That You Might Know the Lord is God

That You Might Know That the Lord is God
Deuteronomy 4.32-40

We all have difficult days. We get hurt. Things go wrong. A difficult day may turn into a difficult week, or several weeks. We will face crises in our lives. A crisis will throw us off balance, sap our strength, even test our faith. The disciples had set out on the lake in their fishing boat. Jesus was tired so he laid down in the back to rest. When a furious storm came, which I’m told can happen suddenly on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples panicked. They forgot that God was in their boat. Oswald Chambers wrote, "What a pang must have shot through the disciples -- 'Missed it again!' And what a pang will go through us when we suddenly realize that we might have produced downright joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, no matter what was ahead." Our reaction when the crisis hits will probably reveal whether we believe God is who he says he is.

The fifth book of the Old Testament is one that most of us don’t read very often. But the first Christians loved the book of Deuteronomy. It’s one of the four Old Testament books most quoted in the New Testament (along with Isaiah, Psalms, and Genesis). When Jesus was tempted those three times in the desert, he quoted three passages from Deuteronomy to fend off Satan. When the early church fathers were bringing together the texts that make up our Bible (the Canon), Deuteronomy was likely the first book to be included.

The book is full of sermons, mainly by Moses, to the people of Israel who needed to remember all God had done for them, and to tell them about God’s guidelines for their lives. Imagine the scene. Moses is now about 120 years old. A man of God, respected by the people, who has spoken with God face to face. Moses is telling their story as a nation. The people standing in front of him were a new generation. Their parents, who had witnessed all these things, had died. It is now a few months before the end of Moses’ life. Think of all he had experienced in his lifetime; all the things he had seen God do, from the miracles performed to convince Pharoah to let the people go, to the Passover night when this huge nation of people, long enslaved, simply walked out of Egypt, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to God’s provision of water out of rocks and manna to eat. Moses lived through these experiences and it was important for the nation to hear the stories.

God had preserved and cared for the people of Israel through all the years they were in Egypt. They had grown as a people, but they were slaves, suffering under their taskmasters. In a miraculous way God made it possible for this now huge nation of people to walk away. Here are some of the things Moses reminds them about In the early chapters of Deuteronomy:

• Moses told them about God’s promise to give them a wonderful place to live. Shortly after the Israelites left Egypt, they were right at the border of this new land God wanted to give them. It was theirs for the taking. (1.20) “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. See, the Lord our God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”


• Moses told them about sending the twelve spies in to check the land. (1.23) “I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eschol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”


• Moses told them about their refusal to go claim this land. Along with the blessings, Moses also reminds them of God’s discipline. When the twelve spies returned with their mixed report about the land, the people were afraid and refused to enter the land. (1.27) “You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.” So God gave them their way. They refused to enter the land, so God said fine, you will not. And that entire generation of people died before Israel was ready to take the land God wanted to give to them.


• Moses told them about their 40 years of wandering in the desert. Most of the people listening to Moses were born during that wilderness journey. Even though they had to wander in the desert for 40 years because of their refusal to go take the land God promised them, God was still faithful and took care of them. (2.7) “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”


• Moses told them about victories in many battles. Many times, during their desert wanderings, the Israelites engaged enemies in battle. Time after time the Lord gave them victory. (2.24-25) “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.” Moses reminded them of several other victories, as well. God continually cared for and protected his people.
  In this sermon by Moses, recorded in these first few chapters of Deuteronomy, he cites one example after another of how God had continually protected, provided for, disciplined, and loved his chosen people. And then we come to the passage that we’re going to focus on, Deut. 4.32-40.

32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.
You might say that all that Moses had said to this point in his sermon, the first three and a half chapters of Deuteronomy, was his introduction. At verse 32, we come to the meat of his sermon. He makes three points.

1. There is no God like the Lord. (32-34)
Moses says, “Now think. Think way back, even before your time all the way to the creation of man. And think all the way east and all the way west. In any time, and in any place, has anything so great as this, as great as the things God has done for you ever happened? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?”

The implied answer to these questions is clearly “No!” These things have never happened for any other people at any time in any place. No other nation has a god who has performed these great deeds. No other nation has heard the voice of their god. At no other time has a god led one nation out of another nation, as Israel had departed from Egypt. No other god has performed the miraculous signs and wonders, or given victory in battle after battle, or performed such awesome deeds. The one who Israel called Jehovah is truly God. There is no God like the Lord.

We need to understand the significance of God allowing the people to hear his voice. The Israelites knew enough to be in awe of God’s power and presence. God’s divine holiness was thought to be too great for safe contact with human beings. They were afraid to see God and they were afraid to hear God’s voice. Just after Moses received the Ten Commandments from God the people saw the thunder and lightening, and saw Mount Sinai in smoke. It says in Exodus 20.18, “They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’” That God would allow the people to hear his voice is evidence of his grace. He wanted to bridge the gap between his great holiness and our sin. That he speaks to us is an amazing thing.

In his message, Moses was leading the people through an inventory of the many great things God had done for them. We would do well to do the same thing. Take some time in the coming days, maybe even with a pen and a piece of paper, and begin to list the things God has done for you personally. Think all the way back. Has he put godly people in your path who have nurtured your faith? List their names. Has he provided for your basic needs like food, clothing and shelter? List some of those blessings and how they came about. Be specific. Has he disciplined you in ways that have drawn you back to him? Has he protected you from harm? Can you think of some examples? Has he given you encouragement along the way perhaps through some special friend? Has he healed you? Or has he chosen not to heal but given you grace to sustain you? Has he spoken to you at some point in a clear, unmistakable way? Write that down.

If you made a list like that wouldn’t you come to the same conclusion that Moses did? There is no God like the Lord.

2. He reveals who he is by what he does. (35-38)
Why did God do all these things for his chosen people? Why did he bother to bring them out of Egypt, and provide for their daily needs, and give them success in battle, and discipline them, and allow them to hear his voice? And why has Moses taken the time to review all these things for them? One reason (v. 35): “You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God.” God is a god who has chosen to reveal himself. He has chosen to make himself known to us. He doesn’t have to do that. He could remain aloof, unreachable, unknowable. But instead, he reveals himself. He reveals who he is by what he does.

In your life, as well, God reveals who he is by what he does. As you review your list of all he has done for you, you will understand more about who he is. He does those things so we can know who he is.

In verse 35 Moses says, “Beside him there is no other.” This is a significant statement because it is a proclamation of monotheism. Mono, meaning “one.” Theism, referring to God. One God. The Israelites were unique in their time because of their monotheism; their belief that the Lord is God, and he is the only living God. “Beside him there is no other.” Most of us here would refer to ourselves as monotheists. We believe there is only one God. At least we say we do. But we become polytheists every time we put something else before God. If anything at all in our lives is equal to or more important than our relationship with the Lord, we’re no longer serving or acknowledging him as the one, the only, true God.

Let’s take a look at verses 37 and 38, “Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.” Here are several things the Lord did for Israel: He loved their ancestors, he loved their ancestor’s descendents (meaning he loved them!), he brought them out of Egypt, he drove out their enemies, and he was about to bring them into a wonderful, new land that was their inheritance from him.

Hasn’t God done the same things for us? He loved your spiritual ancestors, those who prepared the way for you to come to Christ. He loves your spiritual ancestor’s descendents – meaning he loves you! Just as God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, God has brought you out of the dark place of a life without Christ. In the same way God helped the Israelites win battle after battle, he helps you to fight off Satan’s influence on your walk Christ. And he has given you the promise of a wonderful new home, your inheritance of eternal life. That is the description of a loving, caring God. He reveals who he is by what he does.

3. We need to acknowledge that the Lord is God. (v. 39-40)
Moses concluded his sermon with a challenge. “39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.”

Moses invited the people to acknowledge that the Lord is God. This is an intellectual step, to recognize the truth that the Lord is God; that he is who he says he is. Moses provided plenty of convincing evidence, many reminders what God had done for them, so the people could recognize God’s hand and come to the point of acknowledging the Lord is God. We also need to acknowledge that the Lord is God. This is square one. Examine the evidence. Review your list. Recall what the Lord has done for you. Acknowledge the truth that he is God.

But there is another step. As Moses said, “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God.” This is a step of commitment. We might make intellectual assent to the fact that God is who he says he is. But will you also take it to heart? When the truth gets from our head to our heart we’re talking about commitment, about a changed life, about salvation. In Romans Paul wrote, “9….if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Confess with your mouth – acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart – move from acknowledgement to commitment.

Moses also challenged the people to “keep his decrees and commands.” Obedience follows commitment; obedience not out of obligation but out of joyful gratitude for all he has done for us. Obedience isn’t the prerequisite for a relationship with Christ, it’s the result. God adds blessing to obedience. When you do live a life of obedience, according to Moses, it will go well with you and your children. That’s a promise.

Conclusion
Make it your practice to recall what God has done for you. Then, when the crisis comes you’ll remember that he is God and that he has revealed who he is by what he has done.
If you have your Bible open, look back up to verses 29 - 31. In the verses just prior to this, Moses issued a warning about worshipping false idols once the Israelites are in the promised land. And then he said

“29 But if from there (the promised land) you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.”

This is what the disciples missed in the boat during their storm. God promises that if we look for him with all our heart and soul, we will find him. And then, when the crisis comes, we’ll return to him. Verse 31 assures us: He is merciful. He will not abandon us. He will not forget his promises to us. The next time you face a crisis, or a difficult day, or just a bump, remind yourself that he is merciful, he will not abandon you, and he will keep his promises. Have hope, be confident, because the Lord is God.