Below is an excerpt of the sermon…

If you have your Bibles, let’s open them, please, to the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy chapter number 34. And we’re going to finish up this series. We’ve been on it several, several months on those that finished strong. Christians that not only started their Christian life but finished strong. By the way, we’ve had people in our church who have finished strong that are now in Heaven. We’ve got people that served and did God’s will, and whether a short life or long life, they finished strong. And that’s who you want to be. You want to be the person that not only starts but finishes, and not one who finishes terribly but finishes strong.

So, we’re going to look at what the Bible calls the greatest leader outside of Jesus Christ mentioned in the entire Bible. It’s Moses hands down. He had over 1.5 million followers on Facebook. No, no, no, no, I’m sorry. He knew them face to face. A million and a half. They were not employees. They did not have to follow. They were not relatives. They were not slaves that he owned. There were people that willfully followed him. That’s amazing. Some of us have a hard time getting our dog to follow us. You know, it’s like taking a string and trying to push it somewhere. You know, it just doesn’t happen. And then sometimes, a husband has a hard time getting a wife to follow. And sometimes, a lot of wives have a hard time getting that husband to follow. And then trying to get the kids to follow. Try a million and a half who, every once in a while, started picking up stones and saying, “Kill! Kill!” Just amazing. Just an amazing thing.

So, I want us to start off by looking at one person. You may want to jot a note down or something here. I don’t have a lot of funny stories. I think maybe one. And so, you’re just going to have to hang with it. So here we are, Deuteronomy 34. This is the end of Moses life here. And what’s kind of comical to me is as far as we know, he wrote this chapter. What did he write? He wrote where he died and where he got buried. I don’t know if I were him, I would have said, “I’m writing this, Lord. I ain’t doing it. I ain’t doing it. As long as I don’t write it, I’m not dying right now.” “You’re dying, anyway.” He had to write where he was going to die, and he actually wrote that God buried him. That’s strange because it’s the Word of God. It hadn’t actually happened yet. But that would have been kind of strange.

But notice Deuteronomy 34. Let’s look down just for a moment at verse number 10. This is said about one person in the Bible. Deuteronomy 34:10 “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” That Moses had a relationship with God like nobody in the entire Bible. Old Testament, New Testament. No one had a relationship like Moses did. He’s the only one that we know of that, when he got alone with God, he said, “Can I see you?” David never asked that. Elijah never asked that. All those great Christians never asked that. He said, “I don’t want to just talk to your Lord. I want to see you.” You remember the story how God said, “All right.” He said, “No one can see my glory and live.” And He said, “I’ll stroll by you and you can see my back parts, and I’ll cover you and place you in the cleft of the rock.” And that’s where we get that famous hymn, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in Thee…” and then the rest of it. You have to look it up in the hymnbook, okay? And so here it is. He knew him face to face. I want to speak this evening on why Moses finished strong.

Let’s pray. Father bless this time we have. Help us now in Jesus’ name, Amen.

What did he look like? Kind of help me. Come on, come on. You’ve seen the movies. What did he look like? Long white hair, looks a little bit like Charlton Heston. And a long white beard. And it was all black until he went up to the mountain. And you know, then his beard turned all white. Anyway, I remember the movie, but it’s not like that. All right, here’s what we do know about Moses. It’s is referred to all throughout the Bible—it talks about the “Law of Moses.” The Law of Moses. The Law is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Law. The Law condemns. The Law is like a plumb line that says, “Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not. Don’t cross this.” It seems like the Old Testament is Law, New testament is grace. But if you did cross (and there’s a cross), you cross some lines. And it just kind of seems like, though it’s the same God, the God of the Old Testament is a little bit more severe than the God of the New Testament. Same God, but you remember Elijah? He says, “If I be a man of God, let fire come down and burn you guys up.” 50 guys burned, chicken McNuggets. But in the New Testament, you see a woman caught in adultery, and they’re going to stone her. And Jesus says, “The guy who has never sinned, how about you throw the first stone?” Now you’re kind of seeing a little bit more mercy. I’m glad we have a God that’s judgement and mercy, truth and grace. He’s a package deal. He is balanced.

But as we think of Moses, he’s conncted with the Law of Moses, and then he’s remembered for the 10 Commandments. He’s associated with that. He’s the one the only one to ever receive something written by the hand and the finger of God. Amazing. Moses must have been the most wicked man in the Bible because he broke all 10 Commandments at once. And so, he is remembered.

Not only that, he is revered as just the greatest leader in the Bible. “Where you going? I don’t know. God has led us across the Red Sea. We’re heading toward the Promised Land, wherever that is.” What a man. He was revered.

And then not only that, but he was rewarded. God told him, “You’re not going to the Promised Land.” You remember that? He got angry and hit the rock twice. God says, “You blew it.” But God, in His grace, later on in the New Testament you find Jesus climbs this mountain with Peter James, and John, and lo and behold, guess who’s waiting up there? Moses and Elijah. God is so merciful! He said, “You can look over and see it. You can’t come.” Then, later on, God said, “Oh, come on.” Later on He said, “Come on, get over here now.” As a spirit, not embodied now.

And so what was it that made this man tick? What was it? We’re told. You need not turn there, but in Numbers 12:3, it says he was the meekest man. There was no one meeker than Moses on the earth. Now, what’s the word “meek”? Meek? Most of the time, we think of meekness is this—looking at your shoes as you walk. No, that’s weakness. Your head is down, you’re just kind of looking at someone speaking, and you can’t believe someone spoke to you. And then you look at your shoes. No, that’s not what it is. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under control. It’s a ship with a rudder. It’s a horse with some rains. It’s a powerful person, but under control. So, one of the meanings of the word “meek” is “level.” So, it means this Moses didn’t look to people like, “I’m so inferior to everybody.” Nor did he look down on people and say, “I’m so superior. You’re nothing.” He was a level with everyone. Even ground at the foot of the cross. Were sinners saved by grace. We’re on level ground. And that’s what he’s talking about. Where Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” No one is better than or worse than you. We’re all sinners saved by grace.