Deut No.6 Moses the Leader of the Hebrews

I once remember when, in Bible college, listening by tape to an address preached by that great, gifted man of God, Alan Redpath, and his text was one located in Ezekiel, where there is a picture of a search going on. God is looking for someone who is going to achieve his purposes in the world in that particular period of history. And Redpath elected to speak on God's man, God's man.

The text, as you've probably gathered, those of you who are well versed in Old Testament scriptures, was, I sought for a man, I sought for a man. And I suppose it is true to say that the whole of the progressive revelation of God to men and women, and the whole story of the Christian church, is linked around certain specific names. For instance, if I were to ask you to consider the book of Genesis and ask what character dominates that book, probably more than any other, the majority of us would opt for the name Abraham.

If I were to ask the character's name of the next four books of the Bible, then doubtless we would say Moses. And so in the various epochs where God has been working out his purposes, his spirit has alighted upon a specific individual, and he has done great and marvelous things through that man. Coming on to the New Testament, one thinks of the era just before the birth or the ministry of the Lord Jesus, and the preparation of the ground for the gospel which the Messiah would make complete through the revelation in his own person and in his own ministry.

And when one considers that period, then the name John the Baptist would spring immediately into mind. And again, those versed in New Testament scriptures would recall that particular declaration. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

Now, not only in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, but down the years of church history, God has had specific men who he has used in a most unusual fashion. One thinks in the early centuries of the Christian story of a man by the name of Athanasius, or perhaps a better known character, that of Augustine. One moves on into the times of Reformation, and you think of Calvin and Whitefield, and on into the 19th century to Spurgeon, and so on.

God has used men in a very remarkable fashion in the achievement of his purposes. And that is, I think, something that we take for granted and don't marvel at, because God could use any one of a myriad of angelic beings to do his bidding. But in the working out of his plan of salvation, and in the heralding of the message of the evangel, he alights upon men.

And not only men that he uses in a spectacular fashion, but ordinary people like you and me that are necessary for the ongoing of a work in a local fellowship. And we can perhaps pay attention to some of these great men that God has used, and find stimulus and encouragement in teaching ourselves from their lives, and apply something of what we learn to our own situation, so that we, in smaller ways, yet nonetheless important on the back cloth of history, we might achieve God's will for us, and make a mark for him in his will and in his grace. I was saying to you some weeks ago that when you study the book of Deuteronomy, let alone the whole of the Pentateuch, the whole of the first five books of the Bible, it becomes obvious that the Hebrew nation is indebted to God for several things, and three in particular.

Two to which I made reference were the law that he entrusted to the Hebrew community, the revelation of his will, how he wanted society to live, and then the land that he was going to restore to the Hebrews, who had been displaced from it for some 300 years. But over and above perhaps these two gifts was the leadership which was most necessary to forge a very motley crew of people, disorganized and undisciplined, into a nation and to lead them through the wilderness of Sinai. And the man whose name stands out, of course, in this particular epoch of history, the great gift of God to the Hebrews as a leader, is Moses.

One of the strongest and yet paradoxically though by no means as an opposite, one of the meekest men that history has ever known. And you remember I told you that this fifth book of the Bible, this book of Deuteronomy, really contains Moses' last words to his people. He's an old age pensioner, despite the fact that there's no pension for him to draw, but he is a very elderly person.

He knows that the sands of time have more or less fallen through the glass, and there's not many days left for him. And he's more or less achieved his life's purpose of bringing his people the chosen race of Israel to the frontier of the promised land. He is not going to be allowed to go through into Canaan.

So what does he do in those last weeks? Camped on the plain of Moab, imagine it, tens and tens of thousands of people, Moses addresses them, his own beloved Hebrews. And from the wealth of experience that God gave him, he advises them and prepares them for re-entry, re-occupation of Palestine. Hoping, praying, believing, and yet having some doubts that if they would institute the principles of the law, they would become a strong and mighty nation, basking in the blessings that God would shower down on that remarkable land in a most unusual fashion.

So the first thing that I want to lift out, and there are so many aspects of Moses' personality and ministry that one could placard in front of you this evening, but one of the first things that I want to lift out from Scripture, from my own sifting of the book of Deuteronomy, is the fact of Moses the leader in terms of an encourager. An encourager. Now these people needed to be encouraged, because the land into which they were going, this land flowing with milk and honey, this land on which God's eye never refused to set, wasn't exactly vacant of people.

In fact, within the land were some fierce barbaric tribes, whose practices were very, very far divorced from what God wanted and from how he had decreed that men and women should live. So Moses tries to encourage and to stimulate his people so that in faith, under the leadership of a new man, they will go through, across the Jordan and into Palestine. I believe that in the 20th century, and on a smaller scale than what we're speaking of here with Moses, we need men who have the ability to encourage others and to stimulate them spiritually.

I was speaking to Harry Kilbride on the telephone not so long ago. He, as you know, is the pastor of the Lansdowne Baptist Church in Bournemouth. And we were talking about a mutual respected, older friend of ours, Dr. Lloyd-Jones.

And I remember Harry Kilbride just referring to him in some specific incident that he brought to recollection. And he said, there's one thing about the doctor for which I praise God. He's a great encourager.

He never comes to Lansdowne or to Kilbride's previous pastorate in one of the southern suburbs of London without encouraging me, without stimulating me to do more for the Lord. And, as I say, I believe that one of the great things that is necessary for us today, here in the tabernacle, is to encourage one another in the faith. I don't want to embarrass anyone by identifying this.

Indeed, the person concerned is no longer with us. But I've got quite a lot of letters in my files. And I've got one particular wad of letters from a person who would always write if he got something to complain about.

And never do I recall a time when he went to his typewriter and wrote a letter of approval. Now, I'm quite prepared to admit that there are lots of things wrong with our fellowship and lots of things wrong with the leadership in the church here. But surely it can't be all wrong.

We can't be 100%. At least I trust not. And I wondered why this brother could not just, now and again, to have balanced the discouraging epistles that he directed towards me, why now and again there couldn't have been something that was a little encouraging.

Now, similarly, for ourselves, and I just used that as a semi-humorous illustration, but nonetheless, the point remains that God has called us to encourage one another in the faith. And this is precisely what you find Moses doing. And he will encourage his people by selecting, for instance, under the direction of God, a successor.

It's Moses who will alight upon Joshua. He will school Joshua. And eventually, as Joshua is faced with the enormous responsibility of taking over the leadership of Israel, Moses says to him in Deuteronomy 31 and verse 7 and 8, and don't look in your notes because I'm away from the notes just at the moment, Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him, In the sight of all Israel, be strong and of good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers.

And the Lord, verse 8, The Lord he it is that doth go before thee, he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not, neither be dismayed. Now, can you imagine the reaction of Joshua when aged Moses comes to him and gives him such a benediction as that? Joshua, you're going to be the man who'll take over from me. But don't be afraid of the enormous nature of your responsibilities.

The Lord will be with you. Moses encourages his people. He has a charisma, has Moses.

Not only does he select Joshua, but back to the point that I left out in the notes that were given to you, he selects on one occasion many men who will help him to form a sort of judiciary to adjudicate between the various problems that crop up amongst the Hebrew community as they have been pushing their way through Sinai. He selects a trusted leadership who have the confidence of the people. And one praises the Lord for Moses' discernment in this area, stimulated to do so, incidentally, by his father-in-law Jethro.

So, Moses is the encourager. Let's give one or two examples, in a more general fashion, of the encouragement that Moses presents to the Hebrews. I told you, and I'm now on the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, I told you that the land of Canaan itself was occupied by barbaric tribespeople.

And rumor was that there was one particular group who had got giants amongst them. Their names were the Anakim, or the Anakims. And these people who were so barbaric and whose reputation caused their enemies to be afraid when they heard of them, they would have to be accosted and put out of the land of Canaan by the Hebrews.

Well, how will such a people as that manage to unhorse, so to speak, the Anakim? Who can stand before the children of Anak? Chapter 9, verse 2. Well, says Moses, verse 3, Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee as a consuming fire. He shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face. So shalt thou drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.

But the people might still have had problems in being so encouraged when they thought of even greater problems that might be in front of them. Not only the Anakim, but some of these other tribes to whom I made reference. And what does Moses do? Well, he reminds them of the way that God has put his hand upon them.

More than any other people in the world in those days. Look at the 7th chapter, in the 6th verse. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God.

The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. Moses, again, reminding these people, encouraging these people, as to their uniqueness in the sight of God. You know, you can get a lot of encouragement in your Christian life by thinking what God has done for you in days gone by.

That hymn that so often we quote, His loving times past, forbids me to think he'd leave me at last in trouble to sink. Well, this is what Moses is doing throughout the whole of the book of Deuteronomy, it seems to me. He's alighting upon incidents in the past and showing how God has blessed the Hebrews in such a way that it will stimulate them for the present and for future days.

Take the example, for another, of the 22nd verse of the 10th chapter. Here, Moses reminds the Hebrews about the situation from which they had devolved. He refers to the occasion 300 years before, when Jacob, at the invitation of the prime minister of Egypt, moved down with his sons and took up residence in the tract of Egyptian land called Goshen.

Thy fathers went down into Egypt with three score and ten persons, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for a multitude. That seemed incredible, didn't it? That that little group of people should go down into Egypt, stay there, multiply, come under the tyranny of pharaohs who didn't remember Joseph, pharaohs who would see the Hebrews as being a threat. Despite all the pressure that was brought upon that nation, God would bless them and multiply them and make them great, an exceedingly large number of people.

Now, says Moses, this is the argument that if God has done that, then won't he bless you in the present? Doesn't his dealings with you in the past guarantee his providential care in the future? Now you say, well, what's all this got to do with us? Well, this very technique, so to speak, of reminding people of what God has done in past days and encouraging them, is part of the ministry of Jesus. It's taken over by the apostle Paul when he writes to Timothy. You remember Timothy's a young fellow, pastor, he's really going through it, got problems in the church there in Crete.

So Paul writes him a letter, he says, don't be disheartened. Remember what God has done for you in the past. Remember the tremendous infilling of the Spirit that came due to the laying on of my hands and my prayers over you.

Remember what God has done and be encouraged, Timothy, and go on and work for the Lord. So we have Moses, the Savior par excellence, Paul, men who were encouraging in the way that they carried out the purposes of God in their ministry. But quickly, let's move on to another aspect that is dominant in the whole approach of Moses in his ministry.

We've talked about the fact that he's an encourager and I could have given you a multitude of examples but satisfied myself with two or three. Twinned to the ministry of encouragement is that of prayer, of intercession. Moses was a great intercessor.

He was a man who knew God in a way that very, very few come to appreciate a close relationship with the Lord. The tenth verse of the last chapter of the book, there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. Moses was a friend of God.

There's a remarkable reference in Numbers to Moses speaking with God as a man speaks to his fellow face to face. Moses was a man who kept close contact with the Lord and he needed to. They had an equivalent to Grayling well in those days he'd have been there without God.

Really, that's not an exaggerated comment. He had so much pressure upon him. No man can carry the hay that was on his fork and not collapse under the weight.

But Moses knew what it was to dwell in the secret place of the Almighty and to receive sustaining grace and strength. And that's not just a point that I'm making superficially. If you delve into not only Deuteronomy but the related books of Scripture which tell us about Moses, you cannot but come to this conclusion.

We all know of his 40 days in the mount when he was waiting upon the Lord for the giving of the Ten Commandments, the fasting that accompanied that. But that wasn't the only occasion when Moses went through a fast of that length. The time was when Moses came down from Horeb and there he saw what to him was a horrific sight.

Back to the Egyptian practices of worshipping brazen idols with all the promiscuity of of fervishes and of dervish dancers and of the paganism of Egypt. Now finding a manifestation amongst the Hebrews as Moses has been away and they have backslidden. Do you remember what Moses does? He just breaks those laws.

He breaks those Ten Commandments and they just crumble and fall down the rest of the slopes that he is still to descend of Sinai. And in righteous indignation he explodes like a meteorite in the Hebrew camp and he denounces them and particularly his brother for this gross act of infidelity both spiritual and also physical. But then what does he do? Well it's on that occasion that we see Moses engaging in the holy art of intercession.

He's concerned to pray for his people. He who had stood before the Lord and interceded in the giving of the law now stands before God and he intercedes for the spiritual well-being of his people lest God might wipe them off the face of the earth. And we read, do we not, in Deuteronomy of the way that Moses spent time standing before the Lord in prayer.

The 9th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy spells the scene out for us very carefully. The Lord was so angry with the Israelites says Moses in the 18th verse of the 9th chapter that I fell down before the Lord as at the first 40 days and 40 nights I did neither eat bread nor drink water because of all your sins which ye sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. And as Moses prays before God we not only discover that it's a prolonged prayer and a disciplined prayer lasting 40 days and coupled with being off both food and water which must have meant it was a supernatural piece of discipline for no man could have lived as long as that without water.

But we also find as far as Moses is concerned that this prayer compels him to focus his attention upon Aaron. Look at the 20th verse of the 9th chapter. He's concerned for his brother.

The Lord is so angry with Aaron who is more culpable than anyone more blameworthy than anybody that he would have destroyed him. But Moses is concerned for his brother older than he by 3 years and so he intercedes for the salvation of Aaron. And as you go into that prayer you discover how Moses alights upon the promises of God in times that have gone by.

His mind is saturated with what God has promised thee the patriarchs and all those who have lived before him and it's on the basis of this that Moses prays for his people and he's concerned for the reputation of the Lord. Verse 26 I prayed therefore unto the Lord and said O Lord God destroy not thy people and thine inheritance which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Verse 28 lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say because the Lord wasn't able to bring them into the land which he promised them and because he hated them he brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

You see Moses prays not only for the well-being of his people but he prays because he believes that the reputation of God is at stake and Moses concerned though he is for the Hebrews is even more sensitive to the glory of God being acknowledged by heathens in surrounding lands. So he reminds the Lord in the 29th verse of the 9th chapter these are thy people and thine inheritance which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm. In this prayer you have got a combination of two vital ingredients for intercession.

You've got knowledge and you've got passion. You've got intellect and you've got the emotion. This is a felt prayer.

A felt prayer. You know that this man isn't engaging in some exercise that he's entered into in a mechanical fashion. He realizes that a great deal is at stake in this period of intercession and so he prays and it's an agony of prayer if you relate it to parallel passages in the Pentateuch you find that on one occasion he says to the Lord if you won't answer me this prayer then blot out my name from your book.

A passion. One thinks of the way this is reproduced in the New Testament. Here's Paul and the Hebrews are in more or less the same situation.

They've departed from the Lord and they've not acknowledged the Gospel and Paul, though he's the apostle to the Gentiles, is so concerned for the Jews and so we find him in the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of the book of Romans arguing the position as to whether Jews are in the economy of God and he says it's my heart's desire that my brethren might be saved and he says something which is incredible I could wish myself accursed from God that Israel might be saved I'd barter my salvation and have it put to their credit and be accursed myself if only they might be reconciled to the Lord. A felt prayer Paul wasn't using words in the purple language of some third-rate journalist Paul wasn't getting so emotionally excited that he'd taken leave of his senses he knew what he was saying as Moses knew what he was saying and I believe that great leadership not only can be analysed in terms of a person who is an encourager but also a person who is an intercessor I challenge you to find a great leader who has been used in the providence of God who has not known in some degree both these characteristics but let's move on and let's think in terms of the fidelity the faithfulness of Moses he's the pastor of a great nation and he has a word for these people but he doesn't see them in a starry-eyed fashion now that's important to notice if you ever come across a starry-eyed parent they don't think they're Johnny they're Brenda can ever do anything wrong at all they're really seeing them through rosy-coloured spectacles and they don't get an objective true estimate of their capabilities and of the deficiencies of their particular offspring he's the father of the nation he's the he's spiritually in a paternal relationship with these Israelites but he sees them for what they are and he rejoices in their strengths and he acknowledges their weaknesses and he realises that it's even more important for him to bring the whole counsel of God to the people I believe I'm right in saying that one of the last sermons that Spurgeon preached in London was I have preached righteousness in the great congregation and if you check the preaching of Spurgeon you will find that he proclaimed judgment as well as salvation to his people he encouraged them and he admonished them he was a good pastor in every way he got the right balance so it is with Moses that God he declares the whole counsel of the Lord not just the nice things not just those soothing promises about the Lord's arms being round and about us those are wonderful scriptures you know sometimes I'm not very impressed with these promise boxes you know the boxes where you've got a promise and you sort of pick one out and it's all nice verses of scripture get in there and that gives you an unbalance of scripture because not only is there that that encourages there is also that which admonishes a corrective must be applied simply to be a promise box Christian well it makes you very immature and unbalanced but Moses he will declare the whole counsel of the Lord as in the 32nd chapter he sings his swan song to the people give ear O ye heavens and I will speak and hear O earth the words of my mouth my doctrine shall drop as the rain my speech shall distill as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass throughout the whole of his public ministry for 40 years have you noticed incidentally that Moses his life just falls conveniently into periods of 40 years and the last 40 years was his leadership of the chosen people the first 40 he was in Egypt the second 40 he was with his father-in-law in the deserts of Midian the last 40 he preaches the whole counsel of God he is absolutely faithful so in the 11th through to the 14th verses of the 30th chapter you find him with evangelistic Billy Graham further appealing to the people and saying that he has brought them the word of the Lord so that in no way entirely just what God wanted of them for this commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off it is not in heaven that thou shouldest say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it see I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God to walk in his ways to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that thou mayest live and multiply verse 17 but if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear but shall be drawn away I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to possess it I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that thou and thy seed may live that thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and believe unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days the whole of this book could be summed up in terms of an evangelistic campaign mounted by Moses inspired by the Lord to bring the truths of the gospel as it was then understood to the attention of the Hebrews and to plead with them by the grace of God to accept the covenant and to warn them that if they rejected the covenant if they rejected covenant life then it would be to their eternal disadvantage Moses was faithful absolute fidelity marked his ministry and I say again can you cite me one example of a man that God has used who lacked that quality God's leaders are encouragers they're intercessors they're faithful in their presentation of the word of the evangel and then finally just for the last couple of moments or so let's look at the exodus the departure of Moses and this is tremendous this great man of God he's had his failings as is obvious in as much as the third chapter of the book tells us that though he sought the Lord three times that he might go into Canaan and be baptized and prevented from entry because of his public sin the Lord no way would give way and told Moses not to seek his face again on this matter but God in his generous nature in his loving kindness towards his meek servant calls him from the camp of the Hebrews it's a momentous day in the history of not only Moses but all the Israelites divested of the servants the service of Joshua he starts out on his last journey like you and I ultimately will and as we shall be on our own in that tremendous hour so Moses was on his own yet not quiet because with Moses as guide was his divine companion the one in whose presence he had lingered down the months and years of his wealthy and God-blessed life so the Lord takes him up to the top of Mount Nebo and there the panorama of the promised land is in front of Moses and with telescopic sight he alights on the area where his people are going to settle the Lord reminds him in the fourth verse this is the land which I swear unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it unto thy seed I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not go over thither so we read as Moses came to the end of his days with his eyes his vision still good with his body still strong the Lord took him to be with himself and Moses the servant of the Lord verse 5 died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord and he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor but no man north of his sepulcher unto this day and had they known the Hebrews where Moses had been buried then they'd probably have set up some shrine and made it another Mecca to which men would have gone but that would have been wrong Moses would not have wanted this and in the economy of God it would have been disastrous so God conducts his own funeral service becomes the undertaker and the overtaker of Moses removing him from this earthly scene and transporting him into the heavenly dimension what a wonderful picture is this God laying to rest his servant as he had lived by the word of the Lord so he died by the word of the Lord and we get that incredible story in the New Testament of the day when the Lord Jesus was on earth and on the Mount of Transfiguration there appeared two of the Old Testament characters who had died Elijah and Moses Moses who had been prevented on earth from entering into the promised land nonetheless in the economy of God was to see it in the presence of the Savior with glory wrapped around on the hills he never trod and spoke of the strife with the incarnate Son of God Moses was to have converse with the Savior and discuss the fulfillment of the life's work of the Lord Jesus in Palestine well that concludes this aspect of our study from Deuteronomy on this great leader Moses but the points that I want you to take with you are essentially those that are apparent in Moses' life which compelled the Lord to use him so wonderfully Moses the encourager Moses the intercessor Moses the faithful declarer of God's truth Moses who lived by the word of God through faith and died by the word of God in faith well may we mark his footsteps and live for the Lord as did God's servant in yesteryear Amen