Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Numbers │ Msg 540 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Numbers │ Msg 540 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Every Christian who hears my voice at this moment represents
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: a pilgrimage, and by that I mean a journey toward maturity,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the course of life. For some of you, this pilgrimage
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is thus far rather pleasurable, exciting, and fulfilling. But I
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: rather suspect for more of you it is a pilgrimage
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that has been marked by pain, a measure of disappointment.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: And even if the truth were knowns some times of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: doubt and disillusionment and deep struggle. I think that kind
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: is in the greater majority. I have just finished a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: little book by Arles Benham. She was the wife of
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a very fine pastor for some thirty five years, whose
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: ministry impacted hundreds of lives, it would be safe to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: say thousands, and one day, in February of nineteen seventy five,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: February the twenty first, those thirty five years of ministry
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and marriage went up in smoke as her husband left
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: her and the family for another woman. A divorce followed,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: and she has spent her days since then picking up
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the pieces in her pilgrimage. Her little book is called
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: The Long Way Back. It's very realistic. It in fact
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: includes these words. I would like to be able to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: say that time and God have healed all my wounds,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: that there are no more sleepless nights, that grief no
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: longer overwhelms, but that would not be honest. Rather, I
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: should say I now realized the wounds are not mortal.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Presence is very close in the sleepless nights. I am
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: learning to live again as a person in my own right.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: The goal and purpose of my life has become the
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: intense desire to help others through problems confronting them. I
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: thought when my husband left I would never be able
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to write again, but that was not true. A long
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: way back. That's her pilgrimage, different from yours and different
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: from mine, and nevertheless a true account of a journey
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: for some of you, extremely painful. I have noted in
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: these last several years a growing number of books that
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: deal with the pilgrimage. The first one, perhaps in all time,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: was Pilgrim's Progress, and many of us have read that
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: book with much op and encouragement derived from it. We
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: have read of the pilgrimage of Johnny Cash, We have
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: read of Alexander Soulshanitsen, Malcolm Muggridge, Elizabeth Elliott Leech, Corey Tenboom,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Johnny Ericsson, Katherine Marshall, and a host of others, all
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of them telling the story of their journey. And you,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: if you had the time and the courage to stand
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: before a group of people, could do the same thing.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: There is no such thing as instant maturity. We are
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: all somewhere along the way, and therefore I am not
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: surprised to discover that God puts a book in his
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: sixty six books that is dedicated to the pilgrimage that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: doesn't end like a fairy tale. I'm referring, of course,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: to the Book of Numbers. It is a book covering
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the story of a tragic pilgrimage where a group of
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: people who knew better did not live better, and they
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: suffered the consequences of a decision they made at a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: crisis time in their lives. But we need to go
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: back to the book to get the whole story. Let's
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: go Numbers chapter one. We need a little background, I think.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: First of all, in the Book of Genesis, God's people,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the Israelites, have grown to large proportions. The family of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Jacob is living in the land of Canaan, Palestine, we
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: know it today is Israel, and while there they suffer
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the consequences of a severe famine. And the Book of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Genesis closes with the people called the Hebrews moving in mass,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: the family of Jacob moving in mass to Egypt, down south,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: because there is a land of plenty, or at least
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: provisions for plenty, and there they found refuge and comfort,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and it was sort of a dream come true that
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: they might be able to be delivered from the famine
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: in Palestine. However, the dream turned into a nightmare, and
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: some four hundred years and more later there rose up
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a pharaoh in Egypt who didn't know Joseph, the original one,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: who was the prime minister that allowed them to come
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: into the land. And this is now the story of
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the Book of Exodus. Through a beautiful and miraculous chain
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: of events, as God led Moses to lead the people
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: out of the land Exodus, God brought them into a
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: place of protection out in the wilderness. His presence became
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: their ever present shield. And then in the book of
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Leviticus we find these people, three months removed from Egypt,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: standing at the base of Mount Sinai and living there
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: in temporary quarters for about a year, in fact, a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: little more than a year. While they are there, they
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: receive the commandments from God through the pen of Moses,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: actually the finger of God and tablets of stone. And
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: they also received the blueprint for the tabernacle. They were
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: told whom to worship, they were told how to worship,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and they were given a place to worship. And at
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the end of Leviticus we find the people of God
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: listening to the voice of God as he plans his
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: next move. Now look at the last verse of Leviticus.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai, Verse one, chapter
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: one the Book of Numbers. Then when at the end
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of that period of time, then immediately following that time,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Sinai in the tent of meeting. Note the date on
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the first implied the first day of the second month
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: in the second year. Reckon from what point from the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: exodus on the first day of the second month in
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the second year after the exodus. So they have left Egypt,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the exodus has occurred. They have come to Sinai, and
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: they have been there a month a year, and the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: beginning of the second month, waiting upon God for his directions.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: He is about to tell them that they are to
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: begin a journey, a pilgrimage that will travel north up
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: into the land of Canaan, which he promised to give
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: to them as their own. He promised them that land,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and so he is preparing the people in the beginning
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: part of this great book of numbers for that journey,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: that pilgrimage up north into the land of Canaan, back
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: where their forefathers had lived under the family of Jacob. Okay,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: you got the picture. Hold your place here and go
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: back if you will to Exodus, chapter forty, verse seventeen.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Let's just locate the dating for a moment for the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: purpose of orientation. Exodus forty, verse seventeen. Now it came
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: about in the first month of the second year. Note
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the difference. Now it is the first month of the
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: second year, on the first day of the month that
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the tabernacle was erected. So they got the blueprint from God,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and they built the tabernacle as God had said. And
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: they erected that tabernacle, and it was finished on that date.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Numbers one, verse one says it was the first day
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of the second month, after they had come out of
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the land of Egypt, that God spoke. Okay, we've got
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: them there for a full month, and they have enjoyed
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the worship of God in the tabernacle. They have learned
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: how to approach God. In Leviticus, they have learned how
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: a sinful person can come to know and love and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: fellowship with a holy God. That's what Leviticus is all about.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: And we looked at that in our last survey study.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Now tonight we're going to see a different kind of
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: story unfold. I want to spend most of our time
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: on the central part of this Book of Numbers, rather
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: than try to survey all thirty six chapters, which is impossible.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I'd like its just to spot the middle part of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the passage of the book itself in camp. But before
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: we do, let's understand some basics. First of all, how
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: does the book get its name. Why does the Book
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of Numbers that talks about a pilgrimage bear the name Numbers? Well,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: look at verse two. Take a census of all the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: congregation of the sons of Israel. There's the answer. Number
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the people Moses. I want you to take a very
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: careful record of how many people are in the camp.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, he said, I want to
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: know those who are mailed head by head, person by
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: person verse three, from twenty years old and upward. Why
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: two reasons to get these people on the move means
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: you've got to mobilize them, and that takes leadership. And second,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: when warfare comes, they've got to be ready for battle,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: and that takes leadership, that takes organization. The logistics of
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: moving this crowd was incredible, and so he says, let's
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: get a handle on how many people we've got, And
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: so they numbered the people. Look at chapter one, verse
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: forty five. So all the numbered men of the sons
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of Israel, by their father's households from twenty years old
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: even all the numbered men were, there's the number six hundred,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: three thousand, five hundred and fifty. So we've got the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: first census, or the first numbering of the people, save
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the tribe of the Levites, because they didn't go to battle.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: They serviced the temple or the tabernacle of God, so
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: they were left out of the numbering. Verse forty nine
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: verifies that. Now, what I noticed is that in this
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: book we have actually two senses, two numberings. Hold your
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: place here and go over to chapter twenty six toward
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the end of the book. Now you don't know it,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: but you're going forty years later. Well, to be literal
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: about it, thirty eight years later. Thirty eight years later,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: they number the people again. In fact, Verse two of
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: chapter twenty six sounds precisely like chapter one. Take a
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: from twenty years old and upward by their father's household.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Whoever is able to go out to war in Israel?
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Did they do that? Verse fifty one says yes they did,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and here's the number. Now I'm surprised at this, or
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I would be if I didn't know the story of
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the book. I would expect a larger number, but as smaller.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: The first number was eighteen hundred and twenty larger than
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: this number. Here we have them thirty eight years later,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: and yet they're only six hundred and one thy seven
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty. Why, well, that's the story of the book.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the judgment of God has
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: fallen on this nation, and he has made sure that
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: there has come an incredible number of deaths. Why. Well,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: because of the major message of the book, which we're
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: going to get into tonight, I'd like to give you
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: a couple of curious facts that might be of interest
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: to some, just to sort of what your appetite and
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: keep you waiting for the answer. Okay, here's the first one.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: The journey from Mount Sinai to the land of Canaan
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: took eleven days. Well, you say, how do you know that? Well, numbers,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I should say. Deuteronomy one says that, verse two, it
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: is eleven days journey from Horeb to Katishbarnia by the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: way of Mountseer. Eleven days. You know how long it
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: took them? Thirty eight years. Now, if I were hearing
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: that for the first time, of course, I would add
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: that little three letter question. Why. I mean, it's one
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: thing to get lost, but it's something altogether different to
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: add thirty seven almost thirty eight years to eleven days.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Why in the world would that happen? Here's the second
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: curious fact. Not a person that entered the land of
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Canaan ultimately was older than fifty seven years, except for
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: two men, Joshua and Caylean. Furthermore, Moses didn't even make it. Moses,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: God's man, our hero, the one that led the exodus.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: He didn't get into the land of Canaan. Let me
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: show you where we are geographically. On the back of
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: your outline, you should find a map. It's not inspired,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: but almost. You can take a look at where we're
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: going by the arrows. You'll notice on the far left
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the Nile Delta, the land of Goshen. That's where they
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: bivouacked for four hundred and thirty years. Then there came
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the Exodus. They broke out of the walls and bondage
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: of Egypt, and the went down into a south southeasterly
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: direction to the base amount of the Sinai Peninsula to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Mount Horeb or better known to us as Sinai. While
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: they are there at that southernmost part, they received the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Ten Commandments, and they also received the blueprint for the tabernacle,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: which they built there. And if you travel up north, northeast, northwest,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: and northeast again, you will come right to the edge
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: of Canaan. The southernmost town would be katish Barnea. You
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: can spot that on any good biblical map, and right
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: there is where they come, and it's eleven days from
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Horeb to katish Barnea. But it took them thirty eight years.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: It wasn't because a woman was driving. It is because, frankly,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a carnality took over that place, and those people in
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Israel were just judged by God. It's time to pause
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: and say something about a pilgrimage. Sometime you anticipate an
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: eleven day trip, but in the final bottom line of
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: it all, it takes years to get there. Right, don't
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: answer audibly. You anticipate a downhill slide, and rather than that,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: it is an uphill experience filled with friction, disappointment, discouragement,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: and even some time of disarray. Getting from Sinai to
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: katish Barnea and on into Canaan is the name of
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the game. And I've never met anybody that got there
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: in eleven days. It's a pilgrimage that takes a long time.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I spoke with a couple of parents, a mother and dad,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: just just this morning, and they've got a daughter that
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: they're concerned about, and they're back again struggling with a
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: situation with her, as they had done some few years ago,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: and they said, it just seems to take so long,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: such a long time. And I said, I'm gonna show
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: you something, and I showed them Deuteronomy one two, and
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I said, look, it takes eleven days to get from
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Horeb to katish Barnea. And they stared at me like
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: I was from planet Venus. What in the world does
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that have to do with our daughter? And I said,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: do you know how long it took? The Israelites? Over
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: thirty eight years? And all of a sudden it dawned
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: on them. When you map out the journey as the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: crow flies, you get there in eleven days. But we
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: don't get there like the crow. Being creatures as we are,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: it takes a long time to make the trip. Now,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: let's sort of survey the first and third sections, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: then we'll come sort of bear in on the middle
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: section of the Book of Numbers. We'll answer those two
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: curious facts in the moment geograph. Let's cover that base first.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: In the first nine chapters, they are at Mount Sinai chronologically.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: In the first nine chapters they are there for several weeks. Historically,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: they are preparing for the pilgrimage. It was a time
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: of excitement and anticipation, of dreaming, of hope, of delight,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: of anticipation. It was a thrilling period of time. They
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: were sort of caught up on how to worship. They
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: were told how to remain pure. They were told how
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: to fight, how to prepare for battle. They were told
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: how to maintain the tabernacle, and how to walk with
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the Lord. During those years they'd be in the wilderness.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: They were given all that instruction. So historically God set
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: them up for the preparation of that journey in the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: middle section chapters ten through fourteen. Geographically, they are only
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a few days. They are traveling from Mount Sinai to
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: katish Barnea in the first journey, and they get right
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: to the edge of Canaan. They don't enter the land,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: but they get there in a matter of days. So
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: they are on a journey to katish Barnea and they
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: arrive there and it takes them in several days. Historically,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: we're going to study that in detail a little later now. Third,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: in the final twenty two chapters, we have the people
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: frankly going around in a circle. They go around in
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: an undetermined frankly an unknown route in the wilderness. For
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: those for those years how long thirty eight years, and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: historically they finally learned to trust God as a new
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: generation is born. Okay, we'll come back to the practical
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: part in a moment, but let's go to chapter ten,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: shall we. I'd like to spend our time in that section,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: chapter ten through fifteen. We've got the people of Israel
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: ready to go. Okay, they are standing on the near
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the tabernacle and they are waiting to leave to go
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: to the land of Canaan. That's where they're looking forward to.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: God said, I'll give you the land. Trust me, it's yours.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Verse Let's look at chapter nine, verse fifteen. On the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: day that the Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until morning.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: A picture of that in your mind. So it was
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: continuously the cloud would cover it by day and the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: appearance of fire would be there all night, and they
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: never had to question the presence of God. That was marvelous.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: When the the cloud was lifted verse seventeen from over
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the tent and it would move, then they would set out,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and when the cloud stopped and settled, then they would
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: stop and they would stay there. That's neat, that's easy.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Aren't there times that you wish you could have an
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: experience like that? The cloud comes and it says, stay put.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: You're doing fine, So you stay put. The cloud turns
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: into a fire by night, and on those nights where
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: you doubt what God's will might be, you read on
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the fire move ahead in the southwesterly direction. So you
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: get in your car and you take off and you drive,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: and there's no question about it. I thought, how beautiful
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: it would be as a minister of the gospel to
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: have that kind of sign. When the summer comes, the
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: cloud goes toward Hawaii, and I get on the ship
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: and I take off and I land there, and I
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: minister there and enjoy the time until the cloud moves
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: me back in the wintertime to this beautiful area. And
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: it's just neat, no question, no doubt, it's clear. But
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that even with the cloud
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: and the fire they blew it. You don't need a
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: cloud and you don't need fire. You need faith. And
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that's where they failed, and that's where we fail. Chapter
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: ten Verse eleven came about in the second year, in
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the second month, on the twentieth of the month. All right,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you're oriented chronologically, we're twenty days later than chapter one.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: On the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted. Wow,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: excitement begins. The cloud is lifted from over the tabernacle,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: and they're on their way. Verse twelve says, it settled
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: down in the wilderness of Piran. Now, if you ever
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: ever been to the wilderness of Piran or read about
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: it or seeing pictures of it, believe me, it is
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: not very pretty. It is rough, rugged, barren, stony, dry, harsh,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: hard to live with. But that's where the cloud stopped.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: But these are people who were anticipating the walk of faith.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: What is their response? I'm glad you ask Verse one.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven says the people became like those who complain
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of adversity, so they began to complain and grumble about
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the way. Ever had that happen? Sure you have, Lord,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: you just lead me in your will and I'll be pleased.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I just want to know your will. Fine, you go
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: in that direction. Well, now, wait a minute, Lord, I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: didn't anticipate that direction. You said you'd go the cloud
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: settles over the wilderness. You go there, and if you're
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: not careful, having said all those great and glowing words,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: you begin to grumble and you begin to cry out
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and ask why. And if that isn't bad enough, You've
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: told the Lord you'll trust him for all your provisions,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and sure enough he gives you what he wants you
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to have, and you don't like it. Verse four. They
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: began to grumble about the food. The rabble, who were
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: among them, had greedy desires. All the sons of Israel
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: We remember the fish which we used to catch in
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: the Nile, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leaks,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and the onions and the garlic. They ate alone in
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: those days, with that kind of diet. And now our
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: appetite is gone. We wanted to have this great, glorious, beautiful,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: well prepared food with all those neat seasonings, and all
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: we have is nana yah. There's nothing to look at
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: except manna. It's it takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: a heavenly food. By the way, and if you heaven't
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: a heavenly appetite. None of God's servings will look good none.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson was the first one to say it. When
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the heart is right, the feet are swift. But I'll
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: guarantee you when the heart is grumbling. If the feet
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: are not swift, they're slow. I dealt with a young
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: woman and a former pastorate who had moved to our
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: area because of a romance that was budding with a
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: young man. She was a registered nurse and didn't find
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: difficulty in getting employment in that particular city, and the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: romance began to blossom. And yet in a few months
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: time she noticed a turn and it began to wane,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and by and by he cut it off altogether, and
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: her world caved in. Now, please don't look likely look
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: lightly on scene. On that scene, that is a desperate
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: situation to be in. In her shoes. Her whole world
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: revolved around this young man, and there seemed to be
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: no reason that the two of them should not become one.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: But down inside, he just lost interest in her. And
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget the day this young lady from Chicago
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: set across the desk from me, and she began to
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: pour out her life and just wept like a little baby.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: And she said, I cannot believe it. It all was
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: just set up so right, and I made so sure,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: and right in the middle of all of it, things
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: have caved in, she said. I moved back to Chicago
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: next week, a lonely young woman I met. Maybe your
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: situation is not that at all, different entirely, but it
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: isn't what you expected. And the diet that God sent
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: is a different series of foods than you ever thought
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: he would send. And so you begin to ask, Lord,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: send me meat. I want meat like I used to have.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: And so turn the page he did, in spades he did,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Verse thirty one. Now there went forth a wind from
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea, did
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: it ever? And let them fall beside the camp, about
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: on the other side, all around the camp, about two
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: cubits deep on the surface of the ground. You like quail?
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: That good? You people ordered quail? I wish I could whistle.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Come on in quail. I mean, they've got quails up
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: to their tails. They're all over the place in quails
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to cubit deep, they're everywhere. A day's journey there, and
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a day's journey there. It can't walk for the quail,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: and it says, it says, verse thirty two. The people
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: spent all day and all night and all the next
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: day plucking those quails. It's not exactly. But gathered the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: quails and got them ready, and spread them out for
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: themselves all around the camp. While the meat was between
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: their teeth, the anger of the Lord was kindled and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: struck them with a severe plague. Eat and figure that
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: one out, can't you? Right? First account of Mantezuma's revenge
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: is right there, baby brother. In fact, the Psalmist says.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: The Psalmist says, he gave them meat to eat, but
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: sent leanness in their soul. That's the way it is,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: isn't it? They God? But they ordered, but it didn't
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: satisfy ever, ordered from a French menu. It looked so
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: good in print, and all of a sudden turns up
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: snails or whatever. Hey, that's the way life is. You
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: think in your mind how it's gonna be, and so
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: you set it out in two by four manner, and
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: you say I want this, this, and this, let me
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: have it. I'll take it. And God says you want it.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: You really want that. Right, you've got it, and you
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: get it, and you didn't want it. But it's too late,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: you see, all because of heart that really wasn't trusting God.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: They really wanted their way. They wanted a little bit
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: of Egypt mixed with a little bit of Sinai and
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: a little bit of katish Barnea and a pinch of Canaan,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: and we'll be satisfied. All his book is so practical. Well,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it went from bad to worse. Verse thirteen, Chapter thirteen.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: They came to katish Barnea. Okay, they've made the journey.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Verse two. Now the Lord speaks to Moses, and he
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: gives Moses this directive, send out for yourself men, so
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: that they may buy out the land of Canaan, which
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give to the sons of Israel. You
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: shall send a man from each of their father's tribes.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: That would be twelve of them, everyone a leader among them.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: All right, Moses, you pick twelve guys that represent the tribes,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: and you send them into land and let them spy
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: out the land. Or that was from the Lord. So
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Moses did exactly as God said. Verse seventeen. When Moses
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: sent them to spy out the land of Canaan. He
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: said to them, go up there into the Negave. Then
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: go up into the hill country. Look all around. See
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: what it's like. Whether the people who live in it
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: are strong or weak, few or many, Whether the land
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: is good or bad. Look at the cities in which
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: they live. Are they like open camps? They are they fortified?
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: How is the land lean or fat? Are the trees
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: in it? Or is it bare? And make an effort
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to get some of the fruit of the land. Let's
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: look at what's up there and bring it back as
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: evidence of what you found. So they send the spies
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: into the land. Boy, what a scene. Verse twenty three.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: They came to the valley of Eskohl, and from there
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and they carried it on a pole between two men.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: One cluster of grapes. Talk about a bountiful harvest and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: some of the pomegranates in the figs. By the way,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the symbol of the Israeli Office of Tourism to this day,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: ironically is a pole laden down with cluster of grapes.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: It appears on the side of tourist cars are the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: cars that are used by the Tourism Office in Israel today.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: To this very day, it maintains that same profile. Just
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: a remembrance of those days when the spies brought back
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: the bounty of the land. Oh, but they brought back
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: more than that. They brought back a heart of unbelief.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty seven. We went into the land where you
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: When I was a little boy and I heard that,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: I thought, boy, what a crummy place to live. Rivers
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: full of milk and honey. That's a cloquialism for a
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: bountiful area. The place is running over with fruit trees
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and vineyards. It is a fabulous place to live. It's
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: just as God said. Nevertheless, verse twenty eight. The people
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: who live in the land are strong, and the cities
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: are fortified and very large. And we saw the descendants
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of Ainak there and amleku Is living in the land.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: And then they gave and the Hittites and the Jebusites,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: and the Amorites, and the Canaanites and the Termites. They're
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: all in the land of Canaan. You can't believe it.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Verse thirty two. So they gave out the Sons of
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Israel a bad report of the land that they had
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: spied it out. In verse thirty three, we also saw
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the nepheline. The nepheline are there. Who are the Nepheline, Well,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: they're the defensive linemen for the Canaan backfield. Believe me,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: you cannot imagine how big they were. We became like
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: grasshoppers in our own site, and we were so we
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: were in their sight. You ever seen those starting lineup
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: of the Nepheline, and there are big guys. We started
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: ran around like grasshoppers. So they cast a vote, all
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: in favor of going in, two all in favor of
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: staying ten verse one. The congregation lifted up their voices
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: and cried and wept, and wouldn't you know it, they
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: reverted back of their favorite pastime. They grumbled against Moses
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: and Aaron. The whole congregation said, would God we had
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: died in the land of Egypt? They kept one to
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: go back to Egypt. Would that we had died in
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: the wilderness? Why is the Lord bringing us into this
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: land a fall with the sword? What did God say?
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: God said, when you go to the land of Canaan,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I'll give it to you. And when in the rule
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: are they voting? God wanted to send spies so they
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: would come back and say, you can't believe how enormous
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: they are. But God's bigger than any of them. But
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: they had a wrong comparison. They compare the giants to themselves.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: But there is no greater giant than God. Let's see,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: they weren't focusing on that. You do that when you
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: look at life from the horizontal. And so they said,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: we cannot go in the result of judgment verse twenty seven.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: are grumbling against me? I've heard those complaints they are
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: making against me, and I say to them, as I live,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: just as you've spoken in my hearing, I will surely
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: do to you. Your corpses show fall in the wilderness.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Even all your numbered men, according to the complete number
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: from twenty years old and up, they're going to die
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: in the wilderness. That's the reason that they didn't get
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: there older than thirty older than fifty seven. The oldest
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: person after all of this plague get struck began at
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: age nineteen or during the time it began nineteen add
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: thirty eight to it. You come up with fifty seven
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: years old. And except for Caleb and Joshua, they were
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: the two that brought back the good report. Verse thirty
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: verifies that except Caleb and Joshua, no one under the
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: land older than that. Moses didn't enter because, according to
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: chapter twenty, he struck the rock when God said, speak
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to it, speak gently. He struck it out of anger.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: And God said, Moses, you're my model. You're broken with
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: my plan. You won't go in either. Hey, we got
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: to take God's here. He means it when he says speak,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: doesn't say shout, doesn't say strike. When he says wait,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: he doesn't mean fudge and take three baby steps and
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: say may I. He says wait. And when God comes
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: along and says I want you to go in that direction,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: you better go because it's not a multiple choice, it's
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: that direction. And he doesn't tell you why. Okay, now
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: we're ready for the application man. Practically speaking, the first
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: section of the Book of Numbers, they are anticipating, they're dreaming.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: In the second section of Numbers, they are unbelieving, they
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: are complaining, they're grumbling, And in the third section they're
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: finally trusting. But it's a little late. They're anticipating, they're grumbling,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: and finally they're trusting. I find three major lessons that
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: live on in the Book of Numbers to this very day.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Number One, complaining is usually contagious. If you are a grumbler,
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: you will infect others with the same disease. Our children
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: sang some time ago in our church a little song
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: just Entitle Grumblers. And I ask the director of that
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: choir last year, Nancy Gushsen, to bring me the text
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: of that, because I want to read it to you tonight.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: It says, in country town or city, some people can
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: be found who spend their lives in grumbling at everything around. Oh. Yes,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: they always grumble, no matter what we say. For these
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: are chronic grumblers, and they grumble night and day. They
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: grumble in the city, they grumble on the farm. They
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: grumble at their neighbors. They think it is no harm.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: They grumble at their husbands, they grumble at their wives,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: they grumble at their children. But the grumbler never thrives.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: They grumble when it's raining, they grumble when it's dry,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: and if the crops are failing, they grumble and they sigh.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: They grumble at low prices. I never hear too many
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: grumble at that. They grumble at low prices and grumble
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: when they're high. They grumble all the year around. They
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: grumble till they die. They grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: grumble on Thursday too, grumble on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. They
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: grumble a whole week through. And that's that describes some
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: of you. Right now, you will be two minutes away
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: from this message, and if you're not careful, you're gonna
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: grumble because it's cold, or grumble because your car won't start,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: or grumble because tomorrow looks pretty bleak, or you gotta
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: go back to that job and that plagued boss. I'll
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: tell you, grumbling will change your whole motivation. Dan told
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: me this past week about marriage Anonymous. He read about
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: it and the writing of one of his friends, and
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: it's this. When a guy who is single really goes
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: it's the urge to get married, He sits down, he
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: dials this telephone number, and the people in Marriage Anonymous
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: send an old hag over in a old ugly nightgown,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: an old tattered robe, and her hairs rolled up, and
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: her hose are rolled down, and she's got coal cream
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: all over her face, and she nags him until he
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: loses the desire to get married. All right, that's marriage, Anonymous.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: In case you want to know the number, I'll give
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: it to you as soon as we're through. See me.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: When you grumble and when you nag, and when you
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: foss and when you complain, you ruin the whole scene.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: You take away all the motivation, all of it. And dads,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: we are the worst offenders. We are the worst. We
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: can ruin a vacation before we ever get out of
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: the cul de sac. It just we're past masters at it.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: We make plans on how to ruin a vacation. We
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: just set it up. You can't sit still, put your
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: feet down on the floor, and don't put them in
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the back of my neck. And don't put the ice
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: cream cone on the dog, don't put it. Keep your
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: hands off the window, And before long the kid says,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: can I go home? Or as a boss, you can
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: be so negative, so overbearing, so oppressive that you just
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: can't keep good people working for you. You know who
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: you are? Christian or not complaining is contagious. It's a disease,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: and there anybody that ought to have that victory over complaining.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: It's a born again child of God. But I tell
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: you we are sometimes the worst offenders. I had businessmen
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: say to me, I've hired the last Christian that breaks
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: me to hear that presumptuous grumbling, take advantage bad attitude,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: and we've got it spelled out right in front of us.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, if you look at chapter fourteen,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: you'll see the process. When you grumble. The first thing
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: that happens. You look back verse two. They grumbled against
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Moses and said, would that we had died in the
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: land of Egypt. Grumblers always say, oh, oh, if it
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: were only like it, and they don't realize it. Back
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: then they grumble too, It just planned b in the
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: whole process of grumbling, that was plan A. They look back, second, guest, second,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: they ask why verse three, Why is the Lord bringing
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: us into this land? Why in the world did I
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: wind up with a man like you for a husband.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Why in the world did I ever come to southern California.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Why in the world did I ever get this job?
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Why in the world did we ever have kids? Your
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: kids are saying, why in the world. Did I ever
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: have him for a daddy and her for a mom? Why?
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: Verse four. Grumbling also forces some kind of relief, even
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: if it's rash. They said, let's appoint another leader and
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: get back to Egypt. Doesn't matter. God's appointed leader is Moses.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: Let's get our own leader. We want our way. Complaining
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: is contagious. Second, doubting can be disastrous Verse twenty eight.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: They said they wanted to die rather than go on.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: I'll take their lives. Your corpses shall fall in the wilderness.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Forgive me for the severe illustration, but I cannot help
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: but think of Guyana, and in the blindness of that
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: whole cult, the people dug their grave. Fellow man, fellow
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: women died down there. Just in the disaster of that
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: whole scene. I'll tell you doubting takes with it a consequence.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: The day that leader slung that Bible down on the
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: floor and spit on it and said, you follow me,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: not that book, and they kept following. The day is
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: the day of infamy. And I'll tell you it can
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: happen in a number of different ways. Right here in
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: our own land. God says, I will be God, and
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: I will be followed, or I will I will have
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: them several consequences. And some of you know who you are.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: You know that the doubt is at the disastrous stage,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: and you are bound not to walk in plan. You
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: are determined to go your own way. And I'll tell
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: you he he is to be taken seriously. Third, wandering
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: is always humbling. Complaining is contagious, Doubting is often disastrous.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: Wandering is always humbling. Look at chapter eight, verse two
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: of Deuteronomy. A little journey that should have taken eleven
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: twelve fourteen days turned into a thirty eight year nightmare.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: And now Moses, standing with the new generation of people
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: thirty eight years later, says, don't you guys, don't you
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: gals forget You remember chapter eight, verse two. You remember
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: all the way the go the God led you in
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: the wilderness these forty years. Why did he do it
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: that he might humble you? He might take out the
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: answers at the back of the book and say, you've
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: got to walk by faith. You've got to trust me.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: If you know that you are in my will and
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: your business is suffering, hang in there. I know what
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I'm doing. You know that the schooling is long and hard,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: But you know he has you in that school. Hang
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: in there. Trust me. You know that he has for
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: you a life's mate and you haven't found that mate,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: or you know he has for you a life of singleness.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Then trust me, says God, I know what I'm doing.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: You wonder you will be humbled. V Raymond Edmund what
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: a man of God? Twenty five years president of Wheaton College.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: On the twenty second of September nineteen sixty seven, stood
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: for the first time in nine months in the pulpit
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: at the chapel at Wheaton College. He had been laid
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: aside with a severe heart ailment, and he addressed the
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: student body, his beloved friends for the first time and
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: that long pilgrimage, that long way back. His opening words were,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: this will be the first time in more than ten
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: months that I have attempted to speak in public. But
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: I want you to consider with me an invitation to
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: visit a king. Halfway through that address, he slumped and
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: fell in death at the pulpit of the place he
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: loved the most. He left in his legacy a book
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: entitled The Disciplines of Life. And in the book I
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: recorded these words. They took them all away my toys.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: Not one was left. They set me here, shorn, stripped
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: of humblest joys anguished, bereft, I wondered, why, Ah, the
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: years have flown onto my hand, cling weaker, sadder ones
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: who walk alone. I understand, I understand. Let's bow our
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: heads together, shall we. God has said one thing to
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: one person, and something altogether different to someone else here
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: at this gathering. For some of you, the message relates
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: directly to an attitude of complaining and pessimism, and you
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: know who you are. For others, it has spoken volumes
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: to you about a life of surprises. You never anticipated
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: the pilgrimage would ever take this long or be this hard.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: But every step of the way you are hearing at
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: this time is under his watchful eye. Remember the way
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the Lord has led you these years in the wilderness
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: to humble you, to prove you, to reveal to you
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: what is in your heart. Our God and our Father,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: openly and sincerely, we admit our strong tendency, our stubborn
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: nature are bent toward unbelief. I ask that you this
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: moment would perform radical surgery in our hearts and show us,
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: even before we come near the end, the great, vast
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: benefits of a life of faith. Take away the panic,
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: the fear, and replace it with a calm, quiet confidence,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: underscored by the words from your own servant. I understand
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: in the strong name of Christ, our Lord, we ask
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: these things Amen. The preceding message, Numbers A Tragic Pilgrimage
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: was copyrighted in nineteen seventy eight, and the sound recording
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: was copyrighted in twenty eleven by Charles Arswindall, Inc. All
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide.