Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / April 30, 2023 | Numbers - I Spy A Giant

Transcript

April 30, 2023 | Numbers - I Spy A Giant · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Morning, everybody.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um so like just a heads up, I'm a little under the weather this morning, so if I uh tip over, okay, all my notes are right here, and so somebody in the front row can come up and finish for me.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: That sound good?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're in the splash zone, right?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um would you uh pull out the piece of paper you were handed as you were coming in?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if you received one.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to share with you um our quarterly financial statement here.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we tried to get the rights to money by Pink Floyd, thought that would be a good intro, but we couldn't swing it.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So um so you see two graphs.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the first graph there is our budget, uh which was approved by members of the church uh for the last three months compared to uh what we have received in donations and gifts.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the second graph that you see there is the shortfall.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a little over$170,000 uh that we are short in terms of the ministry that we are hoping to um maintain.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So two things about that.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first is that what that means practically speaking is that right now, uh in just the most basic sense of paying bills, we are working through our savings account.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the other thing, though, is that while we our attention is focused here on this shortfall, uh, we're unable really to actualize the vision for growth that we have for the church.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so those are two things that are going on right now.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh in 1939, not many of you um, no, I don't know how many of you know this.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: 1939 uh was when um the church was founded.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it was founded by a group of individuals who left their previous church because they wanted to be a part of a community and a congregation that valued uh missions and evangelism more.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so over the decades, we have really, and and rightly so, uh, developed a reputation for being a group, a church that supports missions and evangelism.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: You'll notice if you have that handout, I don't have it on the slide with me, um, but at the very bottom you'll see uh 19% of our annual budget, and then you see that figure there,$137,584.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: That is what we gave to missions both locally here in Topeka and worldwide in the last three months.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a significant part of our church um stewardship is that we want to continue to see people lead life in Christ and find life in Christ.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but part of that, what has happened over the decades of solid growth here at Topeka Bible Church is that there is a perception uh that has worked its way into some people's minds that we are a financially invincible uh church.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that is that's not accurate.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we rely on the generosity of everyone to be able to maintain the ministry and to be able to grow the ministry, unless you think that um we are circling the drain or something like that.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I could also say it's not the most specific of figures, but the size of our church over the last year has grown by 10%.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is not the only statistic to look at by any means, but we are a church that is continuing to grow, but it also requires that we all take part in that.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so um my encouragement to you is that if you participate or if you're a part of the ministries of the church, that you would give to the ministry of the church.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, what that looks like also is not uh the few, the proud, the mighty giving even more than they already do, but it looks like every single one of us being a part of that eternal mission to lead people to life in Christ.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you are somebody who gives financially to the church, I want to thank you for that.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um I want to thank you for those donations, and I uh I pray that you find fulfillment in what you are doing.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: The last thing I'll mention here is that as being New Testament givers, um, the thing that the Bible tells us to do is that not only that we are generous, but that we can do it cheerfully.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't want anything that I'm doing this morning to sound like I'm trying to twist your arm.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I want to present you, though, with the facts and the situation where we're at, and I pray that as a family or as an individual, you will make those decisions between you and the Lord in a way that you can do so um generously and cheerfully.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that, would you go ahead and pray with me for the finances of our church?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today, and um, God, we thank you for your generosity to us, found most clearly uh through Jesus Christ.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Lord, what he has given to us, what you have given to us, Lord, we we can hardly fathom.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, God, I ask that you would continue to bless our church as you have for nearly 85 years.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a church dedicated to the Great Commission, and God, one that is based upon a whole lot of people who've come before us that have set a foundation of generosity.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: But God, I also pray that um any words that I might be speaking that seems like they are coming from a position of guilt, uh God, that you would remove those and that we would all be able to um consider our own lives and finances and do it in a way that is both generous and cheerful.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Father, if we cannot do those things, then Lord, might we um continue to study and understand what it means to know you in a deep and abiding relationship.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: God, we love you and we thank you.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're new with us this morning, welcome, right?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um we do that every Sunday.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So um we're in the book of Numbers, though, and uh I do want to kind of get you caught up to where we're at.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if you are new.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we are going through the book of Numbers, and the story that we have this morning in chapters 13 and 14 is, without a doubt, uh the most important story in the book of Numbers.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the events that happen in chapters 13 and 14 change the landscape, um, really the course of history for Israel, and really what we read in the Bible for the rest of Numbers, uh, for Deuteronomy, uh, for Joshua, and then for a considerable part of Judges.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: All of those are books of the Bible, in case you didn't know.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, as we read through those, the echoes of the decisions that were made in chapters 13 and 14 ring like a bell.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so we have the nation of Israel, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: God has emancipated them, has freed them from slavery in Egypt.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And they went to Mount Sinai, which is where a lot of significant events happened.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: They received the law, right?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: They rebuild the tabernacle, they get the Ten Commandments, uh, but also it's where the golden calf incident happens and a number of other things.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: But we looked a couple weeks ago and saw that God finally said, Okay, now it is time for you to move out from the shadow of Mount Sinai.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: My cloud is going to go with you, and we're gonna head to the promised land.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, this was a promised land because it was a promise given to Abraham back in Genesis.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we shouldn't think of the promised land as the Israel just going to take some foreign territory.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's foreign in the sense that it was unknown to them, but this is where all of God's people, namely Abraham and his descendants, the patriarchs, this is where they lived.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so they are basically returning home.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but as they're doing so, God has given them some instructions, um, some things that they are supposed to be doing, but namely, the thing that characterizes their relationship with God is that they are supposed to be a covenant people, which means that they have this, it's deeper than like an agreement.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is an oath with a couple layers on top of it.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what God has said is, I will be your God, I will not forsake you, I will not leave you, I will go with you, you will be my people.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, but you should be my people.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the agreement that's set up here in the Mosaic covenant.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You follow my law, you know, listen to me, you worship me, and I will lead you into this area.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is an oath, it is a covenant based firmly upon the foundations of faith.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we say, Yeah, well, they have the law, and that's true.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: They did have the law, they were supposed to follow it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: But as we'll see today, chapters 13 and 14, really their following of God was based upon their faith and trust in Him.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, as we'll see today, really how far that that has fallen.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So as we get to chapter 13, the nation of Israel has arrived at the promised land.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're with us last week, I told you that the journey was not that long.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they left Mount Sinai three days in.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, we need quail or else we're gonna die.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that was last week, right?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: You might remember that.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then since that time, they've been journeying towards the promised land.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: How long do you think it took them to get to the promised land?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Moses tells us in Deuteronomy, eleven days.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: It took them eleven days to get from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land, quail included.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Eleven days.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So actually, we're gonna look really quick at Deuteronomy because, okay, sidestep.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy is at 40 years after the events of chapters 13 and 14, they're about to enter into the promised land again, okay?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses can't go, and he's basically giving them instructions from his life and from the history of the nation of Israel.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we're gonna read in Deuteronomy is Moses summarizing the events, excuse me, summarizing the events of chapters 13 and 14, but then we'll we'll go back to numbers.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna give us good context.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Deuteronomy 1, verses 19 through 21.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Moses says, We then set out from Horeb, that's Mount Sinai, and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: When we reached Kadesh Barneah, which is the location that we're going to refer to as being right on the cusp of the promised land.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So when they reached the promised land, I said to you, You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord your God is giving us.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: See, the Lord your God has set the land before you.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Go up and take possession of it, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has told you, do not be afraid or discouraged.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, it's been eleven bless you.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, it's been eleven days since they left Mount Sinai.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And they have come to the edge of the promised land, and God says, Here it is.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is the land that I promised to you.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: It is yours, take it, go in, be courageous, and do not be discouraged.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: We can assume that he's saying these things because there are things that they might desire to be discouraged or scared of inside the land, but God says, Do not be scared, have courage, take heart, because I'm with you.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is a consistent theme that God gives to them is that because I am your God and you are my people, you can tackle these obstacles.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so uh they say, Um, actually, uh we're not about that.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're gonna already begin to backpedal.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, Lord, you want us to go into this land, but instead, how about we send scouts?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: How about we send other, a very select group of people into this land first to really, you know, get the lay of the land, make sure it's okay, all of these different things.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so at the at the very beginning, right, and this is where Numbers 13 will pick up, which is them discussing how to send these scouts.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: At the very beginning of the story, we already understand God says, Go up, take the land, it's yours, it's free, I will be with you.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Hold on, we're not so sure just yet.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So the Lord spoke to Moses.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: God says, Okay, you can send these scouts, fine.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the Lord gives them then instruction for how they're to do it.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Send men to scout out the land of Canaan.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am giving to the Israelites.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Moses sent them from the wilderness of Peran at the Lord's command.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: All the men were leaders in Israel.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of depends on what's in your Bible, but um, most of them call this like the spy story, or the spies are sent out, or something like that.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the word that's used here is leaders, and literally it means exalted ones.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so there are twelve guys that are picked.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Each one is a representative from their tribe.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because the Levites, you might remember, this is going back a couple weeks, I know there's already cobwebs on that, but a couple weeks ago we said, right, the Levites are sort of excluded from when we're counting Israel.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: They have a very special role because they are set apart to the Lord as a tribe to handle all the holy elements.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the other eleven tribes are here, and then the tribe of Joseph is split up into Ephraim and Manasseh, and so now we have twelve again.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so, anyhow, these twelve tribes uh basically elect a leader.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And these leaders, you've got to remember this is a military campaign.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is like SEAL Team 6 entering into the Promised Land, okay?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is not like, oh, we've got these scared little people that are hiding behind the hills.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like they are expecting that they can go into hostile territory for an extended period of time.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: They can scout it out, they can understand military fortifications, and they can come back.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So a little bit bigger than just spies, but nevertheless, they are going to go and scout out the land.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the instruction that is given to them.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they go into the land and they basically go on a trip from the south, Kadesh Brunea, all the way to the north, uh, where they reach Hamath, and then they come back down.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so along that way, um, which basically Israel, if you're not a map person, is longer than it is wide, right?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so they do, they are able to cover a considerable part of the nation here and really to go up into the reaches, the northern reaches of it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, they go on this trip and they come back.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but before then, before they come back, we realize that there was another duty that Moses gave to them beyond just scouting it out.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: In verses 17 through 20 in Numbers 13, when Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country, see what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we go, okay, that sounds like the scouting report that we're expecting.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: But then he keeps going.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Is the land they live in good or bad?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is the land fertile or unproductive?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are there trees in it or not?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Be courageous, bring back some fruit from the land.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was the season for the first ripe grapes.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So what Moses introduces here is really the hinge upon which the entire story pivots.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is that they now are heading into the land looking for information about whether the promised land is good or bad.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you look at this, and right, we read this text with two minds.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: There is the mind where we understand what is happening here, and we say, okay, well, they're sending scouts in.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: It makes sense that they would want to know, like, where are the you know, what kind of crops are there?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: What, you know, these sorts of things are going on.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is it really as beautiful as God wanted to know?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then we've got this other mind that is reading it and going, it's the promised land.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is the place that God said is flowing with milk and honey.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: He already said it is good.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so when Moses goes, Are there trees there?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: We go, oh man, come on, Moses, right?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like this group that is going in is not just now going into as part of a military excursion, but the report that they come back, the expectation is that the answer that they provide is going to tell them whether God has led them all of this way to something that is good or something that is bad.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is going to be the thing that it pivots on.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So as they go, they come back from their journey.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was 40 days that they went out, and when they come back with, you know, a bunch of uh grapes on their shoulder, um, they give this report.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: The men went back to Moses.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is verses 26 through 28 of chapter 13.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the wilderness of Peran at Kadesh.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: So they have a group presentation.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: They reported to Moses, We went into the land where you sent us.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: We also saw the descendants of Anak there.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So remember, is it good?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is it bad?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And as they start out, they say, the land is as beautiful as God said it was.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Flowing with milk and honey, by the way, it's a euphemism for it being a fertile place.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that like they have rivers of 2% that's just like running down the mountains, okay?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: But it means, right, it can sustain herds, right?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: They have milk.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: It means it is a just a naturally fertile land, a place where you know life is in abundance, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that is used throughout um, God has used this phrase specifically to describe the promised land up until this point.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so they say, God was right, it's a land flowing with milk and honey, but it's a military campaign.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so they come back with that report too, and they say, actually, um, not all not these are not just encampments, they're not just people in tents, but cities have sprung up in the roughly 400 years that we have been gone from this land.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And these huge fortifications, uh, the people who live there, they're giants.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when they say that, they say the descendants of Enoch there.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for all of you who did the Unseen Realm stuff, right, this is a lot more significant because it ties back into Genesis and the Nephilim and this race of giants that came about from uh the sons of God and the daughters of men and all of that, that nobody's entirely sure of what it is.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: But anyhow, that's what is coming forth here.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: The Nephilim Excuse me, told you I was sick.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Nephilim, the men of renown, right?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is who they're talking about.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if all of that made no sense to you, think of David and Goliath.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, David and Goliath, Goliath is a descendant of the Anakim.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: These are his like great-great-grandparents, okay?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so you picture the story of David and Goliath and all of the terror that surrounded Goliath and how large he was, and this is now a civilization of them.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, later on in chapter 13, they say, they use the phrase, we are as grasshoppers compared to them, right?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: We are teeny tiny compared to those who are in this land.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: So now we part of us revisits when God said, Go into the land, don't be afraid or discouraged, because he knew what they would be encountering.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: But now they have sort of defied that.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: They've said, actually, we'd like to know what we're heading into.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And now this is something that is going to cause a great amount of concern for them.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that whole census back in Numbers 1.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody except for the Levites, 20 years and up, all the men, that is their fighting force.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is a military campaign.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so they hear this language from Seal Team 6, Bible edition, that comes back and they're like, we don't want to fight them.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: But one guy stands up, Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, Let's go up now and take possession of the land, because we can certainly conquer it.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the men who had gone up with him responded, We can't attack the people because they are stronger than we are.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: So Caleb enters the story.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Caleb was one of the twelve scouts.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps unsurprisingly, he came from the tribe of Judah.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And up to this point, we've kind of were developing a habit of sensing that normally righteous people come from Judah.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, it's the tribe that Jesus comes from.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, Caleb comes from Judah, and he says, wait, wait, wait.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: This phrase that he quieted the people literally means he went, hush, hush, hush, hush, hush.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, listen to me.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: The whole nation is rebelling.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, we don't want to do it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, we can do it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: God is with us.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: We can go and conquer the land.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: We can, and this phrase that he uses too, we can go up and take possession of the land.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is specific language that God has used up and until now to describe their job.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: God says, go up, take possession of the land.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Caleb says, let's go up, let's take possession of the land.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is a battle between is the land good or is the land bad?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that's going to hinge upon, unfortunately, what the Israelites perceive to be what is good and bad, and not what God sees to be as something that is good or bad.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: See, as they continue on, they say we can't attack the people because they're stronger, so they gave a negative report.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you have Caleb, and then there's one other that sided with him.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's not mentioned just yet, but his name's Joshua.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua is a character that is um, he's kind of in the background in a lot of the stories.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's Moses', I don't know, you can call him assistant, right-hand man, whatever, but like when Moses goes into the tabernacle and speaks with the Lord, like Joshua was already in there.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: When Moses leaves, Joshua stays there.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: He just loves hanging out with God.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, when Moses is unable to enter into the Promised Land, Joshua is the one who leads the Israelites ultimately into it and then helps take care of the military campaign.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: But Joshua at this point, right, was just one of the twelve leaders who went.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so Joshua, and at this point, his name is Hosheah or Hosea, and then Caleb, verses 10.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so the nation of Israel, they side with the 10, and they say, We can't do it.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: God says it is good, it we think it is bad, and so we can't take them on.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: So then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness, why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Our wives and children will become plunder.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: So they said to one another, let's appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so uh last week we talked about how the rebellion of the Israelites is sort of increasing.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the phrases, the things that they are saying to the Lord are also growing in intensity and in uh sinfulness, basically, right?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when it was the quail, it was why don't we go back to Egypt?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: You might recall that phrase, we ate at no cost, even though they were slaves, right?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: We ate at no cost, and so maybe we should go back.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And also they said, Why don't you just let us die in the wilderness?
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now we've taken that.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, that was three days from Mount Sinai.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: We are only 11 days from Mount Sinai.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's not like this is 20 years hence.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, now they're at the edge of the promised land, they hear this report, and they increase their rebellion.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: They say, um, I don't know, I think it is kind of funny that they do say, if we only had died in the land of Egypt, or, like, or if we had died in this wilderness, like, I'm amenable to both.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not, you don't have to stick me on one or the other.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Could have died here, I could have died here.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: But they say, if only we had died, that would have been better than heading into the promised land and being killed.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And also that we see there are four times, four times at the beginning of this passage, that we also see that the rebellion, it like a plague, has spread and is now and has now infected the entire people.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then the whole community and the people wept that night, and all the Israelites complained, and the whole community told them.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Four different times.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: It shows that the rebellion has spread to the entire adult population.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the final thing that they do, though, and really the one that pushes it to the breaking point when it comes to the Lord, is not only are they wishing death upon themselves and that they would uh forsake the promises of God and go back to Egypt, you know, neglecting the fact that he had saved them from all of these things, but now they are accusing him of murder and evil.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: They say, Lord, you brought us here specifically so that we would die by the sword, and you brought us here, knowing that our women and children would be taken captive as plunder by the nations that we're going into.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you did that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it is at that point, right, that we really have reached the apex of their rebellion.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Not only is it the most significant point in their journey, right, the promised land has been the whole gig, right?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Leave Egypt, go to the promised land.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Fulfillment of promise to Abraham.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: This whole thing is leading up to the promised land.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're at the promised land.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they go, God, you're giving it to us, it's free, we can conquer it.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, thank you.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And also, why are you trying to kill us and destroy our families?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the situation at which point we see that God's patience runs out with the nation.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, as we continue on, then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about me?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I have heard the Israelites' complaints that they make against me.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them, as I live, this is the Lord's declaration, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Your The CSB is pretty abrupt in its language, your corpses will fall in the wilderness.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: You will bear the consequences of your iniquities, of your sin forty years, based on the number of the forty days that you scouted the land, a year for each day, you will know my displeasure.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: So there are two ways that you probably take this, okay?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Really the Lord's patience coming to its end.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first is that you look at this and you go, About time, right?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: If I were the God of the Israelites, we would not have made it one day, okay?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't have gotten to quail.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: They would have rebelled against me, my patience would have run out.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so we look at this, and you're probably somebody who says, I'm more comfortable with the idea of God's judgment.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when we get here, we say, Well, it makes sense that since they have shown a complete lack of faith, a complete lack in trust, of trust in the promises of God, since they have accused him of evil, God is now going to bring a judgment to the entire nation of Israel.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: The other side, though, is that you see this and you go, man, God, like, couldn't you have given them another shot?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what about another chance?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, God, why does it have to be so final?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't it just be that you continue, you know, you give them another warning, another warning, another warning, and then maybe they will come about.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the view that I hope to correct just a little bit.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because one of the things that you should be drawing from this passage is that you understand more deeply both God's judgment and his mercy.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why both are instructive is because when we get to this point in the story, which is absolutely God's judgment, his righteous wrath is being poured out on people who have been really nothing but rebellious against him, except for maybe Moses, but even he is wrapped up in this.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when God's judgment is poured out on them, it is only by the wrath of God, by his righteous judgment, that you are then able to understand how much mercy and grace he has been showing to his people.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is the same thing that we apply to the cross of Jesus Christ.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we say, the only way to understand the mercy and grace that is presented through a Savior is by better understanding the wrath of God against an evil world and those who have rebelled against him.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Both of those things move forward together, and if you become lopsided in one or the other, then you miss the character of God.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is God's character.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: He is unbelievably patient with them.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: These are a people who have every reason to trust in him.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: I had to cut it out because we didn't have time to go over it, but God says, I have shown them every sign possible to make them believe in who I am.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: They pick up manna every day from the ground.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I lead them by a cloud of fire.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: More do they want?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get to the penalty here.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it is a severe one, matching the severity of their crime.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: But he also kind of plays like an Uno reverse guard on them, okay?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, God, you were going to take our children and let them be captured by our enemies and sold into slavery, is ultimately the end of what they're talking about.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And God says, It is now your children who are going to be the ones that will enjoy the promised land and not you.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody mentioned in Numbers 1 and 2 in that first census, specifically numbers one, we're 20 years older and up.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of them is going to die now in the wilderness.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because this entire generation is going to delay because of their unfaithfulness the promises of God.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I give this to you, it's my promise to you, you just have to accept it by faith.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, We don't have faith.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Okay, we'll go to the next group then.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because might they better understand what it means to have faith in me?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we see as we move forward in the narrative that that's what happens, right?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: The group that is 20 and under, the junior high and high schoolers of Israel, okay, who see everybody 20 years older and up, their parents, their grandparents, all their aunts and uncles, everybody above them over the next 40 years are going to fall in the desert as they wander as a punishment for their rebellion.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then 40 years comes around, and they're at the edge of the promised land again, and God says, I've given it to you by faith.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are still huge people there.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Will you trust that I'm going to give it to you?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: And Joshua is then at the front of the line, and he says, Yes, we're going to go in and we're going to take it, Lord.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this, like I said, is the most significant event in Numbers 13 and 14 because it is the pivot point.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: The rest of Numbers is this generation wandering for 40 years until they come to the edge of the promised land again.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And spoiler alert, there's another census coming, okay?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, don't worry, we already did like our census message.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need two census messages.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there's another census at the end of the book of numbers.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it is a completely different group of people than the beginning of the book.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that is because this was supposed to be, numbers one, the individuals who are going to take the promised land.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the one at the end of the book is the one who actually get to do it.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: But there is one last thing, though, that I want to share about this, uh, because the story actually is not done.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's one more tragic passage we have to look at.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, God is going to punish them forty years for the 40 days that they scouted the land when they came back and said that it was not good.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: But God also tells them, He says, I'm going to give you what you wanted.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: You said you want to die in the wilderness, you will die in the wilderness.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: They also say, You want to go back to Egypt.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: God says, Tomorrow morning, you're to head out and go the opposite direction.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're to go back to the Red Sea.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: The place, the same route that you took, I want you to backtrack.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to retrace your steps, and you are going to head back like you were going to Egypt.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow morning is when they're supposed to do that.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: But instead of that, they do something else the following morning.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is in verses uh 39 through 45.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Understandable.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: They got up early the next morning and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, Let's go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: But Moses responded, Why are you going against the Lord's command?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: It won't succeed.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go, because the Lord is not among you, and you will be defeated by your enemies.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord's covenant and Moses did not leave the camp.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Horma.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the quintessential, like you weren't mad that you were wrong, you were mad that you got caught, right?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening here.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they say that they're wrong, but that's not really the problem here.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: They are upset that they did not get the thing that they wanted.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is have the cake and eat it too.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: They want to rebel against God, but then once his blessing is taken from them, it's like, oh, you were serious.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize you were serious.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of going back to Egypt, I'm going to go in the opposite direction.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go into the promised land, which is where I should have been already.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm expecting that, God, you are going to give it to us.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Only as Moses says, sadly, he says, What are you doing?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: You missed your opportunity.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Your burden to bear now is that you will wander until you die.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: He says, the ship has sailed.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: What the Israelites found when they went into the promised land without God's help was reality.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: They realized all of the things that they had said they were scared of happening, that they were going to be crushed by these huge giants.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: That wouldn't have happened with God.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: But now without God, they were right.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: They got crushed by a bunch of giants.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, they are routed and they experience defeat and destruction.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that is where the story concludes, and you're like, that's a bit of a downer.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of is, right?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes we just look at stories in the Bible and they don't finish on a high note.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because the importance of the story is that we learn from the lesson that was presented.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: We learn from the defeat.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: We learn from the rebellion, and we understand that we don't have to walk in those same shoes.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there are two things this morning that I'd like to share with you, things that we should take away from this story that I think apply directly to our lives.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the first one actually has to do with something that I saw on Thursday this week.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: So the NFL draft was on Thursday.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys might know I was in Kansas City, and I was supposed to go, but I was sick, and so I stayed home and watched it.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: And when you watch the draft coverage live, you um they always you know bring up the camera on the picks as they are um the first overall pick, second overall pick, and that kind of thing.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they always ask him, they're like, you know, what did what were what was going through your mind?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the first overall pick was a guy named Bryce Young.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: He was a quarterback um out of Alabama, and he's going to the Panthers.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: And by all accounts, he seems like a very humble and good-natured guy.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um and when they asked him uh, as the first overall pick, his thoughts, the first thing out of his mind was he or out of his mouth, he said, The promises of God are true.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you believe in God and trust in him, that anything is possible.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's that's not how it goes, right?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what I love is that this young man Bryce used his platform to be able to tell people about God.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think everybody should do that.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: But what he did, and then actually the second overall pick, CJ Stroud, another quarterback going to the Texans, good luck.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I trusted in God, and it made it so I could do anything I put my mind to.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: So both of these individuals, and I'm I I feel I'm not trying to disparage them personally, but both of these individuals had in their mind that because they had trusted in God, had believed in him, had put faith in him, that he had brought about their greatest desires and had empowered them to be able to accomplish their greatest hopes.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the prosperity gospel, and that is not how God works.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: God's greatest desire is not to bring about your greatest desires.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: If that was the case, then Israel, the day after God said, Go wander, and they went into the promised land because they're like, uh, we would really like it, God would have given it to them.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not how He works.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: The way that we find success, if you want, if you're interested in success, the way that you find success is by aligning your will with God's.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is the point, or one of the two points of this story, is that if Israel had just continued on with the Lord, they would be in the promised land.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't have, and some of you would be thankful, the rest of the book of Numbers, okay?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: They would be there.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, they said, actually, um, the Lord is here to serve me.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: And God's purpose is that my greatest desire comes about.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so, because of that, they had the hubris, they had the pride to then go directly against his will multiple times and say, Okay, Lord, we want to cash in on your promises now.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: And God says, it is done by faith, and it is not based upon your desires, but it is based on my will.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you say, What is generally speaking the will of God?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: The will of God that you will always find success in pursuing are things like desiring to look more like Jesus Christ.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is understanding the sacrifice of the cross more profoundly.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is developing a heart for evangelism, it is seeking to understand the grief of those around you and comforting them.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: It is becoming more like Jesus Christ.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is the will of God for your life.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is that you would be more like Jesus and tell more people about Jesus.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if your heart aligns with God's will, you will always find success.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: 100% of the time, you want to look more like Jesus Christ, pray that you would look more like Jesus Christ, and you will begin to look more like Jesus Christ.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like a fish that, thank you, like a fish that is in a river.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: You are swimming well as long as you are going with the course of the river.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if you hop outside that river, you're not gonna get very far.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Align your desires with God's will, and you will find success.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, and finally, um, and probably the part of this uh narrative that is the hardest to grasp is that we found the end of God's patience.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Up to this point in the story, God was upset, he had righteous anger, but now the entire nation receives a punishment.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: God is delaying the fulfillment of his promise by 40 years, and we have seen his anger come.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Part of the reason this is uncomfortable is because we look at the story of the Israelites and we still often ask, God, why not one more chance?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why did it have to be final?
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why could you not have done, just let them go in and take it?
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, they might have learned from it.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: The thing that makes us uncomfortable, though, is that this is the way that our world works today.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean is that there is a judgment coming, there is an, if you will, an inflection point.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: There is a decision that needs to be made when Jesus Christ returns, when the we get to the edge of the promised land in our world now.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus Christ returns at that point, it is head on in, if you have faith, or if you would rather go the opposite direction, you can go that way too.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the only way that you get in is by faith in Jesus Christ and by trusting in his promises.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you get to the promised land of heaven.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you have eternal life with God.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the difficulty that we have, and what makes us so uncomfortable about this story, is that when Jesus Christ comes, that is when the decision is made.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is not, oh, now we realize that God was serious.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, now I believe.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I understand, Lord.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is not the way it works.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: There are going to be, there is going to be somebody.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because the New Testament tells us that people will come up to Jesus and say, Lord, Lord, I followed you.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, You never knew me.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: There are people who claim to be Christians who aren't.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Not Christians, because they do not have faith in the promises of God.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just as there were Israelites who by name were of the nation of Israel, but God says, You are not my people because you did not have faith in my promises.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, you will experience the ends of yourself.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so there will be those who say, Lord, why can't we have one more opportunity?
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, You know, the hundred and fourth chance that you had to accept the gospel was the last one.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you didn't know that there wasn't going to be a hundred and fifth time to accept the gospel or to be able to share the gospel with somebody else.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: But at some point in time, the patience that the Lord has for our world is going to end, and Jesus Christ is going to come as a display of not only the defeat of death, but is going to make the world as it should be.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when we look to that future, we keep in mind that there is a limited amount of time to put your trust in God.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now look, I went to a Baptist seminary, okay?
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: We almost all the messages end like this, okay?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: Almost all of them.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: That was kind of supposed to be a joke, because not all of them actually do.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I, the first church that I worked at, okay, every single time I preached, I had to give an altar call.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're not doing an altar call.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: But there is absolutely an element of urgency, of healthy anticipation that you should have in your faith with God.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking with somebody after the first service, and they said they were talking about how they were at a funeral for a friend yesterday and they were sharing the gospel with somebody, and he said, that person's time is done.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't get, and I don't know the state of that individual, I didn't know the one who passed away, but that person had all the patience of God to be able to make a decision about their faith in Christ.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that they made the right decision.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, the final thing that I would compel you to do is that you understand, because of this same truth, that there is also a limited opportunity for you to be able to tell other people about Jesus.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: That at some point in time we're going to come to the end.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: 2 Peter 3 says that God is waiting right now for Jesus to return, so that the greatest amount of people possible might come to faith in Christ.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: That the reason Christ has not come back yet is because God is patient and merciful.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that, we look at the story of Israel, right?
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we say, that's a hard story.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's not an easy lesson to learn, but it's a necessary one, right?
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: So let us go forward.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: Let us remember that we must align our will with God's will, right, so that we might find success.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: But also that there is a limited amount of time, that God's patience will eventually reach its end, and we must believe in Jesus Christ for our salvation so that we can go into the promised land.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are good.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we read Numbers 13 and 14 and we say, Lord, you are good.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: God, you are righteous in your judgment of Israel.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: You are righteous and justified in your judgment of sin.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, Lord, you also, by your character, are amazingly patient and merciful and kind, far more than we ever deserve.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: And God, as we consider our lives and how they are held up within your hands every single day, Father, might we consider more deeply what it looks like to follow after you with an eye towards your will and not our desires?
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, when success in this life, worldly success, does come, that we would see it as a gracious and beautiful gift, but God, not a direct result of our faith in you.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: For Lord, our faith is based upon your promises and your goodness and your character, and that is where we rest.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, finally, we thank you for Jesus Christ.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the mercy that was poured out through the blood on the cross.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: God, that we might accept it, we might trust in it, we might have faith in it, and that we would tell other people, Lord, so that they would go with us into the promised land.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray for all of these things.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great week, everybody.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming.