So Lord, may graciously help
me. I turn your prayerful attention to the New Testament, to the
Acts of the Apostles and chapter 7 and verse 37, Acts 7 and verse
37. In this chapter, we have Stephen,
the first deacon, giving his defense against speaking blasphemously
against Moses and against the prophets. And he shows here in
this defense how he very much upholds Moses and the prophets,
and that they pointed to Christ, and that embracing Christ did
not mean that you did any disfavor or disloyalty to Moses. Acts 7 and verse 37. This is that Moses which said
unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your
God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me, him shall
ye hear. So that's Acts 7 and verse 37. Well in the readings today I've
tried to give you a little flavour of this great meek man Moses. and something of the caliber
of this man and how God so mightily used him in the Old Testament
and to be that great deliverer and that he prophesied that there
would come another one that would be like him. And if you just
turn briefly to, if I just read from Deuteronomy chapter 34 which
which is the last chapter of the Pentateuch, the last chapter
of the five books of Moses, and verse 10 of Deuteronomy 34. And there arose not a prophet
since in Israel, like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. There was something special,
something very special with Moses that was different than every
other prophet in the Old Testament. There was an intimacy between
Moses and God that none of the other prophets knew. We have
that on scriptural warrant and God himself says that in what
we read in Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12 when Moses
and Miriam and Aaron were complaining that why have you spoken through
Moses? And surely we're just as important
as Moses is. And they were jealous of Moses.
But then in Roman, sorry, Numbers 12, verse seven, it says, my
servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house,
with whom I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, that means openly
and not in dark speeches. So other prophets had visions
and dreams, which God spoke to them in, but Moses had this intimacy
of being face to face with God. And of course Moses was that
mighty intercessor. He stood, so often we have it
written, he stood between the children of Israel and God as
that mediator and he represented them, he pleaded for them, he
interceded for them. He was indeed a wonderful blessing
to Israel. But Moses, you see, being this
great one, he gave this prophecy which twice is repeated in the
New Testament and applied to Christ in the two places. One,
the first place was Acts 3 and then Acts 7. So this is showing
that Moses was saying that there was a uniqueness about Moses
in the Old Testament that was only superseded, if you like, or greater
than, in the New Testament, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, as we look at this man
Moses, and we look at this verse that we have before us, this
is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet
shall the Lord God raise up unto you. There was a promise, you
see. The children in Sunday school did that finding of a wife for
Isaac. Rebekah being found as a wife
for Isaac. And then you have Isaac begat
Jacob. Jacob begat Levi, the tribe of
Levi. He was one of the 12 brothers.
And then Levi had a son called Kohath. And Kohath had a son
called Amram. And Amram had a son called Moses. So you have that line that goes
from the marriage that we talked about this morning in Sunday
school, going down in several generations to Moses. And you
see, this was really one of the clearest revelations at that
point of the coming of the Just One, the coming of the Messiah.
You have prophets obviously later on as Isaiah. Isaiah spoke so
richly of in Isaiah 53 particularly of that he would be that lamb
that would be a substitutional lamb but that's obviously a lot
later on. You see Moses was speaking these
words about something like 1,400 years before the time of Christ. 1,400 years
approximately before the Savior would come, Moses said, there's
something that I've done between the way I've acted in Israel
that another prophet is coming. And so you see when, in this
chapter, he didn't have time to read this chapter as well,
but in chapter 7, there is this defense that Stephen is giving. Stephen, that first deacon, I
just perhaps read it in Acts chapter 6, what the allegations
against Stephen were. So Acts chapter 6 and verse 11,
it says, then they suborned men, which said, we have heard him
speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people,
and the elders, and the scribes, and came unto him, and caught
him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, which
said, This man seetheth not to speak blasphemous words against
this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that
this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall
change the customs which Moses delivered us. and all that sat
in the council looked steadfastly on him and saw his face as it
had been the face of an angel. And Stephen then takes up this
defense and he goes through, starting with the patriarch,
he goes through how they were all pointing to the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as the
Messiah was not contrary to and against Moses, it was exactly
what Moses was pointing to. And so that gives such a credit,
as it were, and such a glory. And as the Lord helps me, I want
to have a look at this, where it says, like unto me. God has left on record that the
way that Moses acted, and many things in his life, there was
a likeness to a prophet that the Lord would send, which would
be the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And indeed in this chapter 7,
which is why I've taken that to be my text, even though we
didn't read it. It goes through the life of Moses.
And as we look at that, there are so many parallels. As we
see that this is what happened to Moses, but this is what was
going to happen to that prophet that would come that was greater
than Moses. And you see the children of Israel didn't listen to Moses'
words, did they? For the most part. But this was
going to be the great promise. Him. shall ye hear. Moses, you might think of all
the miracles that took place in the time that Moses was alive. And so there was a tremendous
lot of miracles in the time when Jesus came. There hadn't been
a lot of miracles for 400 years or so before that. And there
was these particular two great times in the word of God when
miracles were very common. And that was in the time of Moses,
with the 10 plagues, with the Red Sea part in, the manna, all
those miracles that took place on a daily basis, all in the
time of Moses for showing the coming of that liberation from
Egypt. When Christ ushered in his ministry,
there were so many miracles that attended that ministry and vindicated
it that this was indeed the prophet that Moses was speaking of. Well, if we look then back in
Acts chapter 7, And verse 18 if I start it there
Acts 7 verse 18 till another king arose which knew not Joseph
so here we have is Last year when I was here, we looked at
Joseph and his life and how he behaved and how he bought he
He brought the children of Israel into Egypt. He he saved their
lives and And yet, when Joseph died, he gave commandment concerning
his bones. Yes, he was given that great
position of power and influence in Egypt, but he never became
an Egyptian, and he never saw Egypt as his home. He was looking
for a city. and he gave commandment concerning
his bones. And so we see here that in the
providence of God, so many years later, there was going to be
this exodus out of Egyptian slavery. And verse 19 of acts. The same dealt subtly with
our kindred and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast
out their young children to the end that they might not live."
So right at the beginning of Moses' life, his life was under
threat. The edict from the king was that
he should die. And of course That was the same
with the Lord Jesus Christ. It was only when he was newly
born, wasn't it, when the kings came to worship him and then
Herod sought to find out where he was and then the edict went
out that all the young children should be killed. Early on, how
Satan would love, as it were, and sought to destroy the seed
of the woman, destroy the saviour, destroy the hope of Israel. You think of that, if Moses had
been destroyed, he was a man that was raised up to deliver
Israel, and yet Satan would finish him off as a baby. But you see,
he wasn't. We spoke this morning of the
providence of God. The providence, the faith of
Moses' mother She believed that God would provide. And what a
wonderful provision it was. Pharaoh, who had given the edict
that all these babies should be thrown into the river. He
was the one that ended up funding the upbringing of Moses. How
God can make the wisdom of this world stand on its head. May
that be strength to have faith. The very one who gave the edict
that they should be killed in the river was the very one that
paid for Moses to be brought up and instructed in all the
wisdom of the land of Egypt. What a wonderful way the Lord
overrules. Well, of course, the Lord Jesus,
he was sent to his Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt. And he
returned after the death, you see, of Herod. And so it was
with Moses eventually returned later on when Pharaoh died. Well, then we have in verse 21
of Acts 7, and when he when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter
took him up and nourished him for her own son. And that's why
Moses became known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He didn't ever read of his father
in that sense, just the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And we think
of the Lord Jesus, you see, he was assumed to have Mary and
Joseph as his parents. But really, Joseph was not his
real father. He was an adopted father. And
that comes out when they go into the temple at a young age of
12 years, and they were upset with Jesus because he hadn't
come back with them on their journey to Bethlehem or to Nazareth.
And when they questioned him, he said, wished you not that
I must be about my father's business. Well, his father was a carpenter.
He was not doing carpentry in the temple. He was not talking
about Joseph. He was talking about his true
father, which was God. Wish ye not that I must be about
my father's business. Both Moses and the Lord Jesus
had early on in their life, they had this realization, as it were,
that they were there for a purpose. And Moses wasn't there just to
live it up in the court of Pharaoh. He was there. He had a love to
his brethren. are the children of Israel. And
it is interesting if you look in verse 22 of Acts 7, And Moses
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty
in words and in deeds. And if you look actually in Luke's
Gospel chapter 24, when the two on the road to Emmaus, Cleopas
and his companion, that is exactly how they describe the Lord Jesus
Christ. in Luke 24 verse 19 and he said unto them what things
and they said unto him this is Luke 24 verse 19 and they said
unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth which was a prophet
mighty indeed and word before God and all the people you see
there was this Moses had 1,400 years before had shown the coming
of the just one, had said that a prophet would be coming like
unto him, but much more glorious too. I'm not trying to equate
Christ with Moses in one sense. There was a likeness, but there
was also Christ was going to be greater, Christ was sinless.
Moses had sin and he needed somebody to atone for his sins. And yet,
in the wisdom of God, God used this picture of a man who was
one who interceded for the people of Israel. And it's interesting as well,
in the life of the Lord Jesus, If you take the Gospels, nearly
half of the Gospels, all the Gospels are taken up from the
week before he died to his resurrection and ascension. Very much loaded in terms of
length, space given to that part, his sufferings his crucifixion
and his exhortation, a good proportion of it. If you think he lived
something like 33 years, a significant amount of the Gospels are given
over to that. that part of his life. And we
read very little of Jesus' upbringing apart from that occasion when
he was 12 and went into the temple. Well, Moses also, we don't read
of what happened to him in Pharaoh's household much. We don't really
read much. We skip straight in his life
from Moses going into Pharaoh's household to then being as it
were, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And then we
have in verse 23 of Acts 7, and when he was full 40 years old,
it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of
Israel. Moses, in his exhorted position
as prince in Egypt, his wealth, his grandeur, was all based,
of course, on oppressing slaves, and that he was oppressing the
children of Israel, and they were, their hard work was propping
up this great, great palace, as it were, that Moses found
himself in. And yet Moses starts to associate himself with
those downtrodden, those slaves, and calls them brethren. You
see, is there not something of the Lord Jesus Christ here? Though
he was high and lifted up, yet he condescends to hear the groaning
of the prisoner. You say, surely, he's in this,
he's in heaven, he wouldn't worry about that, that wouldn't worry
him, he's in an exhorted position. No, he does. That's the wonder
of the gospel. That though he is high and lifted
up, yet he has respect unto the lowly. What a lovely theme this
was. Well, Moses, he had respect, you see. And Moses, we read,
when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit
his brethren. And we read of Christ in Hebrews
2, and he was not ashamed to call them brethren. What a wonder,
you see. I think we've got to understand
the cost it was to Moses to do this. He was in this exhorted
position. Was he going to keep worry about
his own interests or was he going to worry about his brethren? You see, there could have been,
well, if you worry about number one, like we're told to do today,
just worry about number one yourself. Surely Moses would have said,
well, I was part of those people of Israel, but I think I'll associate
with the Egyptians and I'll just live up life as an Egyptian. But he didn't. By faith, Moses,
when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. And I know Joseph Rutt, preaching
here, I think it was, spoke beautifully on that refusing and choosing.
By faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
This title of honor, this title of grandeur, he refused it. Choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God. and associate with his brethren,
his downtrodden people. By faith, Moses did that. But
surely, as Moses said, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up of your brethren like unto me. So what's the likeness to
Christ here? Well, Christ could have stayed
with the joy and praises of his father in heaven, couldn't he?
He had the praises of all the angels. He had fellowship with
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. He saw God face to face. Like Moses did. Nobody else had
done. Moses was a special prophet.
God saw him face to face. But, ah, the greater than Moses
is here, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was one with the Father. He
was equal with the Father. He was in the praises of the
angels. And what did he do? He left that glory and that place
of honour and that place of position and that place of glory and he
came to the downtrodden. This is a gospel message isn't
it? The gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. And you think well
if he's travelled that far surely on a mission of mercy the people
are going to welcome him with open arms. Well, what do we read about Moses?
Well, he had a concern to visit his brethren, the children of
Israel, and see one of them strive and suffer wrong. This is verse
24. He defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote
the Egyptian. He wanted to deliver his people. He had a concern
for justice. And smote the Egyptian, for he
supposed his brethren would have understood how that God, by his
hand, would deliver them. But they understood not. Understood not. And what did
that understood not mean for Moses? It meant he fled 40 years
in the wilderness. 40 years as a shepherd, in isolation,
running away for his life. He'd lost all the grandeur, as
it were, of living in the palace of Pharaoh, and now he was in
the desert. But think of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We read in John's Gospel these ominous words, he came unto his
own, and his own received him not. You'd say this is How could
we be so foolish? How could we have one that left
heaven's glory to save his people from their sins and we reject
him? Well you see this is the nature of the wickedness of man. The wickedness of our hearts
that we will not have this man to reign over us. Exactly what
they said to Moses. You look at this in verse 27.
Verse 27 it says, But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust
him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? They questioned Moses' authority
to do these things. And how the Lord Jesus came,
you see, and they said, By what authority do you throw over these
tables of the money changers? By what authority do you do these
things? Show us your credentials. They
questioned it. The stone, that the builders
rejected. The wonderful thing is that the
same God has made the headstone of the corner. Well we read in
verse 28, will thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
So that instead of realizing that Moses was helping them and
on their side, that they made out that he was just somebody
that, mind your own business, we don't want you interfering
in our affairs. that we will not have this man
to reign over us. Then Moses fled at this saying
and was a stranger in the land of Midian where he begat two
sons and that's where he married Zipporah which we read about
in one of the other accounts where the Aaron and Miriam were
complaining that he'd married this Ethiopian woman. I think
that's referring to Zipporah that it was Matt he had married
somebody that wasn't from the from the tribe of Israel. Of
course We have there a parallel, do we not? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews, as it were, rejected
him, didn't they, for the most part. But you see then, Moses
went and got a Gentile bride, as it were. Somebody that wasn't
from the Jews at all. And how the Lord Jesus, you see,
and surely it's our mercy today, as most of us, if not all of
us, do not have a Jewish background. But we have come, you see, to
be married to this one who's been rejected and yet despised,
set at naught, well then we have there, then we have a commission. In verse 30 of Acts 7, and when
40 years were expired, so 40 years, that's a long time, 40
years, 40 years. lot longer than a lot of you
have ever lived. 40 years he was in the backside
of the desert, 40 years in isolation, 40 years as it were being humbled
by the mighty hand of God. And then you see God was going
to use Moses to be a mighty deliverer. He was going to show what he
would do with somebody who had come to the end of their own
abilities, but the Lord was going to uphold. And when 40 years
were expired, then appeared to him in the wildernesses, verse
30, of Mount Sinai, the same place where the law was given,
an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses
saw it, he wandered at the sight. And as he drew near and behold,
it was the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the
God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac. And
the God of Jacob, we spoke about that this morning. The God of
Isaac, this same God. God was still working. He had
told Abraham that they would go down into Egypt and would
be afflicted, but God would bring them again. This has not gone
out of God's control. The children of Israel were in
desperation. They were in slavery and it seemed
impossible. Pharaoh was the world power at
that time. How would, who would liberate
a load of slaves from Pharaoh? He'd never let them go. But wonder
of wonders, there was a deliverer raised up Moses with the hand
of a mighty God that brought Israel out of Egypt. And that's
a lovely picture about how the Lord will bring his people out
of the world. They will not stay slaves to
sin and Satan and all the lust, the pomp, the pride of life.
God will break the power of Pharaoh and he will not be able to hold
them. This is a wonderful truth. We pray it for our dear children.
and those we know and love, that there will be a mighty awakening
and that they will be brought out of this slavery. They don't
see it as slavery. It's interesting when you look
to Israel, they almost harp back to it as well. We want the cucumbers
and they looked at all the good things as it were back in Egypt,
but it was hard bondage. And so serving Satan is hard
bondage. Hard bondage. Oh, they say come
and enjoy all the lusts of this world. But it's all empty, it's
all fleeting. It's all unsubstantial. And you see Moses choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin. for a season, and that's all
they are. If you go in this world and make this world your rest,
it will be the pleasures of sin for a season. And when that season is finished,
your pleasures will be finished forever more. But if you esteem the reproach
of Christ, which is greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,
then you will know something of the joys of the people of
God which will last forever and ever. And it's all to do with, you
see, are we hearing the words of this greater than Moses? Are
we listening to his words? Moses, you see, he esteemed the
reproach of Christ. Moses, who prophesied that a
prophet would come, he looked to that prophet and realized
that that prophet was everything. And of course, Moses was that
one on the Mount of Transfiguration. And what were they discussing?
What would be accomplished at Jerusalem? Because Moses had
a living, lively interest in what Christ was going to do at
Jerusalem. He needed salvation himself.
And yet, it was amazing that God used Moses as one that would
typify the Lord Jesus Christ in his office of being a mediator. We haven't really got to there
yet. A mediator between God and man. But then we see In verse
33, then said the Lord to him, put off thy shoes from my feet
for the place whereon they stand is holy ground. I have seen,
I have seen the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt.
God saw their affliction. They were crying out and they
might think, well, is anybody listening? God's saying, I've
seen it. I've seen it. And those that
are groaning under the power of sin, the power of of unbelief,
the power of Satan, the God of this world. I have heard their
groanings. But he doesn't say, well, I've
just heard and I feel very, very sorry for them. I really feel
very sorry for them. No, he doesn't say that. And
I'm come down to deliver them. See, we have a delivering God,
not just a God that feels sorry for us. He delivers. I'm come down to deliver them
and now come I will send thee into Egypt. So Moses gets sent
as a commission and so Christ was sent by the father into this
world that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son out of heaven's glory sent him to this earth on a mission of rejection a mission of being
despised, but a mission of mercy, a mission of salvation. I have seen, I have seen the
affliction. Verse 35 says this loaded statement,
This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a judge
and a ruler? The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer.
You see, man said, We reject this deliverer. God made him
it all the same. And that's the same with the
Lord Jesus, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is
the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvellous in our eyes. Yes, they rejected Moses, but
God still appointed him and God still used him and God did deliver
Israel by his leadership and how God used him for his glory. Then we read in verse 36, and
brought him out after that he showed wonders and signs in the
land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness 40
years. A great time of miracles. You don't read really of many
miracles in the time of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. There was
wonderful acts of providence, and we looked at those, but there
wasn't really miracles in the same way as there was at the
time of Moses. And so it was a time when there was a tremendous
lot of miracles going on. showing that I believe there
was a picture of what the second Moses would be, as it were, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who this prophet that he said would come 1,400
years later, and what amazing miracles there were when Jesus
began his earthly ministry. In John's gospel it said if everything
that was told of all the things that Christ did when he was on
this earth, the world wouldn't contain the books that could
be written. It's a tremendous time of the miraculous power
of God. But John in his gospel says this
so many times. These things were a sign. They
were a sign. They were to show that this prophet
was the coming of the just one. Let me just turn to one place.
In John's gospel, John's gospel chapter six, one of the miracles,
of course, under Moses, there was a feeding of the two million
or so people in the wilderness for 40 years. But one of the
miracles that Jesus showed was his ability to feed. And there
was a feeding of the 5,000 and the others as well. There was
two feeding the 5,000, yeah. And in John six, John 6 verse 14, this is after
the feeding of the 5,000, the gathering of 12 baskets full
of food afterwards, and then in verse 14 it says this, this is John 6 verse 14, then
those men, when they had seen the miracles that Jesus did,
said, this is of a truth, that prophet, that should come into
the world. And the cross-reference to that
is Deuteronomy 18, Moses' prophecy. You see how important this was,
that Moses prophesied 1,400 years, the coming of the just one, the
coming of the one who would have those miracles and it would,
it would vindicate that he was, he was the Lamb of God. haven't got as far as I wanted
to on that. But perhaps if we just have a
quick look at one of the great things that happened. Moses was
that one who gave the law and of course he spoke to the people
God's law and of course Jesus spoke a lot of doctrine to the
people. He told them what God's law was.
Then, as you know, very soon after that, there was the event
of the Golden Calf. Moses was up in the mount receiving
the law, more laws after the Ten Commandments had been audibly
given. And that's another interesting point, that when the Ten Commandments
were given, the people said, don't talk to us, talk through
Moses. and in fact that was picked up
in our reading in Deuteronomy 18, God says you're right, that
what the people have said to you is actually right. Let me
just re-read that, Deuteronomy 18 verse 15. Verse 16, according to all that
thou desirest 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. The children of Israel were terrified
at the thunderings and the lightnings and the voice of God shaking
them out. And they said, don't let God
talk to us directly. We want a mediator. We want a
go between. We don't want to talk directly
to God. We're going to be consumed. And
God says, actually, that's right. I'm gonna give you a go-between. Verse 17 of Deuteronomy 18. And
the Lord said unto me, they have well spoken that which they have
spoken. I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words
in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. So really, the Lord, the people
of Israel were crying, we want a mediator. And God says, you're
going to get a mediator, and your mediator is the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the one. This is the
one who is able to face God and to face the people. Let me just
briefly look at this event of the golden calf. It's so rich
in terms of spiritual redemption. there was this golden
calf that was made while Moses was up the mount. And when they
came down, Moses is so sad. He'd just been up the mount receiving
the oracles of God. He'd just been receiving what
Aaron would do as the high priest once the temple was built. And
there Aaron, the high priest, was sacrificing to this golden
calf. What did Moses think? The very
person who was to be the high priest seemed to be giving in
to the wishes of the people and making this golden calf. Well,
Moses says to them in Exodus 32 verse 30, And it came to pass
on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned
a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure,
I shall make an atonement for you. Moses was going up to the
to God to pair adventure. Perhaps I'll try to make an atonement
for you Surely the prophet that Moses was pointing to like unto
me He was he didn't go up to Calvary pair adventure. I can
make an atonement for you. He went and made an atonement
It was finished. It was complete. But Moses, you
see, he was a gracious man. And Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made
them gods of gold. Yet now, if they will forgive
them. And then there's a dash. And if not, blot me,
I pray thee out of thy book, which thou has written. So Moses,
as it were, was had This is the heart of Moses. He
loved the people and he was going to, in a sense, lay down his
life for them. He was willing for his name to
be blotted out that they would be forgiven. Of course, the Lord
Jesus did do just that. He laid down his life. He became
that corn of wheat that fell in the ground and died. And dying,
it brought so much fruit. Oh, the fruitfulness of the death
of that corn of wheat in the ground. The whole church sprung
from it. We've read of Isaac, we looked
at in Sunday school this morning, he sowed at one point, he had
a hundredfold increase, hundredfold times as much, hundred times
as much grain came out the ground as what he'd sowed. When Christ
went into the ground and lay in that tomb, what was the fruit,
what was the multiplier on that? Well, it was a number that no
man can number of every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue who
have come to embrace the Savior, who have come to be freed from
the slavery of sin as a result of the work, the great work of
the prophet, Licontomosis. But you see, the key question
is here. We read it in Acts. We read it
in Acts chapter three. Peter is preaching to these people
who have seen the lame man walking. And he says in Acts 3 verse 22,
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me.
Him shall ye hear all things whatsoever he shall say unto
you. and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not
hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. You see
Moses word was powerful wasn't it but Moses has died but then
that prophet has come who is like unto Moses that ever lives
and his word How we treat his word, how we treat the truth
in the word of God is a matter of life and death. It's not just
a matter of, well, we go this way and you go that way and all
roads lead to Rome. The Bible does not present the
gospel in that way at all. There is one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There was only one Moses. There
was only one man that stood in the breach. Oh, the beautiful
words that are written of Moses in Psalm 106. Psalm 106, we have
those beautiful words. Verse 23, therefore he said unto
them, he would destroy them. God would destroy them. That's
Israel. Had not Moses, his chosen, stood before him in the breach.
How Christ-like was that? And the whole church of God would
be ushered into a never-ending eternity in hell was not the
greater than Moses stood in the breach. and paid the price of all their
rejection, and hatred, and pride, and selfishness, and lust, and
deceit, and ungodliness. Oh, Moses suffered so much of
children of Israel. But we read, yea, he loved the
people. He loved them. Oh, he received,
he dealt, he put up with their manners in the wilderness for
so long. But you see, he was one that was so meek, Yes, he
had his sin, but he was pointing to one who had no sin and who
was truly going to be a prophet that was raised up of God, who
saw God face to face on because he was God. And yet he could
come and be a man, the God man, the man Christ Jesus. Israel
didn't really know what they were saying when, give us somebody
to go between. Well, God had said, yes, you
will have a go between. and it would be my beloved son.
But when he came, and you see in this account that we read
in Acts, they held up Moses as being such an important person.
Oh yes, they thought Moses was great, these Jewish leaders,
but Moses was speaking of Christ. And they, you see it's such hypocrisy. When Christ came, they crucified
the Lord of life and glory, who Moses was saying, I was pointing
to. You see, it was so hypocrisy,
so hypocritical. Well, may this one become precious
to you. Everything hangs on whether we
hear his voice, whether we lay hold upon the hope set before
us in the gospel. whether we could be amongst those
who say, God be merciful to me a sinner, that we may have one
to stand in the breach and to bring us safe into the promised
land. Moses didn't actually bring them
into the promised land, Joshua did. Joshua, another name for
Christ, he brought them into the promised land. He brought
them into that land of rest. And Joshua was able to say not
one good thing has failed of everything that God has said.
God is faithful. Amen.