The Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

SERMON

In Nomine Jesu!

Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name. I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

In Christ Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, dear fellow redeemed:

A small child lets go of his mother’s hand in a busy parking lot and makes a dash for the family mini-van. His mother calls him back, sets her packages down, takes both of his hands, and says, "Listen to me. You must hold my hand all the way to the car. You could easily be hit by a passing car." A coach tells a player during a time-out, "Listen to me. When you have the ball give your guy a head fake to get him off his feet and then drive hard to the basket." A dying mother calls her adult children to her bedside and says, "Listen to me. I want you to remember to live your lives with thanksgiving for the little things, like being able to breathe and to walk without support."

There are times when we have important messages to share with others, so we look them straight in the eye and say, "Listen to me!" Such was the case when Moses addressed the words of our text to the children of Israel. They had completed their forty years of wandering in the wilderness and were soon to enter the Promised Land. Moses, however, would not lead them into the land, for God had informed him that his work was done and he would soon die. Moses was aware of the trials that lay ahead for his people. He was also well aware of their weaknesses and the importance of their being faithful to God. He, therefore, addressed these words to them, but he did not say, "Listen to me." Rather, he pointed them to another who would come—a special Prophet to whom they were to listen. That prophet was Jesus, who came in fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies to be our Savior and Lord. Let us follow Moses’ advice and LISTEN TO JESUS! He is the "Prophet" sent by God! He is the "Prophet" sent with God’s word!

I.

Moses says, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren.”

I would have to note two things about this “Prophet” whom God promised to send and to whom Moses tells us to listen. First of all, He is described as being like Moses, but, secondly, it is important for us to realize that He is at the same time very different than Moses. How was Jesus like Moses? The similarity can be found in their person and in their office. Moses was a man, the son of Amram and his wife, Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. Jesus, too, was a man, the son of Mary, of the tribe of Judah. Both were descendants of Abraham. Both were chosen by God to serve as His prophets, or spokesmen. They served as mediators between God and His people—providing God’s people with His word.

Moses reminded the people of the incident that had occurred forty years earlier on Mt. Horeb, another name for Mt. Sinai. The oldest people to whom Moses was speaking had been children then. God had descended upon Mt. Sinai and was prepared to address them. We are told in Exodus 20 that, “the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking” (verse 18) and were so frightened that they had asked Moses to speak to God on their behalf rather than listening themselves. They were so afraid they might die were they exposed further to the glory and holiness of God. Moses had subsequently gone up Mt. Sinai to receive God’s law and had returned to present it to the people.

However, while Moses and Jesus were similar in ways in their person and office, they were also very different. Had the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai been a sufficient revelation to God’s people—both to guide their lives in this world and secure for them life in the next, it would not have been necessary to send a second “Prophet.” But the Scriptures teach of us that “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). The main purpose and intention of God’s law is to show man how utterly incapable he is of keeping God’s commandments perfectly, and so to demonstrate most graphically he needs a Savior. Jesus was that Savior—not just a man like Moses, but the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Moses had a human father, but Jesus’ Father was the LORD God Himself! Jesus alone knew perfectly the heart of God, and He alone has been entrusted to reveal God’s heart—His grace and mercy towards us sinful human beings, through the precious revelation of the gospel. His office, therefore, was not just to serve as "a" spokesman for God—just one of many mediators. Rather, the Scriptures teach us, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5). You see, Jesus did not just speak of someone else, who would come to be the world’s Savior, as had Moses. Nor did He come to show everyone how they might save themselves. Jesus came to be the world’s Savior! That is why He could say in John 14:6, which serves as our thematic verse today, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Dear friends, let us LISTEN TO JESUS! He is the "Prophet" send by God!

II.

He is, secondly, the "Prophet" sent with God’s word! Moses went on to tell the children of Israel, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name. I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” I would have you note three things: 1) The words of Jesus were given to Him directly from His heavenly Father. Those words in turn have been translated to us in the Bible, which can be trusted as true and applied to our lives. 2) God will hold each of us personally responsible should we reject Jesus’ words, as we find them in the Bible. 3) God will condemn anyone who alters or adds to Jesus’ words, or who claims to represent other gods.

If you review the life of Jesus in the four Gospels, you find repeatedly that Jesus makes reference to the fact that God the Father sent Him to complete the work of our eternal salvation and gave Him the very words He was to speak. When confronted by the scribes and Pharisees after healing the sick man at the Pool of Bethesda on a Sabbath Day, Jesus defended His actions and authority by saying that His Father had “sent” Him (cf. John 5:37). His Father had testified concerning Him, for instance, at His baptism, when He spoke directly from heaven and claimed Jesus as His Son. Jesus then tells those opposing Him to “search the Scripture,” for they testified concerning His coming and His work (cf. John 5:39). By rejecting Him and His word, they were demonstrating that they were living in unbelief and in reality opposing the very God they claimed to represent. Later, as Jesus spoke to His disciples on Maundy Thursday evening, He told them, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me” (John 14:23-24). Those words from the Father and conveyed to us through Jesus and His apostles make up our New Testaments, which together with the books of the Old Testament form our Bibles. They words are as the apostle Paul testifies—the foundation and cornerstone of our faith life (cf. Ephesians 2:20). We can trust them, for Jesus Himself promises that they will not pass away, but rather remain for our comfort and as a source of strength for us to the end of time!

However, it is a rather common things in our day, is it not, for people to pick and choose what they will believe from God’s word, or immediately to reject it in its entirely, claiming it is old-fashioned and out of date. What are the consequences of such an attitude and action? God tells us through Moses that He “will require it of him.” What does that mean? It means that God, having revealed to us truth through His Son and the words He spoke, will ultimately judge us on the last day. Jesus reflects this truth when He says, “If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:47-48). Woe to that man or woman who treats God’s word lightly, for they will come to regret it. Rather, dear friends, let us embrace the words of our Savior, for as the apostle Peter once testified to Jesus and concerning Him, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Moses adds, as it were, a final warning to those who claim to represent God and the “Prophet” He would send, including pastors like myself. If you are going to claim to represent me, do so faithfully. Do not add or subtract from my word. Do not alter it to suit your fancy or the base desires of those who might hear you. Do not suggest that there are other gods to whom people should listen and before whom people should bow. To do so is to invite God’s severe judgment.

My dear friends, we are living in a day when faithfulness to our Savior God and His Son Jesus Christ is decried as religious bigotry. We are living in a day when all gods are frequently viewed as being the same god. This was not true in Moses day, nor is it in our own. Perhaps you read in Friday’s edition of the Free Press the article concerning the sentencing of Richard Reid, the terrorist who threatened to blow up an airplane with a bomb in his shoe. He was sentenced to life in prison, and as he was dragged from the courtroom he cried, "You will be judged by Allah!" There are many who claim that Allah and the LORD God are one and the same, but this is simply not true. Rather than listening to the spiritual sirens of our day, which would cause our ship to break up on the rocks, let us rather LISTEN TO JESUS! He is, after all, the "Prophet" send with God’s word! It is that word, which will lead us to understand our sin, but which also reveals our Savior. It is that word, which will comfort us in distress, and which will give us confidence as we meet the challenges of our daily life. It is that word—the words of our Savior Jesus, which will sustain us throughout this life and bring us safely to our Savior’s waiting arms at our life’s end. Yes, dear friends, LISTEN TO JESUS! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting