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Deuteronomy 30:10-31:8

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7/2/1997
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Deuteronomy 30:10-31:8
Deuteronomy 30:10-31:8
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05 Deuteronomy - 1996

The book of Deuteronomy is the giving of the Mosaic Law to a new generation of Israelites at the end of their wanderings. Skip Heitzig tells the story of God's continuing grace to His people.

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Deuteronomy, chapter 30 is where we left off last week. A couple years ago when I met Charlton Heston, he was in town, it was difficult for me to think of him any other way except as Moses. [laughter] I was tempted to say, "Let my people go." [laughter] And he must get that from a lot of different sources. But there was an aura about him, because my introduction to Moses was as a little kid watching the Ten Commandments with Charleston Heston and that fake, goofy looking gray hair that they put on. But it looks that way now, but back then it's like, wow! almost a halo about him and the words, you know, that he spoke to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." And so when I saw him I thought this awesome figure of Moses was standing in front of me.

In reality, as we open up the Scriptures, we realize that Moses was a pretty simple character. In fact, when we really study him we get excited, because we think, "Man, if God used Moses, started when he was eighty years old." Now we think about our youth group over in Europe and in Mexico, teenagers, a guy doesn't start serving God till he's eighty and does a pretty good job of it. But a simple man, who makes lots of mistakes, now at the end of his life has a new generation of young people in front of him. And keep in mind, even if they're up in their sixties, to Moses they're all young people, because he's 120. And as Moses looks at this younger generation and sees the future of Israel in them, he commissions Joshua. He gives them a charge to take the land, to be strong, to believe, to go in and possess the land.

It's really an exciting portion of the Bible. Now, we do remember that Moses' life was divided up into three sections, three sections of forty years. He's on his last leg here. The first forty years he was groomed in Egypt in the courts of Pharaoh with a secular background, with a secular education, in a royal setting, the best that money could buy, being in line with the pharaohs of Egypt. So you might say that for forty years Moses tried to be somebody. Then at age forty something changed. It wasn't a midlife crisis; it was a tug of God upon his life. A forty-year-old man realizes, "This isn't enough. All that I have in Egypt, all of these possessions, treasures, future politically, isn't enough." Knowing that he is a Hebrew, he wants to visit his brothers, and one day he looks out and sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave.

It so angers Moses, Moses in the flesh kills the Egyptian, tries to hide the evidence. He is spotted by a Hebrew, gets in trouble. In the flesh he's trying to rescue his people. But what happens is he goes out to the desert in Midian for forty years, confined, you might say, to the desert, in the middle of nowhere, just counting rocks and horny toads. But it was during those forty years that God really worked in him, forty years breaking him, humbling him. You know, at first when he was forty years old, he thought, "I still have enough energy in me and enough know-how and enough political power. I can deliver the children of Israel. I'm going to kill this Egyptian and start taking charge," and God had to humble him. So for forty years Moses tried to be something. It took God forty years to show Moses that he was nothing.

And then when he's eighty years old he gets the call. And so the last forty years is a period in which God shows Moses that he can take nothing and do something with it. He's broken and now he says, "I can't do it. I can't speak. I don't have enough confidence. People are going to ask he questions I can't answer. Please, send somebody else." He's just defeated at the end of forty years out in the desert, and, yet, that's when it all begins. God takes nothing and makes something out of it. Those forty years of serving God we would put it very mildly if we would say they were tumultuous, they were very bumpy, very rocky. And now he's at the end of it. He's rehearsing the law. He has told them when God expects. He's told them what's going to happen, how they're going to fail God, but God will restore them and bring them back.

And there's a beautiful section in chapter 30 about this restoration beginning in verse 2. "And you return to the Lord your God and obey his voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God had scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed." "Fathers" being Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs. "And you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers."

A couple chapters back he predicted their failure, because they would not be faithful. Now he predicts their restoration, because God would be faithful. "God knows our frame," the Bible says, "that we are but dust." Doesn't that excite you? You say, "What? That I'm dust?" No, that God knows you're dust. And what can you really expect from dirt? [laughter] How logical would it be to look at a lump of dust and rebuke it? "You're not a good dump of dust. I expect more out of you." God knows our failures. He knows our weakness, and in advance predicts the failure of these people and the restoration of God to the land. In this restoration, which will be accomplished by God in verse 5, he predicts that they will be restored to the land.

Remember the covenant, the Palestinian covenant or the covenant of the allotment of land that was not predicated on their faithfulness, it was an everlasting covenant. In verse 6 this return would be accompanied by a work of grace within their hearts. "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, that you may live." Part of this return would also mean the judgment upon the enemies of Israel. In verse 7, "Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and persecute you. And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments which I command you today."

And then, finally, this return to the land will be accompanied by a great prosperity with the children of Israel. Verse 9, "The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as he rejoiced over your fathers." Now, there were several captivities even as God predicted. One of the most notable captivities happened in 722 BC. The kingdom now split north and south, the northern kingdom is taken captive by the Assyrians. So a whole group of people, just as God predicted, is displaced. They're taken out of northern Israel just north of Judah, the area of Samaria, all the way up to the north, taken out and moved to Assyria, ten tribes of Israel.

The Assyrians pose a threat, not only to the north, but to the south. The south lingers and for a period of time maintains its sovereignty. And it hangs on for a couple hundred years, but something else happens. In 586 BC the two tribes Judah and Benjamin down south in Judea, Jerusalem, and the environs thereof, are also displaced to Babylon. In 586 BC Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar his son with three successive attacks against Jerusalem take and move the people out. Not only that, since they conquer the whole known world, they take everything in Assyria, including the ten tribes. So now you have all twelve tribes in Babylon. Seventy years later they return to the land and it's great. They're in the land, they love God, they're excited that God has turned their captivity and restored their fortunes.

They grow, but then there are future problems as well under the Syrian monarchs, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Egyptian monarchs. They're still caught in between as the land bridge between Egypt and Mesopotamia, hassle after hassle. Then the Romans come and in AD 70 they have already occupied the land, but they kill a couple million of the Jews and take the rest captive back to Rome with them. Now this happens until 1948. And in 1948 something interesting happens: not only do you have people coming from Babylon or from Assyria or from Rome, you have a mass inflow from all over the world. "The Lord your God will bring you back." In 1948, I believe, was the beginning of a modern-day miracle when God started bringing back the Jews, not just from Assyria, Babylon, Rome, but from all over the earth.

And it's still happening. Ethiopian Jews, Jews from Russia, flooding into this tiny land mass the size of Massachusetts or New Jersey, this tiny little country with about six million people in it. I must have seen them all on this last trip as I was renting a car and driving; I've never seen so many people, so much traffic in my life. And, yet, with all the problems that creates, they are excited to welcome their brethren back home: "Come in the country, the doors are still open to Jews to immigrate from all over the world." In 1967 not only did the Jews have control of the land, but they took control of the city of Jerusalem once again, another prophetic milestone. So now they had the political, spiritual control of the city of Jerusalem.

The Muslims still had and have today the Dome of the Rock, the Temple Mount, but the Jews worship there at the Western Wall and they govern the area. However, today with all of the regathering of people from all over world, Israel is still a secular state, by and large. There are overtones of religion. Judaism still is the predominant religion, but you can be a devout atheist and immigrate to Israel if you can show your bloodline, that your mother was Jewish, that that is your background. You can make aliyah. You can return and go back up to Jerusalem, to Israel as a citizen. What's interesting about that is if you say, "I can prove my citizenship. I am Jewish, but I believe in the Messiah being Jesus," they won't let you back in the land.

You can be an atheist, you can be from an Orthodox Jew on down, but the lowest that you could get would be messianic Jew. They won't let you back in the land of Israel. And so you have a state that is receiving Jews from all over the world in fulfillment of the prophecy, but it's not a complete fulfillment. I think the ultimate restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel has to be at the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's the ultimate, because accompanied with their return will be a circumcised heart, a turning back to God, a restoration of all of Israel's fortunes. Israel is in the land, but, as you know, in a very precarious spot. All the time the news reports come about some new attack or some new government. Right now Syria is talking about when they would stage an all-out attack against Israel.

Damascus, news is leaking out, it comes out over their news, and they've already staged several different mock procedure attacks against Israel up in the north in their borders. And so they're waiting. If Syria attacks this could be really, really big, could be another major war in the Middle East. The ultimate restoration then, I think, to fulfill all of these verses will come at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Let me show you what I mean. Would you turn in the New Testament to Mark, chapter 13. Mark 13 is, of course, Jesus' Olivet Discourse, preaching from the Mount of Olives about the future of Israel. It's also in Matthew 24 and in Luke 21, but I'm having you turn to Mark 13, it's a little more succinct.

Mark 13 beginning in verse 24, "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Then he will send his angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven." There will be during the tribulation a gathering of the twelve tribes of Israel, 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe, preserved, marked by God during that period of wrath, kept by God during that time. And when Jesus comes again to set up his kingdom, his millennial kingdom upon the earth, he will rule and reign from the city of Jerusalem.

The Jews will be gathered, all those protected during the tribulation gathered from the four winds now to the city of Jerusalem, as we already discussed on Sunday mornings in the book of Revelation. Right now, well, we're dealing with a people, we're dealing with a nation that I think is the most blessed nation on earth, Israel. You say, "Why is it the most blessed?" The Scriptures came from there, the prophets came from there, the patriarchs came from there, Jesus Christ came from there. That's quite a pedigree. But it's also a nation that has seen the worst atrocities ever: six million of their number killed during the Holocaust, millions more at different epic periods of history. And now they're in the land, but there is blindness spiritually over their eyes.

Paul said in Romans 11, "I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, blindness in part has happened unto Israel, until the fullness of Gentiles be come in." Now right now, God is dealing with Gentiles. We're glad of that, because we are Gentiles. We are non-Jews. God has put on hold his future plan for Israel. He'll fulfill it. He'll bring them back to the land. They'll dwell in peace. There will be a kingdom age. But right now he's going out the all the nations of the earth, the farthest parts of the earth. And if you think Jerusalem as being the center, which all this starts from, we are the farthest parts of the earth. "And blindness in part has happened until the fullness of the Gentiles become in." When the Messiah comes, that's when you'll see the final restoration.

Now, it's interesting, if you were to take a modern Israeli in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Haifa, and ask them about the Messiah, you wouldn't have a consensus. Some believe the Messiah will be a person, others say, "Well, 'messiah' is really a mysterious term. It's a figure of speech. And it must refer to the nation itself. The nation itself is the messiah. The nation itself will be able to band together and pull itself up by the bootstraps and bring future salvation." Others will say, "No. The Messiah is a person, and when he comes, he won't die for the sins of the world, he'll come to free us from the oppression of our enemies," much the same mentality that they had at the time of Christ about the Romans, that he would overthrow the yoke of the enemies and set up Israel as preeminent.

But we know from predictive prophecy and from Jesus kind of showing its fulfillment here, that restoration requires the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus Christ comes, that's when the land will really be restored, and Jesus will reign with his people. Now I want you to turn to another Scripture, and that's Romans chapter 11. I want to underscore something because we start seeing it in Deuteronomy 30, this restoration promise of the land. God says over and over again, "You're going to sin, you're going to sin, you're going to sin. I'm going to kick you out a whole bunch of times, but I'll always bring you back." So you get the idea that their obedience or disobedience is not the factor that determines their occupying the land on a permanent basis. God promised them the land.

And even if they sin, God said, you know, "I'll take you to the woodshed," basically. "I'll discipline you and I'll spank you a few times. And when you cry out in repentance after I spank you, I'll bring you back." But God always promised to bring them back. Now, that covenant has not been changed, folks. To say, "Well, now that the New Testament has come, all of the promises to the Jews are over" is ridiculous, unless you rip out of your Bibles Romans 9, 10, and 11. If you can do that, then you can take the position that all of God's promises to the Jews regarding the land are debunked. And then I would just think in recent history we'd wake up just by looking at what happened: in 1947 the English Balfour Declaration, followed by the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, followed by the return of Jews from all over the world.

Up to that point there were lots of people saying, "Well, the promise of the Jew returning, it's all figurative. It can't be literal." In 1948 their mouths were silenced as they saw the literal fulfillment of those promises in the Middle East, the beginning of these promises coming to pass. And so in Romans 11 Paul says in verse 1, "I say then, has God cast away his people?" "No way, Jose." That's a paraphrase. [laughter] "Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 'Lord, they have killed your prophets, torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life'?"

And I don't want to read it all, so I want to take you down to verse 11 now. "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to Gentiles." When the Jews sees that we worship their God, it does something to them. It provokes them to jealousy. When I first went to Israel, and I worked on a kibbutz, and I brought other friends with me, and a team of us for months decided we're going to work the hardest than any volunteer from any country has ever worked on this kibbutz. After a few months they came to us and said, "Who are you?" "Well, we're volunteers from America." "Why are you here and why do you work so hard? Nobody has done this. We've never seen anybody do something like this."

And we said, "We love you and we love your God. We love the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who made promises to you and made a promise that through you would come the Messiah whom we follow." And the conversation was kindled up, because they saw the love that we had for them and for their God. And so salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. "For if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much for their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

"For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches." So you have no right as a Christian to say, "They blew it, and so we're grafted in, and they're toast. They're history. Those promises will never be for them." We can't boast against the branches. "Do not boast against the branches, but if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." You're boasting against that which supports you. Christianity is the fulfillment of the promises to the Jews.

It is not another religion besides Judaism, actually it is not a religion at all, it's the fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the patriarchs, the prophets, and so forth. "You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Well said, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and the severity of God; on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness. Otherwise you will also be cut off." Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 21 to the Jewish leaders? He said, "The kingdom of God has been taken from you and given to a nation bearing fruit."

Jesus said in John's gospel, "Other sheep I have that are not of this sheepfold, also they are the ones that I must bring in." He was speaking of the gospel going out to the Gentiles. But Paul makes it clear that the promise to restore the land, which requires the coming of the Messiah, will be fulfilled in the future. That is why, by the way, Christians have a heart for the Jews. I love the Jewish people, I love Israel, because of the God of Israel. There are quakings right now among some of the Jews and even in Israel, a national expectation of the coming of Messiah. Now, of course, we believe that the Messiah will come. It'll be a second visit; they believe it's the first visit.

But it's interesting to walk in the Wailing Wall area, the Western Wall area of Jerusalem and see these huge banners written in Hebrew, bright yellow, black letters. It says, "Make haste, the Messiah is coming," everywhere. And there's those ideas that the Messiah has to come. Listen to what one rabbi said recently: "Time is rushing on. God must take a hand in history as he did in the time of Moses. This is the time when Messiah will come. He might even come tomorrow." At the same time there's sort of a dissatisfaction among the Jews with Judaism, the traditions, the trappings. One said, quote, "We are living in an age where people want something a bit more tangible in their religion. They want touch. They want approach. They want to feel God.

"Judaism has always been very abstract. It raises more questions than it answers. The Jesus Movement has all the answers." We thank God that there are rumblings. We thank God that some of the Jews are being stirred to jealousy that we love their God, their Messiah. But the restoration of the land, which is predicted in chapter 30, must be followed or must accompany then the coming of the Messiah who will fulfill the promises that he made to the forefathers. Verse 11, "For this commandment which I command you today"---I love this---"it is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off." Some people love mystery. They love to cloud simplicity. God makes things simple and we love to put trappings around it and make it difficult. There were even the mystery religions that found their way into Christianity.

It wasn't always so simple, as we see in the book of Acts. You get to the second century and you get to Gnosticism, a group called the Gnostics. If you want to translate that into a modern vernacular, "the know-it-alls." [laughter] Gnosis in Greek means knowledge, to know, and they thought they were in the know, they had superior mystery knowledge that nobody else had. And unless you went through special rituals and rights and experiences like they did, you could never know all that they knew. So they took simplicity and mystified it. God says, "Let me tell you something, my commandments are not that tough. They're not so mysterious. They're not shrouded. They're not clouded." He simplified things. "It's not too mysterious for you, nor is it [far away or] far off.

"It is not in heaven that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and that we may do it?' " Late night, probably about ten o'clock, there's lots of shows on astrology or, you know, 1-800, 1-900 numbers that you have mediums or people who will, you know, look at the stars and tell you the future. That's an ancient Babylonian, pagan belief that has just continued, a superstitious belief that has continued into our era, the horoscope. It's paganism. It's Babylonian. The Tower of Babel, all the of ancient Babylonian religions, the ziggurats that were built were all built around the idea that the stars and the positions of the stars in the zodiac influenced life here on earth. So, "Are you a Leo? Are you a Gemini? What's your sign?"

When people say, "What's your sign?" I say, "The cross. That's my sign." I don't live under the superstition. You don't have to go out to the stars to figure out the will of God. It's not in astrology. "Who will [go out or] go to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and that we may do." Now, again, today there's people who think, "I can never be close to God unless I make a pilgrimage." "If I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, if I could step where Jesus stepped, if I could touch what Jesus touched . . ." Or, "If I could go to Rome and crawl on my knees down flights of steps to show my sincerity"; "If I could make a pilgrimage to Mecca, I'd be close to God."

When I first went to Israel, really, I gotta tell you, I expected an overwhelming sensation. I thought, "I'm going to go there, I'm going to step on the ground, and it's, like, tingles all over my body," [laughter] you know, I'm going to be---it'll feel otherworldly." I got off the plane, it's a hot day, they put me in the back of a pickup truck, took me to where I was going to work, worked on a kibbutz. Finally was able to make it to some of the holy sites: Jerusalem, Calvary, the Garden Tomb, the garden of Gethsemane. And it was neat, it was exciting to be there, but I felt cheated. I didn't feel any different. I didn't break down and weep. Now I looked and saw other people on tours and, you know, as soon as they walk into the garden of Gethsemane they would just break out in weeping and sobbing.

You know, "This is where Jesus walked," scooping a little bit of dirt or taking a rock. Or going to the Jordan River, and, well, you don't have to now, the churches there with sell you for about five bucks a little bottle of holy Jordan River water. [laughter] I came back home to my little apartment in Santa Ana, California. It wasn't that great of an apartment: small, dirty, all bachelors lived it in, surfboards on one side of the wall, PA equipment on the other, cockroaches in between, [laughter] and my roommates. And one evening I was sitting in my chair. I had my Bible open and I was praying and reading the Word, and I had an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. It didn't happen in the garden of Gethsemane. It didn't happen at the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.

It didn't happen on the Sea of Galilee when I bought a $5 bottle of holy water. It happened in a dirty little couch in Santa Ana, California. You see, there are no real holy places, there's a holy God who inhabits his holy people. It doesn't matter where you are. It's not like, "I've gotta go there, and then I'll feel close to God, then my life will change." Your life can change here tonight, right here. The presence of God, the Word of God, the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit is here to meet you in whatever condition you're in with whatever need that you bring. The Word of God isn't far. You don't have to go to heaven. You don't have to go over across the sea and pick something up. "But the word is very near you," verse 14, "in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."

Now you don't have to turn there, but listen to what Paul says in Romans 10 about this. He quotes that verse, puts a different spin on it. He said, "The righteousness of faith speaks this way, 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" ' " And then he puts his own commentary: "(that is, to bring Christ down from above) or"---quoting again Deuteronomy---" ' "Who will descend into the abyss?" ' "---his own comments---"(that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? 'The word is near you, it's in your mouth, it's in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confesses with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, with the mouth confession is made to salvation."

Tonight could be your night of change, to respond to the Word of God, to respond to the presence of Christ, to confess that you're a sinner, and to confess that he's your Lord, to believe in your heart your life can be absolutely changed. It's that close. Now back to Deuteronomy in verse 15, Moses continues. "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.

"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." Notice how gracious God is to boil it all down to the simplicity of two choices, not three choices, not, "Well, you know, there's life, death, and . . . ," not, "Well, there is heaven and there's nirvana and there's Limbo and there's Purgatory. There's a lot of options." It's life and death. And Jesus follows the same pattern, doesn't he? He says, "Enter into the narrow gate; for narrow is the way that leads to life, broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter therein." He said that there were two gates, two roads, and two destinations---that's all. And so God boils it down.

It's not a tough choice: life or death? blessing or cursing? "Well, blessing, of course; life, of course." Okay, then it's a narrow gate. You say, "What do you mean, 'It's a narrow gate'?" Jesus said, "Broad is the gate that leads to destruction and many"---or as many Greek translations say, "most enter therein." It's narrow because it's through Jesus Christ only. There aren't a lot of other options. There are no options. It's a narrow way, but it's to the whole world, whoever will come. But you have to come that way. And so God boils it down to two choices, then encourages the right choice. You've got life and death, "choose life." That's his heart. He's not aloof. "Choose life" is his encouragement. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today."

I was reading about an interesting building in the Midwest. I can't remember the city, some little township in the Midwest. There's a courthouse, I guess, high up on a hill with a pitched roof. Rain that hits the roof and falls on one side of the pitch goes into the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes. Rain that falls on the other side of the pitch goes to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Now those are two very, very different and separate destinations. But so close at the beginning, just a wisp of the wind one way or the other makes all the difference in a destination that is far apart one from the other. Could it because that tonight in a simple Bible study, in a Southwest town of the United States here in Albuquerque you can make a simple choice, the Spirit of God could blow you just enough one way to make the right choice that would lead to eternal life?

As heaven and earth would be witness with you or against you today. Or you could say, "No, I reject him," and blow the other way. It's that little choice that God is after, a life-altering choice. It's simple but it has profound implications. So, "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey his voice," and I love this, "that you may cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days; and you may dwell in the land to which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." That last verse to me sounds a lot like a marriage, a wedding. You know, a wedding is a culmination of a lot of choices.

First there's a choice to meet that girl on the other side of the room because she's cute. Then there's the choice to continue the relationship by way of a phone call and dinner. Then there's the choice to build that relationship upon good values and continue it. But there comes a point in the relationship where the friendship has blossomed into romance. And one night he says, "Will you marry me?" And she says, "Forget it!" No. She says, "Of course." [laughter] They've made several choices to have a covenant in place between them, but the ultimate comes at the wedding when vows are said publicly to love, to obey, to cling. And I always tell the bride and groom when we have weddings, "I want you to say 'I will,' not 'I do.' You say, "Why?" It's because "I do" is present tense; "I will" is present and future. It's permanent.

"And so I'm going to ask you a question, and as I ask you the question, I want you to listen to it. It's a very weighty decision. Will you have this woman to be your God-given wife in a covenant of marriage, will you love her, will you honor her, and forsaking all others will you live only unto her as long as you both shall live?" "I will." [laughter] "What?" "I will." "That's better." [laughter] It's a life-altering choice, isn't it? The covenant is in place with the people of Israel. Moses has rehearsed it over and over, their failures, their blessings in the future, their restoration. He's gone over the Law. He's put it in a nice compact form. And now it's like the final vows are given: "Cling to him. Obey him. Love him with all of your heart." That's what God is asking you tonight. Will you do that?

Will you have the Lord as your God-given Lord and Savior in a covenant relationship? Will you love him, will you honor him, and forsaking all others, will you live only unto the Lord Jesus Christ as long as you shall live? Moses is after that commitment. "And then Moses went and spoke all these words to all of Israel. He said: 'I'm one hundred and twenty years old today.' " Happy birthday. " 'I can no longer go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, "You hall not cross over this Jordan." ' " Sort of sad to see the last days of such a prominent person, the guy who wrote everything we've read so far, as far as the Pentateuch---Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy---a key figure in the Old Testament, the covenant by which they stand, the law of Moses.

And now Moses is about to pass from the scene. He admits it, and he says that "I'm not going to go in. The Lord told me, 'You shall not cross over the Jordan.' " I gotta say, I do feel sorry for Moses. Not now, I know where he's at. But to have put up with forty years of what he put up with, to accept the call at age eighty, now 120, those forty turbulent years of going from Egypt to the desert, to almost going in the land, to having the "No, we won't go." And having that whole generation die in front of his eyes, the stench of death every day for years. And now a new generation, he takes them to the precipice of the land looking over, and he goes, "I can't get in." What a drag. What a bummer. Why couldn't he go in? Well, there was a problem.

Now, listen, anyone who aspires to be in leadership, listen very carefully to why Moses couldn't get in. Moses brings in Numbers, chapter 20, this newer generation when they were up-and-coming to Kadesh. Once again they're at Kadesh. Remember what happened at Kadesh? He sent in twelve spies: ten said, "No way, Jose"; two said, "Let's go," but they never did. Now they're back at the place where the rebellion took place at Kadesh. It's like déjà vu for Moses: "I've been here before. I don't like to be here." While they're at Kadesh, complaining starts again, new generation: "What did you do, bring us out here to die? There's no water, Moses." He's heard those words before. It's a famous refrain. It's been a song that they've sung for years. [singing] "Where's the water? Where's the bread?" [laughter]

And he's the guy that has to answer to the tune. So he says, "God, you hear them. What do I do?" He says, "Just go over to the rock, speak to it, just talk to that big dirt clod and water will come out." But Moses goes over to the rock and he gets angry, red, flustered, takes his rod, holds it up, and he says, "Must we bring water from this rock?" First he goes, "You stiff-necked, stubborn, disobedient creeps." It's basically his sentiment. [laughter] "You're so stubborn. I've had to put up with you for years. Must we bring water out of this rock?" And he hits it. Water gushes forth and waters them. And then God has to have a private staff meeting with Moses. [laughter] "Moses, I'll see you in my office." [laughter] In God's office he says, "Moses, you're not going to enter the land."

Reason number one, he disobeyed. That's all. He disobeyed God. God said, "Go talk to the rock." He didn't obey. Why? His emotions took charge. Emotions are very important. You can never deny them. God gave them to you for a purpose. But emotions out of control can cause you to sin, and they caused Moses to get angry. Is anger a sin? Not always. The Bible says, "Be angry." It's a commandment. You say, "Well, I fulfill that commandment every day." [laughter] No. "Be angry and sin not." "Don't let the sun go down on your wrath." There is a righteous anger. I get angry when I see how the devil dupes people, and I see their sinful lifestyle, because they've listened to him and they're trapped by it. And I get angry with what the devil has done and the deception and what sin can do.

Now, I can let my emotions take control. What if I walked up to the guy, and he's caught in something, and just started beating him? I just started hitting him. That would be an out-of-control emotion. That's being angry and sinning. But he disobeyed God in getting angry and hitting the rock. Number two, he elevated himself. He said, "Must we bring water . . . ?" What? "We"? Is there a mouse in your pocket, Moses? [laughter] How are you going to do a miracle? I don't think the water is coming from you as a source, but from God. But now he kind of, you know, elevates himself. "I'm a leader here. Me and God, you know, we're like this." And how many people I've met, "God told me to tell you . . . ." It's like just you and God, nobody else. God doesn't speak to anybody else, just you, and nobody's hearing him.

He elevated himself. He was denied entrance to the land. Number three, he misrepresented God. God wasn't ticked off at them. But when you see Moses flustered and beating the rock, the representative of God getting angry, God said, "Moses, you misrepresented me in front of the people today. I have compassion on them. You displayed something that wasn't my heart." Now let me say to those of you who counsel other people. Let me say to those of you who are in leadership, those of you who are pastors or kinship leaders, and you're so excited that you have an edge on biblical truth. Be careful. It's not what you know, it's not just the truth that you speak, but Paul said, "Speak the truth in love." It's the manner in which you share it.

I know some people all they care about is being right. And they are right, but they're dead right. There's no life. There's no compassion. There's no love. "I'm right! You're in sin. Repent!" "Thanks for the counsel. I feel so encouraged and built up. [laughter] Remind me never to come back." [laughter] So, be careful pastors, counselors, kinship leaders, that you represent the heart of God. Moses didn't do it. And Moses said, "I'm 120 years ago old. I can't get in," overlooking the land. Moses admits two things, notice: "I'm old." Why is it that we get so weird about disclosing our age? "How old are you?" "I'm 120." "Man, I'd think---man, you look great. That's a compliment, you know, to know you're 120. You don't look, you know, a day over 119." [laughter]

Number one, he said, "I'm old"; second statement: "I'm done." I think it's a great announcement to Israel. "I'm 120 years old, and I've done what God called me to do. I've brought you to this place. Joshua is going to take you from here on out. Joshua, come on in." That's what's going to happen. There's a changing of the guard. But Moses admits that he's done. Now God has something for your life. God has crafted you. He's put gifts and talents and a calling on your life. I hope that you make one of your strong, major pursuits in life to find out who you are, what God has called you to do, what gifts he has given you. And let me go further on to say that you are, in my opinion, invincible until God is finished with you.

Case in point, Revelation, chapter 11, the two witnesses do miraculous signs, a great, great representative of God during the tribulation period. What does it say afterwards? "When they finished their testimony . . ." then fire comes down and destroys them or they're destroyed.---the Antichrist can prevail over them, excuse me, and destroy them. They are killed. When? "When they finish their testimony." When God is done with them, it's over. Isn't that cool? God has a work for you to do and you'll be here till God's finished with you. You walk in obedience to him, you don't have to worry how long you're going to be here. Whenever---till God's done with me. Now when God is done with you, it's time to leave. And, you know, think about it, when God's done with me, there's no reason to hang around.

When God's finished with my life and my testimony, and only he knows, who wants to stay knowing what's up ahead? It's not like, "No, I don't want to go. I don't want to go to heaven. [laughter] I don't want to enjoy eternal peace and freedom without physical pain. And, no, I don't want "no tears" and all that stuff." You don't? Hey, when it's over, go for it. "I'm old. I'm done. I've fulfilled what God has called me to do." "The Lord your God himself crosses over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the Lord said." Changing of the guard. Moses, 120 years old, forty years of solid ministry. What's encouraging to me is this: the most productive part of Moses' life was the last third.

If any of you are entertaining the thought, "Oh, I'm just---I don't have the energy to serve. God couldn't use me. I'm past the prime. I hear about these teenagers going overseas. I cannot. I'm old now." You've only just begun to live. You say, "Oh, but I'm in my sixties, I'm in my seventies, I'm in my eighties." Moses just was getting started. Some of God's people's most productive years are their latter years. They've learned lessons. They've got wisdom that young whippersnappers don't have, because of their being so impetuous and stubborn. They're tempered. They're graceful. That's why the Bible says, "The older women should teach the younger women." The older men should teach the younger men.

And there are groups, not only in kinships, but some of the men that meet during the week, and the older training the younger, and the women the same. Think of Billy Graham, just the last couple years he's had---well, he's already preached to more people than any living human being in history. But the last couple years, with his Parkinson's, he's reached with his global satellite thing the whole world, millions of people, billions at one time in a series of messages. I think of Roy Gustafson---who, by the way, will be here next month---he's way up in his eighties. And I said, "Roy, I'd like you to come out and speak." He goes, "Can't do those Sunday mornings. I can't do three of them." Now he used to love---he could to five, six, seven, eight, ten. But, "I can't do them." So I said, "Come and do a midweek."

Now last time he spoke here, he went back home and had triple bypass surgery or quadruple bypass surgery. Had several strokes, got surgery done, as soon as he was recovered two weeks later, went to Africa---just like the Eveready Bunny. [laughter] John Wesley after riding 250,000 miles in his lifetime on a horse to preach the gospel, after 4,000 sermons, he still preaches at eighty-eight. Well, he did. He preached when he was still eighty-eight years old. Mr. Penney of the Penney Corporation, J. C. Penney, that was his name. He was ninety-five years old, still put on a suit and tie, went to the office. He was a devoted Christian and raised up other Christian businessmen influencing the world for God. So, "One hundred twenty, had the best time of my life since I was eighty, and now Joshua."

"And the Lord will do to them," verse 4, "as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when he destroyed them. The Lord will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I commanded you. Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, he is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, 'Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people.' " I hear in that a---it's, "Well, you have to do it, Joshua. I know you don't want this job, these people. You know their history." Oh, did he know their history. [laughter]

He was one of the two guys that came back to Kadesh after spying out the land and said, "It's a good land. Let's take it," he and Caleb. And because of the witness of the ten who caused unbelief in the rest of the nation of Israel, they didn't go in the land. And so Joshua and Caleb had to wander for forty years through that desert. "And now, Joshua, you have to do it." So that's why he says, "Be strong and of good courage. You're going to need it." [laughter] " 'You must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he is the One who goes before you.' " There's your strength. " 'He will be with you, he will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.'

"And so Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them saying: 'At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all of Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses, you shall read this law before all of Israel in their hearing.' " I think I'll wait till next week to really finish the chapter, and then we want to move toward the end of the chapter. The last chapter is only twelve verses, and the other two chapters are the song of Moses that we can just read through. Interesting, Moses is 120 years old and God has one last job for him. Guess what it is? Write a song: "Your swan song will be what you write, Moses."

And it's a song that everybody else has to memorize. And they will teach their sons and daughters, and every generation will remember the song of Moses. It says, "Because when they sin against me, they'll remember the words of this song, and it'll be an indictment against them." They'll be singing their history. We will talk more about that. But let's just close with this whole concept of Joshua taking over. " 'And he is the One who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave nor forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed." God has a commission for you. It might look overwhelming. Or you might think, "Well, if I ever stepped out and did something like go overseas to the mission field, or if I ever got involved in leadership in this capacity, I don't know if I could do it."

Know that if ever God gives you a calling or a commandment, he gives with the calling and commandment the power to fulfill it. He doesn't say, "Do it," and then leave you without the equipment. Just as much as if you were to say, "I'm going to join the army and go overseas to fight," they would give you a gun. Right? They would give you a tank. Would it be odd if this army said, "You're in the army now, but you have to buy a tank. It's two and a half million dollars on sale down the street. Maybe you can raise the funds at church." [laughter] They'll provide you with the equipment. They'll give you what you need. God says, "Moses, tell Joshua this," but then he says, "The Lord's going to go with you." Joshua does successfully fulfill the role of a leader.

There are some secrets to his life. Let me just leave you with a few that you can chew on. Number one, meditation. It comes in Joshua, chapter 1. God says, "Joshua, you shall meditate on this law day and night, that you may do it. And I'll prosper you in everything you do." So he was to meditate on the law of God. First and foremost, if God calls you to something, make sure that you meditate on Scripture. You say, "I don't have enough time." Make time. No two ways about it---make time, carve the time, get up earlier, stay up later. Trim your lunch and go in your office for a few minutes or something---meditate on the Word. Seven days without reading the Word makes one weak, W-E-A-K. You'll be weakened without reading the Word. Meditation; secondly, adoration. We get that secret in chapter 5 of Joshua.

Before the battle of Jericho the captain of the Lord's army appears to Joshua. It's some apparition, because Joshua takes off his shoes and worships this being. And many theologians say it's a Christophany, an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. He calls himself the one in charge of the battle. And Joshua humbles himself in worship and says basically, "Hey, it's your battle. I'm second in command. You're really the general." So there was a period of worship before the battle. He's going into the land, but meditation on the Word, adoration. Public victories are always preceded by private visits with the Lord. Meditation, adoration; third, action, action. God gave him a command, he musters the God-given strength, and he goes for it. He doesn't stand at the brink of the Jordan River and say, "Okay, God, open it first and then we'll go."

He commands the priests to put their feet and start walking in the water that is yet unopened. And when they walk by faith under Joshua's command, then the waters part. Joshua doesn't stand on the edge of Jericho saying, "Okay, God, why don't you make the walls fall down, then we'll know it's you." No. You march, you go around, you blow the trumpets, and then they'll fall down. So he moved into action. He put his faith into action. Meditated on the Word, adoration of his Lord, and he stepped out in faith with a promise of God and he saw victory. The Lord is with you. He's with you this week. Whatever you face tomorrow, whatever you face on Monday, whatever you face in terms of any situation, the Lord has gone and will go before you. You're guaranteed the victory.

For more teachings from Calvary Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig visit calvaryabq.org.

Additional Messages in this Series

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12/22/1996
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Deuteronomy 1:1-33
Deuteronomy 1:1-33
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12/29/1996
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Deuteronomy 1:34-3:29
Deuteronomy 1:34-3:29
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1/5/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 4:1-49
Deuteronomy 4:1-49
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1/12/1997
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Deuteronomy 5:1-15
Deuteronomy 5:1-15
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2/2/1997
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Deuteronomy 5:16-6:9
Deuteronomy 5:16-6:9
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2/9/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 6:8-8:11
Deuteronomy 6:8-8:11
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2/16/1997
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Deuteronomy 9-10
Deuteronomy 9-10
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3/2/1997
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Deuteronomy 11-12:13
Deuteronomy 11-12:13
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3/9/1997
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Deuteronomy 13-14
Deuteronomy 13-14
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3/16/1997
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Deuteronomy 14:22-16:8
Deuteronomy 14:22-16:8
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4/6/1997
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Deuteronomy 16:9-17:20
Deuteronomy 16:9-17:20
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4/14/1997
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Deuteronomy 18-20
Deuteronomy 18-20
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4/20/1997
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Deuteronomy 20-21
Deuteronomy 20-21
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5/4/1997
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Deuteronomy 22-23
Deuteronomy 22-23
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5/25/1997
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Deuteronomy 24-25
Deuteronomy 24-25
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6/8/1997
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Deuteronomy 26-27:3
Deuteronomy 26-27:3
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6/11/1997
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Deuteronomy 27:4-28:20
Deuteronomy 27:4-28:20
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6/18/1997
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Deuteronomy 28:15-68
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
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6/26/1997
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Deuteronomy 29-30:8
Deuteronomy 29-30:8
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7/9/1997
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Deuteronomy 31:9-32:22
Deuteronomy 31:9-32:22
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7/16/1997
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Deuteronomy 32:23-34:12
Deuteronomy 32:23-34:12
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There are 21 additional messages in this series.
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