Deuteronomy 3:23-29 Bible Study | Episode 844

January 2, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Deuteronomy 3:23-29  Bible Study | Episode #844

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God will open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name. Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Deuteronomy, chapter 3 and into the chapter, the final story that Moses tells. As far as the, the journey. We're going to have a lot more information given to us in Deuteronomy, but, but this is, this is one of those passages that's kind of really insightful as far as Moses is concerned, but it's also an important understanding for us to get in our own walk in our own Christian life. So many times we, we, we as human beings want to find someone else to blame for our struggles. But the truth is, is that, and I've said this many, many times before, maybe on this podcast, maybe not, but, but many times before, salvation is not salvation from hell. Okay? You, you being redeemed, you being justified before God, your redemption saves you from hell. And that is. That is done by God. That is a finished work that is completed by God. You are, you are redeemed from sin and death. And when you're redeemed from sin and death, you're redeemed from sin and death for good. It's a done deal. You're. It's over. As far as, as far as the eternal judgment of heaven, the sin that is in your life is placed on Jesus and he redeems it for you. He redeems you back to a rightful place with God. Salvation is not salvation from sin or death. Salvation is salvation from yourself. Okay, and what I mean by that. Well, salvation is the process by which your mind and your heart are changed from your will and your way, which is rooted in death and rooted in selfishness and pride and all the things that destroy us. And God saves us from that heart of a stone, that heart that is always wandering away from God. He saves us from that and brings our heart and our mind, our will back in line with Him. So the whole, the whole purpose of salvation is to save. It is, it is to, it is to bring your heart in your mind, save your heart in your mind from itself you and bring it in line with God's will, which is ultimately God's best. And so ultimately salvation is a process of not dealing with the world and not dealing with, with the things of the world. Salvation is a process of making your heart like God's heart and making your thoughts like God's thoughts. And now what, what about the flesh? Well, the flesh is so utterly sinful, so, so wicked that God ultimately doesn't allow us to have the flesh anymore. He. He removes us from the flesh and gives us a new body and a new, a whole new flesh. Because the flesh we have is so utterly sinful. So ultimately God redeems us by his finished work through Jesus Christ. He saves us from our own heart and he gives us a glorified body. He glorifies us by giving us a body that is fixed. And so when you kind of think about it that way and when you, your thoughts understand that, you realize that the thing that is, is the most in, in the way of me actually experiencing all that God wants for me is me. Well, that, that requires self reflection. That requires you to look inside. That requires when things happen, for you to consider yourself and consider what God is showing you. You don't consider it for condemnation purposes. Remember that condemnation has to do with, you know, sin and death and hell. That's not, that's not what condemnate. That's not for condemnation purposes. When I consider what I've done and, and who I am and how my heart and my mind are not in line with God's will. When I consider those things, well, I'm not condemning, I'm considering, considering it for the purpose of being changed. And as I'm changed, well, my life is opened up to the good things and the big thing that God has for me, I mean that's just, that's how it works. That is how it go. That's how it works. And so Moses is a human, just like we're humans now in the Old Testament. He represents the, the prophet. He is, he is the prophet that brings God's law. He represents the law. He is a type of Christ, but he's a type of Christ that deals with the law and the fulfillment of the law. And Moses, the law cannot get you into the promised land. It doesn't get you there. Following the law doesn't get you where you need to be. Faith in Jesus Christ gets you where you need to be. Faith in God's revelation to you of his plan and his work in your life, and you trusted him with it, gets you to a relationship with God, gets you to salvation. And so Moses is not going to go in now, as we all do. He has someone to blame, and that's the children of Israel. And let me tell you, they're a great target. They're a great target to blame because they are always whining, they're always moaning, they're always lamenting what they've lost in this world rather than looking forward to the things God has promised. Wow. That just so much encompasses us, doesn't it? I mean, that's who we are. We lament about what we don't have rather than. Rather than hear God, trust God and walk in what he is providing for us. We lament our losses as if they're permanent when they're not. Especially our losses of other people, meaning our. When, when people pass away, we. We lament their loss. And sure, there's. There's nothing wrong with mourning the loss of someone. There's nothing wrong with missing them, but oftentimes we treated even more than that. We just. We treat it as if it's some kind of permanent death sentence for us. And we're. It's never going to be the same again. And it's not because they're not here, but it's going to be the same again. It's going to be better than the same. Why? Because we, we don't lose things that are eternal. We get to keep them. And other believers and other people in our lives are not, Are not lost. They're eternal. And we're eternal. We get to keep them. And by the way, all the things that we do that are born of faith, we get to keep. And so the truth is, even though this world is a world full of loss, we don't have loss with God. And so we can't blame our inability or unwillingness to trust God. We can't blame that on other people. Remember, God's saving me from me. He's not saving me from them. He says, in fact, I got to be in the world, but not of the world. I need to. I need to be a part of what he's doing in the world. Because I was. I have a responsibility to be like to that world. And so what does he say? What does Moses say? And I want you to notice how he just sometimes he. And when I read this, I don't go, well, Moses doesn't he's not doing right. I always read, how is this like me? Because if somebody's messing up, it's likely to be like me. That's just all of all the things I've learned from Scripture. If I read somebody messing up in Scripture, not doing it the right way, I've likely walked that road before and maybe on the same one right now. He said, and I pleaded with the Lord at the time, saying, O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness in your mighty hand. Meaning he's, he's, he's putting on a, he's putting on an argument for God. And by the way, you get to, you get to talk to God. I mean, if you'll notice, Moses is talking to God, you know, straightforward, directly. He's, he's, he's trying to convince God, as if you could. He's trying to convince God that he should go into the promised land. And he's talking to him face to face. That is, that is. God loves to talk. God. God loves to sit down and counsel with you. I mean, that's, that's what he wants to do. And so Moses does that, which I think is really wonderful here. He says, oh Lord God, you've only begun to show your servant your greatness in your mighty hand. Now he's shown Moses some greatness and some mighty hand. And Moses saying, you just getting started with this. And Moses is right, he's not going to get to see all that God has for him. That's true. It is true. But, but what a wonderful way to approach God about this. You know, I've just. And Moses is saying, like I said, part in the Red Sea, angel of death, river Nile river turned to blood. I mean, you just start naming them and I mean he has seen some big stuff, really, really big stuff. Earth swallow rebels just open up and swallow them. I mean, I, the amount of stuff that Moses is saying that's mighty by God is, well, just too much to count, really. Too much to even imagine. For what God is there. Second part of verse 24. For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Meaning nobody can be like, you know, there is none like you. Well, he's, he is, he's dead on the money about that. There is none like him. There's nobody like him. And Moses, Moses, he's. Now he's laying it on thick a little bit because he, he's got a, he's got a reason for buttering Up God. As if you can butter up God. Remember, he knows all things. That's, that's just not even. It's not possible. He says, please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, the good hill country in Lebanon. What he's saying is, let me go, Let me go in. Now. I will say this about Moses and about God. Moses, Desire to go into the promised land is not a wrong desire. In fact, it's a right desire. It is, it is the ultimate desire. It should be. The ultimate desire of every believers is to have God's best. It should be okay. Second of all, it's the desire of God for us to enter into the promised land. But, but Moses, in his type, who he represents in the Old Testament and in his actions, has placed him in a position where he can't, he can't go in. And that is really sad. And I'm, I, it is, it is sad for Moses and it's sad for, it's sad for those who read this story. We want Moses to go in, but you know, if we can't be changed by God in our hearts once we've seen the big things of God, you know, some things we can't have. And I just, for me, I think this, I know that there's some things in my life that I would love to experience from God, but the truth is that, you know, my heart just doesn't, doesn't bring me to the place where I will. I hope I do. I've got, you know, maybe 20, 30 more years to try if I, if I live that long. But, but you know, some things you just miss, some things you don't get. And we can't live forever and we can't experience it all, but we can live eternally. And we do live eternally and we do get to see it all. We just don't get to experience it all. But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. Now this is not really, actually from Moses perspective, it may be true for him, but remember, salvation is about changing our perspective, changing our heart. And, and Moses really still blames it on the people. But the truth is God told him to do a certain thing with the rock when the water, for the water to be provided to his people. And he was very specific about what he told Moses to do. And Moses did not do what God told him to do. He did it differently because he was angry with the people. He was angry with people and he, it caused him to do something that was Quite clearly not according to God's instruction. And really, that's what salvation is, is. Is hearing God, believing Him and doing exactly what he says. That's what faith is about. We hear God. He reveals Himself through His Word. He reveals Himself through His Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself in our lives, in the. In the actual physical world we live in. He's a. He's a revelatory God. He's a God who reveals Himself. We hear what he reveals, which prompts us to act. We act upon that. And that is the process of faith. That's what faith is. Moses heard God, he believed God. But he allowed the circumstances of the world for him to cause him not to do what God said, the way he said, do it. And that cost him. And he did it publicly in front of his people. And that cost him. And it's a painful thing to do. And notice what God said. And the Lord said to me, enough from you. And notice that is a very curt answer, enough from you. What he. What God is saying to him is. Is. First of all, I think he's saying to him, we've already discussed this. It's. I've already decided. Second of all, he's saying to him, moses, that's not exactly what happened. Enough from you. Do not speak to me of this matter again. Why? Well, because you're refusing to accept the reality of the situation. By the way, that's what keeps you from going in. Sometimes that's what keeps you from God's best is you. You refuse to. You refuse to accept the reality of the situation. So what happens? He says, go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward, northward and southward and eastward. And look at it with your eyes. For you shall not go over this Jordan. Meaning he told him to go up to a mountain that's near the Jordan and see the promised land. But he can't go in but change, but. But charge Joshua and encourage and strengthen him. For he shall go over at the head of his people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see. So we remained in the valley opposite of Beth Peor. Now a final little note with this. Did. Did Moses ultimately go in, in spiritual terms, as far as his. As far as his inheritance, his reward, his. The eternality of who he is. And the answer is not physically, because the flesh doesn't have victory, but spiritually, yes, he did get to go in. Why? Because Joshua is a product of his spiritual journey. Joshua is his treasure. Joshua was his right hand man. Joshua was the one who he discipled, who he made, made into a follower of God. He taught him to walk with God. And Joshua is going to go in. So all the, all the inheritance, all the blessing, all the, all the treasure that comes from that, that is in heaven, Moses still gets, because Joshua is the one let him in. And he is. He is. He has invested his spiritual journey into Joshua. So even if you can't really overcome it, and even in this fleshly life and there are things we're just, some of us just not going to be able to overcome, just. It just happens that way when we invest in others and when we help them walk in the walk, we not. We don't just get the treasure that we produce, we get the treasure that they produce because our investments bring about a great increase. Great, great increase. And so as I look at it, this is somewhat of a sad story. It's very much a revelatory story. It kind of tells us, you know, really the whole quandary of the Christian life right here in, you know, six, seven verses. But it also, it also is a story of promise and hope because Joshua's going in and Moses is a part of Joshua. So in many ways, Moses does get to go in, even though he doesn't get to do it himself. As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.