THE SCENE
I’d like you to imagine a scene. It’s about 1500 B.C. We’re in a wilderness a little to the south of the Dead Sea in what was then Moab and is now Jordan.
Around us there are people, tents, and animals. The people look tough, weather-beaten. For forty years they’ve been living as nomads in the Sinai Peninsula. Then an old man stands up. Who is he, I wonder? Someone whispers to me, ‘That’s Moses’.
Moses is 120. 40 years ago he led the people of Israel out of Egypt and he’s been leading them ever since. Moses starts to reflect. He reminds the people that they had been here before – or at least, their mothers and fathers had. ‘But,’ he tells them, ‘you would not go up’. You were afraid. You’d seen how God had delivered you from Egypt. You’d seen how he had cared for you in the wilderness. But you did not trust God.
The previous time the people of Israel had been there, Moses had sent spies into the land. The spies came back and reported. The land was great! But, the spies said, ‘the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large … WE ARE NOT ABLE TO GO UP AGAINST THE PEOPLE, FOR THEY ARE STRONGER THAN WE ARE.’ The spies sowed fear and the people didn’t enter the land.
Now, after 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula, the people of Israel were back. They want to enter the land God had led them to. But Moses, their leader for the past 40 years, is now 120. And God has told him that he won’t enter the promised land. What will happen? Will the people of Israel prevail against all the nations in Canaan? How will it go without Moses leading them? The future must have looked very uncertain and perilous for the people of Israel, camped out in the wilderness.
OUR SCENE
I don’t need you to imagine our next scene: it’s the one we’re in. Two years ago, in January 2020, there were the first two cases of Covid in the UK. That same month, the UK formally withdrew from the European Union. What a lot of change Covid and Brexit have brought! The NHS is stretched, teachers are stretched, the care sector is stretched, and as a country, we’re financially stretched. Depression is up; divorce is up. Simmering in the background is the looming threat of global warming and climate change.
But that doesn’t complete the list of problematic things for Christians. Church attendance in England has halved in 35 years! In 1980 it was more than 5 million; in 2015, 2.5 million. [Peter Brierley survey.] That doesn’t look good. How about Rosebery Park? We have experienced a decline in attendance. Now, we don’t have many members and most of our members aren’t so young! With fewer members, everyone has to do more.
As we gaze into the future, we might not like what we see. Life has always had change and uncertainty but there seems to be an awful lot at the moment.
THE PROMISE
At this time of uncertainty I thought it would be good to start 2022 with a message of encouragement. In the Bible, God’s people often faced hugely uncertain and challenging situations. In those times, God encouraged his people.
But I thought that rather than give just ONE message of encouragement, over the next two months I would look at SIX great messages of encouragement in the Bible. I’ve never done a series like this before and I’m intrigued to see what we’ll come up with!
I’m starting with Moses’ great message of encouragement in Deuteronomy 31.
I described Moses speaking to the people of Israel. They were somewhere in the Arabah, an area just south of the Dead Sea. Deuteronomy is Moses’ final message to the people of Israel and by chapter 31 he’s almost at the end. Moses really wants to encourage the people. He also really wants to encourage Joshua, who will take over from him. He says exactly the same things to each. GOD WILL BE WITH YOU. GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS. Look at our passage.
Verse 1. Moses first addresses all Israel.
Verse 3. ‘The Lord your God himself will go over before you.’ GOD WILL BE WITH YOU.
Verses 3 to 5. ‘He will destroy these nations before you … the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og … the Lord will give them over to you …’ GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS.
GOD WILL BE WITH YOU. GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS. That’s Moses' message, isn’t it? How would you feel about going into a battle if you know that God will be with you and you will definitely win? Confident, I imagine!
Let’s go on to verses 7 and 8.
Verse 7. Now Moses addresses Joshua.
Verses 7 and 8. ‘you shall go with this people into the land … AND YOU SHALL PUT THEM IN POSSESSION OF IT.’ GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS.
‘It is the lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.’ GOD WILL BE WITH YOU.
It’s the same message, isn’t it? GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS. GOD WILL BE WITH YOU. It’s a wonderful, straightforward, encouraging message.
Does it apply to us? Yes, it applies to us in just the same way it applied to those ancient Israelites. How can I say that?
First, God doesn’t change. If God doesn’t change then he behaves the same way in the same situation. If he stood by his people in the time of Moses, he’ll stand by his people today.
Second, the writer to Hebrews quoted Moses’ words: ‘I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.’ If the writer of Hebrews felt that God’s promise to the ancient Israelites applied to his or her time then it means that God’s promise wasn’t just for the ancient Israelites: it applies to all of God’s people, including us.
But some of you are a bit suspicious. It sounds too good to be true. Experience tells you that life doesn’t work like that. You want to get a good mark in an exam? There’s a condition. You have to study. You want to reduce your blood pressure? There’s a condition. You have to exercise. You want a mortgage? There’s a condition. You have to prove your income. Are there no conditions for God to be with us; for God to give us success?
Just a moment’s reflection on our passage shows us that God’s promise CAN’T apply to everyone. Moses tells the people of Israel that God will be with THEM and he will give THEM success. But he ISN’T going to be with the nations that presently occupy the land. He won’t give THEM success! On the contrary, he’s going to destroy them! So, there must be a condition somewhere!
THE CONDITION
And the answer is, yes, there is a condition. You would probably like it better if God’s blessing was like winning the lottery and came with no conditions attached. But if there IS a condition, it’s better that I tell you than I don’t tell you. If the mortgage adviser doesn’t tell the applicant the conditions, she might not get a mortgage. If there’s a condition to God being with us, God giving us success, we need to know it. Otherwise, we might not experience God being with us, God giving us success.
So, what is the condition? It isn’t hard to find. We simply go back one chapter, to chapter 30. Moses gives the condition at least twice, with slightly different wording.
Look at verses 9b and 10. Moses says, “For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers … WHEN you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, WHEN you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
The condition for prospering is obedience to God and turning to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Now look at verses 15 to 18:
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil … IF you obey the commandments of the Lord your God … THEN you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it … But IF your heart turns away … I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.”
The condition for prospering is obedience to God; the condition for perishing is turning away from God.
This is what Moses, with 120 years of experience, in his final words to the people of Israel, says. It’s in the Bible, God’s word, and it’s simple and straightforward. But lots of Christians don’t believe it. Preachers tell congregations that God loves them and wants to bless them and they don’t say anything about any condition.
THE IMPLICATION
Let’s consider what this implies. Moses says that when God’s people obey God, keep his commandments and turn to him with all their heart and soul, God will take delight in prospering them. But by and large the church in the UK is NOT prospering. It’s doing the opposite of prospering. The number attending church has halved in 35 years. So, what should we conclude? The obvious conclusion is that the church in the UK, by and large, ISN’T fulfilling God’s condition. That would be my conclusion. It is also the conclusion of a great many Christians in the UK.
In 2005, a Christian organization called the Ecumenical Research Committee published a survey titled ‘Let the People Speak’. 14,000 people responded to the survey. The survey noted that two-thirds of the British population say they believe in God. So, it asked, why do so few people attend church? I’m going to quote from the report:
“The answer to this question has been revealed by approximately 75% of those responding i.e. 10,400 replies. They pointed out that while many believe in God, they regard him as undemanding AND NOT REQUIRING OBEDIENCE OR ANY PARTICULAR STANDARD OF CONDUCT.”
What do you think? Do you agree with those respondents? I do! If those respondents are right then there is a deep problem with the message that churches in the UK are giving. God IS a forgiving, tolerant God. But God also demands obedience. Moses tells the people of Israel that God is with people who obey him, keep his commandments, and turn to him with all their heart and soul. We, as the church, need to tell people that. THOSE people can face the future with confidence. No one else can.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
What are the practical applications?
First, God doesn’t demand that we’re perfect. But he does demand a single-minded devotion, something like the commitment of a good and faithful marriage. We need to give him that. We aren’t saved by doing that. Doing that is a response to his love for us.
Second, if we are giving God that commitment then we should be encouraged as we face the future. We should be deeply confident that God WILL be with us in all our battles and struggles. He WILL give us success.
Third, in our passage today Moses encouraged God’s people. We should do the same! We should remind each other that God is with us, that he will give us success. Deuteronomy 31:6 is one of the great promises of the Bible. Let’s remind our Christian friends of it when they’re under pressure and struggling. I remember Sophie [our daughter] giving this verse to Priscilla [my wife] when she was about 13 years old. She wrote a little message and concluded, “Deuteronomy 31:6 ‘…God will never leave u nor forsake u’ Keep smiling” – and a smiley face. We need these messages of encouragement!
Mu fourth and final thought is this. Moses addressed the people of Israel. Then he spoke specifically to Joshua, who would take over from him. Leaders are at the sharp end. They especially need encouragement. Let’s follow Moses’ example in this too, and make a special point of encouraging our leaders.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 9th January 2022
