The sermon by Scott Brown titled 'Three Witnesses Against You' explores the biblical narrative in which God instructs Moses to inaugurate Joshua as his successor. The Lord provides three primary witnesses to the covenant between God and Israel: a song, the book of the law beside the Ark of the Covenant, and the heavens and the earth. These witnesses serve as constant reminders and warnings against disobedience and idolatry, which are highlighted as severe threats to the spiritual integrity of the people. The sermon emphasizes the peril of syncretism, or spiritual harlotry, and the consequences of forsaking God's covenant. Joshua is presented as a type of Christ, symbolizing leadership and the continuation of God's promise. The sermon also stresses the importance of being strong and courageous in maintaining faithfulness to God, drawing parallels between Joshua's commissioning and the believer's role as witnesses of the Gospel. The narrative of the pillar of cloud illustrates God's guidance and presence, reinforcing the theme of obedience and reliance on God.

Then the LORD said to Moses, Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him. So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting. Now the LORD appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle. And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, you will rest with your fathers, and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods and foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.

Then my anger shall be aroused against them in that day and I will forsake them and I will hide my face from them and they shall be devoured And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil which they have done in that they have turned to other gods. 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. When I have brought them to the land, flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and they will provoke me and break my covenant.

Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give to them. Therefore, Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the children of Israel. Then he inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, Be strong and of good courage, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you. So it was when Moses had completed the writing of the words of the law in a book when they were finished that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you. For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck.

If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers that I may speak these words in their hearing, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands. Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended. Please join me in prayer.

Oh Lord we thank you for your word. We pray that you would help us to hear the truth that you have for us and that you would sanctify us by the truth. Lord, your word is truth. Do help us God to proclaim your word faithfully and help us to listen and to be changed in our hearts. We thank you, O Lord, for your many works and for your faithfulness to us.

Amen. The title of this message was difficult for me to figure out what to finally put down, so at the last minute, I put one out of five that I thought would help us understand what this text is about because it's a but it's about so many things it could so easily and had it had been titled instead of three witnesses against you, it easily could have been titled Be Strong and Be Courageous. It could easily have been titled Joshua, the Type of Christ. So there are a number of things that are here. There are many copies, there are many types that are here that are sort of like hyperlinks to all over Scripture.

And so here I threw this title down, Three Witnesses Against You, because that definitely is a major theme in the text. But there's far, far more here that we'll be able to deal with. And so, most generally, you know, God has sent Moses to call Israel to enter into a covenant with God, into an agreement. And the agreement is very simple. If you obey, He will protect you, He will bless you, He will never leave you or forsake you.

But if you disregard His laws, then He will bring down upon your head chastisements and judgment and madness and blindness and confusion of heart and there will be no one there to save you. So those are the impacts of the covenant. They're very, very dramatic. And here in this passage he provides witnesses to the covenant And that really is a major theme, as Joshua now is going to continue on in this work of covenant keeping before the people. And this whole idea of witnesses for a covenant, it's a very, very common thing.

If you have ever signed your last will and testament, you know that a witness is required. If you've ever sold a car in the state of North Carolina, you know that you have to have a notary public and a seal and a signature of that notary and your own signature as well. There needs to be witnesses. Whenever there's a wedding, there are witnesses to that wedding. There are various witnesses in a wedding.

There's the guest book. There are the rings. There's the marriage license. On a marriage license, at least in North Carolina, three parties have to sign. There is the efficient, the best man, and the maid of honor stand as witnesses to the marriage.

It was very interesting in Blair's marriage last week, I saw a marriage license like into I had never seen before, because I was the efficient. My son, David Brown, was the best man. And my daughter, Claudia, was the maid of honor. So it was a marriage license of only brown signatures on it. So it was fantastic.

It was the most unusual marriage document I've ever seen. But here, in this passage, God provides three witnesses. And these witnesses really are a means of grace. They are helps to us. They're blessings.

They are so good, because they cry out to us to call us back into the sweet place of obedience. Call us back into the place of blessings. They call us back into the place of living water and man and bread, everything that God has. I listened to someone who said that witnesses are kind of like rumble strips on the road. You know how good and beautiful rumble strips are on the road.

You're falling asleep in your car and you go off of it, and you come right on back. Rumble strips are great. Even in the middle of the road, rumble strips are even better to keep you from hitting the car head on, coming in your direction. These witnesses are for a purpose, and they really are to keep us back, to help us remember the laws of God, the goodness of the ways of God, and to call us back and say, yes, I remember. I remember how good God is, and I remember how devastating the curses are when we disobey God.

So this whole matter of witnesses is prominent in this passage of scripture. But let me just give you an idea of the structure of the passage in terms of the particular kinds of witnesses Because I'd like to sort of have us understand sort of a global picture of this this passage First of all the first witness is the witness of a song if you look in verse 19 you'll see that a song is the first witness that he mentions. And this is a song that Moses is going to write in one day. What a fantastic song. And then the second witness is found in verse 26, the book of the law set beside the ark of the covenant.

The book of the law is a witness. It's a sword, it's a plumb line. It's something that we hide in our hearts that we might not sin against God. It's like that rumble strip. It keeps us back from wickedness.

The Word of God is so important. But what's very fascinating about this in verse 26 is that the book of the law is set next to the Ark of the Covenant. Here we find ourselves just exploding into the whole ceremonial law, the prefigurements of Christ, the glory of the Gospel, the sacrifice of Christ, and everything that that tabernacle symbolizes. So we could spend our entire time today on verse 26. And because there is so much Imagery there, we will go to Hebrews chapter 9 though, let me say, in order to help us understand a little bit more about this ark.

And then the third witness is the witness of heaven and earth in verse 28. Do you see that in verse 28? So you see these different places where the witnesses are declared. And so God has given us many ways to hold us back from sin. I'm going to speak of a number of those ways.

The obvious ways are mentioned right here, but there are many other ways that God speaks in Scripture, that are witnesses for us to help us to be kept back from sin. Proverbs 14 25 says, a true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies. Here we're going to see truthful witnesses that deliver souls. All of these witnesses, All of these rumble strips are designed to deliver our souls. And so we enter in here to the world of the kindness of God again to show us how marvelous He is.

We know that the Lord is a faithful witness. We know that the Lord Jesus is the witness that is both faithful and true. You read about him in the book of Revelation. These witnesses here jet us to the end of the Bible, to Revelation. They take us back to the details of the ceremonial law and they walk us through the prophets and take us up to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

And how in the world can we get all of this in a sermon of this short nature today? I don't know. But there are so many things here that are wonderful for our souls. Now one last thing before we dive into the text. It's very important to take note of who is doing the talking in this passage of Scripture.

So if you could just look at your Bibles here with me for a minute, I want you to see something. First of all, notice that God is talking for most of this chapter. He's talking beginning in verse 1 all the way to verse 24. So verse 1, verse 14 says, then the Lord said to Moses. So that begins the Lord speaking directly to Moses and Joshua.

And then in verse 24, Moses picks up the microphone and he speaks to the Levites, specifically to the Levites. And then when he is done with that, he calls for the elders and the officers and he speaks to the elders and the officers at that time. If you have your finger in your Bible, look at verse 30, then Moses speaks to all the children of Israel in the form of this song, the Song of Moses. So now you can see who's doing the talking in this text. OK, so let's now begin in verse 14, where Joshua is commissioned.

If you're following along in the outline, you'll see where we are. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold the day's approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him. I don't know how to grasp the drama of this moment. When God calls two men to enter into the tabernacle, None of us know what that's like, but imagine, imagine for a month, some of you, some of you when you were in school were called before the principal and you were shaking in your boots.

Sometimes when you're called before your father and mother and you've done something wrong, you're also shaking in your boots. Here, though, is something of a completely different category. God says, I want you in my tabernacle, and I'm going to speak to you. So this is a very sober moment. And so what Moses finds out is that he's only days away from his death.

And we learn that Moses is dispensable, though Moses was so important, he's the humblest man who ever lived, even though he is unique, that no one is indispensable. So now after 40 years of Moses and Joshua walking together, Now one will drop off the scene and die. And so they are now presenting themselves before the King of Kings, standing before God. And they're standing before Him in a place of humility and submission. This is the way that all of us ought to stand before God.

We do stand before God. The Lord Jesus Christ has ushered us into the Holy Place, into the tabernacle of the Lord our God. This is fulfilled today, on this very day. We should have the same sobriety, even though it's very difficult for us to think of it this way. The truth is, the Lord Jesus Christ has opened to us a meeting like this, even this very moment.

And I pray that Somehow this morning, each one of us as individuals can somehow grasp that we stand before the living God, that the Lord Jesus Christ has torn the veil away, and He has given us an access to the Lord our God. Like unto this right here. This is a copy. This is a type of something that Jesus has accomplished for us today. Imagine that we can actually be before God now.

It's remarkable to think of it, that we are like unto Moses and Joshua standing in the presence of God. What a blessing it is to be able to live life and know that you can behold the face of Jesus Christ face to face in your pilgrimage, that you can see the Lord your God and have fellowship with Him in exactly the same way spiritually that Moses and Joshua had here. And so these brothers are presenting themselves before God. And how wonderful it is in those times when God, he blinds us with a vision of his glory, how he presses upon us so hard that we so Enjoy the sweetness of his presence and the help that he gives to us. That happens, I know, to us in different ways.

Perhaps it's the singing of a song where you're overcome with joy at the presence of God, or the reading of scripture, or driving down the road and seeing a tree, and you realize that God is real. Well, these were called before the King of Kings to stand before Him. And we have that same privilege in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then what we find here is that the detail is that God says that he is going to inaugurate Joshua. So that's what is going to happen here.

And what does it mean to inaugurate? It means to appoint, it means to command, it means to send. That's what it means to inaugurate in this context. It is a verbal command from a superior to a subordinate. And we find the same word used in a number of places in the Old Testament.

In Genesis 28, verse 6, Isaac charges Jacob not to take a Canaanite wife, and he uses the same word to charge. In Deuteronomy 3, 28, we read that Moses is told to command Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him who will go before you, before this people. In 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 1, the days of David were drawing to an end and he charged Solomon his son saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore improve yourself to be a man. When it says he charged Solomon, it's the same word to inaugurate.

He is commanding him to do something. When in Jeremiah 35 verse 8, when it's there's recorded when Jonah bit Jonah dab charged the recubites not to drink wine. It was an inauguration, it was a charge, it was a command. So this is a moment of command in the life of Joshua. And we have received many similar commissions, many similar commands from the Lord.

There are so many commands in scripture. Each of them are charges for us as individuals and charges for us as families and charges for us as churches and nations, and they help us understand the way in which we should walk. The Lord Jesus Himself extends a charge to His people as well. In Acts chapter 1 verse 8, he says, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and in the uttermost parts of the earth. Here we find that not only is a song standing as a witness, not only is the Word of God next to the Ark a witness, not only are heaven and earth stands as witness, but we are also his witnesses for the things of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here, Joshua is being charged. He's being inaugurated, sent, and commissioned by God. It's important for us to remember, just briefly here, in this whole commission of Joshua, that we should recall the similarities between Joshua and the Lord Jesus. Joshua is a type of Christ. He is not Christ, but many of the things in His ministry typify the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I might say also typify our own ministry as it has been given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's this chain reaction that you see in Scripture as God charges one who charges another who charges another who charges another Finally the Lord Jesus Christ charges us to go and be his witnesses along with the heavens and earth Along with the song along with the Word of God. This is the whole scheme that God has has made for us, to help us to know how to live, to show us how we ought to operate in this world. If anybody here today wonders what's the purpose of my life, you can find it right here in this passage of scripture. The purpose of your life is to fulfill the same kind of commission that we see here in this passage of scripture. Regarding the similarities of Joshua and Jesus, their names are actually the same.

Joshua is a leader of the Israelites into the promised land. So is the Lord Jesus, the one who would take his children into the promised land. The eternal promise, the eternal rest of heaven. While Joshua pointed the people to this book of the law, so did the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 7 verse 21. As Joshua was an agent both of grace and of damnation, damnation to the nations of Canaan, so the Lord Jesus Christ is both Savior.

And he also delivers those to death and destroys the works of the devil. So here we find in this very first verse, the commissioning, or at least the command to commission Joshua. You'll notice in the text it happens a little bit later in the text. And then what we find is that the Lord speaks in a pillar of cloud in the tabernacle beginning in verse 15 and 19 we see this scene. It says in verse 15 that now the Lord appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.

So Picture the scene. There's the pillar of cloud like that cloud that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. And it's in the tabernacle, but it's right at the door. I don't know, perhaps someone knows what the significance of the cloud being at the door might be. I'm sure you can think of a number of reasons why this cloud is at the door.

What do doors symbolize? But here, The pillar of cloud is symbolic of the presence and the leadership of God. We talked a lot about that last week. I will never leave you or forsake you. But here the pillar of cloud stands as a representation that God stands to lead his people one day at a time.

He doesn't often give them a long view of their lives. He gives them something to do next. There was a missionary that I was speaking to just this last week and he was he had left the mission field and come back to the United States and was crying out to God for what he should do. And he said, I could go here and be discipled. I could go there and be discipled.

I could go and take this kind of job or I could go back to the mission field. He said, Scott, I would just ask for your prayers that I would know what I should do, where I should move, and all that. And my counsel to him was consider the principle of the pillar of the cloud. You do the next thing that you know is right to do. Just take the next step.

You don't need to know where you're going to be forever. But before God and with your family, be convinced that you can take this next step in confidence. Take One step in confidence. Know that this is right because He'll take you to the next place. That's what happened with the pillar of cloud.

It was a marvelous instructional tool to teach us about how the Lord leads us. We do the next thing and he takes us to the next. And all of these things figure into his perfect plan of sanctification, to give us the experiences that we need to have, to mature us, to make us into true men and true women from infancy. And so here this pillar of cloud and the tabernacle is there to stand to say, I will never leave you or forsake you, but don't move until I move. And this is what God is calling his people to do.

It's a symbol of authority and leadership, and this image brings that to bear. The cloud also was a dramatic witness to the Egyptians. Moses mentioned specifically that the cloud made it clear to the Egyptians that God was among his people. In Numbers chapter 14 verse 14 it says, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of the land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands above them.

And you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night." What Moses is saying in Numbers chapter 14 is that the way that God leads his people, at least the way that God led his people in the wilderness, would stand as a testimony to the Egyptians to tell them that God is with you. When you obey the Lord, when you take it one step at a time, and you refrain from taking steps without the confidence of the Lord, you're declaring the glory of God in the world. And perhaps the Egyptians will know that there is a God who leads his people one step at a time. In verse 16, there's a very tender word that's spoken to Moses. Please look there with me.

In verse 16, the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you will rest with your fathers. And God, just before He's going to deliver to Moses terrifying prophecies about apostasy and spiritual harlotry, he comforts Moses by saying, You, you will rest with your fathers. Moses has labored and he has suffered, and now God says, enter, you will enter into my rest. I love that psalm that says, enter into my rest, oh my soul. You know, and the whole imagery in the book of Hebrews about entering into the rest of the Lord.

Here, Moses, while having had many Sabbath rests, prefigurements of his real rest, now God comes to him and says, your rest is right around the corner, your true rest. If you think you could find rest, true rest, in anything in this world, think again. The true rest is in heaven. We often make all of our deposits in this world and think because we think that this is where our rest and our reward is. But it is not here at all.

It's there. And Moses is reminded of his rest that is coming. He will rest With his fathers think of that for a moment those great cloud of witnesses those brothers and sisters Bought by the blood of Jesus Christ altogether this great in gathering That was that was really spoken of in the first half of this chapter in the Feast of Tabernacles here will be found and experienced by Moses as he enters into rest. And then this terrible prophecy of apostasy is given in verses 16 to 18. He says, you'll enter my rest and this people will play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land where they go to be among them.

And they will forsake me and break my covenant, which I have made with them." So here what is prophesied is the most dangerous thing that can happen to the people of God. It's the most dangerous thing that can happen to me. It's the most dangerous thing that can happen to my wife or my children or any of us in this church. And he speaks of it here. And it's syncretism.

This is the most dangerous thing to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this spiritual harlotry. These are the things that can devour us. These are the things that mean that we have broken the covenant with God when we have learned the ways of the Gentiles. And in Exodus chapter 34, verse 11 through 16, when Moses, he cut the second set of tablets.

Remember, he broke the first set. And then there's a second set. And it says in verse 11 in Exodus 34, observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Parasite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. And he says, take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

But you shall destroy their altars and break their sacred pillars. And here in Exodus, the great danger to us, and has always been the great danger to the people of God, and that is to make a covenant with the pagans of this pagan land, and then to adopt their practices, and to refuse to break down their altars. When you become a Christian, you end up bumping in to so many pagan altars that exist in your heart and in your life. And the rest of your life as a Christian is to find the idols and to cast them down. And I don't believe that you ever find all the idols that are there.

But when you find them, God intends that you destroy them. And this is what God is warning Moses and Joshua at this time. This whole issue will become the issue of the people of God from this time forth. 300 years after this, in approximately 1150 BC, in the days of the judges, in Judges chapter 2 verse 17, we read, Yet they would not listen to their judges, but They played the harlot with other gods and bowed down before them. And then 400 years later in 750 BC, in Isaiah chapter 21, we read how the faithful city has become a harlot.

It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, but now, murderers. And then, just a few years later, in 721 BC, approximately, We find in the book of Hosea, which is the prime example of Hordom that Israel falls into, particularly in the coming years. God tells Hosea, go and take a wife of the whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. The Israelites were commanded to follow only one God, the same as one wife and one husband. And then he began to prophesy in the reign of Jeroboam that this spiritual harlotry would be judged mightily by God.

And this harlotry is syncretism. That's all it is. It's learning the ways of the Gentiles. It's becoming married to idols and refusing to look at idols and throw them down. And we find again 135 years later in 586 BC, Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 3, 1 and 2, they say if a man divorces his wife and goes from him and becomes another man's, may he return to her again?

Would not the land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return to me, says the Lord. Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see. Where have you not lain with men? By the road you've sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness, and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and with your wickedness." All of these situations that I just mentioned, from the time of Moses to the time of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

They all have one thing in common, spiritual harlotry, syncretism, the refusal to deal with idols. And here, the seriousness of this is delivered in verse 17. Then my anger shall be aroused against them in that day. And I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them." There are five things that God does in response to spiritual harlotry, and it should terrify us. First, His anger is aroused.

Second, He forsakes them. Third, He hides His face. Fourth, He devours them. And fifth, He sins upon them. It says many evils, many evils and troubles, and they just fall upon you from the sky.

And this is just a recognition of the realities of disobedience. And here God is instructing them as to what will happen. These are judgments against the whole people. This is a collective judgment that is upon those who are a mix of believers and unbelievers. An example of this was given to me by Dan earlier.

When Israel was punished with three years without rain, at the same time, there were 7, 000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal. That means that these judgments come upon everyone, not just the unbelievers. That there are corporate implications of syncretism. When God's people are syncretistic, There are judgments upon the whole people of God and we should be very careful. We should examine ourselves for idols.

Because these idols of ours don't just affect us. They affect all of our brothers and our sisters. And so then we find Moses is commanded to write a song in verse 19. And he says, the Lord does, now therefore write down this song for yourselves and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths that it may be a witness for me against the children of Israel." So the purpose of the song is given here.

The song is written to be a witness. And so it's declared why this is being done. And this song is to remind them to, when they come to that day, when they come to their senses, they remember the song, and the song helps them to understand what life is all about and how devastating it is to turn away from the Lord. So the song is written for another day. Do you see that?

The song is written for another day. Think about songs, how wonderful they are, and how helpful they are in another day. You sing them today and they're helpful today, but they can be massively helpful in another day, in your time of need. A song comes to you in the night, or in a time of crisis, to come and remind you of the things of God. Songs are beautiful that way and you know we're commanded to sing songs in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But here this this song is dedicated to this purpose as a witness. And then Joshua is commanded in verse 23, then he inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, or commissioned him, and said, be strong and of good courage, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them and I will be with you." And so Joshua is being commanded to a particular task and in order to carry out the task, something must be in his heart. He must be strong and of good courage. This is the beginning of all great works of God. As we're getting ready to send Jason out to shepherd, to flock, I'm confident that he will, we will issue this same charge to him.

Be strong and of good courage. This is the same kind of thing. You know, one of the happy moments of my morning came to me when a young couple came to me with their child. And they were holding this child and said, tell Mr. Brown what we've been memorizing.

And he said something that I actually couldn't understand. And they could tell I couldn't understand it. So he said it again. And I still couldn't understand it. But I said, so what is that?

And they said, be strong and be of good courage. They were coaching their little son to learn this phrase, be strong and be of good courage. And I told them how I used to do things like this with my little children, little things in the worship service to help them understand. I would teach them certain words. Maybe when they were just old enough to know one word out of the text, I would teach them that word or then it would go to a phrase.

And then when they could learn to write, I would have them sit next to me in a line. I would sit right in the middle of them, and their mother on the far end to bonk David on the head. And I would actually have David write next to me at this stage of our child raising. And I would say, OK, now, I'm going to take notes. But they couldn't take notes as fast as I could.

They couldn't get as much down. And I would always take notes. So I said, but what you have to do is when I underline something or circle it, you have to write that down on your notes. So that's how I led them through, to just get certain critical things, things I wanted to talk about later. But I was so happy-fied this morning when a young couple came with their child and said be strong and be of good courage You should do that with your children You should be teaching them in this in this service when you bring them here don't bring them in here cold You know God forbid that your children walk in here cold.

In fact, we meet on Tuesday morning just for this purpose, so that the men and the young men in the church understand the text, so that they go home and they teach their wives and their children. That's why we have that time, by the way. We don't do it just to have theological jangulations and trying to figure out what this text means. We do this really for one purpose, so that you'll take it home and teach it to your children, so that when they walk in here they understand the text and even if they are two years old they can say be strong and be of good courage even though no one else can understand it. It doesn't matter.

They will understand it someday just like that song that comes back when they sing it, and it reminds of things that they once knew. And so here, now that we have gotten off on this long, long rabbit trail, the sermon will never now finish because of this. But just understand, these words, be strong and be of good courage, are critical in all of Scripture. They're repeated over and over again. By the way, in Exodus chapter 3, God used these same words to Moses that he is now saying to Joshua.

God says, I will certainly be with you. He says that right here in this verse, verse 23. And then in a few days God would say the same thing to Joshua. He would say, have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." And then Joshua is going to turn around and he's going to say the same thing to the children of Israel in Joshua chapter 10 verse 25. And then hundreds of years later, David is going to do the same thing and he's going to use the exact same words on his son Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28 verse 20, where David says to Solomon, be strong and of good courage and do it. Do not fear or be dismayed, For the Lord God, my God, will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord." Here, David takes so many of the words right here in Deuteronomy chapter 31. He collects them all up and jams them together, piling them up and delivers them to his son Solomon.

This is what fathers should be delivering to their sons after the pattern of David. Ezra gives the same message in Ezra chapter 10 verse 4 for those who had come back into the land be of good courage and do it. You thought Nike made up that phrase wrong again. Do it. It came right out of Ezra chapter 10, verse 4.

Isaiah chapter 41, we find the same statement out of the mouth of Isaiah. And then in Matthew chapter 9, verse 2, The Lord Jesus says the exact same thing to a paralytic. He sees their faith and He says to the paralytic, son be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you. In Chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says this to a woman who has been sick for many years. He says it to His disciples.

He says, be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. He says it to His disciples in the boat who are fearful of being overcome by waves while he's walking on the water passing them up beside them. And he says the same thing, be of good cheer. He says it to a blind man. And then in John chapter 16, 33, he says, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." And then the Lord says this to the Apostle Paul as well in Acts chapter 23, verse 11. It happened that the Apostle Paul was in the midst of a crowd. He was almost being torn at so hard that they thought he was going to be torn to pieces. And then there were 40 assassins that committed that they would not eat or drink until they killed the Apostle Paul. I love this story, by the way, because whatever happened to the assassins, they must have died of starvation.

But the Lord came to him. The following night, When the assassins made their vow, made their oath, they said, the Lord comes to him and says, be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome. And so when God says to Joshua, be strong and be of good courage, that's for you. That is for you today. That is for my heart today.

Be strong, be of good courage, I will never leave you or forsake you. Take one step, the pillar of cloud is there to guide you. Trust me. Believers should be the happiest people in the world because of these promises. Because God is so good to his people and he does lead them by the hand.

And so be strong and be of good courage. You can imagine why it perhaps would be appropriate to title this sermon Be Strong and Be of Good Courage. And then next we come to the witness of the book of the law. We've seen the witness of the song. Now he speaks of the witness of the book of the law and the ark of the covenant in verses 24 through 27.

So these, this here shows that God is speaking of the Gospel in this text here. We know that the Ark of the Testimony means something in salvation history. We know that it's a type of the Gospel. We know that everything surrounding the Tabernacle and the Ark would tell us a story of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it finds tremendous importance to us.

Turn to, turning your Bibles please, to Hebrews chapter 9. And we're going to see what is here in Hebrews 9. In Hebrews, what we learn is that God has delivered the New Covenant. And This new covenant is wonderful. It's far, far more wonderful.

It's better than the old covenant. And what we find in the book of Hebrews is a declaration of a superior Savior who brought a superior covenant, which results in a superior life. That's what the book of Hebrews is all about. And when we get to Hebrews chapter 9, we read about the imagery that was delivered to us here in Deuteronomy, chapter 31. First of all in verse 1 we read, then indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and the earthly sanctuary for a tabernacle was prepared.

And then he speaks about the tabernacle. Then in verse 3, and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant. Here, behind the veil, is the Ark of the Covenant. And so these things here in Deuteronomy 21 are for us. They teach us about the Gospel.

In verse 9 it says, it was symbolic for the present time. Do you see that? It was symbolic for the present time. What's happening in Deuteronomy 31 is for the present time. It's symbolic for it.

And then in verse 11, but Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is, not this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered into the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And then verse 15, look at this very carefully.

And for this reason, He is the mediator of the New Covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." Now look at that very carefully. Don't miss what's here. What he is saying is that the mediator of the new covenant, his work on the cross, retroactively cleansed all the Old Testament saints. That the cleansing, The cleansing of Jesus Christ is applied to Old Testament saints. Verse 23, Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves, with better sacrifices than these, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

So here in Deuteronomy, the whole imagery of the Word of God and the Ark of God together are fulfilled. Here in, declared so clearly in Hebrews chapter 9, so that consciences stained by sin can be cleansed. We would be relieved of a guilty conscience, that we would draw near with a true heart of full assurance because we were washed with pure water entering into that Holy of Holies that he's speaking of right here. This scene here in the Tabernacle has everything to do with this scene here in this meeting place today. Because what was happening there is happening here today.

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant, which makes you complete for every good work. Working in you through Jesus Christ. And then Moses calls another witness. He has called here the witness of the ark and the word of God, and now he calls the third witness, the witness of the heavens and the earth. Gather to me the elders of your tribes, verse 28, and of your officers that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them." So now the elders of the tribes and the officers are together, and this third witness is brought to bear.

And so Moses is prophesying of Israel's behavior after his death. He will die and then corruption will be the rule of the day. And they will provoke him to anger through the works of their hands. And so the chapter here is ending with a warning of coming apostasy and we find we find this song of Moses, the song that the witnesses are brought together. And what we find here is that these witnesses are to stand before us, to warn us of idolatry.

If you turn to 1 Corinthians 10, don't do it now, we learned that all these things were written to keep us from idolatry, to keep us from doing those things that happened in those times, that everything there was written for a time such as this today. So you have these three witnesses that are for us today to keep us from idolatry. Now I want to give you three applications. Number one, the Lord provides many witnesses for us to keep us from being devastated by sin. These rumble strips that he puts in the way so that we don't go off the road and find ourselves being devastated.

All of them are for the purpose of calling us back to God. Think of the different witnesses that God has given to us to help us. For example, He's given us the Lord's Day. He's given us the Lord's Supper. He's given us baptism.

All of these are markers to help us see the goodness of God. He's given us spiritual fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers. He's given us elders of the Church. He's given us the witness of the Holy Spirit. How often has the Spirit of God been a witness to you, to stop you short from sinning, and how He has come and led you in the right way?

There's the great cloud of witnesses that we read about in Hebrews chapter 12, where the writer of Hebrews says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run the race with endurance looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith and so God has placed so many witnesses around us even even here this morning we have dozens and dozens of witnesses in one another, as well as all the other things that I've mentioned. It's important that we live our lives with the consciousness of the witnesses that are there so that we would be kept from running off the road. Now there are so many things that that that we could speak of regarding witnesses. Let me just talk about a couple of very practical things that touch us every day. There are times when there are fewer witnesses around us, and those are times of danger.

Like Traveling jobs are more dangerous than at home jobs generally, because there aren't as many witnesses around. When I walk down the street around my office in downtown Wake Forest, believe me, There are people that know me, they see me. But if I walk down the street in Omaha, Nebraska, no one will know me there. There are places where we're more vulnerable, where other witnesses need to be mightier in those times. The witnesses of the Word of God.

There was a time in our eldership some years ago where whenever any one of us would travel, we would always call one another up in the hotel room and see how they were doing. Because it's helpful to have witnesses. There are times of vulnerability. We just need to recognize that. We need to be surrounded by as many witnesses as we can.

Unmonitored computers are more dangerous than monitored computers. That's why in our house, you don't take your computer up to your room. You look at it in the presence of many witnesses. Not that that's a fail-safe method, okay? Don't think that somehow, you know, that brings everything into the line of safety.

It doesn't. But the principle is there. There are witnesses there that God has given to us to help us from falling into sin. The rumble strips of the Word of God, the heavens, the songs, the brothers and sisters, the great cloud of witnesses are there. God has given them to us for our own good.

We should be thankful. When we hide from witnesses, we should be very careful to recognize that we've slipped, we've fallen. Is anybody like that here today? Are you trying to hide certain things that you're doing because you're afraid of the witnesses? Let the witnesses speak to you and stop hiding what you're doing, But bring it out into the open.

Everything will be made to be in the light. Every secret will be revealed. Do you understand that? And God has given witnesses for this purpose. A second application is this.

The Lord provides himself as a witness. In John chapter 5, the Lord Jesus himself says, if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. He wrote of me. Now, I want to show you a place where it's very clear that Moses wrote of Jesus. Now, we can see that he wrote of Jesus all over the Pentateuch, But we read from a Psalm.

In fact, the very first passage of Scripture that was read today was a place where Moses writes of Jesus in Psalm 91. Turn in your Bibles there. Psalm 91. Here's a place where Moses writes of Jesus. Moses wrote Psalm 90 and Psalm 91.

Did you know that? And here, Moses says, for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Here, Moses is writing about Jesus Christ and His temptation. And He's also writing about you and about me. That He will give His angels charge over thee to keep you in all your ways, and they will bear you up.

These promises are dual promises to the Lord Jesus and then given to His children. God gives His promises to His Son, and His Son gives His promises to His sons. That's the glory of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The covenants, the promises, the blessings, they all flow from heaven, come cascading down upon His children. And the third application is this.

And I'll end with this one. The Lord Jesus sends us out as His witnesses. He has given us witnesses and He has made us witnesses. Not only does God give us His Word, not only does He give us a song, not only does He give us heaven and earth as His witnesses, He also gives us as his witnesses. As the Lord Jesus Christ said, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and in the uttermost parts of the earth.

And so here in this wonderful passage that's so rich and so deep, we find ourselves in the center of it, the blessings and the cursings, the ones being witnessed to and also the witnesses in the world for the glory of Jesus forever and ever. Would you pray with me? Oh, Lord, we thank you for So many astonishing things here. We pray that you would help us to understand them. I realize how short we were in considering all these things and how deep this text is.

I pray that you would help us to understand more of it as we continue in our walk toward heaven. Amen.