God is Always Right

God Is Always Right

Deuteronomy 32:1-4

Theme: Moses gives a description of the perfection of God in this passage.

Introduction: The mighty leader Moses is giving some of his final declarations to Israel. He had been their leader for forty years in the wilderness seeing God provide food, water, and miraculous deliverances. There were times when he was frustrated as they complained, they murmured, they did not believe in God, and now Moses is closing out his life and leadership. Moses certainly was not without his own fault and he was angry at God when he struck the rock twice to get the water, God denied him entry into Canaan: The Promised Land.

Now Moses sings this song to the people and in verse 3, he says we are to “ascribe greatness unto our God.” This means we are to recognize and confess His greatness. It is infinite and we cannot add anything to it. Strange that with all that Moses had to deal with in his ministry, God would not permit him to enter the Promised Land.

It would have been easy for Moses to sit in judgment of God wondering if God is right in not allowing him to go into the Promised Land. Mankind is tempted so often in questioning God and whether He is right or not. So many will ask if God is so loving, how can He punish us? If God is always right, why do good people suffer?

Moses describes the greatness of God and His uprightness in what He does. As we consider the multiple times God has been so good to us, we should always ascribe greatness to Him.

His greatness is centered around a statement that we find throughout Scripture. The word Rock is used five times here in this chapter v.4, 15, 18, 30, 31 and 18 other times in other OT passages. A rock is significant since it seems the entire nation of Israel is built upon a rock. There is hardly a place anywhere in the nation there is not a rock and this allusion to the rock has a clear description.

I. His reliability

A. He is faithful

1. This means God is someone who will do what He says He will do.

2. God will always keep His promise and you know that He is reliable.

3. When we are in need, He is faithful to meet our need, He is faithful to love us; He is faithful to walk with His children.

“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (Jeremiah 8:22)

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” (Daniel 7:13)

“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

4. There are things God knows we need in our lives that may think we don’t need-we need struggles because it shows who God is in our lives.

5. Even during the most difficult of times, we learn God is faithful to us.

B. He is without iniquity

“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, And the just shall walk in them: But the transgressors shall fall therein.” (Hosea 14:9)

1. There is no sin in Him and so we can be assured of His reliability.

2. He is not lying to us about the creation of man, about sin coming into the garden of Eden, about the fallacy of manmade religion, about the coming of Christ, about His death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection from the dead and He is the only hope for mankind.

3. God does not lie “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (Titus 1:2) and Jesus never sinned

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

4. A faithful God is never false and never lies-He is totally reliable.

5. Since eternity is a forever, we can rely on what God says about eternity, about the future, about heaven, and about hell.

Moses describes God as reliable through the image of the rock, but also He is stable.

II. His stability

A. He is immutable

1. God has never changed or improved because He is perfect.

2. God does not change because He does not need to change-God does not get better or have to get better-He is perfect-He is one perfect being-thus His name “I am.”

“For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

3. This permanence of God means we can cling to Him, we can lay hold on Him.

B. He is immoveable

1. God does not move from one thing to another, from one teaching to another-He is immoveable.

2. A God that is stable is a God that we can trust

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

a. Refrain: On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.

3. This is the teaching of Jesus when He spoke building our lives upon the Rock

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Matthew 7:24–25)

We see His reliability, we see His stability, and we see His strength.

III. His strength

A. His ways are just

1. God’s ways are always in harmony with His holiness.

2. The word just means upright according to God’s Word.

3. His strength means we have a God that can take care of our temporal life and our eternal life—you can trust Him for eternity, a home in heaven but you can also trust Him for your everyday life.

4. He is not going to lead you in any path that is not in line with His will for your life.

B. His ways are complete

1. Out of God flows the complete and fullness of true life.

2. Strangely Israel did not grasp that Jesus was what they truly needed the most in their life

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” (1 Corinthians 10:1–6)

3. Jesus gives us complete fulfillment as we follow Him—He is greater than anything you can ever have in this life.

Conclusion: A songwriter drives home the point of Moses when He says

Trials dark on ev'ry hand And we cannot understand All the ways that God would lead us To that blessed promised land. But He guides us with His eye. And we'll follow till we die Then we'll understand it better by and by. Chorus By and by when the morning comes. All the saints of God are gathered home. We will tell the story how we've overcome, And we'll understand it better by and by. Second Verse Temptations, hidden snares Often take us unaware And our hearts are made to bleed For some tho'tless word or deed. And we wonder why the test When we try to do our best But we'll understand it better by and by.

Sometimes we don’t understand things in this life; however, we can trust that God is great and God is right. During these perilous times, let’s be sure to ascribe greatness to our God because He is reliable, He is stable, and He is strong. Do you know Him today? What is your relationship with Him today?