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Well, good evening. Please turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 18. The title of tonight's message is The Sure Way into God's Displeasure. I want you to know the sure way into God's displeasure and how to avoid it. So I hope that by walking through this, that you'll understand how you go deeper and deeper into God's displeasure, but conversely, how you avoid it altogether.

God's favor is blessing. God's displeasure is catastrophe. And that's really life. That's what it boils down to. His favor is blessing. His displeasure is catastrophe. And I wouldn't want anybody to be under his displeasure. You know, sometimes coming off of a summer like we've had, I know many of you have experienced some great highs.

There's been a lot of good things that have happened. We've got a new semester before us, a new school year. And many times I've seen, and if you've experienced the Christian life, Any kind of, there are these things called mountaintop experiences, mountaintop awakenings, where you are excited, you're awed by God, you have a fresh encounter with God, you're excited about what He's doing.

He's shown Himself to you in a new way, and your heart is drawn closer, and you're excited, and then you go off into your routine, and it's not long before you become a spiritual casualty, that you start getting into the routine, the day-to-day, the events of school, the pressures of work, and all of that.

And what starts out as new and exciting by Thanksgiving and Christmas, you're worn out and in need of a break. And spiritually speaking, you can end up in a very low point and then hoping for another kind of awakening. I've seen this pattern over and over. And it's even deeper than that.

How is it that people will experience an awakening of some sort and then in a short time fall into sin or even worse, fall away from the faith completely? What's happening in that? It's been a question I've observed many times. I know many people who I would call live their lives in the ruins of a good start.

People that I went to school with, people that I went to college with, that at one time very excited about the Lord, and then they fall away. Well, an answer to that, why it is, is found in Deuteronomy 32:18. Let me read that to you. You neglected the rock who begot you and forgot the God who gave you birth.

Moses is speaking to the Israelites, and he is telling them in this song, this is a song of Moses. Since we're in Revelation, I've spent some time looking at the songs of Moses, both in Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32, and I thought it'd be good to spend a little time here because it's interesting how this event, this song of Moses, is referenced in the future at that final great deliverance from the beast and all of the dragon's minions.

But this event that is. Spoken about here, this falling away of Israel is epic. It is spoken of throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. It's spoken about in many places and from many angles. And so tonight I just want to walk through, bring to mind where Israel was.

I want you to see where they were at the time that Moses spoke these words. I want you to see the high point at which they were. I want you to see the displeasure that they fell under. And I want you to see their path into that displeasure so that you can avoid and so that you will know how to avoid.

It's this nation of Israel that was given to us as an example to learn from. 1 Corinthians 10, 6 says, These things happened, speaking about these things happened to them, they happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 1 Corinthians 10, 11 says, Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Israel has a mountaintop experience like no one ever. Let me just walk through that. We'll look at the first song of Moses. Look at chapter 14. By the way, we'll be looking at Psalm 106 if you want to put your finger there. We'll look at Psalm Exodus 14.

Be moving around a little bit, but we'll center around Deuteronomy 32 and 18 that I just read. But look at what's happening in Exodus 14. I'll just give you the highlights. What's going on? God has brought Israel out of Egypt through all kinds of miraculous events. He is bringing this nation forth.

They went down few in number under the Egyptian oppression. They grew and they grew vast. God's protection was upon them and blessing upon them and they multiplied. And then Pharaoh finally lets them go and then he pursues them. He says, he pursues them, and then you have this situation where you've got the superpower of the day, Pharaoh's army pursuing the Israelites.

And then, in verse 30, 13, chapter 14. But Moses said to the people, Do not fear. Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you. For the Egyptians, whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.

So that's going on. Pharaoh's in pursuit. They're frightened. They're thinking about going back to Egypt. And Moses is saying, Look, no, you're about to experience, you're about to see the salvation of God. And then, in this really unique situation, you have this, the angel who is going before the camp of Israel in verse 19 moves behind them, and the pillar, the cloud, moved from before them and stood behind them.

So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. And there was the cloud along with darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus, the one did not come near the other all night. So you have the angel of God goes, separates the two, says, I'm making it distinct.

You're not coming any further, Egypt. There's light, there's darkness. Verse 21, then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided. You get these echoes of Genesis 1, don't you?

Pillar, light, darkness, a separation. He's able to separate darkness from light. He's able to separate water from waters. Bring forth dry land. It's like a new beginning. And here comes this people. The sons of Israel in verse 22 went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

And then the Egyptians took up pursuits and went in after them. But then what happens? Verse 28, the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea, and after them, not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right and their left.

Thus the Lord saved. Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. And when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

What a moment. They feared the Lord and they believed. You talk about a mountaintop experience. You'll never see this army again. And by morning, it's done. Fear. Yeah, that's a staggering event witnessing that. No nation has ever been brought forth like that. God Himself bringing forth a nation.

And what makes a nation is a common experience. And by the way, this Passover is going to characterize Israel ever since. No nation has ever been brought forth like this, separating water, going through dry land. And they feared and they believed. That's a mountaintop experience, if there ever was one.

And then in chapter 15, you have the Song of Moses, the first. Song of Moses. Second one's going to be in Deuteronomy at the end of their journey. This one is right after that great deliverance. And then, and they rejoiced. Look at, that's what Exodus 15 is about.

Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said, I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. So there's this great song in verse 13. In your loving kindness, you have led the people whom you have redeemed.

But look back at verse 9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall be gratified against them. But he destroyed the whole. In verse 13, in your loving kindness, you have led the people whom you have redeemed. That's what he does.

He leads the people, leads his people who he has redeemed. In your strength, you have guided them to your holy habitation. And then, verse 20. Miriam, the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrel and with dancing.

Miriam answered, Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse And his rider, he has hurled into the sea. This is a very exciting moment, a very celebratory moment. They are excited, they are singing, they are dancing, they are rejoicing. That's before God's displeasure. All this, look at what God has done.

Talk about a mountain peak. Now, I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 32, the second song of Moses. And this is going to come some 40 years later, just before they are going into the land of Canaan. Listen to some of the words of Moses' second song. They haven't even gone in yet.

And pick it up. Let me pick it up in verse 20. Then he said, I will hide my face from them. This is the group that he's just delivered. I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness.

They have made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me to anger with. Their idols, so I will make them jealous with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. So he's like, I'm going to make them jealous with the people who are not a people.

It's going to be picked up, Gentiles. I'm also going to provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, the future. For a fire is kindled in my wrath and burns to the lowest part of Sheol and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets the fire, sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

I will heap misfortunes on them. I will use my arrows on them. They will be wasted by famine, consumed by plague, and bitter destruction, and the teeth of the beasts I will send upon them with the venom of crawling things of the dust. Outside the sword will bereave, and inside terror, both young man and virgin, the nursling with the man of gray hair.

Wow. What has happened? God brought these people out. There they are. They witnessed the great salvation. They're singing, they're dancing. And here, even before they're going into the land, Moses sings this song, and it's an ominous song. It's a song of defection and judgment that's going to come upon them.

But it's a very important question, one that we all, this is given for our instruction. What happened? How did these people come under such hostility from the Lord who delivered them like that? It may be more personal. How can we avoid coming under the displeasure of the Lord in our little time and space that God has given us and in the year ahead before us?

How do we avoid God's displeasure like this? Well, we need to learn from them. And we can learn. First of all, we need to learn. Well, we've looked at the manifestation of God's displeasure. We've seen where they were before God's displeasure. We see what that displeasure looks like.

And now I want you to see the path into this displeasure. Look back at our text, Deuteronomy 32, 18. You neglected the rock who begot you and forgot the God who gave you birth. So Israel's way into God's displeasure involved two actions. And these two actions, they neglected and they forgot.

They described the sins of omission. That paved the way for their sins of commission. You know what that means? In other words, these two sins, it was what they didn't do right that caused them to do what was wrong. Before they did what was overtly wrong, they failed to do what was critically right.

And that is how their path into God's displeasure occurred. And that's how your path and my path into God's displeasure will occur as well. Let's look at these two actions, two verbs. They neglected. Look at that. You neglected the rock who begot you. The rock. The rock is really in the place of emphasis, by the way.

The rock. Your massive strength. Israel's strength. That strength, that crushing power that destroyed the superpower of the earth, the only superpower, that rock, the one that brought you forth like no other nation has been brought forth, that rock, you have neglected. Remember in. 1 Samuel chapter 2, Hannah is rejoicing because God gave her a son, Samuel.

And in her song, she says, There is no one like, there is no rock like our God. And it's in the context of singing and rejoicing over her enemies. So this idea, the rock, is deals with the strength of Israel, that massive strength that brought forth this nation, that wall of water, dry land, brought them through, separating light from darkness, water from waters, bringing forth a nation.

No one's been begotten. No nation has been begotten like that. The word for begot means to bring forth, to birth, to bring forth. And in this context, I think it's talking about this mighty strength, deliverance of this nation coming through. But they neglected. You neglected. And what the sense of this verb is saying is.

They neglected as a habitual routine. To neglect something is to pay little attention to something or to show little care for something. It's indifference. And they developed a routine of neglecting, paying little attention to the strong one who brought them forth. Why did you bring us forth? Who are you?

What do you deal with us for? What is it for this nation you have? What are you doing? They neglected the source of their strength. They paid little attention to him. And when you neglect something, it's really the idea of unmindfulness. You're just go look at my garden.

You'll see what I'm talking about. You talk about a good example of what gets paid a little attention to, neglect. Just go look at my garden. And I'm sure everyone's kind of pretty crispy right now, anyway. But I bet you think about this: not watering, not watering the plants, not watering the animals.

They had a habitual routine of showing little attention to the source of their strength, to the God, to the rock who brought them forth. You neglected. The rock who begot you. That's their first step to this path of God's displeasure. And forgot the God who gave you birth.

This is their second step to forget. Now, forget is to dismiss something from the mind completely. When you care, when you pay little attention to God, guess what the natural consequence of that's going to be? To become oblivious to Him. That's what forgetfulness is. It's to dismiss, it's to cease remembering something, it's to become oblivious to something.

And it's certainly a natural consequence to neglecting something. Just like a foreign language. Study, study, study, and take years of a certain language. And then if you don't use it, you forget it very quickly. Anything's like that. You pay a little attention to something. But look at who they failed.

Look at who they dismissed from their mind. And you forgot the God who gave you birth. You forgot El. We get Elohim. You forgot God. You forgot the supernatural God. Who created you individually, who created you corporately. You created, you forgot the God who created the universe, the one who has a purpose for everything in it, the one who put you in it in your time and place.

He created everything, and you have dismissed him completely from your mind. That's where neglect inevitably takes you. You forgot the God who gave you birth. You forgot the God who brought you into existence. Isn't it a terrible thing just for us today? Just think about how applicable this message is to us today that was given thousands years ago to Israel.

If you neglect, you will fall into forgetfulness. But what, to forget the one who created you is catastrophic. Let me tell you something about when God sat down and thought about you. Each one of us is very unique. God, in his creative excitement, created you. He gifted you.

He, in his excitement, he fashioned you. He gave you a time and place. To forget him is catastrophic and sure to bring displeasure. Turn to Psalm 106 for a moment. I want to read to you a few things. I just want to show you what happened to those who neglected the source of their strength and then the ones who forgot their Creator.

Now, Psalm 106 is a very interesting Psalm because basically what it does is it's another summary many years later of the Exodus. Like I said, this Israel forgetting their God is an epic event in human history, and it's written about several different places. And Psalm 106 is one of those places.

It goes through and it talks about how. Wonderful what God did, how he delivered them. In verse 9, he rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up. He led them through the deeps as through the wilderness. So he saved them from the hand of the one who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

This is what he did with the nation. He saved them. And keep in mind, we understand this in the context of a national salvation. We're not talking individual soteriological salvation, though that surely happened to many, but certainly not all. But he saved them from the hand, he saved them from the, he saved them as a nation.

He brought them out from the hand of the one who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their adversaries. Not one of them was left. Verse 12, then they believed his words. They sang his praise. That's Miriam. That's the song of Moses.

But then look at what happens. Verse 13, they quickly forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel. So then, what's happened? Quickly forgot. And then what happens in verse 16? Because they neglected and they forgot, guess what? They became envious of others. Listen, if you neglect and forget God, guess what?

You're going to be envious. You're going to start seeing what other people have. They became envious. And look at what they do in verse 20. They exchanged their glory. They exchanged their, they made a calf. You know who these people were? You know who people are? They are created in the image of God.

You were created in the image of God to bear his image and put the invisible God on display. It's an incredible privilege. And here they are worshiping a cow. I mean, I love milkshakes. We had this conversation the other night. Someone asked, what is the very, what's your favorite animal in all the world?

And unquestionably, it's the cow. It's the cow. I mean, you get steaks, you get butter, you get milkshakes, you get cheese, you get, you just go down the road. It's all, and they eat just dead grass, and that's all it would something we totally useless to us. And they make all this stuff.

And so I get the cow is special. But to worship it, they exchanged their glory. You see, if you neglect God, And you forget God, you start becoming envious of others, and you sell yourself really, really short. Exchange your glory. God has given you the privilege to glorify Him.

And as long as you have breath, do it. What a privilege you have. What a privilege they had. But it keeps going. Look at verse 24. Then they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe in His Word. So then God takes them to the land, and guess what?

Because they had neglected and forgotten God, they became envious. They exchanged their glory, and then when God brought them to the land that He had promised them, they despised it. If you neglect God and forget you, you'll find no pleasure in any of the things that God has called you to do if you forget him.

You'll find life very boring or very distasteful if you neglect and forget God. But it gets worse. Verse 28, they joined themselves to Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. Look at verse 36. There's 35. But they mingled with the nations and learned the Their practices and served their idols.

You see, if you neglect God and forget God, guess what's going to happen? You're inevitably going to join yourself to the ways and the philosophies of the world around you. You're going to learn their practices. You're going to learn to serve their idols. And it gets worse. Look at verse 38: 37.

They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons and shed innocent blood. The blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with the blood. Do you know what Pharaoh was doing to the children of Israel in Egypt?

Do you know why they cried out to God? You know what really pushed them to that moment? Pharaoh was killing the children. They cried out to God. God delivers them. Into the land, they neglect God, they forget God, and they end up killing their own children. You see where neglecting takes you when you pay little attention to that which you should be paying attention to?

Look at verse 40. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance. You see the movement? Therefore, God was against them. That's how they came into this displeasure. You see, and this is the path: neglect leads to forgetfulness, forgetfulness leads to idolatry, idolatry leads to injustice, and injustice to God's displeasure.

And that's how they polluted the land. The good news in this chapter is the very next chapter. You have the blessing of Moses in chapter 33. And it becomes very clear that God does not leave Israel. Even as he, the song of Moses in chapter 32, announces all this catastrophe and displeasure upon them.

In chapter 33, Moses. Moses speaks a blessing over Israel that God is going to change their heart. God is going to bring them in. And at the end of Deuteronomy 33, you get this picture of God and Israel. So Israel, verse 28, dwells in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded in the land of grain and new wine.

His heavens also drop down dew. Blessed are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help. So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places. It's a glorious future ahead. God is going to accomplish both.

Israel will be saved not just from their future external enemies, but they will be saved from their own defection. They will be saved from themselves. They will be saved from their sin. By the way, just as a side note on this, the future redemption of Israel is necessary for a coherent theology.

There are many. Who have dismissed Israel as insignificant. They will take Israel and they'll look at Israel. That was a type of salvation. In other words, it's a pattern. It's really a pattern of salvation. He's going to save these people, but really, the bigger picture is that he's about saving the church or he's about saving.

This is just a picture of salvation. They're not really a national-defined group that's going to experience future salvation, but they're just a type, just an example, so we can get on to the real thing. Here's the problem with that: if Israel is a type of redemption of the church, a type of redemption for individuals, and then they get permanently cut off, then we have a real disconnect in our understanding of salvation.

If Israel is a type, and I certainly there's a pattern there, but they are Israel. They are a people. They are a people that were brought forth out of Egypt. They are a people who apostatize. They're a people who came under God's displeasure. But there is a future for them where God is going to bring them under their blessing.

So, if we replace Israel with the church, and then we want to say that Israel is a type of salvation or a type of what coming to Christ looks like, and then they get permanently cut off. There is a pattern of a loss of salvation, and there is a pattern of no hope for Israel, and there is a pattern of no hope in salvation, and there is really no hope for anyone.

God is going to do something with them. As one of the nations, all the nations are going to be, He's going to bring forth people from every single nation. So, how? How? As we've looked at this, we've looked at these people before God's displeasure. They were mountaintop, they had experienced something like no one else had experienced.

We see the manifestation of God's displeasure, it's very graphic, frightening. We see the pathway into God's displeasure is by neglecting and forgetting him. We see that forgetfulness inevitably leads to idolatry, injustice, and God's displeasure. So, how do we do that? We avoid God's displeasure? Well, very simple. Do not let yourself forget your Creator.

Be like David. Remember Psalm 103, 1? I think we all feel this. We can resonate. Here's a Psalm of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. David understood the propensity of his heart to forget.

I think you and I understand the propensity of our hearts to forget, don't we? That's why we have to write things down. That's why we understand this. So do not let yourself forget your Creator. Now, how do you do that? Do not neglect the source of your strength.

Do not neglect the one who has brought you forth as a people who brought you forth out of the bondage of sin. Do not neglect him. If you don't neglect him, you won't forget him. So before the new school year gets away from you, be sure you are mindful of the routine that you're in and make sure that your routine, that you establish your A routine that does the opposite of neglecting.

A routine that causes you to pay attention to the God who made you. A routine that strengthens you in that relationship with Him. Do not be indifferent to your spiritual walk. Sometimes that's a thing that just gets thrown as much lower priority. Next week, I want to talk to you a little bit more on this subject.

As we look at Israel, one of the things they neglected was biblical rest, the rest that God had laid out for them. We'll talk about that some next time, is establishing a real pattern of biblical rest. Because it's in these times of biblical rest that we remember, that we reflect.

So do not neglect so that you will not forget, so that you will not be led into idolatry, so that you will not do what's wrong, so that you will not come under his displeasure. Listen, he is worth it. He is worth it. Give attention to him. I love Christ.

You know what God wanted in a king? You look at David, you look at the kings, you look at Saul, you look at the kings that came, and there was something that's unique about Christ. You know what God wants in a king over his people? He wants somebody who will be responsible for his people.

And so Jesus takes responsibility for the sins of his people. He's like, I will lay down my life for them. I will be the lamb. I will be the sufficient lamb. If you have a problem with one of my people, God, here is the sacrifice. I myself am that sacrifice.

So he lays himself down. So Jesus is the lamb, responsible for their cleanliness before his father. He's also the shepherd. I will be responsible. I will be their king. Jesus, think of him as rock who brought us forth in that great crosswork. He separated, brought forth. Forth a people in his blood.

The enemy sought to destroy us, pursue us, and yet he redeemed us. It's a creator who created, and with his excitement, in his thought, he created and fashioned each of us. And then he redeemed us, and he leads us in his way. So, friends, do not forget the God who created you.

Do not neglect the one who brought you forth. Establish a routine around. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this reminder that we're all prone to neglect and forget. Thank you for this great example that so much has been written about and talked about in Scripture, so we're not left wondering what happened.

But you have made it very clear. And so, Father, as we begin a new year and a new semester, and we get our routines start to change, Father, may you be exalted in the very planning of our days before even one of them happens. And so, Father, we just thank you.

J