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Colin Smith: So there you are, Moses, you believe in a God who judges. No surprise there, we kind of figured that. You're an Old Testament guy, aren't you?

Colin Smith: So you're not one of these people, Moses, who believes that God pours out love and compassion all the time. And Moses would say, hey, wait a minute.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you joined us. And Colin, I think very often we tend to see God either as a God of judgment or as a God of love. And it sounds like you're saying, no, we need to see God for who he really is.

Colin Smith: Yeah, that's right, which is both. And you see both of these reflected in the book of Deuteronomy and we're going to focus on that together today. You know, my love for the book of Deuteronomy goes back to the first time that I read it in one sitting.

Colin Smith: I did that as a student, we were given it as an assignment, read the book of Deuteronomy through in one sitting. And I was moved by the degree to which the love of God is absolutely overwhelming. The judgment of God is there for sure, but his love overwhelms his judgment in regards to his people. It's a marvelous thing.

Colin Smith: Well, there might be some folks listening to us who'd like to read the book of Deuteronomy right the way through. We had a public reading of the book of Deuteronomy at one time, it took about a couple of hours in our church. It's a great book. It will take you to the heart of God's judgments, but it will reveal to you the overwhelming love of our God.

Steve Hiller: Well, we are in Deuteronomy chapter 32 today. So if you can, join us there as we begin a message called The Goodness and Severity of God. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: It's my great joy and privilege as a pastor to try to explain as clearly and compellingly as possible from the Bible why Jesus Christ came into the world and what that means for us today.

Colin Smith: And I want to do that today from the book of Deuteronomy where we've been over these last weeks. But I want to begin with a front page that caught my attention from the newspaper USA Today. They led with the headline How America Sees God, How America Sees God.

Colin Smith: It is a good title because the article is not purporting to tell us how God is, it is merely telling us from a survey how we as Americans see God, in which of course we may be right or wrong or somewhere as it were in between.

Colin Smith: The article is based on a study that was conducted over the last four years by two sociologists from Baylor University in Texas. Their work has just been published in a book that is called America's Four Gods, what we say about God and what this says about us.

Colin Smith: And quoting from the article reviewing this book on the lead of USA Today, they say, if you pray to God, to whom or to what are you praying? When you sing God Bless America, whose blessing are you seeking? Is God by our side or is he beyond the stars? Is he wrathful or is he forgiving? Is he judging us every moment or someday or never?

Colin Smith: Now, the sociologists identify four different views of God, each of which they say from their survey are supported by approximately a quarter of all Americans. I found it interesting that from this survey over the last four years, they say that 5% of Americans are either atheists or agnostics, 5%, that's quite a bit up on what it used to be. But that still leaves 95% of us, according to this survey, the last four years, who have some kind of belief in God.

Colin Smith: But what kind of God do we believe in? That's the interesting question. Well, the sociologists say that 24% of Americans believe in, and I quote, a distant God who quote, booted up the universe and then left humanity alone.

Colin Smith: Now, on this view, of course, life is basically down to you. God has booted up the universe, he leaves it to us. The article here quotes a rabbi who identified with this view of God, and he says, quote, there's no one that can fix things if I mess them up. Well, that's pretty clear, isn't it? You see, God's so detached from the world, there's no one who can fix things if I mess them up.

Colin Smith: And according to USA Today, that is how about 24% of all Americans think of God. Merely started things off, but basically it's down to us. And you will immediately recognize, of course, that that is not a Christian view of God. Because the whole point of the gospel is that Christ came to the world precisely because we have messed up and we need a Redeemer. It's at the very core of what is revealed in the gospel.

Colin Smith: Now, a second view of God, identified by the sociologists, is that again, God is disengaged from the world, but that he will make things right in the end in in heaven and that somewhere beyond this world, everything will be okay.

Colin Smith: Now, this is essentially the view of God that was dismissed memorably by Karl Marx, you remember he said of this kind of view of God that religion is the opium of the people. The phrase that we know it by is pie in the sky, finish it for me, when you die. You see, now, according to the survey, about 21% of Americans see God like this, that he's not going to do anything in this world, that basically your lot is what it is, therefore there would be no particular reason for for praying because God's not going to mess with anything that happens here, but at least you can have the hope that somehow, somewhere everything will be all right in the end.

Colin Smith: Now again, that is not a Christian view of of God. Why would God take human flesh and leave heaven and come to Earth if he were only concerned about the things in heaven?

Colin Smith: Now, having looked at at these two, it was the third and the fourth view of God that really caught my attention and are the reason for bringing this to you today.

Colin Smith: The survey says that 28% of Americans see God as, quote, engaged in history, that means he's actually at work in this world, and meeting out punishment to those who do not follow him. I was actually surprised by that. But according to this survey, 28% of Americans believe in a God who punishes.

Colin Smith: Then the survey goes on to say that a further 22% of Americans believe in, quote, a benevolent God, who is a force for good, who cares for all people, weeps at all conflict, and will comfort all.

Colin Smith: So, get the picture here, according to the sociologists reported on the front page of USA Today, 28% of Americans believe in a God who punishes, and 22% of Americans believe in a God who loves.

Colin Smith: Now, I don't know how these researchers laid out their questions. But at least the way in which USA Today presents their conclusions with these four kind of hermetically sealed boxes, kind of implies that if we believe in a God who punishes, we cannot at the same time believe in a God who loves. Or, if we believe in a God who loves, we cannot at the same time believe in a God who punishes.

Colin Smith: And I think, having studied Deuteronomy, as we have over these last weeks, that if you were to say that to Moses, he would kind of stroke his beard and furrow his brow and he'd say,

Colin Smith: Really?

Colin Smith: And I'm trying to imagine in in my little mind the researchers with their clipboards kind of running their survey tool on Moses. Moses, do you believe in a God who meets out punishment to those who do not follow him?

Colin Smith: You bet I do.

Colin Smith: Let me tell you about the plagues in Egypt.

Colin Smith: Let me tell you about the time when God sent venomous snakes when we were in the desert among his own people, when we had spoken against him and grumbled and complained. Now these snakes bit people with their venom and many died. And then I think Moses would choke as he said this, he'd say, let me tell you about how I struck the rock.

Colin Smith: Oh, that wretched, foolish, costly act.

Colin Smith: And God said to me, Moses, you will not enter into the promised land.

Colin Smith: And I see the researchers putting their pens away. So there you are, Moses, you believe in a God who judges. No surprise there. We kind of figured that, you're an Old Testament guy, aren't you?

Colin Smith: So you're not one of these people, Moses, who believes that God pours out love and compassion all the time. And Moses would say, hey, wait a minute.

Colin Smith: Let me tell you about how God delivered us on that night of the plagues in the in Egypt. Let me tell you about the bronze serpent that was lifted up on the pole, and when I lifted that bronze serpent up, those who looked in faith to this gift that God had given, they were healed of the venom and their lives were saved.

Colin Smith: Let me tell you about the sacrifices that were given so that even though in this world I will not enter into the promised land, my name will not be blotted out, but rather I have peace with God.

Colin Smith: Reflecting on this, there's a verse in scripture that has come to me, it's so important for us to grasp. It's Romans chapter 11 and verse 22 where the Apostle Paul says, behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God.

Colin Smith: Romans 11:22, it's really worth knowing and remembering. The Apostle Paul says, what you're to look at, and he's writing to Christians in Rome, so this is for us very much. Paul says, here's what you're to look at, here's what you're to consider, I want you Christian people to behold the goodness and the severity of God.

Colin Smith: And Dr. Jim Packer commenting on this verse says, Christians are not to dwell on God's goodness alone or on his severity alone, but we are to contemplate both together.

Colin Smith: In other words, if you want to know who God really is, as opposed to simply projecting your own imagination or intuition about him as so many people do. What you need to do, the Bible is saying, is to consider his goodness and his severity. You have to consider his mercy and his judgment. You have to consider his love and his wrath. And I'm suggesting to you today, and this is the reason for this message, that you cannot understand Christmas unless you grasp the goodness and the severity of God.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called The Goodness and Severity of God. And we've begun this message by really looking at how America sees God and maybe how you see him. But when we come back in just a moment, we're going to come back and look at the drama of God's goodness and severity.

Steve Hiller: Well, if you ever want to go back and listen to a message in a series again, you can do that when you come to our website, that's openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Another way to listen on demand is through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store. And that's a great way to stay connected to Pastor Colin's teaching on the go. Let's get back to our message. Again, here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now, preparing his people for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, which of course is the center of what the whole Bible is all about. Way back in the book of Deuteronomy, God is impressing on the minds of his people these two great truths, his goodness and his severity.

Colin Smith: And we've seen it running all the way through the book of Deuteronomy, and when we come to the end, this is the dominant theme that Moses lays before the people, he wants this to stay with them more than anything else. This is what will enable them to understand Jesus Christ.

Colin Smith: And so God presses these twin truths into the minds and hearts of his people in remarkable ways, and I want you to notice this morning that he does it through drama and he does it through music. God is very concerned that we get certain things.

Colin Smith: And so if you open your Bible at Deuteronomy, I want you to see first the drama and then the music. The drama is in chapter 27 and chapter 28. The drama of God's goodness and of his severity. Remember Moses addressing the people, the verge of the promised land, and he says now I'm not going in with you, Moses is going to die as we'll see next week God willing, go and be with the Lord, but they're going into the promised land.

Colin Smith: And he says, now when you get there, here's what you're to do, you cross the Jordan and you're going to go past two mountains. And these mountains are called Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. And when you get to Mount Ebal and Gerizim, I want you to send, Moses says in chapter 27, verse 12 and 13, I want you to send some representatives from six tribes up one mountain and I want you to send six representatives of six tribes up the other mountain.

Colin Smith: And then when all the people of God, when you're all marching through between these mountains, as you go past Mount Gerizim. The folks up there are to shout out all the blessings that will be upon you as you walk in obedience to the Lord. And then when you walk past Mount Ebal, the guys up there are going to be shouting out all the curses that will come upon you if you disobey the ways of the Lord.

Colin Smith: And so if you have chapter 27 open, you'll see there what the Levites are to shout in verse 14, verse 15. They're to shout out as the people walk along the valley there, cursed is the man, verse 15, chapter 27, who carves an image and casts an idol. And you notice at the end of each verse as these curses are listed, all the people are to say, amen, amen, which means so shall it be.

Colin Smith: Verse 16, cursed is the man who dishonors his father and his mother, and so it goes on right through the chapter, you see it there. Worst of all, verse 26 at the bottom, cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out, and all the people shall say, Amen.

Colin Smith: Can you imagine how vivid this is? They're walking past this mountain, there's all these guys and they're saying, if you disobey God, you're going to be cursed in the city. And you say, amen, that's how it's going to be, I know, I know, I agree with that.

Colin Smith: Then someone says, if you disobey God, you're going to be cursed in the country. Amen. Then you walk past Mount Gerizim and and there are people up there saying, if you obey the Lord, you're going to be blessed in the city. If you obey the Lord, you're going to be blessed in the country.

Colin Smith: Would you ever forget such an experience? Every time the kids came back to these mountains, oh, there's that mountain when these men were shouting all the bad things, and there's that mountain where the men were shouting all the good things. Could it have been clearer? God blesses, God punishes. There are blessings that follow righteousness, there are curses that follow rebellion.

Colin Smith: And as the people felt this in the drama of their own entry into the promised land, they're saying, amen, amen, amen, because they're not just to hear it, they're to own it.

Colin Smith: Now, not only is God teaching them through this drama. But as we turn over now to chapter 31 and chapter 32, he reinforces it even further through a remarkable song. And again, the song is on the same theme, the whole of the end of the book is about this one thing, you got to get it that there's the goodness and the severity of God. Don't think about the one without the other. Laws end up in error that way.

Colin Smith: Consider the goodness and the severity of God, and it's impressed through the drama, now it's impressed through a song. Chapter 31 and verse 19. God now speaks in private to Moses and to Joshua. And he says to them, write down for yourselves this song, teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it.

Colin Smith: Moses becomes the choir director, he becomes the leader of worship. He's got to sing a song himself, I I don't know what kind of singer Moses would have been, but he is to teach this song to Israel and teach it to them so well that the congregation can all sing it by memory. Which we're not going to manage today because the song is in chapter 32 and you'll see it runs for 43 verses.

Colin Smith: In fact, it tells us, if you look there in chapter 31 and verse 30, Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel. And bearing in mind that the dear man was 120, that's not bad memory to be able to recite chapter 32 at the age of 120, what do you think?

Colin Smith: But God gave him this song because it brings together the very essence of what his people have to know in order to know God and what we have to know in order to understand Christmas.

Colin Smith: Now, you'll see then that the message of this song is the same as the message of the drama and indeed the same as the message of the whole book of Deuteronomy and indeed the whole of the Bible. It begins in its first half, verses 1 to 26 with the severity of God.

Colin Smith: And as Moses sings this song, he rehearses in the earlier part the blessings of God from verse 10. I let's pick this up. There's a catalog of blessings here, both blessings past in the desert and blessings that would come in the future in the promised land. Verse 10 of chapter 32, God found you in the desert. God has shielded you, verse 10, and he has cared for you. God, verse 11, has guarded you like an eagle guarding its nest.

Colin Smith: Verse 13, God nourished you with honey from the rock and with oil from the flinty crag. I love that phrase. Now, this is beginning to speak about the blessings that will come to them in the promised land, you see. God's blessings in your life, my friend, and in mine are more than we can number.

Colin Smith: But Moses goes on to describe prophetically the choices that God's people will make, and the rest of the Old Testament simply is an outworking of everything that Moses says here in this song. Verse 15. One of the most striking verses in the book of Deuteronomy. Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. I said to Colin the other day, isn't that an amazing verse? She said, well, yeah, but what in the world does it mean?

Colin Smith: Jeshurun. If you've got very good eyes and a pew Bible, you will notice perhaps bottom right-hand side of the page that there's a footnote there that simply says, Jeshurun means the upright one that is Israel. The upright one, Israel. So you say, well, now why not simply say Israel then? And I think the answer is that by using this name Jeshurun that means the upright one, God is speaking about his own people at their best. And he's saying to them, here's the truth about you at your most upright. Jeshurun, you at your most upright, grew fat and kicked.

Colin Smith: Now, God is saying that is precisely what I know you're going to do. You're going to grow fat and kick. You're going to receive my blessings and you're going to credit yourself, and then when something goes wrong, despite all the blessings that I have poured into your life, what are you going to do? You're going to resist me, you're going to resent me, you're going to speak against me, you're going to doubt me. You will grow fat and you will kick. And God says, I know that this is what you're disposed to do. Isn't that amazing? God knows what's in your heart, God knows what you want to do this week, even before you do it. You receive my blessings, you credit yourself and you kick against me, and that's true of my people at their best. I know this.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called The Goodness and Severity of God. It's part of our series, Take Two, The Power of the Bar Star, where we're taking a look at the book of Deuteronomy. If you ever miss a program in the series, come and listen online at openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at openthebible.org.

Steve Hiller: Well, Open the Bible is listener supported, we do depend on your generosity to keep this teaching on the air. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Lincoln's Daily Devotional. And Colin, tell us about this book.

Colin Smith: Well, the first thing that's absolutely fascinating to me is that Abraham Lincoln had and used a devotional. He read scripture and had it in his mind and in his heart. And I discovered this because a friend of mine a while ago gave me an early edition of the actual devotional that Abraham Lincoln used. And it's brilliant. It lays out each day a verse or two of scripture, they're organized topically around a month, and they go through the experience of a Christian believer, our joys, our sorrows, our temptations, and of course our final hope and blessedness. I was absolutely thrilled to discover that all these years ago, Abraham Lincoln was reading and meditating on a verse of scripture each day. And then I discovered that the book's been reprinted, and it's been beautifully reproduced. And so, Steve, it's a joy to make this available to folks, it's in the old King James version, which of course is so beautiful in the way that it expresses the word of God. I find this just to be very wonderful and rich. I think people will treasure having a copy of the devotional that Abraham Lincoln himself used to meditate on the word of God.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for financially supporting Open the Bible this month. You can give a gift online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Or again, our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.

Steve Hiller: Open the Bible Weekend is a listener supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in. Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.