Deuteronomy 9:18 says, And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Moses said he neither ate nor drank for forty days and nights, after falling down before the LORD, because of the sins of the people. We cannot atone for the sins of others, but we can go to God on their behalf in prayer and fasting. Verse nineteen adds, For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also. Moses said that He did this because he was afraid of the anger that God felt toward them. I believe God's anger was at their actions, just as it is at the actions of those who will not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord today. Moses said God heard him at that time. We may never know when our prayers have given someone more time to accept Jesus Christ, but we can be certain that God will hear our prayers on their behalf. Verse twenty adds, And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. Aaron, God's priest, had joined in the idol creation and worship, and Moses was afraid that God would destroy him as well. We need to be in prayer for any preacher who strays away from God's word today, that they might recognize their error and return to preaching God's word correctly. Verse twenty-nine continues, And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. Moses said he took the calf which represented their sinful worship, reduced it to powder and threw the powder into the brook that descended out of the mount. It may have been gold, but it was worthless to them now. We need to utterly destroy anything that stands between God and us today, no matter how valuable the world may believe it to be. Verse twenty-two states, And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath. Even after being spared for their rebellion in worshipping the golden calf, the people again rebelled. The sad news is that God has already forgiven everyone's sins when Jesus died on the cross, but most people continue to rebel against God by refusing to accept Him as their personal Savior and Lord, no matter how many chances God gives them to do so. Verse twenty-three adds, Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. Moses said they further rebelled when God told them to go in and possess the Promised Land, because they had no faith in God. God calls us today to come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ so that we can one day go up to live in heaven, but too many people refuse to put their faith in Him. Verse twenty-four continues, Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you. Moses said that the people of Israel, God's chosen people, had been rebellious since the day He knew them. Some people today, even though salvation is their's for the claiming, have always rebelled against God by not accepting it. Verse twenty-five says, Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you. Moses said he once again fell down before the LORD for forty days and nights. We should never be to quick to give up on people that need Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Verse twenty-six adds, I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Moses again intervened for the people of Israel, and we need to be intervening for the lost people of the world today. Verse twenty-seven continues, Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin: Moses asked God to remember His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not to look to the stubbornness of the people. When we are saved today, it is not because of our goodness, but because of God's promise of everlasting life to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. Verse twenty-eight states, Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Moses said that if God destroyed His chosen people that He had delivered out of Egypt before they went into the Promised Land that other people would say that He was unable to deliver them. Verse twenty-nine adds, Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm. Moses said that they were God's people because of Who He was and not because of who they were, and so are we today as Christians.
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