4th Sunday After Epiphany, Year B. Series

Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111:1-10, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:21-28

A). JESUS: A PROPHET LIKE MOSES.

Deuteronomy 18:15-20.

1. A Prophet raised up by God (Deuteronomy 18:15).

John the Baptist was asked, ‘Are you that Prophet?’ (John 1:21). His answer was an emphatic, ‘No!’ So people began to wonder if it was Jesus (John 6:14).

2. From your own people (Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18).

‘He came unto His own’ (John 1:11-12).

He was the desire of Israel (Deuteronomy 18:16-17).

Also, ‘the desire of nations’ (Haggai 2:7; cf. Matthew 2:2).

3. Like unto Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Moses was persecuted in his birth. So was Jesus. The parallels between Pharaoh’s policy and Herod’s are uncanny.

Moses was a man of intercessory prayer. Jesus was the ultimate intermediary to stand between God and man (Deuteronomy 18:16): ‘that He may lay His hand upon both’ (Job 9:33).

Moses was willing to lay down his life in his people’s stead.

Jesus did! - thereby overcoming death on their behalf.

4. Unto Him you shall hearken (Deuteronomy 18:15).

‘Listen to Him’ (Matthew 17:5).

a) I will put my words in His mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18);

b) He shall speak to them all that I command Him (Deuteronomy 18:18; cf. Hebrews 1:1-2).

c) Jesus is the Prophet like unto Moses (John 6:14), and all His words are truth (John 14:6) (Deuteronomy 18:18).

5. Accountability: the need to obey Jesus (Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:19).

# How can we hearken to that which we do not hear? (cf. Romans 10:14-15).

a) First, seek out a relationship with Him: for He has said, ‘My sheep hear my voice’ (John 10:27).

Jesus is called the Word of God (John 1:1). So is the Bible (Hebrews 4:12).

Search the Scriptures, for in them you will find the words of eternal life - and they testify of Jesus (John 5:39; John 6:68).

b) Thereafter, get into the habit of going to a quiet place, and stilling your heart (Habakkuk 2:1).

Ever since we took our first faltering steps in the Christian life, the childlike song ‘Read the Bible, pray every day’ has resonated with us. It is part of our life’s blood. Meditation upon what we have read is also profitable.

Mrs Wesley reportedly improvised a closet place in the midst of her busy family life by placing her apron over her head, thus shutting out all else and everyone else for a time of communion with God.

6. A warning against two kinds of false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:20).

a) Those who speak words not consistent with God’s words;

b) Those who speak words in the name of any other so-called ‘god.’

# How do we know it is His voice (cf. Deuteronomy 18:21-22)?

Try the spirits (1 John 4:1). Compare ‘spiritual things with spiritual’ (1 Corinthians 2:13), scriptural with scriptural. Is it consistent with Scripture? Is it consistent with what we know of the Person of Christ?

B). A COMMITMENT TO PRAISE THE LORD.

Psalm 111:1-10.

After the initial exhortation to “Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 111:1), this song forms an acrostic, using all twenty-two Hebrew letters in alphabetical order.

As for the Psalmist, he has determined: “I will praise the LORD with my whole heart” (Psalm 111:1).

The heart is a metaphor for the inner self. It is the wellspring of emotions (Exodus 4:14); the seat of conscience (1 Samuel 25:31; 2 Samuel 24:10); the place of understanding (1 Kings 3:9); and the residence of faith (Romans 10:9-10).

Our praise should thus be deeply personal: but it also gives expression “in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation” (Psalm 111:1).

Let us not forsake our gathering together as part of the congregation of the Lord (Hebrews 10:25). There our praises are mingled with that of our brethren throughout the world, and throughout all ages. There our praises are joined by those of angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven (cf. Hebrews 12:22-24).

‘Where two or three are gathered together’ (Matthew 18:20) in the Name of Jesus there He is, ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23), in the midst. It is even as He has promised: ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5); ‘behold I am with you, even to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20).

As we study “the works of the LORD” (Psalm 111:2), we come to know Him in His Person: but His acts arise out of His nature, not vice versa.

It is the light and glory of the sun that convinces me of the sun’s existence: but the sun existed long before my perception of it. The LORD’s “righteousness,” which is displayed so wonderfully in the Cross of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21), does not stop with this single act, but “endures for ever” (Psalm 111:3).

A recurring theme throughout this Psalm is “the wonderful works” of the LORD. The beauty of a rainbow, spanning a mountain glen, reminds us that He is “gracious and full of compassion” (Psalm 111:4).