The Better Moses
Sermon Notes
Today, we are picking up in The Story will the book of Deuteronomy. We will be in Deuteronomy 18, if you want to turn there in your Bibles. The text will also be on the screen as we go. The title of today’s message is The Better Moses. The book of Deuteronomy is essentially one long sermon from Moses. It’s his last sermon to the Israelites because his time his drawing to a close. Because of his own sin and lack of faith in God in the desert, he will not be going into the promise land with the nation of Israel so he’s taking the opportunity to recount everything to them; all the things God has done, and the laws God has given to the people through Moses. That’s why there’s a lot of information repeated in Deuteronomy that we find in previous books. If you didn’t know this, the Bible is not all in chronological order. That really confused my kids the first time I tried to explain it.
The Bible can be a bit confusing sometimes (maybe a lot of times), especially when we start comparing the Old Testament to the New Testament. It can even feel like we are seeing two different sides of God that don’t seem to line up. But hopefully as we work our way through the Bible this year, we will see how it all fits together and that God is the same from the beginning to the end. And, how a lot of what happens in the Old Testament is a shadow of things to come in the New Testament. Have you ever seen a shadow that you didn’t know where it’s coming from and tried to figure out what was making it? You see the outline, but don’t get a lot of detail so it’s kind of a distorted picture of what it actually represents. That’s the case with a lot of the Old Testament, particularly with the Israelites, the law, and the prophets, including Moses. So, our goal for today is to study the shadow and hopefully you’ll see a clearer picture of what it points to. The Big Idea for today is that Jesus didn’t come to undo or outdo the work of the law and prophets, but to complete it.
Although it may seem like it, there’s not a sudden change of direction or shift in personality for God when we get to year 1 A.D. The same story continues and Moses himself confirms that for us in his last sermon. Let’s look at Ch. 18, vs. 15:
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!’ 17 Then the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name.
Moses says that a new prophet is coming, which was a big deal because Moses was a big deal. In the people’s mind he was the greatest prophet of all time. He met face to face with God and received the Ten Commandments. He led over a million people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, he built the tabernacle and established the whole sacrificial system. Everyone looked up to him, at least when they weren’t mad at him (that’s the joy of leadership right?).
But now he says someone else is coming who will speak the words of God and the people should listen to him. There’s a better Moses coming. And he reminds the people that this is what they asked for by referencing a request they made back in Exodus 20 (also Deut.5). When Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments what the people saw was a fire storm on top of the mountain. It was bright and loud and violent. When Moses came down, they said, “If that was God you were meeting with, we don’t want to go near him because we’ll die. You can talk to God and just tell us what he says. We’ll do it. But we’re not going near that consuming fire.”
God hears their request and tells Moses that the people are right. Their reaction to seeing God completely on track because he is a holy and powerful God! They knew they didn’t belong in his presence, and God agrees and basically says that the people don’t have enough faith to be in his presence, so just send them back to their tents. He’ll keep meeting with Moses.
So, here’s our first lesson from the shadows:
The Israelites had a trust problem.
They saw the power of God. They visibly saw his consuming fire. They felt the dry land beneath their feet as he rescued them from the Egyptians. They tasted the manna that came from the sky. They had a fear of God, but they still didn’t trust God. They weren’t connecting his power with his provision for them.
We saw this last week when the spies came back afraid to enter to the Promise Land because the people were too scary. What about the consuming fire that they were afraid to go near? Did they forget how God stood the water up in a giant wall so they could get across the sea? They saw what God was capable of, but they weren’t getting that he was doing all these things for them. They knew of his power, but they didn’t know him as a person. That’s why they were always getting mad at Moses, and multiple times tried to undermine his authority. It’s kind of ironic. On one hand, they said they wanted to know what God said so they could do it, but on the other hand they weren’t always happy with what they heard, so they rebelled. Their lack of trust in God led them to look for a different solution and leader. They wanted a better Moses or even a better god. It doesn’t make sense to us looking back, but we have the same trust problem.
How many times a week do you find yourself stressed out over work, or the budget, or school, and all fires that keep popping up? You may even read your Bible and pray, but it’s more like you’re giving God a blank stare and walking right back to the madness. We may believe God did all these great works in the Bible, but we have a hard time trusting that God can handle our day-to-day. And so, what happens? We start looking for a better Moses. We want someone or something to solve our problems and lead us back to comfort and safety. If you’re religious, you may lean into those practices harder, thinking if you can do better, life will go better. Or you may turn to the world, exploring the many promises it offers of a better life. This is what happened with the Israelites. Their lack of trust and belief in the person of God, led them to a distorted relationship with him; wanting to obey, but then rebelling. This is the second lesson we learn from this story:
2. The Israelites tried to put their obedience to God before their faith in God.
This is where we start to struggle with our understanding of the Old Testament. What did God want from his people? Was the law a list of dos and don’ts that if followed, allowed the people to be in good standing before God? Was it simply guidelines for living that God never really expected people to follow? Was it’s only purpose to show us how we could never live up to God’s standard and convince us we need God? Was the law was given to make us fail?
Going back to Deuteronomy 5:27, the people told Moses, “Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.”
They wanted to obey God, but their obedience was driven by fear and not faith. They saw what God was capable of and they wanted to be on his good side. That’s why they wanted Moses to just tell them what to do. Whatever it is, we don’t care, we’ll do it. We don’t want to die. We want to stay in God’s good graces!
But here’s the problem, fear doesn’t produce long-term results. It can be good at curbing our behavior for a little while, but it tends to have a negative effect below the surface. If my goal as a parent is to make my children afraid of me, they will obey at first, but eventually they will just grow to hate me, resent me, and ultimately rebel against me. That was obviously never God’s intent for the law.
The law was always intended to be a picture of God’s love. In Exodus 20:2, right before God gives the Ten Commandments he says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” He already delivered them, and it wasn’t based on their obedience, it was based on the covenant he made with them. God loved his people, and he wanted them to trust in him and his promises.
John Piper says, “The law never commanded anyone to try to merit his salvation. The law is based on faith in God's promises, not on legalistic strivings. The mistake of Israel was not in pursuing the law, but in pursuing it by works instead of by faith.”
So, the law was never meant to be a way to earn or keep God’s favor, but it was intended to be the way faith in God was lived out, which is primarily to love. It was a response to God demonstrated in action. Jesus said that the law and the prophets are wrapped in two statements, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The law was part of the covenant relationship built on God’s love, but that required faith. Faith has to come before obedience, otherwise our obedience is based upon fear and a desire to please, not a belief that God loves us unconditionally.
Unfortunately, the Jewish people had a really hard time wrapping their minds (and hearts) around this, and so do we. It’s much easier to accept a works-based system.
By the time Jesus arrived on earth there were over 600 Levitical laws the people were supposed to follow. Most of those didn’t come from God but were added by religious leaders over the years. I guess they wanted more ways to prove their loyalty, but it really just created more ways to fail. It became a highly oppressive and legalistic system.
I think in our minds we still like to subscribe to a performance and reward system. I mean, how many people believe in karma? Both believers and skeptics subscribe to the idea that if you do good, good will come back to you. As Christians we tend to pin that back on God. Do you ever feel like God is mad at you? Like he’s looking down at you shaking his head in disappointment? Or do you ever feel proud when you do good? Like Jesus is giving you a pat on the back for helping your neighbor? Or….. do you ever compare yourself to others? You’re doing pretty good compared to this guy, but then not so great compared to her.
Like the Israelites, we’re right to have a healthy fear of God; the Bible demands it. But a religious system built on our performance is destined to fail. We want to do good, we want to obey all the rules, but we can’t so it leaves us feeling like a failure. It’s a cycle that we are all familiar with. And as I pointed out earlier, it ultimately drives us to rebellion, which is what I think we see the most of in our current generation. Over time, the fear God has been replaced with doubt in the existence of God, which makes all the rules and religion seem irrelevant and oppressive. The response of society has been increasing rebellion and rejection of God and his Word.
All of this can make it seem like God implemented a broken, works-based system, but what we need to understand when we look back at the Old Testament is that there was never a problem with the purpose of the law but with the power of the law. The purpose was good, to guide God’s people in living out their faith. But the power for fulfilling that was based on people. People just like you and me. People who are controlled by our sinful hearts and fleshly desires, which leads us to twist and distort God’s good things. We buy into the enemies lies, and any good is quickly spoiled. Paul says in Romans 7:12-13,
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.
Our sinful hearts prevent us from having the power to carry out God’s law. It’s like filling up your car with dirty, watered-down gas. It might spit and sputter, but it’s just not going to have the power to go. For example, God tells us to have no other gods before him, but we are continually putting other things before God in our lives, which shows our lack of faith in him as the one true God. On our own, we are powerless to obey, because we have dirty, sinful hearts. This condition is exactly why we (along with the Israelites), don’t belong in God’s presence. We are unworthy and we will die.
This proved to be true even for Moses, the great prophet that met face to face with God himself. He didn’t have a perfect faith and he had a sinful heart. He stood before God as intercessor on behalf of the people. He acted in the role of priest, but ultimately, he failed. He didn’t have the power to fulfill the law either, and his punishment of not entering into the Promise Land was representative of our sin keeping us from entering into God’s rest.
But fortunately, God had a better plan from the beginning, and that’s who Moses if referring to in Deut. 18:
3. Jesus came to be the better Moses.
God knew that we needed someone to do everything that Moses (and the other prophets and priests) did, except to do perfectly, completely. The Israelites were right! We did need someone to go to God for us, to intercede, and no human would ever be able to fulfill that role. But Jesus was different. Jesus had the power needed. He wasn’t just another prophet, and he wasn’t just a great teacher. He was, he is the Son of God.
Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
This is why the doctrine of the incarnation is so important for us. For Jesus to fulfill the law, he had to be both fully God and fully man. He had to come in the likeness of man but be able to do what no man could do; love and obey God perfectly. This allowed him to become the perfect sacrifice. He was the only one who had never broken God’s law or demonstrated a lack of faith in God, therefore he was the perfect priest.
Here are some ways Jesus was like Moses but ultimately became the better and truer Moses:
Like Moses, Jesus was a Jew.
Like Moses, as a baby Jesus escaped a decree to kill infants in the land.
Like Moses, Jesus left his royal home to live among his people.
Like Moses, Jesus spent time in the wilderness before his ministry began (Moses 40 years, Jesus 40 days).
Where Moses stretched out his hand to part the water and deliver the people out of captivity and the oppression of Pharaoh, Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross to deliver us from being slaves to sin and subject to God’s wrath.
Where Moses gave the law that we would never be able to keep, Jesus fulfilled the law for us, and paid the penalty for our breaking it.
Where Moses, and the priests following him, offered countless sacrifices on behalf of the people, Jesus offered one final sacrifice. He became the sacrificial lamb and atoned for all our sins.
Where Moses lifted up the bronze serpent so the people could be physically healed. Jesus was lifted up on the cross so that when we look to him we are spiritually healed.
Where Moses entered the holy place behind the thick curtain to meet with God on behalf of the people, Jesus’ death on the cross tore the curtain in half so that we could enter the presence of God ourselves for all of eternity.
Jesus didn’t come to undo or outdo the work of the law and prophets, but to complete it. Our understanding of this truth really shapes our approach to God and his law.
We understand that we needed someone to intercede on our behalf. God is holy and we are not. He should be feared.
We see that God’s law was always built on faith, but our sinful hearts keep us from having the faith required to obey God.
We see that Jesus is the great high priest who fulfilled the requirements of perfect faith and obedience, but then also paid the price for our lack of faith and disobedience.
We see that when we put our trust in Jesus, it doesn’t automatically change our behavior so that we obey God perfectly, but it does change our heart.
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God said, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” Ezekiel 36:26
Notice that’s not just outward change, but inner transformation. No amount of rules or practices were ever going to save us. It was only ever going to come by faith in God and the power of Jesus changing our hearts. When that happens, the Spirit comes and lives within us, which then gives us the power to live out our faith in obedience to all that God wants for us. The way we live comes from a relationship instead of trying to live to earn or maintain a relationship.
Are you still looking for a better Moses today? Are you looking for someone or something to fix your problems? The good news is that we are no longer left chasing the shadow, but we can see the true figure that God was leading us to all along. Jesus is the fulfillment of everything you are looking for.
If you’re still caught up in a system of trying to be a good person and do the right thing so that God will love you, it’s time to start believing that God loves you first, even as a sinner. It’s not based on your merit and Jesus already took your punishment. Put your trust in Jesus so that your obedience will be faith driven, not fear driven.
If you don’t really care about God’s laws and the teaching of the Bible because they seem to oppressive and unimportant, then you might need a greater fear of God. He is real, and his judgement is coming. God said in Deut. 18:19, “I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name.” Rejecting Jesus is rejecting God, and there are eternal consequences for that. You will not be able to enter God’s rest. But the invitation is open, and the veil has been torn, so you don’t have to be left out.
There’s a great passage in Hebrews 12 that clarifies the hope we in Jesus and the promise of eternal rest we have through him.
18 For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, 19 to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, 20 for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear. 22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:18-24
The shed blood of Jesus and the new covenant means that we can enter God’s presence. Those who trust him will spend all of eternity celebrating his goodness, resting in his peace, and kneeling at his power.
To remind us of this, we are going to take communion together. The bread and the cup symbolize the body and blood of Jesus. Let this stir your heart with fear, brokenness, repentance, and gratitude.
If you have rejected these things up until now, we ask that you not partake in communion, but please know that you have the opportunity today to believe. If God is stirring your heart and you want to put your trust in him, then don’t let this moment go by. Respond. Accept these truths, commit to following Jesus, and then tell someone.
