surely that's in the way of our approach to the book of Deuteronomy. The second law, God has to give it the second time. Let me remind you, we needn't turn it up. Job 33 verse 14. God, God speaketh once, yea, twice. That's the repetition. That's the repetition, all right. God speaketh once. How many times has the Lord spoken to you lately? Can you say the Lord has spoken once? Some of you will say, oh, he's spoken to me twice. Perhaps it's a controversy between you and the Lord. You're struggling with the Lord over the matter. And you're slow to act on account of certain difficulties in the way. And the Lord then comes around and he says it again. He speaketh twice. But here's how the verse ends. God speaketh once. Yeah, twice. But man, man perceiveth it not. The teaching is clear that even when we do have the repetition, we still miss the point. And I press this very important fact upon your attention now, that we have the repetition of the law because of natural forgetfulness. Would it be a surprise if I were to tell you that the book of Deuteronomy contains the word remember 14 times? Out of 34 chapters, the word remember comes up 14 times. Later on, if you read the book of Deuteronomy, you can start marking them. And what does that say? It suggests again the point that I'm making. our natural, our proneness to forget. How do we fear sometimes listening, drinking in the Word of God? There's a danger of it getting in one ear and out the other. God says, by the reiteration of the law, He's saying, remember this. Remember this. And then look at verse three of our chapter, where a date is set regarding the declaration of Moses. Can I give it here? There it is, the 40th year, the 11th month, the first day of the month. We know, therefore, from other scriptures, that Moses will die when the 40th year is completed. And what exactly is that date again? Well, you can see it there in verse three. Just get the date clearly fixed in your mind, you see. When you're reading God's word, give it the maximum attention. The 40th year, the 40th year of what? the 40th year of the wandering in the wilderness. This detail regarding the time when Moses declares the content of the book of Deuteronomy is dated. If you have an experience with God, if God's speaking to you, it's helpful to get a note of the date You're showing by that means that you regard the message of the Lord to your soul as being highly important, and so it is. It's the Lord dealing with you. Did the Lord speak to you last night? Did the Lord speak this morning in these special services? Let's get the date down. I'm just suggesting that. But the date is here when God's speaking. Oh, get a hold of this. God is speaking through Moses. And as you'll observe, it's the 11th month. Everybody knows 12 months in a year. This is the 11th month. Now that means, doesn't it? That means Moses, God's dear servant, has only four, only four weeks to live. That's a solemnizing feature. Maybe reading through Deuteronomy chapter one, God's dear servant, so immensely gifted, having lived so close to God, Surely one of the most precious saints who ever breathed, he has come to the last four weeks of life. And that knowledge has to charge every line, surely, every line with solemnity. We have moved into the last month, God's dear servant. before he entered into glory. And Moses, he's well aware his time is running out. But even that in itself indicates that when Moses gives this repetition of the law, He's speaking to a new generation. For it is the 40th year, and God had said that the unbelieving part of the nation would pass away by the time the 40th year had ended. And now, in the last month, the last month of the 40th year, and all of those folks of an age, therefore, have passed away. Or there may be a few more to go, but we're on a countdown, four weeks. And not only so, but the people who were spared, because the high watermark back then when God pronounced His judgment because of unbelief and rebellion and so on, 20 years old and upward will perish. So 20 back then was a high watermark. Take a young man, a young woman, 20 years of age back then, at the start of the 40 years, 20 years of age, just reached a high watermark. Calculation's easy, isn't it? You can certify their age now. That young man who was 20, When God made that solemn declaration concerning judgment and cutting off the rest of the nation, 40 years, he's 60 years of age now. Or a young woman who was 20 back then, who could say, I could remember that. How could you ever forget it? I remember it. That awful moment. when those who revolted and rebelled slid down alive into hell, and they cried, and the cry of them was heard over all the nation that were assembled close by. I'll never forget that hour. How could you forget it? And you see, the second declaration of the law was necessary for those who were just beginning a new era. a new generation. And that's how we name the book, Deuteronomy. But the Jews don't name the book in that fashion. Oh, Jews who are brought up in Jerusalem and are well-read, they're familiar with our titles, like Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers. They're familiar with these names, but they don't use them. You might have a question. You might say, What sort of name do they use? Oh, that's a question which deserves attention, because—listen carefully—in the synagogue, when they read so devoutly every Friday night and every Saturday, And they read from the Pentateuch. They give special attention to the Torah, five books, Moses. They have this way of naming the books. They take the opening words of each book and use that as the title. So, these be the words. If I gave you a bit of Hebrew tonight, it mightn't be intelligible. Eli HaDevarim. These are the words. That's the title. If you were speaking to a Jew in Jerusalem about the book of Deuteronomy, you could use the name Deuteronomy, and I take it he knows what you're talking about, but that's not his choice. He will say, ah, use the Hebrew name. You see what the name is? These are the words. The advantage of that title over Deuteronomy, our title, so to speak, the advantage of that title is you then know the beginning of the first verse in the book. You know that if you know that's the title, That's the title for Deuteronomy among the Jewish people. These are the words in Hebrew. These are the words. You've got the beginning of the book. You see, their title is better than ours. I'm not criticizing our title. I'm happy enough with it. But I'm saying their title is a way beyond ours in importance because Their title actually involves giving the actual words of Scripture. Therefore, you can say of their title, as opposed to our title, their title is inspired. You see that? Their title is inspired of God. So, beginning Exodus, these are the names. If you've got that far, then you have the key to the first verse in the book of Exodus. You see, the title that the Jews use is not only explanatory, it's informational. And at the highest level, the words are inspired of God. They're using a title inspired of God for the book of Deuteronomy. Now, turn that over in your mind. Where do we go from there? To remind you again of the title, the inspired title, the inspired title from the Bible for this book, book number five. The inspired title directs our attention to the words saying, you remember how I started the reading tonight? I drew your attention to the opening remarks without saying why I did so, but I'm saying so now. These are the words. Now, all your interest is fixed on this. What about the word? These are the words God gave to Moses. If we talk about the sole winner's Bible and use this as a starting point and say, God uses his word and he blesses his word, men and women, these are the words. They're in the book, in the book of God. And as I said, yes, there are many, many, many more places in the Bible all mentioning scripture. These are the living oracles. So the critic has put a question mark over the authenticity of this book, just as he has done for all five books of Moses. They were saying even at a time there never was a man called Moses. Anything God says, the devil always contradicts it. Why should we be surprised at that? He started the business in the garden. Yeah. Well, let me just show you this tonight. Could you turn to chapter four? These are the words. Well, then the question arises, what particularly can we say about them? Chapter four and verse two. You see, this word, if we're going to talk about them, the inspired title of Deuteronomy, these are the words. These are the words that exclusively come from God, and you can't tamper with them. Oh, these critics say, oh, Moses never wrote the book of Deuteronomy. I'm not on the slightest disturbed by what they suggest. I know God spoke through the book of Deuteronomy. I know God used Moses. But here we have verse two. It's special. This word is special in its completeness. We're not entitled to add anything or take away anything from the book. It's complete in itself. That's a good way to start your personal study of the Word of God. Ye shall not add. Take the Word as it stands, the literal, life-giving, God-breathed Word of Holy Scripture. You can't add to that, and you dare not. take anything away. You'll know later on, you can look up the final passage in the book of Revelation, where in Revelation 22 verses 18 and 19, you're specifically warned not to tamper. Don't tamper with God's book. One of the dangers in the new versions is that in some places, listen, That's exactly what they have done. They have removed the verse. Or, when I say they have changed the verse, I mean changed it drastically. And here it is. See this? God spake all these words to Moses. It's a special book. as to its completeness. And that's why he says, you can't add, and you can't take away. Neither, are you with me in this? Look at verse two. Neither shall ye diminish out from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. You can't deviate one inch. If you say to me, what do you believe? I believe in the written word of God. If I'm preaching, I'm asking for God's help in declaring this word. I want to, all my life of God gives me grace to preach the word. That's scriptural, isn't it? I must hurry on. Look at chapter four again. This time, verse 32. So you don't have far to turn it up, and you can look at it. We're talking about God's word. These are the words. That's how we started. We said, that's the title. That's the real title of the book of Deuteronomy. It fixes our attention immediately. on words that have come from God, words we can't tamper with, words we're not to change, words we're not to diminish in any one way. Don't touch the Word. It's the God-breathed Word. You see, it's special as to its completeness. You have to remember that. And then it's unique in its origin. Look at verse 32. "'For ask now of the days that are past, "'which were before thee, "'since the day God created man on the earth, "'and ask from one side of heaven unto the other, "'whether there hath been any such thing "'as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?" The question, simply put, is, is there anything like this? The answer is no. And you say, what exactly are you talking about? Verse 33, please. Now we want to get a grasp of this. Just you pray it into your heart. Here is something that has occurred. The Bible records it. the like of which has never been seen in human history. The question is quite simple, isn't it? Did ever people hear the voice? We're talking about the voice of God audibly communicated to the congregation of Israel. Did it ever happen in all of human history? No, except for this one time. They heard the voice. Audibly, they heard it for themselves, the voice of Almighty God. The mountain shook. Mount Sinai trembled. The fire of God came down and out of the flames of that Shekinah glory, God spoke. You can be sure people listened in that hour. God spoke. It's unique then, unique in its origin. You never heard the like of it. Human history from the day man was created. There's nothing like it. That man gathering in the nation heard the voice of God. And then lastly, let me look at chapter five. in Deuteronomy. You see, we don't have to go all over the place. You just go to chapter five. Please look at this. These are the words. This is the book. This is what God says. Just look at this. What was the purpose of all this? Why did God give them such a word as to say, don't tamper with that word? Don't take away. If God said, this is the word that came out of the fire, when you actually, you actually heard the word of God itself. God speaking by a voice. What is the purpose of it all? Chapter five. If you're looking at chapter five, please find Verse four, here's the great purpose. It's specific, the word is specific as to its purpose. I wish we had time to work on this, but it doesn't matter. We can just finish it promptly. Because we can say, where have we been going? These are the words. And people 60 years of age standing there that very day could say, we were there. We were there. Everyone could say to his wife, weren't we? And now they're 60 years of age. 40 years have passed. We were there. That's it. We heard the voice of God. And what was the purpose of it? What was the purpose of God giving you this precious book we call the Bible? Why did the Lord allow you to have a Bible and me to have a Bible? Chapter five, verse four. It's beautiful. It's really beautiful. When I heard the voice of God, this is how it summed up. You see, the giving of that word was specific as to its purpose. What was the purpose? The Lord talked with you face-to-face. The words face-to-face happen to be emphatic in verse 4, because they're given pride of place. They're put first. I didn't go into the details for that, but there's much more that could be said to have you take note of that. But God saying this, face-to-face, there at Mount Sinai, When you heard the voice that day, the whole purpose of it was that the Lord might speak to you. Isn't that a blessing? The Lord desired to have your company. The Lord desired to have your fellowship. And when you're coming to read your Bible, this is, surely going to be your prayer. Lord, come and talk with me. Just take me through this chapter. Men and women, every time I'm aware of it, every time I say, over these many years, I have always prayed, Lord, take me through this chapter. Or if it's a verse I've said, I have said it. Lord, take me through this verse. Come and talk to me. My question is tonight, has the Lord spoken to you? And do you see the special way, the special way, the very special way He has been talking to His people here in the text? He says face to face. Isn't that lovely? That's communion at its best. That's a wee corner of heaven. If we can say before we have the benediction in a few minutes, If we can say tonight, you know, it was just like face-to-face with the Savior. And there I am drinking in, drinking in every word. And it's the Lord's desire, it's the Lord's purpose to speak with you face-to-face. And one day when you get to glory, he'll do exactly that. And do you know the voice that sounded on Mount Sinai is going to sound on the Mount of Olives? And the trumpet that sounded at Mount Sinai those many years ago is going to sound again when the Savior comes. Only this time, instead of being Mount Sinai, it'll be the Mount of Olives. And we, Listen, we will hear that voice. And from then on the glory, it'll be the privilege of face to face with Christ. Has the Lord been speaking to you? Can you say, the Lord has talked with me? He'll use the word, you can't, Could I just insert this? A dear woman was quite ill, and another friend, a fine Christian lady, felt concerned about her. And she thought, I'll get her a book. And what sort of book could I get? I'll get a book of devotional messages, just to encourage my dear friend who's so ill. She went to the bookstore, a good Bible shop too, and said to the lady behind the counter, describing the scene so I needn't go over it again, about her friend and getting a devotional study. And the lady let her do the best she can. She said, oh, I'm afraid I'm not sure what book I could recommend. And she studied for a while and she said, well, there's this book here. And I don't know men and women now, it's so long ago. How many thousand copies? Let's just imagine for the sake of the illustration, a hundred thousand copies last year. She says, it's a bestseller. Oh, said the lady making the purchase. I think that must be a recommendation. And she got the book and took it home and presented it to her friend. Her husband says to his wife later, when Christian friend had departed, let's just turn over the pages of the book. And they did so. And then husband was amazed. He said, look, the lady who's writing this book doesn't quote one scripture. There isn't one reference to God's holy word in the whole book. And what it amounts to, this lady says, I talk, she called him Jesus. I would prefer to call him the Lord Jesus Christ. She said, I talk to Jesus every day. And then whatever he says to me, mind you, no Bible, no Bible. Whatever he says to me, I just write down. So these are the messages of Jesus. And her husband said to the lady, what about the actual word? Why is it left out? You see, that's a horrible mistake. You can't rewrite the Bible. Don't tamper with God's word and don't add to it. Don't try to write another Bible. That's a mistake. I don't care if there's a hundred thousand copies sold. There's only one book. And God wants to talk to you face-to-face. And when he gets us all to glory, that's one of the joys. That's one of the joys we're going to have, to meet with him face-to-face. Are you ready to meet him? If you're saved, I trust you can say tonight with all your heart, yes, I am. I've been seeking to go on with God, and I pray for the joy of God in my soul. Praise God for that. Maybe there's somebody here and you're not in the right place with God. I can't tell. Maybe there's somebody here saying, I think I've been backslidden. If you're going to meet Him, you're going to meet Him face to face. Isn't it time you got back into fellowship? What about if you're not saved? If you're going to trust Christ, you put your faith in this word, not on your feelings. You're not a Christian because you feel you're saved. And you're not to put your faith in your sincerity. Saying, if I pray and I'm sincere enough on the basis of that sincerity, you can't put your faith in your sincerity. What do you put your faith in? You put your faith in this word. These are the words. And you can say, that's where I'm resting. Absolutely, 100%. God's precious word. I know I'm saved. I know I'm a child of the King. I know that one of these days, I'll have that face-to-face communion with him. That's heaven begun. Because, resting on the word, you've been very kind to me. You've listened so well. Thank you tonight. May the Lord bless his word. You see, there are verses here in this part of Deuteronomy. It goes like this. The Lord spoke to us. Well, that's Deuteronomy 1, verse 6. The Lord spoke to us. And then there was Deuteronomy 2, verse 1. It says this, the Lord spoke to me. And then there's Deuteronomy 4, verses 12 and 13. It says, the Lord spoke to you. That sums it all up. The first one, God spoke to us. Can we say that tonight? Do you know God spoke to us tonight? What about you? Can you say chapter 2, verse 1? God spoke to me tonight. Now, that's immensely encouraging. God spoke to me tonight. And what about you? You could say chapter 4, verses 12 and 13. God spoke to you.