See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
3 sermons cite this verse
… this is his work Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 39 God says I put to death and I bring to life. This is my prerogative to put to death, my prerogative to bring to life. That's why suicide is a sin. Not the unpardonable sin, but definitely sin because it's God's prerogative, God's authority alone to give and to take life. And abortion is an affront to God's sovereign authority as creator. Abortion, like suicide, says, no, we're in control of life. We decide when someone lives and we decide when someone dies. Not true. God, our creator alone, makes these calls. Abortion is an affront, an offense, to the authority of the one who gives life and takes life. Second, abortion is an assault on God's glorious work in creation. See this. Not just the reality of God's authority as creator, but the glory and the beauty of God's work in creation. I want you to see this right after David confesses God's work in creating him. Listen to what he says. …
Now for a little while let us look at this expression in its relation to sinners in whom a gracious work is beginning. And here I must remind you that if "the hand of the Lord" is ever laid upon you, then it will come, first, as a creating hand. It is the hand of God and that hand, alone, which can create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you! Nothing but the Divine touch can ever make "a new creature in Christ Jesus." If all the angels had united all their powers, they could never have created a world and if all the ministers in the world were to combine their efforts, they could never create a new creature in Christ! Creation is the work of God, alone, so may He graciously lay His hand upon you tonight! Though there is nothing in you for Him to begin with, remember that He made the world out of nothing and He can make a new man of you out of nothing. It is true that your whole being, spiritually, is without form and void—and darkness is upon the face of the deep—but He who brought order out of chaos and said, "Let there be light," and there was light, can do the same for you! May you become a new proof His creating power, so that the angels may sing over you as they once did over a newly made world! Yet let me tell you that wherever "the hand of the Lord" comes, it always comes at first as a breaking hand! As soon as God's hand is laid upon us, down go the images of our pride as Dagon fell upon his face before the Ark of God! And our self-righteousness, our self-conceit, our carnal confidence and everything else that is displeasing to the Most High are dashed in pieces by the blows from His almighty hand! It is a blessed thing to be put into God's mortar that He may pound us with the pestle that He holds in His hand until He has crushed and bruised us so as to bring us to self-despair— for then it will not be long before that same blessed hand of His shall bind up what He has broken and heal what he has wounded! It is His prerogative to say, "I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand." If you could go to some eminent surgeon, it would be a strong argument if you could say to him, "O Sir, I pray you to heal me, for you did, yourself, cause this gaping wound! It was by your sharp knife that this gash was made, so will you not bind it up?" So go to God, Sinner, with that poor broken heart of yours, and say to Him, "Lord, You did break it, will You not bind it up? You are Jehovah-Rophi, will You not heal me?" You know how David prayed, " Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which You have broken may rejoice." God is a bone-breaker and He is also a bone-mender! He is also a heartbreaker, yet He delights to bind up the hearts that He has broken! So go to Him, Sinner, and ask Him to lay His hand upon you, first breaking, and then binding up—first killing, and then making alive! …
1. Hence we learn how absolutely we are dependent on God in this great matter of the eternal salvation of our souls. We are dependent not only on his wisdom to contrive a way to accomplish it, and on his power to bring it to pass, but we are dependent on his mere will and pleasure in the affair. We depend on the sovereign will of God for every thing belonging to it, from the foundation to the top-stone. It was of the sovereign pleasure of God, that he contrived a way to save any of mankind, and gave us Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, to be our Redeemer. Why did he look on us; and send us a Saviour, and not the fallen angels? It was from the sovereign pleasure of God. It was of his sovereign pleasure what means to appoint. His giving us the Bible, and the ordinances of religion, is of his sovereign grace. His giving those means to us rather than to others, his giving the awakening influences of his Spirit, and his bestowing saving grace, are all of his sovereign pleasure. When he says, “Let there be light in the soul of such an one,” it is a word of infinite power and sovereign grace. 2. Let us with the greatest humility adore the awful and absolute sovereignty of God. As we have just shown, it is an eminent attribute of the Divine Being, that he is sovereign over such excellent beings as the souls of men, and that in every respect, even in that of their eternal salvation. The infinite greatness of God, and his exaltation above us, appears in nothing more, than in his sovereignty. It is spoken of in Scripture as a great part of his glory. Deut. xxxii. 39. “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me. I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” Psal. cxv. 3. “Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased.” Daniel iv. 34, 35. “Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Our Lord Jesus Christ praised and glorified the Father for the exercise of his sovereignty in the salvation of men. Matt. xi. 25, 26. “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Let us therefore give God the glory of his sovereignty, as adoring him, whose sovereign will orders all things, beholding ourselves as nothing in comparison with him. Dominion and sovereignty require humble reverence and honour in the subject. The absolute, universal, and unlimited sovereignty of God requires, that we should adore him with all possible humility and reverence. It is impossible that we should go to excess in lowliness and reverence of that Being who may dispose of us to all eternity, as he pleases. …