In the previous sermon we saw that Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights atop Mt. Sinai before God delivered His Law to Moses. But, when Moses came down Sinai to deliver the Law to Israel, he found that the nation had corrupted itself, turning towards idolatry and forming an evil intent to return to Egypt following an Egyptian god. Moses destroyed the tablets containing the ten commandments and then spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting from food and water pleading with God not to destroy His people. It’s hard for us to theologically explain what happened because of Moses’ intercession. The God who does not change relented in His decision to destroy Israel. A great intercessor from a priestly family, Moses, saved Israel from certain destruction. The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us of a Great High Priest who makes constant intercession for us, the Lord Jesus. Satan is our accuser, but Jesus pleads for us and defends us. Because of Him, Satan’s accusations are thwarted, and God treats us as friends.

2. Jesus, Our Intercessor
Deut. 9:18, 25

4. The Sixth
Ascent
Desperate
Intercession

5. Deuteronomy 9
9 When I went up the mountain to
receive the tablets of stone, the
tablets of the covenant that
the LORD made with you, I
remained on the mountain forty
days and forty nights. I neither ate
bread nor drank water.

6. Deuteronomy 9
10 And the LORD gave me the two
tablets of stone written with the
finger of God, and on them were all
the words that the LORD had spoken
with you on the mountain out of
the midst of the fire on the day of
the assembly.

7. Deuteronomy 9
11 And at the end of
forty days and forty
nights the LORD gave
me the two tablets
of stone, the tablets
of the covenant.

8. If you showed moses a copy of the ten
commandments in today’s Hebrew, he
couldn’t read a word of it!

9. Deuteronomy 9
12 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise,
go down quickly from here, for your
people whom you have brought
from Egypt have acted corruptly.
They have turned aside quickly out
of the way that I commanded them;
they have made themselves a metal
image.’

10. Deuteronomy 9
13 “Furthermore, the LORD said to me,
‘I have seen this people, and behold,
it is a stubborn people. 14 Let me
alone, that I may destroy them
and blot out their name from under
heaven. And I will make of you a
nation mightier and greater than
they.’

11. Deuteronomy 9
15 So I turned and came down from
the mountain, and the mountain
was burning with fire. And the two
tablets of the covenant were in my
two hands.

12. Deuteronomy 9
16 And I looked, and behold, you had
sinned against the LORD your God.
You had made yourselves a golden
calf. You had turned aside quickly
from the way that the LORD had
commanded you.

13. Deuteronomy 9
17 So I took hold of the two tablets
and threw them out of my two
hands and broke them before your
eyes.

14. Deuteronomy 9
18 Then I lay prostrate before
the LORD as before, forty days and
forty nights. I neither ate bread nor
drank water, because of all the sin
that you had committed, in doing
what was evil in the sight of
the LORD to provoke him to anger.

15. Deuteronomy 9
19 For I was afraid of the anger and
hot displeasure that the LORD bore
against you, so that he was ready to
destroy you. But the LORD listened to
me that time also.

16. Deuteronomy 9
20 And the LORD was so angry with
Aaron that he was ready to destroy
him. And I prayed for Aaron also at
the same time.

17. Deuteronomy 9
21 Then I took the sinful thing, the
calf that you had made, and burned
it with fire and crushed it, grinding it
very small, until it was as fine as
dust. And I threw the dust of it into
the brook that ran down from the
mountain.

18. 22 “At Taberah also,
and at Massah and
at Kibroth-
hattaavah you
provoked
the LORD to wrath.
• Numbers 11 –
general
complaining
• Exodus 17:7 – “Is
the LORD present
among us?”
• Numbers 11 – “We
want meat!”
Deuteronomy 9

19. Luke 22
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan
demanded to have you (pl.), that he
might sift you like wheat, 32 but I
have prayed for you (sing.) that your
faith may not fail. And when you
have turned again, strengthen your
brothers.”

20. The Seventh
Ascent
Determined
Intercession

21. Deuteronomy 9
23 And when the LORD sent you from
Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and
take possession of the land that I
have given you,’ then you rebelled
against the commandment of
the LORD your God and did not
believe him or obey his voice.

22. Deuteronomy 9
24 You have been rebellious against
the LORD from the day that I knew
you. 25 “So I lay prostrate before
the LORD for these forty days and
forty nights, because the LORD had
said he would destroy you.

23. Deuteronomy 9
26 And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O
Lord GOD, do not destroy your
people and your heritage, whom you
have redeemed through your
greatness, whom you have brought
out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

24. Deuteronomy 9
27 Remember your servants,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not
regard the stubbornness of this
people, or their wickedness or their
sin,

25. Deuteronomy 9
28 lest the land from which you
brought us say, “Because the LORD
was not able to bring them into the
land that he promised them, and
because he hated them, he has
brought them out to put them to
death in the wilderness.”

26. Deuteronomy 9
29 For they are your people and your
heritage, whom you brought out by
your great power and by your
outstretched arm.’

27. Lessons from Moses on
Intercessory Prayer
• Moses teaches us determination.
• Moses teaches us honesty.
• Moses teaches us sacrificial love.

28. Exodus 32
31 So Moses went back to the LORD and
said, “Oh, what a great sin these people
have committed! They have made
themselves gods of gold. 32 But now,
please forgive their sin—but if not,
then blot me out of the book you have
written.”

29. Exodus 32
33 The LORD replied to Moses,
“Whoever has sinned against me I
will blot out of my book.

30. “If sinners be damned,
at least let them leap
to Hell over our bodies.
If they will perish, let
them perish with our
arms about their
knees. Let no one go
there unwarned and
unprayed for.”
Charles Spurgeon

31. The Eighth
Ascent
Effective
Intercession

32. 1 “At that time the LORD said to
me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of
stone like the first, and come up to
me on the mountain and make an
ark of wood.
Deuteronomy 10

33. Deuteronomy 10
2 And I will write on the tablets the
words that were on the first tablets
that you broke, and you shall put
them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an
ark of acacia wood, and cut two
tablets of stone like the first, and
went up the mountain with the two
tablets in my hand.

34. Deuteronomy 10
4 And he wrote on the tablets, in the
same writing as before, the Ten
Commandments that the LORD had
spoken to you on the mountain out
of the midst of the fire on the day of
the assembly. And the LORD gave
them to me.

35. Deuteronomy 10
5 Then I turned and came down from
the mountain and put the tablets in
the ark that I had made. And there
they are, as the LORD commanded
me.”

36. Deuteronomy 10
10 “I myself stayed on the mountain,
as at the first time, forty days and
forty nights, and the LORD listened to
me that time also. The LORD was
unwilling to destroy you.

37. Deuteronomy 10
11 And the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go
on your journey at the head of the
people, so that they may go in and
possess the land, which I swore to
their fathers to give them.’

38. Romans 8:34
Who is to condemn? Christ
Jesus is the one who died—
more than that, who was
raised—who is at the right hand
of God, who indeed is
interceding for us.

39. Hebrews 7:25
Consequently, he is able to save
to the uttermost those who
draw near to God through him,
since he always lives to make
intercession for them.

40. “This is faith: a
renouncing of
everything we are apt
to call our own and
relying wholly upon the
blood, righteousness
and intercession of
Jesus.” – John Newton