Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Deuteronomy 15:18-20
Pastor: Pastor Horton
Sermon Date:  January 28, 2024

Once upon a time when I was growing up, there were those in my class who faithfully watched the WWF: the World Wrestling Federation.  Do you remember any of that cast of crazy characters?  Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, the Iron Sheik and Macho Man Randy Savage?  Maybe you’ve tried to forget them.  There was one professional wrestler named “The Ultimate Warrior.”  Out of all of history’s warriors from all around the globe, he was the “Ultimate” one.  And he wore menacing face paint and colorful ribbons which dangled off his arms to prove it.  He wasn’t the “pretty good Warrior,” or the “I guess he’s alright Warrior,” but the “Ultimate.”

Now admittedly, Old Testament Israel was quite a bit removed from the Ultimate Warrior, but the people of God back then must have felt like they had in their midst an “Ultimate Prophet” in Moses.  After all, God had a special relationship with Moses.  God spoke plainly with Prophet Moses, from his calling at the burning bush to the giving of the Law at the top of Mt. Sinai.  It was Moses whom God appointed, Moses whom God communicated through, and Moses who was to be the inspired author of the first five books of the Bible.

And the people of Israel also had a special relationship with Prophet Moses.  He brought the nation out of Egyptian captivity in a dramatic fashion.  He led them through the wilderness for forty years, organized them, administered justice to them, cared for them, and publicly prayed for them to the Almighty.  This generation of Israelites knew and trusted and looked to Moses as their leader.

Our reading for today is part of the farewell speech Moses gave to the people before going home to heaven.  Not that he was struggling to get out of his deathbed.  In Deuteronomy 34, we are told that “his eyes were not weak, nor his strength gone” and that he even climbed up a mountain before his death.

But now where would this leave Israel without their longstanding leader?  Maybe you know firsthand that kind of loss when a Christian family member or mentor suddenly goes home to heaven, and you are looking at a future without that loved one and the sense of security they bring to you in life?  It is safe to say that the Israelites were experiencing such feelings.

“Fear not,” God says to his people through Moses.  “The LORD your God…will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them everything that I command him. …Listen to him.”  The Epiphany season highlights Jesus alone as a fulfillment of this prophecy.  This Ultimate Prophet made public proclamation with power and authority.  He tells us so in Luke 4, that “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me to preach good news to the poor.”  And he lets us know what God the Father wants us to hear.  John 12:50, “His (the Father’s) command is eternal life.  So the things I speak are exactly what the Father told me to speak.”  And so, we find the Ultimate Prophet, Jesus, preaching repentance and forgiveness, sharing the will and the heart of the one true God, and proclaiming salvation to souls in desperate need.  He takes his saving proclamation to the city and the country, to the temple grounds and mountainsides, to the busy homes of Pharisees and to quiet rooms with thoughtful listeners.  This ultimate message of salvation comes through Christ alone.  He is the prophet Moses spoke about, whom God raised up.  And he still speaks to us today through his Word.  Moses is clear: “Listen to him (Jesus).”

There is a word of comfort that resonates with us, the Eastside congregation, today.  You have a different pastor in front of you who has a different personality and a different voice with different degrees of abilities.  But the same Christ Jesus.  The same ultimate message of law and gospel, sin and grace, forgiveness, restoration, and salvation.  The same eternal truths spoken through the mouths of mortal men.  The same unbreakable Word.  The same Means of Grace which God uses to make faith come alive.  The same Ultimate Prophet yesterday, today, and forever.

The problem arises when we become dismissive of the Ultimate Prophet, and of his message.  Going back for a moment to that picture of the wrestler, there were many rumors that more than one individual played the part of the Ultimate Warrior.  Nobody knew if he was the real one or a phony.  The same debate takes place in the world about Jesus.  “Who is he really?”  And is he really “ultimate” or just a “pretty good prophet” or the “I guess he’s alright prophet?”  The world often does not acknowledge him as the Ultimate Savior from our sin.  The Israelites are an example.  They had a hard time getting past Moses whom they considered the ultimate prophet (our Epistle Lesson is proof).  During Jesus’ day, many inaccurate rumors swirled around about who he might be.  And even today the world wonders if he was just a “good teacher” and limit him to some sort of “social champion” at best.

The frightening part is that inside you and me there is a sinful flesh that wants to challenge Jesus’ title as the Ultimate Prophet.  Our sinful flesh wouldn’t mind it if Jesus was maybe a little less, and if we pridefully were a little bit greater.  Why?  Because if God’s ultimate authority is blemished and removed from God’s ultimate, unbreakable message, then our sinful nature has room to have a voice.  And that sinful man inside of me would love to defend or downplay the damage my sin creates.  It would love to make my opinion the one that matters most.  But, as one commentator wrote, “If sin is no longer sin, if it has no eternal consequences before a holy and just God, the gospel is no longer the gospel.”

“Watch out!”  Moses tells us today.  God says that “anyone who will not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.  Any prophet who presumes to speak something in my name that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks something in the name of other gods—that prophet shall die.”  This is an eternal life and death matter!  Listen to Jesus!

Scripture cuts to the heart: When we divert from Jesus’ truth, when we dismiss his authority, when we dive back into old sins, and when we downplay the seriousness of hell, we treat God’s Ultimate Prophet as if he were phony.

But thanks be to God, who had a plan to save us from adversaries far more menacing than brutes like Andre the Giant!  In one of the scripted moments the Ultimate Warrior found himself entombed by his enemies: the Undertaker and Jake the Snake Roberts.  Out of the casket jumped “a cobra” which bit him.  It looked like the end for our hero.  But he burst forth from his grave triumphantly.  You may know where this is going….

Not only would “the LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet” he would also raise Christ Jesus from the dead.  Proof positive that all which Jesus said and did was found to be an acceptable payment before God the Father.  The serpent, the devil, would lash out.  And our Savior would suffer and die, but not for his sin or for his sake – for us and for our salvation.  Our adversaries of sin, death, and the devil, met their match and decisively lost when your sin was paid for in full, and Jesus took his life back up again.

Knowing that heaven is open, and our eternity paid for, we find solace under Christ’s authority.  There is a great relief for our souls in the truth of his gospel.  We now want to cherish what Jesus has to tell us in our pulpit, in our classrooms, and in our homes.  He leads us towards life with his words.  He has the authority to do so.  We want to listen to him and do what he says.  His ultimate love for us in the gospel motivates us to live for him and moves us to share his saving name with others.

There was perhaps no greater moment in an epic WWF wrestling match than when a good guy unexpectedly showed up to help his friend.  The bad guy would have one of his victims all tied up in the ropes and it would look like an easy victory.  But then the entrance music plays and a helping hero comes running towards the ring with laser focus to come save his friend.

That’s what the season of Epiphany is for us.  Can you hear the walk-up music in our hymns?  Moses is pointing to the entrance.  John the Baptist calls out “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  The Ultimate Prophet is now on the scene!  Jesus is here, determined to save you from your sins!  Amen.