Chosen by Grace

Order of Service

Welcome

Prayer

Hymn - AMAZING GRACE (772) - JOHN NEWTON 1725-1807, VERSES 1-5

Notices

Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm

Friday 7pm - Online

Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm

Tithes & Offerings - £

Main Prayer

Hymn - BE STILL (566) - DAVID J EVANS

Reading

Deuteronomy 9:1–12 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you. “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

Sermon

Moses impresses upon the Israelites: victory will only be gained because the Lord goes before them

Canaanites will not be driven out because of Israel’s righteousness

But because of the own wickedness

Israel are a stubborn people, prone to rebellion

Deut 7:6-11 - Not Chosen because of their numbers or strength

Simply chosen because God Loves them

Chosen by Grace

humbling for them to realise this

God sets his love on and calls sinners to be his people

For Jew & Gentile - Salvation is by Grace - unmerited, forfeited favour

A Consuming Fire

Deuteronomy 9:1–3 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

Warning & Encouragement - go hand in hand

The enemies confronting Israel are formidable

Victory is because God is going before them, as a consuming fire

No basis for pride or boasting in their own ability

They need the assurance that the Lord is going with them

Cities fortified up to heaven

People mighty and tall

“Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God.”

God gives them that assurance

He reminds them of his judgement of “hail and fire” upon the egyptians

There will be no hiding place for the Canaanites from God’s Wrath and Judgement

“You shall drive them out and make them perish quickly.”

Without God’s help Israel would be sure of overwhelming defeat and destruction

Wicked Nations

Deuteronomy 9:4–5 ESV

“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Verse 4 contains a temptation which sinful people are very prone to

Today it would be so easy to consider

When God blesses us or our churches

Must be because of our obedience / our righteousness

Canaanites are going to be destroyed because of their wickedness

Israel will be God’s instrument because he has chosen them for this and it is part of the promises made to their fathers

This is not the “goodies” driving out the “baddies”

This not a president for “good nations” to invade “bad nations”

God could have punished the wickedness of the Canaanites in the way he punished Sodom and Gomorrah

Prehaps God used warfare because of the Canaanites sinfulness included their warlike nature

Stubborn People

Deuteronomy 9:6–12 ESV

“Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

Stubborness can be a virtue in some cirumstances

But not when it resists the Word of God

refusing to be pulled away from ones own ideas and agenda

Moses asks the people to remember how the Israelites had provoked the Lord in the past

Horeb - after all they had seen and heard

After their covenant promise to God

Only 40 days & 40 nights (mentioned twice) after hearing the voice of God speaking the Ten Commandments

Their rebellion was tragic (golden calf)

Intended to humble the Israelites

Keeping them from pride an complacency

Arising from the knowledge of God having chosen them

They owed everything to God’s Grace and forbearance

As do we

No place in Christian Life for pride and self-righteousness

We have many painful memories which we can recall that should bring us to our knees before God

Those memories burst our pretentions and keep us humble

They underline the marvellous Grace of God

Lead us to fresh amazement at his loving kindness and to heartfelt thanksgiving

Hymn - YET NOT I BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME (1275) - MICHAEL FARREN, JONNY ROBINSON, RICH THOMPSON

Q&A

Hymn -

Closing Prayer

Doxology