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man the title my sermon this morning is Jesus in the book of Deuteronomy Jesus and the book of Deuteronomy now if you're wondering what happened to Jesus in the book of Numbers I had preached that on Friday night in Jacksonville Florida one of my kids said to me this morning hey people are gonna think that you couldn't find Jesus in the book of Numbers Jesus was all over the book of Numbers I preached a seven-point sermon about Jesus in the book of Numbers but this morning I'm gonna preach on Jesus in the book of Deuteronomy and I'm actually just only gonna focus on one point this morning because I don't want to have any repetition with previous sermons you know obviously in previous sermons on Exodus Leviticus and Numbers I talked about things regarding animal sacrifices the manna the water from the rock and different things and some of those things are reiterated in the book of Deuteronomy but I want to focus on this one prophecy that is unique to the book of Deuteronomy because it is such an important scripture regarding Jesus Christ and it begins there in verse 15 if you look down at your Bible it says the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken according to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire anymore that I die not and the Lord said unto me they have well spoken that which they have spoken now if you remember this is when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai and he actually spake to the whole congregation of the children of Israel with an audible voice they all saw the fire burning in the mount and they heard God's audible voice and they were so terrified they were so afraid by that they said that they wanted it to stop you know a lot of people today they just wish that God would just speak directly to them you know and I just wish the sky would open up and and God would just speak to me well that happened at Mount Sinai and people didn't like it all right it was too terrifying it was too so they basically told Moses they said look you just you go talk to God and you tell us what God said and so Moses goes up into the mount and he receives the Ten Commandments he receives all the other Commandments and so forth so that's what he's referring back to but it says in verse 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him now this prophet I'm gonna prove to you from the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ the prophet that's going to be raised up and what the Bible is showing us here is that God spake to us in a way that we can relate to and understand by basically sending the Lord Jesus Christ a human being to speak unto us just like they would rather have Moses talk to them than God himself from Mount Sinai the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us as a human being okay and that's what Jesus is now he's like unto Moses obviously he's far greater than Moses but Moses is a foreshadowing of Jesus now let me show you this in the New Testament go to Acts chapter 3 we're gonna come back to this but go to Acts chapter 3 Acts chapter number 3 this is something that the apostles used in their preaching in the early days of Christianity they would refer back to this Deuteronomy scripture about Jesus so go if you would to Acts chapter 3 verse 20 the Bible reads and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began look at verse 22 for Moses truly said unto the fathers a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people yea and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days that's another scripture right there in verse 24 showing us that all the Old Testament prophets all the Old Testament scriptures are all pointing us to Jesus they're speaking of these days he says now go to chapter 7 of the book of Acts this is where Stephen is preaching in Acts chapter 7 look at verse 37 it says this is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him she him ye shall hear so multiple times in the New Testament the Bible is specifically telling us that Jesus is that prophet that Deuteronomy 18 was pointing to now if you would go back to John chapter 1 now this makes sense that Jesus would be that prophet because remember Jesus is called the Christ okay Jesus Christ Christ is the Greek of Messiah which is the Hebrew term but both of those terms simply mean anointed okay so if you remember in Acts 4 it says against the Lord and against his Christ and it's a quote of Psalm 2 which says against the Lord and against his anointed well the two types of people that are commonly anointed throughout the Old Testament are kings and priests right the high priest is anointed and kings are anointed but also we have an instance in the Old Testament of a prophet being anointed you don't have to turn there you go to John 1 but I'll read for you from 1st Kings 19 verse 15 it says and the Lord said unto him go return on the way to the wilderness of Damascus and when thou comest anoint Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu the son of Nimshai shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Mahola shout thou anoint to be prophet in thy room so Elijah anoints Elisha as a prophet so this is another reason why Jesus is Christ because he's anointed as the king of the Jews he's anointed the king of kings in fact he's also anointed as our high priest Hebrews chapter 4 and he is also anointed to be that prophet not a prophet as Islam would teach but the prophet that prophet that should come into the world look if you would at John chapter 1 I'm going to show you people were expecting this prophet I mean people had read Deuteronomy 18 and they were expecting this prophet to come into the world it says in John chapter 1 verse 20 and he confessed this is John the Baptist he confessed and denied not but confessed I am not the Christ and they asked him what then art thou Elias and he saith I'm not watch this art thou that prophet and he answered no so they're asking him well if you're not the Christ and if you're not Elijah are you that prophet are you that Deuteronomy 18 prophet and he says no I am not that prophet and then it says in verse 22 then said they unto him who art thou that we may give an answer to them that sent us what sayest thou of thyself he said I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet as I is and they which were sent were of the Pharisees and they asked him and said to him why baptizes thou then if thou be not that Christ nor Elias watch them bring it up again neither that prophet John answered them saying I baptize with water but there stands one among you whom you know not he it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shoes latched I'm not worthy to unloose these things were done in Beth Abora beyond Jordan where John was baptizing and so if you would flip over to John chapter 6 John chapter number 6 notice John the Baptist said you know I'm not that prophet because Jesus is that prophet and he said he that cometh after me is mightier than I and he said he is preferred before me for he was before me and of course we know that John the Baptist was three months older than Jesus but he said no Jesus was before me why because Jesus Christ goes all the way back he was in the beginning with God and he was God Jesus Christ the son of God has always existed and he didn't just come into existence in Bethlehem's manger he was before John the Baptist because he is divine he is God look at John chapter 6 verse 14 then those men when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did said this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world so again people were thinking about this they were looking for this and they identified Jesus as that prophet then in verse 15 it says when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king he departed again into a mountain himself alone now go back to Numbers chapter 12 Numbers chapter 12 fourth book of the Bible is Numbers so you might think to yourself well what is so specific about this prophet I mean maybe in Deuteronomy chapter 18 when he said a prophet shall the Lord raise up unto you of your brother and like unto me him shall you hear you know maybe that's just talking about all the prophets that he raised up you know he's constantly lifting up prophets from amongst the people and and there were all kinds of prophets that came and went but that's not what Deuteronomy 18 is talking about Deuteronomy 18 is talking about a specific person that's how the apostles preached it and the reason why they interpreted it that way and understood that is because he said that the prophet would be like Moses and we have to understand that Moses is not just an ordinary prophet Moses was a special prophet just like Jesus would be a special prophet even greater than Moses obviously look down at your Bible in Numbers chapter 12 verse 6 and he said here now my words this is the Lord speaking to Miriam and Aaron if there be a prophet among you I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house with him will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold where for then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed so you can see from the scripture that Moses is not just another prophet or an ordinary prophet he was a special prophet because God did not speak to him in the normal way that God speaks to prophets in a vision or a dream but he actually spoke to him mouth to mouth face to face as a man speak it with his friend so this helps you understand what it means when the Bible says that a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me he's going to be like him in that sense now flip back if you would Exodus chapter 33 Exodus second book in the Bible Exodus chapter 33 while you're turning there I'll start reading in verse 9 and it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses and all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend and he turned again into the camp but his servant Joshua the son of none a young man departed not out of the tabernacle so the Bible again mentions the fact that the Lord speaks to Moses face to face now of course we do know that Moses did not see the Lord's face because he was speaking to him out of the cloudy pillar the Bible says OK the Lord spoke with him out of the cloudy pillar so there was a veil there in that sense that's why it says in the same chapter if you jump down to verse 20 and he said thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live and the Lord said behold there's a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock and will cover thee there with my hand while I pass by and I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen so when he spoke to Moses face to face quote unquote it was mouth to mouth as a man speaks to his friend but there was the cloudy pillar there veiling the Lord's glory but that's different than the Lord spoke to other prophets because he spoke to him as a man speaketh to his friend now that's what Jesus was like as well I'm not going to belabor this point but I'll I'll read you a few verses on this if you would just flip over to Hebrews 3 and while you're turning there I'll read you a few verses on this the Bible says in John 6 46 not that any man have seen the father save he which is of God he hath seen the father okay so basically he's saying not that any man has seen the father because remember even Moses was told thou shalt not see my face no man can see my face and lip he said it's not that any man has seen the father but he said except for one exception he that is of God he hath seen the father he's referring to himself there he that came down from heaven of God he came out from the father he has seen him obviously Jesus had seen the father and spoken face to face with God the father there's no question about that he said in Matthew 11 27 all things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him so Jesus is the mediator between God and man he has seen the father he knows the father he came out from the father he was in the beginning with God the father he was God and he was there in the beginning with God and so the son of God has that unique relationship with God the father okay and so he spoke face to face with God in heaven and that's similar to Moses in that sense so when Moses spake mouth to mouth face to face with God which was unique he said a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me him shall ye hear and of course that's what the similarity is that's one of the similarities now look if you would in Hebrews chapter three we'll see Jesus compared to Moses in the Bible Jesus being compared to Moses in Hebrews chapter three the Bible reads where for holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house for this man talking about Jesus was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who has builded the house hath more honor than the house for every house is builded by some man but he that built all things is God now this is a very powerful passage on the deity of Jesus Christ I mean if you have any doubt about whether or not Jesus Christ is God whether or not he is divine this is a powerful scripture to prove that because he says the difference between Moses and Jesus Jesus is to Moses as the guy who built the house is to the house this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he what builded the house has more honor than the house and then he goes on to say every house is builded by some man but he that built all things is God what's he saying there he's saying that the creator of Moses is Jesus Jesus is the creator Jesus is God he who made all things is God Jesus created the whole world according to Colossians chapter number one now of course we know Jesus is not God the father he's the son but God eternally exists as God the father Jesus and the Holy Spirit these three are one and so the Bible here is telling us that Jesus far exceeds Moses but he's still comparing him to Moses he's like Moses but obviously he far exceeds Moses because of his divinity Moses was just a human being okay and the Bible says in verse five and Moses barely was faithful in all his house as a servant so here's another difference right Moses was faithful as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after meaning that he was a picture of foreshadowing of what would come after but Christ as a son right so Moses as a servant Christ as a son over his own house I mean the house belongs to him right Christ as a son over his own house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end so we see that Jesus is strongly in the book of Deuteronomy because of this powerful prophecy if you would go back to Deuteronomy chapter 18 about that prophet that would come into the world the prophet like unto Moses now with all that in mind now that we understand how significant this is and we see how the apostles use this to preach about Jesus and we see how there's a strong comparison between Jesus and Moses he's that prophet that's like Moses okay now let's look back at this passage in Deuteronomy chapter number 18 the Bible says in verse 15 the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken of course Jesus Christ is born of the tribe of Judah he's born an Israelite he so he's born of their brethren he's like unto Moses it says in verse number 16 according to all that thou desires of the Lord thy God we already talked about that jump down to verse 17 and the Lord said unto me they've well spoken that which they've spoken I will raise up I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him and that's something that Jesus said over and over again that he's speaking the things that he received of his father the things that the father commanded him to speak and that's what he says and it says in verse 19 it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him but the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I've not commanded him to speak or that shall speak in the name of other gods even that prophet shall die so the penalty for impersonating the Messiah or pretending to be that prophet or really just pretending to be a prophet of God when you weren't was death because God takes it very seriously when people lie about him. I mean what could be a worse thing to do as a person? What could be a more rotten thing to do than to claim oh yeah this is what God told me and to claim to speak in the name of God and you made it up out of your own heart and you're lying about God? I mean there's nothing more despicable there's nothing more disgusting and so God rebukes that sharply there. Now here's what sets the book of Deuteronomy apart from the other books of the law because you've got those first five books of the Bible right Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy what is the point of the book of Deuteronomy? In fact the name Deuteronomy literally means the second law so why go over things a second time? Why do we need the book of Deuteronomy? Well Deuteronomy is totally different than the other books because the other books are written from the third person okay and you know when you read books some books are written in the third person and some are written in first person right? So third person is he, him, they did this, they went there and then first person is I did this, I went there, me, my and so forth. So when you read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers it says you know God did this, Moses did that, they went over here but when you read Deuteronomy you start out in chapter one you notice the difference right away that it's actually Moses speaking. So the whole book of Deuteronomy is from Moses' perspective. He says I did this and I went there and I told you this and you guys provoked me at the waters of Meribah. So the book of Deuteronomy is different because it's Moses actually doing the talking, it's a first person narrative, it's a Moses point of view of the story and it goes over a lot of the same things. Now let me show you how much Jesus is like unto Moses because remember that prophet that should come into the world was going to be like unto Moses. So I've got a list here of parallels between Moses and Jesus, ways in which Jesus was like Moses, 19 things in fact. Number one, both Moses and Jesus were born in a time when Israel did not have freedom because if you remember the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt when Moses was born and when Jesus was born they were occupied by the Romans. So they did not have liberty, they were under the Romans rule. Number two, both Moses and Jesus, the government put out a call for babies to be murdered at the same time that they were born and they had to basically be rescued from that by their parents because Pharaoh wanted to kill all the babies and throw them in the river and his parents had to hide him for three months and they had to put baby Moses in the basket and send him down the river and then in Jesus's day, Herod wanted to murder all the children from two years old and under. Number three, both Moses and Jesus both spent part of their life in Egypt. Jesus went down into Egypt in Matthew chapter two. Number four, both of them had their brethren speak against them. There's a passage in John chapter seven where Jesus's half-brothers, the children of Mary and Joseph are mocking him, making fun of him and ridiculing him and the Bible says that they did not believe on him and then Moses went through the same thing where Miriam and Aaron attack Moses and criticize him and fight against him in Numbers chapter 12. Okay, number five, both of them healed someone of their leprosy. Jesus of course healed lepers and then Moses prayed for Miriam's leprosy to go away and God healed her leprosy. Number six, both of them fed a multitude miraculously or were used by God for a miraculous feeding because of course Moses prayed and then God sent the manna that they ate and then Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes. Number seven, both Jesus and Moses both had the seas obey them, right? Because Moses stretched out his hand over the Red Sea and the Red Sea parted so that the children of Israel could walk across on dry land and of course Jesus calmed the seas and said, peace be still and they said, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the seas obey him? Number eight, they each had 70 helpers, okay? Because Moses deputized 70 elders that would be there to help him rule and help him lead the people and in Luke chapter 10 verse one, Jesus appointed 70 apostles. So you got the 70 elders and you got the 70 apostles. Number nine, they both fasted for 40 days and 40 nights the only people in the Bible who fasted for 40 days and 40 nights were Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Number 10, they both had that unique face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth relationship with God unlike any other person where they spoke to God as a man speaketh with his friend. Number 11, they both had God speak from heaven to them with an audible voice because Jesus, when he was baptized, that audible voice came from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased and the same thing with Moses at Mount Sinai when an audible voice came that all the congregation heard and they were all scared to death. Number 12, both of them were God's spokesmen to the people. God used them to deliver his word. Number 13, both Moses and Jesus both reflected and showed the glory of God. They were both glorified and transfigured to where their face shone because if you remember when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face actually shone with the glory of God and they had to put a veil over his face while Jesus, at the Mount of Transfiguration, his face also shone like the sun in Matthew chapter 17. Number 14, they were both specifically known for their humility and meekness as servants of God. The Bible talks a lot about Moses being meek and the Bible talks a lot about Jesus being meek and lowly and humble. Number 15, both of them prayed intercessory prayers and they were willing to take the sins of their people upon them. Now, if you would flip over to Exodus chapter 32, I wanna show you this one, Exodus chapter number 32 because I'm just going through these quickly to get through them but I wanna focus in on a few of these points that are the most important. Obviously, we know that Jesus interceded when he said, "'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.'" And we know that Jesus did die for all of our sins. He took upon him the sins of the world. He died for us on the cross. Well, Moses also prayed intercessory prayers and he was actually willing to take the punishment of the children of Israel. It says in Exodus 32, verse 31, and Moses returned unto the Lord and said, "'O, this people have sinned a great sin "'and have made them gods of gold. "'Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin,'" dot, dot, dot, it's just kind of like he leaves that hanging. "'If you'll forgive their sin, "'and if not, blot me, I pray, "'the out of thy book which thou hast written.'" So he's saying, look, if you're not gonna forgive them then you know what, just punish me, take it out on me. And then the Lord said unto Moses, "'Whosoever hath sinned against me, "'him will I blot out of my book.'" So he doesn't take up Moses on that offer of Moses offering to bear the sins of the people and be blotted out of the book and so forth, but he had that heart, he made that offer. And you know what, that shows how much he loved people. He loved the lost. The Apostle Paul said something similar in Romans when he said, I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren's sake, for the children of Israel, if they would be saved, he said in Romans chapter nine. And so that should show us a heart that we should have for the lost. Now look, most of us would not be willing to go that far. I know I wouldn't be willing to go that far. I wouldn't be asking God, hey, blot me out of that book, or, you know, I'll suffer it all. But you know what, I am willing to go out and knock some doors and tell people about Christ. You know, I am willing to go out and preach the gospel. I am willing to take a trip to an Indian reservation or to a mission field or across the street to go knock someone's door and tell them about Jesus. You know, we don't have to die on the cross. We don't have to be blotted out of the book. We don't have to be buried for three days and three nights. Hey, all we have to do is just open our mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. And it's not too much to ask. And if we love the lost, we'd be willing to make some sacrifice in our life. Moses is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. The apostle Paul is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. What sacrifices, what small sacrifices are you and I willing to make to get the gospel to the lost? People that are gonna die and go to hell and be punished for all eternity, do we even care? Do we love them? If we do, we're gonna be willing to make some sacrifices. We're gonna be willing to pay the price to get them the gospel. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. Moses and Paul talked about making it, but you know what? We're not even being asked to make that. All we're being asked to do is to be an ambassador for Christ. And we ought to be willing to say, here am I, send me. But let's move on. Number 16, both Moses and Jesus established a priesthood. Jesus is the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And of course, Moses instituted the Levitical priesthood with Moses and Aaron and Aaron's descendants and so forth. Number 17, they both brought in a covenant or testament. Moses brought in the old covenant, the Old Testament. Jesus brought in the new covenant, New Testament. The Bible says in John chapter one, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Number 18, they both brought deliverance, right? Moses brought deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Jesus brought deliverance from the bondage of sin. And if you would flip over to Acts, chapter number seven, the 19th and final parallel between Moses and Jesus is that they were both rejected by the children of Israel as a leader, as a ruler. They were both rejected by the children of Israel. And I'm sure that there are other parallels between Moses and Jesus, but I think that the 19 I showed you are pretty strong parallels. I mean, that's enough to see that when God said, I'm gonna raise up a prophet like unto Moses, you can see that Jesus fits that bill of being like Moses in a lot of ways. And other prophets would not fit the bill, especially not in the sense of that special relationship with God the Father. That's the main difference, okay? But they were both rejected by the children of Israel. Look at Acts, chapter seven, verse 35. It says, this Moses whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? Remember some of the children of Israel said to Moses, well, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? This Moses whom they refused saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a ruler. Notice it doesn't say, the same did God send to be a ruler and a judge, although he was a judge. It says, he sent him to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel, which appeared to him in the bush, okay? Now, of course, the same thing happened to Jesus. The Bible says the stone that was rejected of you builders, right? The same is made the head of the corner. So just as Moses was rejected by the children of Israel as a ruler and a judge, he became the ruler and deliverer. You know, they said of Jesus, we will not have this man to rule over us and yet God made him the cornerstone. God made him a ruler and a judge. But I find it interesting how it changes the wording from they said, who made thee a ruler and a judge, the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer. You know what? That has to do with your perspective. Now, God is everybody's ruler. You know, Moses was a ruler by any definition, but there's a big difference between being a judge and a deliverer, but it's the same guy. It's just a difference in perspective. You know, God can either be a deliverer to you or a judge to you and that's up to you. It depends on which side of God you're on. So a lot of people, they just see Christians as so judgmental, but you know what they ought to see Christians as is a bunch of deliverers out there trying to deliver them. I mean, look, you know, if somebody knocks on their door with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I'm not talking about a fake gospel that brings people into bondage, telling them that they have to work their way to heaven or something like that, but if somebody brings the true gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus, well, that person's a deliverer. I mean, they're coming as a deliverer, but then how will a lot of ungodly people react to that? Oh, you're judging me. How dare you say that I'm a sinner? How dare you say that I'm on my way to hell? How dare you tell me that I have to believe in Christ? You know, the deliverer is called a judge by the people who are on the wrong side of things, or the wrong side of God. Oh, don't judge me, you know, and that's what they said about Lot in the land of Sodom. Well, who made you a judge, you know? You came into sojourn and now you're gonna be a judge? Why are you judging us? Why, because they were so wicked before the Lord and sinners exceedingly. That's why any Christian, even the most watered-down Christian like Lot, who was super liberal, super watered-down guy, they thought he was too judgmental. And you know what the Bible says? That God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, which is what a judge would do, right? A judge would say, Guilty! Isn't that condemnation? God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And you say, oh, see, God's not gonna judge us. Wrong, you forgot to read the next verse. Okay, the Bible says God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, and then it says he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. So what the Bible's saying is, look, God didn't send Jesus into the world to condemn the world. You know why? That's already done. Why would he send Jesus to do something that's already done? All right, son, I need you to go into the world and condemn the world. It's done. That would be a meaningless command, because the world's already condemned. No, he sent the son. The Bible says the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. That the world through him might be saved, not to condemn the world. Okay, so when Jesus Christ shows up on the scene, boy, a lot of people felt that he was too judgmental. That's why they were mad at him in John chapter seven. He said the world cannot hate you, but me it hateth because I testify that the works thereof are evil. So because Jesus testified that the works of this world were evil, that's why he was hated. So they saw him as a judge. You know what, they should have been seeing him as a deliverer. They should have been seeing him as a savior, right? Oh, you know, we don't want him to be a ruler and a judge over us. What they needed was him to be their ruler. Yes, he is a ruler. He is the lord. He is the boss, but he's a great deliverer. That's how we see him. We see him as a deliverer unto us. And you say, Pastor Anderson, give me something practical this morning. You know, I need some practical teaching. Isn't that kind of the buzzword today, relevant, practical teaching? Well, let me teach you something relevant and practical besides the fact that we should love the lost and want to get them saved. That's pretty practical, telling you to get out there and witness for Christ and preach the gospel to every creature. Here's a practical lesson from the sermon this morning is that the world doesn't revolve around you. Okay? Now, here's the thing. Humanly speaking, I wish that the Bible would talk more about marriage. You know, how to be a good husband, how to be a good wife. I'm just talking to you as a human being. I wish the Bible would tell me more about marriage and how to have a good marriage and give me more advice on marriage. You know, I feel like Ephesians five's a start, but where's the rest? You know, I wish that the Bible would talk more about how to raise your kids and give more advice, and I'm speaking as a man, you know, I'm speaking as a human being here, just from my own carnal mind. I would say that I would rather read more about how to raise my kids and get more specific advice on child rearing than what's in the Bible. You know, I wish that God would give a little more advice on this practical area of life or that practical area of life or, you know, how to succeed at my job or in business, but I've got big news for you. The Bible is not about you, it's about Him. Okay, the world doesn't revolve around you. Now look, if the world revolved around you and your life and your marriage and your children and your business and your church and your home, you know, then you would expect to just find page after page after page after page talking about every aspect of how you're gonna live your life. But you know what I find in the Bible? I find Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, God. Here's my agenda, here's what I'm doing, here's my plan, here's what I'm like. You read about me and read about God and read about Jesus and read about the Holy Spirit and what He wants and His plan. You know, that's what you read about the most. Now look, of course God tells us how to have a great marriage, and we savor that and we hang on every word. And it's not a huge amount of the Bible, but there's enough there for us to have a good marriage. There's enough there to tell us how to raise our kids. There's enough there to tell us how to operate the church. There's enough there to tell us how to succeed on the job and to be a good worker and to do this and do that with our lives. But you know, I just wish the Bible would talk more about nutrition. Seriously, I'm just speaking as a man. There's so much nutrition advice out there and it all contradicts. You know, you got people over here telling you, oh man, this is what we need to eat, it's so healthy. And then one foot over on the same bookshelf is another book that'll tell you the exact opposite. Oh man, all the saturated fats, horrible for you. Oh no, saturated fats, the best thing ever. We're not getting enough fat. Too much fat, not enough fat, too much protein, not enough protein, too many carbs, not enough carbs. I mean, look, and that's just, I'm not even scratching the surface of all of the nutritional arguments. I mean, don't you wish that God just, you know, right after the book of Numbers just had like the book of food and he just told you everything about food. Wouldn't it be great? Yeah, it'd be great, but you know what? There's more to life than meat. The body's more than meat, the body's more than raiment. Our life is not just this culinary journey from mom's breast all the way to our, you know, nursing home diet in the cafeteria. Hey, look, our life is not some kind of a culinary journey. Life's not about food. Your life's not just about being married and having kids and making money and health. Man, I wish the Bible would just give me an exercise routine, it would keep me, you know what? The reason he's not going on and on about that is because that's not what life's about. All things were created for his pleasure. There's your practical lesson. Your practical lesson is, you're not getting a practical lesson. That's the practical lesson. No. The practical lesson is, sometimes it's good to come to church and learn about Jesus. And look, you say, well, how do I apply this to my life? You don't! Because you take the emphasis off yourself and you learn about Jesus Christ. This is a house of worship to worship the Lord, not to worship you, not to worship the institution of marriage, not to worship parenthood, not to worship business, not to worship your body and your nutrition and your health. And look, those things all have their place, they all matter, but you know what? The main thing is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The main thing is God Almighty. This book is his story, not my story, not your story. Okay, look, don't try to steal the show from him. Hey, there's the bridegroom and there's the bride, and you know what? You just need to be an usher, okay? This is not your big day. You understand what I'm saying? You're not even the maid of honor. You're not even the best man. You're not even a groomsman. You're not even the ring bearer, okay? You just need to participate and do your job. You just need to clean up the mess when the wedding's over, okay? That's what your role is here today. You know, you're setting up chairs, you're opening doors, you're helping people be seated. Let me tell you something. The world does not revolve around me or you or anybody else, and I wanna have a great marriage. I wanna raise godly children. I wanna be healthy, but you know what? At the end of the day, that stuff is all secondary to serving the Lord. That's gotta be the main emphasis. So therefore, people who demand that they come to church and hear a practical sermon every time, you know, I want practical teaching. I want it relevant. You know what they're basically saying? Don't talk to me about the Lord, talk to me about me. Let's talk about me. Let's talk about my wife. Let's talk about my kids. Let's talk about my business. Let's talk about my health. Let's talk about the things I should do and the things I shouldn't do. And look, those things are in the Bible. There are lots of things that we should and shouldn't do but at the end of the day, we need to just stand in awe and sit back and listen to who God is and learn about who Jesus is and what his plan is, what his program is. And so there is an overemphasis today on relevant preaching and practical preaching. Everybody wants to advertise that and look, I'm for it in moderation. I'm for practical teaching. I'm for relevant preaching but I'm not for that being the only preaching we do. I am committed. I am dedicated to preaching things that are not relevant. I'm serious. You're talking to the guy who preached through first Chronicles verse by verse. The whole book of first Chronicles verse by verse. Well, I still see how that's relevant. Well, you know what? God put it in the Bible for you to read and for me to read, for you to listen to and for me to preach, I'm gonna preach it. There's nothing in this book that's not relevant as far as I'm concerned. It's all relevant. Yeah, it's not practical. Well, you know what? Here's how it's practical. Maybe if you learn about Jesus, maybe then you'll love Jesus because to know him is to love him. And then if you love him, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna keep his commandments. That's pretty important to me. That sounds like a pretty important thing to do to make sure that we know Christ and love Christ so that we can keep his commandments. Now we can get up and preach his commandments all day long and there are lots of sermons where I preach his commandments and there are lots of relevant sermons that say, do this, don't do that, but at the end of the day, what's gonna even cause you to obey those commandments? I can get up and preach, but at the end of the day, if you don't love Christ, you're not gonna do it. And if you do love Christ, then you will do it. You will obey. You know, I can get up and preach about soul winning, but at the end of the day, you have to love Christ and you have to love lost people or it's not gonna happen, right? I can get up and talk about it and tell you, hey, do this, don't do that, but at the end of the day, you have to love Christ. That's what's actually going to prompt you to do those things in the end. It's gonna be the love of Christ that constrains you to do those things and to know him is to love him. We're here to worship God. We're not here to worship you. We're not here to worship me. We're not here to worship ourselves or each other. We're here to worship the Lord. Let's let him have the preeminence in all things. And so this practical or relevant buzzword, it ends up being just only stuff that matters to me is all I wanna hear about. Well, if 1 Chronicles matters to God, then that should be enough. Shouldn't really matter whether it matters to me or you. No, it matters to God. And in our own human wisdom, we think that, you know, well, you know, if we preach the practical preaching, that's what's gonna get people's life on track. But in truth, it's the love of Christ that's gonna put our life on track. It's loving God, it's loving the Bible. You know, sitting here and learning about Jesus and learning the gospel and learning about books like Numbers and Deuteronomy and Joshua and things like that, boy, these are life-changing truths. These are truths that will actually change you into a different person, that will actually turn you into a person who loves God and loves his neighbor. And you know what? That is going to go a long way toward getting you to keep God's commandments. So it ends up all being practical. It ends up all being relevant, you know? So I'll get up and preach stuff that's not practical or not relevant because I know that in a roundabout way, it's gonna get us to the destination. So let's not lean on our own understanding of what we think is important. You know, let's just lean on God's understanding and preach the whole counsel, preach all of God's word because it's all important. You know, there's nothing in the Bible that's not important. If it weren't important, it wouldn't be there. It's all there, it's all profitable for doctrine. It all helps us. And at the end of the day, it's love that is going to motivate us to do the right thing. And the more I read the Bible and study the Bible and hear the Bible preached and learn about Jesus and learn about the word of God, the more I love the Lord. And that's the most important thing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great book that you've given us, Deuteronomy. And Lord, thank you for this prophecy about that prophet that would come into the world, Lord. And thank you for giving us Moses as a powerful picture of Jesus. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to be like Moses, help us to be faithful and humble and godly as Moses was. And Lord, I pray that we would love Jesus Christ as we should, as we learn about him in the Old Testament. I pray that our hearts would burn within us and that we would grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because that's what's gonna change lives in the long run. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.