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Download the Notes: 06022013HowToBeFearlessDeu31-34DonRuhl

How to Be Fearless Points

Learn the secrets to fearless living

Deuteronomy 31–34

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • June 2, In the year of our Lord, 2013

 

Prelude: 

  1. Moses lived and died fearlessly. 
    1. He stood before Pharaoh without fear.
    2. He stood before Israel without fear.
    3. He stood before the door of death without fear.
  2. The text I have chosen for tonight shows us how to live as Moses did. 

Persuasion:

  1. Deuteronomy 31.1–8 – To Fear Nothing, Fear God

    6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” 7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage… 8 And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deu 31.1–8).

    1. Moses did not get to go to the Land of Canaan, but he went to heaven.
    2. Hebrews 13 quotes 31.6, 8,

      5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb 13.5).

  2. Deuteronomy 31.9–13 – To Fear God, Read the Law

    9 So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess” (Deu 31.9–13).

    1. Long before I ever read the Bible,
    2. I knew a song as a kid about what reading the Bible does,

      Every Time I look into the holy book I wanna tremble
      When I read about the part where the carpenter cleared the temple
      For the buyers and the sellers were no different fellers than what I profess to be…
      –Gene McLellan

  3. Deuteronomy 31.14–29 – To Read the Law, Sing Spiritual Songs

    14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die… 19 Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel” (Deu 31.14–29).
  4. Deuteronomy 31.30–32.47 – To Sing Spiritual Songs, Know Our History

    30 Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:

    1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
    And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

    7 Remember the days of old,
    Consider the years of many generations.
    Ask your father, and he will show you;
    Your elders, and they will tell you:

    35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense [Which Paul quoted in Rom 12.19]

    36 For the Lord will judge His people [Heb 10.30 quotes vv. 35, 36]

    45 Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess” (Deu 31.30–32.47).

  5. Deuteronomy 32.48–52 – To Know Our History, Know that Life Is About Death

    48 Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain which you ascend…” (Deu 32.48–52).
  6. Deuteronomy 33.1–29 – To Know that Life Is about Death, Bless Before Dying

    1 Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said:

    “The Lord came from Sinai,
    And dawned on them from Seir;
    He shone forth from Mount Paran,
    And He came with ten thousands of saints;
    From His right hand
    Came a fiery law for them.
    3 Yes, He loves the people;
    All His saints are in Your hand;
    They sit down at Your feet;
    everyone receives Your words.
    4 Moses commanded a law for us,
    A heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
    5 And He was King in Jeshurun,
    When the leaders of the people were gathered,
    All the tribes of Israel together.”
    (Deu 33.1–29)

  7. Deuteronomy 34.1–12 – To Bless Before Dying, Know that You Shall Die

    1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day [Jude comments on this]. 7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished. 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended… (Deut 34.1–12).

Exhortation: 

  1. You Shall Die, Therefore Fear Nothing 
    1. God knows of death, for
    2. it was He who pronounced it as the penalty for sin.
      1. He has allowed death to reign,
        1. although the world has had the Law of Moses, and
        2. now has the Law of Christ.
      2. Therefore, He gives us Christianity,
        1. which prepares us for death,
        2. that it may be a pleasant experience.
  2. Do as we have seen from the last four chapters of Deuteronomy, and
    1. you shall live fearlessly, and
    2. you shall die fearlessly.
  3. If you fear, 
    1. perhaps you have not repented of sin.
    2. If not, repent now.
      1. Then trust the Lord
      2. that He has forgiven you.
        1. Even as He stood to receive Stephen,
        2. so shall the Lord stand to receive you.
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