Deuteronomy chapter 9. We began
last week and we looked at the first seven verses. I want us
to review just a little bit. When we study the Old Testament
scripture, if we study this chapter and the other chapters in the
Old Testament, one thing we need to be mindful of is that these
are examples to us. Some of them are bad examples.
Some of them are good examples. The children of Israel, as they
traveled through this wilderness, as they came into the land of
Canaan, the Apostle Paul said they are indeed examples unto
us. And he also said the things that
are written beforehand are written for our learning. What you and
I have been studying here in the Old Testament is written
for us, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures,
might have hope. They're physical battles They
fought. They took up a sword in their
hands and they had on their armor the bows and arrows. And they
fought these physical battles. But it's typical to us of spiritual
battles. What they fought in the flesh,
the battlefield now, mainly is in our minds. And one of the
first things that we learned here in Chapter 9 last week is
that Moses didn't pull any punches with these people. to the difficulty
that they faced when they got into the land of Canaan. He told them the truth as to
what they would face when they got there. That it would be difficult.
Look what he tells them again in verse 1 and verse 2. Here
in old Israel you are to pass over Jordan this day. You go
in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself. They were one nation, and they
were going to face seven greater nations than they were themselves. And not only that, but cities
that are walled, fortified, or fenced up to heaven. He said,
you're going to come up to those walls, and you're going to look
up, and you can hardly see the top of them. That's what you're
going to face. You're going to find yourself
scaling these walls that are fenced up to heaven. And then
in verse two, he said, a people great and tall, the children
of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say,
who can stand before the children of Anakim. These were giants. Some of them remained until the
day of David. Remember Goliath? I'm not for sure now. My memory
escapes me how tall he was. Somewhere around 11 foot tall,
I think. Can you imagine facing a man 11 foot tall? Weighs probably
500 pounds or so. Can you imagine that? And they
weren't clumsy men. I mean, they were agile. They were athletic men. Hard. Their muscles lacked steel. Can
you imagine facing a man like that? And they faced a nation
like that. And Moses didn't pull any punches,
and he didn't pull any punches as to how they were to gain the
victory when they got over there. He tells us here in verse 3,
look at this. Understand, therefore, this day.
that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee as a consuming
fire. He shall destroy them, and he
shall bring them down before thy face, so thou shalt drive
them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord your God hath said."
So one thing that this generation was to do that their parents
knew nothing about, and that was to trust and obey. The only
way they were going into the land of Canaan and take this
land and whip these mighty nations and scale these walls and thaw
these giants was to trust in the Lord and obey His voice. And that's what their parents
never would do. He had them right on the land of Canaan. Remember
that? Right on the border. And said, go in. Go in and possess
it. And they couldn't go in because
of unbelief. But these were to go in and fight
the battles. And they were to do it one way,
and that was by trusting the Lord and doing what He told them
to do. Often they have to learn this
by experience. You know, this is not something
we get a hold of immediately and then retain it. We're always
having to be reminded, if you're going to win these battles, there's
only one way to do it. Trust and obey. Trust and obey. They went across this Jordan.
Remember when they went to Jericho? The Lord told them exactly what
to do. They weren't to lift up a weapon against them. They marched around that so many
times. Then he said, blow the trumpets
and shout. And when you do that, the walls
fell down. They went in and spoiled the city. They trusted and obeyed
and got the victory. But what did they do to the next
little town of Ai? A little community of Ai. And
they said, well, no sense of all of us going over there. It's
just a small community. A bunch of us will go over there
and get together, and we'll whip them, subdue them, and we'll
be back before sunset. But somebody had sinned, didn't
they? Somebody did not do what the
Lord told them to do. Don't you touch this cursed thing.
Don't mess with their gold. Don't mess with their beautiful
garments. But Achan did, didn't he? He did. Trusting the Lord
and obeying His voice. They went over to Ai and they
whipped them, killed some of them. They come back crying and
weeping. We learn that lesson, don't we? We learn that lesson. Trust and obey. Sometimes the
believer's way is so difficult, his only avenue that he can take,
his only avenue that he has, is by trusting the Lord and waiting
upon Him. and listening to his voice for
instruction. He can't do anything else. I
want you to hold this chapter 9 and look over here in the New
Testament in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8. The battle has not changed. It's still a battle. Now it's
just a spiritual battle. And sometimes it gets very difficult.
The spiritual battle gets difficult. And just like these men and women
were in these armies of Israel, they had to utterly depend upon
the Lord. Their enemy was too great. They
were too strong. Paul gives us a good example
of this in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And look in verse 8. Look
in verse 8. 2 Corinthians 1.8. For we would
not, brethren, have you ignorant of our troubles which came to
us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above our strength,
insomuch that we despaired even of life." Now you can think about
that and imagine how he was feeling in his soul, in his spirit. He
had been overwhelmed. He said, I am utterly helpless. I am utterly weak to do anything
to help myself. Why? What had brought him there,
and why had he come to this place? Look in verse 9. But we have
the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so
great a death, and he doth deliver, in whom we trust he will yet
deliver us. Trust. Trust in Him and obey
in Him. Sometimes the Lord lifts us up
out of our trouble. We love that, don't we? When
we pray in the time of trouble and He lifts us out of it and
delivers us from it or changes the circumstances that we find
ourselves in. But He doesn't always do that.
Sometimes He leaves us right in the midst of the battle. And
He gives us grace, He gives us strength to continue to fight
until at last we overcome. Who is He that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ. Overcoming
this world that allures us, that attracts us. Who is He that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. And you know why we overcome?
because he's already overcoming himself. That's what he told
them back here in our text. He said, I'm going over before
you, and I'm going to deal with your enemies before you ever
get there. Well, Jesus Christ did that in the days of his flesh.
He said, in this world you shall have tribulations, but be of
good cheer. I have overcome the world. And he did, didn't he? Overcome
all temptations, He was tempted in all quite like as we are.
The next time you're tempted, remember that. He was tempted
and he overcame the world. And what did he do to Satan?
He put a wound to his head, didn't he? It was told all the way back
in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. Satan, you're going to bruise
his head. You're going to try to hinder him in the work that
he's come to do. But he's going to bruise your
head. This is what Revelations 12 says. The accuser of the brethren
is Casdan. How was he Casdan? Christ cast
him down. Upon the cross, they came on
him like a person would put on a garment. And the Bible says
he stripped him off. He stripped him off and he spoiled
him. He got the victory over them.
Put him down. which accused the brethren, the
accuser of the brethren, which accused them before God day and
night. What did he accuse them of? Well,
he accused them of a lot of things they were guilty of. Their sin,
their weakness, their infirmities. He mauled them. He made them
ashamed. He tried to get them to despair. He accused them before
God. He accused them in their own
conscience. But listen to this. They overcame
Him. They overcame Him. How did they
do that? By the blood of the Lamb. You
know what they did? Their faith was in the blood
of Christ. Their faith was in the marriage
of another. Another has stood surety for
me. I know I'm a sinner. Yes, I'm full of infirmities.
But another has stood surety for me. They believed in His
blood. They said His blood is made atonement
for my sins, and they overcome the devil. He wasn't able to
drive them to despair. The next time the devil comes
to you and tells you how ungodly you are, what an awful sinner
you are, how unworthy you are, don't argue with him. Tell him
that's true. But Christ Jesus' blood cleanses
us from all sin. He overcame them by the blood
of the Lamb, and listen to this, by the word of their testimony. What did they say in their testimony?
Well, here's what the Bible says they'll say. One shall say, in
the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified. In the Lord is my strength. In the Lord Jesus Christ is my
righteousness. In Him am I justified. That's
our testimony, isn't it? We're in Christ and we're complete
in Him. They overcome Him. by the word
of their testimony. Listen to this. This is another
way they've overcome. They loved not their lives unto
death. They found something more important
than living in the flesh. They found eternal life to be
more important. They found something more beautiful
and more glorious than to have saved. And that was the Lord
Jesus Christ. His glory. They love not their
lives unto death. And when Christ goes ahead of
us and overcomes our enemies, and this He did, when He puts
His grace in us, He'll bring our enemies down right before
our face. Aren't you amazed at yourself?
Aren't you amazed that knowing what you've faced up until now,
aren't you amazed that you're still on the way? that you've
overcome when you think, I'm amazed, aren't you, Thomas? I'm
amazed at myself. The more you learn about your
enemies, these walls and these giants, these mighty nations,
and you face them, little old you, and you're still on the
way, and you've not been destroyed, and you're still overcoming,
aren't you amazed? And it's because He in you, greater is He that's
in you than he that's in the world. God shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. Now we're fighting against you. But you know someday, very soon,
he's going to be under our feet. God's going to put him under
our feet shortly, shortly. And to believe this gives us
confidence in our Bible. It gives us thankful hearts and
a humble walk before God and before one another. To believe
that Jesus Christ came into this world And he went before us,
and now he's working in us, mindedly, to believe and face our enemies
and overcome this world and devils and the flesh and all our enemies.
And you know something else to believe this? It keeps us from
bragging. Look back in our text. Look back
in our text in chapter 9 of Deuteronomy. The Lord said there, you know,
When I've done this now, and I've brought you into this land,
I've brought your enemies down before your face. He says here
in verse 4, Speak not in your heart after that the Lord your
God has cast out before thee your enemies. For my righteousness
the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. Don't say
that in your heart. And boy, these poor Jews, they
were bad for that, weren't they? They were bad for it here, They
were bad for it when the Lord came. They were bad for it when
the apostle was preaching to them. They were ignorant of God's
righteousness. They were going about to establish
their own righteousness. Would not submit themselves unto
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had their
own righteousness, didn't they? To establish their own righteousness.
And that's what he was beating them off of here. Say not in
your heart. That's where the problem is,
isn't it? Say not in your heart. in chapter eight we looked at
back over in verse seventeen say not in your heart my power
and my might has done me this well now he says don't say it's
my righteousness and you know sometimes it takes some battles
it takes some battles boy it takes fighting some battles it
takes putting you through the heat of the war to bring us to
this place where we see our righteousnesses as filthy rags We come to the
end of our own strength. We have no wisdom. We have no
human gimmicks. And we see ourselves as utterly
weak and nothing. And then we what? We glory in
Him, don't we? We glory in Him. We're dependent
upon Him. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us, but unto Your name give glory. God forbid that I should glory
except in the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
one more thing. Look in verse 7 along this line.
And I think only a believer understands this. This is the language of
a believer in verse 7. Only a believer can understand
what this is saying. Remember and forget not how you
provoked the Lord by God to wrath in the wilderness. Look at this.
From the day that you departed out of the land of Egypt until
you come into this place, this very moment, you have been rebellious
against the Lord. He said, ever since I've known
you, when you were back in Egypt, even to this very day, you have
provoked God to anger. Now, why do I say only a believer
can understand this? because in and of yourself, all of your conscious life, as
you look back over your life, ever since you've been conscious,
all you have done is provoke God to destroy you. You've never
done a thing that was good. Everything we've done in and
of ourselves has been so sinful and so rebellious that We wonder
how God has not destroyed us before now. Don't we? Listen
to what the apostles say. In my flesh, in myself, dwells
no good. In my flesh dwells no good. We
are no good. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But you're not in the flesh but
in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of Christ
dwelleth in you. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, of whom I am sheep. Don't you feel that way
about yourself, even to this very day? Look over here. Hold our text again in chapter
9. Look in Ezekiel 36. A very familiar
scripture. The Lord is telling the prophets
here to write to the people and tell them there's coming a day
when He's going to give them a new heart and a new spirit. wash them, sprinkle clean water
upon them, and wash them from all their filth and all their
pollution. And He's going to put His Spirit
within them and cause them to walk in His stature. And then
in verse 31, Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 31, look how they
feel about themselves. Look how their whole attitude
has changed about themselves. Look what He said in verse 31,
Ezekiel 36. Then, after I've washed you from all your filthiness,
verse 25, after I've put a new heart and new spirit in you,
verse 26, and caused you to walk in my stature, verse 27, this
is how you're going to feel about yourself. Then shall you remember
your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and you shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and
for your abomination. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord. Be it known unto you, be ashamed
and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel." It sounds
like the same language that he's talking in our text, doesn't
it? Not for your righteousness sake, not for your goodness sake. Don't think it's because of anything
I saw in you that I've given you a new heart and a new spirit.
When you see that I've done this for you, you're going to be ashamed.
You're going to loathe yourself, and you're going to look at your
former life, and you're going to look at your iniquities, and
you're going to hate yourself. And you're going to address yourself
as the sinner that you are, and you're going to be amazed that
you're not under God's awful destruction and cast off into
hell already. Now, don't you feel that way
about yourself? You hear these people talking, they say, now,
I never was that bad. And really, today, I'm not too
bad a sinner. Oh, I'm a sinner, but I'm not
all that bad. Well, you know what the trouble is with people
like that? God has never taught them. God has never taught them. They don't know the nature of
sin. All they know about sin is something
you do with your hand or say where you live. They don't know
anything about the nature, their fallen, depraved, sinful nature,
their thoughts, their motives. They know nothing about that.
And because they know nothing about that, they know nothing
about the preciousness of Jesus Christ. They know nothing about
the preciousness of His blood. They have no concern to be robed
in His righteousness. These two go hand-in-hand, don't
they? They go hand-in-hand. You say, Bruce, you're telling
me that Christians just live like devils? They're out here
getting into all kinds of stuff. That's not what he's talking
about. In here's what he's talking about. In the heart. The nature is in the heart, isn't
it? The heart's deceitful. The old nature is deceitful.
And that's what he tells of you. From the first day I've known
you to this very day. To this very day. You've just
been rebels. That's all you are. Boy, that's what you say about
yourself, isn't it? Old wretched man that I am. And
you long to be free. who shall deliver me from the
body of this death. Here's a paradox. This is a paradox. The worse a man is in his own
eyes, the more scriptural reason he has to believe and hope that
Jesus Christ is indeed his Savior. The more wretched he sees himself
in his own eyes, the more scriptural reason he has to believe and
hope that Jesus Christ is indeed his Lord and Savior. And the
more reason he has to trust this, that the Lord will be with him
in the midst of his battles, and overcome in him and through
him, until he's made heaven his home at last. Satan sees our sin in us. He
tries to tempt us to despair. But the Lord shows our sins,
and what does he do? He teaches us to simply trust
the Savior. Trust his righteousness. Trust
his grace. But back in our text again, in
verse 8, Moses is going to tell them something here to further
humble them. I want you to look in verses 8 and verse 14. He
tells them this to humble them, not only for their sin of idolatry,
but for their gross ignorance. He spends a lot of time humbling
these people. I mean, just being frank with
them about themselves. You would think, going out to
battle, Fighting these enemies, you'd think he'd be trying to
pump them up. You'd think he'd be like George Brothers, you
know. Promotional thing, you know. What do they call them
when you try to pump everybody up? That's what you'd think he'd
be trying to do. But he's putting them down. You're
the sorriest bunch of people in this world. You're a bunch
of sinners. You're rebels. And if you'll trust in the Lord
and obey His voice, You will whip all those nations. You're
going to skin those wolves. You're going to call those giants.
Us? Yeah. But here in verses 8 through
verse 14, look at this. He's going to tell them about
a conversation him and the Lord had that they knew nothing about.
This is how ignorant these people were. This close to being destroyed
and didn't even know it. This is how ignorant they were.
Look what he tells them. He reminds them in the beginning
of verse 8. Also in Horeb, Horeb is Mount Sinai, where he went
up to get the law, you provoked the Lord to wrath. So the Lord
was angry with you to have destroyed you. When I was gone up into
the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of
the covenant, which the Lord made with you, then I abode in
the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither did eat bread
nor drink water. And the Lord delivered unto me
two tables of stone written with the finger of God, And on them
was written according to all the words which the Lord spake
unto you in the mouth out of the midst of the fire in the
day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end
of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two
tables of stone, even the tables of covenant. And the Lord said
unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence. For thy people
which thou hast brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves,
They are quickly turned out of the way which I commanded them.
They have made them a molding cast. Moreover, the Lord spake
unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is
a stiff-necked people. Let me alone, that I may destroy
them, and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will
make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they." And you
know, they didn't even know what was going on up there. Remember
what they were doing down there in the plains? They said, we
don't know what happened to this Moses. He's been up there now
for days and nights. He may be dead. They said, make
us a cab. We want our gods to worship. So Aaron made this cab and they
started dancing around and singing and shouting, these be thy gods,
O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. They were
having a good time. They were having a freshly revival. They had no idea. I'm going to
talk about that now. God was saying, I'm going to
destroy you. I'm going to destroy you. You
talk about foolishness. You talk about ignorance. They
didn't even know it. You're in verse 15 and verse
17 and verse 21. Here's what Moses did. He reminded them that he saw
it first hand. Verse 15, and came down from
the mount, and the mount burned with fire. The two tables of
the covenant was in my two hands. I looked, and behold, you had
sinned against the Lord your God. You had made a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly
out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. And I took
the two tables and cast them out of my two hands, and break
them before your eyes. And down in verse 21, I took
the sin, your calf, which ye had made, and burned it with
fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it
was small as dust. And I cast the dust thereof into
the brook that descended out of the mount." That's what he
did. Now, in verse 18 and verse 19,
he reminds them of the only thing that saved them from destruction.
Look at verse 18. I fell down before the Lord as
at the first. Forty days and forty nights I
did neither eat bread nor drink water because of all your sins
which you sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke
Him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger
and hot displeasure wherewith the Lord was wrought against
you to destroy you, but the Lord hearkened to me at that time
also. Well, Moses had a personal crow
to pick for these people. They had been so disrespectful
to him on so many occasions. They even touched stones up to
stone him different times. Remember that? They were going
to stone him to death. They said, who made you a ruler
and a judge over us? And you take too much upon you,
Moses. We're all holy. Are you trying
to set yourself up as a king? You want to be a prince over
us? You want to make yourself a big name? They had completely
misunderstood this man. He loved them, and it was only
because he stood between them and God that they were even spared. They said, you're trying to make
yourself a prince? You just want to be a ruler?
You just want to be a king over us? Well, he had the opportunity
to be a king over our nation, mightier than they were. And
what did he do? He turned it down. He turned
it down. He stayed up in the mountain.
If you can imagine this, 80 days, this man did not eat water and
did not drink water or eat any food. How in the world can you
survive 80 days without food and water? But he did it. 40
days, came down, went right back up, 40 more days. Why did he
do it? For them. He did it all for them. And he told the Lord, he said,
if you're not going to forgive them, blot out my name too from
their book. Ain't that what he said? Is that
not love? Just blot my name out. If you
blot them out, I don't want to exist either. Just blot me out.
Can you imagine how small these people felt when Moses was rehearsing
this day? You were dancing and partying
and had your religious Flashy experiences, and God was ready
to destroy you. But I stood in your place and
pleaded for you. Me, the one that you've mocked,
the one that you've tried to stone me for time, and accused
me of being self-serving. Self-serving man. I'm the very
reason that God didn't destroy you. And then he comes down here
in verse 25, and I want you to know some of the ways that he
pleads. You talk about immediacy. He's such a beautiful picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator between God and man. And brothers and sisters, how
often have you and I misjudged the Lord Jesus? What about when
we didn't even know Him? Didn't know anything about Him? He pleaded for us to end
it. When justice said, cut it asunder, it just cumbers the
ground, what did the Lord Jesus say? let me dig about it and
let me fertilize it. But look here how Moses prayed
in verse 25, And I fell down before the Lord forty days and
forty nights, as I fell down at the first, because the Lord
had said he would destroy you. And in verse 26, look at these
five things. I prayed therefore unto the Lord
and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people. or the amusing thing, somewhat,
when the Lord was angry with these people, he always called
them Moses' people. He said, your people. That's
you, brother. When Moses went to plead for
them, he said, they're your people. That's you, brother. And they
were the Lord's people, weren't they? He said back in chapter
6, look back in chapter 6, Moses remembered this. Look in chapter
7 of Deuteronomy. Look back here at what he said.
In verse 6. Chapter 7, verse 6. For thou
art an unholy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all the people
upon the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than
any people. You were the fewest. But because the Lord loved you. You're His people. He's chosen
you to be His people. It's pleased Him to make you
His people. That's a good prayer, isn't it? Lord, save your people in this
place. We often pray that, don't we? Save your people in this
place. So that's the first plea. Lord,
destroy not Thy people. I think that's the prayer of
the Lord here, don't you? I think you'll hear that prayer. He's
not going to destroy his people. And look what else he says in
the same verse. And that inheritance which thou
hast redeemed through thy greatness. These are redeemed people. Moses
pleaded this redemption. Look at the work, look at the
labor that the Lord God went through to deliver this people.
out of the land of Egypt. Look at all the miracles that
he accomplished. They were redeemed down there
at a great work, at a great cost on God's part. And Moses pleads
that. Look what you've done to get
your people out of Egypt. Are you going to forsake them
now? Are you going to redeem them and then destroy them? Far
be it from the Lord to do that. That's a good plea, isn't it?
Would God redeem a man at so great a cost? and then destroy
him? I don't think he would, do you?
Lord, remember, you've redeemed. Look at the blood of your son
that's redeemed. And he pleased their calling.
He pleased the Lord to bring them out. Which thou hast brought
forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord brought these
people out. He called them out of Egypt. And you know what the Bible says
about the callings of God. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. That means He'll never take you
back. He ain't going to call you out of sin. He ain't going
to call you out of darkness and put you into the kingdom of His
Son. He's not going to give you faith and repentance and the
gift of His Spirit and then destroy you. And that's what Moses was
pleading. After you've redeemed Him, after
you've called Him out of the house of bondage, now you're
going to destroy Him? And he pleaded that. And look
what he said in verse 27. He pleads something else. He
pleads covenant engagements. Notice what he said in verse
27. Remember thy servants, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. What do
you want to remember about them? Well, the Lord entered into a
covenant with these men that he was going to deliver their
seed and bring them into the land of promise. He said, Lord,
remember your covenant. The covenant you made with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. Boy, that's something. When you
go into the Lord's presence to plead, then this is something
good to plead. What God has promised that he'll
do. If he's engaged in himself to
do something, then plead it. Plead it. And look at this. I love the
way he says this in the last portion. He says, Remember Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And look not on the stubbornness
of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin.
Remember, remember who you made the covenant with. And don't
look upon us. Remember. Oh, and that's what we want is,
look upon your son, look upon his blood. When I see the blood,
and Wanda sang that song sometime, When he sees me, he sees the
blood of the Lamb. Look upon your son. Don't look
at my stubbornness. Don't look at my infirmities.
Don't look at my sin. Look at your son. That's what
he's pleading. And lastly, he pleads this, and
this is a good plea here. Look at this. Verse 28. Lest the land which thou broughtest
us out of, the land of Egypt, all those wicked inhabitants,
Lest they say this, because the Lord was not able to bring them
out into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them,
he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Well,
Moses counted this to be the high of the discouragement to
his heart, to hear somebody say, because God was not able. He
done asked the Lord to show him his glory, and he's seen his
glory. And anything that seemed to diminish the glory of his
God, boy, it just broke his heart. And he said, surely, you can
destroy this people. But he said, when you do, what
are you going to do to your great name? They're going to say, you
weren't able. You just weren't able. And boy,
the Lord hear him. The Lord heard him. the people
and brought them through the wilderness and now here they
are on the borders ready to go in and fight the battle. Because Moses stood in the gap
and made up their mind.