Which Is Greater? God Or The Law

Opening illustration: What would have happened had Moses tried to figure out what was needed to accomplish God’s command? One of the biggest arithmetical miracles in the world was required in the desert. Moses led the people of Israel into the desert....Now what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 3 ½ million people required a lot of food. According to the U. S. Army’s Quartermaster General, Moses needed 1,500 tons of food a day, filling two freight trains, each a mile long. Besides, you must remember, they were cooking the food (not to mention for keeping warm, and if anyone tells you it doesn’t get cold in the desert don’t believe them!). Just for cooking this took 4,000 tons of firewood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long and this is only for one day!!! They were for forty YEARS in transit!!! Let’s not forget about water, shall we? If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes (no bathing?!), it took 11 million gallons EACH DAY - enough to fill a train of tanker cars 1,800 miles long. And another thing! They had to get across the red sea in one night. Now if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and require 35 days and nights to complete the crossing. So to get it over in one night there had to be a space in the Red Sea 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5,000 abreast. Think about this; every time they camped at the end of the day, a camp ground the size of Rhode Island was required or 750 square miles. Do you think that Moses sat down and figured out the logistics of what God told him to do before he set out from Egypt? I doubt it. He had faith that God would take care of everything. Let us have courage; we share the very same God!

Introduction & Background: Moses passes from a contemplation of what the Lord had done for Israel, to an exhortation to keep the law of the Lord. The divine manifestations of grace laid Israel under the obligation to a conscientious observance of the law that they might continue to enjoy the blessings of the covenant. The exhortation commences with the appeal, to hear and keep the commandments and rights of the Lord, without adding to them or taking from them; for not only were life and death suspended upon their observance, but it was in this that the wisdom and greatness of Israel before all the nations consisted (Deu_4:1-8). It then proceeds to a warning, not to forget the events at Horeb (Deu_4:9-14) and so fall into idolatry, the worship of images or idol deities (Deu_4:15-24); and it closes with a threat of dispersion among the heathen as the punishment of apostasy, and with a promise of restoration as the consequence of repentance and sincere conversion (Deu_4:25-31), and also with a reason for this threat and promise drawn from the history of the immediate past (Deu_4:32-34), for the purpose of fortifying the nation in its fidelity to its God, the sole author of its salvation (Deu_4:35-40).

Who is this God we worship?

1. God of ASTOUNDING WONDERS (vs. 32 – 36):

(a) His greatness - Moses reminds the Israelites again of the glorious miracles of divine grace performed in connection with the election and deliverance of Israel, such as had never been heard of from the beginning of the world. The history of all times since the creation of man, and of all places under the whole heaven, can relate no such events as those which have happened to Israel. The rise of this nation was quite different from the origin of all other nations. Even considering the plagues of Egypt and how God delivered the Israelites from their hands. None ever heard the voice of God as they did, much less speaking such words as they heard, and still less out of the midst of fire, which was their case, which was stranger still, when they might have expected they should, and doubtless feared they would be, as it was wonderful they were not, consumed by it.

Application: Have you seen the Niagara Falls, life in the oceans, people who speak hundreds of languages living in one country (India) or even a baby created in a mother’s womb?

(b) His sprite (fairness) – The plagues were trials both to the Egyptians and Israelites, whether they would be induced to believe and obey God or no. By terrors - raised in the minds of the Egyptians, or, by terrible things done among them.

Application: He gives rain and snow, both to the wicked and the righteous.