New City East Lake and thank you again for joining us as we take one last sermon in the book of Deuteronomy. We're looking at the final chapter. We looked at chapter 33 last week and saw Moses final blessing or rather God's blessing through his servant Moses to all the tribes of Israel. And this morning we're actually looking at chapter 34 which is describing or rather telling us about the death of Moses. We'll be reading verses one through twelfth and we'll begin reading our Spanish reading and brother Pedro is going to help us to do that and then I'll follow that up with our English reading.
On the top of the mountain is Siga, the front is eric, and so the Lord showed all the territory that was sent from Galadon to Dalle. All the territory of Nezalin and of Frain. Manacés and Judah, to the land of Israel. And He also showed the region of Nehed and the valley of eric, and the city of Palmeras, to Zohar. Then the Lord said to him, this is the territory that Jury Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, what would happen to his servants? I have allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you can't enter in it. So Moses died, the Lord's servant, as the Lord had told him, and he was deported in Moad, in the valley that is facing being worse, but to date no one knows where that culture is. Moses had 120 years of age when he died. With all this, he did not have the ability to be seen, nor had he lost his vigor. For 30 years, Moses and the Elites became a Moses in the Moad regions, giving him the time to fight against a brawl. Then Josue and Odenun were filled with the spirit of that victory, because Moses put his hands on him. Moses was the Elites for his part, or said to him, and he did what the Lord had ordered Moses. From then on, he did not rise again in Israel, another prophet like Moses. With whom the Lord had treated him directly, only Moses did all the signs and prodigies that the Lord sent him to perform in Egypt until the end of his functions and all his countries. Nobody had shown us the power of such an extraordinary, nor had he been able to perform proesies, as Moses did before all Israel. This is the word of the Lord.
Then Moses went out from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebel, and to the top of Pysca, which is opposite Jericho. The Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Nathtilai, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Megav and the plain. That is the value of Jericho, the city of Palm trees, as far as Zor. And the Lord said to him, this is the land of which I saw to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, I will give it to your offspring. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Pior, but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated, and the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days, then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua, the son of none, was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on him so the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to feral and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. This is the word of God. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your words that you give to us. You remind us that we do not live by bread alone by the every word that comes from your mouth. It is the word that communicates to us your truth, the truth of your gospel, the truth of your word that you've granted to us that we can live by. And we just want to be careful this morning to listen to all the things that you're teaching us so that we may apply them in our life, so that we may have life in you and life in Christ. And so when you lead us and guide us this morning as we hear your word to us, we pray all this in Christ name. Amen. So this morning we're coming to the end of our study in the book of Euroman. We've been studying the topic of the unchangeableness of God. And throughout all the specific passages that we've been looking at, we've seen how God has remained faithful to his people, even at times when his people are faithless and rebellious and unfaithful yet God has remained as the constant in their life. And so we come to this final chapter, chapter 34 and we see here the death of Moses and we're reminded yet again that all things come to an end. That all things come to an end as we see Moses' life come to an end. It sounds a little bit anticlimactic. If I must confess and I'm sure as you as we read through it, you must be thinking the same thing as well that after leading God's people, after leading Israel for all those many years and for such a long time, that Moses would not be able to see the fulfillment of God's promise to his people. The Moses would not be able to see the fulfillment of God's promise to his people. And as I was reading through this and preparing, I was actually reminded of another story that we may all be very aware of or know about. And it's the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. If you visited his grave site, you will see something interesting and there's inscription in his grave stone that says, free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty. I'm free at last. And as I thought about this, words that are put on this powerful words on the gravestone of the great leader in our country, I was reminded of the life of man who was dedicated to issues, to pursuing social justice and racial inequality. But one who never lived to see the forealization of his famous, I have a dream speech that he gave on the steps of Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. That all things indeed do come to an end, that there will come an end when our life on the side of Eden will come to an end will be over. Now, while for the believer, while for those who follow Jesus, this is not the end for us. We know it's actually the beginning of eternal life with Christ. We do have to pause and ponder and ask the question, how are we preparing for that life that is to come? How are we preparing for that life that is to come? And the other question that we can ask is, what do we want Jesus to say about us when our life on earth is done and when we meet Him face to face? You see, as we read this morning, Moses' life is such a great example on how to die well. I mean, Moses has lived a long life, he's seen it all, he's been through it all, but he was not a perfect man by all accounts. We know that for sure. He is sinned before God and he's told he's not going to enter the promised land, but it's clear from what we've been learning in our study that Moses is, in fact, a man who has learned how to live for God and to live for God alone. Moses is a man who has learned what it means to live for God. And this is how we prepare for the life to come. So when I ask the question, how can we prepare for the life to come? The answer ought to be, we prepare for the life to come by living for God. But what do we mean by that? What do we mean that we're supposed to be living for God? The first thing I want us to look at and to see in this verse that we just read is this, that to live for God means that we must see with the eyes of faith. To live for God means that we must see with the eyes of faith. Again, Moses is here being given a paranoid view of the glorious land to delight in eyes with the view of the inheritance which God is about to give to Israel. Moses will not let his feet on this beautiful inheritance that God was giving to his people, but viewing the land of the promise is as good as fulfilled. The promise has dominated Moses discourse all of his life yet it was something for the future, something unknown, but something that he could only know and see and possess through the eyes of faith. Now he's able to see the fulfillment of this ancient promise that God had given to his people, but a promise that God made sure that he would not be able to see or to set his feet on this land. Again, Moses has already started seeing with his eyes of faith. The people he has led for those years living and settling in the land which God had promised to them in the fulfillment of this promise were so clear to his physical eyesight, right? Perhaps we can even imagine that God smiling at Moses, smiling at Moses because for soon Moses will be standing on a mountain talking with the Son of God who Jesus himself about an even greater exodus than what he knew that would be accomplished in Jerusalem, something or a deliverance or redemption that would not just be simply for the people of Israel, but also for all of God's people, a promise that would be fulfilled for all of God's people. And so seeing with the eyes of faith as we're talking about it this morning means learning what Moses had learned over the many years of serving the Lord that there is something more important than being that there's nothing more important so to speak than being in the will of God. There's nothing more important than being in the will of God. Israel had a hard time. There were a rebellious people and whenever they strayed away from the presence of God, Moses had learned to cry out to the Lord, wanting the people to know his will, to know the will of God and to be with the presence of God. I mean, remember Moses saying if your presence does not grow with us, Lord do not send us away from here in Exodus 33, living and being in the will of God is what spares us from the heartic that is brought about by our own sin. It is seeing with the eyes of our faith. Again, Moses might have had a desire to see Kenan. I'm sure he really wanted to go into this land that was flowing with milk and honey. But for Moses, there was something that was much more special to him than simply entering into Kenan. Moses wanted things that were more important than just setting his feet on this land. And one of the things that Moses wanted wanted to be is to know God. It was to obey God. It was to please God. And even when God says, no, you may not. No, you may not enter this land. That was enough for him. The things we may wish for
are not always the best for us sometimes, right? The things that we may wish for are not always the best things for us at times. You know, there are times when only God knows what's best for us, the difference between what we merely want and what we genuinely need. Sometimes God always and not all the time. God knows what's best for us, right? And so it is in times when we feel ourselves to be seriously in want that God teaches us important lessons in life. Again, Moses had gained and learned far more in looking, in seeing from a distance at the land that he would not be entering into. He had gained and learned much more. And while God may be saying no to him, he knows that God was not living him alone without help, but God encouraged him through the fulfillment of the promise to his people. And the idea of seeing here is actually really significant, right? The God is actually repeated several times to see, to see, to see, to see all these things. And the same language is used of Abraham with seeing Genesis 13 when God tells Abraham to lift up his eyes and to look and see all the land that God was going to give him, give it to him. I get to remember, Abraham could only see but he had not possessed the land. Again, remember the temptation of Jesus in Luke chapter 4, the devil attempting Jesus and he tells him to look and see. And then see all this I will give to you, you know, speaking of the kingdoms. The idea of seeing is actually important in Jewish culture because looking or seeing in fact signified a transfer of possession. If you record in Luke chapter 18, the parable of the great banquet, the excuse that is given by one of the invited guests was, they said, quote, I've just bought a few and I must go and see it. They just bought something that they must go and see it because as absurd as it may sound to us, this is because seeing something was actually a legal form or transfer or something that was acquired. And therefore Moses being shown the land and seeing it is in fact a precious thing. It is him possessing the land although he may not enter it. The promise was already here is he had possessed it because he saw it. What a beautiful thing. And we may want to ask the question, why is this so important for us? This is a reason because not everything that is given to us as Christians is immediately acquired possession. Not everything that is given to us or promised to us as Christians is immediately acquired possession. See, we may have all things in Christ. I mean, we are called as with Christ, right? Right? And we're given all spiritual and material blessings by God. But there are things that we will not possess on this side of heaven. We will not enjoy all the riches that we could have. We will not have perfect health on this side of heaven. We will not have perfect harmony in all of our relationships. There are things that are promised to us that we will never be able to experience or to fully enjoy on this side of heaven. The truth is, we're not going to be able to name and claim everything now. There are better things to come, for us as followers of Christ. The inheritance that it cannot pay, that cannot fade and fail that is stored up in heaven for us. We can look only with the eyes of our faith, but we must wait for it, and we must wait for it with patience. I really hope that as we hear that this may be a prayer, one person, one spirit, this friend, I hope it can be our prayer. He said, oh God, save me from myself, this self which throws the thick shadow of its own purposes and desires in every direction in which I try to look so that I cannot see what it is that you, my Lord and God are showing to me, teach me to stand out of my own life and let your daylight shine. And quote, but it's not just what Moses saw that made him feel at peace before his death. It's in fact what he heard from God. Look at verses four. And the Lord said to him, this is the land of which has swore to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob, I will give it to your offspring. He could have lifted his eyes and seen the land from afar, but how it was Moses going to be sure that the people of Israel were going to possess the land that God was giving to them. Remember there are dangers, there are battles that lie ahead of the God's people. Are they going to be able to win and to possess the land? Hard to tell, right? But God was reminding Moses that the fulfillment was true and sure that God was going to make sure that his people would possess the land. The promise was as good as fulfilled and that was enough for Moses. See friends, God's promises to us and His word must encourage us as we see with the eyes of faith. That God promises through His Son and by His Spirit, He promises His providential care, His protection, His guidance and so much more. Yes, life on this side of heaven will get hard and difficult, but we can hold on to this promises because living for God and seeing with the eyes of faith means that when everyone sees chaos and despair and frustrations in life, we see the hand of God at work, restoring all things in our life. We see beyond what our naked eyes can see by keeping our eyes on Him and having faith that one day He's going to make all things new. And so the question for us is this, what do you see when you look at life in the present and in the future? Do you see chaos? Do you see disturbance? Do you see all the ugly things going on or do you see those things? But you also see beyond that. You see a God who is at work restoring all things to Himself. And so to live for God means to see with the eyes of faith, but secondly to live for God means that we must seek to be His servants. Moses is the ultimate measure of faithfulness to Yahweh. He had this unique intimate relationship with God. And to see the language that is actually used of God Himself describing, especially in terms of defeating Pharaoh and the powerful things that God did, now being used of Moses is quite an extravagant tribute to Moses, isn't it? Yet Moses' greatness lies in the fact that He has been able to faithfully bring God's people to this point. He has faithfully proclaimed to them God's word. He has faithfully invested His whole life totally to the service of God's people, to the role that God had given to Him. And He is now called servant for excellence. Moses has lived his life on behalf of others. Moses is in fact giving his life to others by being denied precisely that which was promised to his people. He is not going to enter this land that is flowing with milk and honey. See there have been speculation as we read here of God bearing Moses as to why God would do that. And to this day no one knows where Moses is buried. That's what scripture tells us here. But God bearing Moses was actually, you know, it implies such a special relationship between God and this man. I mean only family members bury their own, right? And most scholars do argue that for a man who had such a close relationship with God who mediated between God and his people that if the people knew where Moses was buried, there would be tempted to venerate him, to idolize him, to worship him. I mean it makes perfect sense. Remember how God's people were so rebellious and they were you know tempted to idolatry and to worship other gods. I can only imagine if they knew where his bones were buried, they would want to go there and worship him. We may never know the reasons why God chose to bury Moses. But we know Moses greatness and closeness to God that he's no less than a servant of God. That's what he's described. Not his greatness and all these things that he did, that are the servants of God. So much, so much in our course has been written on leadership, right? We read all the time about leadership and what good leadership it looks like. And yes, we can learn from the world what good leadership looks like, effective leadership. But I believe that we need to be aware that we don't lose important biblical concept on leadership. And it is this. It's not just here in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament as Jesus brings it up. It's called servant, leadership. That's what we're called to be. And so instead of being preoccupied with authoritarian and effective manager and successful director models of this world, we are called to be preoccupied with God's will rather than our rights with God's pleasure than our position in his glory rather than our success. That's what it means to be servants of the living God. And as God's servants, we are never denied his blessings. You know when God calls us to be a servant, to serve him to work for him. Sometimes we were tempted to think the way inadequate and disqualified. I remember in seminary when I was asked if I wanted to be a person that said absolutely not. And someone asked me why and I said, well, because I feel inadequate and unqualified, by the way, I feel the same way today. But when God calls us to serve him for a task or in a task, we may feel inadequate and unqualified, but we must trust him because he is actually the one who provides all the necessary resources we need in order to serve him. Remember Moses' seditation and God called him, he didn't want to go and rescue his people in Egypt. He said, God, I can't even speak. Notice Moses wasn't weak as well. We're told in verses 7, Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes was undimmed and his vigor unabated. He may have been old, but he still was strong. He could, he had the strength to go and enter Canaan, but that was not God's plan. See God will equip us with the physical and spiritual and the material resources we need to serve him. What was Moses' secret to his servant hood and faithfulness? I believe it was what we're told here of his relationship with God. He was his daily communion with God. It was his daily face-to-face communion with God, which enabled Moses to maintain his spiritual integrity, but it also kept him from falling into great sin of apostasy and idolatry as the people that he was leading were always rebellious in doing. Yes, for all his achievements and greatness, he was still a sinner that was saved by grace. Moses was not perfect and the Bible doesn't conceal his sin. We're told here that Moses is not going to enter the land because of his sin, and that's good news for us. It's actually what inspires us, right? That the story, the story of Moses is honest and real because if it wasn't, it would actually dump us. It would leave the impression that Moses was this impeccable and completely out of this world kind of a person, but here we see the enormity of his own sin as well as integrity of his faith. But what exactly did Moses do that God would say he was not going to enter the land? Was it his anger? When Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it to provide water for the people? Was it his impatience striking the rock twice instead of just once? Was it his disobedience? Because he knew that what God demanded of him but chose to do otherwise? Was it his arrogance? Rushwords that came out of his mouth when he said, must we bring water out of this rock or was it his irreverence? The rock instance was an opportunity for him for Moses to show that people his utmost reverence for God and yet Moses lost it. He completely lost it and displeased God and misled his people. I don't know. We do not know. We're not really told and we may never really know. But what's important for us? What's important for us is knowing why Moses is not knowing why Moses is not enter Canaan, but learning that we must be careful how we live. That's the message. That's the point for us. The fact that we can do the right thing the wrong way and displeased God. The fact that we can do the right thing in the wrong manner and therefore displeased God. The other thing I think we need to hear from this verse is this, that we must never think that we stand last we fall. Again the truth is we are utterly dependent on the mercy of God right through to the very closing moments of our dying life. We must never play with sin. See Moses says here being described with this great prophet in Israel who knew the Lord face to face. I mean can you imagine how beautiful that is to know and to be known by the Lord face to face but you notice in the end it's not his knowledge of God that is being emphasized here but it's actually the fact that God knew him. What awesome how awesome is that that God knew him that God sent him out and appointed him to Israel that their relationship was one of intimacy a very close relationship and I don't know to know Moses they saw the evidence of his highest communion with God that Moses was a man that was just saturated with the knowledge of wanting to know God and be known by him and that the focus is not merely on Moses' character but it was exemplary but the focus is actually on what he was able to achieve by God's strength. I just wondered I think about my own life what will Jesus say at the end of it all? Will it be well done my good and faithful servants? We're therefore reminded that though we may not live by bread alone our goal is servants of God is to come before him and stretch out our empty hands if we have to be fed for everything we do for the Lord we must be completely reliant upon him we must be completely submissive to his will in prayer if we're going to succeed it's also encouraging to me to know that God's work is bigger than me it's bigger than all of us so what God is trying to accomplish through his servants is bigger than we could ever imagine I mean look here we're told in verse 9 Joshua is actually going to come and replace Moses that we are in we're not indispensable or irreplaceable that God always has a plan and so as a servant we must accept all of his plans for us even if he says we're going to be replaced living for God means having such a servant's heart knowing at the end of the day it's not simply what we have done but it's more important to know that it is what God is doing in and through us above all it is that God has known out that we've experienced his mercy and his grace in life that's what's important Moses may have been the greatest leader in Israel he may have served as a prophet and ruler in judge and priest of all of God's people but the greatest of all servants the greatest of all prophet priest and king was the son of God Jesus Christ whom actually Moses was able to have a conversation if you record Jesus' transfiguration he's the one who was supposed to look up to he's the one who gives us assurance in this life and in the life to come that all is well that all will be well he's the one we look up to in faith he's the one we serve that we are his servants the good news is as we look to Jesus we know that he's preparing us for the life to come so that when our time here on earth is done we will have peace as we go home to be with our Lord I will remind of this week just the gravity of coming to terms with preparing ourselves for what's to come for for death for us to be home because on Tuesday morning I woke up to the sad news that I had lost a very dear friend of mine someone I have known since I was 19 years old it was one of the saddest moments of my life see my friend there was a single young woman who desired to be married and to have kids one day she loved children her desire was to one day have children of our own but my friend died at a young age never been married and no children she may have desire to experience all of those blessings but God had other plans for her she did not see the fulfillment of those desires why I have no idea it breaks my heart but God knew better what I do know for sure is my friend is now with Jesus beholding his face she is home with Jesus but a death really reminded me to think about what it means to live for God and what it means to to serve God on this side of heaven I was reminded of the gravity of this life that we have and how I must live for God now until my time comes because my time also will come and so I pray that God would grant us strength strength for us to live by faith and not by sight to faithfully serve him as we wait on him to take us home the words of the great theologian C.S. Lewis stuck to my heart as I thought about this C.S. Lewis you see captures the vision of home in his great children's book in the Chronicles of Nanya and you read in the last battle with the unicorn enters the true Nanya this is how he summed it up he says I have come home at last this is my real country I belong here this is the land I've been looking for all my life though I knew it I do not know it till now this is the place we were meant to be I hope as God prepares us for this home the place that we were meant to be that we will see with the eyes of faith and live to serve him faithfully all the days of our life would you pray with me Lord Jesus thank you that you are at work preparing us for the day for the time that we will meet with you face to face and our prayer is that you will say to us well done my good and faithful servants Lord we long for that day we long to be home to be home with you would you be with us now as we wait as we long for that day come Lord Jesus come quickly we pray in Jesus name amen