The Everlasting Arms

Text: Deut. 33:27

Intro: Deuteronomy is the book of review.  Moses, in his last days, provides a summary to those who are about to enter the promise land.  He offers prophecy about the tribes.  Then, he offers a simple word of encouragement to the nation of Israel and to the task that is before them.  We will look at the verse from three simple views about God. He is our sustainer, our shelter, and our support.

1. Our Sustainer. -uphold or suffer, to stand with.

1. Neh. 9:21 “Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.”
2. Ps. 3:5  “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.”
3. Ps. 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
4. Notice that He is God.

1. Ex. 8:10  “there is none like unto the LORD our God.”
2. Is. 45:5  ” I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.”

1. Notice that He is eternal or everlasting.

1. Ex. 3:14  “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
2. Alpha and Omega.
3. Eternal presents the idea of never being used up.  (The real ever-ready bunny!)

1. Our Shelter. To defend, to protect from danger; to secure, to harbor or render safe.

1. “Thy refuge”
2. The word refuge is also translated shelter or abiding place.

1. We have a God who is our everlasting refuge.
2. He is our refuge from:

1. Bondage – Like Israel and Egypt
2. Oppression
3. Sin
4. Attack
5. Discipline
6. Sorrow

1. There is also the idea of an abiding place or we might use the word “home”.

1. Rest
2. Security
3. Ease (being yourself)
4. Communion

• Our Support. -to bear, to keep from sinking

1. Here is the heart of the message.
2. He is the everlasting arms that are beneath.

1. Find yourself weak?  There is no need to fear the everlasting arms shall bear you up.
2. Find yourself weary?
3. Find yourself worried?
4. Find yourself wounded?

1. “What have I to dread?  What have I to fear?  Leaning on the everlasting arms.  I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.”
2. Listen to a Scriptural history of His arms.

1. Ex. 6:6  “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:”
2. Ps. 77:15  “Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people.”
3. Ps. 89:10  “thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.”
4. Luke 1:57  “He hath shewed strength with his arm”  Turn there.

1. This is Mary’s proclamation of praise.
2. Notice that the miraculous is associated with the arm of God.
3. Do you realize that those same arms are underneath you tonight?
4. Surely, whatever you need is not as miraculous as a virgin birth.  Come now and rely on the everlasting arms!

1. Come now and admit the heart of the problem.  We believe that He has the everlasting arms yet we do not lean upon Him.

1. Ill – Crutches require that you lean on them.
2. Yes we know that He is our refuge, our hiding place and we willing hide there.  But, we must also rely on His support from underneath!

1. Have you a cause?
2. Have you a burden?
3. Have you a wound?
4. Have you a need?
5. Have you a heartache?
6. Have you a fear?
7. Have you a dread?
8. “What have I to dread?  What have I to fear?  Leaning on the everlasting arms.  I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.”