THROUGH THE BIBLE - Deuteron..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Hero 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 said, you can stand before the sons of Anak. Therefore, 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. 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 your uprightness of heart, Are you going to possess their land? But because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob.

No, 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. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord, your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb, you provoked the Lord to wrath and the Lord was angry with you that he may be ready or he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone and tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain 40 days and 40 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 the 40 days and 40 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 what I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal image. Furthermore, the Lord said to me, I have seen these people and behold, it is a stubborn people that me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from and I will make nation. mightier and greater than that. So I turned and came down from the mountain and the mountain was burning with fire.

And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked and behold, you had sinned against the Lord, your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before 40 days, 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all the sin that you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him.

And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time that I took the simple thing, the calf that you had made, burnt it with fire, crushing it, grinding it very small until it was fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain. at Terah, at Tabira also, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattava, you provoke the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, go up and take possession of the land that I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

So I lay prostate before the Lord for these 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I pray to the Lord, oh Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people or the wickedness of their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land, that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness. For they are your people, your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.

Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Our Lord said, the heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Let's come before our Lord in prayer. We thank you.

Thank you that you've given us this moment to come before you reverentially, recognizing, Lord, that we don't come simply out of routine, simply because this is what we do week on and week out. Now, we come, Lord, with a spirit of anticipation, the spirit of expectation. We come in faith when we gather in this way in obedience to your word. We come in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our Lord, and we trust as we open your word and we sit under its teaching that you have a special blessing for our hearts. Lord, we ask now that you would bless this time we have together.

We ask that your spirit will be among us, that your spirit will teach our hearts, will illuminate our souls, that we would see our great God all the more clearly, even in the moments that we have here in Deuteronomy chapter nine. Please, Lord, we ask that you would help us approach this time in faith Help us to fix our eyes upon our great triune God in Christ Jesus. Pray these things in his name. Amen. Amen.

You know, brothers and sisters, I would say that the greatest tragedy The absolute greatest tragedy that could befall a Christian would be this. That you would take your eyes off the Lord. That you would go through a season where your eyes are no longer fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, our God. Nothing worse I can imagine, nothing more devastating to the life of a believer than for his or her eyes to be removed off the Lord. Because what happens when you remove your eyes off the Lord, your eyes tend to go somewhere and the place they go is self.

You begin to look to self. You begin to see within yourself and think that you can do the things you're meant to do on your own. And it could come in a flurry of different ways. It could be that you achieved a bit of success at work and that may get to your head, maybe perhaps a promotion. It could be success in your studies.

It could be that the people around you have just now noticed your talents or your giftings or your aptitudes, and now they're starting to blow wind under your sails, and you like it. And you apprehend it. And rather than fixing your eyes upon God through Christ Jesus, you begin to think in your own mind at least, I think I can do it on my own. It's subtle, it'll come in incrementally, one tiny little bit at a time, and you may even profess with your mouth, continue to profess with your mouth, no, it's in the name of the Lord Jesus, I do what I do. But in the heart, rather than giving glory to the triune God, you may indeed be receiving that glory to self, thinking, I think, I think I'm the key to success.

I think it is by my strength, my ability. I think the ingredient to success is me. That's a big possibility. And that's a temptation that we all can fall into, beloved in the flesh. where we start to think the reason for my success, the reason for the blessing that comes my way is me.

And we are to remember that pride comes before destruction. Holy Spirit before the fall. Somehow we start to think that we are worthy. Somehow we start to think that we deserve what we're getting and even more. Call that a spirit of entitlement.

I deserve this, and I deserve that, we start to think in our hearts. Beloved, that is the pit that these Israelites before us over the last 40 years in the wilderness, the wilderness generation. That's the pit they fell into over and over again, and here we have Moses warning them. Here in chapter nine of the fifth book, the book of Deuteronomy, we have Moses warning these people against the spirit of entitlement that will come their way when their eyes are lifted or taken off Yahweh, the only true God, and set upon themselves in a way to somehow think of themselves more worthy than they are. Somehow think of themselves to be deserving of the things that are coming their way or the victories that may come and they will.

And so Moses will show these people and give them at least four examples of where this spirit of entitlement had been present in the hearts of them and their parents who are now scattered across the wilderness because of the judgment of God. There's four examples, even only in verses 22 through 24. The first is Tabera. Literally that word means burning. Now that event took place in Numbers chapter 11, where the people of God began to bitterly complain against God, against the circumstances that they were in, and God's anger burned, and he sent fire from heaven.

And beloved, that fire did not cease to burn until Moses interceded for the people. The second example we're given in only those three verses is Masa, and you might remember that. It's the occasion that took place in Exodus chapter 17. The people were complaining, they were mumbling and grumbling because they were thirsty, as if God hadn't already provided for every need. As if God was gonna bring them out of Egypt and let them die of thirst, they began to grumble.

And God, he ended up giving them water, of course, from the rock. The third example in those verses is Kibroth-Hakavah. And that event took place also in Numbers chapter 11. The people were grumbling. were thinking of themselves as worthy for more.

We deserve more. Now, this time wasn't the grumbling because they wanted water, but rather they wanted better food. You remember, it wasn't that long ago we were there in the book of Numbers. They wanted more, they wanted better food than the Lord was giving them. This manna that you've given us from heaven, we loathe this manna.

We can't even look upon the gift that you've given us. That food from heaven that you've given us to sustain our lives in this barren wilderness, it doesn't cut it anymore. We want the cucumbers. We want the melons. We want the onions.

We want the garlic that we experienced and enjoyed in Egypt. We will give up everything. We will give up the inheritance promised to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. We'll give that up if you just let us go back to Egypt and enjoy the garlic. The third example.

Well, actually, then the Lord actually listened to them. You might remember that occasion there in Numbers chapter 11, the Lord does end up giving him quail from heaven. I wanted meat. We're sick of this bread. Give us meat.

So God does give them meat. And when he does, they go out there like beasts and collect the meat as if they've never seen food before. They start to collect it as if they're never going to see meat again. And they start to eat and while the meat was still between their teeth, we're told. The judgment of God fell upon them.

Remember that. And then finally, Kadesh Barnea, how can we forget Kadesh Barnea? That name should be etched in our memories by now, because we've heard it so many times as we worked our way through the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch. You remember in Numbers chapter 13 and Numbers chapter 14? where the people were there at Kedesh Rebani and they sent the spies, spies came back and God said, you go, go into this land of Canaan.

I have given you this land. And the people rebelled against God. No, no, we're not going to go. Ten spies came with a bad report too, with a good report, Caleb and Joshua, but they wouldn't listen. Do we trust the Lord?

Yes, they're big. Yes, they're strong. Yes, they're fortified cities, but God, he's with us. We can take them, not because we're better than them or we're stronger, not because our army's better trained. We are not.

It's because our God is the God of the universe, and if he's promised, he will fulfill. But they don't listen. God is angered once again, and God wants to destroy these people once again, but Moses intercedes on their behalf, and God relents. Every one of these examples, beloved brothers and sisters, is an example when the people of God take their eyes off the only true God and place it upon self, as if we know better. Yes, we've heard what you have to say.

We know your promises, but we think we know better. And then the result is, as I said earlier, a spirit of entitlement. The good that God had planned for them no longer satisfies their soul, because it's not now God who knows best, but I. an elevated view of one's own wisdom, an elevated view of one's own ability, an elevated view of one's own strength, and you start to begin to believe that things would be better if only done my way. After all, The primary ingredient in the heart to success is me.

That's what they're thinking. We may give lip service like these people did. They never once denied to be the people of Yahweh. They never once denied to be the ancestors of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They still profess Yahweh to be their God.

But in their hearts, rather than trusting in him, they believe the lie. I can do it. They became the apple of their own eye, and even when it comes to the grace of God, they began to believe that they deserve all that they were being given. This is the warning Moses is giving to Israel, because only in a few weeks' time they will cross the Jordan, and they will dispossess the nations. They will go into fierce battle.

It's them. It's their men that are carrying those swords. It's their men that will confront the armies. It is their men that will be plunging the swords into the opposite opposition. It will be them.

They'll be engaged in that. And the Lord will give them victory. And Moses is warning this people, don't you for a moment think, When you look back and you see the victories that you have attained, don't think for a moment that it is by your own strength or by your own righteousness or by your own wisdom or by your own ability that the Lord God has given you this land. Remember, pride comes before destruction, haughty spirit before it falls. What a dangerous place to be when one begins to think that you, in and of yourself, are able to accomplish these things.

When one begins to think that you don't need God, you can do it on your own, you've heard what God's instruction is, but I can do it on my own, I think I know better, I think, thank you, Lord, for your advice, but I think I can do better. Beloved, pride will bring the greatest down. The greatest one of us will be destroyed if there is unchecked pride in our hearts. So what is the remedy? What is the remedy for such pride?

What is the remedy for one who is practicing within the heart a spirit of entitlement, a spirit that says, I am worthy, I deserve more? What is the remedy? The remedy is so simple, beloved, it is to know truth. It's to know truth. It's to stop believing the lie and simply come back to the truth from the one who is true.

So basically there are two elements. The first is to recognize who you are and what you really deserve. That's the first. And beloved, that truth is absolutely brutal to the flesh. It is brutal to the flesh.

Listen to Moses remind these people who they really are and what they really deserve. In verse five, he says, you're not, don't think you're possessing the land because you're righteous. In other words, you aren't righteous. God's not giving you land because of your righteousness. Get that notion out of your mind.

And then he goes on to say, don't think that it's because of your uprightness of heart. Don't think because you're so noble that God looks upon you and says, I can't but give you all this because you deserve it. It's not that either. Verse six, he calls them a stubborn people. He calls them several times, a stubborn people.

Your heart is so hard. You think you're right and you don't listen to anyone else. Stubborn. Verse eight. Don't think that you're the apple of God's eye, because you are actually the recipients of the fiery anger of God, and he would have all but totally destroyed you had Moses not interceded on your behalf.

And then from verse 13 through 21, you're there on the base of Mount Sinai, weren't you? You had just heard the 10 words from the mouth of God himself, and you all trembled. And then you said to Moses, Moses, please, we can't hear this anymore. This is just terrifying. Why don't you mediate on our behalf?

And Moses does. He goes up the mountain. And it wasn't long after they had just pledged to be completely obedient to everything that the Lord has commanded, that while Moses was laying prostate, us before the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights without food and without water. That these people were down there creating and crafting through Aaron a metal image so that they could worship this image. And with that worship, all the other filth that comes with it that we read about in Exodus chapter 32.

Beloved. Add to that list that I was saying before that Moses is now looking at these people and saying, don't you think that you are worthy? Know who you are, what you deserve. Add to that list idolatry. You remember how I said a few weeks ago that the next chapters in the book of Deuteronomy will exposit the 10 words of God?

Well, that's one that tells you, thou hath no other gods before me. And this is the people who have violated that even from the beginning. If these people were looking for something to boost their self-esteem, they weren't gonna get it from Moses. Because Moses ends that section with verse 24, and this is a summary. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.

You want to know who you are? You're rebels. You don't want to know what you deserve? What do rebels deserve, beloved? What do rebels against God deserve?

Nothing but judgment. Oh, if they would only receive these words, if we would only receive these words and read and submit to the truth, there would be no spirit of entitlement within us because this truth shatters pride. But it takes more than recognizing who you are and what you deserve to deal with pride within. It takes more than that. There's two elements.

And the second, which is more importantly, is that you must also know who God is. You must also know who he is and how you stand before this great holy God. Who are you before this God? That's a pill for humility. Who are you?

Who am I before this great and majestic holy God of the universe, this living, living God? And I love how Moses actually begins the chapter with that. Let's put our eyes down to verse one. And we'll read a section together. On verse one, here, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today to go to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of 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. 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 brought me out, me to possess this land.

Whereas it is because of the wickedness of the nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Wait a minute. So here, Moses, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, is saying that these nations that they're going to go into now across the Jordan, and they're going to dispossess them of the land, to totally and utterly destroy them, these nations, or Israel, I should say, will be the instrument of God's judgment upon these nations because of their wickedness. Okay. And let me ask you a question.

If that's what the wickedness of the nations deserve, then what does the wickedness of Israel deserve? According to Moses, verse 7 and verse 24, the very thing that has defined these people since leaving Egypt is this, a rebellious people against God. Now we know that God is a consuming fire. That is, that God cannot look upon unrighteousness. He must deal with it in his justice.

He must annihilate all unrighteousness. If we are talking about just deserves, then would that not also mean that Israel deserves the same fate as the nations that are before them? Beloved, that's humbling, and it's true. If we ask what Israel deserves in and of themselves, that's what they deserve. If we ask what we deserve in and of ourselves, that's what we deserve.

Complete destruction. No one can stand before a God who is a consuming fire, who cannot look upon unrighteousness. And beloved, this is not only of Israel, but of all who are in Adam, we know this. Because I told you, if you meditate about the truth of who you are and who God is in himself, this will be brutal to the flesh. You cannot stand before him and boast.

You cannot stand before him and say, but I deserve better. Give me more than what you've given me. Beloved, how many times have we been guilty of that? These people. Israel don't deserve better than the nations just like we don't deserve better than those who are burned in hell.

We don't deserve better. So let me ask you, if we don't deserve better, why do we get better? If Israel doesn't deserve better than what the nations received, then why did they get better? Let's look at the answer in verse 5. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

So God must exercise the judgment. We've already gone there. Hear this. And that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Why is Israel going to be the recipients of such a great blessing?

Because God swore a promise that he cannot break. A promise to Abraham, a promise to Isaac, the promise he made to Jacob. And these men were too unworthy. We've read the narratives. We know that they are sinners.

He simply chose to set his love upon an undeserving people. And he bound himself by a covenant to fulfill that love towards them and to give them blessings that they just don't deserve. A God who is free binds himself by way of covenant. I made a covenant with these men. I will fulfill that covenant.

is a consuming fire, and he must deal with unrighteousness. We see his wrath being poured out on the nations. That was an example before us, that the nations will receive the wrath because of their wickedness. We know that. But what about Israel?

Why don't they receive his wrath? On many occasions we heard, and Moses actually even in this passage said that on occasion, God did want to destroy you. So why didn't he destroy them? Because he made a promise, yes. What was the means?

You remember the means? Because there was one who interceded on their behalf. You remember that? You remember that? Throughout the passage, Moses is seen as the mediator, as the intercessor.

It's either explicit or it's alluded to, especially in the verses between 22 and 24. The Lord relents from pouring out his wrath upon this people because Moses intercedes for a rebellious people. Verse 26, O Lord God, do not destroy your people. That's his plea. He lay prostrate, Lord God, do not destroy these people.

His appeal wasn't because they're so wonderful. His appeal wasn't because they're righteous and they're so upright of heart. Rather, his appeal to this God of the universe was upon his name for the renown of his great name. That he would be glorified amongst the nations. That his name will be exalted among all, not because the people were worthy.

That was Moses' plea. Beloved, God relents his judgment. And the beauty in this passage really is that Moses is a type, isn't he? Moses is a shadow because the substance is Christ. We've said that many times.

God made allowance for Moses to stand before him, and even for Moses not to be destroyed in the presence of God. Was Moses fully righteous as far as righteousness is concerned? Was Moses without sin? Did Moses enter into the promised land? No.

Why? Because of lack of faith. Moses did not fully fulfill all that is required for a mediator between God and man. He was a picture of one who would, just like the sacrifices of old, just like the countless people and places and events of the Old Testament that were all pointing to Christ. Moses, his life, and his mediatorship, his mediatory role was pointing to Jesus Christ.

The reason that Jesus fulfills all that is required as a mediator, and not Moses, is because Jesus is God. Jesus's eyes were never taken off God the Father, were they? That's how it began today. What a disaster it is for the people of God to take their eyes off the Lord. Christ lived his life in perfect obedience to the Father's will, and he did only that which was pleasing to the Father.

He never took his eyes off the Father. Never, not once. The perfect example of humility was found in our Christ. Perfect obedience, perfect humility. He fulfilled all the righteousness, and then he laid down his life and shed his blood for the unrighteous who would come to believe in him.

Not only to bring you into the covenant in the first place, but beloved hear this, this is really important that we hear it as Christians, but to keep you there. To bring you in and to keep you there. And this is the better covenant of the new covenant. The old covenant you could get in, but you can be broken and you can find yourself outside, kicked out of the covenant. The new covenant is a better covenant.

Because Jesus brings you in by virtue of his shed blood, and he keeps you there. Because we, like sheep, can sometimes go astray, sometimes in our unrighteousness, sometimes we can go into our disobedience or the stubbornness that we see exemplified by the people of God. This is Israel, but Jesus always calls us back. And he says, Father, don't destroy your people, I bled for them. My blood paid for their sins, even the ones they're committing now.

Even the ones they're yet to commit. Is there anything, is there anything that we can do if you are truly in Christ that can find you kicked out of that covenant? If by his blood you've been brought in, then there is no way you can be kicked out, none. This is why I said earlier, it's the greatest tragedy to take your eyes off Christ, because there is hope, there is salvation, there is rest, there's security in absolutely no one else. Let me leave you with Romans 8, 33 and 34.

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, hear this, and indeed is, is, is right now interceding for us. Great Mediator, the one who even now intercedes for you and I, beloved.

is Jesus Christ.