You're good? We're good? All right, let's turn to Deuteronomy 32. We're working on the Song of Moses, which is the section of 31.30 through 32.43, 43 being the last verse of chapter 32. If there's ever an argument for songs being theological, I guess this would be it. Well, let's open in a word of prayer and we'll begin. Father in heaven, we thank you for This gathering again this morning, and we thank you for the Torah and this fifth book we're in as we study this particular song. And Lord, there's a lot of theology related to Israel and your purpose and plan for them. So help us to see that as well as application that would apply to all of God's people. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's start in verse 1. We're getting pretty far into the song now. Verse 1 says, Give ear, O heavens, let them speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass, and as the showers on the herb. For I proclaim the name of the Lord, or call on his name, ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock. His work is perfect. All his ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright as He. But they have acted corruptly toward Him. These would be God's people, the Jews. They're not His children because of their defect. They're a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father, who has bought you? He has made you and established you. Remember the days of old. Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father. He'll inform you. Your elders? They'll tell you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. And the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance. He found him, so this shows God's care for the people all the way from the beginning. He found him in a desert land and in the howling waste of a wilderness. God encircled him, he encircled Israel, cared for him, guarded him as the little man of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young. God, he, referring to God again, caring for Israel. He spread his wings and caught them. He carried them on his pinions. The Lord alone guided him, and there was no foreign God with him. Interesting how God alone founds Israel. He guides them alone. And then in Isaiah 63, at the Battle of Armageddon, he'll destroy the enemy alone. And it keeps using that word alone, how he does it in his own strength. He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the produce of the field. He made him, referring to the nation Israel, suck honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock. Curds of cows and the milk of the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed of Bashan and goats, with the finest of wheat and the blood of grapes, you drink wine. But Yeshurun, remember that means the upright ones, describing Israel and their ideal character under God, who is upright, remember Deuteronomy 32, 4. He is upright and there to be the upright ones. But they grew fat and kicked. You are grown fat, thick, and sleek. We know even from Genesis, fat, thick, and sleek would have the idea of very well taken care of. So God provided for Israel. He fattened them up, if you will. Then he, Israel, Yeshurun, forsook God, the one who made him, and scorned the rock of his salvation. They made him jealous with strange gods. With abominations, they provoked him to anger." Imagine being Israel, singing this song years after. Someone might be going, this kind of looks bad on us. Why are we singing this? Why don't we sing something a little more nice? But this is reminding them, have this in your heart, never forget what has happened, and always walk with God. So they made him jealous with strange gods, with abominations, they provoked him to anger. And last week we saw this verse, they sacrificed to demons who are not God. So behind all idolatry is demonism. And I could prove that from the New Testament as well. To gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. And now we get to verse 18. You neglected the rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth. So you see that in Hebrew parallelism all over the place. The Psalms are loaded with it. But this is a song, so you'll see poetry. And so notice they parallel things. So you can clearly see neglecting the rock is forgetting God. And the one who begot you is the same one who gave you birth. So God is the one who formed Israel from the beginning. And again, remember, we see that he was called the rock in verse 4, also the upright one. So he's called the rock. His work is perfect. All his ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice. Righteous and upright is he. So you'll see God in his perfection, but that Israel will not be just. They will not be faithful. Using the same words, they won't be upright. They'll be walking in a different way and not reflecting God. So Israel had neglected and forgot the God who had actually formed and created the nation. A couple of passages later in scripture, in Isaiah, it talks about God who is their creator and maker. Isaiah 43.1, but now says the Lord your creator, O Jacob. So Jacob by that time is just a name for the whole nation. And he who formed you, O Israel. So what's parallel to Jacob? O Israel. So we know it's the nation here. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. So the word create, anyone know that word? Barah. Where is that word first found? Genesis 1-1. It's the first use of this word in the first verse of the Bible. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So later in Israel's time, when God says, I created you, their mind's going to go back to the creation of all things. And he actually created the nation. So God is the source. He says, I've called you by name. In other words, God formed the nation. And you are mine, so that the nation belongs to him. Verse 15, I am, sorry, Isaiah 43, same chapter, sorry. Verse 15, I am Yahweh, your Holy One. the creator of Israel, you're a king. So Jesus is the creator of all things, isn't he? When he comes to earth, he's the king of Israel. I would argue that he's God from that comparison. So God was the one who formed the nation, but they neglected and forgot the one who had created them and formed them. So verse 19, the Lord saw this and he spurned. them, or Israel, because of the provocation of his sons and daughters. And God said, I will hide my face from them, and I will see what their end shall be. For they are a perverse generation, sons in whom there is no faithfulness." So remember, the whole nation is sometimes called a son of God. Remember at Hosea 11.1, out of Egypt, I called my son. Them and everybody, all the Jews, male, female, young, or old. So that would obviously mean God is their father, Israel is the son. And sonship means obedient representation, just like any father would want his son to represent him properly. God wanted Israel to represent him faithfully, not just in the community of Israel, but also to the nations. Because God cared about them. He wanted to draw them too. And even Gentiles could be saved. But notice it says God spurned them. You have this word, na'atz. This word could mean to spurn, despise, to show contempt, to treat with disrespect or disregard or reject. So because of Israel's sin, it doesn't mean they're not his people anymore. He just has them under divine discipline. And so God spurned them, but had they spurned him first? Anyone have a verse? Actually, this word shows up. Go back to, go to Numbers 14. God had done quite the opposite of spurning from the beginning and he had blessed Israel and then they turned and spurned him. The same word Naatz is found in Numbers 14.11. Also in the same chapter in verse 23. So Numbers 14.11. Remember, this is after the Jews had spied out the land. So we're in that context of Numbers 13 and chapter 14. So the Lord said to Moses, how long will this people, what? Yeah, treat me with contempt. Some have spurned. It's this word here. So they've been doing it. How long will they not believe in me? Now, are they unbelievers? It says they don't believe in me. They're unbelievers. Yeah, well, yeah, what do you mean by unbelief here? See, when we say unbeliever today, we say not saved. They can't, in the Bible, an unbeliever being one who's not trusting God actively. This is the same word used of Moses in Numbers 20, when God says, you didn't believe me when you struck the rock. So Moses was an unbeliever. Yeah, there in that sentence, in his walk, he wasn't trusting the Lord. He didn't apply the word. So be careful. We've made unbeliever a technical term for unsaved, which can be true in the Bible, but it can't always mean that, or else you have problems with this. You'll have Moses really not a Christian. He just thinks he is. Or he lost his salvation or something. But God told them, I'm going to give you the land. They go in, they spy it out, they come back with a bad report. That's unbelief. So what don't they get? The blessing of the land. And then the writer of Hebrews, in chapters 3 and 4, says the same thing. They didn't get the blessing because they didn't mix the promises of God with faith. So God says, how long will they not believe me despite all the signs which I've performed in their midst? Now, well, my mind's going somewhere else. I'm not going to let it do that. Numbers 14, 23, drop down there. He says, they shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers. So I don't think heavens denied them eternal salvation. I think the land blessings denied for unbelief. So it's a reward thing. The land was their reward. And even Moses got denied that because of his sin. So they shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned me see it. So there's two uses of na'atz. Go to chapter 16 since we're in the same book. Go to 16.29-30. You remember the Korah rebellion? I'll just get a couple of verses together so you can see where the word spurn is there. Verse 29, if these men die the death of all men, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, and all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol. Now, Sheol doesn't, we often think it means hell. Sometimes, maybe. But it can mean the underworld or the grave. So they're going to die. Then, if that happens, then you'll understand that these men have spurned the Lord. So, spurning's not good. However you translate it, they showed contempt for the Lord and therefore they were punished. By the way, the spurning was predicted. We keep seeing this in Deuteronomy 31. So let's go back towards Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 31.20. God reveals their spurning in the song in chapter 32, but he reminded them that this would be the case. They're going to do this when they enter the land. Deuteronomy 31 20, when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, that would be a covenant oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they have eaten and are satisfied to become prosperous. Then they'll turn to other gods and serve them and spurn me and break my covenant. So spurn me is that same word again. So that was predicted. But remember, God would be faithful despite that because he is in covenant with Israel. He has to fulfill it. He's just looking for a faithful generation to give the blessing. Psalm 107. He uses it there too, in two verses, Psalm 107, 10, and 11. There were those who dwelt in darkness in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and had spurned the counsel of the Most High. So again, they just rejected his words, so therefore that would be rejecting God himself. Proverbs 1.30, they would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So this continued rejection by the people. Even Isaiah 1.4. Alas, sinful nation. If you read Isaiah 1, it's hard to find anything positive in it. But he does basically the same thing. A God who had raised up this nation and they turned against him as a rebellious child goes against his father. So this whole chapter is devoted to that. He says, Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly. They have abandoned the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from Him. So the word despised in some Bibles is that same word again, na'atz. So it's commonly used for Israel. It goes into their lives beyond the time of the Torah. So back to verse 20 of Deuteronomy 32. God says, I'll hide my face from them. That's just a metaphorical way of showing rejection. I will see what their end shall be, for they're a perverse generation, sons in whom there's no faithfulness. This word perverse. Tapukot. Tapukot. It means what's morally crooked from a standard. It means something perverse. Crooked from a standard. I mean, God has the perfect standard to go away from that would be perverse. Proverbs 8.13 uses it. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth God says I hate. So the perverted mouth would be anything that goes astray from his truth. Also, verse 20, it says that Israel was a son with no faithfulness. No faithfulness. This is a common Hebrew root. You have Amun. Amun means, by the way, Amun is the noun here. What's the verb? With a moon. Amen. Amen. The verb is where we get the word amen, I believe it. So the verb of that root means to believe or to have faith or trust, like pastuo in the New Testament. But this noun here means faithfulness or trusting. The adjective would be faithful. So you'll see this word quite a bit. Amunah. This is a moon, but then you have Amunah, the noun, means firmness, fidelity, steadfastness, steadiness. When Jesus came to earth, what did he commonly say? But you have little faith. And I think there's an idea here of not being reliable. You're not trusting God. And he said that a lot. So Jesus is constantly using the language of the Old Testament. He even wanted faithfulness from the nation when he came, as God did in the Old Testament. Jesus, as God, comes to his covenant people and exposes them as being a people without justice. Remember, God is a just God, Deuteronomy 32.4. Well in Matthew 23 23 he says to the religious leaders Woe to you scribes and Pharisees you hypocrites for you tithe mint and dill and cumin But have neglected the weightier provisions of the law justice mercy faithfulness See this is who God is in Deuteronomy 32. They're not reflecting him. So they're sons who have no faithfulness and He says, these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. Remember, tithing was for Israel, not the church. And Israel had to tithe, and what did they use when they gave 10%? Actually, a total, there's three tithes of 10%. They're produce that God had given them. And so he says, woe to you, for you tithe mint, dill, and cumin. So was it evil to tithe? No, that was the law. He says, but you have neglected the weightier provisions of the law. So tithing was the law. They had to do it. But they had to also apply justice, mercy, and faithfulness, which was far more important than giving the goods to the temple treasury. He says, these things you should have done. In other words, justice, mercy, and faithfulness, and without neglecting the others. So obviously, they were supposed to tithe. They're putting a greater weight on the things that aren't as weighty. And Christians can do the same thing. Some Christians believe tithings for today and focus more on that than loving their neighbor. They're doing something we're not even told to do or to give as we purpose in our heart. But then we also don't always do the more important thing. By the way, just something I looked up. Let me back up here so you can see this connection. In that Deuteronomy passage, let's see, verse 20. Sons in whom there's no faithfulness. Now that's a moon, but I looked up the Greek translation. When the Greeks went to translate the Hebrew Bible, what was that called? Yeah, the Septuagint. Some pronounce it the Septuagint. You know what word showed up? Anyone take a guess? I won't hold it against you, it's just a guess. For faithfulness? Pistis. Pistuo, the verb to believe, pistis is the noun. So pistis can mean faith or faithfulness. For by grace you've been saved through faith. That's a noun of action. By actively trusting God, you were saved, not by works. However, what's one of the fruits of the Spirit? Faithfulness. Some Bibles put faith there. I think it's faithfulness, which the word can mean as well, which does go back to the Hebrew use of the Jews were sons with no faithfulness, but the fruit of the Spirit in the church age believer is faithfulness, along with love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth. And so you can bring this in into the New Testament that if God wanted Israel to be faithful, does he want us to do the same? And he's empowered us to do it through the indwelling spirit we got at salvation. So it says, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and then pistis, the equivalent to where we are in Deuteronomy 32. Gentleness, self-control against such things, there's no law. See, when you go back to the law, there was punishment for all kinds of sin, all sin, right? But if Israel would remain faithful, they wouldn't be punished. Anymore that will be punished if we walk faithfully with God, which is the fruit of the Spirit So the principle is God wants faithfulness and all of his people Deuteronomy 32 21 and 22 God says they've made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols So I'll make them jealous with those who are not a people. I So if they're going to go to idolatry, then I'll use another people that aren't Jews, in other words, the nations, and I'll provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in my anger and burns to the lowest part of Sheol and consumes the earth with its yield and sets on fire the foundations, plural, of the mountains. So just a reminder, this is again Israel's idolatry, and it was a violation of God, no doubt, and it had clear warning. So it isn't as though God just calls Israel out and says, just go into that land over there and good luck. He tells them exactly what to do, not to do. He tells them why he's doing it. If you read the Torah, the Jews should have never questioned, why are we going in to take these people? By the way, where would you go? And Ken, you can't answer, because I know he knows. If a Jew is reading the Torah, and this later generation is going, well, we're going to go into the land and kill all these people, why are we going to do that? And the critics of the Bible will say, yeah, your God just is a murderer. No, no, no. He said why. Does anyone know? Ken, you can say it. Well, remember, I know you know, we've talked about it, but remember in Genesis 15, God says, your people are going to be enslaved for 400 years. Where did that happen? Egypt. And then when the time of the Amorite is made full, then you'll go into the land and do what I told you to do. So he gave the nations time. I mean, centuries. And now when the Jews go in, they can go back to there and go, hey, Abraham told us we would be enslaved. We were. And now it's time to go into the land, which they're about to do. And there's nothing hidden. God says, you're going to go in and take the enemies who have given time, and they will not respond. So you're going to take the land. But he even spared some. Who did he spare that obeyed? Who's one in Joshua? No, they were non-Jews over in the Gentile land. Rahab. Oh, and even delivered a prostitute. Yep, because she obeyed. She protected the spies. And they were told, bless her and her family when you go in. So if the Jews are reading the Torah carefully, they'll see and they'll go, oh, in Exodus 20, it also said, have no other gods before me. Verse 3, verse 4, you shall not make an idol for yourself. or anything on earth or heaven above or beneath the water or under the earth, and you shall not worship them or serve them. For I am the Lord, I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity on the fathers and children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, which means those who persist in idolatry, hating me and spurning me, they'll continue to be punished. So Israel knew they were warned, and since they turned to false gods, God says, I'll make them jealous with those who are not a people. In other words, Gentile nations. So God would even use foolish nations as an instrument to punish his own people. And then he'd often just turn and punish them once that was done. So notice, using a foreign power to destroy or discipline Israel, not out of existence, but to discipline them, where might you look back? Mark, you've heard this before. 28, 49, and 50. Remember he said, the Lord will bring a nation against you from afar. This is when they disobey. And from the ends of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old nor show favor to the young. They will not care. They'll take you all out. And that was true in their future. This happened a lot for Israel. They're in the clear now, though, right? Far from it. And it's going to get real bad and then it's going to get real good for the nation because Jesus will come back when they call on him. So now we also had in that text God's consuming fire. Be careful, every time you see the word fire it doesn't mean the lake of fire. You have to be very careful contextually to get that interpretation. But fire, the consuming fire or fire related to God can sometimes describe His power, His glory, and often his judgment on his people. Remember in Exodus 24, 17 it says, So there's the glory of God connected to the consuming fire, but also it is related to judgment, no doubt, and sometimes just temporal judgment. of those who are on earth that he just takes out related to fire. Remember Leviticus 10, where might I be going with that? Remember Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron? It says, they took their respective fire pans and after putting fire in them, they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord. The problem is it was strange fire. Which is also added, or what's added to the strange fire is, which he, God, had not commanded them. Now people speculate what that was. You can always conclude, though, safely, that whatever it was, it was something God had not commanded. It was disobedience. And so the result of that was, verse 2, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them. And they died before the Lord. The question is, did a literal fire show up? Or is this only symbolic for judgment unto death? Either way, they died physically. I don't see a problem why literal fire didn't show up. The Coral Rebellion, the same thing. Remember, the earth was going to open up and swallow them. Number 1635, fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed 250 men who were offering the incense. Again, fire related to God. Now, sometimes fire is related to God's character as a jealous God who has zeal for his people. Deuteronomy 4.24, for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, and then that's described as a jealous God. So God is zealous for his relationship with Israel and wants nothing to come before that. Therefore, idolatry would be an affront on that relationship. Go to Deuteronomy 29, you're close, in proximity. I remember when I first got saved, there were a lot of guys that I knew. I won't even name the denomination, but it was pretty popular with them. Every time you saw the word fire, they plugged in the lake of fire. Every single time. And I'm like, wow. And then when you plugged it in on some of them, they'd almost kind of go, well, that doesn't really work, does it? But sometimes it's just God's judgment. And look at 2922 and following. Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the distress which the Lord has afflicted it. Okay, remember, Deuteronomy 28, 1-14, blessing for obedience. 28, 15-68, finish it. Curses for disobedience. 29, Israel, by the end of the chapter, they're going to be scattered because of their disobedience. Chapter 30, but when you return to me, I'll return to you, bring in the blessing of the land, have compassion on you and so forth, which Jesus will do one day. But at the end of 29, notice, the judgment has come upon the Jews. They've been scattered. And so even people will come and see this. Verse 23, what are they going to say? All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsewn and unproductive. What was an unproductive land a sign of? Israel's curse. And no grass grows in it, like the overflow of Sodom and Gomorrah. which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. So again, that land of brimstone and salt, a burning waste, was related to their discipline and therefore resulted in a lack of productivity. All the nations will say, why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger? Then the men will say, because they forsook the covenant of the Lord. Is that true? Exactly why? The God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, they went and served other gods and worshipped them. So there's the idolatry. Gods whom they had not known and whom God had not allotted to them. Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against that land. So there's that burning anger to bring upon it every curse which is written in the book. So cursing is related to burning. and often related to the land. To bring on it every curse which is written in the book, and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath, and cast them into another land as it is to this day." So Israel is scattered. I know they have returned. Many have returned to the land. But if you think that is the final return, meaning that the kingdom is already set up and it's all finished, well, where's the king? Look at the temple mount. It doesn't have the temple yet. So, the boundaries aren't fulfilled. So, I think there's significance for Israel coming back into the land, but there's still a scattered people, and the Lord will one day bring them back when Jesus returns. Now, when you get to the Book of Hebrews, as they say, and I agree with, if you don't know your Old Testament, there's no way you'll figure this book out. There's way too many Old Testament references. I think it's one of the Jewish epistles. 1st, 2nd Peter, Jude, Hebrews, and James. So he's writing to a 1st century audience of Jews a thousand years later, over a thousand years later from the time of Moses, and he's warning Jewish Christians of the 1st century to remain faithful to God. Does that sound like Old Testament? But remain faithful to Jesus because now he's the king who had shown up in the first century. Died in 30 A.D. on the cross. Now they're in that period, that 40-year period between Christ going back to the Father and now the judgment that's going to come in 70 A.D. So the writer of Hebrews writes to Jewish Christians in the 60s, warning them, you made the right decision. Do not go back to the Jews who said crucify him. If you do, it's like crucifying the Son of God all over again, chapter 6. I don't know why people think chapter 6 has anything to do with losing their salvation. It doesn't. He's warning Jewish believers who are truly saved to not defect. And so what does he say? After telling them not to do that, because it's impossible for you to be brought to repentance while at the same time you reject the Son of God or open Him to public shame like you're doing if you defect. Then his illustration, for the ground that drinks the rain, often falling on it, brings forth vegetation useful to those for the sake who it's also tilled, and receives a blessing from God. So what was connected to the blessings in Deuteronomy? If they walked obediently, what happened? Fruitfulness. But then he says, but if it yields thorns and thistles, remember the curse in the garden when Adam sinned, you'll work the ground, but with what? Thorns would be part of that deal. But also thorns and thistles is a picture of God's judgment on Israel. That's why in the parable of the sower, Jesus sows among four soils, and what was one of them? Among thorns. He sowed among the rocky soil. He sowed among the hard path. And then there was the good soil that was productive. That's who he came for. So he says, if it yields thorns and thistles, it's worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. Isn't that a picture of judgment on Israel from the Old Testament? So I don't think he's warning them they'll be burned in the lake of fire forever and lose their salvation. I don't think the Lordship people are right in saying, see, they must not have really been Christians. No, they were truly born again. They're turning from God and now blessing will be removed and cursing will come. Jesus warned that first generation when he came. He said, okay, you want, remember they screamed at the trial, his blood be on our head and on our children's head? Okay. So I'm leaving, and those who believe, stay firm, because judgment's going to fall on this nation 40 years later. So I think when Peter gave his message at Pentecost, the writer of Hebrews is writing to a lot of those same people who believed, and now are, through pressure, turning back. Because, by the way, if they believed at Pentecost, what year is that? 30 AD. What are we now in the 60s? Over some time, the pressure has come, and they're giving up. How many Christians give up? They get saved and, well, my friends don't hang with me anymore. I quit. You quit over friendship pressure? You never would have made it as a Jew in the first century as a Christian. These guys are really being persecuted hard, some unto death. By the way, Stephen, did he get praised for his faith? No, those Jewish people killed him for condemning them for killing Christ, which they did. Tough time to be a Christian in the first century if you were a Jew. So I think the writer of Hebrews is going out of this Old Testament language, which is important. Let me see where I'm going here. Yeah, we're almost to the end. Let's go where I was planning on stopping. So verse 23 through 25, God says, I'll heave misfortunes on them. I will use my arrows on them. They will be wasted by famine, consumed by plague and bitter destruction, and the teeth of beasts I'll send upon them with the venom of crawling things of the dust. Outside the sword will bereave, and inside terror. Both young man and virgin, the nurseling, with the man of gray hair. So all ages, just like when the enemy comes in, they'll play no favoritism, but the judgment will go to all of you as well from the Lord. So again, this is all divine discipline revealed in the cursing of Deuteronomy 28, 15-68, and also throughout Leviticus 26. And what's often referred to as the five cycles of discipline on the nation. So verse 26, I would have said I'll cut them to pieces. I'll remove the memory of them from men, had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, that their adversaries would misjudge, that they would say, well, our hand has been triumphant and the Lord has not done all this. So, in other words, even though the nation was worthy of punishment even out of existence, The Lord wouldn't allow it because Israel's enemies would question his sovereignty and his faithfulness and claim it was their own power that defeated Israel. Why else will not God completely wipe them out? Covenant promise. He's made the covenant with Israel so he can discipline his people and many die but he always has a remnant and Israel has survived even to this day and they will till the second advent. Who does this, God says, well, the nations may think the wrong thing, so therefore I'll spare them. Who on the other side had that attitude in a test? And it was before this time. I'll give you a hint. His name starts with an M. Thank you. I was going to have to leave the church if y'all didn't get Moses. Go back to Deuteronomy 32. So God says, no, the nations may misperceive this, so therefore I'm going to act a different way. Now, this has brought a lot of debate when you look at Exodus 32. Remember they build the golden calf? Back here, and of course, they're stiff-necked people. And Exodus 32, 9, we'll probably have to stop with this text today. I'll just make that. I'm so close to where I was going to stop. Verse 9, the Lord said to Moses, I've seen this people, behold, they're an obstinate people. Now then, let me alone, God says, that my anger may burn against them, that I may destroy them, and I'll make a great nation of you. What a temptation for Moses. Yeah, good idea. I'm sick of him. I wonder if he would have asked him this at the end of Deuteronomy. It would have made a difference. Moses entreated the Lord his God. Now, is God really going to do this? I think he's testing Moses. Because remember, Moses is going to be a type of Christ. He's going to be an intercessor between the people and God. And look how he reflects to the Lord. Because doesn't Jesus come to a disobedient people and still offers, Oh Lord, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And he doesn't wipe them out. So Moses entreats to the Lord and said, O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a great mighty hand? Now watch, see, he goes to the nations as well. Why should the Egyptians speak saying with evil intent? He, the Lord, brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth. Therefore, turn from your burning anger and change your mind about doing harm to your people. Look where he goes, to the covenant. Remember, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel Your servants to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, I'll multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and all this land which I've spoken I'll give to your seed and they shall inherit it forever. By the way, that's Genesis 15, 5, 22, 17, 26, 4, 28, 14, and 15. What he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So Moses appeals to the covenant, God's very word. Did God go, I mean, was God going, wow, I totally forgot I made a covenant with them? No. I think Moses did the right thing. That's why he was called the most humble man that walked the earth. One of the reasons. So verse 14, the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he would do to his people. So then you go to 28. I think I'm almost to this spot. So God says, they're a nation lacking counsel, and there's no understanding in them. Oh, would that they were wise and that they would understand this, that they would discern their future. How could one chase 1,000? And how could two put 10,000 to flight, unless their rock had sold them and the Lord had given them up? Now, where did this language show up? God says, how can one of the Jews chase 1,000 of them and two put 10,000 to flight unless I was behind it? Remember back in Leviticus. In the blessing section, because Leviticus 26 has blessings and cursings, if they obey God, he says, you will chase your enemies and they'll fall before you by the sword. Five of you will chase 100, 100 of you will chase 10,000, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. Now, when they start sinning against God at the end of this chapter, he says, you'll run when no one's even chasing you. That's how bad it's going to get. So, in other words, they are to never forget that God is with them, and they sure can't lose sight of the fact that it's God who's the deliverer, not the false gods of the foreign people they're going to see in the land. So, indeed, their rock is not like our rock. So, the rock of Israel is the Lord himself. It says, even our enemies judge this. For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, talking about the foreign nations, and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents and the deadly poison of cobras. So Israel's enemies only have false gods, gods that produce deadly poison, so to speak. They don't have the true God, the true God of Israel, the Rock. Remember, even Israel had enemies that confessed the power of God. I'll give you one place and we'll break in prayer. Exodus 14.25, remember when they're crossing the Red Sea? God caused their chariot wheels to swerve and He made them drive with difficulty so that the Egyptians said, So they noticed it. Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians. So even other nations noticed the power of the Lord. We're out of time today. We'll have to go to this next section of 32, 34 through 43 next week, where it shows God's compassion and vengeance as the song begins to conclude. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the application we can see by studying how you deal with Israel. And Lord, we just, as your children, have to be faithful to you after salvation and walk according to your commandments to have blessing rather than divine discipline. And so, Lord, as Israel was called to be faithful and faithfully represent you as sons, well, as sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, may we properly represent you by walking by the Spirit, learning and applying the Word to your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.