Let's go back now to that passage
he read to us from Deuteronomy chapter 34. My subject is the
death of Moses. Bill read to us there in verse
one, Moses went up on this mountain that God told him to ascend. And he went up willingly. He went up fully knowing that
which would befall him. If you look back a couple of
pages, chapter 32 of Deuteronomy, verse 48, Deuteronomy 32, 48,
and the Lord spake unto Moses that self same day saying, Get thee up into this mountain,
Abarim, unto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that
is over against Jericho. And behold the land of Canaan,
which I give unto the children of Israel for possession. And then God said, and die in
the mount. die in the mount, whither thou
goest up, and be gathered unto thy people. As Aaron thy brother
died in Mount Horeb, and was gathered unto his people." And
now we're informed as to the reason that Moses could only
see the land of promise, but he couldn't enter in, verse 51.
because ye transgressed against me among the children of Israel
at the waters of Meribah, Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zion, because
ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel." Remember,
two occasions the children of Israel became thirsty. And on
one of them, the Lord told Moses, you take that rod of judgment. Take the rod of judgment. You
go to this rock, God said, where I'm gonna stand. And you hit
that rock. And when you hit that rock, water's
gonna come out. And that'll quench the thirst
of all the children of Israel and all of the beasts that they
had. Now, much later, of course, that
happened. The Lord gave him water from
a rock. And I should say, that pictured our Lord Jesus being
smitten by the rod of God's justice, the rod of wrath, the rod of judgment. Our Lord
Jesus, he died under the judgment of God. The scripture says the
wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Savior took our sins. He bore our sins, the scripture
says, in his own body on the tree. And therefore, he, bearing
our sins, he had to die. And the rod of God's justice
that can do no wrong That awesome, very severe wrath of God, it
literally smote the Son of God. And because he was indeed smitten
of God and afflicted, the water of life flows freely. And God
gives us a thirst to drink of our Lord Jesus Christ. Savior
stood in the last day of the feast in the gospel of John chapter
7. He cried saying, if any man thirsts,
let him come to me and drink. If you're thirsty for God, thirsty
for salvation, thirsty for forgiveness, thirsty for righteousness, thirsty
for acceptance by a holy God, drink the water of life freely,
all you want. Cost you nothing. No stipulations
to be met. No conditions which you have
to agree to. You just drink freely. Well, on another occasion, the
Israelites got thirsty again. And the Lord told Moses, after
the people murmured a bit, the Lord told Moses, You and Aaron
go to this rock, and this time I want you to speak to the rock. And I want you to take the rod,
not the rod of judgment, but I want you to take that rod that
is before the Lord. Where was that rod? Aaron's rod
that budded. It was within the Holy of Holies
in the Ark of the Covenant. That is the priestly rod, not
the rod of judgment. That's already been used. This is take the high priestly
rod and you speak to the rock. It's like he's making intercession
to God. Rock's already been hit. Rock's
already been smitten. So you speak to the rock. You take that rod with you. That
high priestly rod laid up before the Lord. And Moses got that
rod. out of the Holy of Holies, out
of the Ark of the Covenant, and he goes to a rock. And then he
gets very, well, fleshly and carnal, and he's upset with the
people. And he took that priestly rod
and hit the rock two times. Water came out, but the Lord
said, because of that, Because you didn't honor me before the
people. You didn't do what I told you
to do. You won't be able to take the children of Israel into the
land of promise. Now listen to me. Our Lord Jesus
has been smitten once. And if you want the water of
life, go to God through Him. Speak to the rock. He's the only
high priest of God's people. He's the only mediator. God, show me mercy for Christ's
sake. Speak to the rock. And this is
what you're gonna discover. The water of life will be poured
out for you. Well, that fit of anger because
Moses did not, and Aaron, They did not sanctify the Lord. They
didn't honor the Lord. And what they did, they did in
the power of the flesh. God said, now neither one of
you gonna take the Israelites into the land of promise. Aaron
died first. And now Moses is gonna die. He's
gonna die. And the Lord said, the reason
is because what you did at Meribah. Moses was not in the dark about
what was going to befall him. He wasn't ignorant. He knew full
well what awaited him. And in this, he is a picture
of our Lord Jesus, who went to another mount, a mount called
Calvary. And he also knew what would befall
him because he ordained his own death before the world began. That's why we read in Revelation,
he is the lamb who was slaughtered and slain, killed by God before
the foundation of the world. He knew full well. Just like
Moses, when Moses went up that mountain, and I think of it this
way, it's like him and the Lord went for a walk. The Lord said,
you're going to go one last walk with me. Moses and the Lord had
had many meetings face to face. The Lord said, walk with me,
Moses. I tell you what, when you your
time to leave this world comes, you won't face it by yourself. Just like the Lord went with
Moses, He's going to go with you. And He'll see you over. The Lord said, let's go up top
this mountain. And Moses, you notice when Bill
read this, Moses showed no reluctance. He doesn't show any fear. There's
no dread. There's no, oh Lord, I don't
want to go. Lord said, go up top this mountain. I'm going to take your life.
And so Moses started walking. And in this, he's a picture of
our Lord Jesus, who knew full well what awaited him, and yet
he went. If we might say this, he went
with his eyes wide open. No reluctance. He was not unwilling to go. He knew what awaited him. When Peter took out his sword
and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, the Lord said,
put your sword up. How else can the Word of God
be fulfilled unless I die? Our Savior ordained His own death. He's not reluctant. This was the work for which He
came into the world. Turn with me. Hold your place
there in Deuteronomy. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 50? Look at Isaiah chapter 50. In many ways, Moses was a picture
of our Lord Jesus. I don't know whether you're familiar
with this book, but it's an excellent book written by Benjamin Keech. He's a man who lived back mid-1600s
to the early 1700s. He was only like, I don't know,
maybe 55 or 60 when he died, but he wrote a book on the tops
and metaphors of the scriptures. And it's an excellent book, and
it costs you some money now if you want to buy the book. I like
a book, but if you don't want to buy the book, get on this
website. grace-ebooks.com. You'll be amazed at the wealth,
the wealth of material that would be beneficial to you. And look
up this man's name, Benjamin Keech. He talks about, there's
so many ways that he portrays our Lord Jesus through various
men of the scriptures, and he talks about Moses being a type
of Christ over toward the end of the book. It'd be worth you
at least getting on the computer and looking up grace-ebooks.com. All of Brother Mahan's books
are on there. Brother Fortner's books are on
there. John Gill's books are on there. A.W. Pink's books are
on there. Matthew Henry's books are on
there. Robert Hawker's books are on there. I mean, there are
just hundreds and hundreds of volumes. All the books that Tim
James has written. And this one by Benjamin Keech,
and he's got another one on the parables, which is pretty good,
but it's not as good as types and metaphors of the scriptures.
He goes through, and it'd be worth you reading, all the ways
that Moses is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. From birth, being hated by a
king, all the way to the death of Moses. Our Lord Jesus was hated by kings
as soon as He was born. And then you trace His life all
the way to His death. Now, here's what the Lord says
here in Isaiah chapter 50. It's what the Son of God says. Look at Isaiah 50 verse 5. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear. and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know I shall not be ashamed." I'm not going
to be disappointed. This is our Lord talking about
His willingness, His willingness, no reluctance, while He went
to the cross of Calvary knowing that the result of His death
was going to be the salvation of His people. This was His delight. That's why He came into the world.
It's what God purposed for Him to do before the world was ever
fashioned. It was ordained that He die,
and He says here, I shall not be ashamed. I'm not going to
be disappointed. He would not be disappointed
in the outcome of His death. You see, those who believe in
a universal redemption would have to say he, to some degree,
would be disappointed in the outcome of his death because
everybody he redeemed, he's not going to have. But that's impossible. The Savior said, here's his own
words, I know that I shall not be ashamed. I'm not going to
be disappointed. over in Isaiah 53. He shall see
his seed and shall be satisfied. He sees the results of his death. He goes up the Mount Calvary,
knowing full well what awaited him. And when Peter said, when
Peter tried to cut off that man's ear, the Lord says, the Scriptures
have got to be fulfilled, Peter. I must die. He said on another
occasion, my meat is to do the will of the Father. And the will
of the Father was that He laid down His life for the sheep. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
was on purpose. God's purpose. The Savior's purpose. He died to save His people. So as Moses walked up that hill,
knowing full well what awaited him, he was enabled to see over
into the land that God had promised to the children of Israel. And our Lord, when he went up
Mount Calvary, he saw the result of his death. the salvation of his people.
You see Moses, he's the servant of God. Look at, go back to our
text in Deuteronomy 34 verse 5. So Moses, what a wonderful title,
the servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord. That's
what Christ was called. Isaiah 42 verse 1, God says,
behold, my servant, mine elect, that one in whom my soul delighteth. God's faithful servant, God's
perfect servant, God's willing servant, God's obedient servant. Isaiah 53 calls him God's righteous
servant who came to do God's will. Lo, I come. It is written
in the volume of the book, To Do Thy Will, O God. So, Moses goes up to Mount Pisgah,
a mountain the Lord had chosen for him where he had died. He
died where God chose for him to die, and he died by the means
God chose for him to die. though we're not told how God
took his life. God took his life. He died on Mount Pisgah. Many years ago, from the late
70s to the middle of the 1800s, there lived a man in England
in a small village. a man by the name of William
Walford. And he, not many people knew
about him. He was a man who's blind from
birth. And he was a preacher. Just had
a very small congregation. And in order to make ends meet,
he owned a little shop in the village. He sold various little
things, just enough to buy food and lodging for him and his wife
and his children. Well, one day a fellow walked
in his store, and he knew him. He said, Brother William, I need
a new pencil. And William knew where the pencils
were. He knew where everything was,
even though he was blind. His wife helped him stop the
little store. And he said, they're right over
there. And the man said, OK. How you doing today, Brother
William? He said, I'm doing fine. And William said, hey, brother,
would you do me a favor? And this man, who was in the
church, said, I'll do anything I can for you. And William Walford
said, I've got in my mind some words to a poem that I would
like for you to write down. And so the man, you can look
this up, Thomas Salmon was his name. This is in 1842. He got a pencil. William Walford said, write down
these words, and I'm only going to give you the last stanza.
Write these words, will you? He said, yes. Where are they?
He said, write down, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
may I thy consolation share till from Mount Pisgah's lofty heights
I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh, I'll drop
and rise, and I'll seize the everlasting prize, and I'll shout
while passing through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour
of prayer. And that man wrote the words
down, And he took it to a fellow who wrote music. And it was put
to music. And as far as we know, it's the
only song that that man ever wrote. William Walford. From Mount Pisgah. Now, this
is where Moses is going to die. Pisgah. You know what it means? Cleft
of the rock. A rock divided. A rock that has
been split open from which Moses could see there's
a land of promise. Puts me in mind of Exodus chapter
33, where Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. And Lord said, there's a cleft
in the rock. I'll put you in there. Let me
tell you something. Moses, up the very top of Mount
Pisgah, and that rock had been smitten, as it were, by the hand
of God, so there's a hole through that rock. He stood inside that
rock and looked over into the land of promise, and God took him. And let me
tell you something. The only way you'll ever be ready
to die is to stand in the rock. The cleft of the rock. Rock of
ages, the top lady said. Cleft for me. For me. Let me hide myself in thee. Tell you something, in the cleft
of the rock, that's where you want to be when
it's time to die. And in the cleft of the rock,
that's where we are while we live. And by faith, by faith, we see
that land of promise to which we're going, more glorious than the land of
Canaan, we're going to paradise. Who's going to paradise? Everybody
who's standing in the rock. Moses, in many ways, is a picture
of our Lord Jesus. However, the name of Moses is always,
in the New Testament, synonymous with God's law. God's law. Moses was given the
law. John 1.17 says, For the law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The
word but there is very important because God's law is not God's
grace. In John chapter 5, our Lord said
to the Jews, Don't think that I'm going to accuse you to the
Father. There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom ye trust. And he's talking about the law. He said, for you, if you had
believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of
me. But you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my words? Moses represents God's law. Let me give you several things
real quick. Number one, Moses died having
fulfilled his mission. He's 120 years old. Life divided
into three sections, first 40 in Egypt, second 40 in the backside
of the desert, learned how to be a shepherd, the third 40 leading
the children of Israel right up to within sight of the land
of promise. When he died, he was full of
health. Notice what it says here in verse
7 of our text. And Moses was 120 years old when
he died. His eye was not dimmed, nor his
natural force abated. His mind was strong. His body
was not feeble. He retained His strength all
the way up to the time of His death. And let me tell you what happened
to the law of God. When our Lord Jesus died upon
the cross of Calvary, as far as all of His people were concerned,
the law of God died. And we died to the law. We died
to the law. Look with me in Colossians chapter
2. Let me take you to this one.
Look at Colossians chapter 2. The law, it had its full strength. When our Lord Jesus Christ died,
He died under the curse of God's law. It's what the Scripture
says in Galatians chapter 3. See, all who sin are under the
curse of God's law. Christ took our sins. He's got
to be cursed. And He was cursed. But He satisfied the law. When He nailed our sins to the
cross, He also nailed the ordinances to the cross which accused us. It's very important to understand
this. Colossians 2, look at verse 13. Colossians chapter 2 verse 13,
And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, with Christ, having
forgiven you of all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. What's that? The law, which was contrary to us, he
took it out of the way. What did he do with it? He nailed
it to the cross. And he, having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them. My friends, Christ nailed the
ordinances, God's law, to the cross of Calvary. And as far
as the people of God are concerned, God's law has nothing to do with
us. Well, you say, but in conviction,
doesn't God use the law? It barks at us, but if you look
real close, that dog don't have any teeth. It has no teeth. It accuses us, why did God give
the law? Turn back to Romans 3, now get
to Romans 3. Why did God give the law? It wasn't for all societies to
live by and go by so you'd be a better country. It was given to show us our sin. That's why Paul said in chapter
7, I had not known sin except by the law. And look what it
says here, chapter 3 Romans verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
under its dominion, under its control, under its authority,
under its condemnation, that every mouth may be stopped, be
silenced, We don't want to hear anything about you being good. You better shut your mouth. You're
not good. You're a lawbreaker. We're all lawbreakers. We're
all criminals against God. That the mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight. Watch this, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Why did God give the law? To
give us a knowledge of sin. To show us our guilt. The law
wasn't given as a means of salvation. And the law wasn't given as a
means of growing in holiness or sanctification. God's law
was given to shut our mouths, leaving us guilty before a holy
God. It was our very stern taskmaster,
schoolmaster. You run to the law of God, it'll
whip you to death. Tell you, within the Ten Commandments,
there's no word of grace. There's no word of mercy. Guilty. Guilty. Let me tell you something
else. Secondly, Moses was buried by
God in an unmarked grave. Don't you know if people could
have found the grave of Moses Alan then had built a monument
to it. Oh, it had been something, I'll tell you. It had been glorious. God said, I'm not even going
to tell you where I buried him. In fact, you can go over the
book of Jude. Satan, he quarreled with the angel of God about the
body of Moses. Satan would love to find that
body and dig it up. And I'll tell you what he does
in almost all churches today. He's dug up the law and gets you to live according
to its commandments. And here's what Satan will tell
you. This is how you have assurance
of your salvation. You're living according to the
law. Nah! That's not right. Wrong! The assurance of our salvation
is not found in our obedience to any degree. The assurance
of our salvation is found in the Word of God and believing
that when Christ died for our sins, He put them all away. And He made us righteous in Himself
who is the Lord, our righteousness. What God has buried, don't try
to dig it up. dig up the bones of the law,
and then beat people over the head with it. You read 1 Timothy 3, it says
that the law wasn't made for a righteous man. Well, I'm living
under the law, preacher. Would you pay attention to the
Word of God? Number one, you can't live under
the law because the law doesn't give life, it gives death. You
read 2 Corinthians 3, it's the ministration of death and condemnation. That's what the law does. You're
not living under the law. If you're under the law, you're
dead. You're dead. We read in Romans, for sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, you're
under grace. We're dead to the law. Because you see, we died in Christ
Jesus. When he died, we died. We've always been in him. He's
our representative. He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant. And when He was nailed to the
cross of Calvary, when He died under the wrath of God, we were
in Him. And the law, the law is therefore
satisfied because it's already killed us in Christ Jesus. If you can get a hold to that,
it'll bless you. You'll find some sweet freedom
then. And you won't put up with legalistic
preaching. Galatians 5.18 says, but if you
be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Do words mean anything in the
Bible? You're not under the law. Not
under the law as far as salvation is concerned, not under the law
in sanctification, Christ is our sanctification. We were saved
in a mount called Calvary. And preachers say you're saved
in a mount called Calvary, but you learn to live by going to
a mount called Sinai. There's that sound again. I mean by that, no. Wrong answer. I'll tell you what, the love
of Christ constrains us. That's why I can say to people
who love the gospel of Christ Jesus, love the Savior, live
as you will. Because if you love the Savior,
you're going to love to honor Him with your life and in your
walk. Moses was buried. Here's the
third thing. Moses was buried, but his grave was sought after.
This was the era in Galatia. They said, except you be circumcised, you're not saved. Read Acts chapter
15 again. Paul and Silas came back rejoicing
in the goodness of God. God's saving sinners through
their missionary journey that came back Here comes some Jews
from Jerusalem and said, well, if they're really saved, they're
going to live by the law. In fact, they're not really saved
until they submit to living by the law. I tell you, Paul said,
them's fighting words. And they are. Because what you're doing is
introducing works and legal obedience into this business of salvation. And I'm going to tell you something,
that don't work. That'll profit you nothing. That'll leave you
with death. Paul said, let me get out of
my... So it was decided they'd settle
the issue in Jerusalem. First Sovereign Grace Bible Conference.
Man, one saying one thing, another something else, and then Simon
Peter, he stood up. He said, why you fellas want
to put a yoke upon people that our forefathers couldn't bear?
They lived in misery. And he said, here's what I say.
And everybody went, what's he going to say? He said, but we
believe that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall
be saved even as they. Not law, grace. Not law, grace. See, Moses died because God's
law can't save, it kills. It can't give life. All the law can do is kill you. You say, Jim, you're saying the
law's bad? On the contrary. It's good. Its demands are fair. Its penalties
are just. But it can't save. It can't sanctify. Never intended to. But here's
what sinful men do today. They substitute law for Christ. That gets you the death penalty
right there. I guarantee you. That gets you
the death penalty. That passage in Romans 7. The
law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. Ha ha,
see there? When I wait, I'm dead in Christ. It doesn't have dominion over
me. Grace has dominion over me. And over you, you're the Lord's
people. I'll tell you something else about Moses. He's wept over
by the people. They wept for him. We don't miss the law. I'm not
gonna weep over it, I'm gonna rejoice that Christ honored it
for me. I'm not under its precepts. It
has nothing to do with me. Because in the Lord Jesus, I
am made the righteousness of God in Him. Law's got nothing
to say to me, never has, never will. I'm gonna touch a righteous
man. You think you're good at two
shoes, Jim. No, I'm not good at two shoes.
But I tell you what, my name is the same name as my Savior,
the Lord by righteousness. He is my righteousness. And I
love that passage in 1 Corinthians 1, who of God has made unto us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Moses, you can look through the
rock, see the promised land, but you can't go in, you can't
lead the people of Israel in to that land of milk and honey.
But Joshua will. Jehovah who saves. Jehovah who
saves. You remember what the Lord said
to the Israelites? Nobody who is 20 years of age
and older, when they left in the exodus out of Egypt, nobody
20 years of age and older is going into the Promised Land. Well, at this point, there's
only three men. There's Moses, and Joshua, and
Caleb. And Moses isn't going in. But Joshua went in. His name means Jehovah who saves. And I tell you, somebody else
went in, Caleb, God's faithful dog. That's what his name means.
And when I think about them two men going into the land of promise
with all of those others who've grown older now, You know who they represent?
The Savior and the sinner. That's who's going in. That's
who's going into paradise. Who's them two men going yonder?
That's Joshua and Caleb. Jehovah who saves and his faithful
dog. And that's what we are. We're
his dogs. And Moses was succeeded by Joshua. Joshua, Jehovah who saved. And
the scripture says he's the son of Nun. You know what Nun means? N-U-N? Perpetuity, eternal, and
everlasting. Because our Savior is the everlasting
Son. of the everlasting Father. And with the case of Moses, he'll go on to glory. Let me ask you this. Put your
thinking caps on. I preached last Sunday about
the Passover lamb. Which came first, Passover lamb
or the law that pronounces everybody guilty? Well, I'll tell you, the Passover
lamb came first. The law pronounces us guilty.
But listen to me. Long before we ever became sinners,
we already had a Savior. the Lamb of God. He was slain
in eternity past for the people God gave Him in covenant love
and grace. And our Savior bore full responsibility
for saving those people, redeeming those people, reconciling those
people, perfecting those people, and bringing them all home to
glory. And saying to the Father, here
they are. Of all that you gave me, I ain't lost a one of them. Here they all are. Redemption was purposed first, then the law. You see, before
we ever sinned in Adam, we had a Savior in Christ Jesus. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Well, let's sing a closing song, 202.