Deuteronomy (Quality: Average)

[0:00] The words which I trust the Lord has given me to bring before you this evening, you will find in the book of Deuteronomy, the 32nd chapter, and the 10th verse.

[0:25] The book of Deuteronomy, the 32nd chapter, and the 10th verse. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness.

[0:44] He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness.

[0:59] He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As we read in a great deal of this book of Deuteronomy, so Moses quite often is recounting the goodness, the loving kindness, and the tender mercy of God throughout the days and years of the filthren age of the people of Israel.

[1:33] And the same gracious recollections are set before us as Moses continues with his review in this chapter, which is set before us here this evening.

[1:50] And he opens this chapter with those commanding words. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

[2:08] And as we come down to the 7th verse, he says, Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee thy elders, and they will tell thee.

[2:24] When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. And then you see he makes this glorious testimony, For the Lord's portion is his people.

[2:42] Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Now the verse that we have read before you, by way of a text this evening, opens up to us, and sets before us clearly, the description of these people, of whom it is written, for the Lord's portion is his people.

[3:06] Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Now if we are the people of God, one of those things which will greatly concern us, and which we shall very desire to know, is whether we are indeed the people of God.

[3:24] There are many people in the world today who have no desire or no concern to know whether they are the people of God.

[3:35] They have no desire or a concern to know whether they are in the right way to heaven. Indeed, we may go further and say that they have no desire to know anything about heaven at all.

[3:50] So satiated are they with the pleasures and the prophets and everything that goes to make up this world, and so satisfied are they with all these things, that they have no time or desire to inquire into this most important of all questions as to whether they shall be saved.

[4:16] What a blessing if God has done anything in our heart that has brought us to a consideration of this all-important question, what it is that saves the son.

[4:35] Now, we have the characters of the people of God very clearly set forth in this verse. But there is one very important point upon which too much emphasis cannot be laid, and that is the preeminence of God in this matter.

[4:57] We read in the one of the four epistles that Christ in all things shall have the preeminence.

[5:09] Now, you and I will find this to be true in our experience. Just in passing, we would warn you of that foolishness which has been expressed by some, that Christ will have the preeminence in numbers.

[5:27] My friends, the scriptures clearly declare that that is utter rubbish. There are are there few that will be saved, and the Lord said seek to enter in.

[5:40] At the straight gate, for straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

[5:52] But nevertheless, in the experience of the people of God, Christ in everything, God in the person of Christ in everything, will have the preeminence.

[6:05] And if you are thought of God, you will want to come into that place more and more, not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and thy truth's sake.

[6:19] In all things shall Christ, the eternal God, have the preeminence. And every time that you and I are humbled in the dust of self-abasement, and we come to that place where we give glory unto God, when we see there's no help in ourselves, where we look at ourselves and we see nothing else but absolute destruction, sin, and everything that's rotten, and everything that's evil.

[6:44] So, we are readily brought to that place to take up the words that I've just quoted from the 115th Psalm, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake.

[6:58] Now, this same is sent forth in this verse that we have read to you this evening. He found him in a desert land and in the waste harrowing wilderness.

[7:13] He led him abound. He instructed him. He kept him at the apple of his eye. Now, as you look at your experience, friends, if you are exercised and taught of God, if you believe that God has begun a work of grace in your heart, then is he set before you?

[7:33] Every time you think of your call by grace, is it he that did it? Is it he that has led you along thus far? Is it he that has maintained your life?

[7:45] Is it he that has kept alive your soul? Is it he that has maintained you in the time of famine and in the time of drought? Is it he that has brought you through various difficulties?

[7:56] is it he that has lifted you out of the miry clay? Well, we may very clearly state that that will be the case if our religion is right.

[8:12] You know, friends, Solomon, he had a wonderful view of God when, at the dedication of the temple, he said this, the heaven of heaven cannot contain thee, much more this house which I have built.

[8:28] Now, friends, does he your experience so fill it that you feel that there is not sufficient room to contain he in your experience, so much is he, the eternal God, entering into your experience?

[8:41] well, it does in this scripture before us, he. Now, let us look at this first clause in the first place, because this scripture is clearly set before us and divided up for us, and we would desire, as the Lord may help us, to gradually proceed.

[9:06] and so in the first place, he found him in a desert land, in the waste-hounding wilderness, he found him.

[9:28] And let us answer this question, and let us sit down and think about it, let us look into our own experience, and to see whether it was so with us, he found us, in a desert land, in the waste-hounding wilderness.

[9:48] Now, you know, there are various references in the scriptures to the waste-hounding wilderness, and there has been referred to the world which lies in the hands of the wicked, and we may indeed, as we have done, all of us, without exception, to have been in this waste-hounding wilderness.

[10:24] And we were quite unaware of the danger which was on every hand. But you see, friends, when the light shines from heaven, what a different sight we have of everything here below, and that which we found to be a city to dwell in, a prosperous situation, now, as the passage of time, so to speak, may go over our experience, how it becomes a waste-hounding wilderness.

[11:04] I believe that there are some of those wonderful places spoken of in the scriptures, which were very prosperous in scriptural times, but now, in accordance with the prophecy, noted in the same scripture, they are a waste-hounding wilderness, literally.

[11:22] when the Lord created the world, and in that world he created the Garden of Eden, we find that Adam has created him, and put him within that garden, and then shortly after, he put Adam to sleep, and out of Adam, so he made the woman.

[12:04] We find there that that place of Eden was a place where there was no waste-hounding wilderness.

[12:17] It was a place of God's right-hand planting, where everything that grew, grew without any hindrance, without any hindrance from weeds, and everything was complete pleasantness.

[12:41] And so, that situation continued how long we are not told. But he continued until that solemn day when Satan, in the form of a serpent, came unto Adam and Eve in that garden, and by his subtlety and his persuasive arguments, he caused Eve, and in turn Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit.

[13:21] And so, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so sin came upon all men, in that all have sinned, and become short of the glory of God.

[13:38] And from that moment onward, so, that pleasant place, that garden of Eve, became transformed into a waste, harrowling wilderness, into a desert land.

[13:54] And instead of having the felicity of being in the constant presence of God, of having communion with him continually, we find that that communion was taken away from Adam and Eve in its previous fullness, and sin was felt in Adam and Eve's heart.

[14:25] And so, the fruit of sin became manifest, and the curse of God came upon the earth.

[14:36] And as we read in that, in these early chapters, in the book of Genesis, as God takes both Adam and Eve and also Satan to task in this matter, and he gives out to them those solemn curses, curses, and the man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave to me of the tree, and I did eat.

[15:09] And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And so, you see, she passes on the blame to the serpent, and says, the serpent be guard me, and I did eat.

[15:21] And so, you see, the Lord God, he says unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou hast cursed above all chasms, above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

[15:38] And it was at this particular stage that the Lord saw the great importance of setting a promise so early in the scriptures that Adam and Eve might not despair.

[15:55] And he said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise its heel. And to the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception.

[16:13] In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be toward thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And to Adam he said, Because thou hast taken unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat it, cursed is the ground for thy sake.

[16:37] In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life, thorns also, and pistols, shall it bring forth of thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

[16:52] So much we may speak concerning the natural reference and how even the world itself became a desert land, and a waste harrowing wilderness.

[17:15] And so you see, if God makes this world unto you a desert land, and a waste harrowing wilderness, what a wonderful revelation is given unto you.

[17:29] You will know, I shall have no need to tell you, that as you come in contact with your fellow men, you will find it so much evidence, that they do not find the world to be a waste harrowing wilderness, and a desert land.

[17:49] They are quite content, and they see it a very pleasant place, well, in. But if God has shone from heaven into your heart, so he has caused you to see the true state of affairs, then this world will be a desert land.

[18:10] That is, there will be no place of refreshment for the most part.

[18:22] we do read in the desert that there is just here and there an oasis where we may drink water. But we are familiar from the experiences of which we may read of travelers in the desert, how many times there have been those mirages, which, as it has appeared to them in the midst of the desert, when they are bitterly consumed with thirst, they have looked ahead and they have seen what they thought was water.

[18:57] But as they proceeded and as they came to the spot where they thought it was water, alas, it was but a mirage, and there was no water there at all.

[19:12] And you may find that as you are led of God and there is a sense in which this is a leading of God because there is a teaching in it where you will seek to find some water even in the desert.

[19:38] And the people of God, I believe, particularly in the early stages of their experience, have many times thought what they would find refreshment in this thing and in that thing.

[19:54] But you see, as they came up to it, so they found there was nothing there. There was no water. There's curse and death in every stream, save in the well of Bethlehem.

[20:09] and how many times friends, may we have, as we have been in the desert, in a desert land, have gone up to something. We may, as we may look at it in this way, we may have come to the word of God and we have thought, ah, so and so was blessed with this word, but how as we drew nigh to it, so the word seemed to draw away from us, and there was no benefit, there was no water in it for us.

[20:39] And then again, we may have felt to seek the water in the desert, in that we might meet with the people of God.

[20:50] We might have felt that in our meeting together, therefore, we must obtain some blessing, but how often has God has shown us even in these things, there are times when we have sought it and it has not been there.

[21:06] And so it has proved to us to be but a mirage, something that appeared to be, but when it was investigated, there was nothing there, nothing there.

[21:20] You know, the people of God have come to the house of God sometimes, and maybe this but perhaps is particularly so in our early days, when God has yet to reveal himself before he has found us, while we are proving some of these things, the desert place and the waste howling wilderness, and how disappointed we have sometimes been, which has brought us to that point, well nigh verging on despair.

[21:54] And not only so do we notice the desert land, but there is also the waste howling wilderness. Now you know this is shocking to contemplate.

[22:11] Waste. Barren land. A place where nothing will grow. A place where food will never be brought forth.

[22:21] And by reason of the waste, so, those things that grow, the brides and the thistles, have so completely overgrown everything, that there is no path.

[22:39] We cannot find a path. There is no path in the wilderness. And there is no path in the desert. desert. And not only so, but we find here that it is a howling wilderness.

[22:59] We read in the scriptures of the beast of the forest, creeping fall. We may think of some of these beasts which come to our mind.

[23:12] You know Luther on one occasion, how vexed he was by that beast of reason. And so, as we come into this realization of this world being a desert land, and a waste, howling wilderness, how reason will sometimes howl in our ears, and cause us to come to absolutely wrong conclusions.

[23:41] things. And I believe sometimes I thought of it, that this same conclusion was in the heart of Asaph, when he said, I was as a beast before thee.

[23:57] You see, friends, he had been reasoning about the ways of God, as he opened that 73rd Psalm. So, he said, my feet are all my slip.

[24:11] I was envious of the wicked when I saw, I was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. You see, friends, he looked at them and he saw their prosperity.

[24:24] And as he looked at those that came to their end, he said, there were no bands in their death. They seemed to be going along all right, and even at the end, they didn't seem to have any bother or any trouble.

[24:35] And so, you see, that beast freedom was howling in his ears. Now, if you find the world to be a desert place and a waste hell and wilderness, then it'll be a shocking place, a shocking experience for you and me, you know, friends.

[24:50] It won't be an easy situation for you and me. It won't be a place where you and I sit down and say, well, this is a very nice and comfortable because, you see, there are so many pricking thorns to edge our way.

[25:05] There is no comfortable seat in the wilderness, no place where we may fold our arms, no place where we may rest.

[25:21] And so, we may look upon those beasts which creep forth, and the beasts, you know, they creep forth in the darkness. Now, some of you may have woken up in the night time, and some of those things which may have laid lightly upon your shoulders during the day, what a different aspect they take during the night.

[25:47] How doubly weighty are they, and how fearful are some of those things which, during the daytime, were, but, they're comfortably carried.

[25:58] the harrowing wilderness, and the spirit of infidelity. Why am I brought to such a place as this?

[26:13] Why should these things have come upon me? And such a spirit of rebellion will, in consequence, be set forth in your hearts.

[26:26] Now that, it will leave you in no doubt about the very expressive truth set before us in these words, in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness.

[26:48] It is in one of the chapters of Ezekiel, that we read of that child, that was cast out, and that was found in its blood.

[27:02] Or as we may view it, the sin which was in it, had brought us to that place. Now there will be said before you, as God opens your eyes to the desert land of the waste howling wilderness, that sin has brought you to this place, that sin has been responsible for your present predicament, that sin has separated between you and God, that sin will be your final damnation, that sin will be your constant accuser throughout all the days of eternity.

[27:44] eternity. And you know, there is that solemn verse which is sung sometimes, not by ourselves, but it's in the ancient and modern hymn book, as a tree falls, so shall it lie.

[28:05] As a man lives, so shall he die. As a man dies, so shall he be, throughout the days of eternity. eternity. And you see, friends, you can see in all your helplessness, that unless something is done, then you must perish and forever be in this solemn and dreadful state in the which you find yourself.

[28:32] That is, facing utter destruction, utter destruction. destruction. And not only may we find this howling from reason and from infidelity, but we may also find that Satan himself as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour.

[29:00] and he will indeed come unto his people, unto the people of God, and do his utmost and howl the loudest to bring them into despair.

[29:15] You know, if God brings you into this wilderness condition and desert land condition in your soul's feelings, you know that you won't feel that you can get much worse.

[29:27] And Satan will come in, and he will begin to talk to you about hell itself, and he will begin to say, well, you know, couldn't be much worse in hell, could it?

[29:40] And so, as these suggestions are put to our mind, and such arguments are set before us, so gradually our resistance is broken down, and we begin to agree with him, and we begin to think, well, it's quite true, I can't go on like this much longer, I can't go on like this much longer, and after all, it's quite right, as it has been suggested to my mind, if hell is my portion, well, I can't be any worse if I get there the sooner.

[30:15] A desert land, and in the waste harrowing wilderness, with Satan, the enemy coming in like a flood, in an attempt to drown you, in an attempt to drown you an everlasting condition, to cast you down, where there will be no rising up again.

[30:35] But what do we read? He found him, the eternal God, he found him, found him in this very condition, where did he find you?

[30:47] If God ever came into your soul, he found you in a lost condition, a lost condition. He found you in a lost condition because if you had never been lost, then there would have never been any reception given unto him.

[31:10] I do not mean by that remark that there is any ability in our natural selves to receive or reject Christ, but nevertheless, God so works in our hearts that we are brought to such a state of extremity that we are made willing in the day of God's power to receive him.

[31:38] And as many as received him, to them gave him power to become the sons of God. You know, friends, it's a wonderful thing if God has brought you into such a state of mind, as shown unto you how much you have destroyed yourself, that you are willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:04] There aren't many people in the world today. There never have been many people in the world at any time, even in the most 40 days of the church.

[32:16] that have been made willing, under the power of the Spirit, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, they've always had something of their own.

[32:28] They've always had one or two things where they will be able to commend themselves to God. But as long as you can commend yourself to God, as long as you can come to him, perhaps in the morning or evening, and take up the words of the Pharisee, they are thank God I'm not like other men are.

[32:55] You know, we have not felt it to be a waste hell and wilderness. Now there is another aspect in which we may view this, and that is in this way.

[33:11] Not only shall we see things without a waste hell and wilderness and a desert place, but we shall also be let look within. And as we look within, into our deceitful heart, so we shall see there a waste hell and wilderness.

[33:28] So we shall see there a desert place. So we shall see there a no food. So we shall see there utter destruction.

[33:40] The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Desperate. What desperation is found in the wilderness? What desperate places will you and I come into sometimes when we're in the wilderness?

[33:53] When you and I hear the lion roar and every door is shut but one and that is mercy's door. You see friends, the lion in the person of Satan gets very close to the people of God sometimes.

[34:12] You can almost feel its breath upon you. These aren't exaggerations, you know. They're not everyday experiences, but they aren't exaggerations when they come.

[34:25] But what a mercy friends, if you and I have that same revelation given to us, as was given to Christian as he went up to the house of the interpreter and he saw those lions, and you know, there was just enough room to squeeze through.

[34:40] And the lions were chained. Now that's true, that's true. The lions are chained. And Satan, as we are sometimes reminded, is a chained foe.

[34:53] It's a pleasant thing when you and I experience it. I remember very well, friends, walking down a road not far from home or two or three years ago, when I felt that I saw Satan as chained.

[35:06] Chained. He was training at the leash, but that was all. He could not get at me. What a mercy, friends, when God shows unto us that all these things are in his hands.

[35:18] When he was found to Satan, thus far shall they come, and no further, and here shall thy proud way be saved. But it was in this place of extremity that the Lord found him.

[35:35] The Lord found him. At the ends of the earth. At the ends of the earth. It is said, you know, that at the north and south poles, there is very little other ground.

[35:54] At the ends of the earth. where there is absolute lack of vegetation, absolute lack of any food of any description.

[36:07] At the ends of the earth, when God says, look unto me, from the ends of the earth be saved by God, and there is none else.

[36:18] He found him. He came just where he was. As we look at the cave of the Samaritan, how he came, where he was. With regard to that man that was born blind, how he came, where he was.

[36:40] And as we look at Abraham, in earth, the Canaan, how he came, where he was, and he found him. Let us look in the case of Adam and Eve, after they had transgressed, in the garden of Eden, how God found them, found them.

[36:59] They attempted to hide themselves. They attempted to clothe themselves with thick leaves, which were very insufficient clothing, yet you see, their voice of God was heard in the garden of Eden, and it found them.

[37:14] God found Moses in the bulrushes. His eye was upon him all the time.

[37:26] And we may proceed right through the length and breadth of the scripture, and we shall have many evidences of how God found his people. He said, I know one of my jewels there, in that obscure place.

[37:46] How did it just set forth so clearly in a case of that time when Samuel went to the house of Jesse, and God said that he would pick from Jesse's sons, one who should rule over the, on the throne of Israel.

[38:04] And then we find hell, Samuel, he looked at Eli the eldest, and he said, surely this is one that God have chosen. But you see how God told him, not this one, not this one.

[38:18] And so he went through all of them, and he had to ask Jesse and say, is there not another one? And you see, it was one that was cast out, one that was thought nothing about. They spoke of David in almost a disparaging way, as he was just in the field.

[38:35] And you see how God commanded that he should be sent for. And for him, the blessing was to come. He found him. He found him because his eye was upon him.

[38:49] his name was written in the book of life.

[39:00] He found him because he was ordained unto eternal life. He found him because the decree had gone forth.

[39:12] Now, you know, friends, when God found you, when he found me, it was on the very day appointed. It wasn't the day before, and it wasn't the day after.

[39:24] You know, it's remarkable and worthy of our greatest attention, that so great were the purposes of love and mercy to the children of Israel, that we read that on the self-same day, prophesied 430 years before, on the self-same day, the children of Israel were delivered to Egypt.

[39:49] And however much you may lie under the taskmasters of Egypt, however much you may be troubled by the desert land, and in the waste town and wilderness, and it seems that you'll never be released from them, yet nevertheless, on the self-same day, or the day before, all your efforts will hurry up, neither will all your despair, or nigh despair, frustrate the purposes of God, but on the self-same day, when God has appointed to find you, to save your soul, to bring your revelation of himself, that self-same day, God will do it.

[40:36] I will work, and who shall let it? There will win nothing that will hinder the purpose and mercy of God to his people. What Christ has set down, what he has done, how these things were decided before the earth came to being, how it was settled, thy word, O God, is settled in heaven, and this is one of the words which is settled.

[41:03] He found him in a desert land, in a waste, howling wilderness. And if God found you, friend, you will have no time in your religion for free will.

[41:18] If God found you when you were wandering from the fold of God, when you were going round in circles, so to speak, trying to get out of the desperate situation in which you were, and the more you endeavoured to get out, the more circles you seemed to go round, and you almost became giddy by the continual walking around in circles, until God came.

[41:48] God came. He found him. How do we notice this in the case of Nathanael?

[42:06] As he was coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, he says, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no God.

[42:19] And Nathanael says unto him, unto the Lord, wherefore knowest me? And the Lord said unto him, when thou wasst under the fig tree, I saw thee, I saw thee, I found thee there, mine eye was upon thee there, and now I have found thee, and cause thee to be led to me here, to me here.

[42:45] He found him. He found him in the wilderness, cast out, he found him with such a view of himself that it didn't seem possible that anybody could look upon him at all.

[43:11] He found him by reason of the deprivations through which he had recently passed, and how particularly as it set forth forth in Ezekiel concerning the child which was cast out, how we see that the child was almost expiring, almost expiring.

[43:38] Hope that we should be saved, says the apostle, seemed lost. All hope was lost that we should be saved. And when God found you, look back at it friends, when God found you, wasn't that just the situation?

[43:57] All hope that we should be saved, seemed to be lost. It seemed that you were almost gasping out your last breath. It seemed as though hope was entirely expired in your breast, and that God would never come.

[44:17] Have you ever looked at that case of the man that was by the pool of Bethesda? For thirty and eight years he was there, and as he was stood there and about made some attempt to get into that pool, so someone else would go down before him.

[44:35] But you see, the time came when God found him. And however long you may have waited, how many disappoints you may have had, however much you may have longed to get out of your present place, the desert in which you find yourself, and the way of turning where the man's face, it seems impossible that you will ever be delivered from it.

[44:59] Yet remember that case, friends, and the God, the condescending Lord Jesus that came unto that man, and found him, and put him in the pool.

[45:10] That same God is able to deliver you. That same God is able to find you. That same God is able to reveal himself to you. That same God is able to speak peace and pardon into your soul.

[45:27] He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

[45:40] If the Lord should keep this subject still upon our minds, we will continue with it on next Sabbath of his will. hymn 289, 245, thus all my God has led me on, and made his truth and mighty known, my hopes and fears all try to rise, and comforts mingle with my side.

[46:17] It's 289. .ífic .

[47:08] . . . . . . Thank you.