Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1967
“For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden fromyou, neither is it far off. It is not in Heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to Heaven and bringit unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the Word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14
OUR Lord Jesus Christ, in John’s Gospel, in the 46th verse of the fifth chapter, says, “Moses wrote of Me.” Hence we may safely interpret much that Moses said, not only of the Law, but also of the Gospel. Indeed, the Law itself was given primarily to drive men to the Gospel. It was meant to show them the impossibility of salvation by their own works and so to shut them up to a salvation which is available even for sinners. The types of sacrifice and purification pointed to the method of pardon for the guilty by faith and acceptance for sinners by a righteousness not their own. This is certainly one of the passages in which Moses wrote of the Savior yet to come.
We are not, however, left to conjecture this, for the Apostle Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has quoted this passage in the 10th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. He has given us a sort of paraphrase of it, not quoting it with verbal exactness, but giving its sense—and then inserting his own interpretation of that sense—which interpretation, seeing that he spoke under the direct influence of the Spirit of God, may be accepted as decisive. The Spirit of God best knew what He meant by the Words which He spoke by Moses. Even if Moses, himself, may not altogether have meant the same, the Spirit’s own meaning must stand. I believe, however, that Moses did intend that which Paul attributes to him and that he saw in the whole Revelation of God under the ancient dispensation, the spirit, the essential spirit of the Gospel which was more fully declared to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. In this instance he was not speaking of the Law as given upon Sinai, if we view it as a Covenant of Works. I showed you this by reading the first verse of the 29th chapter which is the preface to the passage now before us. There we read, “These are the words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the Covenant which He made with them in Horeb.” We must understand Moses to be speaking, now, of God’s way of salvation as it is set forth in the types, sacrifices and ordinances of the Mosaic dispensation—which Paul calls, “the righteousness of faith.” Paul interprets him as speaking of the Gospel, itself, and using these remarkable words concerning salvation by Grace!
What is meant by these words is this—that the way of salvation is plain and clear—it is not concealed among the mysteries of Heaven. “It is not in Heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is it wrapped up among the profundities of deep, unrevealed secrecy. “Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the way of salvation is brought home to us, given to us in a handy form and laid within grasp of our understanding—it is spoken to us in human language and brought within the compass of human emotions! We can speak it with our mouths and enjoy it with our hearts. It is a household treasure, not a foreign rarity! It is not so remote from us that only they can know it who travel far to make discoveries. Neither is it so sublimely difficult that only they can grasp it who have soared to Heaven and ransacked the secrets of the Book sealed with seven seals. It is brought to our doors like the manna and flows at our feet like the water from the Rock. It is, as Moses says, “very near to us.” Yes, very near to each one who hears the Gospel, for Moses puts it in the singular—“It is very near unto you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.”
I. And so I begin my discourse, this morning, with this first head—THE WAY OF SALVATION IS PLAIN AND SIMPLE. You have neither to look skyward nor seaward to find it—here it is before you—as near as your tongue, inseparable from you as your heart! You have neither to rise to the sublime, nor sink to the profound—it lies before you an open secret. As says Moses in the last verse of the previous chapter—“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.”
I think we might have expected this if we consider the Nature of God who has made this wonderful Revelation. When God speaks to a man with a view to his salvation, it is but natural that in His wisdom He should so speak as to be understood! It is not wisdom which leads teachers to become obscure—if they teach at all, they should adapt themselves to the disciple’s capacity. No doubt some men have obtained a reputation for wisdom because they have not been understood, but this was fictitious and unworthy of true men. If they had possessed the highest wisdom, they would have aimed at making matters clear when their objective was to instruct. As a general rule, when a speaker is not clear to his hearers it is because the thought is not clear to himself. This can never be supposed of Him who knows all things and sees all things as they are. The only wise God abounds to us in all wisdom and prudence in His manner of imparting to us the knowledge of His will! Teaching, He does teach and explaining, He does clearly explain. There may be and there is, a sinful dullness in the minds of sinful men, but there is no such obscurity in the Revelation, itself, as to excuse men for this blindness. God, who is infinitely wise, would not give to us a Revelation upon the vital point of salvation and then leave it so much in the dark that it was impossible for common minds to comprehend it if they desired to do so! God adapts means to ends and does not allow men to miss Heaven from lack of plainness on His part!