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Okay, we're in Deuteronomy chapter 
nine. We're gonna actually read Deuteronomy 
nine, beginning in verse one, all the way to chapter 10, verse 
11. I know that's a lot of material. I hope to deal with all of it 
tonight, because it focuses on one primary message, one primary 
theme. We'll find that, specifically 
in verses four to six, it's repeated three times. I'll just start 
reading in verse one, though, and we'll read the section, and 
then we'll Look at it in more detail. What's that? Okay, Deuteronomy 9, beginning 
in verse 1. Here, O Israel, you are to cross 
over the Jordan today and go in to dispossess nations greater 
and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 
a people great and tall, the descendants of the... whom you 
know and of whom you heard it said, who can stand before the 
descendants of Anak?" Therefore, understand today that the Lord 
your God is he who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring 
them down before you. So you shall drive them out and 
destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you. Do not 
think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out 
before you, saying, because of my righteousness, the Lord has 
brought me in to possess this land. But it is because of the 
wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out 
from before you. It is not because of your righteousness 
or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their 
land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord 
your God drives them out that the Lord your God drives them 
out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which 
the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you 
this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you 
are a stiff-necked people. Remember, do not forget how you 
provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From 
the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came 
to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 
Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord 
was angry enough with you to have destroyed you. When I went 
up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets 
of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed 
on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor 
drank water. Then the Lord delivered to me 
two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on 
them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on 
the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end 
of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets 
of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said 
to me, Arise, go down quickly from here. For your people, whom 
you brought out of Egypt, have acted corruptly. They have quickly 
turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made 
themselves a molded image. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to 
me, saying, I have seen this people, and indeed they are a 
stiff-necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy 
them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will 
make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned 
and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with 
fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 
And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your 
God, had made for yourselves a molded calf. You had turned 
aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. Then 
I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and 
broke them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord 
as at the first, 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread 
nor drank water because of all your sin which you committed 
in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to 
anger. For I was afraid of the anger 
and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you to 
destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at 
that time also. And the Lord was very angry with 
Aaron and would have destroyed him. So I prayed for Aaron also 
at the same time. Then I took your sin, the calf 
which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and 
ground it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw 
its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain. 
Also at Tabra and Massa and Kibrath Hadeva, you provoke the Lord 
to wrath. Likewise, when the Lord sent 
you from Kadesh Barnea saying, go up and possess the land which 
I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the 
Lord your God, and you did not believe him nor obey his voice. 
You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I 
knew you. Thus, I prostrated myself before 
the Lord. Forty days and forty nights I 
kept prostrating myself, because the Lord had said he would destroy 
you. Therefore, I prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do 
not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed 
through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt 
with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look on the stubbornness 
of this people or on their wickedness or their sin. Lest the land from 
which you brought us should say, because the Lord was not able 
to bring them to the land which he promised them and because 
he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the 
wilderness. Yet they are your people and your inheritance, 
whom you brought out by your mighty power and by your outstretched 
arm. At that time the Lord said to 
me, Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and 
come up to me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. 
And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first 
tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark. 
So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like 
the first, and went up the mountain having the two tablets in my 
hand. And he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, 
the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the 
mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. 
And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from 
the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. 
And there they are, just as the Lord commanded me." Now, the 
children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Ben-Jacob to 
Moserah, where Aaron died and where he was buried. And Eliezer, 
his son, ministered as priest in his stead. From there they 
journeyed to Good Goda, and from Good Goda to Jot Batha, a land 
of rivers of water. At that time, the Lord separated 
the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, 
to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name 
to this day. Therefore, Levi has no portion 
nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance, 
just as the Lord your God promised him. As at the first time I stayed 
in the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord also heard me 
at that time, and the Lord chose not to destroy you. Then the 
Lord said to me, arise, begin your journey before the people, 
that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their 
fathers to give them. Amen. As I said, it's an extended 
portion, but it certainly has one central theme. It is a reminder, 
it is a caution, it is a warning to the people of Israel that 
they should not boast in their own righteousness. Remember back 
in chapter 7, the Lord had told them that he did not choose them 
because they were more numerous than the other nations. Rather, 
they were least of all the nations. Back in chapter 8, when they 
come into the land, The temptation would be, the inclination might 
be for them to forget God. In 817, then you say in your 
heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this 
wealth. So he is discouraging them from 
these sins, he is warning them against them. these particular 
sins, boasting in their numbers, boasting in their power to gain 
wealth. And here specifically in chapter 
9, he is cautioning them to guard against the temptation of a self-righteous 
spirit, that tendency of man to think that he has done enough 
to benefit from God, that somehow the Lord God owes us for our 
works or for our obedience. It is condemned thoroughly here 
on the plains of Moab. So I want to look at four broad 
categories tonight as we address this section. The first is the 
anticipation of the conquest in verses 1 to 3, the warning 
concerning the conquest, verses 4 to 6, the historical review 
which demonstrates a conspicuous lack of righteousness on their 
part in verses 7 to 24. That's the bulk of the material. 
and then the intercession of Moses on their behalf in verses 
25 to 29, and then the renewed covenant in chapter 10 verses 
1 to 11. It's a bit of an overview of 
where we hope to go tonight, but note first the anticipation 
of the conquest, verses 1 to 3. Again, there are lots of repetition 
on the plains of Moab as Moses is exhorting them, preparing 
them, giving them the same message so that they may go in and dispossess 
the nations. They are to cross over the Jordan. The today in verse 1 probably 
doesn't mean within that 24 hour time span. It means it's imminent, 
it's upon them, that portion of time wherein they are. They're 
about to enter into the promised land. to go in and dispossess 
nations greater and mightier than themselves, cities great 
and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants 
of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you heard it said, 
who can stand before the descendants of Anak." So he paints the picture 
of how formidable the foe is, how bad the enemy is, and how 
threatening this whole incursion into the promised land is. That's 
the foil in the backdrop to present to us this gracious, sovereign, 
and glorious God who will in fact go before them as a consuming 
fire, according to verse 3, and it would be God the Lord who 
would destroy them, bring them down before you. He would use 
Israel as His agent to bring judgment upon the Canaanites 
but the victory, the triumph, would ultimately be of the Lord. So this description of the promised 
land and the formidable nature of the foe and enemy sets the 
stage for the power, the majesty, and the great display of the 
sovereignty of God as he is the one that enters into the land 
prior to them, and he is the one that destroys their enemies 
so that when they do relax, when they do find their place in the 
land of Canaan, The answer is to praise God, as we have seen 
throughout these chapters. And that brings us to consider, 
secondly, this warning concerning the conquest. Verses 4 to 6. He gives this warning three times. Again, he wants them not to boast 
in their numbers, chapter 7. He wants them not to boast in 
their power to gain wealth in chapter 8. But the loathsome 
character of self-righteousness, the abominable nature of a self-righteousness 
is here condemned thoroughly on the plains of Moab. He says, 
when you've entered into that land, when God has preceded and 
the enemies are destroyed and you've entered into the blessing 
and the fruitfulness of that land, do not think in your heart. Don't let it rise up within you. 
Don't entertain this for a moment. Do not even begin to give vent 
or to give space to this idea that the Lord your God has cast 
them out before you, saying, because of my righteousness, 
the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. Do not exalt 
in yourself. Do not boast in yourself. Do 
not think that it's because of your goodness, because of your 
holiness, because of your purity, because of your rightness, that 
somehow God is giving you a reward. That is precisely not the case. That's why the bulk of the chapter 
highlights the sinfulness and the depravity of these people 
as a means by which to destroy this idea from rising up in their 
heart. This is why he gives this long 
historical review to show them, as Moses says, you have been 
rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. You 
have no place whatsoever to let it rise up in you that God has 
given you the land of Canaan because of something good in 
you. Now, if we, of course, jump to the new covenant, the obvious 
application is there. We can never boast. We can never 
claim, we can never suggest that we are in a position of favor 
with God because of our righteousness, because of our works, because 
of our wisdom, because of our free will, or because of anything 
that we have conjured up on our own. We simply cannot do that. We mustn't ever boast in our 
own righteousness. In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 
1, the Apostle Paul highlights one of the emphases or one of 
the goals of God's redemptive work in our lives. He says in verse 29 of 1 Corinthians 
1, that no flesh should glory in his presence. And then in 
verse 30, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for 
us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, 
that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the 
Lord. There's no place for self-glory. There's no place for a pat on 
the back. Paul says, God forbid that I should boast except in 
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been 
crucified to me and I to the world. That's the emphasis here 
on the plains of Moab. You did not enter into this land 
of Canaan. You have not reaped the benefits 
of this good land. You are not reaping the joyfulness 
of all these things because of your righteousness. In fact, 
when we go back to verse 4 of chapter 9, he says, do not think 
because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess 
this land. He says, but it is because of 
the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them 
out from before you. Again, he repeats it. It is not 
because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart 
that you go in to possess their land. but because of the wickedness 
of these nations, that the Lord your God drives them out from 
before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore 
to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So when you're 
in that land, don't think, wow, it's because of my righteousness. 
No, it's because of the wickedness, the more wickedness, if I can 
use that phrase, of Canaan, and it's because of the covenant 
faithfulness and the promise of God Most High. Christopher 
Wright said, the Israelites would be right in their estimation 
of the Canaanites. They knew that the Canaanites 
were a wicked people. We already see that Leviticus 
Chapter 18. God says, do not engage in this 
sexual misconduct. Do not engage in this sort of 
immorality. It's either 18 or 19. It's for 
this cause the land vomits out the inhabitants. The people of 
Canaan were debauched. They were wicked. They were ungodly 
and unholy and unrighteous. So God takes a not so righteous 
Israel and uses them as the means of judgment upon a less righteous 
the Canaan nations. God does this later on to Israel 
themselves. This was a perplexity in the 
life of the prophet Habakkuk. God said he was going to send 
Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, and that made the prophet Habakkuk 
said, what's the deal? Basically, putting it in the 
vernacular, how is it that these things can happen? Well, God 
uses nations to bring judgment upon other nations. So the people 
of Israel were not to be puffed up, and proud and arrogant, either 
in their numbers or in their power to gain wealth, and especially 
in their self-righteousness. So Wright says the Israelites 
would be right in their estimation of the Canaanites, but utterly 
wrong in their estimation of themselves. The wickedness of 
the Canaanites did not prove the righteousness of Israel. You cannot conclude that because 
someone is more wicked than you, that you're righteous. You cannot 
conclude, I was just reading an article in a magazine about 
Charles Manson. You all remember that notorious, 
horrible, wicked man. I mean, he was a mastermind who 
got in the heads of people and got them to actually engage in 
execution. Put the X on his forehead and 
then the swastika, and they say by his next parole hearing, He's 
going to be 92 years old. He's been institutionalized for 
the better part of his life. Well, we can't look at Amanson 
and say, because of his wickedness, I'm righteous. That's what the 
temptation and the tendency would be in the children of Israel. This is the temptation and the 
tendency of every child of God today. We need to guard our hearts 
against this self-righteous attitude. that looks at or that promotes 
our own righteousness on the graded scale of the wickedness 
of someone else. That is simply unconscionable. 
We're not supposed to engage in that kind of activity. Right 
is right. They're utterly wrong in their 
estimation of themselves. The wickedness of the Canaanites 
did not prove the righteousness of Israel. And then notice, so 
it's not their righteousness, it is a two-fold reason, the 
wickedness of the Canaanites, the exceedingly wicked conduct 
of the Canaanites, but then the covenant faithfulness of God, 
that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your 
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, for the third time, 
it's repeated. The third time in the space of 
these few verses, notice in verse 6. Therefore, understand that 
the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess 
because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. 
Now here comes the bulk. Here comes the main thrust. Here's the proposition. You're 
not righteous. Rather, you are a stiff-necked 
people. So we're going to look back in 
history. This is Moses or God through Moses on the plains of 
Moab. I'm going to take you by the hand and lead you through 
your history so that I can convince you and show you beyond a shadow 
of a doubt that when you enter into this goodly land, it is 
not by virtue of your righteousness. It's by virtue of God's mercy, 
God's grace, God's kindness, God's covenant faithfulness. So he says, you are a stiff-necked 
people that brings us then to consider the historical review, 
a conspicuous lack of righteousness. But note the language before 
we jump in there. I know that we've looked at this 
sort of a thing in our studies on Sunday, or studies in the 
past on Sunday. Remember that concept in Psalm 
115, verse 8, with reference to idolatry. Those who make them 
are like them, right? Those who make them are like 
them. G.K. Beals says, whatever we 
revere, we resemble, either for ruin or for restoration. I mean, it's a fact. We worship 
something, we become like it. The fact is that the bulk of 
this historical review will center on Horeb. Remember that in the 
book of Deuteronomy, Horeb means Sinai, with just about every 
time except for one or two places, Deuteronomy calls Sinai Horeb. Remember the Sinai event. They 
get the law, the covenant is ratified, not long after they 
engage in calf worship. What's an indicative or an indicator 
of a calf or of an animal? They're stiff-necked. They're 
stubborn. You have to put a yoke on them to guide them and control 
them. and make them go in the direction 
that you would want. This idea of them being stiff-necked, 
they're taking on the very characteristic of the idol that they worship. So let's look at the proof of 
this statement in verse 6. Understand that the Lord your 
God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your 
righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. First, they provoke God 
in the wilderness, verse 7. Remember, they didn't just wander 
through the wilderness saying, God, wherever you lead us, that's 
what we want to do. Wherever you take us, Lord, we 
want to obey you. They whined, they grumbled, they 
complained, they sniveled, they rose up in rebellion. There was 
all manner of rejection of the living and true God in the wilderness. This is what Moses says. Verse 
7, remember, do not forget how you provoke the Lord your God 
to wrath. in the wilderness. From the day 
that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this 
place, you have been rebellious against the Lord." Now, remember 
the agent that is speaking to them. It's Moses. Moses knew 
this people intimately. This wasn't the sort of preacher 
that said, you, you, you, you, without any knowledge of the 
people to whom he's preaching. Moses knew them intimately. Moses bore long with them. Moses 
suffered long on their behalf. He says in the wilderness, you 
provoke the Lord your God to wrath. So when you get into the 
land, do not boast of your righteousness. Secondly, they provoke God at 
Horeb. Again, that's the bulk of the 
section, verses 8 to 21. And it's important for us to 
remember this particular event, the context of Horeb. Chapters 19 to 23 in the book 
of Exodus, the giving of the law, the giving of the covenant, 
Chapter 24, they are sprinkled with blood. In other words, the 
covenant is ratified. This is a ratification ceremony. And remember their insistence 
twice in Exodus 24. Does anybody remember what the 
people of Israel said on that particular occasion? God have mercy on us and help 
us to do everything you call us to do. No, they said all the 
words which the Lord has said, we will do. So the law is given 
19 to 23, the covenant is ratified, the people amen it, they give 
their seal, they give their affirmation, we get from 24 to 32. And are they doing all that the 
Lord has commanded? Absolutely not. They exchange 
the glory of the incorruptible God for the image of a calf that 
they call Yahweh and they bow down before. So it's important 
that we remember what's going on in Horeb. Go back to chapter 
9, verse 8. Also in Horeb, you provoke the 
Lord to wrath so that the Lord was angry enough with you to 
have destroyed you. When I went up into the mountain 
to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which 
the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty 
days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank 
water. Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written 
with the finger of God. And on them were all the words 
which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the 
midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came 
to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave 
me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant." 
Isn't this ironic? Moses goes up to the mount to 
receive the law. The two tablets, the document 
of the covenant, while he's up on that mountain, what are the 
people doing? They're breaking the covenant. They're breaking 
the law. It wasn't long after this ratification 
ceremony that the people then plunge them into this particular 
sin. Then the Lord says, notice in 
verse 12, Note the emphasis and note the language that is used 
here by God. Again, this is highlighting to 
the people of Israel that it's not your righteousness. If you understand what's going 
on in verse 12, you will see just how wrathful God Almighty 
is. I mean, we see it very obviously 
in verse 14, to be sure, when he says, let me alone that I 
may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. 
But look at verse 12. Look at what God says. Arise, 
go down quickly from here for your people. What's God doing? He's disowning them. Covenant 
breakers no longer maintain fellowship with God. Covenant breakers who 
engage in idolatry are no longer his people. You'll see this later 
on in the prophet Hosea in chapter 1, verse 9. Call one of the sons 
not my people. This is what God is saying. Arise, 
go down quickly from here for your people whom you brought 
out of Egypt have acted corruptly. We might see something analogous 
to this in a marriage relationship. When the child is acting poorly, 
the wife might say, your son needs a spanking. Or the husband 
might say, your daughter isn't acting appropriately. There's 
that disassociation. There is that removal. There 
is that separation from the person themselves. That's what's going 
on here. God is provoked. God is angry. God is full of wrath with reference 
to these people. They have acted corruptly. They 
have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. 
They have made themselves a molded image. They have plunged themselves 
into the depths of sin, debauchery, and wickedness. So Israel, when 
you go into the land of Canaan, if for a moment the thought rises 
up that it's because of your righteousness, just think back 
to Horeb. Just think back to that golden 
calf. Just think back to that time 
when Moses is on the mount receiving the covenant document, bringing 
it back down to the people, and they are engaged in absolute 
wickedness. Notice the wrath of God as it's 
displayed in verses 13 and 14. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to 
me saying, I have seen this people and indeed they are a stiff-necked 
people. They have taken on the characteristic 
of that which they worship. They are a stubborn, recalcitrant, 
hardened, rebellious people. Verse 14, let me alone that I 
may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. 
And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. Now this is strong language. 
This is the repudiation one of the Sinai covenant. I'm going 
to destroy them. But two, it's a repudiation of 
the Abrahamic covenant. Wasn't it God who said to Abraham 
and you, I'll make a great nation? Now he says to Moses, this thought 
being suggested, no more will I deal with Abraham and his descendants. We're going to obliterate them. 
We're going to wipe them out. We're going to kill all of them. 
And Moses, from you, we're going to start afresh. You see, do 
not think for a moment that you're in this land because of your 
righteousness. You, through your conduct, brought 
yourselves to the place where God was just about to cut you 
off completely and to obliterate you from the face of the earth. This is serious business and 
this is the corrective for pride and arrogance and a heart that 
is given to self-righteousness. We ought to think about these 
sorts of things in our own life when we're tempted to pride, 
when we're tempted to look down upon other brethren, when we're 
tempted to think that we're in Christ somehow because of something 
that we have done. Just read the New Testament epistles, 
read the vice lists. Read Romans chapter 1. Read 1 
Corinthians 6. Such were some of you. If that 
doesn't cut out the legs of self-righteousness from under us, then we're harder 
than we can even imagine. We need to take our minds and 
hearts, submit them to Holy Scripture, and realize it's only by the 
blood of Jesus Christ that we stand and gain acceptance with 
the Lord God Almighty. So Moses rehearses Horeb and 
then he highlights his response. Notice in verses 15 to 21. You 
have to appreciate Moses when you're done with the book of 
Deuteronomy. This brother was a genuine mediator. He was a 
genuine mediator of this covenant. He went to God on their behalf. He teaches us something about 
intercession, how we ought to pray with reference to God. But 
in this section, he is highlighting his response when he comes down 
and he finds the people a whoring from God. Notice in verses 15 
to 17, I turned and came down from the mountain and the mountain 
burned with fire and the two tablets of the covenant were 
in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you 
had sinned against the Lord your God, had made for yourselves 
a molded calf, you had turned aside quickly from the way which 
the Lord had commanded you. Then I took the two tablets and 
threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 
This wasn't Moses saying, ah, forget it. This wasn't Moses 
just being so frustrated he dropped that. This is symbolism. This 
is broken covenant. This is a testimony of what they 
were doing as they danced around this calf. and they worshiped 
this created thing. They had desecrated, they had 
violated, they had broken the covenant. This is why he says, 
I threw them out of my hands and broke them before your eyes. It was a preaching lesson. It 
was a testimony and a demonstration of just what was going on with 
reference to this particular scenario. Notice in verse 18, 
I fell down before the Lord as at the first. Forty days and 
forty nights I neither ate bread nor drank water. Now the chronology 
here isn't strict. I think it's more thematic in 
nature. So if you're trying to fit it 
in perfectly with Exodus 32 and 34, You can work on that later. I think he is thematically bringing 
these thoughts to bear upon the audience here. I fell down before 
the Lord as at the first, 40 days and 40 nights. I neither 
ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin which you committed 
in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to 
anger. For I was afraid of the anger 
and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you to 
destroy you. Notice this, but the Lord listened 
to me at that time also. You have to praise God that you 
got a Moses. Israel, be very thankful. The 
plains of Moab, the fact that you're here, yes, it's the sovereignty 
of God working through the mediator. We ought to praise God that we 
have the mediator, Christ. The Lord listens to Christ at 
this time or at that time also. A good covenant mediator is something 
we desperately need. Moses, as a type, shows forth 
what a man of God is like who represents the people of God. 
What a blessed statement. The Lord listened to me at that 
time also. Notice verse 20. And the Lord 
was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him, so 
I prayed for Aaron also at the same time." Now Exodus doesn't 
record that. We can imagine and we can understand 
God's anger at Aaron. Remember Aaron? What did Aaron 
do? Oh, we just threw this gold in and out popped this calf, 
right? I mean, he leads the people in 
idolatry and then has the chutzpah to lie to Moses. We just threw 
this gold in and poof, out came this calf. I mean, you could 
try this a million times, my dear brothers and sisters. throw 
gold into fire, I guarantee you not one out of a million will 
out come a calf. They fashioned it to worship 
it. Notice, the Lord was very angry 
with Aaron and would have destroyed him, so I prayed for Aaron also 
at the same time. God did not kill Aaron at that 
particular time. Moses intercession. Moses on 
behalf of Aaron and the people, God the Lord blessed. Klein says, God's particular 
wrath against Aaron, not mentioned in the Exodus account, is cited 
here to demonstrate how completely devoid of merit and dependent 
on mercy Israel was. Even their high priest was a 
brand plucked from the burner. I mean, the high priest of Israel, 
supposed to be the godliest man. And here he is leading the people 
in this idolatry. The Lord is angry with him, but 
God spared him. And then the proper treatment 
of idols. Remember, this is something emphasized 
in Chapter 7. What are the children of Israel 
supposed to do when they get into the land of Canaan? They're 
supposed to pulverize. They're supposed to destroy. 
They're supposed to get rid of every idol. They're not supposed 
to keep the gold and the silver. They're not supposed to melt 
down the idols of Canaan and say, well, now we can make jewelry 
or now we can do with it whatever we want. No, you're not supposed 
to have it. This is what Moses says in verse 
21. Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and 
burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small 
until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the 
brook that descended from the mountain." So Moses sets forth 
the pattern of how to deal with idolatry. A few of the kings 
in the time of the monarchy make the same application to idols. 
They burn them, they pulverize them, they disperse the dust 
so that people will not be inclined to get those items and to worship 
falsely. So that's a Horeb. So if that, 
you know, if it ever rises up in your mind, just think back 
to Sinai. Think back to that time in Israel's history that 
should have been the holiest, that should have been the most 
righteous, that should have been the time that was most beneficial. You had received the law. You 
had ratified the law. Moses is up getting the official 
documentation to record this covenant. Remember, the Ten Commandments, 
the two tablets were probably not five here and six here, or 
five here, five there. It was the same set, the same 
ten on both documents, one for the covenant Lord and one for 
the people. And they were then deposited 
in the Ark of the Covenant for safekeeping. It was a document 
prepared in duplicate for both parties in the covenant. So Moses 
is up officiating, getting all that stuff in order. God says, 
go down. They've corrupted themselves. 
They've done it quickly. They didn't wait. This isn't 
20,000 years later. It's not long after the Sinai 
event that they have given themselves over to idolatry. But if you 
forget Horeb, don't forget Tabra, Massa, and Kibra, Hadeba. Those other three places, those 
other three times. Tabra was the place of burning. 
Numbers 11, 1 to 3. The people grumbling, whining, 
complaining. Some of them caught fire. Massa was that place of 
testing. We've already seen that referred 
to in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16. You shall not tempt 
the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massa. And then Kibroth 
Hadovah, graves of craving, where the people desired meat. And 
this is where God brings judgment upon them. So what we find here 
is that there is no righteousness, the land of Canaan is even more 
wicked, but you are a stiff-necked people. Go to Horeb, go to Tabra, 
Massa, Kibroth Hadovah, and if you forget that, don't forget 
Kedosh Barnea. You see what he's doing? He's 
rehearsing their history. Not to show them how glowing 
and beautiful and wondrous they are, but to show them how wicked 
they are, and how that it should never rise up in their hearts 
that they boast that they're in the land, because they were 
more righteous. Remember it was at K-Barnea. 
that the spies return, and the people grumbled and complained, 
and they want to decide with the ten and reject the two. Moses 
already has rehearsed this in chapter 1, verses 29 to 40, to 
show the conduct of the children of Israel at Kadesh Barnea. And he summarizes it, I've already 
alluded to this, with verse 24, you have been rebellious against 
the Lord from the day that I knew you. So Moses bore with them, 
he suffered long with them, but he was able as well to tell them 
the plain and the honest truth. No one knew them like Moses. They could not say, what do you 
mean, Moses? He knew them and he knew their 
sin. Yes. Oh, absolutely. If we don't see 
ourselves in here, we've got blinders on because our tendency 
is to be proud. Right. Yeah, absolutely. There's something analogous to 
this situation to us. I mean, if you look, you know, 
just privatize it. You've got your own Horeb, you've 
got your own Tabra, Masoch, Ebroth, Hadovah, you've got your own 
Kadesh, Barnea, you've got a long track record, you have been rebellious 
against the Lord from the day that I knew you. Certainly Jesus 
could say that of each and every one of us as the covenant mediator. 
Thankfully, we have Jesus to intercede on our behalf and as 
that advocate with the father so that we are not sent to hell. So this is the rehearsal of their 
wickedness. Then Moses highlights his intercession 
on their behalf. Notice in verses 25 to 29, thus 
I prostrated myself before the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. I 
kept prostrating myself because the Lord had said he would destroy 
you. That's a good brother here. What a man. What a blessed man. But again 
simply a type of the greater man the Lord Jesus Christ. I 
prostrated myself before the Lord 40 days 40 nights. I kept 
prostrating myself because the Lord had said he would destroy 
you. Now notice the way Moses prays. This is bold faith in 
action. Therefore I prayed to the Lord 
and said Oh Lord God do not destroy your people. Remember, God says, 
go get your people, the people you let out of Egypt. Moses is 
saying, no, God, they're your people. No, God, they're your 
inheritance. No, God, they're your prized 
possession. Moses has boldness at the throne 
of grace. Moses sets the example of how 
the saint of Christ ought to intercede. We plead the glory 
of God, the majesty of God, the excellence of God, the possession 
of God, your people, your inheritance, whom you have redeemed through 
your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty 
hand. Here he comes with that covenant. 
He says, remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do 
not look on the stubbornness of this people or on their wickedness 
or their sin. He says, God, remember them, 
your people, whom you brought out of Egypt through your greatness, 
but as well, remember the promise, remember the covenant. You can 
never, ever, ever get a bad response from God when you bring his covenant 
to him. You read those psalms, you read the psalmist, specifically 
77, I believe, and 79, the psalmist is pleading God's covenant. Spurgeon 
says this is masterly pleading. This is one of the grandest weapons 
out of the armory of prayer to bring God's promises, God's faithfulness 
to God. He cannot deny himself. He cannot renege. He cannot He 
cannot invalidate an oath that he has made. And this is how 
Moses is interceding. The people of Israel belong to 
the Lord. They are his inheritance. The 
people of Israel are redeemed through God's greatness. They 
are a testimony and a display of God's greatness. The people 
of Israel are brought out of Egypt by God's mighty hand. So 
he says, do not destroy them. He says, remember your covenant. 
And then specifically, he pleads God's glory in verse 28. Lest 
the land from which you brought us should say because the Lord 
was not able to bring them to the land which he promised them 
and because he hated them. He has brought them out to kill 
them in the wilderness. You see what Moses is doing. 
We don't want Egypt. We don't want these Canaanites. 
We don't want these heathen. We don't want these uncircumcised 
to say God wasn't able. We don't want them to be able 
to say God hated them. God brought them out here to 
kill them. Interesting. The idea that was 
in the minds of Egypt or the potential idea that would be 
in the mind of Egypt, unfortunately, was in the mind of Israel as 
we saw in Deuteronomy 1. They thought God wanted to kill 
them. They thought God hated them. Moses is saying just the 
opposite. Continue, Lord, in your plan. 
Deliver them into this land, lest the people of the land say 
God was not able to bring them to the land which He promised 
them. Because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill 
them in the wilderness. He is specifically pleading to 
the Lord that he bring glory to his name. That's the essence 
of his prayer here. That's the impetus. He says, 
Lord, we don't want you to look bad in the sight of the nations. For your glory's sake, spare 
this people. He reminds him again in verse 
29, they are your people, your inheritance, your purchased possession. Again, Christopher Wright says 
the intercession of Moses was effective because it went to 
the heart of God's own priorities as Moses already knew from his 
long intimacy with God. God's people, God's promises, 
God's name. As a model of intercession, his 
prayer stands at the head of a list of Old Testament prayers 
that follow a similar pattern and focus on the same priorities. 
It is a powerful model for God's people at all times. God's name, 
God's kingdom, God's will. You will not be frustrated bringing 
those petitions to the Lord. That's what he calls us to do. There is a priority at the throne 
of grace, and this is what Moses is demonstrating. This is what 
Moses is displaying. And then chapter 10, the renewed 
covenant. This is beautiful. Verse one, 
chapter 10. At that time, the Lord said to 
me, Heal for yourself two tablets of stone like the first. and 
come up to me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. 
And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first 
tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark. 
Now this is the point where everybody standing on the plains of Moab 
should have broke out in song. Amazing grace, how sweet the 
sound that saved a wretch like me. Get more tablets, Moses, 
we're gonna do this again. It's not your righteousness, 
it's God's graciousness. It's not your goodness, it's 
God's mercy. It's not your merit, it's God's 
covenant. Notice, so I made an ark of acacia 
wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, went up the mountain 
having the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, 
according to the first writing, the ten commandments which the 
Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the 
fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. 
Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets 
in the ark which I had made. And there they are, just as the 
Lord commanded me." Now notice this sort of parenthetical statement 
in verses six to nine. Now the children of Israel journeyed 
from the wells of Ben-Jacob to Moserah, where Aaron died and 
where he was buried. Eliezer, his son, ministered 
as priest in his stead. From there, they journeyed to 
Gouda, and from Gouda, sounds like a cheese, a Dutch cheese, 
I think, to Jotbatha, a land of rivers of water. At that time, 
the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the 
Covenant of the Lord. to stand before the Lord to minister 
to him and to bless in his name to this day. Therefore, Levi 
has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is 
his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him." 
Now, we might look at verses six to nine and say, that's kind 
of an interesting sort of a, you know, historical little review 
and a little place about the Levites. Look at what it underscores 
and look at what it demonstrates. The people continued to the promised 
land. They made a golden calf, they 
worshipped it. Moses threw the tablets down 
and broke them right before their eyes. Not to mention Tabra, not 
to mention Massa, not to mention Kivat Hadovah, not to mention 
the provocation of the Lord every step of the way, the rebellion. 
God wrote with his own finger, two more tablets. The people 
continued on their journey. Eleazar, the son of Aaron, took 
the office of high priest. Remember, that was specifically 
noted in 920. God was angry with Aaron. But 
instead of dissolving, destroying, and removing the priesthood, 
Eleazar, his son, comes up to bat. You see what's going on 
here? God has been merciful. God has 
met your sin with mercy and grace so that when you go into that 
land, do not boast that it was your righteousness. It's a beautiful 
thing. At that time, the Lord separated 
the tribe of Levi. Notice the threefold function 
of the priesthood. One, to bear the Ark of the Covenant 
of the Lord. Two, to stand before the Lord, 
to minister to him. Three, to bless in his name to 
this day. Remember when Malachi, or God 
through Malachi, says, I will curse your blessings, one of 
the functions of the priest. Therefore, Levi has no portion 
nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance, 
just as the Lord your God promised him. So you see, verses six to 
nine function in sort of this way. It's business as usual with 
the Lord. God dealt with your sin. God 
put it away. God rewrote the covenant himself. God has blessed you. He's given 
you a high priest, and he is carrying you on through to the 
promised land. And then the final summary statement 
in verses 10 and 11 at as at the first time I stayed in the 
mountain also, I'm sorry, 40 days and 40 nights. The Lord 
also heard me at that time, and the Lord chose not to destroy 
you. Then the Lord said to me, Arise, begin your journey before 
the people that they may go in and possess the land which I 
swore to their fathers to give them Christopher, right? He says, 
in the light of all that has come between the beginning and 
the end of the section, remember the beginning, the anticipation 
of the conquest, the end of the section, or in the middle of 
the section, all of this rebellion. He says, in the light of all 
that has come between the beginning and the end of the section, this 
should be a chastened people about to move into the land, 
a people with every confidence in their God, but with no illusions 
about themselves. That's the point. That's what 
Moses is communicating here in chapters 9 and 10. And as I've 
said and suggested, the application to us is manifold. Let us not 
get proud or arrogant or self-sufficient or self-righteous or somehow 
think that it was something that we did. We were a little better. 
We were a little wiser. We were a little smarter to bring 
ourselves into this place of God's blessing. No. We are miserable, 
hell-deserving sinners who provoke God just as much as the people 
of Israel did at Horeb, at these other various places that were 
mentioned. We may not have danced around 
a golden calf, but we certainly had some idol or a myriad of 
idols in our lives that we danced around. Even as Christians, the 
temptation is there and the tendency rises up for us to be proud or 
arrogant or look down our noses at other people. We need to guard, 
we need to come back to Deuteronomy chapter 9 and realize, therefore 
understand that the Lord your God is not giving you heaven. 
because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people." 
Ultimately, he's giving us heaven because of the righteousness 
of Jesus Christ, the one to whom Moses was pointing in his actions, 
in his intercession, and his love for the people of God. Well, 
let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for 
this, your word. We thank you for this message in Deuteronomy 
9 and 10. God, I pray that we would learn 
the lesson, as it's underscored here, that we would not be a 
self-righteous people, that we would not be proud or arrogant 
or haughty. Paul tells us that we need to 
not be haughty in Romans chapter 11, but rather we need to fear. 
We pray God that you would cause us to walk in humility before 
you and in humility before one another, as individuals and our 
families and our church life and our workplaces, wherever 
we find ourselves in society. What an offense and what a wicked 
testimony to the Church of Christ or to the Gospel of Christ, a 
so-called proud Christian. We just pray that you would grant 
us grace, Father, to see our sufficiency, our acceptance, 
everything is tied up in the person and work of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. How we thank you for him, how 
we praise you that he is the mediator of the new covenant 
and that in him we have everlasting life. We just give you praise 
and glory now in his name. Amen.