So when Todd was talking this
morning about the eternality of God, and at a loss for how
to describe Him, and you know, it's a subject we'll never exhaust. Never exhaust it, right? And
I was saying to some of you today, that's what's going to happen
tonight. Am I too close here or something? We're going to look at Deuteronomy
34. And as Todd said, there's a lot
there. I've looked at it, and every
time you look at it, it gets bigger. You look at it some more,
and it gets even bigger. You look at it some more, and
you get overwhelmed by it. And it's deeper and higher. And I think this was Joe Terrell.
I don't know if it was Joe Terrell comment or somebody else that
said, it's kind of like getting dropped off in the middle of
the ocean. We're not going to be touching bottom tonight. We're
just going to be dog paddling around and taking a look at some
of the things that are here. As our pastor has said so often,
and I believe this to be so, that God will meet you on the
grounds that you approach Him. He'll meet you on the grounds
you seek to be accepted by Him. And the law that we read about
in the scripture, the law that we see described in this book,
it's eternally inflexible. and it constantly breathes out
condemnation toward you, unbeliever. It does. You seek to be, you
know, you that desire to be under the law, are you listening to
it? Do you hear what it says? Is that what you want? But for you who have been born
of God's Spirit and who know your acceptance by God, to be
owed to the life of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's law is dead and has been
buried. Turn to Deuteronomy 34 and In the interest of time, I intended
to read the chapter, but we won't. We'll just take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 34. In this
chapter, Moses is a picture of the law. He represents the law, he's a
type of the law, and throughout Moses' life, when you think about
him, you know, you think about his character, Moses was full
of zeal and indignation against sin, wasn't he? And I think it's
interesting when you consider his life, there we see him born,
I think it's in chapter 1, but in chapter 2, the very first
thing that is recorded of Moses. The very first thing in the scripture
is we see him killing an Egyptian who had smitten an Israelite.
It's the first thing we have recorded of him. He was indignant
against sin. And recall in Exodus chapter
32 when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, immediately after
coming down from Mount Sinai, he saw Israel worshiping a molten
calf. and there was parting around
it, and his anger waxed hot. And he cast the tables that he
had in his hands out and broke them. And he took the idol that they
made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and subsequently
took that, put it in some water, and made the children of Israel
drink it. And very shortly after that, if you look at it, you
think about this one who was indignant and zealous against
sin. He shortly right thereafter killed
3,000 people who were involved in that idolatrous act. You know, Moses, we were told
in the Scripture, he was meek, but he's not somebody anybody
in here would want to cross. I imagine he was a pretty After the exodus from Egypt,
and after passing through the Red Sea, and after 40 years of
wandering through the wilderness, Moses was going to be shown the
land of Israel. Or the land of Canaan, I'm sorry. As we know, he wouldn't enter
into it because of having smitten the rock in the wilderness a
couple of times rather than speaking to that rock. Moses here, look at Deuteronomy
chapter 34 and verse 1. Moses here went up from the plains
of Moab. They were at the end of their
journey in the wilderness. They're in the plains of Moab
and he went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of
Nebo, to the top of Pisgah that is over against Jericho. And
the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali,
and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of
Judah unto the utmost sea, and the south and the plain of the
valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar." You look
at verse 1, the scripture says that Moses went up unto the mountain
of Nebo. And this event that took place here, his
going up to this mount was not a random act. Moses was commanded
to go there. He was purposed to go there by
the will and by the Word of God. And what was to take place when
he got there when he reached the summit of Pisgah was predetermined
and foreordained. Let's flip back a chapter to
Deuteronomy chapter 32, and this is not really sure how much prior
to this event this was, but this is him having received instruction
to go up there. Look at verse 48. And the Lord spake unto Moses
that self same day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain, Abiram,
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 a possession. And die in the
mount, whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people,
as thy brother Aaron died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto
his people. God purposed Moses' end. He purposes all our ends, but
this particular man's life is special. I'm lost for words. How do you describe, you know,
God and what He's done for His people? But this is special. He purposed Moses' end. And remember, Moses is a picture
of the law here. Moses being on this mountain
was ordained of God to bring glory to God as that one, the
only one, who could bring an end to Moses' life, who could
end the law. From Mount Nebo, Moses would
be permitted to see Canaan. We just read that, right? He'd
be permitted to see it. But he would not and could not
lead Israel to possess it because he would die there. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter
34 and look at verse 4. And the Lord said unto him, Moses,
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 there. As we just read, he wouldn't
go over there because he was going to die at the top of that
mountain. Look at verse 5. So Moses, the
servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according
to the word of the Lord. This is an allegory of what took
place on Calvary. On Mount Calvary, when that handwriting
of ordinances that was against the believer, that law that's
contrary to us, was charged to Christ and taken out of the way,
being nailed to His cross. It may have had a glimpse of
God's heaven, but it could not and it would
not bring any to enter God's kingdom, because it was going
to die there on Calvary. Look at verse 6. And he buried him in a valley
in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor. He, the Lord, buried
Moses in a valley. And I think it's interesting
that none of the nation, you know, the scene is They were
in this wilderness in the land of Moab. Moses ascends to this
mount, dies there, and there was none of the children of Israel
that would have any involvement in putting an end to Moses' life.
None of them. And none of them would have any
involvement in his burial. Moses went up to Mount Nebo alone. How do we know that? Well, had
any Israelite gone with him, then they would have known where
his sepulcher was, right? But we see in verse 6, if you
look at the end of this verse, it says, No man knoweth of his
sepulcher unto this day. He went up there alone. And the Scripture is clear that
God buried him. They were the only two on the
top of this mountain and because Moses didn't return, Israel never
saw him come back down. Nor did they ever hear him ever
again say, Thus saith the Lord. Never heard that again. So because he didn't return and
they never heard from him again, they had to receive by faith
that he was dead. And that another, that being
Joshua, was to be looked to as that one who would lead them
into the promised land, into Canaan. Moses was the servant of the
Lord. But his life as a servant had
come to an end. His purpose had been fulfilled,
that of pointing to Joshua. And just as none of those Israelites
in that time had any involvement in Moses' death or his burial,
you know, those of us, you know, God's people, none of us have
had any part in putting an end to or bearing God's law. You
can't do that. We were shot up to it. It was against us. And I can't know except by faith that God in Christ put an end to the
law. That's what the scripture says.
I believe it. God in Christ put an end to the
law and the believer's perfection and acceptance before God is
in Him. You have no part of putting the
law away. Our acceptance is in His obedience
to that law from the time He was born until the time He said
it is finished. He kept it perfectly in His life. And for those that God has chosen
and given to Christ, Their debt had to be dealt with,
and Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for those people,
for his chosen, for his Israel. And because of what Christ has
done, God's accepted him, raised him from the dead. And when you
consider all these things, were they not to, just as Moses was
instructed and purposed to go up to the top of that mountain
by the word and the will of God, isn't that how Christ came into
the world? Purposed to come into the world by the will and the word of God,
ordered to bring And these things were ordered
for the purpose of bringing glory not to you, not to me, but to
Christ. And it's no coincidence that
that event where Christ was dealing by himself with the law took
place on a mountain. Look at verse six. It says that
that he buried him. God buried him in a valley. Christ
himself. Christ himself held a funeral. For this one whose life he ended,
he ended it. And he held held a funeral for
this one. this law, this exacting and demanding king, whose proclamations
for perfection were relentless and against all in its legal
kingdom, put an end to it. And he held a funeral for it.
You think about the definition of a funeral, when I was thinking
about this, I was like, well, I had to look it up. It's interesting,
though, that by definition, a funeral is a ceremony. for respecting,
honoring, and remembering the life of one who is now dead. Jesus Christ, as the believers
substitute, is the only one who respected God's law. You haven't. I haven't. He's the only one who respected
it. He's the only one who honored it. He's the only one who loved
it. His actions proved his love for
it. He kept it in every detail. There's
things in God's law you and I don't even know about. He kept them. We've all seen funeral processions
which include a very large number of cars, you know, line of cars,
and to be sure, I would say that most of us have seen the pomp
and the circumstance that surrounds a nation laying one of its presidents
to rest, right? This funeral procession? This
funeral procession? was a procession like none had
ever seen nor will ever see. And there were only two people
there. But you think about it with your
eyes of faith. If God's given you faith and
you think about it with eyes of faith and a heart of faith, I see one of the most glorious
scenes I've ever seen. How do we know, first of all,
that a procession took place? Well, we've already established
the fact that Moses died on the top of a mountain. The scripture
says that he was buried in a valley. And I'm not well studied in geography, but
it did take the time to kind of look and see. I mean, there's
at least a few miles distance between these places. And just
think about that. In this procession, the Lord
Himself, the Sovereign of the Universe, the King of Kings,
the God of all glory, is seen carrying Moses in his arms from
the top of Nebo all the way down to that valley. Anyone ever have a more dignified
pallbearer than Moses? And I think the fact that this
was done in a valley, and these are some of the things where
you say, man, you could go off on this and you could spend multiple messages talking about
what took place in that valley. But suffice it to say that this
speaks to Christ having gone to the lowest hell to do away
with the law. For you, believer, I also see in this procession
a myriad of His people. Weren't we in Him? Haven't we always been in Him?
From everlasting to everlasting? So we weren't there physically,
but now for those of us, like I said, that have eyes of faith,
we can see Him doing this. I see Him doing this. Every believer was there in Him.
And the heavenly host silently observed as Christ respectfully
and carefully and lovingly laid the law to eternal rest in that
valley. Is that not the most glorious
scene? The law being done away with and abolished In that ballet,
Christ laid to rest this pedantic pedagogue, this schoolmaster
who was overly obsessed with minute details, this very formal schoolmaster. He carried the
handwriting of ordinances that were against us to the grave,
and he laid him there, and he left him there. Look at the end of verse 6. It
says, "...no man knoweth of Moses' sepulcher unto this day." And
this speaks to the inability and insufficiency of Moses to
lead Israel into the Promised Land. He could not lead them. He was in a sepulcher. He couldn't lead them. He was
dead. And he could not be found That's
what it says, no man knoweth of his supplicator to this day,
and nor will he ever be found. He would never again be heard
making any proclamations to the nation of Israel. And God's law
is unable to save us. It only condemns. It's a ministration
of condemnation. And what Romans chapter 3 says
is that, "...therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight." But for that one who looks to
Christ, thanks be to God. Christ came, He kept God's law,
He fulfilled it. He abolished it. And he buried it. It cannot be found. Nor will it ever be found, and
it'll never rise again. It has nothing to say to the
believer in Christ. What's the law got to say to
you, believer? Nothing. In Him, the believer has kept
God's law perfectly. Every jot and every tittle of
it. in Romans 10 is said to be the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. He is. Look at verse 7. Moses was a
hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not
dimmed nor his natural force abated. Moses' strength of mind body
and intellect had not decayed, nor had any of his memory or
judgment. Moses wasn't weak. He wasn't feeble. He wasn't withered. He wasn't wrinkled. He hadn't
lost any of his vigor. As a matter of fact, he was,
as a young man, in the prime of his days. That's what this
is talking about. when it says that his eye was
not dim nor his natural force abated. He would have been the
most fit man in this room. And to think about it, he must
have been, right? He climbed from the plains of
Moab to the top of Nebo Without any help, we've already established
he went up there alone, didn't need any help. 2700 feet above sea level on
the last day of his life. What's the point? The condemning
nature of God's law? You want to seek to be accepted
by God on the basis of the law? It's condemning nature never
weakens, it never wanes. You, unbeliever, cannot stand
before it. It condemns you. You, believer, you can stand. In all of its
strength, though it's not weakened or waned, in all of its strength,
we can stand before it in Christ. He rendered perfect obedience
and conformity to it, and in Him God's law has been kept.
It has nothing to say to those whose confidence and faith is
in Christ and looks to Christ as a substitute. The law is satisfied
with you. When Christ put an end to the
law on Calvary, He dealt with it in all its fullness, all its
strength, all its indignation against sin, all its zeal for
righteousness. He dealt with all that, not some
weakened version or watered-down version of the law. He rendered complete satisfaction
to the justice of God for everyone he represented. So thinking about
these things, if Moses was in his prime when he met God on
Mount Nebo, how then did he die? I was thinking about Ryan because
when our Sunday school class and we were going over this,
this was I appreciated his question, you
know, because he was listening to how fit and, you know, vigorous
Moses was. And he said, well, Clary said,
so how did he die? I told you it was a very good question.
I told him I was going to answer that tonight. It is a good question. How did
he die? I can almost hear Moses saying
to others, something similar to what Abraham said to his young
men just before that scene where he went up to Mount Moriah to
offer Isaac. Remember he said to them, you
know, y'all wait here while the lad and I go yonder and worship. Prior to ascending Nebo, Moses
may have been heard saying, abide ye here while I go yonder and
die. And just as with Abraham and Isaac and Mount Moriah, there
was no struggle here on Nebo. On Mount Moriah, Isaac willingly
submitted to his father's instruction and laid himself on that altar
to be sacrificed, didn't he? He did. And here on Mount Nebo,
there was no struggle in Moses' death either. There's no malicious
act that took place. Moses and God? There's no malicious
act. These two were friends. In Exodus chapter 33, you don't
need to turn there, but in Exodus chapter 33 verse 11, it says
of the Lord, the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh
unto his friend. So when they were up there together,
there's no malicious act that took place. They were friends. God loved, Christ loved the law. Look at Deuteronomy, you're in
Deuteronomy 34 and in verse 5, see Moses the servant of the
Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of
the Lord. And when the scripture says that
Moses died according to the word of the Lord, that is something
that has been interpreted by some that he died by the mouth
of the Lord. And when I think about that,
it reminds me of that portion of scripture in Psalm 85 where
it says, righteousness, the law, and peace, the prince of peace,
have kissed each other. When you or I say goodbye to somebody
that we truly love, what takes place there? If you're like me,
it includes a kiss. And I can't imagine, because
I've not been in a situation where this This one that you might be ready
to say or saying goodbye to. Let me say it like this. What is
that goodbye like when you know the one you truly love is about
to die? If I say goodbye to somebody
I love, I give them a kiss. What's that like if I know they're
going to die? And the point that I'm trying
to make here is Christ predetermined the death
of the law. He ordained it. He predetermined
the death of the law. He loved He loved God's law,
and on the cross, he kissed it goodbye. Believer. Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. The law is dead. You're not under
law. You're under grace. And I'll wrap this up. try to
do it briefly by looking at verse 9 here. Because, and there's
so many, I mean there's the typology, I mean the things that the Lord
is showing us in this one chapter of scripture are so rich, we
could camp here and never exhaust it. Joshua, in verse 9, the son of
Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his
hands upon him, and the children of Israel hearkened unto him
and did as the Lord commanded Moses. I'm going to try to explain this
as succinctly as I know how. Turn over to Numbers chapter
27. In Numbers chapter 27, And beginning in verse 12, it
said, The Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this Mount Abarim,
that was the range, that was the mountain range that the ridge
of Pisgah was on, that, where Nebo was the summit. And the
Lord said to Moses, Get thee up into this Mount Abarim, and
see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.
And when thou hast seen it, Thou also shalt be gathered unto thy
people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered, for you rebelled
against my commandment in the desert of Zin. Skip down to verse
15. And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the
God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
which may go out before them, and which may go in before them,
and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in,
that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep, which have
no shepherd. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom
is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him. And in verse 20,
And thou shalt put of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation
of the children of Israel may be obedient. And so in back in Deuteronomy
34 where, in verse 9, where it is said that Moses had laid his
hands upon him. I'm not, I don't know, we're
in so far over our head here it's ridiculous. But I think
that, you know, that kiss goodbye or that embrace,
you know, in a very typical or figurative sense. You know, Moses,
you know, laid his hands on God and embraced him when the Lord
kissed him goodbye. And, you know, there's some,
the symbolism here to me is that, you know, this was a transfer,
you know, where Moses at one time was the leader and the commander
in chief for the nation of Israel, and now Joshua was that one who
was uniquely qualified, you know, to govern Israel moving forward,
and this laying on of the hands, there's this transfer, if you
will, of governorship, you know, and I would say this, you know,
it's that this new Commander-in-Chief, you know, Christ, our Joshua, has a new policy It's not a ministration of condemnation,
but it's an administration of grace. God saves all who trust Christ's
faithfulness in loving, respecting, and honoring the law. Don't you
look to it. Look to Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for an opportunity
to look into Your Word and ask that You would honor Yourself,
Lord, at all times in this place for Christ's sake and for His
glory. We thank You and praise You in
His name. Amen.