(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Men, Deuteronomy chapter number 32, if you remember last week, the setup for this was found in chapter 31, where Moses was predicting that after his death, of course, they're going to get away from the Lord, and God had revealed to him that the children of Israel are going to disobey, and that eventually they're going to be carried captive into distant lands, and so forth. And that this song that we're seeing in Deuteronomy chapter 32 would stick with them, even after they've forgotten maybe the word of God in general. Music has a way of kind of sticking with us, and so this is a song that was supposed to testify against them. They're supposed to learn this song and pass it down, and so forth. So now we're going to get into the song itself, beginning in verse 1 here, because at the end of chapter 31, it says in verse 30, Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song until they were ended. Verse 1, it says, Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. So what makes this poetry, what makes it a song, of course, is this parallelism, right? This is the main thing in all of Hebrew poetry, so if we're in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, you're going to see these doubles all the time, these little couplets, these parallels, so it's like give ear, O ye heavens, hear, O earth, and kind of this back and forth. Sometimes the halves of the parallel are the same, sometimes they're opposite of one another, but they're connected in some way, they're related in some way. So it's important to understand that when you're interpreting these passages, to see how the parallels work and the comparisons that are being made, or the contrasts that are being made in any of the poetic books, or these little poetic sections that are built in. And then also the other thing that makes it poetic is that there's a lot of metaphor, there's a lot of simile, there's a lot of just flowery language, right? Because the opposite of poetry is prose. The word prose simply means straightforward. It's just a straightforward telling of whatever. Whereas this is really kind of fancied up and there is a lot of metaphor, meaning a lot of things are not literal in poetry. So let's go through this. He says, starting out in verse 3, we just read the first two verses, but it says in verse number 3, I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways or judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right, is he. Now, God is referred to throughout scripture as the rock. And what does this mean? Well, the idea here is that a rock is something that's solid. You think of a huge rock being unmovable, unchangeable. And also it is something that can be used as a foundation to build upon, right? The wise man built his house upon the rock, whereas the foolish man built his house upon the sand. So God is not one who changes with the times. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. God is a rock, meaning that we can rely on him, we can count on him, we don't have to worry about him not being there or changing or whatever. And so that's what the Bible is saying here when it says that God is the rock. Everything he does is right. Everything he says is right. Everything in the Bible is true. It says in verse 5, they have corrupted themselves. Their spot is not the spot of his children. They are a perverse and crooked generation. Now, remember, this is about the Israelites because the whole point of this song is that in the future a corrupt generation of Israelites are supposed to look to this song and be rebuked by the song and realize what they're doing wrong and get right with God. And so the perverse and crooked generation could be any generation of Israelites who are hearing the words of this song. This is written for that future crooked and perverse generation. Of course, Jesus Christ, when he came on the scene, what did he say about that particular generation of Jews in the first century A.D.? He called them a crooked and perverse generation, an evil generation, right? He said, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The sign that they were given was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they were an evil and adulterous generation and so for the most part they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Notice verse number five, their spot is not the spot of his children. You see, being a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob does not make you a child of God. We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And the Bible explicitly tells in the book of Romans, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Galatians tells us, we as Isaac was, are the children of promise. Whereas the children born after the flesh, Israel after the flesh, Christ rejecting, unbelieving Israel, they are spiritually Ishmael and Hagar. We are Isaac, we are the sons of promise. So their spot is not the spot of his children, the Bible says here, right? Because you have to believe on the Lord in order to be one of God's children. It says in verse number six, do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee and established thee? Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father and he will show thee, thy elders and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. So notice here, God has done great things for Israel. He says in verse six, you know, hey, is this how you pay back God for all the good that he's done to you? If God has been so good to Israel, when he looked at the entire world and he is dividing up the nations of the world, he set their boundaries according to the number of the children of Israel. Why? Because Israel is who he cared the most about and gave the most care to determining their border and their area. They were the apple of his eye and then they turn around and requite him by spitting in his face, following other gods, making idols unto themselves. You know, later the prophets are going to report God as saying, you know, I have brought up children and they've rebelled against me. Because Israel was supposed to be the children of God, right? The special chosen nation was supposed to be a light to the Gentiles. They were supposed to be the pattern nation. They were God's chosen people and they were supposed to be his children. He was going to be a father unto them, they were going to be his children and so forth. But, like I said, those who do not have faith in the Lord, those who have not called upon the name of the Lord, and in the New Testament, those who have not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God, they are not God's children. They should have been God's children, but they're not because they don't believe in Christ and so they've been cut off. Once we have believed on Christ, we are God's children and that's something that can never change. Once we are a child of God, we will always be a child of God. And Jesus said, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. So, God had showed all of this love and affection and given special treatment to the nation of Israel and really they had all kinds of advantages because unto them were committed the oracles of God. And then, unfortunately, this is how they were quite him and God is angry. It says in verse number 10, he found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye, as an eagle stirreth up her nest, floodereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange God with him. And, of course, this is talking specifically about Jacob or Israel but it's sort of representative of the whole nation. Because obviously, yeah, Jacob the person was literally led through the wilderness by God, the Lord is with him as he goes to Padan Aram and comes back. But, if you remember, the whole nation of Israel went through the wilderness and they, quote unquote, wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Yes, they were wandering but they were really wandering because God is leading them in a circuitous route. God's making them wander in the wilderness. It's not that they just got lost and couldn't figure out where the promised land was because, remember, they had the cloudy pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night that showed them where they were to go. And if the cloudy pillar would stop somewhere for a year then that's where they stay for a year. And if it's a month, if it's a week, if it's a year, if it's two years, it doesn't matter. They stayed with the cloudy pillar. And so God is leading them through the wilderness as well. So you could read this two different ways. You could read it about the person Jacob but then obviously then there's the metaphorical nation of Israel. Because Israel is both the name of a person and that person's descendants, the nation of Israel. And so it says the Lord alone did lead him. There was no strange God with him. Strange meaning foreign, not just like, man, that's a really weird God. And there are some weird gods out there. But the point is any god that's foreign to the God of the Bible is a false god. There is but one god. All the other gods are demons. They are idols. They are devils. And so the Bible says in verse number 13, He made him ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the increase of the fields. And he made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock. Butter of kine, kine is referring to cows or cattle. Butter of kine and milk of sheep with fat of lambs and rams of the breed of Bashan. And goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat and now didst drink the pure blood of the grape. But Jeshurun waxed fat. Now Jeshurun here is kind of an odd word. Nobody's really 100% sure where this word comes from. But it's used four times in the Bible. It's used three times in the book of Deuteronomy, all at the very end of Deuteronomy. I think it's like maybe chapter 32 and chapter 33 are the two places that we find this. And then I know it's found in the book of Isaiah in one place. And if you look up all four mentions, you see that it's used interchangeably with the word Israel. So again, it could either refer to the person or the nation, but it's used interchangeably with Israel. There are different theories about where this, you know, the etymology for this word comes from. Nobody's really totally sure, but it's just another name for Israel. So that's really the main thing to know. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Thou art waxing fat. Thou art grown thick. And by the way, did I mention you're covered with fatness. Then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. And here's the thing. There's a tendency among people that when things go well, we forget God. And then when we are in trouble and when things are going bad, now all of a sudden we're on our knees praying, begging God. And this is a horrible way to live your life. But this is what happens. Here God's blessing you. He's given you abundance and food and drink. And, you know, waxing fat here, you know, we probably have a little bit of a different view toward fatness than how the Bible typically views fatness. Because to us being fat is just like, oh man, you know, I got a little carried away with the desserts or I didn't get enough exercise and I, you know, I need to go on a diet or whatever. You know, but here's the thing. Throughout most of human history, people were struggling to get enough calories. They weren't struggling with getting too many calories. Okay. So, you know, throughout history, people purposely sought out high calorie meals and made sure to get as many calories as they could because they're out working hard. They're burning a lot of calories. I mean, today typically, if you look at the packaging, what does it say? Like, hey, this is based on a 2,000 calorie diet or these percentages are based on a 2,500 calorie diet. But if you go back to the early 20th century in America, you know, people were eating 4,000 calories a day on a typical farm or something. You know, if you're out there physically working and stuff and they weren't overweight, it's just they needed more because they're working. And so a lot of recipes were devised to just really pack as many calories into that lunch as you could so that you could eat all those calories and get out there and work and you're not just wasting away because you're going to burn through those 4,000 calories. So in the Bible, when it talks about being made fat or waxing fat, yes, there are some negative mentions but there are also a lot of positive mentions because the idea is, hey, at least I have enough food so that I'm, you know, I'm putting on a little bit of a spare tire here because it's better than starving or going hungry. So the idea here is that waxing fat is sometimes positive in the Bible just meaning you're rich, you have abundance, you're doing well. You know, for example, the Bible says the liberal soul shall be made fat. Okay, so we don't want to understand this in like modern terms like, hey, have you noticed how fat liberals are? That's not what the Bible is saying because the word liberal in the Bible, it doesn't mean that you worship Satan and want to murder babies and you want to, you know, turn every child into a transvestite, okay? Because that's kind of what it's starting to mean now. But the point is like, you know, in the Bible, liberal just means that you're really generous, right? And we still will use it that way too but being liberal is when you're really open-handed and generous and you give things away. And so the Bible says the liberal soul shall be made fat meaning, you know, if you're generous, that's going to come back to you. Give and it shall be given unto you. And so the liberal soul shall be made fat. So here when the Bible says here, Jeshurin waxed fat, what it's saying is that Jeshurin is experiencing prosperity. And because he's experiencing prosperity, then he forsook God and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. Because when things are going well, a lot of times we just don't feel like we need God. When we just start enjoying the pleasures of this world and just having a good old time. And this is exactly what the author of Proverbs chapter 30 is talking about. When he says, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. So he's saying, look, there's a pitfall to being rich and just getting too prideful and arrogant and thinking that you don't need God. And then there's a pitfall of being poor where you're poor and then you start justifying stealing and you start getting bitter at a bad attitude because you're just barely living hand to mouth or starving or whatever. You know, that could drive you to do bad things. So we kind of want that middle way of not being too wealthy, not being too poor, just being in the middle. And so Jashurin waxed fat and forsook God and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. And it's easy for us today in 2024 America to wax fat, you know, both literally and spiritually speaking because of the fact that we have a lot of prosperity. And this is why America is getting more and more de-Christianized. Have you noticed that poor countries are often more Christian than wealthy countries? Now this is not because Christianity makes you poor or that being an atheist makes you rich. It's actually quite the opposite. Actually being godly, being Christian typically will bring prosperity. And America has historically been a very Christian nation. Not to say that our government was Christian. You know, people are like, we were never Christian, look at this politician, look at this government guy, you know, look at this... That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people in the country have been overwhelmingly evangelical Christians throughout our nation's history and its heyday. There have been a lot of evangelical Christians. And so because our country has been very Christian, God has blessed our country and we have an unprecedented level of prosperity. I mean, we live like kings in this country even if you're just middle class, even if you're just working class. You are living really well compared to people throughout history and compared to the rest of the world. And so we have lots of prosperity, we have waxed fat as a nation and therefore in many ways our country is forsaking God and lightly esteeming the rock of their salvation. And if you look at a lot of these prosperous countries that are irreligious, they were very religious in the past. They were very Christian in the past. You know, they worshiped the Lord in the past and then they waxed fat. Look, even if God blesses you with prosperity, keep realizing that you need God. Be humble and thank God every day. And realize that God can take those things away from you anytime he wants to. I mean, God can just snap his fingers and just drain your bank account. You say, not me, you don't know my portfolio, Pastor Anderson, it's rock solid. But you know what? Stranger things have happened and God can always find a way to take it away. Or how about this? God can just snap his fingers and take away your life from you. Take away your health, take away your mind. All kinds of things that God can do. And so we need to make sure that we serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. And that we remember always that we are dust and ashes and we need to rely on God all the time. And not just think, well I'm self-sufficient, I'm doing so well. And I'm just at a point where I just need to enjoy life. And I don't really need to be focused on church right now or reading my Bible. I've kind of been there, done that. I just kind of want to go out. It's stupid. Stay with the Lord. You stay great the way that you became great. You don't use the Lord to become great and then, now I don't need God anymore. It's stupid, right? Stay with the Lord all the way to the end. They provoked him, this is talking about Israel because remember, Jeshurun can refer to both the person Israel and the nation. Notice the plural here. They, we're talking about the nation, obviously not Israel. The person, talking to the nation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods. With abominations provoked him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God. Now look, this is showing here that what the Apostle Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is not unique. When he says that the things which the Gentiles offer in sacrifice unto idols, they sacrifice unto devils. That's not unique to the Apostle Paul. That same idea is found right here. That if you're serving idols, you are serving devils. Behind every idol, there is a demon there that's being worshipped. And the thing about that is that, you know, the idol is not anything in the world. I mean, you say, well, it's just a dumb idol. It's just, it's a piece of rock, it's a piece of metal, it's a piece of wood. It can't do anything. It has eyes but it sees not. It has ears and it hears not. You know, it has a mouth but it speaks not. Oh, and by the way, everybody who worships it is the same way. They're also, they're also dumb. They also can't see or hear or say anything intelligent. And by the way, the Bible says if you worship idols, you're like that idol. You're like a dumb, you're dumb as a brick because the idol is a brick. So you're dumb as a brick for bowing down to a hunk of whatever material. That's not my idea. That's what the Bible says repeatedly. That those who worship idols are like the idol in their dumbness. And so, you know, when you're looking at these idols, you could just be tempted to just think, oh, you know, there's nothing there. And the Apostle Paul acknowledges, well, obviously, yeah, it's just a piece of wood, it's a piece of stone, it can't do anything. But what you have to understand is that what it represents is real and is something that we should be worried about in the sense of we don't want to bring it into our home, we don't want to give any honor to it, we don't want to get involved with it. That's why the Bible says flee idolatry. We want to stay away from it because you could just say, oh, well, you know, it's just a cool decoration or whatever. Just get it out of your house because you don't want to have it around and you don't want to participate in any kind of idol worship or bowing down to statues. And by the way, the Roman Catholic Church is idolatry. And the East Orthodox Church, they're a bunch of idolaters. Okay. But that's another sermon that shall be preached another time. They sacrificed unto devils not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up whom your fathers feared not. So there's a tendency for people to follow exotic new religions, right? This is like in Athens when the Apostle Paul's preaching about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and they say, well, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods. And what did they mean by that is that in Athens, they're used to foreign religions coming in and, hey, let me tell you about my exotic god from the east or whatever. Because in a polytheistic culture, they're constantly just, you know, switching gods, add gods, bring new gods, combine gods. Hey, this river god sounds a lot like this ocean god. Let's just merge that into one god and whatever. And so these new gods that have come up, you know, the devil is constantly being repackaged and rebranded in different ways, but it's the same devil. But you see that it's just a new variation on it, right? The devil's constantly trying to deceive people in a fresh way. Of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful and has forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be, for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. Now again, I want to make sure how we understand this. On the personal level, the personal level, in order to be a child of God, you have to be saved. And once you're a child of God, you'll always be a child of God. Once saved, always saved. That's on the personal, individual level. But there's also the idea of a nation. And God is metaphorically referring to the nation of Israel as his son. For example, he says, Israel is my firstborn in the book of Exodus, and out of Egypt have I called my son. Now of course, that's also prophetic because Jesus Christ is going to spend time down in Egypt as a child, and then God's going to call his literal son out of Egypt. But it's also used about Israel. So the idea here of the nation of Israel metaphorically being the children of God, or just collectively God's firstborn, God's son, you know, thinking about it that way, that is a metaphor that is not literal. And this is why the Apostle Paul is clearing this up in Romans, making sure that they know, hey, if you don't believe in Jesus, you're not a child of God. The children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Because you can see how this would be misunderstood. Oh, Israel is God's firstborn. The children of Israel are his sons and daughters. Metaphorically speaking, yes, they're supposed to be on the individual level. Many of them are. But if the nation is not following God, then their spot is not the spot of his children. They cease to be God's children. Now, can the individual ever stop being God's child? Absolutely not. But can a nation go from, you know, in general, the children of Israel, these are my people, these are my sons and daughters, to like, okay, the kingdom of God should be taken from you, given to a nation, bringing forth the fruit syrup. So I want to make sure that you understand that distinction between individual personal salvation, being a literal child of God, because we are literally the children of God, and being, you know, just metaphorically God's people as a nation, corporate. You know, and obviously the nation of Israel in the Old Testament is a special case. There's no other case like it. There is no other nation that has ever been or ever will be like the Old Testament nation of Israel. That was a special covenant that God made with them. That covenant's no longer in force, but that was a special covenant that was made with them. But even in the New Testament, you know, we could still think of a nation being a Christian nation and then turning away from the Lord and then no longer being God's people, no longer being a Christian nation. Of course, there's always going to be individuals that are saved. I mean, pick the worst, most godless country in the world. I guarantee you there are saved Christians there. You say, well, how do you know that, Pastor Anderson? Because the Bible clearly tells us in the book of Revelation that up in heaven there's going to be people from every nation, every kindred, every family, every tribe. God is the God of the whole earth, and there's always that righteous remnant. You know, even in European countries that have once been places where a lot of people were saved or a lot of people were reading the Bible, a lot of people were Christians, and then they've just become so irreligious, but yet there's always that righteous remnant. I mean, you name the country in Europe, and they're probably listening to this sermon. You know, there's probably somebody from every country in Europe who's going to listen to this sermon eventually. You know, even if they're not, I'm not saying they're tuned in right now, you know, because it's the middle of the night or whatever. But I'm saying, you know, give it a few weeks, give it a few months, I'm telling you. And that's just people who are listening to my preaching. What about all the other saved Christians over there that are not listening to my preaching? I mean, there's a righteous remnant over there, my friend. And so there always is. But that doesn't change the fact that a nation can go from being a nation whose God is the Lord to being a wicked nation, an apostate nation. And so the Bible says in verse number 21, They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. This is exactly what he has done in the New Testament. He has provoked Israel to jealousy by saying, okay, I'm done with you, Israel, and now I'm going to turn to the Gentiles. And remember, this is all throughout the Book of Acts. The Jews hated this when the Apostle Paul would say this. Like, from henceforth, we're going to the Gentiles. They will hear it. You have counted yourselves unworthy of the kingdom of God. And so this right here in verse 21 is prophetic of the New Testament. And by the way, let's just stop and just marvel at the amazing prophecies in God's Word that have come true. Because, you know, people could argue that, you know, well, that prophecy, I don't know if that really came true because, you know, people could just reject, let's say they just reject the New Testament or something and they're just like, I don't believe the New Testament, I don't believe the Bible, so I don't believe Jesus fulfilled all these prophecies, because blah, blah, blah. You know, people just scoff and mock and don't take the Word of God seriously. But here's something that everyone would have to acknowledge. Like, no one can get around this. Even the most staunch atheists would have to admit that there's some really serious prophecies in the Bible that have come true. And let me give you what I think is the best example, okay? Is that back when the nation of Israel is a small nation, Old Testament, hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ, right? Everyone would have to acknowledge that this is the case. When you've got the gods of the Hittites, you've got the gods of the Philistines, you've got the Greeks and they've got their gods, the Romans have their gods, and, you know, the Hindus have their, everything's going on, right? And then you've got Israel here with the true God, Jehovah God, and you know what? You know what? The prophecy was many hundreds of years before Jesus Christ walked on this earth was that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea and that people won't even have to say to their neighbor, to their brother, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. So God is already saying many hundreds of years before Christ, everybody in the entire world is going to know who I am because I am the only true God, all these other gods are false gods, everybody in the world is going to know who I am. Okay, fast forward to 2024. Is Jehovah God, is the Lord God of the Bible, a regional God of a certain nation, a God of a certain group of people, or is he a God that is worshipped all over the entire world and that everybody in the world virtually knows who he is? I mean, think about it. Everybody in the world knows who God is. Everybody in the world knows who Jesus is. The Bible is in thousands of languages. The Bible is everywhere. And truly the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I mean, people may not believe in Christ, but they know who Jesus Christ is. People may not believe in the God of the Bible, but it's not like, oh, Israelite religion? What is that? What is that? You know, because look, if I started asking you, hey, can somebody stand up and tell me about the religion of the Hittites? Anybody? Anybody have anything on the Philistine religion? You know, and we might know a little bit about maybe Greek or Roman mythology, but I suspect that probably the majority of people in this room probably don't know much about it, and I don't blame you because it doesn't matter, because it's not relevant, because guess what? People aren't worshiping Zeus today. They just aren't. People are not worshiping these gods like Athena. I'm sure there's some geeked-out Dungeons and Dragons type that's doing it, you know what I mean? Just like there's some guy in Iceland that's really into Thor or whatever and Odin or whatever. I get that. But I'm saying there's not really anybody who seriously is worshiping any of these other gods of the heathen from back then, but isn't it interesting how the God of the Bible is still super relevant, super important, and not only that, he's taken over the whole world in the sense that everybody in the world knows who Jesus Christ is. Everybody in the world knows who God is. Now, obviously, the majority are unsaved. The majority don't believe in him, but it's not like, hey, did you know that the Israelites had this god? It's like, really? What? And here's the funny thing about that. Why does everyone know who God is in 2024? Is it because of the Jews? Is it because of 14 million Jews? No, because the way that the whole world knows about the god of the Old Testament is through Christianity, through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole world knows the god of Deuteronomy through Jesus. Folks, I don't care if you're an atheist or an agnostic. You cannot deny that that is a really ambitious and unlikely prophecy to say, oh, the entire world's going to be worshiping me. Everybody's going to know who I am. And then, boom, here we are. Now, obviously, there's going to be a more literal fulfillment of that at the second coming of Christ with the millennial reign of Christ. But in many ways, there's already been a shadow fulfillment of that because can you really not see that in 2024, the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord? And it's like, you don't have to tell people, hey, you know, the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What? Huh? Everybody knows that there's the god of the Bible, the god of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why, you know, it's sort of like, you know, why is English such a big language? Is it because of England? No! It's because of America! I'm just trying to make people mad that are online. You know. Why is Portuguese a big language? It's because of Brazil. So the point is that, you know, Judea, 14 million Jews, look, if it weren't for Jesus Christ, Judaism would just be this total nothing burger that nobody even cares about. The only reason Judaism even matters is because of Christianity. Because it's a reaction to Christianity. It's a villain for Christianity. Okay. But honestly, Christianity is like a thousand times bigger. Literally. So, you know, as far as people who actually profess it and are actually religious with it. And so therefore, you know, that's just an amazing prophecy. I think that's incredible. I think that that is something that people should not take lightly. Of course, we all believe the Bible anyway, but I just thought it was interesting how that prophecy has been so fulfilled. So the Bible says here in verse 21, they've moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They've provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people. Basically all the non-Israelites, they're going to be the ones who actually become my people. That should make Israel jealous that now, you know, I've discarded Israel and moved on to the Gentiles. And I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. Of course, you know, the Apostle Paul quotes these verses when making those arguments in the book of Romans. Verse 22, For fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them. I'll spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, devoured with burning heat, and with a bitter destruction. I'll also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust, and the sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. I said I would scatter them into corners. I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men. Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, the Lord hath not done all this. For they are a nation void of counsel, without any understanding in them. You know, it's interesting that he talks about scattering the Israelites into the four corners and making the remembrance of them to cease from among men. And you can say, well, I mean, Pastor Anderson, you know, they haven't really been forgotten. You know, yeah, okay, they got scattered, but they, you know, they haven't really been forgotten. Their remembrance never ceased. How is that fulfilled? Well, here's how it's fulfilled, is that when God scattered the northern nation of Israel, the Ten Tribes, they're now known as the Ten Lost Tribes. And really, the only ones who were brought back and gathered, the so-called Jews of today, you know, they only represent tribes like Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Ten Tribes are known as the Ten Lost Tribes for a reason, because their remembrance has been destroyed from under heaven. And the only reason that we even know who they are is because of the Bible. If it weren't for the Bible, no one would know what a Gadite is, or a Zebulunite, or an Issacharite. There are no Issacharites in this world, okay? There are no Reubenites, Gadites. They don't exist. You know, if we think about ethnicities in this world, what would we, you know, there's French people, there's German people, Brazilians, right? Mexicans. There are Chinese people, Japanese people, Koreans. Gadites? Amalekites? No, because God said he would blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. That's not one of the twelve tribes, by the way. But he said he'd blot out Amalek. Well, guess what? Many of the even twelve tribes have been blotted out completely. Reubenites, gone. Gadites, gone. Manassites, gone. Ephraimites, gone. Asher, gone. Issachar, gone, right? They're gone, Dan. It's gone! Now, some people are like, you know, Dan, Denmark, huh? You know, there are people that try to make up this dumb stuff like that, things that kind of sound the same, a little bit of folk etymology there. But basically, you know, and obviously you got your black Hebrew Israelites that'll tell you that, you know, the Puerto Ricans are a certain tribe, and, you know, these Africans are a certain tribe, whatever, you know. Haiti is this lost tribe. None of that is to be taken seriously. Amongst actual serious people, okay, we know that these ten lost tribes are the ten lost tribes because they're gone. They don't exist in a meaningful way anywhere on this planet. So I can see how God fulfilled this about blotting them out. Now, of course, you know, there was that remnant in that southern kingdom that remained the Jews, but then, of course, you know, ultimately they ended up getting kicked out as well because they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ by and large. So let's hurry up here because I want to get through a little more of this before we run out of time. It says here in verse number 28, For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. How should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight except their rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. He's saying, look, other gods are not the same as the God of the Bible. Don't try, you know, some people try to come at you like, you know, what's so special about the Bible? What about all these other holy books, you know? What about the Quran, hmm? What about the Tao Te Ching? You know, look, all of those books cannot even hold a candle to the Bible in quality. This book's written by God. This is the diamond, okay? I don't even want to say those are cubic zirconium because that's giving them too much credit. They're more like a ring pop, you know, in comparison. Except that they don't, except they don't taste good. At least the ring pop can give you a few calories as you wax fat, jeshurun. But anyway, you know, obviously their rock is not as our rock, you know, and people say, oh, all religions are the same. No, all religions are not the same. Biblical Christianity is totally different than other religions. Other religions are about working your way to heaven. Biblical Christianity is done. It's do versus done. All the other religions do. Our religion, done. Two religions that are totally different, right? And so, no, their rock is not as our rock. Well, you know, you're an atheist with respect to Zeus. And Athena, you know, you're an atheist with respect to hundreds of pagan gods and so I'm just adding one more. Yahweh. You know, let me tell you something. No, you can't compare the god of the Bible to Zeus or Athena or Thor or any of these gods. First of all, the Bible says their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. So, what the Bible is saying here is that even the heathen nations would admit that their god is not the same as the god of Israel. What is distinct about the true god, the god of Israel here, the god of the book of Deuteronomy? First of all, the god of the Bible is the creator of the whole earth. Okay? The gods of Greek mythology, the gods of the Philistines and their mythology, you know, Ugaritic mythology, all these other false gods, they don't even claim to be the creator. I mean, Zeus, nobody's saying, hey, Zeus created the whole world. They don't even claim that. Their gods are demons. Okay, they are created beings. Okay, whereas the god of the Bible, in the beginning, God. He was already there. He creates everything, ex nihilo, out of nothing. Okay, so that's a big difference between god of the Bible and the gods of the nations at this time, all these polytheistic nations. Their rock is not the same. So, you know, they have their little favorite god. You know, some of these cities, they have their god that they're rooting for. It's like a sports team to them. Hey, our god's going to kick your god's butt or whatever. But none of them believes that their god is really the god of the whole earth, the supreme god, the creator of everything, the ruler of heaven on the earth. And, you know, I brought up earlier all these prophecies in the Old Testament about how one day the entire world is going to know who god is and that the earth's going to be filled with the... You know, other ancient religions, they don't make those kind of claims that we see in the Bible. Okay, you know, that's the Bible making those claims, and then, boom, they all came true. Here we are, 2024, with hindsight, it came... And we could talk about many other undeniable fulfillments of prophecy, but that would be another sermon. So, their god's not as our god, their rock is not as our rock, verse 31, even our enemies themselves being judged, even they'll tell you that it's not the same. For their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of ass. He's saying, look, these people are worshipping, literally, Satan. You know what's so interesting is that if you look at these ancient pagan cultures, or if you look at modern-day polytheistic cultures like, for example, India, you'll see that they'll just outright say, we're worshipping the serpent, we love the serpent. I mean, think about all the serpent imagery in Hinduism, right? I mean, the serpent's great. I mean, the ancient Greeks loved worshipping serpents. They have all kinds of serpent deity. Why? Because they're worshipping the devil. By the way, you look at Scandinavian, old Norse mythology, and of course, you know, you got this great serpent and everything, you know. They all love the serpent because it's the devil, okay? And we know who that's. It's so funny, looking at Hindu artwork, it's just like flames and snakes and just these ghoulish faces, and you're just like, these are the good guys? Like everything that the Bible says about the devil is basically Hindu. In fact, one of their main deities is literally called Devi, D-E-V-I. You literally just put like an L on the end of it, and you're there. It's like, and if you look at a picture of Devi, yeah, it needs that L, okay? Put two L's on the end of it. But anyway, you know, they're worshipping Satan. You know, it's poison. It's not like, oh, you know, all religions are basically teaching us morality. No, no, it's poison, it's gall, it's bitterness, it's Sodom, it's Gomorrah, it's venom, it's trash. That's what the Bible says. Oh, I think you're a little hard on the Catholics on Sunday morning. Nope. Sure wasn't. Verse 34, is not this laid up in store with me and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time. Oh, and by the way, sorry, I got to go off on this. The Catholics. They literally decorate their churches with statues of demons, gargoyles. Okay, go to Europe and start looking at some of these churches and they literally are decorated with demons. Like, who, what, who does that? Like, can you imagine our church, we're like, hey guys, you know, we're remodeling our church building. We're going to put some really ghoulish, demonic statues all around the outside of our church building. You know, to sort of scare the demons away like a scarecrow. What kind of voodoo, hocus pocus, pagan witch crop, what is that? And look, my friend, maybe you haven't been exposed to this because, you know, Catholic churches in America aren't necessarily advertising demons all over the outside of the building. But just go over to Europe and you'll see what I'm talking about. I met my wife in Munich, Germany in a place called Marienplatz. And in Marienplatz, there's a big Catholic church there, and I was there with the missionary. He said, I'm going to show you the devil's footprint. Like, what? We go to the Roman Catholic church in Marienplatz. Have you seen this? No. So you go to the Roman Catholic church in Marienplatz, there's some big historic thing. And literally, like, you walk in and, like, in the place of honor, like, it's like the foyer and you're, like, going in. Like, you just go through the front door and you're just walking in and just right smack dab in the middle. You know how kids will, like, put their, like, hand print or footprint in the concrete and, you know, hey, you know, so-and-so was here, whatever? There's just, like, this weird, like, claw, like a dragon claw looking, like, just footprint. Just, like, in this, like, place of honor and it's just, like, this weird demonic looking, like, Satan's footprint. And it's just, like, welcome to church. Satan was here. And, hey, he still is, you know. But I'm telling you, and you look around these, I mean, you look around these churches, I mean, who knows what I'm talking about? Who's seen the statues that I'm talking about? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's just, like, hey, look at all these demons. Welcome to church. It's not normal. It's weird. It's satanic. But, you know, still people will defend it. It's unbelievable, isn't it? Is not this laid up, verse 34, in store with me and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. Verse 36, for the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants. Of course, that's quoted in Hebrews. When he seeth that their power is gone, and there's none shut up or left, and he shall say, Where are their gods? Their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings. Let them rise up and help you and be your protection. See now that I, even I am he, there is no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand, for I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I live forever. You see, only God has immortality, the Bible says. And the only reason that we have eternal life is because we are in Christ. God confers unto us his immortality, even as the Father quickeneth whom he will, right? Jesus Christ quickens or brings to life those whom he will, and we have eternal life in Jesus Christ. But God is different than the other false gods. He is immortal. There is no other God with him. You know, and it's funny, people say like, well, you know, there's a council of gods up in heaven. There's no God. He's like, there's no God with me. It's just me up here, okay? There's only one God. Now, of course, there's a Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but that's three persons that make up one God. There's no other God. There's the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, one God, no other God. It's not, as the Mormons, I mean, the Mormons teach that there are literally millions of gods or billions of gods. I mean, there are quotes from their founders that, like, people like Brigham Young that say that, you know, as many stars as there are in the sky, you know, there's that many gods. There's millions and billions of gods. And look, I recommend you to watch the little Mormon, the banned Mormon cartoon it's called on YouTube. Who knows what I'm talking about? It's from a documentary film called The God Makers. The documentary isn't really that great. I rented it from Blockbuster as a teenager, and I enjoyed it, but it's not really that great of a documentary. Really, the cartoon's the best part, by far. And I'm not just saying that because I have the mentality of a child or something. I'm just telling you, the cartoon is the crux of that film. The rest of it's just okay. So, that cartoon, though, let me tell you something. I have fact-checked that cartoon. I'm not somebody who just blindly, hey, you know, the Quran says that the moon sets in a muddy river every night. Look, I don't just say all these wild things that aren't true. And I like to fact-check things and make sure that they're real. I have fact-checked the teachings of that cartoon. Everything in that cartoon is true, okay? I fact-checked it with their own church-approved resources. Only the stuff that they say on the record, not things that they're being accused of, everything in that cartoon has been documented. That banned Mormon cartoons seven or eight minutes long. That is what they believe, okay? And I've talked to Mormons about it. They can't really, oh, that cartoon. But they can't really tell you what exactly in that isn't true, though. Because it is all true. That is what they believe. Well, it's contrary to the Bible. God said, before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be any God after me. I'm the Lord, there's none else. Beside me there is no Savior. He says, beside me there's no God. There's no other God within. I kill, I make alive, I'm in. You know, believe all ends of the earth. Look to me all ye ends of the earth and be saved. Because God is the God of the whole earth. He's the only true God. I just want to finish this song. The rest of the chapter we're not going to worry about for now. So, it just says in verse number 41, If I wet my glittering sword in mine hand, take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and will reward them that hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh. Remember, this is of course very poetic language. Metaphorical language. And that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy, rejoice, oh ye nations. And here's the thing, nations and Gentiles are synonymous in the Bible. Okay. Heathen, these words are used kind of interchangeably. Heathen, Gentiles, nations. Okay. You know, you sometimes hear people talk about how, have you heard people use this term goyim? Right. And people use this term goyim, and it's like, I get what they're saying, but I kind of cringe when I hear it, just because like, because when you, if you actually know what the Hebrew means, it doesn't really make sense the way people are using it. Because goyim is plural, it means nations. So literally, when God said to Abraham, I'm going to make you a great nation, he said, I will make you a great goy. So that's ironic, isn't it? So the point is, like, goyim is plural, not, like, eh, you're such a goyim, or it's like, what the? But the point is that nations, goyim, Gentiles, heathen, these are all synonymous, interchangeable. Look what the Bible says here. He says, rejoice, oh ye nations. Because look, when we say nations, we're not talking about Israel. And this is why Gentiles becomes the opposite of Jews, right? You got Jews, and then you got Gentiles. Why? Because nations, it, the implication is nations other than Israel. Does everybody understand that? That's where this comes to mean Gentiles over time. So basically, he says here, rejoice, oh ye nations, watch this, with his people. So right, so we're talking about people that are not his people. Non-Israelites, we're talking about nations, or what we would know as Gentiles. Rejoice, oh ye nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land and to his people. And of course, in the New Testament, Romans chapter 15, right, gives all these tons of quotes from the Old Testament about things like, rejoice, oh Gentiles, praise the Lord. You know, we sing this song. Someone said, oh praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise him, all ye people. But notice, the first word is that. Praise the Lord, all ye Israelites? Praise the Lord, Jews? Praise the Lord, just his chosen people? No, no, it's praise the Lord, nations. Why? Because God is already talking about, in the Old Testament, how it's going to be worldwide. It's going to be the whole earth. And that's why in Romans chapter 15, Psalm 117 is quoted in that long list of quotes, rejoice, Gentiles, praise the Lord, Gentiles, you know, the Gentiles, the light for the Gentiles, going to reach the Gentiles, et cetera. And so that's it for the song. I'm out of time. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord. Thank you that our rock is not as their rock, Lord. Help us never to be so foolish as to bow down to an idol or to kiss a painting or to somehow genuflect before man-made images of pagan deities or so-called fake gods that have been repackaged as saints or angels or holy ones or whatever they could be packaged as, Lord. Help us to remember that you are the only true God and that you only we will serve. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.