Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20020818.htm

JESUS CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
Part V: Christ's Affinity To Moses And Our Fearful Need To Heed Him
(Deuteronomy 18:15-19 with John 6:1-14 and Hebrews 12:18-29)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

If we were to mention the need for a "healthy fear of Almighty God" in today's world, the response would generally be negative. God is a God of love if you believe in God at all, and the Old Testament God of judgment is thus allegedly to be viewed as outdated.

However, even among those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, the thought of "fearing God" is often seen to be offensive:

(1) Evangelical writers, J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh, in their book, Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be: Biblical Faith In A Postmodern Age, have claimed fearing God is almost an errant view, claiming "God's authority is not that of an implacable tyrant who demands blind obedience . . .'" (p. 185 as cited in Armstrong, ed., The Coming Evangelical Crisis, p. 38) They further criticize Christians who hold to an unquestioning obedience to God's Word, saying, "Indeed, in our experience, those who assert most forcefully an unquestioning submission to biblical authority avoid the odd angularity of the actual text of Scripture and refuse to struggle with our postmodern disorientation.'" (p. 176 as cited in Armstrong, Ibid.)

(2) More than once, I have asked Christians about the Scriptural authority behind a specific belief or action they have, and have witnessed them reply, "That's not important!" or "There are so many interpretations you can't apply Scripture with a dogmatic position anyway!" or "No, I'm not talking about Scripture -- this is my view!"

(3) Dr. John MacArthur's recent booklet, Why One Way?, p. 50 shares his concern of the view of God and His Word among fellow Christians when he writes: "Many modern evangelicals . . . are willing to give lip service to the truth of Scripture, but in practice they strip it of its authority, treating it as just another opinion in the great mix of postmodern ideas."



Are we to take Scripture SERIOUSLY and RESPECT the God of the Bible, or was that something only for ancient Israel at the special effects God supplied at Mount Sinai? Should we "fear" God today? Why or why NOT?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Since God no longer speaks to us out of the fire and quaking mount as He did to ancient Israel, do WE today have more ROOM to SIN and NOT take His Word SERIOUSLY? Why or why NOT!"
  1. Jesus explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies, Luke 24:25-27.
  2. As these men were edified by Christ's exposition of those passages (Luke 24:32), we also view them, following the list of prophecies named in the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, s. v. "Messianic Prophecies."
  3. The prophecy of Christ's SIMILARITY to MOSES reveals OUR FEARFUL NEED to HEED JESUS' WORD to US (as follows):
    1. God predicted He would cause Messiah to be similar in His ministry to the Old Testament prophet, Moses, cf. Deuteronomy 18:15a,b.
    2. When Jesus of Nazareth came and fed the five thousand, they noticed a remarkable affinity between His action and Moses' ancient ministry to identify Him as the Messiah predicted to be like Moses back in Deuteronomy 18, cf. John 6:1-13, 14.
      1. The people of Israel in Jesus' day would have remembered that Old Testament Moses had miraculously fed the nation meat and bread (manna) in the wilderness wanderings:
        1. God used Moses miraculously to feed the nation Israel the bread of manna in the wilderness in Exodus 16:1-36.
        2. God later used Moses miraculously to feed the nation Israel the meat of quail in the wilderness, Numbers 11:18-24a, 31-32.
      2. When Jesus then took five loaves of barley bread and two fishes of meat and miraculously used them to feed the five thousand in the country, they immediately identified Him as the predicted Prophet like unto Moses, cf. John 6:8-13, 14; Ibid., ftn. to Jn. 6:14.
    3. God gave this prediction about the Messiah, Jesus to reveal our fearful need to HEED Jesus' WORD to us:
      1. Moses' prediction about the Messiah's similarity to Himself arose from the nation Israel's terror at God's display of fire when He spoke to the nation at Mount Sinai, Deuteronomy 18:16-18:
        1. When God initially spoke to the nation Israel at the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, He used thunderings, lightnings, the noise of a loud trumpet and the smoking of the mountain that terrified the people into backing up a long ways, Exodus 20:18.
        2. They then asked Moses to speak God's words to them rather than be exposed to God's alarming communication, Ex. 20:19.
        3. In recalling this petition in Deuteronomy 18:16, Moses reported God had accepted their petition, Deuteronomy 18:17.
        4. In accord with their wish, Moses replied God would not only speak to the people through Moses in his day, but raise up the Messiah to speak with the nation when He came who would be similar to Moses, Deuteronomy 18:18.
      2. Well, the REASON God had used such terrifying special effects at Sinai was to cause the people to FEAR DISOBEYING Him so that they would not SIN and have to be punished, Ex. 20:18-20.
      3. Accordingly, though God would gently communicate through Moses and through the Messiah, Jesus as a man speaks to others, God warned He would hold Israel JUST as ACCOUNTABLE to RESPECT Messiah's WORDS as they did GOD'S words at Sinai with its TERRIFYING EFFECTS, Deuteronomy 18:19.
      4. Thus, WE must RESPECT the WORDS of the LORD JESUS CHRIST just as Israel was to RESPECT the WORDS of GOD at the TERRIFYING SPECIAL EFFECTS of Mount Sinai, and Hebrews 12:18-29 verifies this fact (as follows):
        1. In contrast to the terrifying special effects of the Old Testament Mount Sinai (Heb. 12:18-21), the Christian relates to Jesus in the much GREATER heavenly Mount Zion, Heb. 12:22-24.
        2. Hence, we must not refuse Christ's words, for we have a greater accountability to heed Christ than did the people of Israel, Hebrews 12:25, 26-28.
        3. Indeed, OUR God, the Lord Jesus, "is a consuming fire" Who is ready to discipline us severely for disobedience, Heb. 12:29!
Application: (1) If we have not done so, we must take seriously John 3:16 and trust in Christ to escape eternal judgment in Hell and gain eternal life. (2) Then, as a BELIEVER, we dare NOT assume the ABSENCE of frightening special effects of God's appearance at Mount Sinai means we can treat God's commands in Scripture in a LIGHT manner: our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is a consuming fire to DISCIPLINE US SEVERELY if WE disobey, so we must REVERE Him and HEED His Word!

Lesson: Though God no longer uses Mount Sinai's special effects to cause us to RESPECT and thus OBEY His word, His likeness to MOSES signals GOD holds US even MORE ACCOUNTABLE to take the Word of CHRIST, His Incarnate SON, very SERIOUSLY! >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 When the terrorist attacks occurred at the World Trade Center in New York City, a young man who worked there and fled the scene tearfully opened up to describe to reporters what he had experienced as he made his way home.

He shivered all over when recalling the life-changing events he had seen that day.

But amidst all the tragedy and terror he named, one event he mentioned has stayed with me and I can't seem to shake it.

He said that in one part of his effort to escape the Trade Center, as he descended the stairwell, he saw large groups of people jammed in the rush who were dutifully saying the Twenty-Third Psalm!

In the midst of the TRAUMA of the THREAT of a loss of LIFE, they were thinking about ETERNITY and their ACCOUNTABILITY to GOD, and were doing their BEST to adjust to GOD en route to what they viewed was almost inevitably certain death!



I remember thinking, "I am sure I would have been praying in such a time of crisis as well. But WHY? Why is it that we think about our accountability to Almighty God often only when we get into a crisis situation we cannot control? Why not live all of the time in respect of Almighty God?"



May we realize we are ACCOUNTABLE to the God of SCRIPTURE at ALL times, so we must NEVER take His WORD LIGHTLY. OUR God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of LOVE Who GAVE Himself on a cruel cross to pay for our redemption is ALSO "a consuming fire" Who is to be deeply revered and OBEYED!