Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel calls to mind God's active and intentional provision for them. Deuteronomy three recounts the mighty victory He gave Israel over the king of Bashan, and the way that God provided for his people a land.
This is part three of a message titled Your Eyes Have Seen All That the Lord Has Done. It was first preached on April 28, 2024. You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? What God is there?
He begins with worship. What is he? Why is he worshiping? Because, first of all, he's acknowledging the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God. You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand.
Moses has already seen a lot.
Okay. Remember the ten plagues? He beg began with a fiery The fiery bush, the burning bush, right out in the wilderness, and then he goes to Egypt and he's got the ten plagues, and then you've got the Exodus out of Egypt, and then you've got the Red Sea, and then you come to Mount Sinai. And think about his communion with God at Mount Sinai. And he says, Lord, please show me your glory.
And God says, essentially, what? If I show you all of myself, He says, you're going to die. You can't handle that.
So he showed him the back part of his glory. And Moses came down from the mountain what? His whole face was glowing. noticeable to the people. He'd been in the presence of God.
And what does he say here? You have only begun to show your servant your greatness in your mighty hand. The sovereignty of God. David said it well, Psalm 135, verses 5 and 6, For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
You want a definition of the sovereignty of God? Right there it is. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does. You can't say that, and I can't say that. Why?
Because we're contingent beings. God is not, He is sovereign, He is infinite, He is transcendent. He's free to do what he pleases to do. It's a good thing he's good, huh? Everything he does is good.
What this brings out is what Moses is acknowledging here is: God, you are the point. You are the point. I am not. What we're doing is not, you are the point. Moses, he's getting ready to plead with God.
Remember that, but he starts by saying, you are the point. Not only is he worshiping God for his sovereignty, he's worshiping God for his holiness. And by holiness, we mean uniqueness. You're it. You're You are God alone.
There is no other. Any other... Object of trust that could be remotely considered God is simply a fabrication of. human ingenuity or imagination. But that's not you.
You are God. What God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? The uniqueness, the holiness of God. He is set apart. There's none like him.
He's it. God is like what God has done. This is what Moses is confessing. And so what we need to very much be in the habit of doing as Moses is here, in those moments where we feel like we need to plead with God, let's make sure that when we go there, we begin with worship, acknowledging the sovereignty and the holiness of God. He is God.
He is the point. I am not. And there is none like him. And so I need to recount. What God has done.
I need to recount what is written. I need to recount the gospel. Preach the gospel to myself. We got that. That's where we need to begin.
Like I said last time, when it comes to our understanding of God and our understanding of the circumstances of life, when it comes to our faith, the place where we must begin is with God. We don't begin with our own experience. We don't begin with our own intellect. We begin with God and we must know God in the way that He has made himself known. Because God is like what God has done.
This is everything that Moses is confessing in this verse before he begins to plead with God.
So, the first point we need to remember when it comes to worship is. when it comes to prayer. and communing with God, that we begin with worship. Because God is God and I am not. Mm-hmm.
Secondly. God welcomes personal conversation. with raw honesty. He welcomes that. See, he can't be threatened by your disappointment or Whatever.
or your questions. God can't be threatened by that.
So he welcomes that. He created you in His image. with the capacity to be able to relate to him. That's why you exist. We are, as humans, are a unique part of all of creation.
Why? Because we were designed with the capacity to relate to God.
So God welcomes that. And what is Moses doing? He is begging, the word pleading, he's begging God for specific favor. favor. He's begging God for specific favor.
Verse 25: Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country. and Lebanon. Please let me go over and see the land. You know, as we say. As I've just said, God welcomes personal conversation and he welcomes our raw honesty.
That's one reason why the Psalms are in Scripture. It's one reason why it's good for us to read the Psalms because so much of the Psalms have raw honesty in them. But Every one of them also contains worship. Worship It's okay to be honest with God. It's okay to ask him questions.
But be very, very careful that you begin with worship like Moses did in verse 24. acknowledging the sovereignty and the holiness of God. Because if you get to the point where you expect God to be accountable to you, You have just crossed the line into idolatry. You have elevated yourself above God.
So he's not threatened by your honesty. He welcomes it. That's why the Psalms are in Scripture.
So let's continue with this personal conversation. Moses worships, he acknowledges God's sovereignty and his holiness, and then he begs for this personal favor from God. Please let me go over and see the good land.
Now, let's continue with the conversation. Verse 26. But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, Enough from you. Do not speak to me of this matter again.
Now, isn't that just comforting? There ought to be. Let's learn from this.
Okay, let's learn from this. Enough from you. This wasn't the first time Moses had asked.
Okay. Enough from you, the Lord says. God welcomes personal conversation with raw honesty. But He will share his glory with No wonder. No one.
There is a reason why Moses is not Allowed to go into the promised land. I like, it's interesting what he said, verse 26: the Lord was angry with me. Because of you. And it's not the only time he said that.
Okay. Because of you. You know what I think this is? You know what? I think this is Rich Powell's opinion here, okay?
You know what I think this is? I think this is a This is the Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit, but I think this is Moses' humanness coming through, providing a little editorial here.
Okay. The Lord was angry with me, true. Because of you. Okay. In Numbers chapter 20, the event in question here, Numbers chapter 20, verse 12.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe me, problem number one, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them. You did not uphold me as holy before the eyes of the people. You remember You remember the incident, Numbers chapter 20, Meribah. God had brought the people over. And this is wilderness, okay?
And when you think of wilderness, don't think of green trees and stuff like that. Think of what? Desert, rocks, think of brown, nothing but brown.
Okay. It's it. Rocks and sand. And the people were going through there, and they were starting to complain. Yeah.
You've brought us out to kill us. We shouldn't have followed you. We're thirsty. We're dying of thirst. Remember, God had just brought them through the Red Sea, right?
Okay, so let's not forget that. And so Moses and Aaron go before the Lord, and they. Fall down before God and they worship Him and they ask Him, what are we going to do with these people? And the LORD says to Moses, Tell the rock. to yield its water.
Now, that makes about as much sense as God telling Noah to build an ark, right? He says to Moses, Tell the rock to yield its water.
Now, we all know. We all know rocks don't Do water. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out www.delightandgrace.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
