The Everlasting Arms

The Everlasting Arms

(No. 2435)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, OCTOBER 20, 1895.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER
6, 1887.

"Underneath are the everlasting arms." Deuteronomy 33:27.

This short passage is found in the midst of a mass of gold–sentences
containing the richest treasures of the Truth of God. All this
spiritual wealth is the heritage of the people of God–not only of His
typical people to whom these words were spoken, but to His real people,
the true seed of Abraham, those who are the believing children of the
Father of all Believers. If you are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you may take these precious words home to yourself–and you may live
upon them–you may eat the fat, drink the sweet and rejoice in all the
refreshment that they bring to your spirit!

In the four verses, from the 26th to the 29th, notice how near God is
said to be to His people. He is described as being above us, arching us
over with His Divine Power–"There is none like unto the God of
Jeshurun, who rides upon the Heavens to help you, and in His excellency
on the clouds." Faith can hear the tramp of the celestial cavalry above
our heads! We who trust in the Lord are always safe, for the angels of
God are looking down upon us from the battlements of Heaven, ready to
show themselves strong on our behalf as soon as their presence is
needed by us. Then, our text tells us of God beneath us. As He is above
us in the heavens, so underneath us are the everlasting arms. The next
sentence shows us God before us–"and He shall thrust out the enemy
from before you; and shall say, Destroy them." And the remaining verses
of the chapter represent Him as being all around us, so that we are
encompassed with God–not only with His Presence, with which He fills
Heaven, earth and all deep places–but with the glorious Presence of
His mighty love. He is above, beneath, before, and all around us! He
never forsakes us, for in Him we live, move, and have our being. Let us
rejoice, therefore, in our Lord's nearness!

I. Now, coming to our text, I want, as God's Spirit shall help me, to
bring to your notice, first, THE QUARTER THAT IS THUS HONORABLY
SECURED–Underneath.

"Underneath." Well, in the first place, that is the point of mysterious
assault. We look for the attacks of the powers of darkness from
underneath. They are very remarkable attacks–there are many who are
the objects of them, but there are few who fully understand them. There
are many of God's children who are often sorely vexed by Satan, yet
they do not know that it is the devil who is troubling them. They blame
themselves for thoughts that are none of their own, but which come up
from the infernal Pit like smoke and sparks from that dread lower
world. O Friends, if Satan has ever grievously tempted and assailed
you, you will dread beyond expression any repetition of that temptation
or assault! Mr. Bunyan well says that a man had better go over hedge
and ditch–and many miles round about–rather than meet this terrible
adversary! He not only works through the world and through the flesh,
but he has modes of personal attack–fiery darts from his own
hands–false accusations and foul insinuations which come only from
him. By all these he assails Christians and brings us to a stand so
that, sometimes, we know not what to do! Just underneath us there seems
to yawn the awful Pit, out of which Satan rises with his abandoned
fallen angels, to do us mischief.

Then comes in this gracious assurance–"Underneath are the everlasting
arms." Against this mysterious, because incomprehensible foe, whose
darts are so painful and deadly, God has been pleased to set a shield.
And He puts underneath you, O child of God, His everlasting arms! You
may be tempted by Satan, but it shall only be in a measure–God will
not let him put forth all his diabolical strength! When the Lord
suffered Satan to tempt Job, there was always a proviso, which said to
the devil as to the raging sea, "Hitherto shall you come, but no
further." The Lord pulled him up short just at the point where he hoped
to destroy the good man–and it shall be so with you, also, tried
Believer. Underneath you, in your worst attacks from Satan, shall be
the everlasting arms of the Lord Himself!

Note a second meaning of this word, "underneath." That is the place of
our daily pilgrimage. To the Israelites, "underneath" was the burning
sand of the terrible wilderness. Sometimes, "underneath," were the
fiery serpents and all manner of evil things, so that their march
towards Canaan was a continual trial to them. "But," says God to His
people, "though sense sees nothing underneath but ever-burning sands,
let faith see underneath the everlasting arms." Some of you go forth to
your daily labors and you find the place of your service to be a real
wilderness, full of trial and everything that is unpleasant to you. Yet
look again, with eyes touched with Heaven's eye-salve and, instead of
seeing the bitter poverty, and the grinding toil, and the daily trial,
you will begin to see that God is in it all and, "underneath are the
everlasting arms!" You shall go cheerfully home to Heaven, borne up by
God. He who made you will carry you! He who loves you will bear you all
the days of old till you shall come unto the Mountain of God and stand
in your lot at the end of the days! I think, therefore, that our text
applies not only to the point of mysterious assault, but to the place
of daily pilgrimage and toil.

Do you not think that this word, "underneath," also relates to the
place of perilous descent! There are times in a man's life when he has
to come down. It is not a very easy matter to go down the hill safely.
Some persons have proved that it is difficult to grow old gracefully,
but to the Christian it ought not to be impossible or unusual to grow
old graciously. Still, there are difficulties about that coming down
the hill of life–coming down in a very material sense, perhaps, from
competence to real poverty. Coming down as to your mental powers. Being
conscious of losing your former influence over your fellows. Coming
down in general repute, through no fault of your own, but through
circumstances of which you are not the master. All this is very trying
to human nature. You know that on the way to Heaven there are many Hill
Difficulties–and brave spirits rather enjoy climbing to the top of
them! We like a craggy path, hard and rough, where we can keep on
looking upward all the way even if we have to scramble on our hands and
knees. There is something pleasant in going up in that fashion, but it
is when going down into the Valley of Humiliation that we are apt to
slip. We do not like going down and, as many horses fall at the bottom
of the hill, so I believe that many people trip at the end of a trial
when they think it is nearly over and they have no need to look so
carefully to their feet.

Well now, dear Friends, if any of you are going down the hill, I think
the text comes in very sweetly–"Underneath are the everlasting arms."
You cannot go so low but that God's arms of love are still lower! You
get poorer and poorer, but, "underneath are the everlasting arms." You
get older and feebler. Your ears are failing, your eyes are growing
dim, but, "underneath are the everlasting arms." By-and-by, unless the
Lord speedily returns, you will have to die–and you will come down
very low, then–but still it will be true, "underneath are the
everlasting arms."

Further, I think that we may use the text as referring to a matter of
intense concern. Sometimes we say to one another, "Is our religion
real? We trust we love the Lord, but do we really love Him? We think we
are reposing in Christ, but are we really doing so? We have a measure
ofjoy and peace–does it really come through believing in Jesus, or is
it a delusion of the flesh or of the devil? We have, so far, come a
long way in the heavenly trail, but are we really going towards Heaven,
or is it all a mistake?"

It is a good thing, occasionally, Brothers and Sisters, to look
underneath. He who never sees what is under him may have great cause to
do so. Examine your foundations–see what your cornerstones are, for if
you should be building on the sand, then, in the time of storm, your
fine building will be all swept away! It is a grand thing if we can
find this text to be true–"Underneath are the everlasting arms." I dig
through my experience and, "underneath are the everlasting arms." I
question my joys. I examine myself about my sorrows, but do I come down
on the purposes of God, the Immutable faithfulness of the Most High,
the eternal Truths of God revealed in Scripture? Do I come down upon
the everlasting arms? If so, I am resting where the whole universe may
rest–I am resting on a faithful God and I need not be afraid! Do not
fear to examine yourself! If you do, there is, perhaps, all the graver
need for the testing and trying. Search and look, and go to the bottom
of these matters. Happy shall you be if, diving to the very depths, you
can say, "Yes, underneath are the everlasting arms."

I shall use this first word of my text in one more way. I think we
have, here, the secret of singular discoveries that will yet be made.
We do not at present know the reality of things–we judge according to
our feelings and by the sight of our eyes–how else can we judge? But
the day will come when things will appear very differently from what
they do now.

There is a huge trouble which has mastered us for years–it has seemed,
with its dense shadow, to darken our heavenly way for a great length of
time–but the day will come when we shall look through that trouble and
we shall find that "underneath are the everlasting arms." Perhaps some
of us are in sore perplexity. We cannot understand the Lord's
Providential dealings with us. He does not always tell us the reason
for His actions–we might not understand it if He did–but we may rest
assured that He is working out purposes of Infinite Love! He ceases not
to care for us even when things appear to be at their very worst. I
bear my willing witness to the faithfulness of God! I am not as old as
some, but I am old enough to have gone through fire and water, and I am
here to testify that I have not been burned by the one, nor drowned by
the other! Cannot many of you say the same? In your sorest trials and
in your hottest furnaces, has He not been especially present with you
and bestowed great blessings upon you? 'Tis even so! Then trust Him,
you saints, for what His Word assures you is gloriously
true–"Underneath are the everlasting arms."

Go deeper down. Look further into the real reason of things than you
have been accustomed to do and you shall come on this solid
foundation–that God is working out for you infinite and eternal
blessedness by these light afflictions which are but for a moment.

II. Now, secondly, let us note THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS QUARTER IS
SECURED–"Underneath are the everlasting arms."

The everlasting arms are there and that means, first of all, that God
Himself is close to us, guaranteeing the eternal safety of all those
who trust in Him. Of course, where any of his elect arms are, there He
is, and God is not divided from His own arms. This is our joy and
comfort that God is with us! What strength it gives to faith to believe
that God is present! Even the false prophet, Mohammed, had a strong
faith in god–in Allah–and when he fled for the first time and hid in
a cave with only one friend, his companion said to him, "Our pursuers
are after us and there are only two of us." "Stop," exclaimed Mohammed,
"there are three, for Allah is here!" It was the utterance of a brave
and grand faith– would that his whole career had been in harmony with
it! Wherever there are two of God's people, there is Another with them,
for God is there. We do not count Him in as we ought to do, yet, if we
were wise, we would put ourselves down as only ciphers and say, "Nobody
is there till HE is there! He is the one true, personal Numeral that
multiplies all these ciphers indefinitely."

Mr. Wesley said, as he died, "The best of all is, God is with us." And
that is the best of all, is it not? Underneath is God, Himself. He who
made the heavens and the earth cannot forsake those who do not forsake
Him. If you love Him. If you trust in Him, He might as soon cease to
be, as fail anyone who is relying upon Him. This is the glory of
Jehovah, that while the gods of the heathen are worthless idols, our
God hears prayer and answers the cry of His people! Try Him and see if
it is not so. Blessed are they who trust in Jehovah, for they shall
find in the living God help in every time of need, and sufficient
strength for every day of trial! So, then, we see that what might
appear to us as the dark abyss, the dreary, mysterious underworld, is
all guarded by Jehovah, Himself–"Underneath are the everlasting arms."

Our text also means that the Lord's Immutable Purpose is being
fulfilled. Where God's arms are, He is at work, and He is at work
accomplishing His purposes of Grace. The text speaks of everlasting
arms–that is a strength that never fails and never turns aside from
the purpose to which it has bound itself. O child of God, down deep
where you cannot see it, the Divine Power of the Eternal Godhead is
always at work for you! The arms of God are busy on your behalf! He has
made them bare to show Himself strong in your defense! You can be sure
of this! God has a purpose of love to all who believe in Him–and that
purpose of love shall stand fast to all eternity! Whatever changes
there may be in the appearance of this world and in the great universe
of which it forms a part, there shall be no change in the Infinite
resolve of God to bless His people and preserve them to the end. Why,
Believer, be of good comfort, and say to yourself, "At the bottom of
everything that happens to me, there is the Immutable Purpose of God
and God, Himself, working it out!"

Beside the Lord's Immutable Purpose and His Infinite Power by which God
is at work for you at all times, our text means that His inexhaustible
patience is waiting its time. "Underneath are the everlasting arms"
bearing up your load, sustaining it with long endurance while He keeps
on working for you–invisible, yet always active on your behalf. Do you
expect to see your God on this side Heaven? If so, you will be
disappointed! Are you willing to walk by faith and not by sight? If so,
you shall have a double blessing, for, "Blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet have believed." Oh, that the Holy Spirit of God would
bring you to this point! Having trusted God in the Person of His dear
Son. Having laid the whole weight of your eternal interests upon Him
whom God has revealed to be your Savior, you may leave them there in
perfect safety, without a moment's care or anxiety! God's everlasting
arms must carry out God's eternal purposes. Not one of His promises can
fall to the ground, for, "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither
the son of man, that He should repent: has He said and shall He not do
it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?" It is God Himself
who undertakes to bear you up, and bear you through–therefore rest
assured that He will do it!

III. I must not speak longer upon that matter, for I must say just a
little upon the third point. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THIS TEXT IS VERY
PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS–"Underneath are the everlasting arms."

One of these times is, I think, when we are very sick and very feeble.
The pillows have been fluffed up for you and made as soft as they can
be. And the bed, which is so apt to grow hard, has been tenderly
smoothed by kind fingers, yet you sink back as if you were about to die
of exhaustion! Sink back, then! Be not afraid, for, "underneath are the
everlasting arms." Perhaps there comes a faintness over you and you
seem to be sinking, sinking–you know not where–still, "underneath are
the everlasting arms!" You try to rise, but you cannot. You would
clutch at something by which you think you might get back to activity,
but you fall back into the same state of weary languor and pain. Well,
but still, "underneath are the everlasting arms!" It is delightful to
feel that our feebleness encroaches upon Omnipotence–that just when
there is nothing left to us–then God comes in with all His fullness
and bears us up! He is always faithful and full of compassion–He does
not afflict willingly, or grieve the children of men–so, when He must
grieve them, it is then that He displays His special power to
strengthen and sustain them. Go home to your bed, if so it must be with
you. If there are wearisome months of sickness and disease awaiting
you, go home and carry this text with you–"Underneath are the
everlasting arms."

Is not this Word of God very sweet, too, when burdened with sore
troubles, or oppressed with heavy labors? You feel that you need double
strength and you say, "I cannot keep on any longer. There is too much
for mortal powers to endure, I cannot bear up under these repeated
trials. The last time I felt thus, I thought that I had no strength
left, and now this feeling comes over me again–what shall I do? I am
thrown down, I am crushed as though men were riding over my head! I
seem to be cast out like the mire in the streets." Yes, but still,
"underneath are the everlasting arms." We sang, just now–

"As your day, your strength shall be." Is that truth or fiction? Ask
God's people as to their past experience and they will set to their
seal that God is true! And you, too, shall find it true. Oh, how
wondrously God's saints have been borne up under persecution–and
cheerful and glad under oppression! The sweetest songs that ever were
heard on earth were sung behind prison bars! Perhaps I shall not be
wrong when I say that the most wonderful joys that ever were felt by
mortal hearts have been felt by men and women who, on the morrow, were
to be burned at the stake–but whose very souls have danced within them
because of the unspeakable delight which the Presence of God has given
them!

I think it was Socrates who said, "Philosophers could be merry without
music." I take the statement from his mouth and alter it, and say,
Christians can be happy without happy circumstances! They can,
sometimes, like nightingales, sing best in dark nights. Their joy is
not mere outward mirth. Sorrows fall upon them, yet, from the deep that
lies underneath wells up yet more exceeding joy! Yes, "underneath are
the everlasting arms," and when we can no longer stand, it is a blessed
thing to lean or fall back on them!

I have already told you that another time when this text is very sweet
is when you are going down hill. And some of you may be going down hill
pretty fast just now. Never mind–"Underneath are the everlasting
arms." When you come down the hill of old age, you know what lies at
the bottom. Why, then, go up again, higher than you ever went before,
renewing your youth and being forever with the Well-Beloved!

So, dear Friends, I may change the application of my text, "Underneath
are the everlasting arms," and pass it on to those who are all
trembling and shaking. Some of you, perhaps, know what I mean. That
young man has begun to preach a little, but he says, "I fear that I
shall break down." Dear Brother, if you get a message from God to tell,
then tell it, and do not be afraid, for, "underneath are the
everlasting arms." You are seeking to gather a few young people
together and you are trying to bless them, but you feel your own
weakness so much that you say, "I know I shall make a failure of it."
Do not say so, for, "underneath are the everlasting arms!" He who helps
us when we go down, down, down, is equally ready to do so when we are
going up in His service! When our ardent zeal is bearing us forward to
do something more for the Lord than we are quite equal to, then,
"underneath are the everlasting arms." And if you are seeking greater
holiness, daring to indulge a loftier joy–if you are trying to sing
some of those hymns which, a few months ago, you thought were pitched
in too high a key for you–be bold and daring! Your wing feathers will
grow by your very attempt to fly! The possibilities of Grace are
boundless–leave yourself to them. Be not always weak and trembling.
God help you to become as a David, and you who are as David, to become
as an angel of the Lord!

Once more, the hour will come when everything will begin to melt away
beneath your feet. Earthly comforts will fail you, friends will be
unable to help you–they can wipe the clammy sweat from your brow and
moisten your lips with a drop of water–but they cannot go with you on
the great voyage upon which you are about to be launched. When heart
and flesh fail, then may the Lord speak to you the sweet words before
us, "Underneath are the everlasting arms!" It will be a sinking to the
flesh, but a rising to the spirit! Underneath dying saints there is the
living God! Be not afraid, therefore, even to die, for, to the
Christian, "to die is gain." I remember, at a funeral, when we laid the
body of one of God's saints in the grave, a dear minister prayed,
"Lord, we thank You that though our dear friend has come so low as to
be in his grave, he cannot go any lower, for, 'underneath are the
everlasting arms,' and in due time You will bring him up, again, in
those everlasting arms, raised in the likeness of his Lord."

That is true of all Believers! Therefore let this text come sweetly
home to your heart–"Underneath are the everlasting arms."

I must conclude with this remark. There are some here who are net yet
saved. I would illustrate the way of salvation to you by this text. You
are hoping to save yourself. You are depending upon something that you
have done, or that you have felt. I want you to let all that go, to
give up every hope you have that comes out of yourself. "Oh," you say,
"but I shall fall." Yes, you will, and that falling shall be your
salvation, for, "underneath are the everlasting arms." There you are,
up at that window, and the flames are raging behind you so that you
cannot escape–but one stands below. He is strong enough to catch you
in his arms and he says, "Drop into my arms! Do not hesitate!" Jesus
Christ never yet allowed any soul to be injured that dropped into His
arms. Let go, man, let go! Let go everything and drop into the arms of
Jesus! That is the saving thing–to let everything else go and trust
only to Jesus, depending wholly upon Him who lived, and died, and rose
again–and is the ever-living Savior of sinners. Drop into His arms!
They are everlasting arms, as strong to save, now, as they were 1,800
years ago! Drop into His arms. God help you to do so, for His name's
sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: DEUTERONOMY 8.

Verse 1. All the commandments which I command you this day shall you
observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess
the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers. Every word, here,
seems emphatic. Like the children of Israel, we are to observe all the
commandments of the Lord our God–not merely some of them, picking and
choosing as we please. It is a very ill conscience which regards some
of God's statutes and pays no attention to others! In fact, the very
act of making a selection as to what commands we will observe is gross
disobedience. "All the commandments which I command you this day shall
you observe to do."

Notice that we are not only to do as we are bidden, but to do it with
carefulness–"you shall observe to do." God would not have a
thoughtless, careless, blind service! We must bow our mind and heart as
well as our will to His service. Remember, also, that it is not
sufficient to "observe" the commandments so as to note what they are,
but we are to "observe to do" them. That observation which does not end
in right practice is like a promising blossom upon a tree which never
knits and which, therefore, produces no fruit. Further notice that to
walk in the ways of God is for our own benefit as well as for His
Glory–"That you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land
which the Lord swore unto your fathers."

There are, doubtless, many good things which we miss because we are not
careful in our walking. I am sure that the happiest life will be found
to be that which is most carefully conducted upon the principles of
holy obedience to God's commands. There are certain blessings which God
will not give to us while we are disobedient to Him. Many a father
feels that he cannot indulge his child as he would wish to indulge him
when he finds the child negligent as to his father's will. So, if we
please God, God will please us, but, if we walk contrary to Him, He
will walk contrary to us. Let me read this most instructive verse
again, that it may be further impressed upon your memories and your
hearts–"All the commandments which I command you this day shall you
observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess
the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers." To help you in
obeying these commands, it is added–

2. And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you
these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you,
to know what was in your hearts whether you would keep His
commandments, or no. Look back and derive from your past experience a
motive for more careful obedience in the future. He does not read his
own life aright who does not see in it abundant causes for
gratitude–and how can gratitude express itself better than by a
cheerful, hearty obedience in the present and the future?

3. And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with
manna, These two sentences come very closely together–"Suffered you to
hunger, and fed you with manna." I suppose we are not fit to eat
heavenly bread till first of all we begin to hunger for it. God loves
to give to men who will eat with an appetite–"He suffered you to
hunger, and fed you with manna."

3. Which you knew not, neither did your fathers know. It was a new kind
of food and even in the day when they ate it, they did not fully know
what it was. They saw that it came by a miracle and it remained a
mystery and, I think we can say that though we have fed upon the Bread
of Heaven, some of us, for well-near 40 years, yet we hardly know, nor
dare to think that we know, what it is made of, nor can we tell all the
sweetness that is in it. We know the love of Christ, but it still
passes our knowledge. It is true of us, as of Israel in the wilderness,
"He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna,
which you knew not, neither did your fathers know."

3. That He might make you know that man does not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man
live. It is a grand thing to be delivered from materialism, to be freed
from the notion that the outward means are absolutely essential for the
accomplishment of the Divine Purpose. If God had so willed it, we could
have lived on air–if the air had been sanctified by the Word of God
and prayer for such a use! The Lord has, however, chosen to feed us
upon bread–yet our highest life, our real life, does not live on
bread, but it lives on the Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God!
This is one of the passages with which our Lord fought Satan in the
desert and overcame him. Happy is that servant of God who will arm
himself with this same Truth and feel, "I am not to be provided for
merely by money, or by anything else that is visible. God will somehow
provide for me and I can leave all care about the means, if the means
fail, and get away to the God of the means and lean, not on what I see,
but on that arm which is invisible! That which you can see may fail
you, for it is, like yourself, a shadow. But He whom you cannot see
will never fail you. The strongest sinew in an arm of flesh will crack,
but the eternal arm never fails and never is shortened! Lean on that
arm and you shall never be ashamed, nor confounded, world without end!
It takes 40 years to teach some people that lesson, but some, alas,
have not learned it even at the end of 80 years!

4. Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your feet swell
these forty years. See how God not only cares for His people's food,
but for their raiment, also. We may, therefore, well take heed to
Paul's injunction–"Having food and raiment let us be therewith
content." Whether it was by a miracle that the Israelites' raiment did
not wear out, or whether it came to pass, in the order of Providence,
that they were able to get fresh clothing when it did wear out, does
not matter at all–it made no difference to them how it was arranged,
for it was equal kindness on the part of God who provided for them.
"Neither did your feet swell." We call the Arab, sometimes, "The
pilgrim of the weary feet," but the Israelites' feet were not weary.
They traversed a stony wilderness, yet God kept them in such health and
strength that their feet swelled not even after 40 years of journeying!
You and I often get worn out in 40 hours–forty days are as long as we
can hope to go. But God enabled His ancient people to go on for 40
years and still their feet swelled not. Dr. Watts sweetly sang–

"Mere mortal power shall fade and die, And youthful vigor cease. But we
that wait upon the Lord Shall feel our strength increase! The saints
shall mount on eagles' wings, And taste the promised bliss, Till their
unwearied feet arrive Where perfect pleasure is."

5. You shall also consider in your heart that, as a man chastens his
son, so the LORD your God chastens you. We sometimes think that we
could do without the Lord's chastening. If He will give us food and
raiment and keep our feet from swelling, we will not crave the rod. No,
but though we do not ask for it, the rod is one of the choicest
blessings of the Covenant–and if we are the Lord's children, we shall
not go without it! To come under Divine discipline is one of the
greatest mercies we can ever have. Many of us, who are now men and
women, thank God for earthly parents who have corrected us. We wonder
what we would have been if there had been no discipline in our father's
house. So, truly, is it with all of us who are God's children–in years
to come we shall prize the chastisement which now makes us grieve. Even
now it is well if, by faith, we can apply to our own heart this
text–"as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you."

6, 7. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God,
to walk in His ways, and to fear Him. For the LORD your God brings you
into a good land, a land of brooks of water, offountains and depths
that spring out of valleys and hills. There are changes in our
condition. Israel was not always in the wilderness–the chosen people
were brought into a good land, into a place of rest from their weary
wandering. So it may happen to you and to me that even in temporal
circumstances, God may work a great change for us–and especially will
He do this in spiritual matters. After a time of wilderness traveling,
we who have believed enter into rest–we come to understand the
Gospel–and he who understands the Gospel is not, any longer, in the
wilderness! In a certain sense, he has come into the land of promise
where he already enjoys Covenant mercies. It is true that the Canaanite
is still in that land and we have to drive him out, but it is a good
land to which God has brought us, "a land of brooks of water, of
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." The Lord
makes us drink of the river of His good pleasure. He satisfies us with
the cooling streams of His Covenant love.

8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and
pomegranates; a land of olive oil, and honey. I will not go into a
spiritualizing of all this, but I know that you who have come to
believe in Christ and have entered, by faith, into His rest, know what
sweet things God has provided for you–not merely bare necessities, but
choice delights. He gives you to eat of the sweetnesses. He gives you
the fatnesses–the wines on the lees, well-refined, and the fat things
full of marrow. I trust that there are many here who know the blessed
experience of joy and peace in believing. You have entered into a fair
region. You have passed through the belt of storms. You have come where
the trade winds blow heavenward, Your sails are filled, your vessel
skips along before the breeze. You are making good progress towards the
Fair Havens of eternal happiness!

9. A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not
lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose
hills you may dig brass. There are deep things hidden away in the
Gospel treasuries. Silver and gold there may be none, but then, iron
and copper are much more useful things–and the most useful things we
shall ever need in this life lie hidden beneath the surface of the
Gospel! If we know how to dig deep, we shall be abundantly rewarded by
the treasures which we shall discover. Well now, if your experience has
thus changed. If you have left the fiery serpents and the howling
wilderness behind you and have come into a place of peace and
enjoyment, what follows?

10. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD
your God for the good land which He has given you. He permits you to
eat–not to satiety, but you may eat and be full–only not so full but
that you can always bless His name! Do not be afraid of holy joy! Eat
and be full of it, only let it never take your heart away from Him who
gives you the joy. On the contrary, bless your God for the good land
which He has given you. It is said that in the olden times, pious Jews
always blessed God before they ate, and always blessed God after they
ate. They blessed God for the fragrance of the flower whenever they
smelt it. Whenever they drank a cup of water, they blessed the Lord who
gave them drink out of the rock in the desert. Oh, that we were always
full of praises of God! Then it would not hurt us to be full of meat.
But if we get full of meat and are empty of praises, this is
mischievous, indeed!

11. Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping His
commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you
this day. That would be practical atheism–not keeping the commandments
of God is one of the most vivid ways of forgetting Him!

12-14. Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly
houses, and dwelt therein; and when your herds and your flocks
multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you
have is multiplied; then your heart is lifted up and you forget the
LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from
the house of bondage. The other day a friend asked me this question,
"From where does God get His princes?" And the answer I gave was, "He
often picks them off dunghills." Oh, but they sometimes forget the
dunghills where they grew and think themselves wonderfully important
individuals! Then there is a time of pulling down for them. We cannot
eat and be full without having the temptation of getting our heart
lifted up! It is a great blessing to have the heart lifted up in one
way, that is, in God's way–but to be lifted up by bread, to be lifted
up by silver, to be lifted up by flocks and herds is such a bad way of
being lifted up that evil and sorrow must come of it! See, the Lord
does not forbid His people to build a house, or to eat and to enjoy
what He gives them. But He does charge them not to forget the God who
gave them these mercies, nor to forget where they used to be in
slavery–"Beware that you forget not the Lord your God which brought
you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

16. Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein
were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no
water; who brought you forth water out of the rock offlint. I cannot
but pause as I remember my own passage through "that great and terrible
wilderness, where there was no water." When a soul is under conviction
of sin, "fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought" are very feeble
images of the pains and miseries that come of guilt unfor-given! "Where
there was no water." Oh, what would we not have given, then, to have
understood a little of that Gospel which, perhaps, we now despise? Oh,
what would we not have given, then, just to have moistened our burning
lips with the Living Water of the precious Word in which, possibly, now
we see no refreshing? May God have mercy upon us for our forgetfulness
of His great mercy! Let us, with deep gratitude, think of Him
again–"Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein
were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no
water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint." "More
likely," says one, "to bring fire rather than water out of a rock of
flint." And it did seem as if the Cross of the curse must have cursed
us, yet it blessed us! The Lord brought forth Living Water out of that
Rock which was smitten for guilty man!

16, 17. Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers
knew not, that He might humble you, and that He might prove you, to do
you good at your latter end; and you said in your heart, My power and
the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. We must not say this
about either temporal or spiritual wealth! If we have grown in Grace
and have become useful, and are spiritually a blessing to others, we
must not take any credit for it–or else down we shall go before long!
God did not enrich you that you might set up for a god in opposition to
Him. Christ did not love you that you might make yourself a rival to
Him. Oh, that must not be! We must never say in our heart, "My power
and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth."

18,19. But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is He that
gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His Covenant which
He swore unto your fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if you
do at all forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and
serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you
shall surely perish. If you live like sinners, you will die like
sinners! "Where, then, is the perseverance of the saints?" asks one.
Why, in this, that they shall not live like sinners! God's Grace will
not let them go wandering after idols to worship and to serve them! He
will keep us faithful to Himself, but if we will wander after idol
gods, it proves that we are not the Lord's true Israel, and we must
expect to be served as others have been who have turned aside to
worship idols–

20. As the nations which the LORD destroys before your face, so shall
you perish; because you would not be obedient unto the voice of the
LORD your God.