We Must Remember
Deuteronomy 11:1-9
We Must Remember
Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.
Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Among messages for new converts, none qualify as more seemingly paradoxical than that which states We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God [Acts 14:22] This message of encouragement was delivered by the church planters of the new churches in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch—cities situated in the provinces of Pamphylia Pisidia. Strange encouragement, that! Conflict and sorrow seem always to mark the route to the heavenly city, but for every trial we gain another mile toward the goal of being conformed to the image of Christ. In many ways the progress of any congregation toward spiritual maturity and toward pleasing God is paralleled by the experience of Israel in the wilderness.
Delivered from Egyptian bondage, the people of Israel moved quickly toward the Promised Land, although by a somewhat circuitous route. Poised at the edge of the promised territory the people rebelled and complained against God because of the hardship they imagined facing in the land promised them and their fathers since before bondage. As result of their grousing and grumbling God deserted them to their foes to humble them and when they were thoroughly chastened He marched them through the wilderness for forty years until that entire generation had died [Numbers 14:1-45]. It is an axiom of the Faith that in some instances entire generations must die off in order that future generations might experience God’s blessing. Stubbornness and self-interests when tolerated among the people of God invite His chastening hand.
Such discipline, however, is from the heart of a loving Father too good to ever needlessly hurt His beloved children and too wise to ever make a mistake. In looking back we are enabled to see clearly the hand of the Lord in our every experience. So Moses, forbidden from entering the land the people were about to inherit but yet very much the leader of the people of God, called them to remember the evidence of the hand of God throughout the long years of wilderness journeys.
Would you not suppose we should be enabled to discover admonitions of greatest value to us as Christians, and more particularly encouragement for us as members of the congregation known as First Baptist Church, through exploration of the words Moses spoke that day so long ago and which issued from the heart of God? Open your Bible to the passage under consideration and join me in exploring the heart of God, praying for guidance from His blessed Spirit.
Remember His Power (verses 1-4) — Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them.
It is the duty of one generation to tell the next of the might and power of God displayed in days past, and especially to tell how the Lord has delivered them from the enemy. Woe to that congregation unable to speak truthfully of God’s power revealed in their behalf. Woe to that individual Christian incapable of telling of the might of God. The Psalmist commands:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.
Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
[Psalm 107:1-9]
Has He redeemed you from the hand of the foe? Say so! Has He delivered you from your distress? Say so! Has He led you? Say so! Has He satisfied your thirst and sated your hunger with good things? Say so! Give thanks to God. Let another generation know how He intervened in your behalf to confound the enemy.
I have never been reticent in speaking of God’s gracious deliverance. During the years of my pilgrimage I have faced a few enemies and I have known the terror which accompanies the fiery darts of the enemy of the soul. During my early adult years alcohol had a tenacious grip on my life. Though I avoid riding a hobbyhorse in the pulpit let no one mistake my infrequent speaking against drinking as approval of booze as beverage. I have known the bleak bondage which accompanies alcohol and I know what it is to be held in thraldom—but God set me free. Despite its many supporters booze has no support; drinking is a practise which curses many. It destroys and damns those who tamper with it, but God delivered me.
God delivered me from a powerful enemy when he rescued me from rage and bitterness. Malice and anger filled my heart, and with reason in the eyes of the unthinking—but God set me free. Deserted by my mother, as a child I was exposed to cruel taunts and rejection by the good burghers of the little town where I grew to manhood. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me is a cute little ditty. May I say, however, that the bravado of that old saw notwithstanding, words do hurt and words wound far more deeply then any physical assault. In the depth of my hurt and in the longing for approval which was born of desperation I found acceptance among a group of virulent Marxists. Moving steadily toward self-destruction, God intervened to permit me to forgive the very people who had hurt me so deeply.
I will not speak of the individuals who set themselves in opposition to me and from whom my God has delivered me during my pastoral service. I will not speak of people in the churches who deliberately and with malice in their hearts sought to injure my family and me. I will only say that God has delivered me from the enemy, and what I say as an individual every Christian can assert. What every Christian can say, each church can claim. No congregation has passed to maturity unopposed, but each can point to the repeated intervention of God to keep them and to deliver them from their foes.
As the Psalmist of old, the church of this day can—and must—say:
In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
[Psalm 118:5-7]
How often have I cried out to God in my distress and in my fear:
I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hands;
deliver me from my enemies
and from those who pursue me.
[Psalm 31:14-15]
I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
O LORD my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.
[Psalm 30:1-3]
The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
[Psalm 27:1-3]
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my saviour—
from violent men you save me.
I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
…
He is the God who avenges me,
who puts the nations under me,
who sets me free from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.
Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.
[2 Samuel 22:2-4, 48-51]
Remember His Providence (verse 5) — It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place. What did God do for the people of Israel in the desert? What was it that Moses wished to call to mind for these nomads? They were led by the hand of the Living God. They were providentially fed and cared for throughout their wilderness wanderings. Their clothing did not wear out and their feet never swelled despite the multiplied miles of walking across barren desert. Moses had reviewed the goodness of God earlier, saying: Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years [Deuteronomy 8:2-4].
Nehemiah led the people from exile to reoccupy their land and to rebuild the holy city of Jerusalem. When the walls of the city were completed, the people held a day of celebration. Part of that commemoration included public worship—reading the Law with exposition of what was read and solemn prayer. In deepest contrition Levites voiced a prayer of confession. In part, that prayer looked back to this provision in the desert, demonstrating that in the centuries following God’s provision, the people yet remembered His provision. Listen to the words recorded in Nehemiah 9:19-21: Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.
What trial have you faced that God did not face with you? What need have you confronted that God failed to provide for you? It is only because we confuse needs with wants that we dare attempt to charge God with deserting us. It is only because we think we possess entitlements that we complain. Let us speak openly of what God has provided us in our time of need and in our distress—wisdom when confronting challenges, grace to withstand temptation, our every supply when in need.
Near the end of his earthly journey David penned a beautiful thought. Blessed is that one who can say together with the ancient psalmist:
I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
[Psalm 37:25]
God provides for His own—not with penury, but abundantly. Focused as we are on satisfying our own desires we often miss the richness of His provision. Consequently, our children do not know of the goodness of God in providing for His own. Let a generation following know of the rich provision of our God. Tell a generation to come of the manner in which our God provides for His own. Today tell another that Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights [James 1:17].
Remember His Purity (verses 6 & 7) — It was not your children who saw … what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.
God would have His people remember not only His deliverance and His provision, but He would have them remember that He is a holy and a just God. God does judge wickedness, especially among His own people, and His judgement does not always wait. Go back in your mind to the incident of which Moses reminds his audience. Do you remember Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite? Let me refresh your memory by directing you to Numbers 16:1-35.
A general rebellion against Moses and Aaron by the people which brought the judgement of God in the sentence of wandering in the wilderness for forty years—one year for each day the spies had explored the land. You will remember that ten of the spies had brought back a report that the people would be unable to dispossess the Canaanites from the land. Joshua and Caleb stood alone in siding with God and in urging the people not to rebel, but the people listened to the majority anyway. Dear people, vox populi vox Dei is not often true! A caution is presented us within the Word: Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong [Exodus 23:2].
Despite seeing God’s judgement, Korah, Dathan and Abiram and On rebelled against Moses. Our translation states that these leaders became insolent [Numbers 16:1]. I appreciate the force with which the Good News Bible (tev) translates the Hebrew concept: Korah … had the audacity to rebel against Moses. Korah, a Levite, together with Dathan and Abiram appear to have been major leaders in an insurrection against divinely appointed leadership. The mutiny seems to have been primarily against Moses and Aaron, and ultimately swept up two hundred fifty leaders together with the named spokesmen.
Summoned to appear before Moses, Dathan and Abiram added insult to insubordination before the Lord God by demonstrating their contempt for God’s leader by their refusal to appear. We will not come! Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come [Numbers 16:12-14]! The combination of scorn and disrespect is the likely reason God singled them out by name in our text.
God demonstrated His choice of Aaron as high priest and of Moses as leader of the people by judging the rebels. Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once … Say to the assembly, “Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.” [Numbers 16:21-24]. When the two hundred fifty rebel leaders and those who stood with Moses and Aaron were separated God judged rebellion. Murmuring, disgruntlement and rebellion will always bring judgement from God, being ever devoid of blessing.
Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”
As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”
And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense [Numbers 16:25-35].
Remember that God is a holy God. We transgress His holiness at our own peril. We ignore His commands, His statutes and His will at the risk of awesome judgement. Though we think that we have evaded the consequences of our choice, our dissimulation must always result in judgement. This is the reason we must constantly remind ourselves that we are responsible to know the will of God and that we are responsible to do the will of God. Let no one attempt to move against God; instead let us always remember His judgement of wickedness, even when that wickedness is found among his own people.
Remember His Promises (verses 8 & 9) — Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. In a former pastorate I would watch out my office window and notice a constant stream of youth passing through the church parking lot. Young men and women, most in their teens, formed a continual parade. Have you ever stopped to speak with youth such as these? The conversations can break your heart.
One summer day a group of about five boys were throwing fruit at the church building. I stepped out of my office to speak with them intending to put an abrupt end to what they were doing. Upon my sudden unannounced appearance all of them ran except for one youngster who failed to see my approach. Sensing my presence as he wound up to sling another piece of fruit he froze in mid-swing. Slowly lowering his arm he turned to face me, not knowing what I might do; his face betrayed the fear he felt?
I spoke gently to him, however, asking that he cease slinging fruit at the building. After assuring him that I did not intend to hurt him, he yelled for the other boys to come back. With the exception of one boy they were hiding in various places in the back lane and slowly crept out to see what was going on. When they had all come closer I encouraged them to find a better way to amuse themselves. One of the boys was somewhat bolder then the others and asked if he could see inside the church building. Sensing an opportunity to gain their co-operation for the future I invited them all in. They seemed awe-struck, and one finally blurted out: “I ain’t never been in a church … ever!”
Another stated that he used to go to a Catholic church, but since his dad had left home he never went anymore.
I spent the better part of an hour just sitting and talking with the boys. They wanted to know what people did in a church building and why they would bother to take time on a Sunday to go to a worship service. They wanted to know about baptism and why people would be immersed in water. There was a veritable flood of questions and I was hard pressed to answer them fast enough. The one point which stuck in my memory was the lack of religious knowledge and the absence of a spiritual heritage. My observations lead me to the conclusion that these boys are not an exception. They did not know of God, much less His might and power. How could they be expected to worship an unknown God?
I have witnessed the decline in church attendance among all ages throughout the past thirty years. I have witnessed the decline in adherence to spiritual principles in western democratic society since the Sixties. I have witnessed the absence of youth in services of worship as the millennium drew to a close. I am compelled to conclude that previous generations failed to communicate the power of God to their children. My great fear is that children of this town are not so very different from those boys to whom I spoke on a hot August day in Vancouver.
As Christians and as a congregation we may have a limited impact on a few younger Canadians, but changed lives require more than knowledge that Sagitawa is nearby and filled with youthful campers. I suggest that if we are seeing no steady increase in reaching out to the youth of our town, it may well be that we are failing to live as those who know the power and might of the Living God. Dear people until our Sunday School is filled and growing, until the little native children who walk past this building each school day are hearing of Christ and growing in new-found faith, until the teens of our city hear and heed the message of life—we are failing the next generation.
Men and women of vision began services in our city nearly four decades ago. They had a conviction that Baptist principles were biblical principles and today we are a Baptist Church. We are tempted to experiment with novel doctrines in order to make people comfortable with us. As we forsake that which God accomplished through us when we adhered tenaciously to those ancient doctrines we likewise forsake His power and the possibility to have an impact on the lives of the coming generation.
What shall we tell the youth of our city? Shall we tell them that baptism of believers was an error which unenlightened believers held in years past? Shall we tell them that identification with Christ through immersion to picture His death, burial and resurrection was an ancient error? Shall we tell them that these truths are no longer important and that we can jettison them if they embarrass some who wish to worship with us? Shall we tell them that commitment to the church is optional—that we no longer expect a spirit of submission to the doctrines which identify us as Baptists?
I confess that I have some grave concerns about the modern tendency to reassess ancient teachings of the Faith. I know that some have dubbed me a super-Baptist. It is true that when I check into the hospital and I am asked for my blood-type I answer, “Baptist positive”. However, I cannot casually abandon those truths which were given us by the True and Living God in order to comfort some who are unwilling to embrace that which our forebears taught and which sustained them in their time of trial and testing.
Why speak of such matters? Why risk embarrassing dearly loved friends? Do not suppose that it is my purpose to condemn or to castigate or to embarrass anyone. The reason I speak of such areas of failure is that the churches of this nation, the congregations of this city, and more particularly this assembly of believers, is ever and always but one generation from death. If we do not soon call to mind the great lessons of the past we shall soon experience judgement. We must once more recall God’s power to deliver from every foe. We must again remember God’s ability to provide every need. We must anew remember that our God is a holy God who shall call us to account for every wicked act. We must reaffirm those ancient truths which first marked us as a people of God.
I recommend to a people for whom I have come to care deeply and in the hope that it will lay a foundation for changing an otherwise bleak future that we review our heritage as believers to determine that we have a message of power and grace to tell future generations. If we have no such heritage, determine that we will begin to so live that you will discover intimately God’s power at work in your life. Begin now to dream great dreams and anticipate that we shall do some great thing for Christ’s sake.
May God deliver us from living pedestrian lives which make no impact on generations to come and which change nothing. One day life on this earth shall be finished. May our epitaph as a church be that we made a difference … that we lived in demonstration of the power of God. We can continue with business as usual in future, or as a people we can determine that we will make a difference. There is a great challenge before us and there is a great prize to be seized to the glory of our God. There is a great future for the congregation which dares to be obedient to God. Will that congregation be ours? Will that prize be ours? It shall if we dare determine that whatever else may be true we will obey the Lord.
Striving to maintain the unity of the Spirit, witnessing in the belief that some shall be saved, living radical lives in holy purity and in holy fear we can make a difference and insure that coming generations will hear of Christ. Uniting in a spirit of love we can together work and anticipate that we shall see the power of God displayed in our midst. Let us determine that we will hold to those precious truths for which our forebears were mercilessly persecuted and ridiculed. Let us not forget the proud heritage which is ours in Christ the Lord.
Among us are some who this day who have need to rebuke the spirit of “self” which keeps us from attaining the goal of the high calling in Christ. Among us are some who this day have need to openly repent of a spirit of obstinacy and obstruction against advance of the Kingdom of God. Every complaint, every murmur, every petty act against a fellow believer, needs to be forsaken and surrendered now to Christ. Each of us has need to openly commit ourselves to one great task—the task of glorifying Christ through winning the lost, through incorporating them into the fellowship of believers, through building one another up in the most holy Faith. Each of us has need to this day openly commit ourselves to this one singular pursuit of seeking to so live that the power of God is seen in our life each day. Who, today, will be first to stand and openly say, “By the grace of God I shall this year see His power displayed through me.”
Let us stand and sing a hymn of invitation. Amen.