How would you like to be remembered? Chances are, one of these days, unless the Lord returns soon, someone will have the task to write an obituary for you.
In a seminary class, on "Pastoral Care of Grieving Persons," Dr. Dickens instructed us to write our own obituaries. What would you say about yourself? Probably more importantly, what would others say about you?
In our text for this morning we have Moses obituary. Moses was important enough that others have written about him. As a matter of fact, he is one of the central figures in the history of Jews. But in this very simple passage, we have recorded for us the death of Moses.
But there are some statements in this obituary that are troubling. At the end of verse 6 it says that, "... no man knows his burial place to this day." Does that bother you? Here is perhaps the greatest Hebrew statesman of all time. His contribution to his people is unparalleled in history. He is the singular most significant participant in their history and no man knows his burial place.
I don’t know about you, but I find that rather odd.
Even our most insignificant historical figures are immortalized concerning their birthplace. Oftentimes we name parks and lakes and other significant places after the men and women of the past. I have been to "Jim Hogg Park" in Rusk, Texas, named after a former governor of Texas, and probably better remembered for naming his two daughters... "Ima and Ura."
We don’t obscure the significant people who shape our nation. Yet here is Moses, buried in a place so solitarily obscured for all time. The burial place of other great Hebrews is known and mentioned throughout the Bible. People continued to return to the burial places of people like Jacob and Joseph, and ultimately rendered these places somewhat holy.
But not Moses. Let’s consider another statement in this passage of Scripture that may shed some light.
Did you notice something as I read vs. 4? That verse ends with the statement: "...This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ’I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there."
That is as troubling as the fact that he was buried in anonymity. This is the same Moses who led the children of Israel out of Egypt. He is the same one who led them in the wilderness for forty years. He is the one who went up on the mountain and received the Ten Commandments from Almighty God. He is the one who later would be compared to Christ, according to the book of Hebrews, and he was considered by the Jewish Christians to be slightly lower than Jesus Christ Himself.
Why would he not be allowed to go into the Promised Land? After all, isn’t that what God called Him to do? Exodus 3:10 says, "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." The Lord said, "I am going to bring My chosen people out of bondage, and bring them into a land of promise, the same land that I promised their forefather, Abraham. A land flowing with milk and honey. And Moses, you are going to be the guy that leads them."
What happened? Why is Moses on this mountain on the east side of the Jordan River, looking at the promised land, and dying on this mountain. He’s on the east side of the Jordan River. The Promised Land is on the west side of the Jordan river.
What was his crime? Oh, I remember. He was the one who saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and killed him. That must be what was so horrible. Certainly, the crime of murder must surely be one of the most heinous crimes in the eyes of the Almighty. After all, God created people in His own image. In the image of God created He them. That makes sense. Moses committed murder and because of that,
God is not going to let him go into the Promised Land.
Man, that’s tough. But if that was the reason, why did God call him to lead the children out of bondage at all. After all, God didn’t call Moses until forty years after he murdered the Egyptian? Why would God call a murderer, to do something that would cause him to be one of the most renowned figures in Hebrew history, a man compared to the very Son of God in the Scriptures?
Surely, Moses was not called after the act of murder and then allowed to lead the children of Israel for over forty years and then not be allowed to see the fruits of his labor fulfilled. Can’t you imagine how much Moses must have looked forward to seeing that land that he had heard about all of his life.
What was it that caused Moses fall into obscurity? Well, we see a hint of the reason in Deut. 32:48-52. Back up a few pages and lets read what happened.
READ 32:48-52
The key verse is verse 51. What did Moses do? He broke faith with God in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because he did not treat God as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.
That sounds pretty serious doesn’t it? Moses must have done something pretty horrible to receive that kind of condemnation. Whatever he did, it must have been something vile, something horrible, something depraved or obscene or repulsive for God to deny him to complete his mission, the mission that God had defined for him.
What was so horrible that Moses was denied entrance into the Promised Land.
In order to understand, we have to go back to the wilderness wanderings.
Turn back to the book of Numbers 20:1-13. READ Wait a minute. Are you telling me that just because Moses stuck the rock and did not speak to the rock, that was his terrible sin?
What is that compared to murder? Certainly any one of us would consider that a bit harsh. God wouldn’t deny Moses the joy of entering into the land of promise with his people, those people who proved to be so faithless. Why, Moses never broke the faith. He served God for a long time...forty years wandering in the wilderness, being faithful even though the people he was leading were continually grumbling and complaining. Griping all the way to the promised land.
Yet, Moses continued to be resolute in his leading these gripers and complainers.
Even when, he went for a little mountain retreat, to speak to God, when he got back, they had coerced Aaron into making a golden calf for them to worship,
forgetting that the God of Abraham had delivered them out of bondage.
Moses kept the faith. Let’s see what was going on in the midst of their current complaint. They came to the wilderness of Zin, at a place called Kadesh. There was no water and the people were really upset. This wasn’t anything new. They had been upset because there was no water, they were upset when there was too much water at the Red Sea, they were upset when there was no food, they were upset because there was no Walmart to buy new clothes. Everytime Moses turned around, they were complaining about something.
Then during one of the most grievous of times, after the death of his sister, they begin to complain again. It was an evidence of heartlessness and insensitivity on the part of the people that they should have allowed their bitter complaining to surface once again when Moses’ sorrow was so fresh. It was an inappropriate time, and terribly insensitive, for them to have done that. The truth is, that when people are out of sorts with God, they become clumsy and insensitive, and intrude unceremoniously at all manner of unsuitable times, causing needless hurt and distress that could, and should, have been avoided. It lends particular seriousness to this evidence of murmuring and disaffection and serves to show how far wrong in spirit they were.
It is a familiar picture in the wanderings of Israel; each time anything seemed to go wrong for them this is how they reacted, in a grumbling, complaining and faithless spirit that blamed Moses and Aaron, who were the constant scapegoats for an ugly and vindictive attitude against God. We find ourselves asking, "Do these people never learn? They have been complaining ever since they were delivered from 400 years of slavery. Have they not learned any wisdom from their past experience of God’s dealing with them?" God’s dealings with them up to this point were such as to inspire them with a faith and trust in His goodness and love. Turn with me to Deut. 8:2-6 and let’s see what God was doing all this time. READ
The divine reaction to their complaining and faithless spirit is ... not wrath, but grace. Moses is commanded to take his rod, and "speak to the rock" in the presence of all the people, and it would give forth water to satisfy their thirst. This provision for their need is another striking evidence of the meaning of the grace of God ... undeserved, unmerited kindness and goodness, free and unearned.
Water for the thirsty, bread for the hungry, home for the homeless, rest for the weary, pardon for the sinful ... this is grace, and in the story of these verses we have an illustration of something that is fulfilled and magnified in the gospel of Christ. It is this that makes the gospel good news ... good news for those who have failed and been a disappointment to themselves and to God, for those who despair of themselves in His sight.
Everything in the New Testament confirms this. I am reminded of Peter, and his dismal denial of Jesus ... not necessarily an unexpected happening, but something that was entirely predictable, for all along his heart had refused the discipline of discipleship. You can readily imagine the dark despair and desolation that must have gripped his soul after his denial. Yet, one of the first statements of the resurrection narrative is, "Go and tell His disciples ... and Peter..." This was a special reassurance from the risen Lord that there was grace for failures, grace for poor, broken, dejected Peter, to reach deeper than the depths of self-despair to lift him up, and back, into fellowship with the Lord.
But there is another emphasis also in these verses which must not be missed.
There is no room for complacency in the knowledge of such a love and grace as God displayed toward His people. He means us to take His grace seriously, on pain of punishment. We may not presume upon it; when we do, we shall suffer for it. This is the lesson which Moses’ experience in Numbers 20:12-13 has to teach us. A judgment was passed upon him because of his sin of striking the rock rashly and presumptuously, when God had told him to speak to it, and the privilege of leading the people into the Promised Land was withdrawn from this great leader and given to another.
Does this bother you?
We might say, "But, God. He wasn’t in his right mind. He was overwhelmed with grief. He was dealing with people who continually aggravated him and turned faithless at every turn in the road. Can’t You cut him a little slack. Can’t You back off of this seemingly innocent mistake. I mean after all, once before You told him strike the rock."
Over in Exodus 17, Moses was faced with the same situation, and that time, God told him to strike the rock with his staff and bring forth water. It was certainly a reflex reaction in a difficult time in his life. "You’re not going to hold that against him are You?"
Moses was disobedient and brought dire consequences upon himself. Through irritation, anger, and resentment, not to say bitterness, with the people, it cost Moses the single most important goal that he had strived for over the last forty years of his life.
And people think about this. He didn’t go looking for God, God went looking for him. He had a task for Moses and Moses was only responding to God’s leading.
The lesson is clear: grace is never a ground for complacency or presumption.
By our carelessness, by our sinful neglect, we can sin away forever some of the privileges of our calling .... not salvation, but our opportunities for service, our possibility for usefulness, our contribution to the ongoing purposes of God.
Can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned? The answer, ringing from a hundred pages of Scripture, is never! The fact that this happened to Moses teaches us that there is no height to which we may rise in spiritual life where this will not be a possibility or danger. The message that comes through, loud and clear, in these verses is, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16b).
The call to holiness is often misunderstood and usually neglected in the Christian life today. However, the Bible clearly calls us as Christians to live in holiness (Eph. 4:24; 1 Pet. 1:15; Heb. 12:14). Holiness is required for fellowship with God and is necessary for effective service with God.
I am often confronted with people who will attempt to deny the fact that they must come together with the body of Christ in order to fulfill their calling as Christians.
You neglect the church to your peril. So what can we do to experience this holiness, to safeguard against what happened to Moses from happening to us?
Jerry Bridges in his book "The Pursuit of Holiness" has suggested four things.
First, we can develop the right habits: habitually saying no to known sins and practicing habits of prayer and Scripture reading and meditation.
Second, we can practice holiness all the time, never letting an exception occur, avoiding "just this one time" kind of thinking.
Third, we can practice holiness in all areas. Holiness in thinking must be matched by holiness in acting and holiness in talking and holiness in relationships.
Fourth, we can move past our failures. When we fail in the principles just mentioned, we should immediately confess that failure and seek God’s forgiveness.
We don’t have to live our lives on the East Side of the Jordan River in our sin. We can move out to the land of promise by accepting God’s Word as true, by repenting and turning our back on a lifestyle that does not honor God, and by accepting Christ as our Savior and Lord.
You need to know one more thing about Moses. He made it. He made it to the Promised Land.
In Matt. 17:1-3 we read the following: READ
He made it. And you can to. Are you tired of living a life of sin. Are you tired of living a life that dishonors God and thereby causes you to be overwhelmed by the circumstances of life. If you will choose the way of the disciple of Jesus Christ, you will find yourself facing life with a new sense excitement and joy.
There is nothing else you can give yourself to that will create that kind of life.
Won’t you make your decision today to stop handling the holy things of God with casualness. If you truly understood that the things you do for the Lord become holy, you would never again be late for Sunday School, or choir practice, or church. You would never again sit in a worship service and talk during the service. You would never again complain against your brothers and sisters in Christ. Stop living on the East Side of Jordan and come all the way up to a life of abundance in Jesus Christ.
