The Gospel According to Moses, Part 22, Deut. 9.1-12; "By the Numbers: 3, 1, 2"

The Gospel According to Moses, Part 22; Deuteronomy 9.1-12 "By the Numbers: 3, 1, 2" I have a question as we begin this morning. And for those who are closely following the manuscript, you can't answer! What did we talk about last Sunday? Give up? The central idea was that God's people have a thankful heart! I say this not to embarrass anybody, but to simply highlight a major drawback of going through books of the bible, passage by passage. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that this is the best way to go through Scripture because we deal with the whole council of the word of God. We talked about genocide that week. If my preaching style was topical, then I, and more than likely you as well, would never touch that subject, among many other unpleasant subjects in Scripture. This is what we pastors often do: avoid the really tough things Scripture deals and retreating to things more comfortable and pleasing to hear. And in my opinion, it is to our detriment. Obviously topical sermons have their place, like our yearly Christmas series. And even stand-alone messages when we have 5th Sunday, to make our time observing the Lord's Supper a bit more special. But it makes our spirit weak, in my opinion to have a steady spiritual diet of topical messages. There is another drawback in going through the Bible passage by passage. We tend to forget the context of what we are talking about on a given Sunday. And that, too is to our detriment, for rarely can a passage be treated separate from the rest of Scripture. And this is why I at least make the attempt to catch us up as we dive into the passage in front of us. And today is no exception. I may not have made things crystal clear as we have gone through Deuteronomy so far, but let me put it on the table now. This entire book is a collection of Moses' last words. He is Israel's pastor par excellence. And if we were actually there to hear Moses back in the day, there would be no break between what we call chapter 8 and our passage for today. Today, in Deuteronomy 9.1-14, we will see Moses give further instruction, the Torah in the ways of the Lord. As we know, Torah means the teaching of God's ways to God's people. And central to this passage today is the Lord's continued teaching about the condition of Israel's heart: proud and stubborn. Remember in chapter 8, Moses declared that the Lord humbled them, training them to know that he was all they needed. After Moses reminded the people of the blessings Yahweh gave them and the promise of so many more, he pressed upon them a grave warning: "Don't go after other gods. If you worship them, I will expel you from my land. Because my land is indeed sacred space." So again, in our passage for today, the Lord through Moses has one thing on his mind to teach the people-I say the number 1 with emphasis: "Don't be stubborn." We will see how the Lord uses 2 things in this passage as well, demonstrating a profound lesson of grace and mercy. And of all things, this lesson is wrapped up in the 2 tablets of stone the Lord gave Moses, upon which he wrote the summary of the Torah. We call them the Ten Commandments. We will even see how the number 3 comes into play here, in that how the Lord overwhelms the obstacles Israel had raised in the past as reasons, or more accurately excuses as to why they could not go in and take the land of promise 4 decades earlier. So, the title for this message is pretty clumsy, but I can't think of a better one. So you are stuck with it: "By the numbers: 3, 1, 2." In our passage, Deuteronomy 9.1-14, we will see the number 3 in vv. 1-3 as Moses deals with what Israel considers obstacles to prevent them from taking the land. In vv. 4-7, Moses will expose Israel to their stubbornness, along with the pride accompanying this sin, again, the number 1 issue in these verses. And in vv. 8-14, we will see how the 2 tablets of stone serve as incredible object lessons of grace and mercy toward his people. So let's talk about the number 3 in Deuteronomy 9.1-3: "Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you. So, what were the 3 obstacles Moses mentioned that would make crossing the Jordan river and living in the land of promise difficult? Great and mighty nations, 7 to be exact. These were nations God told Israel to completely wipe out: every man, woman, kid and even the animals. Obstacle 2: great and fortified cities, such as Jericho, the first city Israel encountered. And we who know the story know how well those fortifications kept Yahweh's troops out of the city! Obstacle 3: great and tall Anakim. Remember who they were? According to the worldview back then, alluded to in Genesis 6, the Anakim were evil personified. They were the spawn of the watchers--sons of god who had sexual relations with human women, whose goal was to thoroughly corrupt humanity. Moses didn't say how many Anakim there were. Though Scripture gives us various locations of where they lived, it makes one wonder just how widespread the Anakim's influence was on the nations. What makes these obstacles Moses listed so interesting is that these were the exact same reasons, more properly called excuses the spies gave when they scoped out the land 40 years prior. As a result, the people became terrified and refused to go to war against the 7 nations to wipe them out. But now, 4 decades later, what did Moses remind the people of? The Lord will go before them to confront the 7 nations, plus the Anakim. And Yahweh will help them in exactly, you guessed it, 3 ways. He will go before his warriors as a consuming fire with devastating ferocity. The Lord promises he will destroy the nations. He will subdue them. So what do we make of this? Israel emphatically gave the Lord 3 reasons, labeled as excuses, as to why they refused to take the land, while the Lord gave 3 reasons of his own as to why their reasons were invalid. It was going to be difficult, no doubt, but the issue was one of trust in the Lord. He commanded them to engage in the battle, but it was the Lord who would ultimately give his people the victory. I think there just might be an application for us here. There is no obstacle too great to prevent the Lord's people from accomplishing what he wants done. For example, as individual followers of the Lord Jesus, think of the spiritual warfare in which we are continually engaged. But who lives in us? The Holy Spirit. He is the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead! He is the 3rd Person of the Trinity. There is no sin stronger than the Holy Spirit who lives in us who know Christ as Lord and Savior! We appeal to the Lord, seeking his help and we will secure the victory! When tempted, let's immediately go to battle, directing the focus of our inner being on God's word and prayer. These are our weapons. Let's submit ourselves under his mighty hand! Victory is assured! Truly, the battle is real. It's tough. But by his Spirit we have what we need to engage in the battle and win. Praise be to the Lord! I think of the church engaged in spiritual warfare as well. Jesus promised that he will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail. Remember, the gates are a defensive mechanism. In other words, the gates will eventually give way as the church of Jesus continues to pound on them. How do we pound on them? Little by little we take the authority away from the realm of darkness. Every person who receives eternal life is no longer under the dominion of darkness as Paul tells us in Colossians. The gates of hell are powerless to prevent a son or daughter of God from leaving the kingdom of darkness! The Lord Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. He is the greatest evangelist ever! He is right now convicting every non-Christian on the planet of sin, righteousness and judgment. As followers of Christ, we have faith in this truth. We are convinced that whenever we plant a spiritual seed, the Holy Spirit will use it as he continues his convicting work. In other words, nothing is ever wasted. We might think that we have really blown it as we share the gospel. But who can adequately share it? No intellect or voice is enough to bring a person from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Christ. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can that happen. And we in the church of Jesus Christ live the new life--loyally keeping the ways of the Lord. As I asked last week, do you, do I really believe that the ways of the Lord are the best ways to live? And our lifestyle lends credibility to the convicting work of the Spirit and the gospel. The more faithful we are in living out the ways of the Lord in front of the watching world, the more powerful the gospel can work in the lives of non-Christians. We give the gospel as the Lord gives opportunity. And when a person comes from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, the gates of hell no longer have authority over this precious soul. So, in a sense we beat those gates from other side; it's not a frontal assault. A frontal assault often means we are up to our armpits in trying to change the culture. But we're not here to change the culture. We are here to make disciples of Jesus. It's a monumental task. The stakes are so much higher than a mere culture change. But as Israel pointed out 3 obstacles to Yahweh, he promised to take on those obstacles. Israel certainly had a role to play. But Yahweh is the ultimate victor. Now let's turn our attention to what amounts to numbers 3 and 1 in vv. 4-6. "Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. "Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people." Did you catch the number 3 in these verses? In a phrase, "Not. Your. Righteousness." It sort of goes along with the territory doesn't it? In chapter 8, Moses said that Yahweh dealt with Israel and their proud heart. So, the temptation would be when the warriors of Israel would gain the victory they would say, "It's because of my righteousness we defeated the enemies." I believe that is called "moral superiority." After all, it was Yahweh, the only true God, possessing absolute moral purity who sent Israel on his errand to have them eradicate wickedness in his sacred space. It was Israel upon whom Yahweh set his affection. Later on in Deuteronomy we will actually read that the Lord was going to raise Israel above all nations as they obeyed his ways. That sure could feed into Israel's pride! But Moses quickly bursts their arrogant bubble. "It's not your righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the enemies is why I'm sending you to displace the people." In other words Moses is telling the people, "don't think you're all that." Because the truth is, neither Israel nor any of the nations can claim to be righteous. However, Israel could do righteousness if they were careful to follow the ways of the Lord: Deuteronomy 6.25: And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us. However, such was not the case with Israel. Let's just say that Israel was not in the habit of rendering obedience to the Lord. Moses declared to them, "you are stubborn" in v.6. And in v.7 he said, "you are rebellious against the Lord." Ouch. But as Israel's leader, Moses had the loving responsibility of proclaiming the truth to them, exposing their heart to them for what it was. And that is what we are to do as well. That's why we come together. We learn to trust one another. We share our hearts and our shortcomings with each other. And "speaking the truth in love" we help one another to see our sin and to be right there to help our brother, our sister to overcome it. That's all part of living together in love and unity. We are to help one another to become more like Jesus. How are you doing in this? Are you willing to take the risk to be authentic, entrusting your heart to your brother, your sister? Moses loved his people, that was obvious. He gained their trust and told it like it was. There was something else at work here as well. In v.5 Moses tells them that the Lord is sending Israel into the land as his instrument of judgment because of the sin of the 7 nations. This was to fulfill a promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Genesis, God gave Abraham a timeline as to what was going to happen to his descendants: slavery, deliverance and then a return to the land of promise. All this was to take place over a period of 400 years. Then the Lord says this to Abraham in Genesis 15.16: And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." And 40 years in the wilderness brought Israel into the land right at about, you guess it, 400 years! So far, we have seen numbers 3 and 1. Now let's look at the number 2 found in vv.8-14: Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.' "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, here's Moses reminding the people of their sordid history. They indeed were rebellious. They were stubborn. They provoked the Lord to anger--often. And nowhere was that more evident than the time they were at Mt. Sinai, otherwise known as Horeb. Moses reminds them that the Lord wanted to destroy them. And in Exodus 32, the Scripture records that Moses prayed for the people and the Lord relented. What an amazing, awesome, powerful thing that is! Prayer is something we all need to be more involved with. If we really believed in the absolute power of prayer, how many of us would pray more? Then Moses gives the people what seems to be a minor detail. Two tablets. And at the end of the 40 days on the mountain, the Lord gave Moses those tablets, after having written the 10 Words on them by his own hand. But why the detail? Why 2 tablets? Well, it's obvious, so we think. It's very popular to understand it this way: One of the tablets has on it the first 4 commands, as in the duties the Lord's people have toward him. And the other tablet has 6 commands on it--the duties of God's people toward one another. However, there is far more than meets the eye, beginning with what is really an incorrect view of what is on the tablets. For Yahweh wrote all 10 commandments on each tablet of stone. There are 2 reasons for this. First it's the amount of writing on them: Exodus 32:15: Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. Second, I haven't mentioned this in awhile but don't forget what is going on with the entire book of Deuteronomy. The Lord is establishing what is called the Suzerain / Vassal treaty. The Suzerain was the overwhelmingly powerful king. The Vassals were the extremely weak, conquered servants compared to the Suzerain. It was the suzerain who created the treaty. It was this kind of treaty that was very common back in Moses' day. And it was this treaty that the book of Deuteronomy is patterned after. An important part of the treaty was the paperwork if you will. For every one of these treaties were written with, wait for it, 2 copies: one for the suzerain and one for the vassal--to remind both parties of what they were signing up for. With this in mind, let's see what's really going on. Moses was on the mountain with the Lord, the Suzerain for 40 days and nights. And Moses experienced a miracle. A 40 day fast is difficult. But 40 days without water is truly a miracle. While on the mountain, the Lord gave Moses all kinds of details about how to build the tabernacle among many other things. And the last thing the Lord did to close out their time together, was to produce with his own finger two copies of the summary statement of the Torah--the 10 Commandments. Now then. What do you suppose is happening at the exact moment the Lord is drawing up this treaty? God's people were at the foot of Mt. Sinai, busy committing sexual sin. They were also committing spiritual adultery by declaring a golden calf to be "their gods which brought them out of the land of Egypt." Let that sink in. Think with me for a second about what was happening. The sinful party going on, right at the time Yahweh was making 2 copies of the treaty. As the Lord finished writing with his finger on the tablets, establishing his covenant of love, loyalty, deliverance and protection with Israel, his ears heard the unthinkable: "Now we have a feast to the Lord!" Then they rose up to play. Tell me, what should have happened? The Lord should have destroyed the tablets over the idolatry, and the people too, for his people were cheating on him. But he did not do that. He was definitely angry. He told Moses to "let me alone that I may destroy them and blot their name out from under heaven." And what did Moses not do? Leave Yahweh alone. What did he do? He begged the Lord not to destroy the people. And the Lord did not do it. What a magnificent display of mercy and patience. And holy boldness on the part of Moses Now, let's step back a bit. The God who thundered out the commandments, the one who restrained himself from destroying his people also declared his salvation and deliverance to them: "I am the Lord YOUR God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Let's take another step back. The one who declared his salvation and deliverance on Israel is also the omniscient God of the universe. He knows everything there is to know about everything. In other words, before he created Adam and Eve, Yahweh knew that his people were going to commit spiritual adultery on him, at the exact moment he was signing the document establishing the treaty with his people. He established the treaty and did not destroy them. My friends, is this not the most amazing display of grace and mercy? In short, the Lord knew exactly what he was getting when he saved them. He was not taken by surprise by the wicked actions of his people. Amazingly he established the covenant with his people that he might show how good he is. Fast forward thousands of years to this day. The Lord's attitude and actions toward his people, followers of Christ is exactly the same as it was with his people at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The truth is, the Lord knows exactly what he's getting when he saves people today. Nothing takes him by surprise. How we need to remember that he lives in the past, he lives in the present and he lives in the future. He sees the totality of our lives all at once. And still he has offered salvation to you and me. I've asked this question before but it definitely bears repeating, "has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?" Let that sink in. The Lord never looks at you and me and says, "I didn't know that you were going to do THAT! I didn't know that was in you!" The worst thing you and I have ever done, he absolutely knows about it. It's the same with our thoughts, our orientations, our inclinations, the things we would say and do if we were afforded an opportunity, or if we were brave enough to do them. God knows it all--much better than we do. Here is the bottom line issue: salvation means to be salvaged. The Lord, knowing full well who we are takes us from the junkyard of sin and builds into us the very character of Christ. We will be like him when his work in us is complete. Isn't that amazing? So, my brothers and sisters, in light of the fact that God knows us absolutely, allow me to offer us a challenge. Finally, let's be done with committing the sin of unbelief. How many of us are guilty of that? My conviction is far more often than we know. "How so?" you might ask. Unbelief is often expressed this way: "Lord, how can you forgive me for what I have done?" We are all capable of the worst that humans can do. Our sinful nature knows no bounds. And when we so thoroughly violate our conscience, we wonder how in the world the Lord, who is absolutely pure, can ever find it in his heart to forgive us. Can anybody resonate with this? Here is another way we express the sin of unbelief: "Lord, how can you forgive me AGAIN for what I've done?" Here is the glorious, liberating truth of the matter: God is not a God of the second chance. He's the God of as many chances as it takes. Why? Precisely and only because of the blood of Christ shed on our behalf. God does not forgive because he is nice, but because he is just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. What did God do with his people as they were having a fit for themselves? Finished writing the treaty, in duplicate, and gave both tablets to Moses. In spite of their wickedness, Yahweh still wanted to have a covenant relationship with his people. That's profound grace. That's unspeakable mercy. And do I have to remind us, this is the Old Testament? How much greater are things now that Christ has come, the absolute, complete, perfect fulfillment of all the Lord wants of a covenant between himself and his people? So, what do we do when we as followers Jesus sin? We go to God in prayer, taking 1 John 1.9 with us. Recite it with me: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is a promise given to his people. It is a promise. God does not lie. We know this. When I was a young Christian waaayy back in the day, I hung around a bunch of guys who were serious about our walk with the Lord. But we kept beating ourselves up over the times we would commit sin. I don't know when the change took place but we began to simply take the Lord at his word and fully trust the truth of 1 John 1.9. We decided to stop beating ourselves up after we confessed our sin and then just got on with our renewed fellowship with God. We described the process this way: "fess and press." What that means is this: We confess our sins, with the attitude of repentance. That's the fess part. An open, honest admission to the Lord what I did. I alone am to blame. I don't blame it on my friend, family or ancestors. It's me who sinned. When I confess in the proper way, then the Lord does his work and cleanses me. And with a renewed fellowship with the Lord, I then "press" on, as in putting this behind me, grateful for yet another episode of forgiveness, and living my life in restored fellowship with the Lord. It's a simple matter of taking God at his word and trusting his unbreakable promise. Of course, the key to all of this is to, again, believe that 1 John 1.9 is just as true as John 3.16. My brothers and sisters, every time we sin we have the opportunity to quickly get that sin out of the way, regardless of how we feel. God does not require us to beat ourselves up over our sin. But he does invite us to have him cleanse us. Will you take the "fess and press" challenge? The next time you sin, confess it, and press on with your life in Christ. But you might be thinking, "What if I sin even 5 minutes later, even the same sin? The answer is found in the truth of 1 John 1.9: He is faithful. His promise has not changed. So we go to him again, fully trusting the truth of 1 John 1.9. Don't believe the lie that the Lord will ever tire of you confessing the same sin over and over. Just like with Israel, Yahweh knew what he was getting when he saved you. None of your sins or my sins ever have or will ever take him by surprise. So, stop beating yourself up. When you sin, fess and press on. There is so much more we can say regarding this amazing passage, but in the words of one of my heroes, Abe Hamilton, the clock is so disrespectful. So we have to leave things right here. We will pick up the rest of Moses' story about the golden calf next week. The bottom line is simply this: Yahweh continues to show his people infinite love, mercy and grace! And once again, the Lord does not change. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. His way, his heart, his attitude toward those who are true Christians is exactly the same as he had toward Israel. And even better because now the Torah of God is written on our hearts, our sins are completely forgiven and the Holy Spirit is alive and well in us, empowering us to do his will! It's been said that Paul's letter to the Romans is the greatest writing in the New Testament. In it Paul lays out what the gospel of Christ is and the need everybody on the planet has to receive it, for as he says, "It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And the 8th chapter of Romans is the greatest chapter in this letter. As we close the message, let's be encouraged and comforted with these wonderful, inspired words from, arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived. Romans 8:31-39: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.