Great Texts of the Bible: One Like Moses | Deuteronomy 18:15 | Pastor William Hixson

And so he got to go then.

But in this particular section, this is

a goodbye sermon.

It's Moses telling the nation goodbye.

I'm not going to be here anymore.

To lead you. Joshua will be. I won't be.

You're going over the river. I'm going

to be here.

And so that's where we are in the book

of Deuteronomy.

And we're going to pick it up in verse

15 now because this is our section.

The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a

prophet

from the midst of thee

of thy brethren like unto me.

You won't have me anymore,

but you're going to have prophet like

unto me

of thy brethren,

like unto me. Unto him you shall

hearken. The word hearken means hear,

but it also means obey. The same Hebrew

word that's translated here is

translated obey because if you're really

hearing

obey

according to all that you desire of the

Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the

assembly saying let me not hear again

the voice of the Lord my God neither let

me see this great fire anymore that I

die not. That's he's going clear back to

the Ten Commandments when they were

given. He's going clear back to when the

fire was coming off the mountain and he

and the voice of God was sounding. Two

million people heard God speak.

They said, "We can't take it. It's too

intense.

We can't do it anymore. You go, you go

up. Let God talk to you and then you

come back and talk to us. We need a

mediator.

[clears throat]

And so it says in verse 16, "According

to all that you desire of the Lord your

God in Horeb, the day of the assembly,

saying, let me not hear again the voice

of the Lord my God, neither let me see

this great fire anymore that I die not."

That's Exodus chapter 20 and so 19 and

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

20. The Lord said to me, "They have well

spoken that which they've spoken. I'll

raise them up a prophet from among their

brethren like unto thee and will put my

words in his mouth.

And he shall speak to them all that I

command them. This is a prophecy for the

future.

There's going to be another Moses.

not going to be Moses reincarnated,

but it's going to be a Mosesike person

who's going to be over the whole nation.

And it will come to pass that whoever

will not hearken to my words, which he

shall speak in my name, I will require

it of him.

There's more in the next verses, but I'm

going to stop there for now. Thank you,

Father, for this section of scripture.

Help us to hear this section. It's so

important.

And may the Lord accomplish his purposes

in each of our lives today.

Amen.

This is not only just our New Year's

message, it's the fifth message in a

series

uh that we have been preaching. taking

key verses from different passages of

the Bible, different books of the Bible,

taking ch a verse out of each book. Now,

we're not necessarily

looking at that verse as the key to that

book. Sometimes it will be, but it we're

looking at it as a verse that will help

us understand the rest of the Bible.

That's that's the point. We're picking

out verses. This is the best verse I we

can find out of a lot of good verses

that will help us understand other

things in the Bible.

So we will read through the 34 chapters

of Deuteronomy.

This is the last message of Moses to the

Jewish nation before they cross the

Jordan in river into the promised land.

They're in Moab. They're on the east

side of the Jordan. They're going to go

across the uh river into the promised

land.

Now, when we read about that, it reminds

us of another crossing that happened 40

years before this,

the crossing of the Red Sea.

Remember that miracle?

In the crossing of the Red Sea, two

million Jews went through the Red Sea

and the Egyptians trying to do it

drowned.

waters parted and then they close.

Now, what's going on here is they're

going to cross, they've already crossed

the Red Sea. They're going to cross

the Jordan River,

which is a bigger miracle, crossing a

Red Sea or crossing the Jordan River.

Well, obviously most rivers are smaller

than a sea.

And so crossing the Red Sea was

extremely significant because when they

crossed the Red Sea, they had escaped

400 years of slavery.

Uh and the Egyptians can't bother them

anymore. They got they tried to do it

and they drowned.

So the door was shut getting him back to

Egypt when the water came back. Now now,

so they've been in the desert 40 years.

Now they're crossing the Jordan River.

And that is significant because when

they get to the other side of that

river, they're in the promised land.

Taking 40 years to get them there.

But

you know, if you travel with children,

it takes longer to go anywhere, right?

Got to stop here, you got to do that,

you got to stop there, you got to do

that. Well, it took them longer. They

they could have got there in a month,

but it took 40 years. It was discipline

because of their waverness.

But now is the time.

And Joshua is going to be the person,

God's already mentioned that, to take

him over, not Moses. Joshua was Moses

assistant.

He was the assistant pastor and Moses

was the pastor of the whole nation. You

can put it that

both crossings were supernaturally

accomplished.

The water parted at the Red Sea

and it also parted

at the Jordan River.

This is very interesting to me.

There's a parallel going on.

Moses's credibility grew a lot as soon

as that water parted and then came back.

Pretty obvious that Moses was God's man.

And now the Jordan River is a smaller

miracle but of the same kind.

The waters are going to part. They're

going to go across. And when they go

across, they're going to be fighting on

the other side. They the they're going

there's a war on. It's going to be an

invasion of the promised land and God's

going to be with them and Joshua is

going to lead them.

So that's the picture

in Joshua 3:7. The Lord said to Joshua,

Joshua 3:7

"Today I will begin to exalt you in the

eyes of all Israel so they may know that

I'm with you as I was with Moses."

That's the point of this miracle.

The lesser miracle of going across the

the Jordan River is to say, "Look, you

nobody can part the Red Sea or the

Jordan River. I only God can do that."

So, just as I did miracles through

Moses, I'm going to do miracles through

Joshua because Moses was my man, but

he's dying. Joshua is taken over. He is

authenticated.

It was a big deal in the United States

when George Washington crossed the

Delaware in the winter.

Have you ever read about that?

It's one of the most stunning

providential events in American history.

Uh

George Washington's men were starving

and British thought they had Americans

beat.

And George Washington attacked him on

Christmas, but he had to go across the

river. Now, God didn't park the Delaware

River.

They had to go across boats,

get their weapons across Canada. An

incredible though providential event.

The British were totally surprised and

it was the difference between winning

the revolution and losing it. A dramatic

moment in American history.

Uh and but this is this is something on

a different level even though as

important as that one was.

Everybody heard about this.

If you go back to Rahab the harlot,

everybody knows.

She grew up hearing about

all the cities of Canaan heard about the

crossing of the Red Sea.

It is a miracle that happened 40 years

before.

Everybody knew about it in Palestine.

That's what we call. That's what some

people call

But everybody knew about it. You can see

that in the book of Joshua very clearly.

So these are amazing things that are

about going to happen. And basically God

saying

just as I was with Moses, I'm going to

be with you. So it was a transfer of

authority that God documented.

Now, what we have here is Moses's swan

song.

Now, that's a strange expression. Swan

song. Have you ever heard that person's

last message, last sermon,

last goodbye is their swan song? Because

there was a Greek mythology that swans

who never are usually silent sing before

they die.

It was a Greek, it's a Greek mythology.

So that's where the term

swan song

comes from. This is Moses's swan song

sermon.

This is it.

His last words.

I remember when I was at Columbia City

Bible Church. We started a church when I

was in seminary. I remember my last

sermon there.

I remember my last sermon at Do Bible

Church where I was assistant pastor and

I was leaving that church to come here.

I was crying, they were crying,

could hardly get through it for the

tears. I knew this is it. I 300 people

there, you know, I'm not going to see

these people much anymore. And I've

never been back.

Providence has kept us apart.

A lot of those people are in glory.

We not We never know when we're

preaching our last message, right?

No, we don't know that. Did Dave Dupler

know it was going to be his last

message?

We didn't know it. He didn't know it.

How about Mike Bro? Did he Did he know

it was going to be his last message? He

didn't know it. Did Dave Coffin think it

was going to be his last time at church?

his last time at church, you know. Well,

he kind of had knew something was

coming, but not yet.

But, you know, we don't know. Moses knew

this is it.

No question. This is it.

And so, his whole heart is in this,

this farewell message,

his final public address to the nation.

And it therefore this this section this

whole book of Deuteronomy is that

34 chapters a swan song of the first

mediatorial

leader or ruler of the Old Testament

theocratic kingdom.

That's what Moses was. He was the first

mediatorial leader of the Old Testament

theocracy.

The church is not a theocracy,

although some have tried to make it one.

But the Old Testament had a theocracy

and it had a ruler that ruled for God

and was a go-between between God and

men. That was the mediator. And Moses,

Moses was the first mediator

of uh first leader of the he he ruled

for God under God.

And he wrote the first five books of the

Bible.

He wrote did the Genesis. He was Moses

was the editor and compiler of the Ala

do uh sections of the book of Genesis

translated in English. These are the

generations of

that book was was all the material was

all there. Moses put it together as

editor. But Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,

and Deuteronomy were all his work.

He wrote all of it.

But this is the last part.

This is the sermon part.

The last sermon.

Deuteronomy is just a bunch of sermons,

prophetic sermons. that you know it's

very much like Exodus in some ways that

we view some of that material. You got

an account of the ten commandments in

Exodus 19 and 20. You got a account of

the ten commandments in Deuteronomy 5,

but it's a little different

not only in the case laws that are added

but it's it's more sermonic

and this is the last of the last.

Do you know the last words of George

Whitfield?

I've read his biography.

You know the last words of John Owen,

the great British theologian.

Treasures.

And this is a treasure. And if you read

it like the last words of Moses, and

feel the heartbeat of it, God working

through him on that occasion.

I believe God brought him to this place

so he could preach this sermon with all

his heart and soul. So it all that all

that um all the feelings of Moses come

into this. It's God's word given to him

through him. But it's here now Matt Post

if he reviewed the book of Deuteronomy.

It's on his website and that's we got

some copies of that. He has a section on

key verses

and Linda checked that out and when when

he I saw I looked at this real briefly

and I said, "Oh, there's about seven key

verses here he gives or something like

that. I wonder if the one I picked is in

there."

Well, let's see.

Deuteronomy 6:4 and 5. I almost picked

Deuteronomy 6:4

this one for this one.

She is Adonaiu Adonaihan. Here, O

Israel, the Lord our God is one.

That's a big verse.

And you'll love the Lord your God with

all your heart, with all your soul, and

all your strength.

That's called the Jewish Shema. She is

here. Deuteronomy 7:78. The Lord did not

set his love on you nor choose you

because you were more in number than

other people. for you were the least of

all peoples. But because the Lord loves

you and because he would keep the oath

he swore to your fathers, the Lord has

brought you out with a mighty hand,

redeemed you from the house of bondage,

from the hand of Pharaoh the king. Great

verse on election. Great verse on

salvation,

God. And same for you and me. He didn't

choose us because we were so great.

He didn't look down and say, "I think

I'm going to save Bill Hixon because

Bill Hixon's a good guy.

I'm going to reveal Jesus to him because

Bill Hixon deserves that.

No,

he he's very clear. I didn't choose you

as a nation because you're better than

other people.

It's just because I loved you.

It's a tremendous verse and a lot of

preaching in that. Deuteronomy 8:3. He

Deuteronomy 8:3

humbled you and allowed you to hunger

and fed you with mana which you did not

know nor your fathers know that he might

make you know that man shall not live by

bread alone but by every word word that

proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Oh, that's Deuteronomy 8:3. That's Jesus

Deuteronomy 8:3

used that when the devil was trying to

tempt him.

Man shall not live by bread alone.

So that so far as I look down through

Matt's picks of the great key verses,

that's pretty good. Then he picked

another one. Deuteronomy 10:16.

Deuteronomy 10:16

Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of

your heart and be stiff neck no longer.

What's that mean?

That physical circumcision isn't the

main circumcision. There is a work of

God in the heart that needs to be done,

not just on the body. And he shows

another one that's similar in 30:6. But

then 10:16 or excuse me 18:15 he picked

our verse.

See I knew Matt Poster was a good Bible

teacher.

18:15 the Lord your God will raise up

for you a prophet like me from your

midst from your brethren. Him shall you

hear?

And then he picked Deuteronomy 28 which

is also very important.

So totally agree with Pat faster math

selection.

I would like to add another one just

while we're doing this. Slip back to

chapter 17 of Deuteronomy in verse 14.

I would add this one. It's the only one

I would really add as we think through

the more important key verses. Matthew

Matthew 17:14

17:14.

When you're come unto the land which the

Lord your God gives thee and possess it,

and shall dwell therein, thou shalt say,

I will set a king over me like all the

nations that are about me.

Thou shalt, here's the qual. Here's what

they're supposed to do. This is the kind

of king they're supposed to have. This

is the king's responsibility.

Thou shalt surely set him king over thee

whom the Lord your God shall choose. God

chooses. This is You don't elect him.

He's chosen a God. One from among your

brothers shall you set king over thee.

You may not set a foreigner over thee

who's not your brother.

that he shall not multiply horses to

himself, nor cause the people to return

to Egypt, to the end that he should

multiply horses. For as much as the Lord

has said to you, you'll henceforth

return no more that way. No big military

buildup

and trust in your military. Got more

horses and chariots than other people.

Neither shall he multiply wives to

himself. Solomon should have read that

one, shouldn't he?

He did the very thing God said don't do

that his heart turned not away. Neither

shall he greatly multiply to himself

silver and gold. Is it wrong to be rich?

No. But it's wrong to trust in riches.

And you can't trust them if you don't

have them.

And so if the king is so occupied with

multiplying silver and gold and horses

and wives, he's not going to be having

his mind and his time where it needs to

be. Well, where's it supposed to be?

Every other king multiplies war machines

and gold and wives. Everybody else was

doing that. God says, "That's not for

you. This is different.

You got something more important.

Watch what the more important one.

Then it shall be when he sits on the

throne of his kingdom, he shall write

him a copy of this law in a book out of

which is before the priest the Levites,

it shall be with him, and he shall read

therein all the days of his life.

Jewish kings needed to be literate.

They needed to be able to read the Bible

for themselves,

that he may learn to fear the Lord his

God, and to keep all the words of this

law and these statutes, to do them, that

his heart be not lifted up above his

brethren, that he turn not aside from

the commandment, to the right hand, or

to the left, to the end, that he may

prolong his days in his kingdom, he and

his children in the midst of Israel.

Boy, that's that's such a important

verse.

So, that's the one I would add to Matt's

list.

I think the rest of them I would also

amen.

Now, Moses was the first mediatorial

ruler of the Old Testament theocracy.

Joseph, Joseph was the second. Who came

after Joseph? Joseph Jr.? No.

No.

judges.

Remember that there was no king in

Israel. Everybody did what was right in

their own eyes, but the Lord raised up

judges. And the judges were from

different tribes.

And the book of Judges is about that.

But the book of Judges and the book of

Ruth actually go together. Many Bible

scholars believe Ruth should be tacked

on to the end of Judges. It was

originally part of it. born again in

that argument.

But if it is, whether it is or not, it's

very interesting. At the beginning,

there's no king in Israel. Everybody's

doing right in their own eyes. And what

does the book of Ruth do? It has a

marriage of Rahab to Boaz that produces

the king, King David.

So, we're back to David and his family

and all of that that's going on.

So, all these things are fascinating as

you move through this particular

section. Moses is the first, Joshua is

the second, then come the judges, then

come the kings, and the kings ultimately

go into David's line right up to Jesus

Christ in the New Testament.

And it's very clear in our section back

in Deuteronomy uh 17 uh excuse me uh in

our particular section

in Deuteronomy 18.

God's going to raise up a prophet. This

leader will be a prophet. Not just a

king.

He'll be a prophet king. David was that.

Not all the kings had to keep the

prophecy.

He'll be a prophet, priest, king. In the

Old Testament, you you you had to be

born a priest and you had to be born a

king. You had to have the right

genealogy. Nobody never mixed. They

separated church and state that way.

Jesus is a priest of the order of

Melkisedc.

He is the priest king. He's the greater

than Moses.

Now,

as we move through this section in verse

14, it says,

"For the nations whom you shall

Deuteronomy 18:14 shall possess, hearken

Deuteronomy 18:14

unto observers of times and divers, but

for you, the Lord thy God has not

permitted you to do so." That's not You

don't follow their religion. You don't

adopt that because you don't even

intermar with them. So, they're wise to

turn your hearts to other gods. you do

your own thing and focus on me and I'm

going to raise up a prophet like unto

Moses and that'll be what's interesting

is initially this is Joshua.

He's the first leader like unto Moses

and he is authenticated by the parting

of the Jordan River. By the way, I've

been to the Jordan River. It's reminds

me of the river right there by Whites

Mill.

It's not much bigger than that.

Now, a lot of And you could just walk

across, right?

I mean, I think I if I wanted to, I

don't could walk across that river

probably now. Don't don't want to do it

in the winter. Might do it in the

summer. I don't even want to do it in

the summer.

But you ever seen that river at flood

stage?

Wouldn't want to be in there then?

Not much of a river.

I wouldn't want to be trying to walk

across it at flood state.

And that is when God parted the water in

Jordan flood state.

Very interest. The two spies got across.

I don't know how they got across, but

they got across and back. But who wants

to take women and children and supplies?

How you going to get all that stuff? So

that job wasn't doing miracles just to

show off. It was something needed. And

once they crossed that river,

everybody in the promised land that was

an enemy of God knew we are in big

trouble. It's the the same God that

brought them out of Egypt with miracles

has now brought them into our country.

We're on our back foot now.

So fascinating.

Now, one more thing I want to say before

I get into this a little more.

Deuteronomy starts out with God telling

the Jews, "You don't get the land of

Edom." That's Esau's

You don't get Moab. That's That's Don't

Don't get Moab. You don't get the

Ammonite. I gave them that land.

You don't attack them.

You don't bother them. I gave them that.

I'm giving you this. And this is where

you go.

Now, don't tell me the Jews have no

right to the land of Israel.

I know they're unbelievers, most of

them. But God, what do you think the

were? They were unbelievers,

but God wouldn't let Israel touch their

land. The Moabites were unbelievers.

They all those people were idolattors,

but they came from people God made

promises to.

And so God is sovereign in his

distribution of land.

And that distribution comes from

physical descent, not spiritual descent.

The right to the land is physical

descent from Abraham

and Isaac and Jacob.

The enjoyment of land is spiritual.

You mess up, you worship other gods,

you're going to I'm going to take you

off. You're evicted.

It's still your land, but you're gone.

I hope all of us who are

premillennialist understand this. There

was a condition in these covenants.

And I'm not sure all our uh uh reformed

brethren understand that. Turn to Acts

17. Acts 17.

Yes, God will take him off the land to

show his displeasure. He's done that

several times.

But that land is still theirs.

And in the future, when they repent,

they'll get it back. Acts 17:24.

Acts 17:24

This is the Apostle Paul's sermon in

Athens, Greece

[clears throat]

on Mars Hill.

Acts 17

24.

God who made the world and all things in

it, seeing that he's Lord of heaven and

earth, dwells not in temples made with

hands, neither is worship with men's

hands as though he needed anything,

seeing he gives to all life and breath

and all things. Now watch first, watch

this verse. and made of one blood all

nations of men to dwell on all the face

of the earth. And at deterren the times

before appointed and the underlying

the bounds

of their habitation.

God determined that I would be born in

Ohio.

The Hixons came to America

in the 1700s,

the early 17.

I wasn't involved in that decision.

Nobody asked me.

My ancestors made a choice. They live

right on the border of Wales and

England, about two hours south of

Liverpool.

decided don't know how why they decided

but they did they came to Virginia

they came to Ohio

got the genealogies and the dates

God decided that he brought about all

the situations where my ancestors would

make decisions that would affect not

only them but their children

grandchildren great-grandchildren great

great grandchildren And that's the same

for you.

And it will be the same for our children

and our grandchildren.

God determines

the times before appointed and the

bounds of their habitation.

So I think I'm the fifth or sixth

generation southeast Ohio. No, southern

Ohio. They lived in the west part of

Ohio near Cincinnati and Wilmington. But

you know, I lived in Cincinnati. I guess

we're moving east now

that God determined the times before

appointed in the bounds of their

habitation that they should seek the

Lord if perhaps they might have to find

him and through though he's not far from

every one of him. So what a that's an

important significant verse.

It's biblical teaching and that's true

of the Jewish people.

Get over it.

Those that say God's done for Israel,

he's not done with them. God keeps his

promises. Even if men mess up.

Now, in Deuteronomy,

I counted these verses. I did. I gave

up. I got my Hebrew concordance out. I

started counting. Approximately 180

times the word land appears in

Deuteronomy. A little more than that.

Somewhere between 180 and 190.

The Hebrew word erys

or land.

Deuteronomy is big about the land and

they're crossing over to get into the

land.

And our section's a key verse at a key

time. at a key time of transition and a

string of leaders are going to follow.

So this is not just these people but God

says there's going to be a person like

unto Moses and he's going to have that

mediatoral leader authority and there's

going to be a repeat repetition of

fulfillment down through history a

series of leaders

from Joshua and the judges and the

Jewish kings

until you come to the one great

fulfillment of this prophecy.

Initial fulfillments

gradually leader after leader

but then the ultimate fulfillment

the Moseslike person

Jesus Christ.

Turn with me to John chapter

John 1 · chapter mention

1.

John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

Watch this with me if you would.

The Jewish people knew this prophecy.

They didn't understand exactly how it

would be fulfilled, but they knew it.

They knew it well.

They knew this prophecy the way we know

John 3:16.

John 3:16

It was deep.

And so in John 1 verse 21, and I'm I'm

John 1:21

saying that most Americans know John

John 3:16

3:16 even if they're not saved. You've

been John 3:16 to death.

John 3:16

They don't even contemplate. They just

take it for granted.

And that's what I mean about all the

Jews knowing this. John chapter 1 verse

John 1:21

21, John the Baptist is getting

interrogated by the leaders and they ask

him, "What then? Are you Elijah?"

He said, "I'm not. Are you that prophet?

Are you that prophet?" John 21 John

John 1:21

1:21. And he answered, "No."

What do they mean by that prophet?

They're quoting Deuteronomy.

They knew it.

Go over to Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 3

verse 32.

Now they asked John, "Are you that

prophet?" And he said, "No.

Who are you? I'm the voice. He cries in

the wilderness. I'm not the one in

Deuteronomy. I'm the one in Isaiah.

That's who I am.

So he answered him. They didn't like

that answer. But in a Jack Acts chapter

Acts 3:22

3 verse 22.

This is Peter's sermon

after the healing of the crippled man.

Acts 3:22. For Moses truly said to the

Acts 3:22

fathers, "A prophet shall the Lord your

God raise up unto you of your brethren

like unto me. Him shall you hear in all

things whatever he shall say to you. And

it'll come to pass that every soul who

will not hear that prophet shall be

destroyed from among the people."

Now, who does he think that is?

Peter knows who it is. It's Jesus.

Yeah. And all the prophets from Samuel

and those who followed as many as spoken

likewise told these things. You're the

sons of the prophets and of the covenant

which God made with our fathers, saying

to Abraham, "And in your seed all

kindred of the earth will be blessed

unto you first. God having raised up his

son Jesus sent him to bless you in

turning away every one of you from his

iniquities."

The apostles understood this prophecy.

Jesus taught it to them.

and they got it. Turn over to chapter 7

of Acts and verse

37.

This is this is Stephen preaching the

deacon

speaking

of Moses. He said in verse 37,

he's going through Jewish history. He's

given them everything they agree on

before he gets to where they disagree.

That's a good way to witness. Did you

know that? Try to find common ground

with people.

You're walking with a Roman Catholic.

Remind them of the things Catholics and

us agree on. The creeds and the deity of

Christ and the Trinity and inspiration

of the Bible.

Now, there's some details we don't agree

on on that. We know that, but at least

they know you're you got some kind of

agreement. And that's exactly what

Stephen did. And that's what he was

doing. And in verse 37, this is that

Moses he'd been talking about Moses who

said to the children of Israel, "A

prophet shall the Lord your God raise up

to you of your brethren like me. Him

shall you hear?"

This is he that was with the church in

the wilderness, with the angel who spoke

to him in Mount Si, and with our fathers

who received the living oracles given to

us, whom our fathers would not obey, but

thrust him from them, and in their

hearts turn away to Egypt. But Stephen

knew this. He knew what Moses said, and

he's hinting at it before he gets to the

conclusion. When he finally gets to the

conclusion, they start throwing rocks.

Sermon's over.

But he he got his message across anyhow.

So Moses

is talking about something after him

and it comes into the New Testament over

and over again. When Jesus fed the

5,000, somebody said, "It's is this that

prophet

supposed to come into the world?" John

John 6:40

6:40.

The New Testament is full of references

to our particular section.

To such a prophet,

one writer said, "To such a prophet,

Israel must listen."

And so, not to their divers or anybody

else, to him. He's so Moses is

legitimizing Joshua. He's legitimizing

the judges. He's legit legitimizing the

Old Testament kings. He's certainly

legitimizing the Messiah.

Now, when we think about this,

this is this is about Jesus.

Remember Jesus said, "Moses wrote of

me."

And he was right.

Because Jesus is the ultimate

one to follow Moses.

The Bible is all one story. And if we

know those beginning stories, it helps

us understand the later. Jesus is the

ultimate mediatorial

ruler of the mediatorial kingdom.

And there's one mediator between God and

man, Christ Jesus.

Now, Moses was superior to all the

others except Jesus. Deuteronomy 34:10.

Deuteronomy 34:10

There was nobody like him

until Jesus.

And God said, "I'll put my words in his

mouth." And God did do that. He did it

for Joshua. He did it as he did for

Moses. And so forth and so on.

One Scottish preacher said, he was

writing in 1856, "Be satisfied with the

Bible. You have not exhausted it. It has

stories and treasures of thought and

hopes and joys that you have yet not

touched."

Now, let's apply it. We'll be done.

Application number one. You and I are

now in the era of fulfillment.

Jesus is the ultimate prophet,

priest and king. Moses wrote of him.

Whole Bible's about him. Moses

prefigured him. And just as people were

to hear Moses, the New Testament says

hear him. That's to hear Jesus. We

submit to him. We obey him. He is our

king. He's our ruler.

He's king of kings and lord of lords.

And what does it mean to submit to him?

It means to submit to his word in the

Bible. To submit about what is written

about him, to submit about what he says,

to immerse ourselves in holy scripture

as he did. Joshua was the Moses

successor and God told him to meditate

day and night in the word. Oh, you're

going to fight. You're going to be a

fighter, Joshua. But you got a big job.

You got to be soaked in the scriptures.

Joshua chapter one.

We are to hear him.

There is a

1950s song. I remember it when I was a

kid in junior high. It was a rock song

before their

crazy rock stuff. I only have eyes for

you.

Some of you remember that one.

How about this one about Jesus? I only

have ears

for you.

I'm not going to listen to anybody else.

What I care is about what you say.

Don't make a Bible out of any other book

or any other person.

Only have I ears for you. Turn to John

John 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 and verse 46.

We are in the era of fulfillment.

John 5:46,

John 5:46

Jesus said this.

There was a there's a disparity between

what they said they believed and what

they did believe.

And I'm going to go back to verse 44.

Jesus said, "How can you believe who

receive honor one from another and seek

not the honor that comes from God only?

Do not think I'll accuse you to father

to the father. There is one that accuses

you, even Moses whom you trust."

For had you believed Moses, if you

really trusted him, if you really

believed him, you would have believed

me.

For he wrote of me.

But if you believe not his writings, how

shall you believe my words.

How important it is to be soaked in the

Old Testament. Only when we're saturated

with Old Testament teaching can we

really open up the New Testament and see

the progression and see the hand of God

in the glove of history.

Then we will believe in the verbal

inspiration of the Bible.

Then we'll be like the king that

meditates in it day or night. This book

I can't I this is my main job in life is

to learn this book. We got other stuff

to do. Sometimes the kings had to fight.

Sometimes they had the rules. Sometimes

they had decisions to make. But I'm

going to have my mind saturated in holy

scripture and feed on that book.

It's a scary thing

to superficially and intellectually know

things but not really know them.

In John chapter 6, there were people

John 6 · chapter mention

that thought they knew the Bible and

they when Jesus fed him, they thought,

"Oh, this is the prophet that comes into

the world." They knew it in a

intellectual loose way. Moses gave us

mana and he just fed 5,000 of us. Hey,

this got to be the Moses guy.

But when Jesus opened his mouth and

began to say, "I'm the bread that comes

out of the heaven," they turned away and

said, "This is the worst sermon we ever

heard. Who do you think he is?"

They should have pondered our text

a lot longer

than they did.

They had a superficial, incomplete

knowledge of the very Messiah they

claimed to believe. They thought they

knew, but they didn't know.

They were woefully incomplete.

Do not be satisfied

with

kindergarten knowledge of the Bible.

I remember when I was a teenager, I

thought I knew the Bible.

I thought, you know why? Because I knew

more Bible than other people did. I went

to church every Sunday, went Sunday

school since I was a kid. I had a

kindergarten knowledge of the Bible. I

thought I had, you know, I thought I was

way more farther along. I knew the Bible

stories. I knew John 3:16.

John 3:16

I knew about the rapture of the church.

I knew that stuff. I thought, I've got

it covered. My friends don't know any of

this. I even know more than some of my

uh my Roman Catholic friends. Well, that

wasn't much. So, I thought I was a Bible

scholar. I'd never read the Bible

through. Never. All the way through high

school. Never professing Christian.

Never.

I had family members that did, but

somehow it didn't catch on with me.

I was a senior in college at OU before I

first started studying the Bible.

Seriously, I bought a paperback Bible at

uh the bookstore here in Athens and took

it home and underlined everything and

went from Genesis to Revelation. My

first time through the Bible.

And then I started again. And then then

I was going I was sitting under good

Bible teaching and that began it I

remember pastor Oswall said something to

us long ago. He said if you just come to

my class you'll grow this much. He said

if you just read the Bible and don't

come to my class you'll grow this much.

But if you do both you'll grow like

that.

Never forgot that.

So what you read in private and what you

hear in public is supposed to reinforce

itself. Oh, now I know what that means.

I didn't understand it.

You're connecting dots. You're

connecting things. And when we see the

our prophecy being quoted later and when

we connect all that, the Bible becomes a

book that's a lie.

We see the hand of God in the glove of

history. We know there's a sweep to it

that we

begin to understand. It's a scary thing

to be superficially intellectually

un think we know the Bible when we

don't.

Just because we know more than others

people do, it doesn't mean we know

enough.

And we in our best we know in part and

we prophesy in part. We all we're ever

going to get is a part understanding,

but that part ought to get bigger as we

move forward.

Um, now our Lord Jesus never spoke of

other gods. He was pointing people to

the true God

and the Jewish prophecies came to pass

in him.

He didn't speak presumptuously. He spoke

authoritative

and he spoke of the things in prophets

in the psalms uh and concerning himself.

So that's all good.

Um,

you remember the phrase when we take the

Lord's supper with the cup, drink ye all

of it.

Here's a phrase for Bible study. Eat you

all. [snorts]

Don't be like a picky kid. I'm not

eating my peas.

I don't like green beans.

Eat you all of it.

Get all 66 books. Have a balanced diet.

Eat you all of them.

I've read other religious books as a

professional necessity. Some of them are

absolutely so boring you just can hardly

get through it.

And the more you read it, the less valid

it becomes.

say, "Wow, I can't believe anybody

believes this."

But when it comes to holy scripture,

it's a whole different thing. And you're

on a whole different level when you

prayerfully open the scriptures and ask

God to teach you

the written words about the living word.

It's very important for us to grasp all

of it as we can.

Um,

do you remember when Jesus was teaching

somebody exclaimed

when they asked the guards that were

going to arrest him, they came back

without arresting him, "Why didn't you

arrest him?

Why weren't you against him like we are?

No man ever spoke

like this man.

That's what they said.

his authority and his gravity and his uh

love and his mercy. It all came out

in such a way

they said that we're not arresting this

guy.

We're not

touching him.

And the Lord speaks to us in such a way

when we read this book, you just keep at

it. In the beginning, it's hard. He'll

say, "No book's written like this book.

There's no book like it."

And it's our same Lord Jesus that

predicted on the third day he'd rise

again.

Did not that come to pass?

He said it would. It did.

His words did not fall to the ground.

The resurrection is the ultimate sign,

his ultimate authority.

There's two kinds of error.

Going after false gods and failing to go

after the truth.

Didn't Jesus say close with this? My

sheep

hear my voice

and they follow.

Moses said of that prophet like unto

him, "Hear you,

my sheep. Hear my voice."

You've heard the voice of the Lord this

morning in this scripture. be spoken to

your heart.

That's what we're here for. And I

challenge you to read the book of

Deuteronomy. [clears throat] It's not an

easy book to read. It's an essential

book to read. And um

dudero means second. It's the second

giving of the law only. It's a sermonic

review of what God already said in the

book of Exodus and adding some things

about the occasion that they're on at

that time.

Father, we thank you for what we've

looked at uh as we've studied this

section.

Prophet like unto Moses.

The very first section of the Bible, the

penitent ends with this great thought.

prophet like unto Moses

is coming

and 1500 years later he came.

Father, we thank you for that.

We thank you that the Bible says no man

ever spoke like that man, not even

Moses.

It's impossible to believe in Moses and

not believe in Jesus. If we believe him,

we will believe in him.

And maybe some people here are still not

Christians or hear my voice. Well, have

you read the Old Testament?

Have you heard what God said through

Moses?

Have you heard what God has said to the

Old Testament? You say, "Well, it's

hard. It's big. It's a lot of work."

Yes, it is. But

there's a connection,

God's hand in the glove of history that

we miss.

We don't do that. Help us all to fall in

love with the Old Testament

because we love our Lord. We love to see

him in all the scriptures.

In his name we pray. Amen.