A Guest Friend In A Season Of Testing

Pastor Bruce Robinson of Stockton Baptist Church, a longtime friend of the pastor from their Bible college years, brought the evening message from Deuteronomy 8:1-9. The service came in a remarkable season for the church, freshly moved into its new location in Newark, and the sermon spoke directly into that moment. Before reading the text, Pastor Robinson reflected on how God interweaves people's lives, and he cautioned against the modern habit of throwing people away when they no longer serve our interests. He connected the church's present situation to the wilderness journey of Israel. When we get saved, God brings us out of bondage and into a wilderness where everything is new and we are tried and tested. Quoting Philippians 2:14-15, he reminded the church to do all things without murmurings and disputings, shining as lights in a crooked and perverse world.

From 1 Corinthians 10, he warned that the things that happened to Israel in the wilderness were written for our admonition. When Israel was challenged, they lusted; when they were unsure, they murmured. Those who did not understand the wilderness journey stayed in the wilderness. Of all who crossed the Red Sea, only two crossed the Jordan. God is always faithful to his word, but his people must be patient and trust him when it is hard. How could we ever trust a God who has never proved us? He suggested that the wilderness journey matters not only in a Christian's life but in a church's life, and that God may be strengthening this church for a greater impact, the way gold becomes more valuable as it is refined.

Joy Is A Choice Rooted In Remembering

Reading Deuteronomy 8:1-9, Pastor Robinson set the theme: God desires to produce something profound in us that is foreign to the world but should be common to us, and that thing is joy. Joy happens when we choose to operate in faith in the light of difficulty. God commands it in Philippians 4:4, rejoice in the Lord always, and in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, rejoice evermore. Rejoicing is a choice. A spouse's behavior, children's conduct, and even our own circumstances should not dictate it. He asked a searching question: some people bring joy when they come, and others bring joy when they go. Which one are you? God's people should never be the ones who drain the life out of a room with constant complaining. From that foundation he preached three responses to remembering what God has done.

Let us remember and repent. From verse 2, and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, Pastor Robinson observed that it is impossible to review the past without some sorrow and regret. There were a thousand kind things we might have done and a thousand kind words we might have spoken. Yesterday cannot be redone, but today can be redeemed. Repentance does not change yesterday, but it changes how we serve God today. He confessed candidly that during the church's transition he had been among those wondering what God would do, and that when we doubt and God shows up anyway, the right response is repentance, because God has been faithful and we ought not doubt what he will do in the future.

Let us remember and be grateful. A remembered past has treasures in it that we cannot afford to lose. From verse 3, he put the church in the mind of the Israelites. Bondage has a strange security to it, every day decided for you, food guaranteed. But God allowed his freed people to hunger, humbled them, and fed them with manna they did not know, so that they would learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. God's people live by his promises, not by their circumstances. Their raiment did not wax old and their feet did not swell for forty years. Pastor Robinson pressed the application: think of God's mercies, his unfailing supplies, his answered prayers. He told the church plainly that they are in a better position now than two months ago because their reliance upon God is greater, adding, I would rather trust God with nothing than lose my faith with everything. He shared Erma Bombeck's story of Christina, a young girl with cancer who, asked what she wanted for her birthday, answered that she already had everything. He also urged parents not to give up on wayward children. The God who worked miracles in your life can work in theirs.

Let us remember and be confident. Turning to Nehemiah 8:9-10, he showed the people weeping when they heard the words of the law, and Nehemiah's answer: neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Sorrow should not keep us from having joy. He illustrated confidence with the painter John Singer Sargent, who kept his finest panel of roses and refused to sell it, because whenever he doubted his abilities he would look at it and remember, I painted that. David said it this way: I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken. Hebrews 13:5 commands contentment because God has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Like Samuel raising the Ebenezer stone, hitherto hath the Lord helped us, the believer concludes that the God who has helped this far will keep helping.

What Remembering Should Do In Your Heart

Pastor Robinson brought the confidence point home to the church's own moment. Get behind your pastor and follow him as he follows Christ. New Sunday school teachers will be needed, and men waiting on the side will need to step up and lead their homes. God calls imperfect people to do his perfect work, and he warned from Jesus' words that the measure we use on others will be measured back to us. From verse 7, for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, he assured the church that the God who brings you there is able to carry you there.

The question is not simply whether we remember the past, but what remembering the past does in the heart. If we remember rightly, it will humble us, bring repentance where we failed, stir up gratitude for how God has provided, and build confidence that the God who has helped us so far will not forsake us. A grateful person is a gracious person. He closed with David's prayer from Psalm 139:23-24, search me, O God, and know my heart, noting that what God breaks he makes better, and when God prunes us it is so that he may produce more fruit. The invitation called the church to an old-fashioned altar, to do business with God about doubting, ingratitude, and fear, and many responded.