Sermon - July 27, 2014 - The Story Week 8 - Judges: A Few Good Men... and Women

What is the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the word “judge”? Some people think of Flip Wilson of “Here Comes the Judge” fame. Others might think of Judge Judy. Others think of the person in the black robe who hands down a jail sentence. Being a super hero junky, I think of Judge Dredd “I am the law!”

In The Story we come to a 300 year period known as the period of the Judges, the Book of Judges. In the Old Testament while these judges not only could throw you in jail, they are known mostly for getting God’s people out of jail. Seven hundred years after God’s promise to Abraham, the people of God are in their own land, God is present in the tabernacle, a book of law guides their lives, and a sacrificial system exists for forgiveness of sins. The people were truly blessed by God. But there is a problem. Sin. Sin still reigns in the hearts of the people. Sin raises its ugly head.

If you remember from last week, we saw that while Joshua lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, their task was incomplete as he grew old. They did what God expected them to do in Joshua’s life time. God promised to go before them and drive out the rest of the inhabitants of the land, but the people of Israel needed to follow God’s commands and listen to His direction.

One of the requirements for the Nation of Israel to claim the Promised Land was to wipe out its current inhabitants. This was God’s plan to reclaim the land from its sinful inhabitants. As you read Judges Chapter 1, you will see they did not follow through with what God wanted.

Judges 1:19

“¹⁹ The Lord was with Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the people who were living in the valley because those people had iron chariots.”

Judges 1:21

“²¹ At the same time the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites have lived among the Benjaminites in Jerusalem to this day”

Judges 1:27-36

“²⁷ At that time Manasseh failed to take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the residents of Dor and its villages, or the residents of Ibleam and its villages, or the residents of Megiddo and its villages; the Canaanites refused to leave this land. ²⁸ When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely. ²⁹ At that time Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among them in Gezer. ³⁰ Zebulun failed to drive out the residents of Kitron or the residents of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced labor. ³¹ Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco or of Sidon, or Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. ³² The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out. ³³ Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor. ³⁴ The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to go down into the valley. ³⁵ The Amorites refused to leave Har-heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. When the house of Joseph got the upper hand, the Amorites were made to serve as forced labor. ³⁶ The territory of the Amorites extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim, that is from Sela upward.”

The Nation of Israel failed to clear out the land as commanded by God and it only got worse.

Judges 2:7-13

“⁷ The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works He had done for Israel. ⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. ⁹ They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel.

¹¹ The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals ¹² and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord, ¹³ for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.”

During Joshua’s life things were good, even during the rest of the lives of those elders who served with Joshua the Nation of Israel remembered all that God had done. For the Nation of Israel to be blessed they needed to remember the Word, talk to God, and stand apart as God’s children. In these verses we see things falling apart.

They were to remember the Word of God, talk to Him, and be set apart

Judges 2:10-11

“After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel. ¹¹ The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals”

The people of Israel no longer remembered the Law and obviously did not talk to God anymore if they did not know what He had done for them and they no longer acted any different than the sinful people around them.

It took 1 generation of not learning what God had done, for them to turn from Him. For this new generation to not know what God had done, their parents and grandparents must not have taught them about it.

Think about this for a moment, today Christianity is only 1 generation from extinction. If the present generation does not teach the next generation about Jesus, there will be a new generation that arises that does not know the Lord. Sadly we could easily be drifting towards a time when people no longer know who Jesus is. Every year we see the largest Christian denominations shrink and more and more people saying they do not believe in God. Even many of those who claim to be Christian don’t believe the Bible as 100% true or are spreading some false teaching. Unlike Israel after Joshua died we need to be purposeful about raising up the next generation of believers to Love God and to follow Him. If not, we are facing extinction.

Two mistakes led to this. They did not teach their children about God and all that He had done and secondly they failed to drive out the Canaanites and were influenced by their sinful behaviors.

As we look further into the Book of Judges we need to understand God intervened and raised Judges to help His people for two reasons. The other nations had seen that God had truly blessed Israel and God wants the other nations to know His Goodness and Blessing. Remember the whole reason for creating Israel was for them to be a blessing to the world. God also saw the need to intervene when His people cried out to Him. When people pray, God responds in a powerful way.

In the Book of Judges we see a cycle of behavior that is repeated several times, 6 times to be specific.

The cycle begins with sin. Something bad happens, the Nation of Israel cries out and God sends a Judge and restores the Nation. Then a time of prosperity hits and the Israelites are no longer worried about God, they can handle it on their own. They may grow interested in the lifestyles of the Canaanites and turn from God. Sin slowly sneaks in and they turn from God. They turn from honoring God to worshipping pagan gods.

Psalm 37:4

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”

Take Delight in the Lord – Make God the number one priority. Put God ahead of everything else. Remember what God has done for you.

It starts with sin, then the people or Israel feel the consequences of no longer honoring God, the oppression begins.

Judges 2:20-21

“²⁰ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He declared, “Because this nation has violated My covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed Me, ²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.”

The sin resulted in God removing His hand of protection over His people and He allowed the surrounding nations to oppress them. During the book of Judges we see 6 pagan nations oppressing the Nation of Israel. 111 of 400 years are spent being oppressed by these pagans by not putting God first in their lives.

Sin led to Oppression, which drove the people to Repentance.

During their oppression the people cry out to God for help. They remember what He had done and Turn or Return to the Lord. They make a decision to make a complete turn from worshipping pagan gods to worshipping the One True God. Once the people repent God raises up a judge to deliver His people. Othniel delivers them from the Mesopotamians, Ehud delivers them from the Moabites, Deborah from the Canaanites, Gideon from the Midianites, Jepthah from the Ammories, and Samson from the Philistines.

Sin, Oppression, Repentance, and then Deliverance.

 
While the judges were flawed human beings God used them to deliver His people out of oppression and into a time of prosperity. Two judges stand out as being flawed.

Gideon the week and Samson the arrogant.

Gideon questioned if God could really use him and asked God for a sign three times. God uses Gideon to delivery His people, but not before making it impossible for Israel to do it on their own.

Judges 7:2

“The Lord said to Gideon, “You have to many people for Me to hand the Midianites over to you, or else Israel might brag : ‘I did it myself’”

God then thins the army down to only 300 soldiers and deliveries Israel from their oppression.

Samson the arrogant, was a man who seemed to take what he wanted and became prideful with his strength. In chapter 16 Samson gave in to Delilah and told her the secret to his strength after she already betrayed him 3 times. His head was shaved and he lost all of his strength, in the end God gave him the strength to wipe out the Philistines but Samson gave his life in the process. His pride and immaturity lead to his death.

The Nation of Israel showed a nasty habit of turning away from God. We do to.

We sin – we don’t keep God on the throne of our lives. We let other things get between us and God. Our job, our family, video games, TV, drugs, alcohol… whatever it is we sin.

We are Oppressed – 

1 John 1:6

“⁶ If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.”

If we are walking in sin, God is not with us.

We Repent -

1 John 1:9

“⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We are Delivered –

1 John 1:7

“⁷ But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The Book of Judges reminds us that sin leads to oppression that can only be relieved through repentance which leads to deliverance through the Blood of Jesus Christ.

If you have any sin you need to repent of this morning I want to invite you up to pray during our closing song.

REPENT AND BE DELIVERED!

It is not to late to join us on our trip through the Bible. You can join us every Sunday morning at 11 AM in Clark Missouri or pick up your own copy of The Story and read along with us.

God Bless and Thanks for Reading!

Robert

Sermon - July 20, 2014 - The Story Week 7 - The Battle Begins

Have you ever faced an overwhelming challenge that scared you to death? If so, did you confront it or retreat?

In The Story we find Israel facing an overwhelming challenge. After 600 years from God’s promise to Abraham to make him a great nation, the children of Israel are ready to advance into the Promised Land. But there is a big problem. There are wicked people already living in the land and among those people are some literal giants. It would be like putting Danny DeVito (5’ tall) up against Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain (7’ 1” tall).  The children of Israel are under a new leader, Joshua, and they are at Kadesh-Barnea where 40 years earlier they took a major wrong turn.

40 years ago, 10 spies returned with the report that Canaan was a fine land, good crops and all, but the people were giants and compared to them, the spies looked like grasshoppers.  At that, the people shied away and God sent them into the wilderness for 40 years.  Now, they have returned to the same place, on the verge of the Promised Land.  The land hadn’t changed.  The giants weren’t any smaller.  But, now they were going to enter. 

Under Joshua, God tells the new generation to take the land. Joshua is told 4 times by God to “be strong and courageous.” Now is the time for courage!

Joshua 1:1-5

“1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses: ² “Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. ³ I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea. ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.”

God would give the people every place they stepped foot. As god was with Moses, so His promise was to be with the people of Israel. God had made this promise 600 years ago to Abraham, He gave it to Moses, He promised to be with the people of Israel as they made their escape out of Egypt. He promised to supply them with all their needs and did so through the 40 years of wondering. God gave them food, water, and their clothes never wore out. Now they are to enter into the land God had promised them.

There are three things that God tells Joshua the people need to be successful.

Joshua 1:8

“⁸ This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.”

The people of God need to follow His commandments. The people of Israel said they would follow all that God commanded; God was letting them know that doing just that was a necessity if they are going to succeed. They needed to be a people of The Book, they needed to be in the Word of God.

When they strayed from The Word of God things turned bad.

Joshua 7:1

“7 The Israelites, however, were unfaithful regarding the things set apart for destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart, and the Lord’s anger burned against the Israelites.”

All the people were not faithful and it had a negative impact on all the nation. Achan took what was Gods which resulted in God pulling His blessing from the Nation of Israel. This sin separated the people of Israel from God.

When they went to war with Ai, they suffered a major defeat. The people were afraid, they questioned what they were doing, all because one man sinned against God. The people repented, cleansed themselves, and punished Achan for his sins. Then God was with them as they went and crushed Ai.

Joshua then read the entire book of the law to the people.

Joshua 8:34-35

“³⁴ Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings as well as the curses—according to all that is written in the book of the law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who were with them.”

The first thing that the people of Israel needed to be successful was to be people of the Book. When they strayed from the commands they suffered, when the returned to the Words of God they were blessed.

We need this to! Today, more than ever we need to be reading our Bibles. Every day we walk this world we come into contact with people living in lifestyles that are ungodly. We have our beliefs challenged by friends, families, and the things we read and watch. To counter the things and people of the world, we need to KNOW God’s Word. We need to KNOW the Word of God so that we can protect our own minds and to counter the false beliefs and teachings of others. God wanted His people to be People of the Book to be successful, we need to KNOW God’s Word.

The second thing that they need to do to be successful was to be people of prayer.

God has told them, “Talk to Me before you go to battle. I will be in front.” God’s number one goal is to live with His creation and part of that is being in communication with us. The people of Israel had the Ark of the Covenant with them. They had recent reminders of seeing the pillars of fire and smoke, they sacrificed animals to the Lord to cleanse them from their sins. God lived with them and He wanted to talk to them. When they spoke to God and followed Him, they had 100% success.

God wants to hear from us also. He knows what we need, He knows what is best, so if we follow His will we will be taken care of. God Loves you and will guide your correctly, but He wants to hear from you. Make sure you are speaking to God and following His lead.

The third thing the Lord said the people of Israel need to be successful was to identify with god. In Joshua 5 we find that all the males needed to be circumcised. The people of Israel who left Egypt had been circumcised but while wondering in the wilderness none of the children had been. This was one way for people to see that the people of Israel were God’s people. So, before the people of Israel marched on the city of Jericho the men of Israel were circumcised according to God’s will. They were now seen as set apart or different from those in the world.

God wants the same thing from us. Not the act of circumcision, but the being seen as belonging to him. God wants people to know that we are His children. In our terms, if we say we are a Christian people should be able to tell that we live our life different than others. We should not be hanging out at the bar, gambling, cursing, and so much more. We need to live our lives differently than the world. People at work should be able to tell you are a Christian, not by something you have sitting on your desk but by your actions.

To be successful the Nation of Israel and us today need to be in the Word, Talk to God, and be people who are seen as God’s children.

As we read through the book of Joshua we see that God is working. When the Nation is following God as they are supposed to miracles are performed. We see the damming up of the Jordan River which allowed the Nation of Israel to cross on dry land. When they follow God’s battle plan of Jericho the wall crumbles miraculously and the city is taken. Even as the Nation of Israel enters the Promised Land, miracles are being performed.

The battles rage on. The Nation of Israel takes on cities in the north and cities in the south. All along the south they defeat 5 kings, take the cities, and honor God. Along the north they defeated14 kings as the Lord guided them.

Joshua 11:23

“So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the Lord told Moses. Joshua then gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. After this, the land had rest from war.”

Joshua led the people of Israel and conquered all that the Lord had told Moses. Chapters 13 to 21 go on to tell us that not all of the land was conquered at this time, but God was with the Nation of Israel.

Joshua 13:1

“13 Joshua was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord said to him, “You have become old, getting on in years, but a great deal of the land remains to be possessed.”

Joshua 13 6b-7

“I will drive them out before the Israelites, only distribute the land as an inheritance for Israel, as I have commanded you. ⁷ Therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

Joshua and the Nation of Israel did what God wanted them to do. God took it from there and gave them all the land that was promised to Abraham over 600 years earlier.

We need to remember this! When we are called by God to do something, we can only do what we are humanly capable of. Sometimes that really seems like nothing, but God can take what little we can do and turn it into something miraculous. When we serve our amazing God, we are His tool to accomplish something amazing. Nothing anyone of can do actually adds souls to the kingdom of God. Our willingness to be used by God allows Him to use us to share with someone at the right time that allows the Holy Spirit to win that soul. We cannot do it on our own, but God uses our faithfulness to change lives.

So why did God want the nation of Israel to take the Promised Land?

God wanted to reclaim the land from the wickedness of the people inhabiting it. God told Abraham this very thing some 600 years earlier.

Genesis 15:16

“¹⁶ In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

The people who inhabited the Promised Land before the people of Israel were wicked.

Deuteronomy 12:31

“³¹ You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice every detestable thing, which the Lord hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.”

God did not want these things to rub off on the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

“¹⁶ However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ¹⁷ You must completely destroy them—the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite—as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they won’t teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.”

As mentioned earlier God wanted His people to be different from the world. He did not want them or their children to get caught up in these wicked behaviors.

More importantly than reclaiming the Promised Land from its wicked inhabitants, God wanted the Nation of Israel and all the other nations to know that He Is God!

God told Abraham that all of the nations of the world would be blessed through the nation that God builds. That blessing starts with people knowing who God is and grows with people understanding that God wants to be in a relationship with them.

God created the Nation of Israel so that they could be His messengers. It is through this Nation that He makes himself known to all the world.

Even today, people are God’s tool to make Him known among the people of the world. We have a responsibility to God to share His good news, to share His message, to share His love. We need to start right here in this building and let it spread out to this town of Clark and continue to the rest of the world.

Read the Word, Talk to God, stand apart as a Christ follower, and be God’s tool to reach others.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Robert

Sermon - July 13, 2014 - The Story Week 6 - Wanderings

Last week we took a look at the New Commands and a New Covenant that God gave to the nation He created, Israel. We saw how God provided the Ten Commandments out of love, like a parent gives rules to their children. They were to guide the Nation of Israel on the right path so they could live the life God wanted them to have. God wanted to live among His people, that is why He had them build Him a home . We also learned that it was necessary for the Nation of Israel to cleanse themselves of their sins so that God could be with them. Animal sacrifice was put in place to shed blood to atone for where they fell short of God’s standards.

Today, if Jesus is your Savior, you are covered in His blood, your sins are forgiven, and the Lord dwells in you. The question we ended with last week was ‘Will you do everything the Lord has commanded?’

The Nation of Israel said they would do all that God had commanded, but we also find that they were not always the most consistent in following His commands. We saw a bit of this in chapter 6.

Leading Israel must have been like herding cats. Moses had over 3 million kids on a road trip who were complaining and asking ‘Are we there yet?’

Does anyone remember the movie titled ‘Are we there yet?’ It was pretty entertaining, but I felt sorry for the main male character, Nick. See he was interested in this single Mom and offered to help her out and bring her kids to her from Portland to Vancouver. The kids not liking many of the guys their Mom has dated, decide to make life difficult for the ‘nice’ guy who loves his car. This poor guy not only had to deal with the dreaded question of ‘are we there yet?’ but he also seemed to have everything else go wrong. A girl who kept changing the radio station, a juice box getting squirted on the ceiling, vomit, many many bathroom breaks, and much more. Nick had a rough trip.

The hard thing about road trips with kids is their fussing, fighting, and endless questioning. Another hard thing about road trips is making a wrong turn, getting lost, and adding more road time to the trip. Every road trip includes a destination as well as the trip itself. Thankfully we have GPS today to help us as we travel. In The Story we come to the wanderings of Israel as Moses leads them toward the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

I wonder if Moses felt like Nick at times. The complaints, the problems, and unhappy ‘children’. Leading Israel around for 40 years was not a pleasure cruise.

Complain, Complain, Complain… The Israelites complained a lot!

Numbers 11:1-2

“11 Now the people began complaining openly before the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, His anger burned, and fire from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.”

The complaining Israelites were literally grumbling evil in the ears of God, in other words they talking against God and questioning His goodness. They were blaming God for all that they had to do. With all of this complaining, you would never have thought they were just freed from slavery. With this complaint about the hardships, we see the pattern that is to come. The people turn against God then they are punished.

They complained about hardships, then they were punished. The lesson was not learned. They started complaining about eating manna.

If you don’t know, God was providing them manna to eat. All they had to do was go out each morning and collect manna for the days food. No slaving away in the fields growing food, no animals to watch after, no real work except to go out and gather the manna. God was providing them food; to some it was not good enough.

Numbers 11:4-6

“⁴ Contemptible people among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites cried again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵ We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶ But now our appetite is gone; there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

Like a fit being thrown by a child, manna, manna, manna, I don’t want this manna. I want a cheese burger! Moses had his hands full with the Israelites. God was angry, but He provided meat with a catch.

Numbers 11:31-33

“³¹ A wind sent by the Lord came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them at the camp all around, three feet off the ground, about a day’s journey in every direction. ³² The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered 50 bushels—and they spread them out all around the camp. ³³ While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.”

Again we see the people complain and turn against God and He punishes them. Moses had his hands full; these people were not satisfied with anything.

As if that was not enough Moses has his brother, the high priest, and his sister turn on him.

Numbers 12:2

“They said, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does He not also speak through us?” And the Lord heard it.”

Aaron and Miriam turned their backs on Moses and God heard them and He was not very happy about it. God summoned the three of them to the tent of meeting and said.

Numbers 12:6-8

“⁶ He said: “Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the Lord, I make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. ⁷ Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My household. ⁸ I speak with him directly, openly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

They questioned God’s messenger and God called them out. When the cloud moved away Miriam was left with leprosy and had to stay outside the camp for 7 days.

The Nation of Israel complained a lot, but they also made a wrong turn. They were on the edge of the Promised Land and some bad choices led them in the wrong direction.

At this point in their journey God wants them to send some people into the Promised Land to survey the area. They are supposed to go out and look if it is truly the land of milk and honey and they are to look at the people in the area and asses their military might.

Twelve spies were sent out to survey the Promised Land, but not all of them trust in God. All twelve are in agreement, the land is full of abundance and they even brought back some of the fruit to prove it. The problem was that not all of them believed they would succeed in taking the land, ten to be precise feared going up against what they said were giants. Two had faith in God, Joshua and Caleb.

Numbers 13:30

“³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

Caleb and Joshua had faith in God and His power to accomplish what He promised. They believed that God is with them, and they can take the land.

The other ten men did not feel the same way.

Numbers 13:31

“But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we are!”

The ten spies were comparing themselves to the inhabitants of the Promised Land and left God out of the picture. After all God had done for them over the last couple of years, they did not take Him into consideration. They gave negative reports and did all they could to convince people to not go into this new land.

The wrong turn is made. The Nation of Israel refuses to listen to Moses and to trust in God. They refuse to take the land and rebel. They even considered going back to Egypt to be slaves. The Israelites turned on God, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb.

Numbers 14:10

“While the whole community threatened to stone them, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.”

Needless to say, God was not happy. He wanted to wipe them out and start over with Moses and make him into a ‘greater and mightier nation’. Moses pleads with the Lord and then judgment is passed for their lack of faith in God.

Numbers 14:28-34

“²⁸ Tell them: As surely as I live,” this is the Lord’s declaration, “I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. ²⁹ Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you 20 years old or more—because you have complained about Me. ³⁰ I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. ³² But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. ³⁴ You will bear the consequences of your sins 40 years based on the number of the 40 days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. You will know My displeasure.”

Again the people do not trust God and rebel. You would think by now they would have witnessed His power enough, or dwelled with Him long enough to trust Him. They did not and the wrong turn was made. All this took place in Kadesh-Barnea and for 40 years the nation wandered around the wilderness until all those who rebelled had passed. Their rebellion against God kept them and their children from the Promised Land. If they had only listened their children would have grown up in the land of milk and honey, instead they were stuck in the wilderness. After 40 years of wandering they ended right back where they began, Kadesh-Barnea.

Making that wrong turn on a road trip can be frustrating, this one cost the Israelites 40 years of living in the land of abundance.

While Moses was a faithful leader and he often interceded for the Israelites asking God to spare them, he also disobeyed God. By striking the rock instead of speaking to it, he lost the privilege of entering the Promised Land.

As the 40 years wind down we find Moses imploring the nation of Israel to choose life. He encourages them to ‘Remember who you are and to Whom you belong.’

When given the Ten Commandments the Nation of Israel said ‘We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.’ Moses was reminding them that they have been given a new chance, a fresh opportunity to trust and obey God.

The Nation of Israel was on a road trip.

Nick from ‘Are we there yet?’ was on a road trip.
We are on a road trip.

While we are on our road trip, God is asking us to trust Him. He wants to hear that we will do everything that He has commanded us to do. We need to remember that God will never lead us to make a wrong turn. He knows our path, He knows what we need, and He will guide  us accordingly. Our God Loves Us! His whole reason for creating us was so that He can be with us. His whole reason for creating the Nation of Israel was so He can be with us. His whole reason for sending His Son Jesus Christ was so He can be with us.

God Loves You and God wants to live life with you. Let Him guide your life!

If you don't know Jesus this morning and are ready to make a commitment to Him and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, please come forward during our final song.

Thanks for reading and God Bless,

 

Robert

Sermon - July 5, 2014 - The Story Week 5 - New Commands and a New Covenant

A little 5 year old girl was having a troubled-filled day, arguing back and forth with her mother. Finally, her mother in exasperation said, “Jenny, I want you to sit in the corner right now! And don’t you get up until I tell you to!” Little Jenny went over to the corner and sat down a few minutes, and as she thought about it, she yelled out to her mother, “Mom, I’m sitting down on the outside, but I am standing up on the inside! Is that okay?”  Everyone of us has a “I’m-standing-up-on-the-inside” nature. Everyone of us wants to buck authority and resist the rules. That is why we have trouble with the Ten Commandments. We view God as a Judge and a cosmic killjoy. When we think of the Ten Commandments we probably think next of Charlton Heston. In this sermon I hope we see the Ten Commandments in an entirely new way.

Exodus 19:1

“In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai.”

If you remember from last week, we saw how God reveled Himself to the world and used Egypt’s oppression of the Israelites as the means to show His nation that He is God.

God revealed His name as “I Am that I Am”

God revealed His power through the devastating plagues and the parting of the sea. He showed the Israelites that He was God and showed the Egyptians that their gods did not measure up.

God revealed His plan. He showed that He wanted to be with us and that the blood of the lamp would bring salvation. For the Israelites the blood of a lamb protected them from the dreadful 10^th plague and the blood of The Lamb Jesus Christ has saved all who believe from their sins.

God wants to be with His people and He has a plan to do just that.

Exodus 19:3-6

“³ Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and explain to the Israelites: ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. ⁵ Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, ⁶ and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

In verses 4 and 5 here we see a pattern that God is using with His people, it is a pattern for doing life together.

God Initiates, then People respond in Obedience

God establishes a relationship of faith, then people live as God intended

Exodus 19:4

“⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.”

God initiated by revealing Himself, His power, and His plan and the people trusted Him when they spread the lambs blood on the door posts.

Exodus 19:5

“⁵ Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine,”

That is how God is saying life should be. If you obey what He says, we will be His.

We cannot work our way to God, it is God who is working His plan to be with us. I don’t know about you, but I am not capable of reaching God. I need Him to reach down to little ole me. God is working to be with us, He loves us. Our relationship with Him is not to be one of fear or guilt but of Love and Grace which is received by Faith.

One thing we have seen through our review of The Story so far is that God loves us and wants to be with us. Basically what we will see this morning is for God to Live with us, a couple of things must be done.

The first of these things is the guidelines that God gives us on how we treat God and how we treat each other, also known as, The Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:1-17

“20 Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
³ Do not have other gods besides Me.
⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.
⁷ Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.
⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: ⁹ You are to labor six days and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
¹² Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
¹³ Do not murder.
¹⁴ Do not commit adultery.
¹⁵ Do not steal.
¹⁶ Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.
¹⁷ Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

God wants a community of love that reflects the relationships of the Trinity.

How many parents have rules for your children, or had when they were younger? I would say everyone here had rules for their kids especially when they are young. Don’t play with fire. Did you have that rule in your house? How about not playing in traffic, whether it is the road or highway. I bet that was a common one. The question we need to ask about rules is, are they in place so we can ruin their fun? Or we are on a power trip “I am the parent and I can do and say as I please.” No, we have those rules because fire can burn and cars can kill. As parents we have rules out of love for our children.

God gave us The Ten Commandments out of love. As we want our children to have the best life possible, He wants us to live the best life possible. The Ten Commandments shape the community of Love.

Commandments 1 through 4 guide how we are to treat God.

1.      Do not worship other gods

2.      Do not make an idol

3.      Do not misuse the name of God

4.      Keep the Sabbath holy

These first four commandments are how we manage our vertical relationship, how we are to honor our God.

The other 6 Commandments are to guide how we treat other people. Or how we manage our horizontal relationships.

5.      Honor your father and mother

6.      Do not murder

7.      Do not commit adultery

8.      Do not steal

9.      Do not give false witness or lie

10.  Do not covet

God gave us each of these Commandments to help us show our obedience so He could give us the life that He has promised us. The next couple of chapters are more and more laws. After receiving the Ten Commandments and all the other laws that God had for the Israelites, they responded.

Exodus 24:3

“³ Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

The Israelites said “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”  When you review The Ten Commandments are you willing to say “I will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

Will you have no other god besides our God?

How about keeping the Sabbath holy?

Honor your mother and father?

Do not covet?

Will you commit this morning to say, “I will do everything that the Lord has commanded?” It is not easy but that is what God is asking of each of us, to make the commitment to follow His Commands. Our sin nature resists God’s guidelines. Even the Israelites a short time after witnessing some of the greatest miracles since creation had Aaron create a golden calf for them to worship. Think about that 5 year old I mentioned earlier, she was a great example for how our sin nature resists God’s Commandments.

Besides guidelines on how we are to treat God and each other, God desires a place to live among us. In Exodus 25 we learn about The Tabernacle.  

Exodus 25:8-9

“⁸ They are to make a sanctuary for Me so that I may dwell among them. ⁹ You must make it according to all that I show you—the pattern of the tabernacle as well as the pattern of all its furnishings.”

God gave Moses all of the details for building every bit of the tabernacle and everything that is to be in it over the next couple of chapters. The Ark, table, lampstand, The Tabernacle itself, the Altar of burnt offering, the courtyard, the lampstand oil, and then goes on to the details of the priestly garments.

Some would question the amount of time, gold, and resources that were used to make the Tabernacle, all its pieces, and the priestly garments. From what I have read this was not about God wanting to have the nicest place in town, it was about seeing if the nation of Israel would trust and obey God. Would they build this thing exactly as God wished, even if they thought it was excessive?

God choose to live among the nation of people He created because of Love. He wanted a relationship with them and wants one with us today.

God knowing the sin nature of His people, developed a way for them to be forgiven. A way that was hinted at when Adam and Eve were clothed and sent out of the Garden of Eden. Blood was needed for the atonement of sin.

Our sin nature is the main thing that keeps us separated from God. Each one of us has a sin nature. Our sin must be dealt with, covered, or atoned for. We cannot do this on our own, so blood must be shed. For the nation of Israel the sacrifice of animals was established by God as the way to atone for the sin. The priests were to sacrifice the animals to cleanse the sin so that they could continue to live in the presence of God.

Thankfully we have Jesus Christ and with belief in Him as our Lord and Savior, His blood once and for all wipes away our sin. With Jesus’ blood covering us, we are forgiven and we be blessed to spend eternity with God. While God had a Tabernacle to dwell with the nation of Israel, today He dwells in us. We who are covered in Jesus’ blood are the new Tabernacle.

If Jesus is your savior, you are covered in His blood, your sins are forgiven, and the Lord dwells in you, and He is asking “Will you do everything the Lord has commanded?”

If you don’t know Jesus and want your sins forgiven, please come forward during our prayer and final hymn and I would love to pray with you.

Thanks for Reading and God Bless!

 

Remember you can join us on our journey through the Bible either by joining us on Sunday morning or by picking up your copy of The Story and reading it each week with us.

 

Blessings,

 

Robert