Talk 2 - Seven Diamonds on the Covenant Ring

We're reading Deuteronomy chapter 8, and we're reading through the whole chapter.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

The whole commandment that I command you today, you shall be careful to do, that you may live

and multiply and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years

in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart,

whether you would keep his commandments or not.

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know,

nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone,

but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these 40 years.

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

So shall you keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs,

flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,

a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity,

in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes,

which I command you today.

Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,

and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,

then your heart will be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness,

with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty grounds where there was no water,

who brought you water out of the flinty rock,

who fed you in the wilderness with manner that your fathers did not know,

that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

Beware lest you say in your heart,

my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.

You shall remember that the Lord your God,

you shall remember the Lord your God,

for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,

that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers,

as it is this day.

And if you forget the Lord your God,

and go after other gods,

and serve them and worship them,

I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you,

so shall you perish,

because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

We're trying to walk through the book of Deuteronomy,

which is a big but very important book,

and if you were not here last night,

we looked at the first four chapters quite quickly,

where Moses does a recap of the travel

from Mount Sinai to the edge of the Promised Land.

And one of the things I tried to point out last night

is that the relationship between God and his people

is like father to son.

And it came up in the reading we just had,

that God is a father to his people.

He's not asking them to be obedient

so that one day they might enter the family.

He has brought them together as his family,

and now he's giving them wisdom

on how to live as members of the family.

So last night I said we could divide the book of Deuteronomy

into four parts,

which is the four talks for this weekend.

First four chapters is basically,

where have we come from?

Five to 11 is basically,

what's our relationship like?

12 to 26 is an unpacking of the Ten Commandments

in very practical detail.

And 27 to 34 is it's time to make a decision.

And this equates to the kind of treaty

that would be made

when a king would overtake another nation.

And the king would say,

here's a recap.

This is the relationship.

This is how you're to live.

You need to decide whether you're going to live or die.

But this, of course, is a friendly treaty

from God to his people.

So let's think carefully together

about what I've called

the seven diamonds on the covenant ring.

One of my favourite wedding stories,

which I often tell at a wedding,

is where a young man goes down to the coffee bar

and the lady behind the bar,

seeing the nice shiny ring on his finger,

says to him,

you must be on your honeymoon.

And he says, yes, I am.

She says, it's a funny thing, you know,

when I was on my honeymoon,

I was reading the book,

A Tale of Two Cities,

and within the year,

we were blessed with twins.

Nearby, there's a man sitting,

and he says,

that's a funny thing, he says,

my wife was reading The Three Musketeers,

and within the year,

we were blessed with triplets.

The young man goes very pale,

says, I've got to get back to my room.

My wife's reading Alibaba and the Forty Thieves.

So there is a guy

not wanting to be over-blessed.

But I want you to know

that as we look at what I've called

The Covenant Ring Between God and His People,

there are seven chapters to look at in this talk,

five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

And if you were to read them straight through,

you would say to yourself,

boy, there's a lot of repetition.

But actually, every chapter is different.

Every chapter is expressing

a different greatness of God

and a different expectation from God.

And that's why I've called it

Seven Diamonds on the Covenant Ring.

Is there a little bit of a buzz?

Can't do anything about it?

No? Okay.

As long as it doesn't irritate you,

it only mildly irritates me.

No, that's not true.

I'm okay.

So we come to chapters five to eleven.

This would be a great series for a sermon,

a series of seven,

but we're going to try and do it in one quick talk.

So let's look at chapter five.

And if you've got your outline there,

I have called this Rescued to Respond.

You'll see in chapter five, verse three,

if you were to open up Deuteronomy five, verse three,

that the covenant is meant to be a very long covenant.

This is what the Lord says.

The Lord did not make the covenant

just with our fathers,

but with us,

those who are here today.

In other words,

it is a long lasting covenant

for the people of God

in every generation.

And it's a covenant of grace

because in verse six,

we read,

and some of you will know this well,

I'm the Lord your God

who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

You shall have no other gods,

verse seven,

before me.

What's unusual about six before seven?

Anybody like to comment?

Thank you.

Relationship before law.

Salvation before stipulations.

Liberty before legalizing.

Yeah, relationship before rules.

The world gets this completely upside down.

If you were to ask a thousand people

why they thought they might go to heaven one day,

what will they do?

They'll talk law.

I've been good.

I've not been bad.

I've tried my best.

I've always.

But you see how the gospel works

in the Old and the New Testament.

Get saved.

Live well.

It's the sequence

which is absolutely vital.

And it's here in chapters five.

It's here in chapter five,

verses six and seven.

The commandments are mostly

a restatement of Exodus 20.

But the Sabbath is slightly changed

in Deuteronomy five

and looks now back to the Exodus.

Not back to the creation,

but looks back to salvation.

You'll notice in,

at Mount Sinai,

they were listening.

Verse 27,

if you go down to the end of the chapter.

Yes,

they were listening in Mount Sinai.

They heard the voice of God.

But verse 29 says,

Moses,

oh,

that they had a heart,

that they would respond.

In other words,

wouldn't it be great

if they were not just listening,

but were actually keen

and able to respond?

And Moses can only urge

this group to respond.

He has no power

to get into their hearts

and make them

a brand new people.

Only God can do that.

And down the track

of the Old Testament,

the new covenant

will come along

and it will change the heart

and make the person responsive

so you know what it's like

when a person is not a Christian

and you're trying

to get them to church.

It's just miserable

because there's no will

or the person

who doesn't want to read,

doesn't want to pray,

doesn't want to fellowship.

Making them from the outside

is such a miserable business

but when God changes the heart,

then there is something

that is willing.

So that's chapter five

very quickly.

Chapter six,

I've called welfare dangers

and at chapter six,

verse four,

if you have a look at six,

four,

we come to the famous

Shema,

which is the Hebrew word

for hear or listen.

Six,

four says,

hear,

listen,

O Israel,

the Lord our God,

the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

soul and strength.

Yahweh is the one true God

to whom they belong

and there is a library

packed into this little sentence,

the Lord our God is one.

Let me mention some things.

First,

there's probably the doctrine

of the Trinity here

in embryo.

One God,

three persons.

Second,

there are no other gods.

Do you remember

when the prophets of Baal

on Mount Carmel

were calling to Baal

and eventually not getting anywhere

so they start slashing themselves?

Because they're just longing

for response

but there is nothing,

nothing,

nothing

because there's no Baal up there.

There's only one God.

Yahweh, therefore,

has everything

under his care and control.

You don't need to hedge your bets

when you get into the promised land.

You don't need to say,

well,

we'll trust Yahweh for salvation.

He was great

but we're going to trust Baal

for agriculture.

No, no.

Yahweh is the only God

and he has everything

under his control.

And therefore,

give him your heart,

mind,

soul and strength

because when you do,

you've brought yourself

into the harbour

of truth and peace.

If you divide your heart,

you are disintegrated

and we pay the price of that.

But if we bring to him

our heart,

mind,

soul and strength

with the help of God,

then of course,

we are integrated.

Well,

in chapter 6,

verse 2,

we're told that the children

and the grandchildren

are to be grounded

in the one God.

And verse 7,

they're to be taught

as you walk along the road

and as you sit

and as you lie.

And I honestly think

the families of churches

need to be helped

to know

that they can play

a fantastic role

in talking to their children

about God

and godly things

all through the week.

Not in an insensitive way,

not in an unhelpful way,

but I look back

to my long time,

30 years at North Sydney

and I just wonder

how many of those parents

thought,

I'm no good at this,

I'll just leave it

to the Sunday school teachers.

But the parents

are not to leave

the children's

spiritual welfare

to the Sunday school teachers.

The parents have got

a fantastic opportunity

to keep reminding

the children

of a very great saviour

and a very great God

and a very great creator

and a very great heavenly father

and that's what

Moses is talking about here.

When he talks about

having the law

on the hands

and the foreheads

and the door frames,

I'm pretty sure

that was meant

to be symbolic.

I know the Jewish people

then insisted

on having law

hanging from the

sides of the head

and law stuck

on the door frames,

but I'm pretty sure

what Moses meant was

it's to be in front of you,

it's to be a constant.

Now the dangers

in chapter 6

of having this great

one God

as your God

in verse 10, 14 and 16

are first of all

that you might fall

into the trap

of prosperity.

Woe to you

if you get too wealthy

because you're

in danger

of then thinking

I've got everything

solved myself.

Well the Lord

can bring that undone

very quickly.

Idolatry,

verse 14 and 15,

we talked about

last night.

This is the danger

of replacing God

with something else

and let me assure you

that when the Israelites

got into the promised land

the idols that were present

were not doping.

We might say

who'd be an idiot

and worship a pole

or a block of wood

but behind those idols

there was a huge amount

of pleasure offered

and a huge amount

of prosperity promised.

So we mustn't

fall into the trap

of thinking idols

are all unattractive.

Idols are incredibly

attractive.

The thing we need

to keep asking the Lord

is that he'd incline us

to him

so that we don't

get disinclined.

So prosperity

is a problem.

Chapter 6,

idolatry is a problem

and adversity

is a problem.

Verse 16,

Moses says,

remember how you were

tested in the wilderness.

You were tested

to see whether you

had a heart for God.

And we're told

in verse 620

that the call

is to obey

which is on the backdrop

verse 21

of salvation.

God brought us out

to bring us in

says Moses

in 623.

Well,

we need to keep

reminding ourselves

again and again

that the rescue

that we've received

outweighs the call

for faithfulness

that God gives us.

Do you ever fall

into the trap

of thinking

the Christian life

is so terrible

I think I'm actually

asked to produce

more than I'm given.

And we know

when we fall

into that trap

we really have

made a mistake.

We have received

infinitely

and we're called

to be responsive

to that.

Let's go to

chapter 7.

Racing along,

chapter 7

is what I've called

loved,

you're a loved people

so make a decision.

And chapter 7

verse 1

is a lovely verse

which says

when the Lord

your God

brings you

into the land

which you go

to possess

and has cast

out many nations

before you

and then there's

a list of 7

verse 2

then when the Lord

your God

delivers them

you shall conquer

and utterly destroy them.

Notice what he says

I'm going to go in

and fight for you.

Of course you're

going to have to fight

but I'm going to

fight for you

and that's why

you'll win

the fight.

And then very

serious verses

from verse 2

that you're to

make no treaty

with the idols

or gods

of the land.

In other words

you're not to leave

a trace of cancer

in the body.

You're not to leave

any drugs

in the house

all down the toilet.

You're not to

allow a stranger

to linger

in the school.

Get him out.

And that's what it's like

with idolatry

and that's why

Paul tells us

in Colossians 3

put it to death

and you'll know

if you've been

a Christian

for a while

that one of the best

things you can ever

do with a lingering

sin is just to say

get out of here

and move on.

You never regret that

but the lingering

is so tricky.

I remember my old boss

who I worked with

in the UK

he said

and this was

a great confession

and it did us

a lot of good

he said

he said

even when I'm

repenting

there's a part of me

which would like

to take down

the phone number

of the sin

so that we could

keep in touch.

I thought

gee what an honest

thing to say

and then he looked

at the rest of us

and he said

is that not you?

And of course

it was us

and he said

if it's not you

collect your wings

and go straight

to heaven

and I thought

it was a great

reminder to us

that we are

in a battle.

So that's

how chapter 7

begins.

Now why did God

choose us?

Chapter 7

verses 7 to 8

two of the loveliest

verses in the whole

Bible

and this is what

Moses says

in 7

7 to 8

Why did God

choose you?

The Lord did not

set his love on you

nor choose you

because you were

more attractive

more in number

more wealthy

had more potential

more sweet

for you are the

least of all peoples

but because the

Lord loves you

and because he

would keep the

oath which he

swore to your

fathers

Why did the

Lord love you?

Because he loved

you.

It was his

decision.

He didn't look

down and see

Simon Manchester

and say what

potential

or what a

past

such a winsome

guy

or where would

the kingdom be

without this guy?

How are we

possibly going to

make any progress

unless we quickly

rescue that guy?

Not at all.

He looked down

and saw somebody

hopeless, hopeless,

hopeless fixed his

love and said

we'll make something

of this guy.

That's what he's

done with you.

He's loved you

because he loved

you.

And therefore

chapter 7 verse 11

respond well

because he loves

you and he will

bless you.

And there's a list

of the blessings.

The Old Testament

blessings were much

more outward.

Crops and

children and

herds and

cattle and

sheep and all

the outward

blessings.

The New Testament

blessings are

inward and

eternal.

Let me tell you

that if you had a

choice of outward

Old Testament

blessings, outward

temporal or inward

eternal New Testament

blessings, go for the

inward and the

eternal.

They're much more

precious, much more

precious.

And therefore the

comfort in chapter 7

verse 17, the

Lord has loved you,

he's going to look

after you and

therefore don't fear

the battle, 7

17.

He's already won the

battle in Egypt, he'll

win the battle in the

promised land.

So there's a

beautiful balance in

chapter 7 of you're

loved, so respond

well.

How do we respond

well to God?

Well we might say I'm

deeply thankful for

Jesus, otherwise I

wouldn't have any

hope.

I'm amazed that you

would call me.

I'm amazed that you

would choose me.

Please help me to

respond well to you

because my inclination

is to go all over the

place.

So incline me to

yourself and then

work through me so

that my life is

pleasing to you,

helpful for others.

That's how we might

respond to this.

Have any of you heard

John Piper's I-O-U-S

before?

Anyone know what I'm

talking about?

He said it as an

aside once and I

found this incredibly

helpful in the

mornings.

He has a little

mnemonic called I-O-U-S

I-O-U-S and they're

four little phrases

from the Psalms.

Incline my heart to

you.

Open my mind to

your word.

Unite my will with

yours.

Satisfy my soul with

yourself.

I find this

tremendously helpful

because I get up in

the morning and I'm

disinclined and my

mind is closed and my

will is wayward and my

soul is dissatisfied.

And the I-O-U-S says

incline my heart to

you.

Open my mind to your

word.

Unite my will with

yours.

Satisfy my soul with

yourself.

Chapter 8.

This is what I've

called trained for

wisdom.

Are you still with me?

We're nearly through.

No we're not.

We're halfway through.

Stay with it.

Chapter 8.

Trained for wisdom.

Chapter 8 verse 2

which Jacob read for

us says that God has

led them and tested

them and the test was

to reveal the heart.

So when a trial comes

along in our life and

trials do come along all

the time they are

testing experiences.

If we begin at that

point to accuse God

ah there we are God

I was so great and you

failed me by bringing a

test.

That's very revealing

isn't it?

If we find a way of

saying to him this is a

very difficult test but

I'm not going to walk

away from you I'm

looking to you.

That's a very revealing

response as well.

And listen carefully to

this friends.

The Lord tests to

strengthen the

friendship.

The devil tempts to

stretch the friendship.

Can I say that again?

The Lord tests to

strengthen the

friendship.

friendship.

He's putting you in

deep water to build up

your spiritual muscles.

He's for you.

The devil tempts to

stretch the friendship

and cause you to want

to give up.

And there was an amazing

provision in the desert

chapter 8 verse 4 but

there were serious tests

as well.

And so the point in

chapter 8 verse 6 is to

be wise.

To give glory to God

who's looked after you.

And beware of self

congratulation of saying

gee you know the reason

I got all this is because

I was so great.

Well in Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 4:7

Corinthians 4 verse 7

Paul says what do you

have you didn't receive?

I was just listening to

that violinist this

morning whose name is

and I was envying the

ability to do that.

Thinking how could I just

get that?

And of course God has

given him this great

ability and it blesses

the music.

And everything we've been

given is a blessing from

God.

All that we have we have

received from him.

So therefore we find it

hard to boast when we've

got our correct mind on

our heads.

That's chapter 8.

Let's go to chapter 9

what I've called success

and humility.

Chapter 9 verses 1 to 3.

God is going to enable the

entry to the promised land.

Hero Israel you're to

cross the Jordan and go

in to dispossess nations

greater and mightier than

yourself.

In other words humanly it's

impossible.

Cities great and fortified

are people great and tall

the descendants of the

Anakim and of whom you

heard it said who can stand

before the descendants of

Anak.

Therefore verse 3

therefore understand today

the Lord your God is he

who goes over before you

as a consuming fire.

He will destroy them and

bring them down before you

so you shall drive them

out and destroy them

quickly as the Lord has

said to you.

So God is the one who's

going to enable the

success of the entry to

the promised land and

therefore the people cannot

turn around they should

not turn around and say

we won this ourselves.

That would be insane.

Chapter 8 says don't boast

in your skills and chapter

9 says don't boast in

your goodness.

Now I don't know what

you make of pride and

humility.

Tim Keller says in one of

his books that in the

old days people used to

fear pride but you'll

notice today pride is

applauded and humility is

not so popular.

It's linked to low

self-esteem.

C.S. Lewis says pride is

the essential vice.

It's the chief cause of

misery since the world

began.

It's the one sin which

fractures friendships.

When people talk evil,

drink, sex, etc.

it can bring them together

with a lot of fun but pride

polarises.

And so notice in chapter 9

verse 7 how does Moses

drive this home?

He reminds them of the

incident in Exodus where

they built the golden calf.

Imagine you're Moses

talking to the people and

you're saying to them

you're about to go into

the promised land and I

want you to listen very

carefully because you know

at Mount Sinai God spoke

with tremendous power and

within hours the people of

God were committing adultery

on their honeymoon.

I remember meeting a girl

whose husband went off and

committed adultery on the

honeymoon.

and that's what the people

of God did.

Almost immediately after

hearing him speak at

Mount Sinai they went off

and they organised the

golden calf.

And so Moses is saying to

them I want you to realise

what you're like.

You're the sort of people

who can fall very quickly.

You're not a gold medal

people.

You're a gold calf people.

You can fall very quickly.

And therefore you need to

take seriously what's being

said to you.

Chapter 10 what I've called

mercy and fear.

In face of the golden calf

and that dreadful debacle

Moses realises of course

in Exodus that the only

hope is the mercy of God.

Do you remember that

lovely moment where Moses

says oh Lord here we are

we've all fallen on a heap.

Show me your glory.

And the Lord says come up

the mountain.

I'll hide you in the

cleft of the rock.

You remember this?

And I'll pass by.

And I'll show you my glory.

And he doesn't actually

show him the glory.

He declares the glory.

And he passes by and he

declares the Lord the Lord

gracious, merciful, slow to

anger, abounding in

steadfast love.

And it says in the original

Bible that I bought when I

was a boy and at this

Moses made haste to bow his

face towards the earth and he

worshipped.

Because he suddenly realised

that the answer to the

judgement of God was the

mercy of God.

The problem that would

drive you away from God

finds its solution in coming

back to him for mercy.

And that's what chapter 10

is all about.

There's going to be two new

stone tablets.

Chapter 10 verse 3.

Does anybody know why there

were two stone tablets?

We tend to think, don't we,

from church buildings that

one to five went on one of

them and six to ten went on

the other.

As if we never had room on

the tablets for Ten

Commandments.

But actually a treaty, you

see, had two parties.

And so when they drew up the

Ten Commandments, one copy

went to one half and one copy

went to the other half.

When God draws up his treaty

with his people in the Ten

Commandments, he doesn't need

a copy.

His copy can go into the tent.

And their copy goes into the

tent.

So they've got two copies.

It's a little bit like Jesus

saying, truly, truly, I say to

you, you've got double good

reason for taking seriously

what God says to you.

So the new two stone tablets

are being built because the

people have failed.

And Moses is reminding them on

the edge of the promised land.

And he says to the people, this

God, chapter 10, verse 12, is

massive.

Absolutely massive.

But he's also deeply interested

in the widow and the orphan and

the needs of your table.

That's the wonderful thing about

God.

He's transcendent and he's

imminent.

He's the God of the telescope and

he's the God of the microscope.

I heard a man say once that he had

small views of Jesus until he went

on a retreat like this.

And the speaker said, I want to ask

you to try and experiment.

You may have heard me say this

before.

And he said, the experiment is I want

you to make a model of the galaxy

that we live in.

And the scale of the galaxy is that

the distance between the earth and

the sun is going to be the thickness

of a piece of paper.

Okay, so here's a piece of paper.

Earth to sun is that far in your

model as you build a model of the

galaxy.

And then he said, how big a box do

you need to put the model of your

galaxy in?

And the answer is you need a box

that's 700 kilometres by 700

kilometres by 500 kilometres to put

the model of the galaxy in the

box.

And the speaker said, since the

Lord Jesus has made and governs

billions of galaxies, we don't get

to put him in our back pocket.

He is massive.

But he's also incredibly interested

in the minor details.

The tiny, tiny details.

Everything.

Nothing misses him.

And that's why we must respond to

him with great gratitude.

Merciful, but majestic as well.

Well, the last chapter, 11, is what

I've called grace and obedience.

And this is where God, again, reminding

them if his grace calls on them to be

obedient.

Now, I don't know how you think of

obedience in the Christian life.

You may think it's a miserable thing.

But let me give you an illustration

which may help you.

And that is that I think of obedience

like this.

When you're taking small children on a

holiday, some of you may identify with

this and some of you may identify in

the past, or you may at least be

familiar.

When you're taking children on a

holiday and you're going from A to B,

500 Ks, you do not put the security of

the trip in the hands of your children.

They get put in their seats.

They get their little seatbelts put on.

You close the door.

You take the wheel.

The security of the trip is in your

hands, not theirs.

But it is possible for them to

contribute to the joy of the journey.

I know that sounds ridiculous.

But it is possible for them to

contribute to the joy of the journey by

being cooperative in the back seat.

I know it's never happened.

But in theory, it's possible for them to

contribute to the joy of the journey.

And that's how obedience fits into the

Christian life.

It's pleasing to God.

And it contributes to the joy of the

journey.

But it's got nothing to do with the

security of the journey.

And that's why we give thanks for the

security that comes to us through

Jesus.

But the obedience will contribute to the

joy.

So in chapter 11, verse 2, if you just

look at 11, verse 2, the children who

are standing in front of Moses now, those

little kids, they were not there at

Mount Sinai.

And so the older people who are adults

who were children at Mount Sinai are

being told to help the younger ones to

know what took place.

And chapter 11, verse 10, the land which

you go to possess is not like the land of

Egypt from which you've come, where you

sowed your seed and watered it by foot.

But the land which you cross over to

possess is a land of hills and valleys

which drinks water from the rain of

heaven.

In other words, when you're in Egypt and

you had to get your rain by foot, that

either means you had to walk to get your

water or there was an irrigation system

where you pumped little planks with your

feet, but you had to work hard for water.

Well, it's not going to be like that in the

promised land, says the Lord.

The rain is going to be plentiful and is going

to come down as a mark of grace.

So therefore, the climax of the chapter, choose

carefully who you're going to serve because

God is this covenant God with all the blessings

and all the requests or obligations.

And we read at the end of chapter 5 from verse 26, there's going to be two

mountains as you enter the promised land.

Gerizim to announce the blessings, Ebal to announce the curses, and you've got to

make your choice.

Are you going to be a God following people or a God forgetting people?

If you're a God following people, well, of course, you'll be living under his joy,

favour, blessing.

If you're a God forgetting people, you'll be living under his discipline, not because

he doesn't love you, because he does love you.

It's just going to make it much awkward.

Now, friends, all of this is a great signpost to the Lord Jesus, because in the end, when

we think about the curses which could fall on people, the Lord Jesus, because of the

cross, has caused the curses that could fall on us to fall on him.

And that's the wonderful privilege of being a Christian, Galatians 3, that he took the

curses, that we might take the blessings.

So as we live with God in the world, we have this heavenly Father who's lifted the curses

off us, seeks, of course, to be gracious to us, always gracious.

But sometimes that grace will be seen in testing, strengthening, and when we fail, calling,

disciplining, but all the time, this gracious God is going to be at work again for his people.

Now, I thought I might just finish by reading something again from John Piper, who I haven't

read for a long time, but a long time ago, I read his little meditation on rain.

And since there has been a bit of rain lately, I don't know if you've noticed, but there has

been a bit of rain.

I thought I'd read to you as we close something about rain.

Have you heard this before?

This is a meditation by John Piper on the text from Job.

My God does great and unsearchable things.

He does wonders with a number like rain.

Piper says, is rain a great and unsearchable wonder?

Well, picture yourself as a farmer, far from any lake or stream.

A few wells keep the family and animals supplied.

But if the crops are to grow and the families to be fed, water has to come on the fields.

From where?

Well, the sky.

The sky.

Water will come out of the sky.

Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea over several hundred miles

and then poured out from the sky onto the fields.

Carried.

How much does it weigh?

Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night,

that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water,

which is 206,300,160 gallons,

which is one, nearly two billion pounds of water.

That's heavy.

How does it get up in the sky and stay up if it's so heavy?

Well, it gets there by evaporation, really.

What does that mean?

It means the water stops being water for a while so it can go up, not down.

Then how does it get down?

Well, condensation happens.

What's that?

The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little particles

between 0.0001 and 0.0001 centimetres wide.

What about the salt?

Salt?

Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water.

That would kill the crops.

What about the salt?

Well, the salt has to be taken out.

Oh, so the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea,

takes out the salt and carries it for 300 miles and dumps it on the farm.

Well, it doesn't dump it.

If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm,

the wheat would be crushed.

So the sky dribbles the billion pounds of water down in little drops

and they have to be big enough to fall

and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.

How do all these microscopic specks of water

that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall?

Well, it's called coalescence.

What's that?

It means the specks of water start bumping into each other

and join up and get bigger.

And when they're big enough, they fall.

Just like that?

Well, not exactly,

because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up.

If there were no electric field present, what?

Never mind.

Take my word for it.

I think that I will take Job's word for it.

I still don't see why drops ever get to the ground

because if they start falling as soon as they're heavier than air,

they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down.

But if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they're big enough not to evaporate?

Yes, I'm sure there's a name for that too.

But I'm satisfied now that by any name,

this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done.

And I think I should be more thankful than I am.

Isn't that great?

Let's pray.

Our gracious God, thank you for your greatness and your goodness,

seen to your people and especially seen in the Lord Jesus.

And we pray that because our hearts are so wayward,

you would incline us to yourself.

You would keep opening our mind to your word.

You would keep uniting our wills with yours

and keep causing us to be satisfied with yourself.

For Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.