You Shall Be Blessed Above All Peoples

So this morning, we're going to be continuing in our study of Deuteronomy chapter 7. In our passage this morning, God promises to bless Israel, his people, above all of the nations. And he promises to bless them with a few particular things. Fertility, wealth, and health. These blessings that are promised to them are the result of their obedience to God's law, as well as the fulfillment of the covenant that God had made many years previous with their father, Abraham. It's a very sweet passage and one that we should take to heart. But for us to be able to do that, we need to orient to it. We have to understand how all of these blessings work and what our part is in it. And so my hope this morning is that God will reassure you of his generosity toward you and that he'll give you faith to seek him and the blessings of being one of his children. Would you please stand now as you read the word of the Lord from Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 12 through 15.

Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you his covenant and his lovingkindness which he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock in the land which he swore to your forefathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There will be no male or female barren among you or your cattle. The Lord will remove from you all sickness, and he will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but he will lay them on all who hate you. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Now here's a question. Do you like this passage or does it give you kind of the creeps?

I think we want to like the passage because it says good things to us. And those good things are not lies. They've come to us from the mouth of God, and so we want to receive them. But there is a sense in which it might make you uncomfortable to read this passage because of the way that the gospel has been abused and the way that the blessings of God have been monetized by wicked men in the church. That is a danger and that is a problem, but I don't think it should be used as a reason to discount the blessing of God. And so I want to begin by asking you a question and get you thinking. What would you consider to be the best blessing that God could give you? If someone asked you, or if God asked you, if there was just one thing you would have me do for you, what would you ask for? What's the top of your list of desires? What do you...

think about the most? What do you pray about? What do you worry about? What are you upset about not having or fearful of not getting? What is the thing? Is it wealth or is it influence? Is it health? Is it control? Is it children? Is it marriage? Is it a better marriage? There's all kinds of things it could be. And one of the things we have to realize is that this passage promises us from the hand of God many of those things. In fact, it's the majority of the passage. It says he'll love us and bless us and multiply us. He'll bless the fruit of our womb and the fruit of our ground, our grain, our new wine, our oil, our herds, our land. And then to summarize, it says that we'll be blessed above all peoples. That in terms of blessings and God meeting them out, his people will receive more blessing than anyone else in the entire world. These blessings are all very physical, tangible things, right?

Food, wealth, children, health. And I suspect that as I asked you the question, what would you want God to bless you with, if you could just pick one, that whatever particular thing you chose, it probably would have fallen into one of these categories. There's this concern about health. There's this concern about wealth. There's this concern about life or increase or stability. That's what I want from God. These are the sort of blessings that he promises to his people more than anyone else. But the thing that we have to remember and take note of is the context in which these blessings are promised. I think there's a lot of ways to abuse these promises or these blessings, to misunderstand where they come from or how we receive them. If you were to read this passage by itself, it seems very clear that the blessings that God promises are directly connected to their behavior. It says, then it shall come about at the beginning, in verse 12, then it shall come about because you listen and keep and do that you'll receive these blessings. And so it seems to be that this passage teaches us that if we get blessings from God, it's because we have listened and kept and done.

And conversely, that if we don't receive the blessings of God, it's because we haven't listened and kept and done. What does that produce in us? What is our response to that sort of economy of blessing? It produces a lot of fear. It produces a lot of frustration. It produces a lot of pressure. And not just pressure that we feel within ourselves or by ourselves, pressure that we then put on our spouses, on our children. On our churches? How will we be blessed unless we do all of the things that it said to a certain level so that God will bless us? I don't believe that's biblical or what this passage is teaching, at least not by itself. I think that's an abuse of this passage and not how God blesses his people. Okay? Does that mean that his blessings are just detached from everything then and he just kind of...

and however indiscriminately, does he just pour them out when and how ever he feels like it has nothing to do with us? Is that any more comforting? Do we prefer that system of blessing? I don't think we prefer that system of blessing anymore. And so we're left being like, okay, so how do we get, how does this become true of us? If it's not just, well, money in, money out, do what God says, blessing comes, and it's just a transaction. How does it work? Well, we have to look at the context of these blessings. What is the context of these blessings? Twice in our passage, there's reference made to the covenant being the context of these blessings. Another way of saying this is that these blessings that we seek, these physical, practical, tangible, temporal blessings that we seek are secondary blessings and not the primary one.

The primary blessing is that you would be in covenant with God, that you would be his child. That's the primary blessing. And so in seeking these secondary blessings of health, wealth, and prosperity, and these types of good things that God does promise to his children in abundance, the thing we have to connect that to, the foundation we have to build those blessings or our expectation of those blessings, the foundation that those lay upon is the covenant and the promise that God has made with his people. Another way of saying it is these blessings are only for God's children. Now, I realize that may be confusing because we might look around and see these kinds of blessings in unbelievers' lives, and we'll come to that. But these blessings are for the people of God. And so the first question that has to come to us is not how much do I have to obey or please God, not how much work do I have to do to get what I want from God.

But first, am I a child of God? Am I a Christian? It's the one question you're not supposed to ask anybody because it's all assumed. It's taken for granted. Of course I'm a Christian. Of course God loves me. And yet we're left with this question of blessings afterwards. Is it shocking to you for me to say that that's a question we ought to ask ourselves? It's the one question we like, well, we got that all settled and sorted out and there's no more discussion to be made about it. But I mean to tell you that as you live your life and as you fall into, as you sin or as you struggle, one of the questions that's helpful, and it's not a rhetorical question. It's not meant to put pressure. It's meant to be an actual, honest question that deserves a real, accurate answer. Am I a Christian? If I'm a Christian, then these things belong to me and I deserve them. Deserve them. Not because you earned them, but because...

God swore them to you. But if you're not a Christian, then these things are not for you. And that's not because you haven't done good enough. It's because you're not a child of God. This distinction is something that we ought to maintain in our minds, that God treats his people differently than he treats the unbeliever. There is overlap, and it can be confusing. But these blessings are promised to God's children alone and above everyone else. They have a right to them and no one else does. And so we ought not to take for granted the question of whether we're a Christian because it's the basis of these blessings. Now, why would I push so hard on this? Well, do you remember the warnings that God, through Moses, at this time in the book of Deuteronomy, gives to them when they go into the land?

And receive these blessings. What is the thing that they are most susceptible to doing? What did you say Kevin? Worshipping idols. Forgetting God. Thinking that all of the vineyards they didn't plant. And the houses they didn't build. And the wells they didn't dig. All the good stuff. All the stuff that's promised here. That somehow they. It was theirs. And it was theirs. But it was theirs because God gave it to them. Because they were his children. And he says this is the danger. You're going to forget me. Now, what happens to children? I'm changing the context now from the time of Moses to now. I'm just asking you, what happens to children whose parents don't teach them that the good things they have have come to them from God? Where do the children learn the lesson? They don't. They don't. They don't learn that the good things that they have or the good things that they seek must come to them from the hand of God.

They learn that they come to them through wealth or education or just good old hard work out grinding the guy next to you. But the blessings that we have and the good things that we enjoy come to us from the hand of God. And they come to us because we're his children. It's the only reason. And so if we're faced with the question of why do I not have These blessings. Why do I not feel or think or believe that I am a recipient of these blessings? The first question we should ask is, am I a proper recipient of them? Am I a Christian? Has God covenanted with me? Have I covenanted with him to receive these things? If we ask the question honestly and we examine ourselves as scripture exhorts us to, we may well come up with the knowledge that we have sinned in ways that we were unaware of before. Have you ever asked God to show you your sins and then been surprised that he answered your prayer and showed you something about yourself, either through your spouse or your children or your parents or your co-workers or your small group, whomever, that there's something about you that you were not aware of or you didn't care about? It was exposed. That's a blessing and a kindness.

And the sort of blessing and kindness that comes to you from the hand of God. I want you to understand this, that when you see your sins and they grieve you, that's a mercy of God. That's an evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the hearts of God's children. But he doesn't just live there to always make us happy and content and at peace. Sometimes his work is to till up the ground through conviction. And that's a kindness of God to us. And so this question, am I a proper recipient? Am I a Christian? Is a good question to ask us because it exposes many times our complacency or our pride or our entitlement, some other sin. Other times when we ask ourselves that question, God will use it to confirm his love for us and his goodness and his faithfulness to us. He'll use it to rebuke.

This notion that he's nothing more than a genie in a bottle, that if we want good things from him, we must first earn them. Leaving aside salvation, have you ever received a gift that you didn't deserve or know was coming? And it's not that, I don't mean the kind of gift that like, if I just worked another six months, I could have gotten it myself. I mean like, it was never going to be in your grasp and then it was given to you. That's God at work. And the worst thing we could do with a gift like that, even a temporal one, is to refuse to give glory to the one who gave it to us. God is not a genie in a bottle who sits up there holding on to his blessings, waiting for you to do enough of what he says to be like, well, okay, I'll give you a little bit. Now go do some more. Oh, no, give it back. You messed up. This is not our God. This is not how he is with us. This is not how you should be with your children.

Because it's not how God is with his children. God deals with his people on the basis of his promises and the work of his son on the cross. Those things are the foundation and the basis of all of his dealings. Not just some of them, all of them. He's merciful to us. He disciplines us. He blesses us. He rebukes us. He strengthens us. He humbles us. All of those things as his children. And so that's why I say you should ask, if you're desirous of these blessings, you should ask, am I entitled to them? And then you should remember that if you're entitled to them, it's not because you earned them. You could take the things that I'm saying and feel as though you have to enter into this negotiation, this back and forth with God, this sort of, am I doing good enough yet? So I'll ask you a question.

Can you do well enough to please God? So some of you guys like whispered like, no. But really, can you do well enough to merit or earn or deserve, on the basis of your own behavior, the mercy of God, the blessing of God? No, you can't. So does that mean then that this passage is just a cruel carrot hung out in front of you that you will never, nibbling for your whole life, be able to get in your mouth? No. Where we think that God is miserly and stingy and judgmental and delighting in keeping us, from giving us the good things he promises, I mean to tell you God is completely different than that. Completely different than that. Go back to the question, am I a Christian? Am I a proper recipient of this blessing? And ask yourself this other question. If you are a Christian, How did that happen? If you can't earn the blessings that are promised in this passage of the fertility and the health and the wealth and those things, if you can't earn that, can you earn your standing in the covenant? Can you make yourself good enough for God to choose you? Can you say, look at me over here. Look at the family I've came from. Look at the children we've raised. Look at the money we've made. Look at the service we've offered. Pick us. Could Esau do it?

He sure tried, didn't he? He sought repentance with tears. What is it that he wanted? What was Esau so torn up about and crying over? A blessing from who? His father. Did he not want the blessings and all of the good things that were promised to his brother? Can I not have those things too? Do you have nothing left for me? Jacob is a deceiver and a liar and a son of God. So if you are a Christian, you didn't do it. You didn't come to that place simply through theological education. You can learn a lot about God, and you should. Theologically, it's helpful to you, but it's not what saves you. Being Reformed, there are going to be lots of people who are not Westminsterian in heaven. Lots of them. Who got lots of theology wrong. Who sinned in all kinds of ways, but God chose them.

He picked them. He loved them. And if he did that with simple, unknowing, theological infants, isn't that what he did with you too? Hasn't he at some point taken your pride, the thing you've taken pride in, hasn't he smashed it with a hammer at least once or twice? And some of you are too young to be able to answer that question. Yes, but you will. At some point, you will have the thing you thought you were good at, the thing you thought was godly in you. Like the thing you said, this is what I do right for God. And you'll realize that you failed in major ways, even in that area. And then you'll go, well, I must not be a Christian and it's all awful. That's why I don't have the blessings of God. And I would just say, stop what we do in service of God.

Is downstream of what he's done for us. And so if we are deserving of these blessings. It's because he saved us. And if he saved us. It's not because we were special. The condescension of Christians. Or particular sects of Christians against other sects of Christians. It's really wicked. It's really awful. That you would look down on other people. For whatever reason. and think you're better than them. It's really quite abominable. In God's sight, there is no partiality. There is no better people. Romans makes it very clear to us that there aren't ones who are doing so much better and therefore are the ones whom God chooses. If you had to choose between Jacob and Esau, just given the testimony of their lives, who would you have chosen? I heard a bunch of murmuring. I heard Esau at the end.

But I think most of us would say Esau was, like Jacob was, like his mom said, go lie to your dying father. Like I'll make the food to deceive him and you go dress up and lie and steal from your blind old father. Okay, mom. Would you be pleased if your kids behaved that way? Would you commend her motherhood? Yes, moms, be like her. You have to see God does not. the way we count. And he doesn't judge the way we judge. And he does not prioritize the way we prioritize. And so the things you're so sure of, and sometimes you'll be sure that you're better than other people, and sometimes you'll be sure that you're worse than other people. And what I think is the comparison between you and other people is worthless. The question is not what you think of yourself with reference to other people. The question is what God thinks of you.

And if God thinks anything of you, it's because he's made you something pleasing to him. And that is a blessing with which we should all be content and not demand so much more. These blessings that are promised, fertility, though I realize in our society, fertility is not seen as a blessing. Wealth and health are. These things are blessings from God. And the reason we can have hope of receiving them as his children, is because he's given us his son, first and foremost. In Romans 8, 32, it says, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? When we receive all things, all that's happening is God is adding grace upon grace. In the first chapter of John's gospel, in chapter verse 16, he says, For of his fullness, we have all received, speaking of Jesus Christ, for of his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. And so these blessings of wealth and health and fertility and prosperity and those types of things are only blessings to us because we were first given the most essential and necessary blessing, which is salvation. Another way of thinking about it is all of those other blessings, unbelievers can get for themselves.

They can figure out how to have kids and it can be wicked or it cannot. They can figure out how to get wealthy and it can be wicked or it can be not. They can figure out how to preserve their lives and be healthy and it can be wicked or it's not. But what I will tell you is that though the same thing may be happening, it is not a blessing to them in the same way that it is to a believer. To a believer, the blessings of God are just a foretaste of glory. But to the unbeliever, the blessings of this world are as good as it will ever get. And that's a difference. So when we receive these blessings of God, these unmerited, unearned, and deserved blessings, we receive them as a gift. Simply as a gift. If someone gives you a gift, what are you inclined to do in return? Like if someone who doesn't normally give you a birthday gift gives you a birthday gift,

What are you inclined to do? Probably inclined to figure out when their birthday is. So that, I mean, I'm not talking about your spouse, your kids, you should know where, you know. But I mean like somebody else. Someone's like, hey, I was thinking about you and I got you this cool whatever because I knew you liked these things, whatever it is. You kind of feel this need to like, like I need to reciprocate. I need to give back. I'm not here to say you shouldn't give back. But I am here to ask whether or not you will receive that gift as a gift. and not as the first step in a negotiation of relationship. Will you just enjoy it and receive it and be thankful for it? We should discipline ourselves to express our gratitude without thinking that we are now obligated to give in like kind back to those whom have given to us. People, God, maybe I should say it this way, God, through his people, will bless you, and you should receive it as a blessing.

I think it's unchristian to not receive the kindness of other people. But what if we take advantage of it? What if they manipulate? What if they're tricking us? Then God will deal with them. But I think when someone gives us a gift, we should take it as one little small picture of God giving us his son. And we should receive it with gratitude and with joy from the hand of God through them. Two questions. What about when God gives us his son? And we are Christians. But he withholds these other temporal blessings because he does do that. He realizes Israel, as Moses spoke and as the people went into the land, they were going to receive these blessings. And they did receive these blessings and had been receiving these blessings. But these blessings were removed. Their peace, their prosperity, their health. These things were removed from them. And it is God's way and his prerogative.

oftentimes to withhold blessings that he's promised to his children. So what's going on? And how should we process this promise in light of our prayers for these things and God's withholding of them from us? Our flesh wants to conclude that God is just not faithful or not capable or that we haven't earned it or that he's just got some reason. When I read scripture and I look at the lives of God's people, and the hardships and the sorrows and the difficulties and the persecutions and the sufferings that they endured, I've wondered to myself whether or not they would have asked this question, does God love me given my present circumstance? And I don't think they would have had the same answer I would have had or you would have had. James exhorts us to consider it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance.

We're to let endurance have its perfect result so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So here's a question. Did God save you just to give you those blessings? Is that all you need from him? His health and prosperity and financial security and children. Is that all he needs to do for you? Like you're all set. You just need to get those things. There's lots of other things we need from God, isn't there? What James points to here is that our faith is tested by God so that it produces endurance. And he tells us that that endurance produces perfection in us. I believe it's God's kindness to withhold his blessings from us when it's not the primary or the principal thing that we need from him. When we need training, it's not good to miss it.

We won't receive the benefit of it. You who are teachers or teach your kids, if you have a class or a student who is struggling and falling behind, do they need you to grade on a curve or do they need more work, more help? Which one's going to get them caught up? It's probably they need some tutoring or it's probably they need some of your time after class or it's probably that they need some extra. or it's probably that they need a video explaining this to them in a one-on-one way or something like that. They probably need more poured into them, which means more pain for them and more effort from them so that they will get the concept. They don't need you to say, the whole class is so far behind that what we'll do is we'll just set the grading scale according to where you're all at. What they need, is more than an A. We were at one of our kids, or at our kids, some of our kids' awards ceremonies, and it was interesting that each teacher gets to get up and they get to say what their, all their kids that had A's. And some classes, like physics, now there's smaller classes, mind you, like the kids in physics, there's way less kids in physics than there are in fifth grade, history or whatever. But physics has like four kids that get up. But like fifth grade Bible, every kid got up.

And the question in my mind was, how did everybody get an A? Like, were they pushed? I know in physics they were pushed because half the class didn't get A's or more. Like, I thought, okay, well, there's work in that class. I thought, if we want to equip the children, the students, for their future, the goal can't be simply to make sure they always get A's or blessings, if you follow my analogy. It may be that what they need is a C and a packet to go work on so that they don't get an F on the final. And they got the packet, and the packet doesn't have points associated with it. It's just the practice they need, the trouble they need, the effort they need to exert to prepare them for the future. This is how God deals with us. So is that packet or is that trial a blessing or a curse? It's a blessing.

It's a blessing to us. Though our flesh cries and screams and kicks and moans against it, it is a blessing. Was it Peter and John who were arrested and beaten and then let go? It was Peter and I think it was Peter and John. Daniel will correct me later if I've got the names wrong. Anyway, they were preaching. They were told not to preach. They kept on preaching. They got arrested. They got beaten and thrown in prison. And then they got released. And they went away from the jail doing what? rejoicing and singing. And what does it say? Say it louder. They were rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer for the gospel. It's the most unbelievable response. But it is a Christian response. They understood the hardship that they endured to be a blessing from God, an indication, a marker of his love for them.

Because he was changing them and preparing them and equipping them to be like him and to meet him. So they wouldn't have considered God unfaithful when they faced trials, when he withheld his blessings. They wouldn't have said, what's wrong with this situation? They would have said, nothing's wrong. God is, I have so much need from God and he's supplying all of my needs. And right now what I need is to grow in this area, not be given my rest. And God does work with each of us differently. Not because we aren't all deserving of his blessings, but because he cares for each of us so personally and intimately that he gives each of us different trials and burdens and hurdles to get over. And so I exhort you, don't spend your life looking around at other people and wondering why their life is different and therefore better than yours. He gives you what you need.

And just because you need it doesn't mean everyone else needs it. But the same faithful and loving God who's promised to give you all things, who's given you his son, is at work. He's at work through your grumpy boss. He's at work through your sick children. He's at work through your allergies. He's at work through your singleness. He's at work through your marriage fights. He is at work. He's at work changing you. So don't make it your life's mission to grumble and complain against it. You won't win that fight with God. And you'll be miserable as you lose. Here's another question. And the final question. How are we supposed to process or interpret when the wicked are blessed and the righteous are afflicted? We've talked about the righteous being afflicted and it being good for them. But what happens when the people who don't have any claim to these blessings receive them? Or it appears that they receive them.

What are we supposed to do? This question is a fertile field of temptation. But we have to consider that the things promised in this passage, as I mentioned earlier, are not always indicative of God's eternal blessing. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be the sons of your father who is in heaven. Right? He's saying, so don't be like the world. So what's that passage teach us about the blessing on the wicked and on the righteous? Well, it teaches us that God sends rain and sunlight on both the righteous and the unrighteous, but that this rain and this sunlight are not...

indicative of their state of blessing. What it means is that God withholds his eternal judgment and his eternal blessing for a time and treats both somewhat indiscriminately. But as he pours rain out on the believer's field and rain out on the unbeliever's field, he's doing it for different reasons and it will have different outcomes. The believer will pray for the rain. The believer will receive the rain. The believer will bless God for the rain. The unbeliever will just receive it and go on with his life. He will miss the opportunity or refuse the opportunity to give glory to God, the one who sent the rain. It's sin for him not to give glory to God. And in so doing, he's increasing his judgment. But from our perspective, it's like, well, it rained on his land and mine. Or it rained on his land and not mine. But that rain does not indicate that he's righteous. Only that God is so merciful that he doesn't judge him right here and now.

That rain is a call to repentance. That wealth that you see in the hands of the wicked, it will become their noose because they didn't glorify God with it. They built bigger barns for it. They pursued unrighteousness and wicked ends with it. It will become the thing they are judged for. And I ask you, is it then a blessing to have been given so much and have produced so little for God? It may seem like a blessing until the day when you stand before God and have to give an account for what you did with what he gave you. And it will be better for the man who's faithful with one talent than for the man who squandered a hundred. So don't be short-sighted in your evaluation of God's blessing. Don't be so precious with yourself that you think you fall into the trap of believing that God always has to be giving you glory in heaven and rest now.

He doesn't give those things to us in abundance now. He's preparing us to receive them later. So when you see the wicked being blessed and you know that God has sent the blessing or allowed the blessing or facilitated the blessing, ask yourself then, what are they doing with it? Are they glorifying God with it or are they consuming it? Or is it consuming them? Remember that those who listen and keep and do these things. Those who are cognizant always of God's agency in their life and make a point of giving glory to him for his blessings. Those are the ones who are blessed. Another question you might do well to ask yourself in that vein is, do I consider the things that I have now a blessing or a burden? A blessing or a curse? How many of the blessings of God do we just take for granted? All of them. Depends on the day. Yeah, I think many times we get up and go,

I have life and breath and covering and shelter and health and financial security and all of these things. A spouse who loves me. But what I really need is, want is, or demand is this other thing. It's pretty proud to look around and say, why do they get to have that? Why can't I? God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. And so what's required of us? Always before God is humility at his judgments. He does things we would never do. And we ought to praise him for that. And we ought to praise him when he does things that aren't what we want. Otherwise, we are just acting like he's just a genie in a bottle. Just the one that we come to when we need something we can't quite get for ourselves. It doesn't honor him or glorify him at all. So when hardships come into your life or sorrows or unmet desires, even good ones.

You ought to glorify God, because I'll tell you, if you don't glorify God without the blessing, you have not laid the foundation to glorify him once you receive it. Remember, he who is faithful with a little will be faithful with much. And also remember, he who is faithful with a little will be given much. You know who make the worst husbands and wives? It's a good question, isn't it? Everyone wonders what I'm going to say. I'll tell you. The people who are least content with being single. Because they think singleness is the problem. If I just had a spouse. I'm not saying spouse is a great thing. It's a good thing. Desire it, seek it, pray for it. Yes. But if you're not content with what you have now, what makes you think you'll be content later? How many of you are upset in your marriages now because you thought it was going to be way more heavenly than it actually is? We can't pin our hopes and our contentment and our peace on the future. You'll either be content now with its troubles,

And you'll hope in God with them or you won't. My encouragement to you is to read this passage and see it as God's kindness to you. His promises to you. Ask him to show you how he's fulfilled these promises in your life already today. Because he has. He has. Is there more to be desired? Can it get better? Yes. But it's not that he's been unfaithful to you. It's not that he hasn't already blessed you. If he's given you his son, do you really think he's not going to give you every single thing you need to honor him and to serve him and prepare you to meet him? Let's pray.