Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/7001/deuteronomy/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Deuteronomy chapter 8 and the first and the second verse. It is the first part of the second verse that is with me, but we will read the whole verse. [0:17] And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. [0:41] Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 2. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. [1:11] I thought, friends, as we were singing that hymn just now, how wonderfully and suitably that it dovetails in with this word, grace though the smallest shall be tried. [1:36] And thou shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee. Thou shalt remember the ups and downs, the trials, the times that the Lord has hid his face. [2:00] And yet, friends, have we not proved that the Lord has not failed us? He has come, he has delivered, he has blessed, he has corrected, he has strengthened, he has supplied all our needs. [2:23] Oh, friends, what a good and gracious God he is to us. But, friends, oh, I would that the Blessed Spirit might now cause us to remember. [2:46] To remember all the way the Lord has led us. Why, friends, oh, can we not look back over the years and see the Lord's dealings with us? [3:07] Hasn't he gone before us? Hasn't he stopped us in our mad careers? Hasn't he called us by his grace? [3:19] I'm sure there are many of us. I trust all of us here tonight hope in our hearts that we can see, we believe we can see, that the Lord has brought a change about in our lives, in our... [3:45] the things that we look for or go after. [3:56] What I am trying to say, and I can't find the words, friends, there was a time when we wasn't perhaps, well, with some of us perhaps, when we wasn't interested in God and his ways. [4:22] We wasn't interested in chapel going, though we went, yet we was glad when Monday morning came. [4:36] Friends, these things are extremely solemn, but we know that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. [4:55] People might look upon us and say, yes, well, they look to be all right, they look to be chapel going people, they look as if they're interested, they look as if they might be good hearers, that they might be the Lord's people, but they don't know. [5:14] I say with some of us, friends, though we were brought up from the cradle to go to the house of God, yet we didn't want the Sabbath day, not as regards chapel going. [5:28] We wanted to... we was glad when it was Monday morning. But, friends, can we look back and see a change? [5:42] Did the Lord stop us? Did the Lord correct us? Did the Lord open our eyes? Did he show us where we were heading? Did he show us, if we continued that way, that hell would be our portion? [6:02] Oh, he did, friends, with some of us. Yes. The Lord teaches his children. He doesn't teach them all in the same way. [6:17] He uses various means. We're all made different. We need different treatment. And the Lord knows just how to deal with us. [6:30] Blessed be his holy name. But, friends, can you and I look back? Can we remember what God has done for us? [6:42] Has he put a change in our hearts? Has he called us by grace? Have we a humble hope that we have been born again? [6:53] Why? You say, Well, how will I know? Well, I believe, friends, we will know. We may not know the exact time. [7:05] You may know the exact time. But, friends, has the Lord changed our views, our desires? [7:19] Has he turned our feet right round so that we were made willing to go to the house of God? [7:31] Has he made us afraid of sinning against him? Has he made us afraid to go into earthly pleasures? [7:47] It may be one thing or another. You know there is a great catalog of things we might mention, such as sports, such as cinemas, theatres, public houses. [8:11] There's all these things. It may be you don't, have never been in any of them. Maybe none of them have tempted you on the other hand. [8:24] It may be that one or another of those places has tempted you. And you may have been guilty of going into some of those things. [8:41] And what a temptation it's been. But, oh, friends, how is it now? Can you look back? [8:53] Did the Lord stop you? Ah, you may have loved it. You may have loved that pathway. Friends, that's what is so sad. [9:09] The flesh loves the path of sin. sin. Sin is a sweet morsel. [9:25] But, friends, oh, the Lord knows how to make it bitter. He knows how to cause and make us fear to walk in that pathway. [9:45] to go into that pleasure. To follow the world. Oh, there are many things we might say about worldly things. [10:02] But I'm sure of this, friends. I feel sure that we have all partook in various things things that the Lord's children are forbidden to walk in. [10:20] There is a saying with many, well, there's no harm in that. But, friends, can we ask the Lord's blessing upon those things that we want to go in? [10:37] I believe that is a test as to whether it is right for you and I to go in various pathways. [10:56] If we can freely come to the Lord and commit it into his hands and ask his blessing upon it, then I believe, friends, we can go ahead. [11:11] But, all friends, we need to be aware of taking liberties. We need to be aware of taking various words in the Word of God as evidence that we should walk in various ways. [11:32] when he has not bid us walk in that pathway, it has not been according to his will and purpose that we should walk in that pathway. [11:49] Friends, as we look back, oh, what many things I believe we shall be brought to remember if we're his children. [12:04] We'll be brought to remember all the way the Lord has led us these 40 years in the wilderness. Look at the catalogue that we read in this chapter of the children of Israel, the things that they passed through. [12:23] Why? What cause they had to remember, how the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt, look how their grace was tried, look how they, the reaction upon them, look how they rebelled, they came to the edge of the Red Sea, there was no way forward, they was hedged in, back and sides, and the sea in front of them, it brought out the worst of them. [12:54] But friends, oh, as they looked back, thou shalt remember all the way the Lord has led them, what did they look back and see? [13:06] Why? The Lord made a passage through the sea. They went through on dry land, and the enemy pursued after them, but they never got through. [13:20] The Lord slayed the lot, he caused the sea to return, and they were all drowned, they all lost their lives. [13:33] Ah, friends, there are many things we can see and read of in the Word of God, but this, these things tonight, friends, are personal. [13:46] Personal. What matters is your life and my life, friends? Have we got anything that we can declare and remember that the Lord has done for our souls? [14:03] And not only for our souls, but what has he done for us in the paths of providence? Providence and grace are linked together. [14:15] We see it again and again. Oh, friends, the first thing as I mentioned just a little is the new birth, the evidence of being one of these Lord's children. [14:36] You may not have the evidences you want. You might feel to have such little evidence, but how vital these things are, friends, if we have the evidence of being born again, then, friends, I believe we have the prospects of heaven. [15:02] I believe we shall prove that we are the Lord's, the Lord will deal with us, he will correct us, he will save us from our sins. [15:19] thou shall remember all the way I have led thee these forty years in the wilderness. Ah, friends, the Lord will call his children by grace, he will begin the work, yes, he will turn their hearts round, he will cause them to serve the Lord, fear the Lord, love the Lord, walk in his ways, he will cause them to be obedient to his commands. [15:53] Oh, friends, it is, it is a great sin to deny the Lord, to be disobedient to his voice, to dishonor him. [16:11] Thou shalt remember all the way I have led thee. Why, friends, some of us here have denied the Lord, we have rebelled, we have been a Jonah, but, friends, we have had to prove like Jonah did, the Lord corrected us, he stopped us, he punished us, he checked us, he made us willing, willing in the day of his power, willing to follow him, willing to walk in that path, willing to do that thing, though, as far as we were concerned, it was utterly impossible, but, friends, we have had to prove this, ah, by grace, when we are weak, then am I strong, then am I strong, friends, it's not presumption, it's not in our flesh, oh, to walk these things out humbly, friends, they are, oh, well, shall I put it, they're a great strain, they're a great weight, there are many, many fears, lest we have made a mistake, lest the [17:36] Lord should not come, lest the Lord should fail us, but he never will, if he has sent you and I, if he has commanded you and I, to walk in a certain pathway, we are then bound to keep his commandments, yes, and friends, I believe the Lord, by his constraining power, enables his children to venture forth in those seemingly, as far as they are concerned, impossible things, I can never do this, I could never do that, but friends, the Lord says, this is the way, walk in it, if you love me, keep my commandments, friends, all the Lord commands, he constrains, his voice is a command, he requires it of his children, he requires obedience, thou shalt remember all the way I have led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, friends, what do you and I remember, why I suppose it would be, [19:08] I suppose it's a mountain sometimes with us, a mountain to look back, to declare what the Lord has done, and I, when I say that, I mean in everything, I don't just mean to pinpoint the times when the Lord has specially blessed us, they are special occasions, but friends, we've been singing of some of those trials, grace, though the smallest shall be tried, what about the times when the Lord has hit his face, what about the times when we have been venturing to walk according to the commandment of God, and found ourselves with many stumbling blocks in front of us, cast in the way, the enemy's enemy is shouting and roaring, and sometimes there are those that we believe love and fear God have stood in our way, they have misunderstood us, they have misjudged us, and friends, what are we going to do? [20:43] What are we going to do? Well, friends, left to ourselves, we'll turn back, and that's just what I did, friends, but oh, when the Lord spoke, cursed is man, who trusteth in man, oh, friends, I say, when the Lord speaks, we can't stand, can't stand before God's word, God's word, humbles, God's word, will make us venture before him, oh, I've, I never shall forget, friends, when the Lord spoke to me at the prayer meeting one evening, if thou tarry till the morning light, some evil will befall thee, and I daren't tarry, I had to go that very night, friends, [21:44] I know if I hadn't done some, evil would have befalled me, for it was God's word, thou shalt remember, all the way, I have led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, oh, friends, where does it leave you and I, why, we have to put the crown on his head, put the crown on his head, he has led us forth by the right way, he has supplied our needs, he has made a way where there seemed no way, oh, the many times, friends, we have been faced with some well, how can I put it, when we have had to do something, act, perhaps, in one instance, with me at least, we've got to move, it may have been with you, it may have been one act to change their job, it may be all sorts of things, [23:10] I mean, you can fill in the gap, you know the things that you've been led in and come up against, but oh, friends, how often we came to that place where there seemed no way, we didn't know what we were going to do, but oh, how the Lord, how the Lord caused, yes, mark this, friends, he caused his providence to unfold the book, the Lord doesn't always give us a word and say, well, this is the way you've got to go, you've got to do this, or you've got to do that, friends, sometimes we have to act, we have to go forward, and I believe we should go forward prayerfully, that if the Lord's presence go not with us, that he will carry us not up in, but there's a venturing forward, and as we go forward, sometimes, then, that is, we're shown that that isn't the Lord's way, that isn't a way at all, but we've had a venture, and in the venturing, that has been the very means the Lord has used to guide and lead us to another place, to another opening. [24:48] Oh, friends, how wonderful these things are, as we look back over our life, and remember how the Lord has led us, how he appeared, how he made a way, how he supplied our needs. [25:07] Why, friends, sometimes we've said in our heart, well, I can't continue any more in this pathway, or I shall need another job, a fresh job, there isn't sufficient to live on, to pay the mortgage, and so on. [25:32] But, oh, friends, why, oh, how wonderfully the Lord is, thou shalt remember, all the way the Lord has led thee, friends. [25:44] I remember, and I speak these personal things, friends, for these are the things that I've tasted and felt, and I speak them to the glory of God, the glory of God, friends. [26:03] Yes, thou shalt remember all the way I've led thee, and I can remember, friends, when I was determined that I had to have another job, more money, and I found one. [26:24] And I found one, ten pounds a week more, and that's what I felt I needed. But, friends, there was a snare in it. [26:35] The enemy was in it. And the first thing I come up against was unions. When I had the interview for the job, I was told, you'd have to join a union. [26:53] Well, I said immediately I couldn't do that. Well, they said, it wouldn't be any good coming, because the men where you go and deliver, they wouldn't unload you. [27:04] I said, well, that wouldn't be much good, would it? Well, he said, I'll give you the weekend to think it over. Directly, I come out of the office, a man took hold of me. [27:19] He said, I've heard all that was said. He said, I'm the same as you. He said, I don't believe in unions, he said. But he said, you know, you only want to earn your bread and butter, do you, to keep the family alive and so on. [27:36] I fell under the snare. And I went home and I thought about it, and I made up my mind on Monday that I would go back and accept the job and join the union. [27:54] But, oh, friends, thou shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God has led thee, and on the Sunday, friends. and the pastor didn't know anything that I was in, not a word did he know, but he said this, he said Esau sold his birthright for a meal of pottage, and I couldn't do it, and I didn't do it, and I never changed my job, and I never had a rise of ten pounds, but I never lacked nothing. [28:35] The Lord supplied my needs. Blessed be God. Friends, I speak these things to the glory of God, and I believe it becomes us to speak to the Lord's honour of what he has done for our souls, I would that there was more of this amongst his people than they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, oh, that there was more of it, friends, oh, that we might know the power of the Spirit in taking us back, showing us the way has led us. [29:26] friends, have we taken heed to the voice of God, thou shalt remember all the way I have led thee, or haven't there been those times friends, when we have resisted God, when we have, through unbelief and the temptations of the devil, we have fought against the Lord's commands, we have fought against his, it is a command, friends, when the Lord puts a desire, when the Lord shows us something that he would have us do, a pathway that he would have us walk in, it amounts to a command, for our [30:39] God is almighty, he is the king of kings, kings, he clearly states again and again in his word, if you love me keep my commandments, but oh friends, oh how unworthy and unfit we feel to walk in his commands, to serve him, to do his will, yes friends, oh how we shrink from those things, especially publicly, public prayer, bearing office in the church of God, in the death, in the pulpit, how we shrink from these things, as the Lord teaches us, those in particularly that have to bear off his friends, he will humble them, he will make them as nothing, they are to be as clay in the Lord's hands, if they are to be used of the Lord, it is essential, there has to be an emptying, that there might be a pouring in, friends, it is so clear to me, if we are full, there is no room to pour in, is there, we have to be emptied, and then the Lord pours in, and there is a pouring out, and how sweet it will be, thou shalt remember all the way I have led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, oh friends, how many times has the [32:39] Lord made you and I to do those things that we said we wouldn't do, oh there's quite a number of things, I couldn't tell you some of those things, not in public, it wouldn't be wise, I couldn't do it, but friends, oh the Lord has made me do the things I said I wouldn't do, more than once, and friends, how wonderful it is when the Lord knows how to humble us, you know some of us are very hard, very stubborn, very determined to go our own ways, but our God is greater, he is almighty, and he says thou shalt, thou shalt do this, thou shalt come, thou shalt go, what a mercy this is friends, ah, where would we be but for the almighty power of [33:57] God, where would we be but for the grace of God, oh that word friends, I believe we shall prove it over and over again, for it is by grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, oh friends, and the Lord will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them, oh then friends, it becomes you and I to pray, to pray, oh you might say, well I can't pray, I can't call my poor stumbling words prayer, but friends, they are prayer in the sight of God, he looks at the very heart, he sees when we falter, he sees when we stumble, he sees when we are hurt, he sees when we are sorrowful, he sees when we are fear, and friends, oh he hears, he hears the sighs and the groans, yes, oh friends, thou shalt remember, can you look back, do you remember a time when you didn't know what to say to the Lord, you was in such depths of sorrow and trial, but there was a looking up, did the [35:41] Lord come, did he ever speak to you, did he ever comfort you, did he ever breathe a word into your heart, oh thou shalt remember, thou shalt remember all the way I have led thee, oh friends, grace, and grace, though the smallest shall be surely tried, all the times that you and I no doubt have had to pray earnestly unto the Lord for something that we needed him to do for us, either to supply for us, or to act in some way for us, or maybe there were some enemies that were too powerful, we couldn't deal with them, or it might be all sorts of things, you can fill in the gap, whatever you've been in, but friends, thou shalt remember, thou shalt remember how the Lord appeared, what he did, how he came, oh friends, there's been times, perhaps with you as there has with me, [37:07] I don't know, you may not be as bad as I am, but friends, there's been those times when I've been really had hard thoughts, and rebellious thoughts against God, because I had cried and cried unto him, to appear for me when I was stranded in some way or other, and friends, I came to the last, now I can't wait any longer, now it's too late, and friends, I've been just about to turn back, to give up, and friends, the Lord has appeared, oh I look back in astonishment at some of these things, how the dear Lord has appeared, oh it is so sweet, so precious when these things bubble up in our hearts, friends, and we can remember all the way the Lord our God has led us, friends, he will have all the honour and glory and praise for his great work, yes, why, maybe you're like me, [38:32] I don't know, but sometimes we look back on our life to try and remember what he has done for us and we're stunned, we can't see anything, you see how needful it is, it's got to be something more than flesh, the Spirit says, thou shalt remember, God says, God is the Spirit, thou shalt remember all the way I have led thee, and if the Lord, by his spirit and power, causes us to remember, oh how sweet, and how blessed it will be, friends, oh it doesn't matter, what afflictions we may have, whether they be bodily, or whether they be in our mind, it will make no difference to the [39:40] Lord having communion communion with us, oh this is something precious and beautiful, because friends, there are times when we perhaps fear that the day will come when we won't be able to pray anymore, we won't be able to think upon these things, we won't be able to remember our God, but oh friends, the Lord never will forget his dear people, no he won't forget them, and they'll know him, yes they'll know him, my sheep hear my voice, yes the Lord speaks, why friends it's impossible for the [40:48] Lord to speak to his dear children and them not know him, not know his voice, not hear his voice, oh friends, the Lord says thou shalt remember, thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, you know there are many things that the Lord's children have to pass through, there are many things doubtless that you and I have passed through in this wilderness way, and there are many things that we wonder why, why have we had to walk in this path, why have we had to endure that, why have we been denied that when others are not, why is it others prosper and we don't in some matters, well, the answer is here, all these things are in the [42:13] Lord's hand and they are to humble us, they are to humble us, thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee, thee, now friends these things are coming closer and closer, they are to humble us and to prove us, they are with some of us friends, it takes a lot to humble us, but blessed be God, he can humble the hardest heart, he can humble the most determined heart, and he will prove his people, grace though the smallest shall be tried, we shall be proved, how will he prove us, why? [43:26] In many ways, he will often leave us in darkness to prove us, to see whether we will trust in him, to see whether we will obey him, oh friends there are times when the Lord leads his children on in various pathways, and then he withdraws, and he perhaps withdraws as we would feel the vital moment, but he withdraws, and friends it is to prove us, it is to see whether we will follow him, it is to see whether we will obey him, it is to see whether we will be obedient to his commandment, what he has said, our whole flesh says, well surely the Lord won't leave me now if this is his way, if he has commanded this, friends, grace, though the smallest shall surely be tried, the Lord requires obedience, obedience, this is the vital thing that he commands, this is what the [44:56] Lord requires of his dear children, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or not, friends, how close these things come home, to see whether we will keep his commandments or not, oh the many things that we have to pass through, the many things that hurt us, the many things that cause us sorrow, of heart, yet, friends, the Lord knows all about these things, yes, he knows the end from the beginning, we may have to walk in pathways of affliction, we may have to be judged falsely, we may have to enter prison, [46:09] Paul and Silas had to go in prison, but friends, the Lord was with them, they were commanded of God to preach the word of God, and that was, they did it, they preached the word of God, they were cast into prison for him, they were, they had many strokes, they was suffering, but oh, what did they have to remember, they remembered the way the Lord had led them, why, they had the Lord's presence, they sung praises at midnight, there was an earthquake, the jailer came forth, trembling, he was about to kill himself, thinking that all the prisoners had escaped, but all cried out unto him, do thyself no harm, for we are all here, oh, and how the jailer of all men, yes, he cries out, ah, he seeks for mercy, what should he do, oh, friends, how wonderful these things are, and how they could remember, they would never forget, they would remember all the way the [47:56] Lord had led them, Peter would remember how the Lord delivered him out of the hand of Herod when he was in the prison, why the Lord sent his angel, commanded Peter to rise up, his chains fell off, he was commanded to gird himself and follow the angel, and there they walked one behind the other through the prison grounds, the guards couldn't touch him, there was 16 of them, I believe, to guard, and all friends, they came to the gate, the main gate, the great gate, it opened of its own accord, why the Lord commanded that it should open, and out Peter went, oh the wonders of it friends, and what was it, answers to prayer, prayer, it was the will of the [49:00] Lord too, that Peter should come out, he should not die, no, oh friends, and there were those that travelled in prayer in the house for him, prayer was made without ceasing, oh friends, what wonderful things these are, as we consider them, oh but friends, the time is gone, I would that the dear Lord might cause you and I to meditate upon these things, personally, and to remember, all the way has led us, and oh that we might be humbled under his mighty hand, oh that his love might constrain us to follow him in that pathway that he has appointed for us, may the [50:03] Lord bless his word for his name's sake, amen. Amen. Thank you.