Moses Goes Home

Deuteronomy chapter 34 is where we are this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 34 records for us the death and burial of Moses. So we're going to treat today as if it is a memorial service for Moses. We are gathering together to understand this man's life and the significance of his life because he left a legacy. And if we can understand the legacy he leaves, then we know the journey we are to embark on as the people of God that we might live that kind of life. You know, it's kind of sad that when you die, there's a memorial service and people say things about your life that you probably never heard the whole time you were alive.

And yet, we can begin today exam this man's life and realize what needs to happen in my life if I want to leave a lasting legacy as Moses did. So, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to briefly cover our outline by reading through the text and spend our time on the last part of the outline this morning, okay? That's what we're going to do. So, when we look at it, we're going to look, first of all, at a perspective for Moses.

God gave him a perspective of the promised land. He was able to see it. And then we're going to look at the passing of Moses, then the person after Moses, and then the prominence of Moses.

Let's read together chapter 34, verse number 1. Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Piskah, which is opposite. Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, and all Napht, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, as far as the western sea. And then A, and the plain and the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants.

I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. That little phrase, you shall not go over there, I circle in my Bible to remind me of the consequences of sin. They're great, aren't they? Moses received a perspective of the land. It began with a petition. He petitioned the Lord. To see the land. It reads as follows. Deuteronomy 3, verse number 23. Moses says, I also pleaded with the Lord at this time, saying, O Lord, God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy strong hand.

For what God is there in heaven or on earth? Who can do such works and mighty acts as thine? Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.

But the Lord was angry with me. on your account, and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, Enough speak to me no more of this matter. Go up. To the top of Pisca. Lift up your eyes. God says, Moses, you're not going to go in the land, but I tell you what I will do.

I'll let you go on top of The Mount, Mount Nebo, Mount Pisca. And there you'll be able to observe the land. You'll be able to see it. You can't touch it. You can't go in there, but you can see it. And that leads us to the fact that there was great power for him to see. Because he says, the text says he saw as far as the western sea. That's the Mediterranean Sea. If you've been to Mount Nebo, you can't see the Mediterranean Sea from there. So God had to do something unique in the eyes of Moses so he could be able to see that far.

And God showed him all the land that he was unable to obtain because of his sin. There was a prohibition. You cannot go into that land. It's not for you, Moses. And Moses gets a glimpse of what the people of God are about to embark on. Then we go to the passing of Moses, verse 5. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor. But no man knows his burial place to this day.

Nobody knows. God buried him. God was the personal undertaker of Moses. It's a good thing. Been to the land of Israel today, you know, over all the different sites, there's a Catholic church built someplace, some monument to some significant event. And I'm sure that if they knew where Moses was buried, there'd be some kind of Christian Mecca there where people would pilgrimage every year just to go see the place where Moses was buried. The Bible is very clear: no man knows. where Moses was buried.

Satan knows, Jude 1:9, because he would wrestle with Michael for the body of Moses. Isn't that amazing? What does Satan want to do with the body of Moses? I don't know, but he wanted it. But anyway, no one knows where he was buried. Although Moses was 120 years old when he died, his eye was not dimmed, nor his vigor abated. 120 years old. He spent 40 years, his first 40 years, in the palace.

He spent the next 40 years in the pasture, all preparing to lead the Jews out of bondage. God took 80 years to prepare Moses to lead. God is in no hurry to prepare us to do a great and wonderful task, is He. He'll take whatever time is needed to make us into the kind of person he wants us to be so that we can become effective in our leadership. For Moses, it was 80 years. Most of us die before the age of 80. But God took his time with Moses because he wanted to make sure that he was ready. And then it says: So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days.

And the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. They cried for Moses. You would too. I mean, after all, what are you going to do now? Where are you going to go? Who's going to lead? Well, that's point number three: the person after Moses.

Now, Joshua, the son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded. Moses. Back in Numbers 27, you have the calling of Joshua to leadership, and Moses would lay his hands on this young man, and he would become the successor that God designed to follow Moses. God designed Joshua to lead them in. He designed Moses to bring them out of bondage. God always designs his people for specific tasks, doesn't he?

And God is never left without a leader. And that leads us to our fourth point, the prominence of Moses. This is where I want to spend our time. This is the legacy of Moses. This is what made him so prominent, so superior. Listen to what the text says. Verse 10. So then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent Him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power, and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Then it ends. It's over. And yet, for us, it doesn't end because he left a legacy. And what is it about Moses that made him so prominent that would enable him to leave a legacy that stands for all time as the greatest leader? In the history of Israel. Number one, it's because of his app by God.

He was appointed by God. Remember back in chapter 3 of the book of Exodus, God came to him in a burning bush. He was in the pasture. He had already been in the palace. Now he's in the pasture. He's been there for 40 years, and all of a sudden, The bush begins to burn, but it's not consumed. And he hears the words, Moses, Moses. Let's repeat it twice. It's a lot like when God said to Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It's like when our Lord said to Martha, Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many things.

Or it's when our God called Samuel in the night and said, Samuel. Samuel called him twice because he wanted to understand, or him to understand, the significance of what he was about to say. When the Lord said to Peter, Simon. Simon. That dual name calling is what God does when He's about to commission a man. Commission a woman that they might understand the great work of God. What made Moses great was not that he was trained in the greatest educational system of his day. An educational system that would far surpass any educational system we have this day.

What made Moses so great was not that he was. In line to be the next Pharaoh, the next ruler of Egypt. That's not what made Moses a great man. What made Moses great was that he had a divine appointment by the sovereign God of the universe that would commission him. In a very personal, personal way. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 3, verse number 10, these words: Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.

Moses had a divine appointment. Folks, let me tell you something. If you want to leave a lasting legacy, you must recognize your divine appointment. That God has called us in a very personal way and equipped us with a great privilege, and that is calling people out of darkness that they might understand the light of the gospel. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:9 that we are a holy nation, that we are a chosen people, and we have been designed to declare the excellencies of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

We had the same privilege that Moses had. Moses would go to those Jews who were in Egypt and call them out and lead them out of their bondage. And lead them to the place that God had designed for them. Our job, our privilege, is to be able to tell people about the saving work of Jesus Christ our Lord and how He wants to deliver them out of their bondage. And give them life in Jesus Christ. That's the appointment. And Moses had that divine appointment. And that's where his legacy begins. It begins because he had an appointment by the living God.

that called him into a great work for God to accomplish great things for God. That's us. The Exod story was a living illustration of the spiritual lesson that happens to each and every man who's born again. They're delivered out of their bondage. And that was Moses' appointment. So we understand, first of all, that Moses' prominence is centered on the fact that he was app by God.

So, number one, his appointment by God. Number two, his acquaintance with God. If you want to leave a lasting legacy, you must have a special acquaintance with God. The text says in Deuteronomy 34, verse number 10, that Moses would speak to God face to face. How many memorial services have you been to where the thing you remember most about the person who died is that they had a special walk with God? And you would love to have that kind of walk with God. Well, let me tell you something: Moses had that walk, he would speak to God face to face.

It says in Numbers chapter 12, when the whole thing broke out about Miriam and Aaron, when they came against Moses and God came down to the tent of meeting, he gathered the three together and he said, Listen, I speak to others. In dreams, but I speak to my man Moses face to face. He had a special acquaintance with his God, and that's what made Moses so significant. And I wonder what kind of acquaintance you have with God this morning. You got a place you meet with God? Do you have a place you carry on a conversation with God?

Moses had a special acquaintance with God because he had a special place to meet with God. He called it the tent of meeting. Maybe you call it the chair of meeting. Maybe you call it the room of meeting. Maybe you call it the corner of meeting. Maybe you call it Closet of meeting, but you need to have a place you meet with God, right? And Moses had that place. The Bible says in verse number 9, and it came about whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend to stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.

Verse 11. Thus, the Lord used to speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. Wow. Moses had a special acquaintance with God. That's why his legacy is a lasting legacy. The Bible says in verse 17 of Exodus 33, The Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight.

And I have known you by name. Then Moses said, I pray thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. How many times have we told God only has one name, right? It's not about the names of God. The word Shem. In Hebrew for name, every time it's used of God is always in the singular, never in the plural. And God says, You want to see my glory?

I can't let you see me face to face, Moses, because if I do, you'll die. But I will have all my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name of the Lord to you, Moses. And sure enough, God would hide Moses in the cleft of the rock, he would pass by him. And he would hear the Lord say in verse 6 of chapter 34, The Lord God, compassionate and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in loving kind and truth, who keeps loving kind for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. God says, Moses, this is my name.

This is my glory. This is who I am. You see, Moses experienced a special Revelation from God because he enjoyed a personal conversation with God. He wanted to know what's God. He had that friendship with God. That's why it says over in the book of John, the 14th chapter, the 21st verse, He who has my commandment and keeps them, he it is who loves me, and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will disclose. Myself to him. That word disclose is the same word used of all those bodies that were resurrected after the death of Christ on Calvary.

They were Disclosed. They were exposed. They were seen. That which was concealed was now made manifest. Those who were dead. And were resurrected, now are seen. And God says, I want you to be able to experience a special revelation from me.

That is, I want you to know me, I want you to know my glory, I want you to understand my name, and that. Only happens to those people who are my friends who have a special acquaintance with me. How do you know you have a special acquaintance with God? Number one, you enjoy a personal conversation with God.

And number two, you experience a special revelation from God. He manifests him to you because you love him and you keep his commandments. How do you know you have a special acquaintance with God? Because you execute the radical directions of God. And Moses was his friend because he did what God said. How do you know you're a friend of God? You do what he says. And lastly, you know you have a special acquaintance with God because you exude an influential reflection of God. Moses would go up to the mountain.

He'd speak to God face to face and Moses would come down off the mountain. His face would shine and glow. There was that influential reflection. Moses' life was changed. And how do you know you have a special acquaintance with God? Let me tell you something: 2 Corinthians 3:18.

When you look into the perfect law of liberty and behold the glory of the Lord, You are changed from one level of glory to the next level of glory, even by the Spirit of God. God changes you. He transforms your life. And now all of a sudden, you have influence because your life has been radically changed. By the Spirit of Almighty God. Now that's why Moses was prominent. How about you? Are you acquainted with God? Do you have your special tent of meeting? Will you go to him each and every day? And when you walk out, are you glowing with the glory of God?

Number three, what was it that made the life of Moses so prominent? Number one, his appointment by God.

Number two, his acquaintance with God. Number three, his attitude toward God. His attitude toward God. It's seen over in Deuteronomy chapter 10. Let me just tell you, it's two things.

One, he trembled before God, and number two, he would trust his God. And that's what made Moses so prominent. Number four, his assurance about God. What made Moses so prominent? Number one, his appointment by God.

Number two, his acquaintance with God. Number three, his attitude toward God. Let me tell you something.

When you're acquainted with God, your attitude toward God changes. You notice that Moses never complained.

To his God. The children of Israel complained because they weren't well acquainted with their God. But Moses didn't complain. You see, it leads not only to his attitude, but to his assurance about God. He was assured that his God would do everything he said. He believed in what God said. Over in Deuteronomy 3, verse number 26, there is none like the God of Jeshur who rides the heavens to your help. And through the skies in his majesty, the eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

And he drove out the enemy from before you and said, destroy. So Israel dwells in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded in a land of grain and new wine. His heavens also drop down dew. Blessed are you, O Israel. Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? Who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty? So your enemies shall cringe before you, and you shall tread upon their high places. Moses was assured. That God would always give his people the victory. Never wave. That 's why he was so prominent.

He believed in his God. He was assured that what God said, God would do. That's why back in Exodus 13, he took the bones of Joseph. Why? Because he was assured that God would lead his people back to the land of Canaan, as he said to Joseph. How about you? Are you assured of those things? Do you believe in what God has said? And number five, because of his, listen, attention to God. Because of his attention to God, Moses pays attention. Listen to what the Bible says, book of Hebrews, 11 chapter, 24th, verse.

By faith. Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Considering the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to a reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seen him who is unseen. By faith. He kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who would destroy the firstborn might not touch them.

By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. By faith. And faith is believing in what God has already said. See, Moses paid attention. He had parents who paid attention to God. By faith, it says they hid him. God told. Am and Jacob to hide Moses. God told them that Moses was a special child. They paid attention to what God said. They lived by faith. They didn't fear the king's edict because they. Thought that what God said made more sense to them than what anybody else says.

Let me tell you something. You want to leave a lasting legacy in the lives of your children, like Amram and Jac left in the life of Moses? Just listen to what God says.

Pay attention to what he says. Pay attention. Number six. What made Moses, listen, so prominent? His articulation of God. His articulation of God. God would speak to Moses face to face, and Moses would come back and tell people what God said. And the book of Deuteronomy is all about Moses expounding the law of God. It says down in verse number 5 of chapter 1 of Deuteronomy: across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law. Let me say it to you this way.

The book of Deuteronomy is quoted in the New Testament more than any other book in the Old Testament except for Psalms and Isaiah. The reason we can't articulate God to our children and to the people we work with is because we're not very well acquainted with God. See? And that's what Moses did. How about you? What legacy will you leave behind? When you die and your children put you in the ground, will they be able to say, my dad, my mom, they left a legacy. And that legacy that they left Was that they told me about God.

They explained God to me. And lastly. What was the seventh aspect of the life of Moses that made him so prominent, that made him so great? And that is his accomplishments for God. The Bible says it very clearly.

For all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh. Verse 11 of Deuteronomy 3. All his servants And all his land, and for all the mighty power, and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. Those were his accomplishments. What are you accomplishing for God? Anything? Not what are you accomplishing, but what are you accomplishing for God? Because you see, if you accomplish something without God, it means nothing. For the sake of eternity.

If you accomplish something for God, it means everything because it lasts forever. It's building up treasures in heaven and not on earth. See that? It has nothing to do with your inabilities. Has nothing to do with your insecurities, has nothing to do with your inade. Because you see, Moses gave all those excuses at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3. Who am I? I can't accomplish this. I can't do any of this stuff. Because God says, It's not about you, Moses, it's about me.

He never got angry at Moses because Moses couldn't speak so good, because of his inability to speak eloquently. And God says, It's okay, I got someone I can handle that for you.

He never got angry at Moses for anything except in Exodus chapter 4, when Moses said, Send somebody else. I don't want to go. And the Bible says that the anger of the Lord burned against him.

Why? Because he was unwilling to go. See that? The anger of the Lord doesn't burn against you because of your inade or your inability or your insecurities. It burns against you because of your unavailability, your unwillingness to do what God has said. Because God wants to use you. Just like he used Moses. That's why it says in Acts chapter 10, verse number 38, that to as many as were appointed to eternal life, believed. If you're born again today, you have a divine appointment. You've been personally called by God to proclaim the gospel of God.

And because you have a divine appointment, you have one responsibility, and that is to become very well acquainted with your God. And as you become more and more acquainted with your God. Your attitude about God will change. And as your attitude about God changes, your assurance for God increases. And the more you are assured of God, the closer you pay attention to everything He says. And the more you pay attention to what God Himself says, the better you are at articulating all that God has said.

And then, like Moses, you too will accomplish great things for God. Folks, that's the legacy that Moses left. That's the legacy you and I need to leave behind. And that's what God wants us to learn through this one man that God used in such a significant way. He wants you to learn those lessons. So you too, when you die and people gather together at your memorial service, they will say, my friend. My mom, my dad, my leader, all they knew God face to face. And because they did, all great things were accomplished through them.

And we know that that legacy will last. Forever, because that's all for God and no one else. Let's pray.