The Heart of Moses, The Heart of Jesus
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 32:35
0 ratings
· 4 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
The Heart of Moses, the heart of Jesus & the heart of the believer.
Introduction:
I believe that for devout Jews today, Moses is perhaps a much more esteemed person than he was even when was alive. For generations of the Jewish people, Moses has been highly regarded. He was a prophet and leader of the people, credited with being God’s chosen person to lead Israel out of Egypt, and through the desert. It was Moses who received the Law to pass on to the people. Moses receives high honor among the Jews, and ought to as well among Christians today. And for his many good qualities, he serves as a positive example to us.
Moses is one of the most significant persons, not only in the Bible, but in human history. He had a unique role in God’s plan of redemption. We will see in the text of Deuteronomy 9 this morning a stellar quality of Moses, that of one who interceded on behalf of his people, appealing to the mercy of God on their behalf. It is a thrilling thing that God did give Moses this role, and he indeed is worthy of the honor he receives as a prophet.
As great as Moses was, we have One who is much greater, and deserves much higher honor, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. THe honor that Jesus deserves, compared to Moses, is orders of magnitude greater. In fact, this is a major theme of the letter to the Hebrews:
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
We need to keep this in mind. We are going to honor Moses this morning, as we see in the text how he interceded on behalf of his people and appealed to the Almighty for them, even though they had no merit to recommend them to God. Rather, Moses was clear that they most certainly did not deserve anything from God. Remember the theme from the first part of Chapter 9 that we learned from last Sunday, that it was not because of any righteousness in the people of Israel that God acted on their behalf, but only because of his great mercy and faithfulness.
Big Idea: Loving Leaders Long for Leniency
Stubborn people deserve destruction
Holy Leaders are grieved by sin
Loving Leaders long for leniency, but…
God’s glory is paramount
“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people.
Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also.
And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
“At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.
And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice.
You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you.
And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin,
lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.”
For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
Big Idea: Loving Leaders Long for Leniency
Stubborn people deserve destruction
Holy Leaders are grieved by sin
Loving Leaders long for leniency, but…
God’s glory is paramount
Remember from last Sunday, Moses had reminded the people that God’s grace towards them had nothing to do with any righteousness they had. Right before the passage we just read, Moses had reminded the people of how he went up the mountain and recieved the two tablets of the covenant. And right after he received them, God told him to go back down, because the people were acting corruptly and had made a metal image.
So now we get to our passage this morning:
“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people.
Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
Our first point is that stubborn people deserve destruction. Now, I have shared with you before that I have sometimes had eople react badly to the preaching. I have shared that a lady told me I used the word “repent” 29 times in a single sermon. (It didn’t seem to matter to her that the sermon was on the kindness of God that leads to repentance”. I shared recently of a guy who asked if I couldn’t just read a couple verses and then talk to the congregation because he thought I used too much scripture. But as I was preparing this sermon I remembered a well-meaning young man who came to me with his advice. He said people don’t need to be reminded of their sin. He said they know they are sinners, they certainly don’t need to be reminded of that.
Well, I would disagree with that statement, because many people, especially the unsaved, do not know, or at least do not acknowledge, that they are sinners. But even believers must need a lot of reminding, because scripture constantly reminds us. For the people of Israel, they were reminded constantly of the very sins Moses is reminding the people of in this passage. Scripture is constantly calling us back and reminding us of the sin we did as well as the sin we are doing, and even the sins we need to watch out for that we may not yet be doing.
Here Moses is reminding the people of sin, but not sin they themselves were part of. Remember that at this point, the generations of those who had sinned by Mt. Sinai had passed away, and right as the people of Israel were about to enter the promised land, when Moses was giving this speech, the ones left were the younger ones. Even though they had not sinned in the making of the golden calf, they are still being told the story as a somber warning of what they needed to avoid.
And this sin was so egregious that God said to Moses that they deserved to be blotted out, destroyed. And God suggests to Moses that he would make a nation from Moses that would be mightier and greater. Now we are going to see our next point, that Holy Leaders are grieved by sin.
So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
Imagine the change of scenery Moses experienced here! From on the mountain, communing with God, receiving God’s covenant on the tablets, getting to know and understand God and His holiness in a much deeper way, and suddenly he goes from that wonderful experience to seeing a wicked, blasphemous party going on among the people of Israel.
It is hard for me to come up with an adequate metaphor or simile to that, but imagine you have just left the church on Resurrection Sunday, having been reminded of that wonderful event that culminated in the glorified Jesus being raised from the dead, having sung those great old Easter hymns, Christ the Lord is Risen today, and All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, and after a wonderful time worshiping with the saints, you went out the door to see there in the parking lot a lewd display of God-mocking pagans desecrating the church property. But even worse, imagine that this was not done by outsiders, but people from your own congregation, who had previously claimed to be a Christ-follower.
Imagine your disgust and outrage if that were to happen! And yet, I don’t think that comes close to how Moses must have felt after his 40 days on the mountain with God himself, to come and see the very people who he was representing before God putting on this shameful display.
Holy leaders are grieved by sin. This grief is not sadness alone, it is also righteous anger. And in response to this Moses, displays his anger in throwing down the tablets, symbolically displaying the fact that these people were utterly unworthy to receive the law of God.
So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
Whether the people fully grasped Moses’ frustration or not, his anger was not only in his heart, but reflected in his action of throwing down the tablets. So Moses has a fast.
Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.
Moses was grieved and angered over this sin. His anger wasn’t because he perceived it as a slight upon him; No, much worse, it was evil in the sight of the Lord. A leader must not look at the sin of the people as something personal against himself, but see it as what it really is: sin against a Holy God. In David’s Psalm of repentance, he said to God, “It was against you only that I sinned”.
There is danger in a leader taking personally the sin of those he leads. Yet, this is a very easy thing to do. Even as parents, we are angered when our children do the opposite of what they were taught. Elders and Pastors can get frustrated to see people doing what had been taught, preached and warned against. Yet, the sin is not against the parents, the sin is not against the elders or pastor. The sin is against God. ANd we ought to grieve over that sin. And for the ones we have been called on to love and lead, we long for leniency. We appeal to heaven, Lord let not their sin be held against them! Forgive, in your great mercy! Let yourself be glorified in your faithfulness and kindness, and draw them towards yourself so that they may be forgiven!
Sometimes in our flesh we want to see the sinner punished, but Moses did not. He was very concerned about the potential punishment of God:
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also.
And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
So Moses, fearing the wrath of God, not for himself, but for his people, intercedes for the people, asking God to be merciful. He also spefically mentions Aaron here, that God was angry with him. This is the only place in scripture Moses mentions this. So he prayed for the people and also for Aaron. While Moses feared the wrath of God, he himself did not spare the people from some of the consequences of their sin, and he personally applies discipline:
Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
Ground it into dust. No one would be able to go find the pieces of gold. No souvenirs of sin. Sometimes we want to keep little trophies of our sinful days, but Moses was not allowing this. The moving on from this sin must be total and complete. And this indeed is what repentance is. A complete turning, putting aside the evil and pursuing the good. And after this great lesson, having seen Moses’ response to their sin, the people of Israel were squeaky clean from then on and never sinned again, right? Well, just as we do, and like the dog to its vomit, the sinful human race often returns to sinful ways, and Moses again is reminding the people of what they have done.
“At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.
And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice.
You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
Moses could have kept listing times they fell short. I’m sure there are many more than scripture records. But suffice it to say that Moses reminds them of some significant times when they sinned, not only as individuals, but as a people. Open rebellion against God. Remember the young man I mentioned, who said people don’t need to be reminded of their sin? Well, Moses clearly did not think it was a problem to remind people of sin. And neither did Jesus, and neither did Paul. This is why so many times, we see past sins remembered in the scriptures. Because the people of Israel are not the only stiff-necked people. We all have the same tendency.
This is why loving leaders long for leniency, because this is the heart of Christ. Just as Jesus prayed for those who were his, leaders should pray for those in their care. Parents should pray for their children. Elders should pray for those in the congregation. And we should all pray for one another. And when someone is sinning, we pray to God on their behalf. We plead with him to remember his promises towards believers, just as Moses appealed to God to keep his covenant with the people, even though they had not kept up their end. We may very well pray that a believer be miserable so long as the continue in their sin, but we also should pray for mercy and grace, that God would draw them back to himself, just as Jesus told Peter he had prayed for him.
So Moses, out of love for the people, and for the glory of God, spent time praying: Deut9.25-29
“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you.
And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin,
lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.”
For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
In the end, though Moses prayed for leniency, he was seeking God’s glory. So we may also appeal to God for those we care about, that for those God has redeemed, please remember your promises towards them. Deliver them from evil.
If Moses is a great example of this, how much greater an example we have in Jesus Christ our Lord, who went to the cross to prove his love, but also as an appeal for leniency. In John 17, we see the High Priestly Prayer, where Jesus’ prayer for the apostles and also all those who would believe is recorded. This prayer was shortly before he was arrested. Jesus prayed that God would be glorified. He prayed not for all people, but for those who would believe. He prayed that God would keep them in his name. He prayed that God would sanctify them in the truth. He prayed that they would be unified. He prayed that they would be with him, that they would know the Father.
It should be massively comforting to the believer to know and understands that the same Savior who saved them also act as an advocate, or and intercessor, on our behalf. If you ever have trouble with the law, and need to go to court, you want a representative, an attorney, and advocate. And you hope that the attorney will win over judge and jury, and appeal for the best possible results for you, the accused. Yet no attorney has a perfect record. None have perfect rapport with the judge, so that every appeal they make is favorable for their client.
But hear me this morning, believer. You have an advocate with perfect rapport with the judge. He always hears the prayers of His Son, and His Son has prayed for you! Moses serves as a great example of a leader who realizes:
Stubborn people deserve destruction
Holy Leaders are grieved by sin
Loving Leaders long for leniency, but…
God’s glory is paramount
As great an example that Moses, is, Jesus is greater! His prayers are always heard by the Father, and His prayers are always in line with the will of the Father, so that is Jesus prays for you, it is a sure thing that his prayer will have a favorable answer from the Father, and Jesus prayed for you that God keep you in His name, that you would be sanctified in the truth, that we would be unified as believers, and that we would be with him and that we would know the Father.
As Moses was prophet and priest and leader to the people of Israel, so Jesus is for us something much better than Moses.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;
as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
With Jesus as our perfect example, let us consider, then, how we will deal with the people we are called to lead. And everyone is a leader in some sense. Parents lead their children, maybe you lead someone in a bible study, maybe you lead someone in some other capacity, such as teaching a D6 class. What will you do when praying for those you lead?
Stubborn people deserve destruction: Realize that those we lead deserve the wrath of God for their sin. We all do.
Holy Leaders are grieved by sin: Do not take the sin personally, as though they are fighting you. This is easier said than done. Be grieved by sin, even be angry about it, but do not sin in your anger.
Loving Leaders long for leniency, but…
God’s glory is paramount
We should cry out to God on behalf of those we lead, even if they are currently backslidden. ESPECIALLY IF they are backslidden.
But remember the heart of the leader must always be for God’s glory. God is glorified in the mercy he shows believers. He is glorified in the completed work of Christ on the Cross, and that is ultimately the symbol of love we cling to. If God is glorified by turning His wrath towards Christ, as scripture teaches, then our prayers for believers in our care must keep in mind that when a backslidden person is restored, that ultimately reflects greatly on God, because the ultimate source of their redemption is in the cross.
We all fall short of the glory of God. We must remain humble and remember that we need the grace of God, and seek to see Him apply that grace towards those we love. And may we pray for them, just as Jesus prayed for believers in John 17, and prayed for Peter, even knowing of his soon coming betrayal.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
