More Gospel Connections To Deuteronomy Series

More Gospel Connections to Deuteronomy

(Deuteronomy 18:15-19 with John 10:1-30, selected; Deut. 29:18-21 with Matthew 12:25-32)

1. When I first began dating Marylu, she was a waitress.

2. Fortunately, I was brought up with good etiquette, & knew to tip 15% for good service.

3. Now the protocol is 20%, and I try to do that, if the service is good. If not, I leave less.

4. This week, an interesting story broke out of Pennsylvania:

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – An eastern Pennsylvania prosecutor wants charges dropped against a couple who refused to pay a tip at a restaurant where they said they got poor service. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said he’s recommending that Bethlehem police drop the theft of services charges…

[The customers] said service was slow and unresponsive and [they] waited more than an hour for [the] food." The police commissioner has agreed to drop charges.(AP Nov. 24, 2009)

5. Perhaps the waitress in this incident was not to blame -- maybe it was the cooks. Either way, she was slighted and tried to teach a lesson to the customer.

6. It may not be wise to slight our fellow human beings, but it is downright foolish to slight God. We slight Him in many ways, but the worse case scenario is apostasy.

Main Idea: Since the Messiah is God’s anointed messenger, embracing contrary religious beliefs after professing faith in Him is inexcusable.

I. The Messiah as Prophet: LISTEN to Him! (Deuteronomy 18:15-19 with John 10:1-30)

A. A Great PROPHET Would Arise

B. Ignoring HIM is ignoring God

The text talks about listening to Him. But this means more than hearing: listening involves learning and then practicing.

Richard DeHaan shares this illustration:

"I read about a man in New York City who died at the age of 63 without ever having had a job. He spent his entire adult life in college. He had acquired so many academic degrees that they looked like the alphabet behind his name.

"Why did this man spend his entire life in college? When he was a child, a wealthy relative died who had named him as a beneficiary in his will. It stated that he was to be given enough money to support him every year as long as he stayed in school. And it was to be discontinued when he had completed his education.

"The man met the terms of the will, but by staying in school indefinitely he turned a technicality into a steady income for life—something his benefactor never intended. Unfortunately, he spent thousands of hours listening to professors and reading books but never "doing." He acquired more and more knowledge but didn’t put it into practice."

[from Our Daily Bread]

C. Jewish Diversity: Was the Prophet also the MESSIAH?

1. John Gill wrote, "Jeremiah, whom some of the Jews have thought to be the prophet Moses spoke of, in (Deuteronomy 18:15) and expected that he would appear about the times of the Messiah" [his source: Baal Hatturim in Deut. xviii. 15. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 127. 4. & 143. 4. Siphre in Jarchi in Jer. i. 5].

2. The OT leaves us expecting Elijah, the Great Prophet, and the Messiah. John 1:19-23 makes it clear that some Jews were expecting a man separate from the Messiah to be the prophet of which Moses spoke:

Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."

They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not."

"Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."

Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ’Make straight the way for the Lord.’ "

Other rabbis believed that the prophets would be resurrected when the Messiah came. (Lightfoot, Vol. 3, p. 243). That is why some believed that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected.

3. Acts 3:21-23 makes it clear that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy:

"He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, ’The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’"

D. Jesus’ sheep LISTEN to Him

• It is interesting that Jesus used the imagery of a shepherd and sheep. Moses had been a shepherd in Midian. And Moses was more than a prophet, but he also was the shepherd of Israel.