Nations are like the raging sea. The prophet Isaiah said, “Alas, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, but He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, and be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, or like whirling dust before a gale” (Is. 17:12, 13). God’s prophet shows how kingdoms rise and fall, and their philosophies are swept away; but God, the LORD of His covenant people, is above them all. The Psalmist, in Psalm 93:1-5, declares, “The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice, The floods lift up their pounding waves. More than the sounds of many waters, Than the mighty breakers of the sea, The LORD on high is mighty. Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness befits Your house, O LORD, forevermore.”

From God’s unassailable throne, He surveys the whole historical development. Being above time, God sees through time. As the Creator of all things, God controls all things. As the Lord of history, He alone can explain history. The Bible not only records prophecy, but it is history pre-written.

The “Incarnate Word” is the Christian’s power; the “Written Word” is his authority. To question the Scriptures being God’s word means a denial of authority. The inspiration of Scripture is a subject of great importance. Thus, when we say that we believe in the plenary and verbal Scriptures, we mean fullness or completeness; and every word is complete. The Incarnate Word is Jesus Christ in John 1:1 and John 1:18. He is not only the “begotten God” who was sent to explain the Father, but in His death, He purchased all for whom He died—“knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you” (I Pet. 1:18-20).

In Christ’s own words, He either has revealed or will reveal the purpose of God to the elect. The love of God’s commands is to be distinguished from the mere outward observance of them. What a lesson for those who believe they are called to preach God’s Word! The Psalmist was inspired to say, “I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes” (Ps. 119:47, 48). Therefore, he who preaches to others must delight in the practice of what he preaches. Thus, it is by grace that the laws for Christians have been written on their hearts. Until this takes place, every man desires to be a law unto himself. The depraved man counts the commandments of God burdensome, but grace makes God’s yoke easy and His burden light. Therefore, Christ said, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:27-30). Although natural men observe some of God’s commands, they do not do this with inward delight. Some assemble with saints; but what the saints do out of delight, others perform out of either custom or compulsion. Paul states it bluntly in Romans 2:4 and 5—“…do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

Afflictions are not a consuming but a refining fire to the godly. The Psalmist said, “You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Ps. 119:65-72). The Psalmist is suffering affliction in the form of persecution. He was conscious of the need to observe and keep God’s Law, and he was resolved to keep God’s commands at all costs. Psalm 119 contains 22 stanzas, each of which corresponds to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Deity is mentioned in every verse. This Psalm records the most elaborate eulogy of God’s Word ever written.

Affliction is not only a pathway to devotion for God’s people, but it is given to prove what we are in the sight of others, even our enemies. Job said, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). Continuing afflictions prove that God sees something in His people that they do not see.

Christ said, “…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23). The word of God is complete as a guide for the sheep in any age. What do you think of the statement made by many preachers today?—“First Century Christianity cannot be practiced today.” Every person is revealed by what he loves and hates.

Love is the positive side of the principle of righteousness. To study God’s laws is to find out how they are used and for whom they are revealed. There are different laws for different purposes. The Christian is always ready to make distinctions where Scripture makes them because the word “law” is used many ways in Scripture.

Jesus Christ is the believer’s portion. The word “portion” is sometimes taken for a piece or part of a thing. The Father has given Christ wholly and entirely to each believer. Therefore, each Christian can say, “I am the Lord’s portion in a peculiar and special sense. I am His by election, redemption, and regeneration.” The apostle Paul had a problem with the Corinthians on this. In I Corinthians 1:13, the apostle asked them, “Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” In verses 14 and 15, he said, “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name.” Each sheep that has come, by God’s grace, into the assembly of Christ can say, “Christ is suitable, all-sufficient, infinite, eternal, and satisfying.”

Christ is our life in death, our light in darkness, our peace in turmoil, and our abundance in want. God’s providential disposition of things in the world has reference to one thing—His external purpose for His saints. Moses was not saved from death in the same manner as Elijah—he really died, and his body was really buried. Before leaving the subject of the death of Moses, do not forget what the LORD said to him—“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. So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end” (Deut. 34:4-8). Although Scripture says, “…it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27), the death of Moses was not the result of decayed powers and the infirmities of old age. He was on the border of the promised land, but what was it that kept him from entering the promised land? (See Deut. 32:48-52.)

Moses committed the sin of “physical death” by striking the “rock” twice (Num. 20:8-13). The “rock” was a type of Christ (I Cor. 10:1-13). Peter’s sin was trying to keep Christ from going to the cross (Matt. 16:21-23), and Moses’ sin was destroying the type by striking it twice. God has a way of dealing with flesh in His people. God could not bring His people into what His love proposes to give them without teaching and discipline. As God’s chosen ones, we must learn quickly that the evil nature of the flesh is Satanic in origin. Spiritual life is in the risen Son of God and outside of the flesh. Christians live in the sphere of the risen Lord.

Moses did die, and his body was buried. However, we may assume that his body was saved from corruption, because Jude 9 favors a resurrection. Men bury the body so that it may pass into corruption, but God buried Moses’ body for the purpose of saving it from corruption. Does this explain the fact that all the persons involved in the Transfiguration scene (Matt. 17:1-13) were in uncorrupted bodies? The ground of controversy was that something very special was to be done with the body of Moses. Some think it has something to do with Moses being raised from the dead again. What about Lazarus in John 11? What about the wicked dead in Revelation 20:12-15?

God will continue to bring the chosen ones out of darkness into His light of grace, regardless of tribulation. I Thessalonians 1:4-6 states—“knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Distinction must be made between “tribulation” and “great tribulation.” John said, “My lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.

Copyright ã   2005

This sermon has been written, preached and copyrighted by W. E. Best. While the author retains his copyright to this material, you are invited to copy the sermons or portions of them for your use. But you are specifically forbidden from changing any of the material and from selling it for any financial recompense.  We do not charge for getting out God's Word and we will not support others who do so.