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Colin Smith: You may think knowing God sounds easy, but I tell you that by nature it is impossible. Everything about God is beyond the range of our five senses. So knowing God would be absolutely, completely and utterly impossible unless God had made himself known.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller and Colin, I'm glad to hear you say that because honestly I have a hard time wrapping my mind around all that God is. But thankfully God has revealed himself to us even all the way back in the Old Testament.

Colin Smith: Yeah, that's right and he accommodates himself to our understanding. He speaks to us in a way that we can comprehend because otherwise how would we know who he is and how therefore could we have the joy and blessing of eternal life. So God speaks to us in terms of his hands, his feet, his shoulders, his arms. All of these are in the passage we're looking at at Deuteronomy today. It is a beautiful passage of scripture for God to hold his people in his arms, for us to rest on his shoulders. Boy, if you are jaded and struggling today is a day where we're going to soak up from the word of God what he is for his people and what is ours when we're in him through Jesus Christ.

Steve Hiller: Well, let's get to the message. We're in Deuteronomy chapter 33 as we continue. Enjoy the blessing of God. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now the point here is simply that God speaks to us in language that we can understand. And so when Moses wants to communicate what the blessing of the eternal God actually looks like in your life today, he uses in this chapter four wonderful anthropomorphisms. And I hope you will come to love them and enjoy them as much as I do in the scriptures. Here's the first verse three. God's hand, God's hand. Look at this. Verse three, surely Moses says to the Lord, it is you who love the people. And all the holy ones are in your hand.

Here's what it means to be saved, folks. Here's why when you know the Lord you are blessed like nobody else. When you know God you are in his hand. When you know him your life is not a matter of random chance. Whatever surprises, whatever disappointments are going on in your life or may come your way, you are in the hand of the living God and he cares for you. Jesus said taking up this picture, he said I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. He says no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

There may be many failings in your Christian life. There may be many times when your faith is running incredibly low. But thank God with me today that your salvation, your security does not rest on the strength of your hand holding on to God, but it rests on the strength of God's hand holding on to you. Isn't that good news? That's security in an uncertain world. And Moses says to the people of God, you are blessed. Why? Because of someone who is saved by the Lord, your life is in his hand and that means you are utterly secure.

Then look on in verse three. He speaks about God's feet. And here are the references to wisdom, at your feet. They all bow down and from you receive instruction, the law that Moses gave us. Now you see the point here, the people of God are coming to a great change. Moses has been with them all of their lives. And he was the one who always seemed to know what to do. Moses knows what to do and now what are they going to do without Moses? And the great question surely for God's people, a question we often ask, where can we find wisdom?

Who should we trust? How can we make good and wise decisions? And God's people received instruction from God himself through the law, Moses says here, that had been given by Moses. Now you see the point here, it's very wonderful. When you read the scriptures, you are sitting at the feet of God and you are listening to his voice. People all the time are asking this question and many folks are in confusion about it. How do I hear the voice of God? How do I hear the voice of God? Here's how you hear the voice of God.

See Moses is saying he speaks, he he gives direction how through the law that he's given to Moses. When you listen to the scripture, you are hearing the voice of God for this is the word that God himself speaks. Listen, when you have your Bible open, when you are reading the word of God, you are sitting at the feet of God. At your feet they all bow down and from you they receive instruction how the law that Moses gave us. It's beautiful, it's wonderful. You are not left without guidance. You have a shepherd and here's how he speaks to you.

When you read the scripture, you are sitting at the feet of the Lord and you are listening to his voice. It's why we want the word of God to be central in our worship. So that with a Bible open, we can see what God says and build our lives upon it. So you see what Moses is saying, it's building here. Oh, how blessed you are, Israel, a people saved by the Lord. You're in his hands. And you're not aimlessly drifting about in life. You're you're being taught at his feet. You have his word. And then thirdly, it gets even more beautiful.

God's shoulders. Will you look with me at verse 12? I love this. The beloved of the Lord will rest secure in him, for he shields them all day long and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. Boy, that is a verse to mark and highlight in your Bible. It is beautiful. You see the picture. You think about a father with his son, little boy on his shoulders. And you can picture it. It's been a long, exhausting day of Christmas shopping. You know what that is. And here's this little lad he's been dragged around every department store that you can imagine and it's 6:00 in the evening and the little lad's absolutely exhausted and he's been crying and he looks up at his dad with that exhausted, please help me.

Look in his eyes. And what does the father do? The father picks him up, it sticks him on his shoulders and there that little boy sits like a king on his father's shoulders. Now you see what this is saying. God will not leave you bedraggled and exhausted. You look back even to chapter one and verse 31. It's so beautifully stated there, the same picture. Moses says chapter one verse 31, the Lord your God carried you as a father carries his son all the way you went until you reached this place. All these years in the desert, it was God who carried you.

There's a beautiful poem or perhaps a piece of prose that many of you will know. It's called footprints in the sand. Are you familiar with this? May I just read that to you because it just encapsulates the beauty of the God who carries his people on his shoulders. The author Mary Stevenson writes this. One night I dreamed that I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes of my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed that there were footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, sometimes there was only one.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life when I suffered from anguish and sorrow and defeat, I could only see one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, you promised me, Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there was only one set of footprints in the sand. Why when I needed you most have you not been there for me? And the Lord replied, the times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Enjoy the Blessing of God. Now we have to pause here, but we'll get back to this message in just a moment. This message is the last message in our series called Take Two, the Power of a Fresh Start, where we're taking a look at part of the book of Deuteronomy. And if you missed any of the broadcasts in our series, you can listen online at openthebible.org or even better, order a copy of the entire series on CD. Ask about Take Two when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365.

That's 1-877-673-6365 or you'll find ordering information at openthebible.org. Let's get back to the message. Again, here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now are you beginning to see what the blessing of God looks like, why Moses would say at the end of the chapter, oh Israel, who's like you? No one has this blessing apart from it being trusted to you. It is amazing. You are in the hands of God. And you're being taught at the feet of God and you're being carried on the shoulders of God. And Moses isn't done because there's one more. Verse 27 and if you haven't highlighted this in your Bible, oh this is another verse to highlight. The eternal God is your refuge.

And underneath says Moses are the everlasting arms. Underneath the everlasting arms. Now anyone who's climbed a mountain knows that going up is always easier than coming down. Isn't that a principle? Uh going up is challenging, it's wonderful, but you have a sense of achievement on the way up. Coming down is always harder. That's when you're more likely to slip. That's when you'll get discouraged. C. H. Spurgeon says that this promise in verse 27 is for times when we face the challenge of the downward journey. Times in your life where you are brought low and there are times in all of our lives where we are brought very very low in one way or another.

Spurgeon says it might be material. Now some of us know about that. Your salary was going up. Great when it's going up. Your savings were going up. Now it's all down and you have much less than you had before. That's not easy. It's going down. Spurgeon says it might not only be material, it might be mental. Is there anyone else here who has noticed memory failing or said in frustration, boy, I how did that slip my mind? And you have felt that your mind is not as sharp as it used to be. It's going down.

Maybe your influence, it may be your reputation. People looked up to you. You had a certain position, but you're not in that position now. People wanted your opinion, but nobody is asking your opinion now. These days are gone. Things have changed. You're no longer looked up to with the kind of respect that you were accustomed to in the past. You're going down and going down isn't easy. So here's the promise. However far you fall, however low you come, the loving arms of God are always underneath. That's the great thing about this text. Underneath as you're falling.

Underneath are the everlasting arms. And put yourself in Moses's shoes because you know what's going to happen next for him because we've already looked at chapter 34. Here's Moses. Can you imagine this after 40 years of ministry with these people and all the frustrations he's endured and now he's at the very verge of the promised land. And surely in his heart there must have been the sense, oh Lord, there's so much more I want to do for you. The last chapter of the book says that his eyes were not dim and his strength was not gone.

Lord, my eyes aren't dim, my strength is not gone. There's more I want to do for you. I'm so close. Why don't you let me finish what I started? Anyone here had the experience of not being allowed to finish something you started? Wishing you could. And the reality that Moses faces now is that a few hours after speaking these very words, he's going to descend into the grave. And he says, now I want you to know why you're blessed as the people of God and why I'm blessed to be one of God's people as I go down.

And I'm going to be buried. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Isn't that good? Spurgeon says underneath dying saints is the living God. Isn't that great? Underneath dying saints is the living God. And he says, I recollect, this is Spurgeon at a funeral, when we laid the body of one of our dear God's dear saints in the grave. You picture that at the graveside. And Spurgeon says one of my fellow ministers prayed like this and he quotes the prayer that the guy said by the graveside. Lord, we thank you that though our dear friend has come so low now 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 by these everlasting arms raised to newness of life in Jesus Christ.

Isn't that beautiful? Even in death. Underneath are the everlasting arms. So here's the blessing that is so rich for those who are saved by the Lord. Here's why Moses is saying, blessed are you, oh Israel, who's like you, a people saved by the Lord? Because this is what it means to be saved by the Lord. This is what it means to know God. You're in his hands and you're at his feet and you're between his shoulders and you're on his arms and there is no blessing, there is no richness in this world that can come close to that.

Who is like you, oh Israel, that you should have this blessing as yours? Now here's the last thing today. This blessing of God to be in his hands and at his feet and on his shoulders, between his shoulders and on his arms. This blessing of God was theirs then as it is ours now only through Jesus Christ. You see what Jesus Christ accomplished when he came and was born into the world and then when he died and then when he rose again. What Jesus accomplished brought the blessing of God to God's people before him as much as to all of us who live after him.

And you see that is the great significance of why Moses died outside the promised land. This is of huge importance in the Bible story. Moses was the law giver. And the law gives you a glimpse of the promised land. The law tells you what a blessed life looks like. The problem is the law can't bring you into living that blessed life. The law gives you a glimpse of the blessing, but it cannot take you in. It gives you a glimpse of holiness. You read God's law and you say, oh that's the kind of man I want to be, but it can't take you in.

The law brought Moses, the law giver came to the edge of the promised land, but that's as far as the law can take you. That is why the Bible says that no one will be declared righteous in the sight of God by observing the law. We need someone better than Moses to lead us into the blessing of God. Otherwise we will only be glimpsing it as he did from outside. And so of course the great question of the Bible story is who then can bring us where Moses could not go? Who can bring us right into this blessing?

Who can make all that it means to be in his hands and at his feet and on his shoulders and between his shoulders and on his arms? Who can make all that really ours? And John puts it this way. He says, the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And I want you to see the beauty of this in God's progressive revelation. Moses described God in human terms, hands, feet, shoulders, arms. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, hands, feet, shoulders, arms. The blessings in other words that Moses described were theirs and are ours and can be yours through Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh.

That is God coming to actually do and accomplish for us everything that Moses described. And that is why you see the shepherds gather with Mary and Joseph at the manger. And they look with wonder at these tiny hands and these tiny feet and these little shoulders and these little arms. And they bow in worship because they are looking at the hands and the feet of God. Roll the story forward and this child has become a man. His hands are now skilled through his work as a carpenter. His feet are worn with many many miles of walking on dusty roads.

Now look at him. His shoulders are carrying a huge beam of wood. A crowd have gathered and they're cheering and mocking and now soldiers they're taking nails and they are piercing the hands and the feet of God. And as they do, the arms of God are outstretched towards you. Friends, Jesus went to the cross so that the blessing of God in all its fullness that Moses described could be yours. So that your life could be in the hands of God, not as his enemy, but as his friend. So that your life could be as one who is taught at the feet of almighty God.

So so that you when your own strength is gone could be carried on the shoulders of the almighty so that you would be forever secure in the everlasting arms, no matter how far you may fall. And to all of us who belong to this Jesus Christ today, I say in the words of Moses, blessed are you, oh Israel, who is like you? A people saved by the Lord. And you know if you have come visiting the church today, perhaps drawn by the season, drawn by the occasion, I want to say if you don't yet know about this in your own experience, this blessing can be yours.

Christ came into the world to make it yours. And here's what you can do today. You can say, Lord Jesus, today I place my life into your hands. Now be my provider. Lord Jesus, today I'm going to sit at your feet. Now be my teacher. Lord Jesus, today I find rest in your shoulders. Now be my strength. Lord Jesus, today I fall into your everlasting arms. Now be my savior.

Steve Hiller: What a great way to wrap up our time here on Open the Bible weekend. I hope that you have come to Jesus in that way. But maybe you know you never have, but you'd like to today or you'd like to talk with one of our staff members about what that would look like for you to come to Jesus. I hope you'll contact us here at Open the Bible. Our number is 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Today's message Enjoy the Blessing of God is part of our series Take Two, the Power of a Fresh Start, a look at the book of Deuteronomy.

And if you missed any of the programs in our series, come and listen online at openthebible.org. Open the Bible is a listener supported program. It's your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching each day. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Tim Keller's book called What is Wrong with the World? And Colin, tell us about this book.

Colin Smith: Well, I think everybody's heard the phrase that a picture is worth a thousand words. And the Bible answers the question, what is wrong with the world? With the age old answer, the unchanging answer that it is sin that's got into the human bloodstream. But you see what God has done so wonderfully is he speaks to us in language that we can understand. He uses pictures. And what Tim Keller has done so wonderfully here is he's drawn out the pictures that God has used in scripture to explain what's wrong with the world, to tell us what sin is and what it's like.

So for example, it's like a predator, like an animal in the story of Cain and Abel. God says sin is crouching at the door as if it was ready to attack and to destroy. Or it's like leprosy which we have in the story of Naaman. This goes through and it gets at the question, what is it that's wrong with the world? That's a question that any thinking person really needs to grapple with. And it enables us to grapple with it in a way that we're able to understand. It's beautifully written. It's an easy read and it answers one of the most important questions we can ever face.

Steve Hiller: Well, we would love to send you a copy of this book. Again, it's called What is Wrong with the World? As our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. Open the Bible weekend is a listener supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin and I love the story of the thief on the cross because it's the best story we have to help people understand grace. You know many people have the idea that if a person was to get into heaven, they'd get there by living a good enough life. Well, the thief on the cross hadn't lived a good life and he wasn't in a position to start living a good life either. But Jesus said to him, today you will be with me in paradise. Well, if the thief could get into heaven, so can everyone you know and will ever meet.

Heaven how I got here is a compelling 60-minute film in which Steven Baldwin portrays the thief on the cross in a one person play. We've seen God use this film to help many trust in Jesus as the thief did. So who is there in your life who needs to understand grace? For more information or to watch this film for free, visit openthebible.org/heaven. That's openthebible.org/heaven.