OK, Deuteronomy chapter eight, I'll just begin reading in verse one. Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes which I command you today. Lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do good in the end. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods and serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish as the nations which the Lord destroys before you. So you shall perish because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God. Amen. So Moses continues to exhort Israel with reference to their responsibility in the land. Remember, they're on the plains of Moab and through a series of addresses, Moses is equipping the people, giving the people things to think about, things to consider for when they enter into the promised land. And along the way, he is alerting them to potential dangers and temptations that will face them in the land. Here, specifically, we see broadly considered that the idea of forgetting God. Specifically, times of plenty will promote or will possibly produce in them a tendency to forget the Lord. And he uses the wilderness to show them specific lessons with reference to this particular theme. In fact, one man has said, the wilderness, which was a place of testing, produced blessing in the end. If you look at verse 16 for a moment, what was God's grand plan in the wilderness time? It was to do you good in the end. So the wilderness was a time of testing that produced blessing the land. The promised land is a place of blessing that will certainly bring testing as well. And so that's what the what Moses is alerting the people to in this particular chapter. Meredith Klein said the focal point of the chapter is verse 17 with its picture of future Israel at ease in Canaan basking in self congratulations. He says the recollection of God's providential guidance during the 40 years in the wilderness would afford the corrective for such vanity who uses the wilderness to encourage them not to forget the Lord when they enter into the land of blessing, when they enter into a land of plenty. So that's sort of the idea with the chapter. We're probably all very familiar with verse three. Of course, that's the verse that Jesus uses or Jesus sites when he himself is in the wilderness, when he himself is going through a time of trial, when he himself is going through a time of testing. He uses it in much the same way that Moses is exhorting the people of God here in in the book of Deuteronomy. So when Jesus is assaulted in the in the wilderness by the devil three times, he quotes from the book of Deuteronomy, specifically chapter eight, and then again twice in chapter six. And later on, as we move through this, we'll have cause to reflect on that aspect a little more. But I just want to look primarily at two things tonight. I was hoping to get through the whole chapter. But I don't want to rush through it. So we're going to look at the exhortation in verse one and then verses two to five is where we'll spend the bulk of our time. The reminder of life in the wilderness. The reminder of life in the wilderness. The exhortation of verse one is repetitious. We've already seen this several times. He calls for careful obedience to all of God's word. Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. They're not to pick and choose. They're not to say we like these particular ones. These ones suit us well, but these commands over here, we don't particularly like them, so we're not going to obey them. No, we need to look to the whole word of God. We need to embrace the entirety of his law. This is what God through Moses says. Every commandment which I command you today, You must be careful to observe. The people of God are to be careful. They are to be precise. They are to seek by the grace of God to live in a manner that is consistent with who God is and what he calls us to do. Remember that he calls us to total allegiance, total commitment. We're not just half hearted. We're not just partially his. We are to give him our heart, our soul, our strength. That's what the Shema says. In Deuteronomy 6, we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength. Everything in us is to be directed to the Lord God Most High. We're going to see a lot of repetition on the plains of Moab because Moses is a good preacher. This is what the people of God need to hear. They need repetition. They don't necessarily need a bunch of new information, but rather they need to take the information that they possess and they need to put it into practice. More than likely, if we have read the Bible through and we sat through some Bible studies or we've attended church on a regular basis, we probably have all the knowledge that we would ever need. We just need to enact it. We need to build upon it. We need to put it into practice. Now, I'm not saying don't show up on Sunday, don't come back on Wednesday night and don't read your Bible. I'm just suggesting we know enough or we have enough in our minds that a thousand eternities would see us busy seeking to put those things into practice. The Lord says through Moses, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. And then it goes on to say that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your father. So by doing this, faithfully engaging in the calling that God has placed upon them. They would go into the land, they would dispossess the land of the Canaanites, they would receive all of his blessings. And that's another repetitive theme in the book of Deuteronomy, which the Lord swore to your fathers. He never wants us to forget that what is happening in the life and history of Israel is according to plan. God is sovereign. God has promised. God has made a commitment to Abraham to bless his people. And these statements, these books or these these words of Moses are confirming that to the people of Israel just prior to entrance into the land of promise. So that's the exhortation. Let's look at the reminder of life in the wilderness. And this is where we'll spend our time tonight. Verses two to five. Note first, the Lord's purpose versus two to five says, and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might take you. Or that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. We need to remember, or God through Moses is telling the people to remember his faithfulness in the hard times of the past. Remember his faithfulness in the hard times of the past. So on the plains of Moab, as they're getting ready to enter into the promised land, a tendency would be or a temptation would come to forget God. They are specifically told to remember what God had done in bringing them to this particular place. This is the corrective. This is the help so that when they get in the land and they enjoy bounty, they don't forget him. They need to recall the purposes of God. They need to recall his mercies. They need to recall his kindness. The Lord's initiative is demonstrated here. You shall remember that the Lord, your God, led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness. Why did they go into the wilderness? Because they sinned against God. They had unbelief. Numbers 13 and 14. They sent a reconnaissance mission in. They surveyed the land. Ten spies gave a negative report. Two spies gave a positive report. And of course, the congregation sides with the negative report. So God is angry with them and he forbids them to enter into the promised land because of their sin. But what is behind the scenes is God's use of this to teach them specific lessons. Very often bad things happen in the world that God overrules for good. Isn't that what the Joseph narrative teaches us in the book of Genesis? His brothers sell him into slavery. Initially, they want to kill him. But because of the intervention of a brother, they preserve his life, sell him into slavery. And after all of his dealings, after all of the goings on, after he finally opens up and tells his brothers what had happened, he says in Genesis 50, 20, what are you meant this for evil? But God overruled it for good. The same thing here in the wilderness. These people sin in unbelief. God overruled it for good. He wanted to do something in the wilderness. Israel, as a people, needed to learn certain lessons. Brethren, there are times in our lives when difficulties happen because that's the way God teaches us. It would be nice and wonderful and rosy if all of our lessons were on a beach somewhere when everything was going beautifully. It is simply not the way God deals. God at times sends us into very difficult situations because his purposes are revealed in verse five, which we'll see in a bit in a bit of time here. You need to know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. I submit that verses one to five here in Deuteronomy challenges every inclination of our heart. We oftentimes think God is not with us when he is with us more intimately than in other instances and in other times. The wilderness wandering is presented to us both as arising out of human sin and rebellion and as having a divine purpose. They sin, they go into the wilderness. God orchestrates this so that he may engage in a particular task. Notice that in the wilderness, the Lord was present with them. This was a judgment, wasn't it? Right. Let's not forget numbers 13 and 14. We did an overview. We've referred to that chapter, that section many times. The people grumble. The people complain. The people wanted to, you know, they just they wanted to throw in the towel. The Lord God had promised them a land, he says, to go into that land and conquer. And they buckle under the fear of the anarchy. So God, in his chastening, sends them out into the wilderness. The people of Israel concluded that he wasn't with them. But what we find out is that he was, in fact, with them every step of the way. And it was him that was leading them through this particular time. Notice in verse two, you shall remember that the Lord, your God, led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness. Turn back for just a moment to Deuteronomy, chapter one, Deuteronomy, chapter one. The Lord's presence in the midst of chasing it. The Lord's presence in the midst of these trials. Notice in chapter one, verse twenty six. This is recalling that scene in numbers thirteen and fourteen. Nevertheless, you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. And you complained in your tents and said, because the Lord hates us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. It's absolute wickedness. Not only did they not believe God, but they'd actually gotten it in their minds that he hated them, that he despised them, that he was done with them. Notice in verse twenty eight. Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. Moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. Then I said to you, Do not be terrified or afraid of them. The Lord, your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And in the wilderness, note this language where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet for all that you did not believe the Lord your God who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go in the fire by night and in the cloud by day. So they believe or they got it in their heads that God brought them out there because he hated that. This is the opposite. God loves them. As many as I love, I chase it. That's what Jesus says in Revelation chapter three to the church in Laodicea. Notice in chapter two of Deuteronomy, verse seven, for the Lord, your God, has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows you are trudging through this great wilderness. These 40 years, the Lord, your God, has been with you. You have lacked nothing. Now, it wasn't the sorts of things that they had wanted. It wasn't the sort of life that they would have chosen. It wasn't the kinds of luxury and the kinds of treatment that they thought themselves worthy of. They concluded that the Lord was done with them. They concluded that the Lord was not with them. They concluded that the Lord actually hated them. And yet all the while, it's God upholding them as they trudge through the wilderness, making sure they have food, making sure they have water, making sure that their garments don't wear out, making sure that their feet don't swell up. In other words, God is satisfying every particular need that they have. He is upholding them and he is with them and he is blessing them. And their conclusion is the Lord isn't with me. I submit that we are very much like the children of Israel at times. When things don't go the way we think they should, we conclude God isn't with me. God is against me. God isn't for me. God is done with me. And it's just the opposite. That's what these people were concluding. And the Lord through Moses is saying that is simply not the case. You need to remember the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness. Notice specific purpose. One, to humble you. That's our problem. We're proud. Israel was proud. They're arrogant. We think we're self-sufficient. We get to the point where we believe we don't need God. Israel was at that point several times in their history. They got to the place where they just forgot all about it. And he says this is one of the purposes of God in the wilderness was to humble you, to promote dependence upon him, not on themselves. As we have seen thus far in Deuteronomy, as we will see in chapter eight and in the remainder of biblical history, it was very easy for the people of God to forget him. What does humility do in our lives and when God humbles us? Hopefully it makes us come to him. When we're proud and arrogant and self-sufficient and everything's going well, verse 17 is our report. Look at verse 17. You know, maybe this isn't your particular sin. Maybe this isn't your particular struggle. But a lot of people in the history of the church have this issue. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this well. And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get well, that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. You know, it's easy to recognize the miraculous power of God when he drops man out of heaven, isn't it? It's not as easy to recognize the power of God when we work a 50, 60 hour week, we get a paycheck, we cash the check, we go to Costco, we go to Superstore, we go to Walmart, we buy all of our particular goods, right? It's easy to forget that it's God who gives us the power to do those very things. You see, what God does in the wilderness is humble his children to teach them something. That time in the wilderness was adolescence for Israel. Adolescence is a time of maturation. It's a time to grow. It's a time to learn. It's a time to understand. And unfortunately, they took those lessons of adolescence and they cast them off. They concluded God doesn't care. God isn't with me. God doesn't love me. God actually hates me. Christians make the very same mistake. We go through periods of adolescence and because everything doesn't go perfectly, we conclude the Lord isn't with us. We need to reorient our minds and realize that God is humbling us. God is creating an environment where we will be dependent upon him, where we will, in fact, first Peter five, seven cast our burdens upon him because he cares for us. He says, I wanted to humble you and also to test them. Notice in verse two. You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you. Isn't it interesting that in the wilderness the people tested God, didn't they? Didn't they do that at Meribah? When they do this at NASA, hasn't this already been brought out in Deuteronomy 6, 6, 16? You shall not test the Lord your God as you tested him at NASA. The idea being simple. God has said he's going to provide for us. We don't believe it. He needs to prove himself. He needs to show himself faithful. This grumbling attitude, this mindset of rejection and rebellion. What the people failed to realize is that they were seeking to test God when the whole situation was God testing them to manifest and demonstrate what was in them. Remember at Sinai, after the giving of the law, after the ratification of the covenant, when Moses reads through the stipulations, what do the people swear? The people swear all these words we will do. God takes him out into the wilderness and says, all right, let's see this. Let's see you obey my commandments. Let's see you do all these things that you proudly and arrogantly boast of. Let's see you fend for yourself out here. See, the Lord was testing them. All the words which the Lord has said we will do. Great! In the New Covenant, Jesus makes that same affirmation and carries it out on behalf of the Israel of God. Jesus does what they say in Exodus 24, for which we can praise God, because there's not one of us who always does everything that the Lord our God commands. Remember those who seek out circumcision according to Galatians? You are a debtor to keep the whole law. That means personal, perpetual, absolute, complete obedience. What Israel fails to do, Jesus thankfully carries out. Again, we'll look at that in just a few moments, but it's beautiful. God is giving them. God is bringing them out, not because he hates them, but because he loves them. He is bringing these things to the forefront. It is to humble you and to test you to know what was in your heart. The idea here is not that God is searching for information. God's not scratching his head or wringing his hands, wondering if this is really an obedient people or not. He is showing them. He is making manifest in them. I think in the grand scheme and in the large purpose that they cannot obey the law and that they must needs have a Redeemer who comes to save them from their sins. God in the wilderness is not only teaching man something about himself, but he's teaching him something about his need for someone else to come and deliver him and to save him from his sins. Remember back in Deuteronomy 5, you go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you and we will hear and do it. So God says in the wilderness there were specific purposes to humble, to test, to know what was in their heart and whether they would keep his commandments or not. That was his purpose. Notice his provision. Food, clothing and physical strength. They thought he wasn't there. They thought he hated them. They thought he gave up on them. And yet all the while, food, clothing and physical strength. It's really horrible, isn't it? I mean, I guess if we had no food, no clothing, no physical strength and we were burning in hell, we could conclude that God is not for us. The fact that we're not in hell right there is a beautiful testimony that God is, at least for the time, favorable toward us. But he gives us food, clothing, physical strength. Notice specifically with reference to the food. He humbled you. He allowed you to hunger again, not because he delights in a sadistic way at watching his children squirm because they're hungry. No, he's creating dependence. He is showing them their need for him. You know, we look at the manna from heaven and we say, what a wonderful miracle. That miracle was simply to display a larger truth. Right. It wasn't just to feed their bellies for a day. You've heard that. Give a man a fish, you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for his life. Israel, eating that manna each and every day, had to reflect upon the larger truth. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. There's something more important, brethren, than our daily food. There's something more vital than bread. There's something more important than Taco Bell. And that is the word of the living and true God. That's what he says to the people here. He fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. The manna taught the children about dependence upon God. Not just for food, but for everything. The manna was symbolic. The manna was real. It really happened, to be sure. But it also pointed to that larger truth that man shall not live by bread alone. Meredith Klein said, the manna thus taught Israel that only as man stands obediently under his Lord's sovereign word, the ultimate source of life, does he find true and lasting life. There's one lesson we ought to get from the book of Deuteronomy is that we ought to read the book of Deuteronomy. We ought to read. We ought to remember. We ought to recall. We got to get the information concerning who God is into our hearts. Craigie said when the people were hungry, God fed them manna. The provision of manna was not simply a miracle, but it was designed to teach the Israelites a fundamental principle of their existence as the covenant people of God. The basic source of life was God and the words of God through his people. Every utterance of the mouth of the Lord was more basic to Israelite existence than was food. Now you see, they wouldn't have learned the lesson when they were just glutting themselves in the cucumbers and the garlic and the foods of Egypt. They would have never learned that dependence upon the living word of God when they were enjoying the bounty in Egypt. They would rather be slaves in Egypt as long as they had that food. They go out into the wilderness. God presses them a little bit. Again, it's not malicious. It's not sadistic. You've probably all done it with your children. You have withheld something from them to teach them a particular lesson. You have withheld something from them for their ultimate good and benefit. God pressed them into a position where they were hungry. They turned to the Lord for their ration, and He rains down manna upon them. This underscores the principle, God is the source of life. Moses comes and says, it's not just the daily bread you need to be concerned about, but it's every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It's His Word. It's His truth. It's His wholly revealed mind. That is more life-sustaining than bread itself. Jesus alludes to this, not only in the wilderness, but in John chapter six. Remember, he feeds the five thousand and then he's the ruler over the waves. And then he gets into this discourse concerning bread from heaven. What is Jesus point in the discourse? He feeds the five thousand that gives the backdrop. You ate the food, you ate the bread. It satisfies for a day. But then you will die. You need the bread that came down from heaven that satisfies eternally. The Lord Jesus appeals to this concept. It's not just the physical bread that you need. You need Jesus, the bread of life, the one who satisfies to the uttermost, the one who gives you everlasting life. God's word is most important. That's what they needed to learn on the plains of Moab. The bread in the wilderness wasn't a cosmic trick to dazzle the people, nor was it simply a means to feed the people. This wasn't a big Sally Ann out on the, you know, out in the wilderness. Everybody just come get your bread. You were collecting that Omer for the day when you were collecting that manna. You need to thought you better be thinking about God. God provided this. God sent this. God sustains me. God is the good and Lord and giver of life. It was a lesson to highlight the absolute importance of dependence upon the word of God. Now, Jesus does the very or Jesus uses this text in the very same situation, the very same situation. He's in the wilderness. You ever wonder why Jesus went for 40 days into the wilderness. Jesus is Israel. OK, what Israel failed to do in the Old Testament, Jesus comes and does it in the New Testament. Doesn't Matthew tell us that Jesus went into Egypt out of Egypt? I have called my son. Doesn't Jesus pass through the waters in Matthew chapter three baptism? Isn't Jesus called the beloved son of God at the baptism? That's what Israel is. The firstborn son, according to Exodus four. Right after the waters, he passes through, he goes into the wilderness for 40 days. He is tried and he stands the test and he does not fold. He does not succumb. He does not knuckle under. He obeys completely. Jesus goes into exile, just like Israel. His exile happened to be the cross. And then he is restored, just like Israel. Matthew is weaving together a theology of Jesus as the fulfillment of everything that Israel failed to do. And it's very unique. It's very interesting. Jesus quotes this particular passage when he's in the very same situation. He's in the wilderness. The devil comes and says, turn these rocks into bread and eat. And what does he say? It's not by bread alone that man lives. It's by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What Israel didn't do, what Israel would fail to do. Our Lord Jesus executes perfectly and beautifully and wonderfully. He was the one. who fully embrace that task and that particular role. We need to understand that Jesus does. And again, we know the book of Deuteronomy. It would be different if we didn't know Israel's history. If we still thought that they might have gone out and obeyed. We know they didn't. I mean, we move through the book of Deuteronomy. They don't obey. In fact, Deuteronomy 30 looks forward to the new covenant already. Why is that? Because God knows us. God realizes. God is teaching these people to look ahead, to look forward to the one who's supposed to come, look forward to the Messiah. So this provision of bread was to teach them and underscore this most important lesson that we don't live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Also, clothing, your garments did not wear out on you. He sustained you for 40 years. Your feet didn't swell. What does that mean? It means you could walk. And they said one of the most difficult things in the Vietnam War was jungle rot in the feet. Those men, those soldiers, were oftentimes in swamps and water, and their feet would get so pulverized they could hardly move. I mean, what a horrible thing. You don't get shot, you don't get bombed, you don't get, you know, blown up by something, and yet you can't continue in combat because your feet gave out. You see what God is saying, how do you think you manage for these 40 years? How do you think you did this? I like to ask the child of God is discouraged and downcast and dry. How do you think you're making it? How do you think you're coping? How do you think you're being sustained? I just it's the Lord. There's a power from outside that is sustaining you and keeping you. Paul says my or Jesus told him my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is is made a powerful in your weakness. This is what God the Lord is highlighting with the people here. Your garments did not wear out, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. While the children of Israel doubted God's word, his promise, his care, his provision, it was God who sustained them entirely throughout the 40 years. Craigie again makes this perceptive statement. He says the wilderness makes or breaks a man. We're not just talking about, you know, a survival man who goes out and gets dropped off out in the woods. Ooh, can he make it? It's not about this wilderness, this 40 years that Israel endured, but also the wilderness that you and I engage in as Christians, those times of trial, those times of humbling, those times of testing, those times where God is manifesting what is really in our heart. Craigie says the wilderness makes or breaks a man. It provides strength of will or character. The strength provided by the wilderness, however, was not the strength of self-sufficiency, but the strength that comes from the knowledge of the living God. That's how the wilderness makes or breaks a man. That's how the wilderness demonstrates what really is in our heart. When the difficulties come and when the trials affect us, Are we going to run and cry or are we going to run and flee to the Lord God most high? We just sang it tonight, though troubles assail us and dangers of fright, though friends should all fail us and foes all unite. Yet one thing secures us, whatever be tied. The promise assures us the Lord will provide some of that statement. Though troubles assail us and dangers of fright, though friends should all fail us and foes all unite, yet one thing secures us, whatever be tied. The promise assures us the Lord will provide. Not only study your Bible, not only recall God in history, meet old saints in the church and ask them questions about what they've learned serving the Lord in their lives. It's a blessed exercise. We have lots to learn about people. that have gone from people that have gone through trials that have gone through difficulties that the Lord has sustained. And they come out on the other side, shining bright and singing the glory and praises of God Almighty. That's what he wanted them to remember life in the wilderness. You need to remember how God sustained you in the difficulty, in the difficult times. You see, there's a specific strategy for dealing in bad times. In bad times, we need to look past the bad and we need to realize there is a God in heaven who has a smiling face, who is orchestrating all of this providence ultimately for our good. Verse 16, to do you good in the end. I'm sure that if you drop down in year 20 to the people of Israel in the wilderness and you said, do you think God has good in mind with this? They'd say, absolutely not. Look at what we're dealing with. Fiery serpents. We got to deal with scorpions. We got to deal with all these issues and trials and challenges and difficulties. What do you mean? Does the Lord have good in end? No, he does. We need to we need to learn the strategy that strategy that in the midst of difficulty, we need to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and realize that Romans 830 or 828 is a reality. But the following portion of the chapter is going to deal with how to deal in times of plenty. There's certainly difficulty connected with that as well. But let's just look at verse 5. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. This is just something we have to understand, something we have to appropriate. Turn back for just a moment to Exodus 4. I already alluded to this, but it's good for us to see. Exodus 421, and the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my first born. So I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed, I will kill your son, your first born. Then we already looked at Deuteronomy chapter one. You can look back there. Deuteronomy 131. And in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son and all the way that you went until you came to this place, isn't that beautiful imagery? Man, the people of Israel should have just been weeping right there. You mean we thought he was trying to kill us? We thought he hated us. We thought he was against us and the whole while he was carrying us. He was the one that was sustaining that sustaining us. He was the one that carried us through. He wants them to learn this principle. You need to know in your heart. Again, this isn't just catechism here. Yeah, you need to know God deals with you as a loving father. That's catechetical. You need to know it in your heart. Experiential. That means you need to appropriate it. You need to get it in there. You need to make this a non-negotiable. You need to realize that whatever may come, whatever trials happen, whatever difficulties affect me, I know that the Lord God is for me, that he chastens me for my benefit. Chastening stems from the love of God, not the hatred of God. It's a terrible parent who spanks his kid because he hates him. That's called abuse. It's not abuse when you love your kid and you don't want him to do foolish things. You know, your kid does something terrible, he should get a good whack. Because you love him, right? Right? Everybody with me? This is how God deals. When we go do foolish things as Christians and God slaps us on the rear end, We ought to appreciate that we ought to praise him. Chastening stems from the love of God, not the hatred of God. Chastening is an indication of God's concern, not the evidence of his abandonment. Proverbs 13, he who spares his rod, spares the rod, hates his son. Right, that's the principle, but whoever loves him disciplines him promptly. He spanks him and then hugs him and kisses him and, you know, does all that sort of thing. But there's that principle. You don't let your kid do foolish things. God doesn't do that. Chastening is an indication of his concern, not the evidence of his abandonment. And chastening has a specific purpose so that you'll know that the Lord your God cares for you. All right. Christopher Wright says the wilderness then was the time of Israel's adolescence in which God taught them and disciplined them through hardship and suffering. Now I've said it before in this context I'll say it again probably have to say it you know another however many times and we study passages like this. It is God's way to bring us through trials and difficulties to conform us to the image of Jesus. That's what you signed up for. If you don't want that, I'm sorry. You sign your name on the wrong dotted line. You sign up for Uncle Sam and he says, you've got to do this. You've got to do it. Same with the Canadian forces wherever you sign up. You've got to do it when you sign up with reference to Christianity. And it's God's way to oftentimes bring us through chastening because we're hard hearted. We're thick skulled and we need him to deal with us at times very severely. In Hebrews chapter 12, it says, And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chasing of the Lord. I love this. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. Why? For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chase it? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Right. Isn't that the way it goes? It's kind of nice, but having older sons, I sometimes say, you know, we talk about how good or how bad life was or is, and I've asked them before, did spankings make you hate me? And at least I don't think they lied to me. They said, no, not the spankings. I'm kidding. I'm just kidding there, boys. It didn't ruin them. You know, I've shared before. I saw a prince, you know, Proverbs 13 in my own life. My father, I could get away with murder in front of him. to do anything in front of my father. My friends thought that was so cool. Oh, your dad's so cool. You can do this or you can do that. Deep down in my heart, I thought, he doesn't care about me. What father would let his son do that? What father in his right mind would let his son do that? He'd spank him or he would discipline him. He wouldn't allow that. You see, the principle is clear. God corrects us. God scourges us. We have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Note the implication. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live and live for they indeed for a few days chastened us as seen best to them. But he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness. Verse 11 is clear. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present. You know, none of the kids ever came out. Sounds great. Thank you. Can I have more? If that happened, you knew you didn't spank him hard enough. You know, Albert Martin has a whole series on child rearing and he tells about how when he was taken into the bathroom, you know, they'd pull the blinds and he'd get the spanking and whatnot. And if he came out and he didn't, you know, his spirit, his attitude hadn't changed. Pastor Martin's mom would tell his father, Oh, he doesn't look sweet enough yet. Take him back in there, you know, let him have it again. So so it's not joyful for the present. This is a no brainer. It's painful. Verse 11. This is tough to get our minds wrapped around. We don't think the Christian life should mean pain, but at times it does. There is pain because of our sin, because of our stubbornness, because of our hard heartedness, or just because God needs to instruct us in a particular lesson that we haven't learned yet. Nevertheless, he continues, afterward, when it's all said and done, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And here's another statement that just flies across the grain to those who have been trained by it. The language is pretty conspicuous. It's not a one time good deal. You know, it's not the case when your kid's four and he does something foolish. You take him in and you spank him and you fix him. If you've had that happen, you are the one person. One spank doesn't fix the kid, does it? Foolishness is bound up in the heart. Isn't that what the scripture says? The rod will drive it far from him. It's training. It's the long haul. It's day in and day out. I'm not suggesting every lesson we learn, everything that we have to go through is painful and it hurts. And it's, you know, 40 years of scorpions and fiery serpents. But I am suggesting that for most people in the Christian life, there will be seasons, there will be times, there will be difficulties and challenges. And the whole theology of it is revealed here for you in Hebrews 12, five to nine. 5 to 5 to I'm sorry Hebrews 12 5 to 11. No chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. That's what God is reminding them on the plains of Moab trying to equip them fortify them strengthen them so when they get into the land they don't get this self satisfied smug appreciation for what they've accomplished and how they have done it. They need to be humble. They need to realize who God is and how he has carried them and he has blessed them and he has brought them to this place. So that's the reminder of life in the wilderness. Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for the fact that it not only states the truth, but it tells us why. We thank you that you chase in your children as a father chases his son. We thank you that you use that imagery, God, that we so readily connect with. We thank you that that you have that relationship to your people in and through the Lord Jesus. We praise you for Christ. We praise you that he underwent, that he did everything perfectly, that he satisfied your law, that he satisfied the demands of the covenant, that he died as a sacrifice and that he rose again and that in him we have everlasting life. In him, we have everything a sinner needs, and we just give you praise and glory for that. Help us to learn the lessons that we need from this passage, from this chapter. Help us, God, not to forget your kindness, not to forget your demonstration of power in our lives, the way that you have sustained us and provided it for us and all these things. God, help us to reflect upon you. Help us to be students of your word, and help us, God, to resist the temptation to forget you. May we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.