Believers Remember The Lord's Blessings

BELIEVERS REMEMBER THE LORD’S BLESSINGS

Deuteronomy 26:5-10 March 9, 2003

Deuteronomy 26:5-10

5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. 7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our mis-ery, toil and oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Today’s text reminds us to have a good memory. As we age, sometimes our memory about certain events becomes a bit fuzzy and we forget. About other events, our memory often stays quite sharp and we never forget. That’s what the Lord would have us contemplate today…that we would always remember and never forget all of the things He has done for us. As we start this Lenten season, that is actually what we do. We remember very clearly and poignantly all the things that Jesus did in order to pay the price for our sins. The psalm writer talks about all the blessings God has given us in Psalm 103. "Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits"(PSALM 103:1,2). The rest of the psalm (go home today and look at it) talks about the benefits of forgive-ness, of eternal life and salvation. That’s what Moses reminds us of in our text today…that we would forget not all the benefits of the Lord. We want to look at these words of God in the theme

BELIEVERS REMEMBER THE LORD’S BLESSING

I. The Lord hears our cry and delivers

II. We worship our Lord with our best

I. The Lord hears our cry and delivers

Deuteronomy is, in a sense, not real interesting reading if you are reading it. It gives all the rules and regulations concerning worship. It talks about the number of sacrifices, the kind of sacri-fices, when they ought to be brought, when they ought to be offered and for what sin, for what rea-son they ought to be given. These offerings really don’t apply to us today. There are a lot of rules and regulations. Chapter 26 is in the middle of those rules concerning worship. It talks about the rules concerning offerings. It says to bring those offerings to the priest in a basket. In our text it says:

5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, power-ful and numerous. As they brought their offerings, they were to remember the Lord’s blessings. They were to say, ‘Our father was a wandering Aramean.’ Jacob, when he came to Egypt, (re-member he came there after the great famine and Joseph had his family brought to Egypt) there wasn’t a great number of Israelites. They came there in great humility. They came before God with their offerings in humility, realizing they were a small nation. The Lord blessed them. What did He say? They became a great nation, powerful and numerous. And so it was, the Israelites were blessed in the land of Egypt, a land that wasn’t their own, a land in which they were aliens and strangers. The fact is they became so powerful; they became so great that the Egyptians were scared of them. The Egyptians didn’t know what to do with this great and powerful nation of the Hebrews. They put them to work. They made them slaves, building the pyramids and other great monuments. The people cried out to the Lord God of our fathers. 6 But the Egyptians mis-treated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. You may remember that when they com-plained, they put them to even harder labor. Pharaoh demanded them to double their output.

When they complained, Pharaoh told them to gather their own straw to make the bricks. Next we are told: 7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. The people realized they needed help. They called out to the Lord and He heard them. He looked at the children of Israel and saw their mis-ery—which they were suffering at the hands of the Egyptians their toil, their oppression from their slave-masters, the Egyptians. The Lord heard, He saw, He listened, and He helped them. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. Just about everyone knows of those plagues that came…the snake, the water that turned to blood, the pestilence, the hail, the darkness…miraculous signs and wonders. The Lord showed that He was powerful. Even Pharaoh had to acknowledge that this God of the Hebrews was the true God. He admitted that, even though he had hardened his heart and would not let the people go. Finally, with great terror, the children of Israel were sent away af-ter the first-born of every one was put to death. Except for the Hebrews for they were passed over by the angel of death. The people remembered the Lord’s blessings. They remembered as they came before the Lord’s altar and brought to Him their offerings.