Expository Sermon on Deuteronomy 32
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 3/12/2022
©2022 by Maylan Schurch
(To watch the worship service, click the link just below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZGs-7CJ7fQ
Please open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 32.
This is another sermon in the “Finding God’s Heart” series I’ve been preaching since the first of the year. It’s based on a chapter in this week’s segment of our read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. In the bulletin you will see a paragraph which gives us next week’s Bible reading range.
While you’re turning to Deuteronomy 32, just a quick note again about our new mask policy. Masks are optional here in the building Sabbath mornings. This means that if you want to wear a mask, you can wear a mask. If you don’t want to wear a mask, you don’t have to wear a mask.
Here’s what I’m going to do, personally. I might just keep my mask on for a while, such as while I’m teaching my Sabbath school class. I’ll probably keep it on between Sabbath school and church. Then, as I’ve always done, I’ll take it off when I preach. And then, at the door, I’ll keep it on my wrist. If I see you coming toward me wearing a mask, I will pop my mask on.
If I see you coming toward me with an outstretched hand, I’ll shake it. But if I see you coming toward me with a fist extended, I will spring into a defensive Karate stance. (Just kidding). If you extend a fist or an elbow, I will courteously bump them with you.
I do not think mask wearing should be a political statement in any way, just like surgeons and operating room nurses wearing masks shouldn’t be poliltical. It’s a matter of protecting each other. And of course, if as the weeks go along, we have another outbreak and we need to protect each other more carefully, we’ll follow health guidelines and urge you to slip those masks back on. We need to keep our congregation healthy, and we need to make sure it’s as safe as possible for every cautiously-returning member.
If you’re the kind of person who reads your bulletin carefully before the sermon begins, you will have noticed that this sermon’s title is “Closing Song.” You might even have said to yourself, “Wait a minute. Is that a misprint? The closing song is listed right there on the next line down.”
But it’s not a misprint. Because what we be looking at today is Moses’ “closing song” to the people of Israel. His 40-year leadership is almost over, and soon God will lay him to his well-deserved rest. And the words of this chapter’s poem are a passionate plea for the nation to remember their God when Moses is gone.
Even before I was a pastor, I knew that a closing song is really important. Back in the little church I attended in South Dakota, we met in the school room where the elementary kids met during the week. Friday afternoon the teacher would have the kids shove all the desks against the wall, and probably about 20 cold gray folding chairs would be set up. A small blonde-wood pulpit would be scooted out from the corner to a place in front of those chairs. And that’s where the pastor – or a church elder – would stand to preach.
Back in those days, in my mid-teens, I was not the preacher, but the organ player. We had an old Hammond organ in the corner, and when the pastor was done speaking, I would slip over, sit down, pull out the right little sliding bars into their correct positions, and play a little introduction. And everybody would stand up, and we would sing the closing song.
If you’ve ever accompanied a closing song, you know that you’d better not let your mind wander. Instead, you should listen to what the congregation is singing. Because if you happen to forget the instructions about which stanzas everybody will be singing, you might stop one stanza short, or surge serenely into a stanza after everybody’s finished. In both cases, you will be embarrassed by the puzzled looks you get.
Another reason to keep your mind on your business is that usually the closing song was chosen to emphasize and recap the sermon’s main message, and for that reason alone you needed to be a careful accompanist. The closing song I chose for today will hopefully do the same thing—summarize the sermon’s main message.
And the reason I call Moses’ song a “closing” song is that not only was it spoken at the end of Moses’ ministry, but after that song was finished, the people knew that it was almost time to march forward into the promised land. The wilderness journey was over, and new horizons lay before them.
And this morning, our literal closing song will hopefully launch us thoughtfully into another challenging week. And I believe that as we go through Moses’ “closing song,” that too will provide us with some truly essential understanding about God, understanding that we really need.
In fact, as I was reading through Deuteronomy 32 this week – and I actually read it out loud in two separate Bible versions – its message suddenly overwhelmed me to the point where I simply said, out loud, “Forgive me, Lord.”
I don’t think I was thinking of a specific sin or set of sins when I said that. It’s just that reading through this powerful final speech revealed a God who was opening His own heart and becoming utterly vulnerable about His concern for His children.
I think a problem modern Christianity sometimes has is to display and promote only parts of God’s character, the ones we’re easily comfortable with, the ones that don’t get too close to our own personal ugliness. But even the New Testament tells us that “God is love,” but it also tells us that God will dispenses absolute justice where and when it is needed.
And that’s what Moses was communicating in this great song. It doesn’t seem as though Moses actually sang it. In fact, in the final verse of chapter 31, it says that Moses “spoke” the words of this song. But it’s a powerful song, and he – and God Himself – meant it to be.
This song is actually partially a prophecy. As we go through it, you’ll see that Moses – and God Himself – know very clearly the temptations which will face the people in the promised land. And Moses and God know that sometimes the people will refuse to resist these temptations.
But this song contains enough prophecy that the people, when they look back on their sins, will never be able to say, “Why didn’t somebody warn us about this?”
And as we go through this song this morning, I’ve divided it up into what you could call six “stanzas.” The song was not originally divided this way, but I can spots six basic truths that God, through Moses, wanted the people to understand and remember.
In fact, before we go any further, let’s just take a look at the end of the chapter, which expresses how important these words will be. Glance down at Verse 44:
Deuteronomy 32:44 – 47: So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”
In the sermon last week I mentioned that Jesus considered Deuteronomy so important that, during His wilderness temptation, He answered the devil with three well-chosen quotes from this book. In the same way, I believe that as you and I face the week, and month, and year ahead, we need to very carefully remember what’s in each of this song’s stanzas.
So let’s find what the first stanza says (and again, this is simply the way I have divided this chapter). Let’s start with the last verse of the previous chapter:
Chapter 31:30 through 32:4: Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended: “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
If you’re taking down sermon points, here comes what you could call Stanza One of this song.
God says, “Listen! This is who I really am . . . ”
Did you catch that verse 2 says that Moses’ “teaching” is like refreshing rain on tender plants.? Shelley and I enjoy walking in our neighborhood in the springtime, and noticing the trees begin to bud. They’re doing that now. One householder has devoted his entire front lawn to a flower garden, and soon the rains and the sun will cause these blooms to burst forth in color.
So, according to Moses (and God), who is God? He is great, He is a Rock, His works are perfect and just. He is faithful and upright.
And these are good things to know about someone who is our ruler. I know that Christians throughout the world, including many in Ukraine, are beseeching the Lord that Vladimir Putin’s heart will soften, and that he will adopt the qualities we just mentioned. God can change rulers’ hearts – he did it with Nebuchadnezzar’s. Let’s keep praying for miracles to happen during this war.
But aside from the conflicts all over the world, what should we personally do to respond to what God says about who He is?
I think what we need to do is to work hard to replace our false or incomplete ideas about God with the truth. And how do we find the truth? We read it in the Bible. We read the stories where God interacts with people, speaks to them, laments about them, rebukes them, is pleased with them.
Those stories are all throughout the Bible. And I think that the more we can sense the agony, the hurt, the despair in God’s heart—and the joy we bring Him when we faithfully follow Him–the closer we will arrive at who He really is.
But now let’s find out what is in Stanza 2 of Moses’ song. Let’s pick up the song in verse 5.
Verses 5 – 6: “They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus deal with the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
What is God saying, through Moses, in Stanza 2?
In Stanza 1, God says, “Listen! This is who I really am . . . ” And in Stanza 2 He continues the sentence and says, “But though I’m your Father, you have disowned Me.”
Notice the specifics God mentions. How have the people disowned Him? He says they have been “perverse” and “crooked.” He calls them “foolish” and “unwise.”
Don’t raise your hand, but as anybody in this room ever been perverse? I have. Have you been crooked? I have. Have you been spiritually foolish and unwise”? I have.
Sometimes it’s hard to see how we are being this way, in the moment. So how can we spot and avoid these traits which disown God, which He says rebuff Him from being our Father?
Well, for one thing, we need to pray the prayer of someone who God says was close to His heart. In the last couple verses of Psalm 139, David sings another song: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23 – 24)
If you’re a parent, I know you’ve experienced heartache. And sometimes this can later turn into a source of humor. This week I saw a Buzzfeed list of tweets from parents telling what parenting is like. One young mother wrote, “I tried to complain to my mom about the difficulties of raising a stubborn child and her eyes rolled so far back in her head I don’t think they’re ever coming back.”
One reoccurring theme my own mother often brought up, when we were giving her a hard time, was, “You just wait till you have kids of your own!”
Someone who is growing more into a child of God has such a humble heart that he or she will ask, “Show me where I am wrong, Lord. Show me where I’m selfish. Show me where I need to have a wider perspective on life and on Your plans.”
A lot of times when we are disobeying our parents – or disobeying God – we simply need to be reminded of all everything our parents have done for us. And that’s what Stanza Three of Moses’ song does.
Verses 7 – 14: [Moses says] “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you: When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings, So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him. “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock; Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs; And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes.
Here’s how I think we could summarize what’s in Stanza Three:
God says, “Listen! This is who I really am . . . but though I’m your Father, you have disowned Me. I have been your Rescuer and Nourisher . . .”
Did you notice everything God has done for His children? He found them, He encircled them, He instructed them, He “kept them as the apple of His eye.” If you’re reading this from the Andrews Study Bible, you’ll notice that attached to the upper left-hand corner of the word “apple” there is a tiny number 4. That refers you to the margin, where you see the word “pupil.” Here Moses is saying that God protected His people so carefully that it was like He was protecting the pupil of His eye.
Let me take a little poll here. How many of you have ever worn contact lenses? How many of you wore them for at least a month? Back before I had my cataract surgery, I was very nearsighted. I debated getting contacts. But I was really cowardly about the idea of pushing something up against the pupil of my eye. So I just stayed with my glasses.
Notice a key statement in verse 12:
Verse 12: So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.
This is going to be a very sore point with God, as you know if you read the entire chapter. God did not team up with a group of other gods to lead the nation of Israel. He led His people by Himself.
Do you notice how it says that God protected His people like an eagle protects its young? Back on the prairies of South Dakota, we didn’t have eagles the way we do out here. But we did have killdeers. (By the way, no killdeer has ever killed a deer, or has ever advocated that they be killed. Wikipedia says these birds were given that name because that’s what their call sounds like.)
When we heard the killdeers their call out in the pasture, she knew that spring was on its way. And later in the spring I would be walking thoughtfully through a pasture, and I would see a killdeer up ahead of me. I slowed down, and kept walking, but the killdeer wouldn’t fly away. I got closer, and then the killdeer’s right wing would open up and drag along the ground, and the bird would begin hopping away, its wing still sagging.
The first time I saw this happen, I thought, “Oh, that poor little bird. Let me see if I can catch it and help it somehow.” But I never caught it. I would come closer, and the bird would flop along just out of reach, and then I would leap forward, and the bird would dodge out of my way.
Mom told me that that little bird was protecting its eggs. Somewhere nearby was a nest, and this bird was drawing me away from it.
So what do I do, now that I’ve been reminded that God is my Rescuer and Nourisher? For one thing, I need to make it a habit of thinking back on how God has preserved me from dreadful mistakes I could have made, and dangers I could’ve fallen into.
And I need to show gratitude to him. One way to do this is through a psalm like 103, another Psalm of David. Here’s what the first five verses say: “Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Maybe we should write our own psalms, or at least get down on paper in some way how the Lord has been good to us.
But let’s move on to Stanza Four.
Verse 15: “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
So who’s “Jeshurun”? This name only appears three times in the Old Testament. Scholars think it’s a nickname, maybe an affectionate nickname for the children of Israel. Watch what happens:
Verses 15 – 18: “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
So what happens in Stanza Four? Here’s how I think we could put it:
God says, “Listen! This is who I really am . . . but though I’m your Father, you have disowned Me. I have been your Rescuer and Nourisher . . . but in your prosperity you turned to other gods.”
Are there false gods around us here in 2022? A good way to discover them is to ask questions like, “Who or what do I depend on for ultimate security? Is it money? Is it allegiance to a group of ideas, or a group of people? Is it a shotgun under the bed? Or is it a powerful God who has thus far protected me?”
This is the question Ukrainian Christians I’m sure are struggling with, as they hear the thud of Russian shells landing nearby. I don’t have easy answers for these precious people whose pictures we see and whose voices we hear. All I can do is pray that God will preserve.
And I need to pray, adding to David’s prayer, “Search me, O God, and show me–the idols I worship, the ones I spend more time with, spend more money on, spend more devotion on, than You.” At its root, idol worship is self worship, because even though we are made in God’s image, we tend to make our idols into our own image, and give them permission to give us permission to live exactly as we like.
Let’s read just a few verses which will help us summarize Stanza Five:
Verses 19 – 21: “And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
And this stanza goes on and on, all the way through verse 38. Basically, here’s how I’d summarize Stanza Five:
God says, “Listen! This is who I really am . . . but though I’m your Father, you have disowned Me. I have been your Rescuer and Nourisher . . . but in your prosperity you turned to other gods. And so I will get your attention.”
It would be fun some time to sit down and have a discussion about how your parents got your attention. One time when I was about six or seven years old I angrily told my parents that I wanted to run away from home. Dad said mildly, “Well, where you going to go?” I said, “Downtown!” Dad said, “Want me to give you a ride?”
And that shocked me profoundly. That got my attention. I don’t remember to this day why I wanted to run away from home, but that issue promptly dissolved as I wondered if Dad really meant what he said. And I got off my high horse, and my anger gradually evaporated.
It would also be fun to get in a group and discuss how God has gotten your attention. Because that’s what He promises to do here in stanza five. He simply cares too much to let us drift away to our own devices. He sends His Holy Spirit to work on our hearts, whether we know it or not.
So we need to pray that the Lord will soften our hearts so that our attention can be drawn back to Him as soon as possible.
And now for Stanza Six. This is a powerful and somewhat disturbing stanza. Let’s read it.
Verses 39 – 43: ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, “As I live forever, If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’ “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
Here’s how I would summarize Stanza Six.
God says, “Listen! This is who I really am . . . but though I’m your Father, you have disowned Me. I have been your Rescuer and Nourisher . . . but in your prosperity you turned to other gods. So I will get your attention, and I will be the judge.”
Isn’t that an powerful stanza? Isn’t this whole song powerful? If it seems intense, if it seems “heavy,” it’s because God’s love and care are intense, and His heart is heavy with concern. And this intensity and heaviness are clear all throughout the Bible, all the way up to and including the book of Revelation.
So the best thing for you and I to do is to humbly say, “Lord, show me more of who You really are. Heavenly Father, forgive me for when I have disowned You. I have learned that You have been my rescuer and nourisher, but I know that sometimes Your blessings have made You seem unnecessary. So soften my heart so You can get my attention quickly and completely, because when all is said and done, I trust You to be my righteous judge.”