Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/callanish/sermons/14456/the-god-of-jeshurun/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Let us resume a public worship of God, singing to his praise from Psalm 91, Psalm 91, and from the beginning of the psalm.

[0:18] He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, under the shade of him that is the Almighty shall abide. I of the Lord my God will say, he is my refuge still, he is my fortress and my God, and in him trust I will.

[0:38] Assuredly he shall be saved, and give deliverance from subtle fowl and snare, and from the noisome pestilence. His feather shall be hide, thy trust under his wing shall be, whose faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler unto thee.

[0:58] Thou shalt not need to be afraid for terrors of the night, nor for the arrow that doth fly by day while it is light, nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness secretly, nor for destruction that doth waste at noonday openly.

[1:16] And so on down. We shall sing these verses, Psalm 91, from the beginning. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, and turn the shade of his majesty of the Most High reside.

[1:34] He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside.

[1:46] And turn the shade of his majesty of the Most High reside.

[2:01] He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside.

[2:31] Thank you.

[3:01] Thank you.

[3:31] Thank you. Thank you.

[4:03] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:15] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:37] For destruction that the questioner may open me.

[4:55] Let us join together in prayer. Let's pray. Gracious God, as we continue in your presence as a gathered congregation of your people intent on worshipping your holy name, we pray that you would enable each of us to participate knowingly and knowledgeably.

[5:26] Understanding what we are about. Appreciating the God that we are praising with songs of thanksgiving.

[5:40] Acknowledging your ability to care for us, to look out for us, to surround us with a sense of your presence and the power that would ensure that no harm can befall us from our enemies.

[6:05] We give thanks that there are times when these words are more meaningful to your people than they are at other times.

[6:17] They might feel overexposed to the arrows of the wicked and the various devices that are utilised in the dark, in the array of weaponry that is at the disposal of the enemy, in particular the enemy of our soul.

[6:48] We would ask, Lord, that you would encourage us to have you as a God, as a God of the first resort, than the God of the last resort.

[7:05] That we would fly to you and seek to take cover in the shelter that you afford any and all who would seek you out in time of trial or difficulty, whatever that may be.

[7:24] We give thanks that we can worship together, seeking your help, in order that our worship be acceptable to you. Not one of us can afford to believe that there is anything in and of ourselves that would merit acceptance in your sight.

[7:47] Because by nature we have sinned and come short of your glory. We have no personal right of access. We have nothing to bring but what marks us out as needy creatures in need of salvation.

[8:11] But we give thanks that we can come in the name of another and as we lay claim to his name, that we are assured of his help and that he has opened out to all who would avail themselves of it a sure and a certain pathway into the presence of the divine.

[8:38] Lord, help us to see him as the one who has opened a new and a living way through the gospel. and as we hear the words of truth spoken, read in our hearing, may we contemplate the truth and be enabled with your grace to take it to heart.

[9:06] We give thanks for every medium that you have been pleased to bless even this day. those who have been unable to join with us in the public means of grace.

[9:21] And there are many who are unable for a variety of different reasons to come and meet in public with your people.

[9:34] But you have made provision for such and for all that that provision is made by you and who are not in a way guilty of a dereliction of duty in whichever way that that may mark them out.

[9:55] And we give thanks that you are able to do for them and in them far more than we could ask on their behalf. So we remember those who have recent experience of COVID-19 in our congregation here and elsewhere.

[10:14] Those who are currently experiencing the effects of it. Those who are housebound because of close contact with others who have it.

[10:26] Those who are responsible for the care of such in the community. be they nurses or doctors or within the various places where nursing and medical care is afforded such.

[10:42] We remember them to you and ask for grace and wisdom and help whichever is greater by way of need. May they be assessed as a token of your mercy.

[10:56] Remember Lord those who are needful in so far as their condition is concerned there are many that we know who have other illnesses to deal with that are not connected with COVID and yet their need is equally great if not greater.

[11:22] We bring them to you to ask for your and to be upon them in mercy within our own congregation and beyond. We pray for those who minister to their needs in the home and in the various places where their lot is cast at the present.

[11:41] Remember the grieving and the sorrowful amongst us. Your voice has been heard repeatedly over the last number of weeks. You take from the scene of time those that may to all intents of purposes appeared to the naked eye to have many years still to be lived out in the world and yet that is not the case.

[12:08] Others who were ripening for eternity and were spared for many more years than there was promised to them. To your people this appears a mystery why you would spare them to live in this life and not take them to be with the Lord especially when their portion is a difficult one.

[12:34] But you are the only wise God and your ways are the ways of a wise God and we pray that we would be reconciled to your will for us whatever it may be to spare us to old age or to take us away from this world in the bloom of youth but to make us wise in understanding the need that we have to make our peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ and whenever we are called by your own last voice that will be heard on the scene of time that we will be found ready for in such a time as you know not you tell us the son of man will come for just this is promised through for taking us away from this world but for bringing this world to an end for the son of man will indeed come as promised and we do not know when that will be all man knows we are told what day or hour that will be but it is ever sure that the father in heaven who knows all things knows that moment and the wisdom that is from on high dictates that it is wise for us to be ready we pray that you would remember all who preached the gospel all you have sent out with it into our highways and byways into our villages and towns and cities into near lands and far lands into places where the gospel is received as water is received into a dry parched land to other places where there is open hostility to the name of

[14:43] Christ you are the one who appoints the dissemination of the truth the blessing of that same truth the glory will be yours of them last and we pray for all that you have sent out that their labour would be blessed the seed sown would give forth fruit continue to watch over us remembering all that is standing in your name here in midst amongst young or old we pray your blessing to be upon it cleansed from every sin in Jesus precious name we ask it for forgiveness of sin in him amen I'm going to read from the Old Testament scriptures that the book of Deuteronomy the book of Deuteronomy and chapter 33 Deuteronomy chapter 33 reading from the beginning and this is the blessing wherewith

[16:02] Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death and he said the Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Thir unto them he shined forth from Mount Paran and he came with ten thousand saints from his right hand went a fiery law for them yea he loved the people all the saints are in thy hand and they sat down at thy feet everyone shall receive of thy words Moses commanded us a law even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob and he was king in Jeshurun when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together let Reuben live and not die and let not his men be few and this is the blessing of Judah and he said hear Lord the voice of Judah and bring him into his people let his hands be sufficient for him and be thou an help to him from his enemies and of

[17:14] Levi he said let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One whom thou didst prove at Massa and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah who said unto his father and to his mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant they shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law they shall put incense before thee and hold burnt sacrifice upon thine altar bless bless bless lord his substance and accept the work of his hands smite through the lines of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again and of Benjamin he said the beloved of the lord shall dwell in safety by them and the lord shall cover him all the day long and he shall dwell between his shoulders and of

[18:20] Joseph he said blessed of the lord be his land for the precious things of heaven for the dew and for the deep that coucheth beneath and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun and for the precious things put forth by the moon and for the chief things of the ancient mountains and for the precious things of the lasting hills and for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush that the blessings come upon the head of Joseph and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren his glory is like the firstlings of his bullock and his horns are like the horns of unicorns with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh and of

[19:21] Zebulun he said rejoice Zebulun in thy going out and disappear in thy tents they shall call the people unto the mountain there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hid in the sand and of God he said blessed be he that enlarged God he dwelleth as a lion and take the arm with the crown of the head and he provided the first part for himself because there in a portion of the law giver was he seated and he came with the heads of the people he executed the justice of the Lord and his judgments with Israel and of Dan he said Dan is a O Naphtali satisfied with favor and full with the blessings of the Lord possess thou the west and the south and of

[20:23] Asher he said let Asher be blessed with children let him be acceptable to his brethren and let him dip his foot in oil thy shoes shall be iron and brass and as thy days so shall thy strength be there is none like unto the God of Jeshua who rideth upon the heaven in thy help and in his excellency on the sky the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say destroy them Israel then shall dwell in safety alone the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine also his heavens shall drop down too happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the

[21:23] Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy excellency and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places amen and may the Lord have his blessing to the reading of his word to his name be the praise we're going to sing now some verses from psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 psalm 86 of my request attend in troublous times I'll call on thee for thou wilt answer send Lord there is none among the gods that may with thee compare and like the works which thou hast done not any work is there all nations whom thou made shall come and worship reverently before thy face and they

[22:27] O Lord thy name shall glorify because thou art exceeding great and works by thee are done which are to be admired and thou art God thyself alone teach me thy way and in thy truth O Lord then walk will I unite my heart and thy name may fear continually O Lord my God with all my heart to thee I will give praise and I the Lord will ascribe unto thy name always so so on these verses to God praise psalm 86 from verse 6 hear Lord my prayer unto the voice of my request attend dear Lord my prayer unto the voice of my request attend in problemless times

[23:32] I'll call on thee for the world answers said Lord there is none among the roads that bid with thee compare unlike the works which thou hast done not any work is said only they should soon the may shall come and worship reverently before thy fish and they all more thy name shall glorify rise because the war chingred and works by thee are done which are to thee of thy love have brought thyself alone own teach me thy way and live my truth

[25:11] O Lord then walk with I unite my heart and I live in field continually O Lord my God with all my heart to thee I will give praise and I the glory will up strife unto thy game all praise shall we turn now to the passage that we read the Old Testament scriptures the book of

[26:11] Deuteronomy chapter 33 we can read again verse 26 there is none like unto the God of Jeshua as we come to the end of this book of Deuteronomy we have made mindful of the fact that God's servant Moses is about to take his leave of this world in chapter 34 and verse 7 we are told

[27:12] Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died his eyes his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated although he is maturing years the Lord has maintained his strength until the time of his death and yet die he must and die he must before he enters into the promised land because God had decreed that because of sin he would not be allowed to take that step the words before us are the words of a man who knows that his race is nearly run and his words given to him no doubt by the

[28:23] Lord are words of blessing words of warning and words of encouragement to the children of Israel he doesn't disabuse them of any idea that the journey is going to be a difficult one because they must appreciate that even though they are coming to experience the blessing of God according to his promise it doesn't mean that they will not have to encounter trial and difficulty and that's probably one of the difficulties we have as believers sometimes we think ourselves if we have come to a genuine experience of faith in Jesus Christ that it almost ensures that we will pass through the remainder of our life from the point of belief without ever having to encounter problems or vexatious situations that will test our very faith

[29:44] I don't know why we would think like that but sometimes that's what we think but Moses was someone who was able to look back on his life and he was able to speak to the tribes and speak of the tribes and he looks back on his own life at the same time and God's dealings with himself and with his people during his lifetimearm and he is well aware like perhaps no other of the many attributes that mark out the divine passion but I want us just to think for a while of the words that we have in this passage that we're looking at and it is I suppose a simple declaration arising out of the knowledge that Moses has of who God is and what is true about God there are three things that we see that he speaks of the God that is his God as the God of Jeshua and that is a name that is unique to that God he gives us a description of that God he rides upon the heaven in thy help and in his excellency on the sky and the final thing is the relationship that exists between the God who bears the name the God of Jeshua and the Jeshua of whom he is a God what does that actually mean for them now the name the God of Jeshua is not a typical name that you find in the scripture given to the Lord three times his name is used in this book twice in this chapter verse 5 and verse 26 and once in the previous chapter but we also find it in the book of the prophet Isaiah

[32:13] Isaiah chapter 44 thus saith the Lord that made thee and foreign thee from the womb which will help thee fear not O Jacob my servant and thou Jeshurun whom I have chosen so the name Jeshurun is seen as a name that is applied not so much to God but to the people of God and because of its infrequent use in the scripture it leaves more questions in the mind of those who are wanting to find out exactly what it means and there are various opinions but from the original Hebrew and from which the word Jeshurun comes it seems that the burden of the meaning is on the Hebrew word for uprightness which are a selection of words used by those who are commenting on the scripture uprightness or just or righteous but the weight of the evidence suggests the upright so in that sense

[33:43] God is described here as the God of the upright so there is more to what Moses is saying than he is just describing to us a relationship that exists between God and the nation Israel which is normally what we find presented to us that there is a covenantal relationship between God and a people who bear the name Israel but here it is much more specific the name Jeshurun speaks of the very particular people who are the just and God is the God of the just now it is not that he is delimiting the power of God or the role of God or the relationship that God has with others but he is specifying this because of the privilege of which he is going to speak

[34:57] Moses is saying the name Jeshurun tells you the very special place that you have if this name is yours that this God that this God is yours this God is the God of the just and those who have this God are able to speak of themselves as those who have the experience of God's people the experience of God's children for example if you think of the nation of Israel it comes from the name that was given to Jacob by God and Israel is the name that was given to one who was formerly a supplanter and who became a ruler with God in the book of Genesis we are reminded of the way that God worked in Israel's life he said thy name shall be no more called Jacob but Israel for a prince has thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed he is described and designated by this name because the relationship has changed through the work that God performed in his life now the same must be true about every believer every child of God you don't need to think of the most the best known of

[36:49] God's people as the Bible describes them too as if they are preeminently experiencing God's favour and God's pleasure more than others who are not so renowned the truth is that those who are believers in God those who are by faith united to Christ those who have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ this God is your God in the same way that he is the God of Jeshurun he is the God of the just he is the God of the righteous he is the God of those who have experienced his saving grace in their life and Paul writes his epistle to the Ephesians in chapter 2 there you have a description given to us of what the believer was in a state of unbelief before they came to know the saving grace of God in their life but then

[38:01] God came into their life in a saving way now he says you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God this is what is true of you he doesn't say you're one of them if you were born in Rome or you're one of them if you're born in Greece or you're one of them if you experienced the preaching of Paul or the preaching of Peter but because of the change that was brought in their life through the gospel all of them have unifying features that are characteristic of the believers of God also have come to faith in him a new name and a new relationship but how is their God described he rideth upon the heavens and in his excellency in the sky and I think if we were to try and unravel that literally we would probably go up several blind alleys the picture that is meant to be conveyed is a picture of the awesome holiness of God the awesome majesty of God the awesome glory of

[39:35] God because you know these people have this God as their God this God has this people as his people and he's just not a God like any other he is a God who is a God of awe a God who is high and lifted up a God who deserves to be worshipped who requires to be worshipped a God who needs to be served that is their God and we need to be reminded of that sometimes when you listen to Christians speaking about their Christianity you're listening out for the signals or the signs that shows to you that part of their experience at the very least is an experience of knowing the holy otherness of

[40:40] God understanding that this God is not just a God among a pantheon of deities that exist in the minds of many in this world but that this God is the God of heaven and earth that this God is the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ that this God is the creator of heaven and earth the universe and all in it he is our sovereign and he is one who gaces down from the heights upon the children of men and does so not remotely but with an avid interest with a personal interest with a peculiar interest so much so that there is nothing going on in your life or my life that he is not aware of that he is not aware of rather that he is not ignorant of that you could say that he is ignorant of or accuse him of such he sees with an all-seeing eye but at the same time as far as his people is concerned it is the all-seeing eye of a father whose gaze is one of mercy and longing mercy because he understands this kind of world in which we live and he understands the kind of people that we are that needs to be treated with all kinds of long-suffering he is according to the psalmist a God who is full of love

[42:24] God who has pity like a father for his own love there are many who justify their atheism real or a rampant atheism which they're free and bold to declare or an atheism which is real and well undeclared and they say well if God was so interested in the children of men why does God not do something about the many issues that are current in our day why does he not intervene in the lives of men and deal with the druggie and deal with the drunkard and deal with the abuser why does he not intervene and do so at a level at which we can see that he is actually intervening what do you call the intervention of God in the person of the

[43:31] Lord Jesus Christ if it is not an intervention at the highest level of the highest order it is not someone who's disinterested or who has no desire to touch the lives of those who are in the world there is no vice in the world that could not be dealt with if men and women whoever they are whatever they found did not respond to the word of God God would never ask a person to sin God would never promote any vice in the world he discourages it he condemns it and yet God is accused of permitting it or allowing it as if it was something that is not that he in some way is guilty of because it does happen in the world there is a stupendous arrogance in the lives of so many when it comes to accusing

[44:37] God Job of all said about his God and his interest in the world he stretcheth forth the north over the empty place and hangs the earth upon nothing he bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds and the cloud is not red under them this is a man who was under duress this was someone who was in the midst of all kinds of oppression spiritual oppression because of his circumstances and yet what did he see he saw God and he saw God active in the world active in its creation active in its upholding stretches forth the north over the empty place he hands the earth upon nothing power like no other was attributed to him

[45:38] I remember reading somewhere about opinion in the world and you do well to pay attention to the many experts that pronounce upon the circumstances of this world they'll tell you this is what is happening in the world at the present time and they'll tell you exactly their opinion as to where these things are going to lead they pronounce with foreboding on the basis of their knowledge of the events as they interpret them but very often their opinions will pass away like themselves renowned for their skill in surveying the stars and it wasn't until nearly 300 years after that that somebody decided oh there's four more four more and that itself was declared as an accurate picture of the stars and that declaration lasted for 1300 years until somebody discovered a telescope somebody named

[48:04] Galileo he invented the telescope and he discovered that there were millions of stars millions it took him all that time to discover what God had said in his word a long time before nobody asked the Lord how many stars were there but he could have told him and he tells us that there were more stars than could be numbered because he had made them he had created them the stars and the planets were the work of his hands he knew each one he could call them by name Job one of the ancients understood the wisdom that God had given to him that this was the way not only does he know that does he have that knowledge he is sovereign he is over it he possesses it now I'm stating all of this because this is the God that is the God of

[49:12] Jesuit heaven and he tells us that he rides upon the heaven in thy help and in his excellency on the sky he is above it all you're complaining about this world and all that is in this world but this God surveys it from above and he sees all there is to be seen and he knows well what goes on amongst the children of men I've often mentioned a minister he's a late mortal Martin he used to come preaching in Shabbos when I was a new convert and we had him very often on a Sunday because we didn't have a minister but very often he used to quote a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah and I never forgot that he would quote these words who hath measured the water in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance these were the words he quoted in prayer often

[50:29] I was always taken up with that picture he would take you almost into glory itself describing this God and this morning when I was reading in my daily readings the words of E.W.

[50:50] Toser he always he uses humour very effectively and in this point I agreed with him we seldom have time to lift our eyes to look at God's heaven except when we are wondering if we should wear our boots do you know what he's saying we don't wish so much taking up what's down here why would we look to the heavens in order to see if it's going to rain today or whatever and Toser says that's the problem that's the problem with us even with the Lord's people we seldom take time to study nature to study creation to think of what this world is all about what this world has to say to us about a creator God we take the word of experts who won't be an expert in five years time or ten years time or twenty years time their experience would be proved to have been false

[52:04] I'm not a scientist but I often find myself angered by the scientists who quote quote numbers astronomic numbers and say this is the age of the earth or this is the age of the universe and they talk about billions and billions and billions of years and some of them can't even remember what happened last week and that they caught these figures with certainty

[56:08] truth concerning the eternal God is thy refuge underneath all of these words deserve closer attention but they all come from the one truth that this God who is the God of creation is a God like no other well if he is your God you should remember you should always remember that there is no God like him that's what he says Moses says it he knew it for himself even at the end of his days and he had seen much during his life 40 years in the wilderness 40 years in Egypt 40 years leading through the wilderness the God of Jeshua is the one who is our God surely and may God encourage us to look to him fresh let us pray

[57:11] O Lord God in heaven help us to look to yourself as the God who is able to supply our needs our wants whatever they may be it's not that you're there just to do that but you have the capacity to entertain all who would come to you as supplicants and acknowledge the fact that you are a God who has an abundance of good gifts to supply to the needy of this world no greater need does any one of us have than the need of our soul and you have made ample provision for that in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray blessing in his name continue to watch over us cleanse from sin we ask all with forgiveness of sin Christ Amen we're concluding psalm 68 psalm 68 verse 32

[58:18] O all ye kingdoms of the earth sing praises to this king for he is lord that ruleth all and to him praises sing to him that rides on heavens of heavens which he of old did found lo he sends out his voice a voice in might that doth abound strengthen to God do he ascribe for his excellency is over Israel his strength is in the clouds most high thou art from thy temple dreadful lord Israel's own God is he who gives his people strength and power O let God blessed be these verses psalm 68 from verse 32 O all ye kingdoms of the earth sing praises to this king all the kingdoms of the air take places to the king nuestra les �

[59:49] To him that cries on end of hell, which he afforded fire, though he's ensured his voice, and might not have a hand.

[60:21] Stretch that to God, to hear the sky, for his excellency, his soul that is my eldest hand, and sin the clouds most high.

[60:56] Thou from thy temple, O Lord, the self's own God is here, the Christ's people, strength and power, so let God bless you be.

[61:29]  Amen.