03 | Song of Moses | Deuteronomy 32:7–14 | Remember the Days of Old

Main Idea

The Lord finds, forms, and fills his people. They were lost, but now they are his. He calls them to remember, rely on, and rejoice in his faithful provision.

———

INTRODUCTION

This sermon series in Deuteronomy 32 — “The Song of Moses | No Empty Word” …

… is a call to remember the greatness, faithfulness, and justice of the Lord across generations.

This morning we hear that explicit call to remember.

Through blessing, provocation, and judgment, the Lord remains the Rock

… righteous and unchanging

… while his people forget and rebel.

Yet even in wrath, God moves toward salvation …

… and this song, sung by Moses, is no empty word—it is our very life.

1:00

First Week

In our first week looking at this first cycle (v1-14)

Moses calls all of creation—the heavens and earth— to witness his faithful word …

… a word that falls like rain to nourish, warn, and lead his people to life through Christ.

Second Week

v4-6 — We beheld the perfection of the Rock …

We considered the corruption of those who forsake him …

… the foolishness of forgetting the God who made us.

This week

v7-14 — We consider Moses’ call to remember the Lord, who finds, forms, and fills his people.

2:30

My Hope for this Series

That we would not only learn truths and have our faith strengthened:

I pray that the poetry of these images will stay with us in days and weeks to come …

… and I challenge us to recall, and to press into our imaginations, the reality the Lord is teaching us

… as we encounter such tangible and frequent reminders as rain and grass … and deserts and feasting.

Appreciate the images, enjoy the poetry …

… call them to mind in the frequent rains

… and the backyard cookouts of this summer.

PRAY

5:00

v7 — REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD

Read v7.

… the days of old.

It’s not as simple as remembering your own life.

We must also remember what has come before.

Among other things, it is amazing that this faith has come down to us.

Yes, I need to count my blessings.

Yes, I need to remember the Lord’s work in my own life.

But, I also need to remember news of the Lord and his great deeds in history.

Remember the days of old.

At CPCoast, we are historic, orthodox, protestant Christians.

Historic — from Adam to Abraham to Israel to Christ

Orthodox — Apostles’ Creed, the Creeds of the Church Fathers (Nicene, Chalcedonian, Athanasian)

Protestant — The Belgic, Heidelberg, Westminster and 1689 London Baptist Confession

These creeds and confessions stand as markers to remind us that the Lord is our God …

… and his works are good news for all to hear and believe.

8:00

Read v7b.

Ask your father

Are you asking?

C. S. Lewis speaks of chronological snobbery: Our own age is also ‘a period,’ and certainly has, like all periods, its own characteristic illusions. They are likeliest to lurk in those widespread assumptions which are so ingrained in the age that no one dares to attack or feels it necessary to defend them.

How do we discover the illusions and assumptions of our own age?

By asking those who have gone before about the days of old.

Again, this is part of what I mean by cultivating biblical imagination.

We already have our ways of thinking about reality shaped by our present culture …

… by the way each of our generations talk … and the music we listen to … and the technologies that shape the way we live.

But, by listening to the generations that have gone before us …

… we have our imaginations shaped by more than just our own generational assumptions.

So, actually sit down with someone from the generation who has gone before you.

Consider your friendships and your time.

Are you surrounded only by peers?

Know that this is a significant reason why our CGs are shaped the way they are.

They should look more like family reunions than peer groups.

In addition to that, you can read!

This is actually what C. S. Lewis was specifically saying.

One of the ways we can ask our fathers and our elders is by reading old books.

We have already asked if our time is consumed by relationships only with our peers.

Is your reading and information consumed only by contemporary books and entertainment, podcasts and social media.

11:00

Are you showing?

Ask your father, and he will show you.

Is God worth talking about?

Are his great deeds on your lips?

Do you even know them?

CPKids: Psalm 78:1-8 — We Must Not Hide The Testimony

Copies in the back.

Psalm 78 is one of the longer psalms.

It walks through many wonders that the Lord has done.

It recounts the plagues with which God displays His power before Pharaoh: the blood, frogs, gnats, flies, death of livestock, boils, and the death of the firstborn.

He tells of God’s great parting of the Red Sea.

And, how God leads them in the wilderness with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.

In the wilderness the Israelites begin to become afraid and complain and God silences their complaint by sending manna and quail by which they were fed.

Elsewhere in scripture God uses the faithful obedience of Daniel to display his own power and glory.

The greatest of all the wonders of our God is the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus …

… according to God’s prophecy, humility, and provision.

And Jesus is vindicated and triumphant in his resurrection in which all the redeemed find their only hope.

Are the deeds of God praiseworthy deeds?

Is God worth talking about?

14:00

APPLY

Chronological snobbery is bidirectional.

We can fail to look backward and listen to what has gone before.

And we can fail to show those who come after.

And so, I would call you not only to read the scriptures for the sake of your own personal devotional encouragement and joy.

But also, search the word so that you can make him known to the next generation.

15:30

v8-9 — THE SOVEREIGN PROVIDER

The Lord is the Creator and sovereign over all the earth.

Read v1.

The Lord is sovereign over all things, yet he does not govern like an emperor over the whole earth.

Rather, he governs by his word given to this one people, Israel.

It is by this word to this people that he makes both himself known to the whole earth.

It is by his word and work in this redemption history …

… that he makes his redemptive provision known to all who will hear.

No, v8 has this interesting statement about dividing mankind and fixing borders.

It is referring to …

Genesis 10:1 ESV

These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

The passage then goes on to describe how these peoples settled in the surrounding lands.

As the Lord established these peoples and in these lands …

… so the Lord has worked in all of history as nations rise and fall.

18:00

This means two things for us this morning.

He is not a tribal deity.

He is ruler of all things. See v1 - heavens and earth

The Lord is not a far off divinity.

He is not a generic deity, high in the heavens, about whom each people and culture fashion their own religion.

He is the Lord who has spoken and revealed his righteous rule to and through a particular people: Israel.

His law came to them through Moses.

And his gospel has come to them through Jesus Christ.

And because God has revealed himself in Israel …

… his gospel has spread to the ends of the earth.

20:00

I’ve been thinking about how it was never Israel’s mission to conquer the world, as is the explicit mission of so many other religions, and the mythology of so many tribal religions.

Unfortunately, at times in Christian history, powerful rulers have misunderstood or, worse, intentionally ignored this reality for their own imperial gain.

No, the mission of God’s people is that they would know the Lord …

… that they would trust and enjoy his provision

… and that they would become a city on a hill that will draw the nations and peoples to the glory and redemption of our God.

The vision is not the conquering might of an expansive empire, but the shining light of a beautiful city.

Isaiah 2:2 ESV

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,

The reign of our God is established among the nations …

… not by horizontal world conquest

… but by a people whose vision is fixed upward, upon the Lord who is high and lifted up.

Especially in light of the great commission, we have been sent to the nations and peoples.

But, even as we go, we do not seek to overtake the cities of the earth.

Hebrews 13:14 ESV

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

In this age, we go with the gospel among the cities of the world …

… with news that there is another city and a greater glory.

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

test

24:00

Read v9 — The Lord’s Portion

The point of the song so far has been to persuade the people to trust and enjoy the Lord’s provision.

But it is also true that the Lord enjoys his people.

His covenant is not merely transactional, it is a covenant of genuine love.

This is perhaps the most astonishing glory and shining light of all the glories made known to the people of God.

The Lord delights in his people!

That the Lord delights in the people who are called by his name …

… becomes the very delight of the people who are beloved.

What a great sense of delight and joy it is to be loved by another.

It is in our nature to take personal joy in shared delight.

And there is no greater sense of peace and comfort than to be loved by One who is the greatest glory: the Lord our God.

Jacob, Israel, is the Lord’s own allotted portion.

He is the Lord’s chosen people.

And all who are in Christ have been grafted into this beloved people.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the seed of Abraham and the beloved Son begotten of God.

By faith alone all who believe have become the Lord’s portion, called out from among the nations.

27:00

APPLY

The Lord is the Sovereign.

He is neither one among many gods, nor so high that he has not made himself known through this particular people.

What a joy it is to us this morning that news of our God has come to us.

28:00

v10-14 — THE LORD FINDS, FORMS AND FILLS HIS PEOPLE

These closing verses are a vivid description of the riches of God’s grace.

Let us consider how the Lord finds, forms and fills his people.

Finds

v10 - Jacob was lost.

Abram was no one with no inheritance.

The Lord gave him his inheritance and the people became the Lord’s inheritance.

The people multiplied in Egypt, but they were slaves.

That this people became a great nation is the work of the Lord alone.

The people of God exist because of God.

But they also exist for God.

They do not only belong to the Lord, they belong for him.

And their joy and delight will be found in the Lord, their Creator and Provider.

It is in the Lord alone that the people of God find …

… belonging, love and purpose.

v10b - he encircled, cared for and kept him

Surely we can hear our story in this story.

We were lost without our God.

Not only were we lost, individually and personally …

… but we were not a people.

But he has made us his family, grafting us into this people, of his own choosing, that came before us.

31:00

The Lord finds his people …

Forms

Read v11.

The Lord is our powerful and majestic protector.

ILL: I get to watch powerful birds on my back porch.

I am alway amazed!

I see them grabbing great fish out of the water.

How often is this food that is brought back to the nest?

And they don’t just drop the whole fish before the young ones.

They tear pieces off and feed them bit by bit.

The Lord spreads his wings, catching and bearing them.

33:00

Read v12

Their is nothing more important about the formation of the people of the Lord than that they belong to the Lord and the Lord alone.

He alone is their God, no other.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

The most formative reality is to know who you are.

What are the people of God?

They are those who belong to the Lord alone.

This is what we are in Christ.

35:00

The Lord Finds and Forms …

Fills - Beautiful and Bountiful

This is where I just want you to slow down—appreciate and enjoy the Word.

Read v13 -The Lord does not just sustain, he fills.

Habakkuk 3:19 ESV

God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

Do you seek filling? Or do you seek the Lord who fills?

Because, as it says in …

v13 - It’s not just provision, it is miraculous provision.

Read v13b again.

honey out of the rock, oil out of the flint

The Lord provides specifically in such a way that the people cannot fail to recognize his provision.

38:00

v14 - And it is abundant provision.

Curds, milk, fat

lambs, rams

finest wheat, foaming wine

“the kidney fat of the wheat”

I’m not sure what kidney fat is, but I get the point.

It’s the best!

ILL: Steak? No! Birthday tenderloin.

Remember the Rock and the provision of water.

It was both miraculous and abundant.

1 Corinthians 10:4 ESV

and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

I think you can link up our passage today with the language of Ephesians 1.

the riches of his grace

which he lavished upon us

the riches of his glorious inheritance

the immeasurable greatness of his power

the working of his great might

the fullness of him woh fills all in all

This is the miraculous abundance that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

41:00

APPLY

We just won’t fill ourselves.

We starting doing pretty well, and then we think that’s just the normal course of things.

But its not the normal course of things. It’s miraculous, relational, loved-filled provision.

42:00

APPLY

This has been a beautiful passage.

But remember the context.

Abraham in his song to the people is telling them to remember because they have forgotten all of this beautiful belonging.

Remember, Rely, Rejoice

Three points of application.

44:00

The moment we are in at CPCoast

We have really been struggling financially.

But this is in the middle of thriving as a church body, in discipleship, relationships and opportunities.

We might say, “Why bring us out here with such glorious promises, just to abandon us without provision?”

But can we “remember” the days of the Lord’s provision?

List the specific provisions in CPCoast history.

A core team in 2012.

A deep partnership and brotherhood with the CrossPointe family of churches.

Abundance of finances in our first decade.

Multiplication of gospel partners.

Incredible resources, such as the gospel partnership manual.

Skilled, loving and sacrificial staff.

Abundance of opportunities to send in mission and church planting.

This facility!

A message just this morning of God’s provision of a new facility for GracePointe Church (Bill Dumphy) after they lost their lease earlier this year.

Yes, among all the other present blessings and opportunties, we are in a moment of financial need.

And we tell the story of God’s provision so that we can remember that he is the Eternal Sovereign who draws near to provide for his people.

If the Lord provides, then the church that belongs to him is worth the sacrificial investment of our time, talent and treasure.

It is this reality that springs from this portion of Deuteronomy 32.

This means that all who belong to the Lord …

… are loved through his gracious provision

… and share in the purpose of making his great name known among the nations.

time