Okay, we're in Deuteronomy chapter nine. We're gonna actually read Deuteronomy nine, beginning in verse one, all the way to chapter 10, verse 11. I know that's a lot of material. I hope to deal with all of it tonight, because it focuses on one primary message, one primary theme. We'll find that, specifically in verses four to six, it's repeated three times. I'll just start reading in verse one, though, and we'll read the section, and then we'll Look at it in more detail. What's that? Okay, Deuteronomy 9, beginning in verse 1. Here, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the... whom you know and of whom you heard it said, who can stand before the descendants of Anak?" Therefore, understand today that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you. Do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry enough with you to have destroyed you. When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from here. For your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded image. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God, had made for yourselves a molded calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord as at the first, 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him. So I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain. Also at Tabra and Massa and Kibrath Hadeva, you provoke the Lord to wrath. Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, go up and possess the land which I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him nor obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. Thus, I prostrated myself before the Lord. Forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. Therefore, I prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look on the stubbornness of this people or on their wickedness or their sin. Lest the land from which you brought us should say, because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which he promised them and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. Yet they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your mighty power and by your outstretched arm. At that time the Lord said to me, Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark. So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain having the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And there they are, just as the Lord commanded me." Now, the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Ben-Jacob to Moserah, where Aaron died and where he was buried. And Eliezer, his son, ministered as priest in his stead. From there they journeyed to Good Goda, and from Good Goda to Jot Batha, a land of rivers of water. At that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name to this day. Therefore, Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him. As at the first time I stayed in the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord also heard me at that time, and the Lord chose not to destroy you. Then the Lord said to me, arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Amen. As I said, it's an extended portion, but it certainly has one central theme. It is a reminder, it is a caution, it is a warning to the people of Israel that they should not boast in their own righteousness. Remember back in chapter 7, the Lord had told them that he did not choose them because they were more numerous than the other nations. Rather, they were least of all the nations. Back in chapter 8, when they come into the land, The temptation would be, the inclination might be for them to forget God. In 817, then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. So he is discouraging them from these sins, he is warning them against them. these particular sins, boasting in their numbers, boasting in their power to gain wealth. And here specifically in chapter 9, he is cautioning them to guard against the temptation of a self-righteous spirit, that tendency of man to think that he has done enough to benefit from God, that somehow the Lord God owes us for our works or for our obedience. It is condemned thoroughly here on the plains of Moab. So I want to look at four broad categories tonight as we address this section. The first is the anticipation of the conquest in verses 1 to 3, the warning concerning the conquest, verses 4 to 6, the historical review which demonstrates a conspicuous lack of righteousness on their part in verses 7 to 24. That's the bulk of the material. and then the intercession of Moses on their behalf in verses 25 to 29, and then the renewed covenant in chapter 10 verses 1 to 11. It's a bit of an overview of where we hope to go tonight, but note first the anticipation of the conquest, verses 1 to 3. Again, there are lots of repetition on the plains of Moab as Moses is exhorting them, preparing them, giving them the same message so that they may go in and dispossess the nations. They are to cross over the Jordan. The today in verse 1 probably doesn't mean within that 24 hour time span. It means it's imminent, it's upon them, that portion of time wherein they are. They're about to enter into the promised land. to go in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than themselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you heard it said, who can stand before the descendants of Anak." So he paints the picture of how formidable the foe is, how bad the enemy is, and how threatening this whole incursion into the promised land is. That's the foil in the backdrop to present to us this gracious, sovereign, and glorious God who will in fact go before them as a consuming fire, according to verse 3, and it would be God the Lord who would destroy them, bring them down before you. He would use Israel as His agent to bring judgment upon the Canaanites but the victory, the triumph, would ultimately be of the Lord. So this description of the promised land and the formidable nature of the foe and enemy sets the stage for the power, the majesty, and the great display of the sovereignty of God as he is the one that enters into the land prior to them, and he is the one that destroys their enemies so that when they do relax, when they do find their place in the land of Canaan, The answer is to praise God, as we have seen throughout these chapters. And that brings us to consider, secondly, this warning concerning the conquest. Verses 4 to 6. He gives this warning three times. Again, he wants them not to boast in their numbers, chapter 7. He wants them not to boast in their power to gain wealth in chapter 8. But the loathsome character of self-righteousness, the abominable nature of a self-righteousness is here condemned thoroughly on the plains of Moab. He says, when you've entered into that land, when God has preceded and the enemies are destroyed and you've entered into the blessing and the fruitfulness of that land, do not think in your heart. Don't let it rise up within you. Don't entertain this for a moment. Do not even begin to give vent or to give space to this idea that the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. Do not exalt in yourself. Do not boast in yourself. Do not think that it's because of your goodness, because of your holiness, because of your purity, because of your rightness, that somehow God is giving you a reward. That is precisely not the case. That's why the bulk of the chapter highlights the sinfulness and the depravity of these people as a means by which to destroy this idea from rising up in their heart. This is why he gives this long historical review to show them, as Moses says, you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. You have no place whatsoever to let it rise up in you that God has given you the land of Canaan because of something good in you. Now, if we, of course, jump to the new covenant, the obvious application is there. We can never boast. We can never claim, we can never suggest that we are in a position of favor with God because of our righteousness, because of our works, because of our wisdom, because of our free will, or because of anything that we have conjured up on our own. We simply cannot do that. We mustn't ever boast in our own righteousness. In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul highlights one of the emphases or one of the goals of God's redemptive work in our lives. He says in verse 29 of 1 Corinthians 1, that no flesh should glory in his presence. And then in verse 30, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. There's no place for self-glory. There's no place for a pat on the back. Paul says, God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. That's the emphasis here on the plains of Moab. You did not enter into this land of Canaan. You have not reaped the benefits of this good land. You are not reaping the joyfulness of all these things because of your righteousness. In fact, when we go back to verse 4 of chapter 9, he says, do not think because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. He says, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. Again, he repeats it. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land. but because of the wickedness of these nations, that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So when you're in that land, don't think, wow, it's because of my righteousness. No, it's because of the wickedness, the more wickedness, if I can use that phrase, of Canaan, and it's because of the covenant faithfulness and the promise of God Most High. Christopher Wright said, the Israelites would be right in their estimation of the Canaanites. They knew that the Canaanites were a wicked people. We already see that Leviticus Chapter 18. God says, do not engage in this sexual misconduct. Do not engage in this sort of immorality. It's either 18 or 19. It's for this cause the land vomits out the inhabitants. The people of Canaan were debauched. They were wicked. They were ungodly and unholy and unrighteous. So God takes a not so righteous Israel and uses them as the means of judgment upon a less righteous the Canaan nations. God does this later on to Israel themselves. This was a perplexity in the life of the prophet Habakkuk. God said he was going to send Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, and that made the prophet Habakkuk said, what's the deal? Basically, putting it in the vernacular, how is it that these things can happen? Well, God uses nations to bring judgment upon other nations. So the people of Israel were not to be puffed up, and proud and arrogant, either in their numbers or in their power to gain wealth, and especially in their self-righteousness. So Wright says the Israelites would be right in their estimation of the Canaanites, but utterly wrong in their estimation of themselves. The wickedness of the Canaanites did not prove the righteousness of Israel. You cannot conclude that because someone is more wicked than you, that you're righteous. You cannot conclude, I was just reading an article in a magazine about Charles Manson. You all remember that notorious, horrible, wicked man. I mean, he was a mastermind who got in the heads of people and got them to actually engage in execution. Put the X on his forehead and then the swastika, and they say by his next parole hearing, He's going to be 92 years old. He's been institutionalized for the better part of his life. Well, we can't look at Amanson and say, because of his wickedness, I'm righteous. That's what the temptation and the tendency would be in the children of Israel. This is the temptation and the tendency of every child of God today. We need to guard our hearts against this self-righteous attitude. that looks at or that promotes our own righteousness on the graded scale of the wickedness of someone else. That is simply unconscionable. We're not supposed to engage in that kind of activity. Right is right. They're utterly wrong in their estimation of themselves. The wickedness of the Canaanites did not prove the righteousness of Israel. And then notice, so it's not their righteousness, it is a two-fold reason, the wickedness of the Canaanites, the exceedingly wicked conduct of the Canaanites, but then the covenant faithfulness of God, that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, for the third time, it's repeated. The third time in the space of these few verses, notice in verse 6. Therefore, understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Now here comes the bulk. Here comes the main thrust. Here's the proposition. You're not righteous. Rather, you are a stiff-necked people. So we're going to look back in history. This is Moses or God through Moses on the plains of Moab. I'm going to take you by the hand and lead you through your history so that I can convince you and show you beyond a shadow of a doubt that when you enter into this goodly land, it is not by virtue of your righteousness. It's by virtue of God's mercy, God's grace, God's kindness, God's covenant faithfulness. So he says, you are a stiff-necked people that brings us then to consider the historical review, a conspicuous lack of righteousness. But note the language before we jump in there. I know that we've looked at this sort of a thing in our studies on Sunday, or studies in the past on Sunday. Remember that concept in Psalm 115, verse 8, with reference to idolatry. Those who make them are like them, right? Those who make them are like them. G.K. Beals says, whatever we revere, we resemble, either for ruin or for restoration. I mean, it's a fact. We worship something, we become like it. The fact is that the bulk of this historical review will center on Horeb. Remember that in the book of Deuteronomy, Horeb means Sinai, with just about every time except for one or two places, Deuteronomy calls Sinai Horeb. Remember the Sinai event. They get the law, the covenant is ratified, not long after they engage in calf worship. What's an indicative or an indicator of a calf or of an animal? They're stiff-necked. They're stubborn. You have to put a yoke on them to guide them and control them. and make them go in the direction that you would want. This idea of them being stiff-necked, they're taking on the very characteristic of the idol that they worship. So let's look at the proof of this statement in verse 6. Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. First, they provoke God in the wilderness, verse 7. Remember, they didn't just wander through the wilderness saying, God, wherever you lead us, that's what we want to do. Wherever you take us, Lord, we want to obey you. They whined, they grumbled, they complained, they sniveled, they rose up in rebellion. There was all manner of rejection of the living and true God in the wilderness. This is what Moses says. Verse 7, remember, do not forget how you provoke the Lord your God to wrath. in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord." Now, remember the agent that is speaking to them. It's Moses. Moses knew this people intimately. This wasn't the sort of preacher that said, you, you, you, you, without any knowledge of the people to whom he's preaching. Moses knew them intimately. Moses bore long with them. Moses suffered long on their behalf. He says in the wilderness, you provoke the Lord your God to wrath. So when you get into the land, do not boast of your righteousness. Secondly, they provoke God at Horeb. Again, that's the bulk of the section, verses 8 to 21. And it's important for us to remember this particular event, the context of Horeb. Chapters 19 to 23 in the book of Exodus, the giving of the law, the giving of the covenant, Chapter 24, they are sprinkled with blood. In other words, the covenant is ratified. This is a ratification ceremony. And remember their insistence twice in Exodus 24. Does anybody remember what the people of Israel said on that particular occasion? God have mercy on us and help us to do everything you call us to do. No, they said all the words which the Lord has said, we will do. So the law is given 19 to 23, the covenant is ratified, the people amen it, they give their seal, they give their affirmation, we get from 24 to 32. And are they doing all that the Lord has commanded? Absolutely not. They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for the image of a calf that they call Yahweh and they bow down before. So it's important that we remember what's going on in Horeb. Go back to chapter 9, verse 8. Also in Horeb, you provoke the Lord to wrath so that the Lord was angry enough with you to have destroyed you. When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant." Isn't this ironic? Moses goes up to the mount to receive the law. The two tablets, the document of the covenant, while he's up on that mountain, what are the people doing? They're breaking the covenant. They're breaking the law. It wasn't long after this ratification ceremony that the people then plunge them into this particular sin. Then the Lord says, notice in verse 12, Note the emphasis and note the language that is used here by God. Again, this is highlighting to the people of Israel that it's not your righteousness. If you understand what's going on in verse 12, you will see just how wrathful God Almighty is. I mean, we see it very obviously in verse 14, to be sure, when he says, let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. But look at verse 12. Look at what God says. Arise, go down quickly from here for your people. What's God doing? He's disowning them. Covenant breakers no longer maintain fellowship with God. Covenant breakers who engage in idolatry are no longer his people. You'll see this later on in the prophet Hosea in chapter 1, verse 9. Call one of the sons not my people. This is what God is saying. Arise, go down quickly from here for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. We might see something analogous to this in a marriage relationship. When the child is acting poorly, the wife might say, your son needs a spanking. Or the husband might say, your daughter isn't acting appropriately. There's that disassociation. There is that removal. There is that separation from the person themselves. That's what's going on here. God is provoked. God is angry. God is full of wrath with reference to these people. They have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded image. They have plunged themselves into the depths of sin, debauchery, and wickedness. So Israel, when you go into the land of Canaan, if for a moment the thought rises up that it's because of your righteousness, just think back to Horeb. Just think back to that golden calf. Just think back to that time when Moses is on the mount receiving the covenant document, bringing it back down to the people, and they are engaged in absolute wickedness. Notice the wrath of God as it's displayed in verses 13 and 14. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me saying, I have seen this people and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. They have taken on the characteristic of that which they worship. They are a stubborn, recalcitrant, hardened, rebellious people. Verse 14, let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. Now this is strong language. This is the repudiation one of the Sinai covenant. I'm going to destroy them. But two, it's a repudiation of the Abrahamic covenant. Wasn't it God who said to Abraham and you, I'll make a great nation? Now he says to Moses, this thought being suggested, no more will I deal with Abraham and his descendants. We're going to obliterate them. We're going to wipe them out. We're going to kill all of them. And Moses, from you, we're going to start afresh. You see, do not think for a moment that you're in this land because of your righteousness. You, through your conduct, brought yourselves to the place where God was just about to cut you off completely and to obliterate you from the face of the earth. This is serious business and this is the corrective for pride and arrogance and a heart that is given to self-righteousness. We ought to think about these sorts of things in our own life when we're tempted to pride, when we're tempted to look down upon other brethren, when we're tempted to think that we're in Christ somehow because of something that we have done. Just read the New Testament epistles, read the vice lists. Read Romans chapter 1. Read 1 Corinthians 6. Such were some of you. If that doesn't cut out the legs of self-righteousness from under us, then we're harder than we can even imagine. We need to take our minds and hearts, submit them to Holy Scripture, and realize it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that we stand and gain acceptance with the Lord God Almighty. So Moses rehearses Horeb and then he highlights his response. Notice in verses 15 to 21. You have to appreciate Moses when you're done with the book of Deuteronomy. This brother was a genuine mediator. He was a genuine mediator of this covenant. He went to God on their behalf. He teaches us something about intercession, how we ought to pray with reference to God. But in this section, he is highlighting his response when he comes down and he finds the people a whoring from God. Notice in verses 15 to 17, I turned and came down from the mountain and the mountain burned with fire and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God, had made for yourselves a molded calf, you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. This wasn't Moses saying, ah, forget it. This wasn't Moses just being so frustrated he dropped that. This is symbolism. This is broken covenant. This is a testimony of what they were doing as they danced around this calf. and they worshiped this created thing. They had desecrated, they had violated, they had broken the covenant. This is why he says, I threw them out of my hands and broke them before your eyes. It was a preaching lesson. It was a testimony and a demonstration of just what was going on with reference to this particular scenario. Notice in verse 18, I fell down before the Lord as at the first. Forty days and forty nights I neither ate bread nor drank water. Now the chronology here isn't strict. I think it's more thematic in nature. So if you're trying to fit it in perfectly with Exodus 32 and 34, You can work on that later. I think he is thematically bringing these thoughts to bear upon the audience here. I fell down before the Lord as at the first, 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you to destroy you. Notice this, but the Lord listened to me at that time also. You have to praise God that you got a Moses. Israel, be very thankful. The plains of Moab, the fact that you're here, yes, it's the sovereignty of God working through the mediator. We ought to praise God that we have the mediator, Christ. The Lord listens to Christ at this time or at that time also. A good covenant mediator is something we desperately need. Moses, as a type, shows forth what a man of God is like who represents the people of God. What a blessed statement. The Lord listened to me at that time also. Notice verse 20. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him, so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time." Now Exodus doesn't record that. We can imagine and we can understand God's anger at Aaron. Remember Aaron? What did Aaron do? Oh, we just threw this gold in and out popped this calf, right? I mean, he leads the people in idolatry and then has the chutzpah to lie to Moses. We just threw this gold in and poof, out came this calf. I mean, you could try this a million times, my dear brothers and sisters. throw gold into fire, I guarantee you not one out of a million will out come a calf. They fashioned it to worship it. Notice, the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him, so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. God did not kill Aaron at that particular time. Moses intercession. Moses on behalf of Aaron and the people, God the Lord blessed. Klein says, God's particular wrath against Aaron, not mentioned in the Exodus account, is cited here to demonstrate how completely devoid of merit and dependent on mercy Israel was. Even their high priest was a brand plucked from the burner. I mean, the high priest of Israel, supposed to be the godliest man. And here he is leading the people in this idolatry. The Lord is angry with him, but God spared him. And then the proper treatment of idols. Remember, this is something emphasized in Chapter 7. What are the children of Israel supposed to do when they get into the land of Canaan? They're supposed to pulverize. They're supposed to destroy. They're supposed to get rid of every idol. They're not supposed to keep the gold and the silver. They're not supposed to melt down the idols of Canaan and say, well, now we can make jewelry or now we can do with it whatever we want. No, you're not supposed to have it. This is what Moses says in verse 21. Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain." So Moses sets forth the pattern of how to deal with idolatry. A few of the kings in the time of the monarchy make the same application to idols. They burn them, they pulverize them, they disperse the dust so that people will not be inclined to get those items and to worship falsely. So that's a Horeb. So if that, you know, if it ever rises up in your mind, just think back to Sinai. Think back to that time in Israel's history that should have been the holiest, that should have been the most righteous, that should have been the time that was most beneficial. You had received the law. You had ratified the law. Moses is up getting the official documentation to record this covenant. Remember, the Ten Commandments, the two tablets were probably not five here and six here, or five here, five there. It was the same set, the same ten on both documents, one for the covenant Lord and one for the people. And they were then deposited in the Ark of the Covenant for safekeeping. It was a document prepared in duplicate for both parties in the covenant. So Moses is up officiating, getting all that stuff in order. God says, go down. They've corrupted themselves. They've done it quickly. They didn't wait. This isn't 20,000 years later. It's not long after the Sinai event that they have given themselves over to idolatry. But if you forget Horeb, don't forget Tabra, Massa, and Kibra, Hadeba. Those other three places, those other three times. Tabra was the place of burning. Numbers 11, 1 to 3. The people grumbling, whining, complaining. Some of them caught fire. Massa was that place of testing. We've already seen that referred to in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16. You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massa. And then Kibroth Hadovah, graves of craving, where the people desired meat. And this is where God brings judgment upon them. So what we find here is that there is no righteousness, the land of Canaan is even more wicked, but you are a stiff-necked people. Go to Horeb, go to Tabra, Massa, Kibroth Hadovah, and if you forget that, don't forget Kedosh Barnea. You see what he's doing? He's rehearsing their history. Not to show them how glowing and beautiful and wondrous they are, but to show them how wicked they are, and how that it should never rise up in their hearts that they boast that they're in the land, because they were more righteous. Remember it was at K-Barnea. that the spies return, and the people grumbled and complained, and they want to decide with the ten and reject the two. Moses already has rehearsed this in chapter 1, verses 29 to 40, to show the conduct of the children of Israel at Kadesh Barnea. And he summarizes it, I've already alluded to this, with verse 24, you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. So Moses bore with them, he suffered long with them, but he was able as well to tell them the plain and the honest truth. No one knew them like Moses. They could not say, what do you mean, Moses? He knew them and he knew their sin. Yes. Oh, absolutely. If we don't see ourselves in here, we've got blinders on because our tendency is to be proud. Right. Yeah, absolutely. There's something analogous to this situation to us. I mean, if you look, you know, just privatize it. You've got your own Horeb, you've got your own Tabra, Masoch, Ebroth, Hadovah, you've got your own Kadesh, Barnea, you've got a long track record, you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. Certainly Jesus could say that of each and every one of us as the covenant mediator. Thankfully, we have Jesus to intercede on our behalf and as that advocate with the father so that we are not sent to hell. So this is the rehearsal of their wickedness. Then Moses highlights his intercession on their behalf. Notice in verses 25 to 29, thus I prostrated myself before the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. I kept prostrating myself because the Lord had said he would destroy you. That's a good brother here. What a man. What a blessed man. But again simply a type of the greater man the Lord Jesus Christ. I prostrated myself before the Lord 40 days 40 nights. I kept prostrating myself because the Lord had said he would destroy you. Now notice the way Moses prays. This is bold faith in action. Therefore I prayed to the Lord and said Oh Lord God do not destroy your people. Remember, God says, go get your people, the people you let out of Egypt. Moses is saying, no, God, they're your people. No, God, they're your inheritance. No, God, they're your prized possession. Moses has boldness at the throne of grace. Moses sets the example of how the saint of Christ ought to intercede. We plead the glory of God, the majesty of God, the excellence of God, the possession of God, your people, your inheritance, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Here he comes with that covenant. He says, remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look on the stubbornness of this people or on their wickedness or their sin. He says, God, remember them, your people, whom you brought out of Egypt through your greatness, but as well, remember the promise, remember the covenant. You can never, ever, ever get a bad response from God when you bring his covenant to him. You read those psalms, you read the psalmist, specifically 77, I believe, and 79, the psalmist is pleading God's covenant. Spurgeon says this is masterly pleading. This is one of the grandest weapons out of the armory of prayer to bring God's promises, God's faithfulness to God. He cannot deny himself. He cannot renege. He cannot He cannot invalidate an oath that he has made. And this is how Moses is interceding. The people of Israel belong to the Lord. They are his inheritance. The people of Israel are redeemed through God's greatness. They are a testimony and a display of God's greatness. The people of Israel are brought out of Egypt by God's mighty hand. So he says, do not destroy them. He says, remember your covenant. And then specifically, he pleads God's glory in verse 28. Lest the land from which you brought us should say because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which he promised them and because he hated them. He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. You see what Moses is doing. We don't want Egypt. We don't want these Canaanites. We don't want these heathen. We don't want these uncircumcised to say God wasn't able. We don't want them to be able to say God hated them. God brought them out here to kill them. Interesting. The idea that was in the minds of Egypt or the potential idea that would be in the mind of Egypt, unfortunately, was in the mind of Israel as we saw in Deuteronomy 1. They thought God wanted to kill them. They thought God hated them. Moses is saying just the opposite. Continue, Lord, in your plan. Deliver them into this land, lest the people of the land say God was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them. Because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. He is specifically pleading to the Lord that he bring glory to his name. That's the essence of his prayer here. That's the impetus. He says, Lord, we don't want you to look bad in the sight of the nations. For your glory's sake, spare this people. He reminds him again in verse 29, they are your people, your inheritance, your purchased possession. Again, Christopher Wright says the intercession of Moses was effective because it went to the heart of God's own priorities as Moses already knew from his long intimacy with God. God's people, God's promises, God's name. As a model of intercession, his prayer stands at the head of a list of Old Testament prayers that follow a similar pattern and focus on the same priorities. It is a powerful model for God's people at all times. God's name, God's kingdom, God's will. You will not be frustrated bringing those petitions to the Lord. That's what he calls us to do. There is a priority at the throne of grace, and this is what Moses is demonstrating. This is what Moses is displaying. And then chapter 10, the renewed covenant. This is beautiful. Verse one, chapter 10. At that time, the Lord said to me, Heal for yourself two tablets of stone like the first. and come up to me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark. Now this is the point where everybody standing on the plains of Moab should have broke out in song. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Get more tablets, Moses, we're gonna do this again. It's not your righteousness, it's God's graciousness. It's not your goodness, it's God's mercy. It's not your merit, it's God's covenant. Notice, so I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, went up the mountain having the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And there they are, just as the Lord commanded me." Now notice this sort of parenthetical statement in verses six to nine. Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Ben-Jacob to Moserah, where Aaron died and where he was buried. Eliezer, his son, ministered as priest in his stead. From there, they journeyed to Gouda, and from Gouda, sounds like a cheese, a Dutch cheese, I think, to Jotbatha, a land of rivers of water. At that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name to this day. Therefore, Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him." Now, we might look at verses six to nine and say, that's kind of an interesting sort of a, you know, historical little review and a little place about the Levites. Look at what it underscores and look at what it demonstrates. The people continued to the promised land. They made a golden calf, they worshipped it. Moses threw the tablets down and broke them right before their eyes. Not to mention Tabra, not to mention Massa, not to mention Kivat Hadovah, not to mention the provocation of the Lord every step of the way, the rebellion. God wrote with his own finger, two more tablets. The people continued on their journey. Eleazar, the son of Aaron, took the office of high priest. Remember, that was specifically noted in 920. God was angry with Aaron. But instead of dissolving, destroying, and removing the priesthood, Eleazar, his son, comes up to bat. You see what's going on here? God has been merciful. God has met your sin with mercy and grace so that when you go into that land, do not boast that it was your righteousness. It's a beautiful thing. At that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi. Notice the threefold function of the priesthood. One, to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. Two, to stand before the Lord, to minister to him. Three, to bless in his name to this day. Remember when Malachi, or God through Malachi, says, I will curse your blessings, one of the functions of the priest. Therefore, Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him. So you see, verses six to nine function in sort of this way. It's business as usual with the Lord. God dealt with your sin. God put it away. God rewrote the covenant himself. God has blessed you. He's given you a high priest, and he is carrying you on through to the promised land. And then the final summary statement in verses 10 and 11 at as at the first time I stayed in the mountain also, I'm sorry, 40 days and 40 nights. The Lord also heard me at that time, and the Lord chose not to destroy you. Then the Lord said to me, Arise, begin your journey before the people that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them Christopher, right? He says, in the light of all that has come between the beginning and the end of the section, remember the beginning, the anticipation of the conquest, the end of the section, or in the middle of the section, all of this rebellion. He says, in the light of all that has come between the beginning and the end of the section, this should be a chastened people about to move into the land, a people with every confidence in their God, but with no illusions about themselves. That's the point. That's what Moses is communicating here in chapters 9 and 10. And as I've said and suggested, the application to us is manifold. Let us not get proud or arrogant or self-sufficient or self-righteous or somehow think that it was something that we did. We were a little better. We were a little wiser. We were a little smarter to bring ourselves into this place of God's blessing. No. We are miserable, hell-deserving sinners who provoke God just as much as the people of Israel did at Horeb, at these other various places that were mentioned. We may not have danced around a golden calf, but we certainly had some idol or a myriad of idols in our lives that we danced around. Even as Christians, the temptation is there and the tendency rises up for us to be proud or arrogant or look down our noses at other people. We need to guard, we need to come back to Deuteronomy chapter 9 and realize, therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you heaven. because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people." Ultimately, he's giving us heaven because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the one to whom Moses was pointing in his actions, in his intercession, and his love for the people of God. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this, your word. We thank you for this message in Deuteronomy 9 and 10. God, I pray that we would learn the lesson, as it's underscored here, that we would not be a self-righteous people, that we would not be proud or arrogant or haughty. Paul tells us that we need to not be haughty in Romans chapter 11, but rather we need to fear. We pray God that you would cause us to walk in humility before you and in humility before one another, as individuals and our families and our church life and our workplaces, wherever we find ourselves in society. What an offense and what a wicked testimony to the Church of Christ or to the Gospel of Christ, a so-called proud Christian. We just pray that you would grant us grace, Father, to see our sufficiency, our acceptance, everything is tied up in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for him, how we praise you that he is the mediator of the new covenant and that in him we have everlasting life. We just give you praise and glory now in his name. Amen.