ISRAEL - Wandering In The Wilderness

amen go ahead and turn to uh exodus chapter 15. exodus chapter 15. we're going to read uh quite a bit of scripture we're going to cover a lot of ground this morning okay so go ahead and get there let's get a head start exodus chapter 15 we've been going back through the bible revisiting as many familiar bible characters bible stories as we possibly can because we want to grow in our knowledge of the word amen but not only do we want to grow in what we know we also want to grow in how we apply it to our lives that is a very important thing i've had a lot of fun talking about uh noah and abraham and isaac and jacob and and uh joseph we spent three weeks talking about moses and right now we're talking about israel's time out in the wilderness okay last week the sermon was israel worshipping in the wilderness and let me just pause real quick and say please go back and watch or listen to that message israel worshiping in the wilderness because it's really a cultural piece for our church in that sermon i give you permission to worship god with all of your heart with all of your soul with all of your mind and with all of your strength amen give you the freedom to lift your hands if you want to lift your hands to move your feet if you want to move your feet to shout when it's an appropriate moment to shout even gave you permission to put yourself flat on the ground if that's the awe and reverence that you're feeling in the moment that's an important thing when it comes to gathering together as saints isn't that right so please please i'm asking you if you are a part of soma church that is an important cultural component for our church learning how to worship okay so go back watch or listen this week i want to talk about israel's wandering in the wilderness god promised to deliver the israelites out of slavery in egypt and he did he calls moses and moses leads the people out but the promise wasn't only to deliver them out the promise was also to deliver them to a land of their own a land flowing with milk and honey right a land where they could prosper as a people and that sounds pretty awesome doesn't it yes but if you know the story then you know that israel ends up wandering around in circles for 40 years in the wilderness before they come into their land in fact it says that an entire generation the entire generation that witnessed the hand of god deliver them from egypt died out and never got to enter into the land that god promised all except for two joshua and caleb these two guys were allowed to go in now that's weird right that all these people that witness the mighty hand of god deliver them from pharaoh and that oppressive place there in egypt that none of those people except two got to go into the isn't that weird isn't that a little wiggity whack it is and this weekend i want to show you why why did that happen okay so the title for the sermon this weekend is israel wandering in the wilderness and let me give you this whole sermon in one sentence and it's a little peculiar but if you'll just bear with me wiggity whack wandering happens when we won't believe that god is wonderful now last week we talked about how we won't worship god the way that he wants us to until we see him as wonderful i guess this is the second week that i want to tell you that seeing god is wonderful is key to experiencing the fullness of who god is it's one thing to have a general overall belief that god is great god is good let us thank him for our food amen mentality and that's okay it is he is good he is great and we should thank him for our food amen but what i'm telling you it's one thing to think that he is great good big powerful it's another thing to know and to believe that he is wonderful god being wonderful is different let's define that word really quick so you'll get a good understanding of where we're going wonderful means that something has the ability to cause wonder to cause astonishment to cause marvel when something is wonderful it excites wonder it makes you say wow that was awesome that is amazing that is unbelievable my favorite is wonderful meaning to allow something to surprise you to allow something to surprise you anybody ever know people that just won't let something surprise them they just won't let something we know people like that right they will not let life be wonderful they just won't let it happen they just won't be impressed not that they can't be i'm saying they won't be they will not allow them to be they have a hard time simply enjoying the pleasure of a wonderful moment one of the things i love about my wife is that she loves sunsets and full moons so it's at the end of the day my wife it's very common to hear her hear her say um hey let's go let's go watch the sunset let's go look at the sunset or if there's a full moon we did this at passover it's a full moon at passover so we're walking down the road looking through the trees trying to find the passover moon the full moon and i love that and it's not like she's never seen a sunset before or that our family hasn't witnessed a full moon but i wonder what it's going to look like today or wonder what that passover moon will look like or feel like in the sky this week and i was thinking about how some people will intentionally keep wonderful moments from happening you know people like that you know what that's rooted in it's rooted in fear it's rooted in insecurity and we'll talk about that here in a few minutes what i'm trying to tell you is that when life is wiggity-wack i mean it just feels like in life you are wandering around in circles a great question to ask yourself is where did i not see god as wonderful when was i not excited about something good god was doing why did i not trust god why didn't i just trust him when with that difficult thing why can't i just look to him and relax and let go and just let god surprise me it's a good question to ask wiggity whack wandering and it is when you're in that place of just going in circles in life is it not wiggity whack it is you're like ah i just want out of this circular rutted routine wiggity whack wandering happens when we just won't believe that god is wonderful okay so let's talk about why israel had to wander in the desert for 40 years all right real quick before we get too far into it there's two things that you got to know that will help you get through this okay number one is 40 years of wandering was never god's plan that wasn't god's plan technically it should have only taken them about two weeks for them to get from egypt to the land of canaan the easiest and most common path would have been to hang a left out of egypt and used the trade route along the mediterranean sea but in exodus chapter 13 verse 17 it says when pharaoh finally let the people go god did not lead them along the main road that runs through philistine territory even though it was the shortest route to the promised land god said if the people are faced with a battle they might change their minds and return to egypt so god led them around by the way of the wilderness toward the red sea okay so god has moses hanging right and head out into the wilderness which would have obviously taken longer it was way out of the way and it was a lot rougher terrain but still even though it was long it was rougher it was a longer direction it still would not have taken 40 years and it shouldn't have taken 40 years but and this is the second thing i want you to know as as we move forward god is both merciful and just okay you've got to settle that in your heart i'm not going to preach a sermon here i just want to quickly point out these two aspects of god's nature both of these characteristics are seen all over the place they're described they're witnessed in the word of god okay let me show you isaiah chapter isaiah chapter 30 i want you to see these words because we're going to come back to it later this morning verses 18 and 19 says therefore the lord longs to be gracious to you the lord longs to be gracious to you therefore he rises like he stands up to show you mercy for the lord is a just god blessed are all who wait for him oh people in zion who dwell in jerusalem you will weep no more let that settle in god is gracious and compassionate he's also just he gets things done for your sake in your life and his promises you will weep no more and he's not saying that things aren't going to be hard you're not going to have things to mourn in your life that's not what is what he's saying is what he's saying is you will never have to weep from a sense of hopelessness ever again he will surely be gracious when you cry for help when he hears you he will answer you and in this wilderness scene god was acting in both mercy and justice when he brought the people out of egypt he was acting in both mercy and justice think about in his mercy he heard their cry and it says that he remembered his promises and out of his great compassion and mercy he because he's faithful and he's just to do what he says he do he brought him out in my mercy i heard you and because it's the right thing to do i will stand by my word i'm faithful and just and true i'm going to bring you out he said you're and you're not going to ever have to weep cry tears of hopelessness ever again and we're again we're going to come back to that verse we're familiar with exodus chapter 34. god is with uh moses up there on the mountain and moses is like i want to see your glory show me your glory and god says you can't handle the truth you know what i mean and so he hides him in the cleft of iraq and passes by him and then god just it's almost like he doesn't even say this is who i am he just he just begins talking and he says yahweh the lord the god he's talking about himself the god of compassion and mercy declares to moses this is who i am this is what i am and what i will always be yahweh the lord the god of compassion and mercy i am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness so what he says to moses moses says show me all you got he said you can't handle all i got but this i'll let you know i'm gracious i'm compassionate i am slow to anger and i am rich i am abounding in love and faithfulness but you didn't notice that that god said i am slow to anger he doesn't say i don't get angry it just says that he is slow to get angry god's grace and his mercy produces within him a long suffering like a supernatural patience with people god is slow to get angry but listen he's slow to get angry but there does come a time when his patience is tested to such a degree this thing or that behavior happens enough times that god absolutely must act justly or he won't be true to who he is psalm 89 verse 14 righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne mercy and truth go before him i was preparing for this message and i was thinking about how this is why so many people won't follow god they just can't reconcile that god could be both merciful and just that he could love someone but also discipline them when he has to and i don't get why that's so hard to understand proverbs 3 verse 12 says that the lord disciplines those he loves just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights a father disciplines those he loves i have four kids and guess what most of them are older now they don't have to get disciplined too much they still do a little bit but when they were young it was non-stop disciplining them all the time time outs spankings taking stuff from them that was important whatever it was to get their attention you know i did that because they annoy me i just want to make them miserable no i do that because i love them and my hope is that as i discipline them in love not anger you know there's a difference right parents get it right but i discipline them because i hope that my correction will send them on a different trajectory parents you are not doing your kids a favor when you ignore bad character you're not doing them a favor when you let them get by with bad behavior if you love your kids call out their whining if you love your kids call out they're lying and they're cheating call out every defiant and disrespectful act can i get a big hearty amen now don't say amen unless you're gonna go home and do it i ain't spanked my kids in 10 years and they're 10 years old like well you're going to get what you paid for right now why am i telling you this because the reason why israel wandered in the desert is because god came to an end of his patience with them and he had to act justly he had to administer justice let me say it this way israel's wandering was god's judgment judgment for what what did they do that caused god to need to judge them the better question is what did they not do right they were always messing up let's take a look at some of these scenes here in the wilderness and see if we can figure out which ones put god over the top all right you're with me all right let's ask ourselves this what went wrong in the wilderness in exodus chapter 15 you should already be there we see israel dancing and singing and praising god because he brought them through the red sea and their enemies were were demolished there in the water we talked about that last week okay exodus 15. the very next thing that we read in the same chapter of them singing and dancing and getting crunk before the lord because of what he did the same chapter it says then moses led the people of israel away from the red sea and they moved out into the desert of shur they traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water when they came to mara the water there was too bitter to drink which is why they call it mara meaning bitter mara means bitter then the people complained and turned against moses what are we going to drink they demanded okay so three days ago god parted the red sea so they could walk through it and escape their enemies now they're afraid they're gonna die of thirst does this seem a little odd to you what are we going to drink where is the where is the wonder where is the excitement where is the wow if god could part the red sea i wonder how he's going to quench our thirst today where is that inside of them says moses cried out to the lord for help and the lord showed him a piece of wood moses threw the piece of wood into the water and this made the water good to drink and i'd have been like y'all better drink up because y'all ain't getting water again for 40 years that's when i would have sent them out on another lap lap take 40 laps but this isn't why they wondered wandered in the desert this isn't why they wandered in the wilderness god was patient and he just gives him a pep talk he says if you will listen if you will obey and if you will believe then you will always be taken care of if you read it says that one day later they came to a place called elam where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees and they camped there by the waters can you imagine the israelites were only one day's walk from this now this is that place today there's not as much water but if you look at the topography you can tell that there used to be a lot of water there this is elim one day's walk from this oasis and how many times have i questioned god's goodness grumbled complained only to find out that he had some sort of oasis waiting for me just around the corner what a great reminder to believe that god is wonderful to just relax and be excited to find out how he's going to come through amen just a few days later it says that the whole congregation of israel set out from elam and came to the desert of zinn which is between elim and sinai and there in the desert they all grumbled again against moses and aaron and said if we had only died by the hands of the lord in the land of egypt there we sat by pots of meat an eight hour fill of bread but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death this is what the people are saying and we know the story god tells moses to tell the people i have heard you're grumbling against me i'm not mad i'm not angry i get it you're still learning to trust me just sit back and watch how wonderful i am and in verse 13 it says that evening quail came and covered the camp so god provides them with some meat i personally believe that they still had to go out there and catch it right how many of you ever had to catch a chicken that's not an easy thing to do and chickens don't even fly right quail fly that's why we use shotguns pow right it's tough but i believe god made them go do i think god provided the quail but he didn't enable them he said you gotta go catch it okay and in the morning it says that there was a layer of dew around the camp when the layer of dew had evaporated there were thin flakes on the desert floor as fine as frost on the ground when the israelites saw it they asked one another what is it which is where we get the word manna mana means what is it that's what it means all right it says for they what is it for they did not know what it was so moses told them this is the bread that the lord has given you to eat god says only take what you need and don't keep any for the next day but they did not listen to moses some people did keep some of the bread to eat the next day and what they kept became infested with maggots and began to smell so moses was angry with them so some of the people didn't believe god was wonderful and would be faithful to provide man manna the next morning that's where they were in their heart and that made moses mad but god wasn't angry because he's slow to anger okay this is not why he made them wander in the desert if you go on over to exodus chapter 17 we're moving along here it says then the whole congregation of israel left the desert of zinn by the way that's zen pronounced zen in case you're thinking well they're out in the desert of sin they can't help it no that's not how you pronounce it that's zen right they came to the desert of zen moving from place to place as the lord commanded they camped at redeem but there was no water for the people to drink so the people contended with moses and grumbled and quarreled saying give us water to drink why have you brought us out of egypt to make us and our children and our livestocks die of thirst is that not crazy god had just turned bitter water into sweet water they said is the lord even among us is the lord among us or not verse 4 says moses cried out to the lord what should i do with these people what am i going to do with these people a little more and they're going to stone me so he's afraid people are going to kill him so god says grab your staff grab your staff and a few elders and head over to that big rock over there at horeb you know the one i'm talking about it was like yeah i know it's a cool rock he says when you strike the rock water is going to come out of it for the people to drink now someone did this painting of what that scene may have looked like because this is a rock that actually exists there in horeb isn't that amazing i mean i choose to believe that's where their water came from because that's a huge rock i don't know anybody's got a hacksaw that big right this is a crazy scene and as hard as it is to believe even after the people cried out is the lord even among us is the lord among us or not it's hard to believe but this still isn't the reason god made them wander in the desert and i would have i'd have said take a lap and take another one right and by the way if you're familiar with that scene where um israelites are in battle and um and moses as long as his arms were up they won the battle but if his arm started coming down they started losing the battle and so aaron and her came and put a rock up under him sat him down and stood there and held his arms up until joshua and his men won the battle it's a great story you got to go and read it on your own moving ahead though exodus chapter 19 okay exodus 19 says that at after about three months after they had left that egypt three months after they had left egypt they finally make it to mount sinai and if you're familiar with the story then you know that that's where they worshipped the golden calf it's a long story ton of details really encourage you to read it on your own time exodus chapter 19 through about 31. but the story is moses goes up on the mountain to meet with god and he tells the people to wait down there at the base of the mountain moses is up there it's getting wild and crazy up there on the mountain the people are terrified while moses is up there god gives the ten commandments he gives the law he gives the instructions on how to build and how to use the tabernacle we talked about the tabernacle a bit last week when we talked about worshipping in the wilderness and moses is up there for 40 days 40 days he's up there exodus chapter 32 says when the people saw that moses was delayed and coming down from the mountain they gathered around aaron and said come make us gods who will go before us as for this moses who brought us out from the land of egypt we do not know what has happened to him and we know the story they build a huge golden calf and they worship the golden calf in really gross ways and when they cry out they cry out saying this is the god who rescued us out from egypt verse 7 says that the lord said to moses go down there at once for your people who you brought up out of the language of egypt have corrupted themselves how quickly they have turned aside from the way that i commanded them and the lord also said to moses i have seen this people and they are indeed a stiff-necked people now leave me alone let me be so that my anger may burn against them and consume them then i will make you into a great nation in other words i'm going to kill all them and we'll just start over fresh with you moses me and you will get this thing going but everybody else gonna die translation in verse in verses 11 through 13 okay and read this stuff on your own it's a lot of material to cover moses asks god not to destroy the people don't kill these people he says oh lord turn from your fierce anger remember god is slow to get angry but this made god fiercely angry when the people called that golden calf the god who saved them verse 14 so the lord moses pleads with god turn from your fierce anger relent from doing harm to your people verse 14 it says that the lord relented from the calamity that he threatened to bring upon the people okay and it goes on read it it says that moses makes his way down the mountain and it says moses as moses approached the camp and saw the calf and saw the crazy stuff they were doing the gross stuff they were doing it says that he burned with anger and threw the tablets from his hands onto the ground and shattered them at the base of the mountain then he took the calf that they made and he burned it in the fire grounded in the powder scattered the powder over the face of the water and then he forced the israelites to drink it that's an elaborate plan he was stewing the whole time he's like a rabbit drink this and then it says that moses turns to aaron his brother and he asks what did this people do to you that you have led them into such a great sin and aaron said these people are crazy they thought you were dead so they made me make this idol he says whoever he said i said to them well whoever has gold let them take it off and they gave it to me and then i threw that gold into the fire and out came this calf that's what he said moses saw that the people were out of control and that aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies i think we forget that by the way that when we lose our mind and we forget how good god is and we turn to these other idols that when we're in that season everybody else who heard that we were god lovers that we were jesus chasers that we were filled with the holy spirit are wondering now what happened what's going on i guess i thought god was better than that i thought he was more wonderful we've got to remember our actions affect everyone around us amen church now this is a crazy scene as well and you would think that this must be this has to be the reason that god judged the israelites and made them wander in the desert for 40 years but it's not however god did act justly in verse 26 it says so moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said whoever is for the lord come to me moses drew a line in the sand those who want to work at seeing god is wonderful and you know it is work right it takes time to develop that god is wonderful muzzle within us right it takes time so moses says those of you who want to work at seeing god is wonderful those of you who who believe that god may just be full of surprises y'all come over here to me and then those of you who want to worship this golden calf those of you who are unwilling to get egypt out of your heart step over there and believe it or not verse 28 says that about 3 000 people chose egypt and those 3 000 people died that day now remember god's plan was never for them to wander in the desert for 40 years okay but he did plan for them to be in the wilderness for a while israel was camped there at the base of mount sinai for about a year and that was always god's plan we're going to be out here a while just not 40 years while they were there at the base of the mountain for that year god remakes the ten commandment tablets right moses broke the other ones moses teaches the people the law and how to live by it they build the tabernacle and then they learn how to use it how to worship in it and listen during that time the israelites tested god's patience over and over and over again i'm telling you go and read the stories it's crazy what's even more amazing is just how long suffering god was with these people right and then one day numbers chapter 10 verse 11 god says let's move out it's time to go let's get moving so they pick up camp and they start walking through the wilderness again towards the promised land within a couple of days the people are already complaining about how hard it is to travel and get comfortable in that year isn't it amazing how quickly we can get comfortable these people got comfortable there at the base of the mountain it's time to travel again to the promised land like we're going somewhere good and these people are like my feet hurt man thirsty are we there yet right are we there yet over and over and over in numbers 11 it says when god heard them complaining his anger was kindled and fire from the lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp that's a pretty amazing scene but this still wasn't why they wandered in the desert verse 2 says the people cried out to moses and he prayed to the lord and the fire died down good old moses thank thank you for your intercession moses right anybody got friends like that god don't kill them we need friends like that you need somebody on your sides like god don't smite them don't burn them up i hope i have friends like that i must have because i'd have been consumed a long time ago and the people cried out to moses and moses prayed to the lord and the fire died down so that place was called tibera because the fire of the lord had burned among them now it was at that same place tabera verse 4 says that the foreign rabble meaning the non-jewish people the non-hebrews mostly egyptians who were traveling with the israelites began to crave the good things of egypt because bad company corrupts good morals be careful who you're hanging out with it will affect you then the foreign rabble that's what you can call your bad friends that you know i'm sorry we can't hang out anymore well why not you're just foreign rebel what right the foreign rebel who were traveling with the israelites began to crave the good things of egypt and the people of israel also began to complain oh for some meat they exclaimed we remember the fish we used to eat for free in egypt and we had all the cucumbers melons leeks onions and garlic that we wanted but now our appetites are gone all we ever see is this what is it the mana you all remember that mana means what is it right we usually didn't laugh and i was wondering what was going on the joke was perfectly executed see now you're laughing and i'm not even joking i'm just bringing attention to the fact that i told a good joke and executed it well it wasn't even planned that whole thing your fickle crowd fickle crowd now moses heard the people weeping listen so it says now moses heard the people weeping in self-pity throughout their families every man at the doorway of his tent and the anger of the lord blazed hotly and moses regarded their behavior as evil again read all this in your own time moses had had enough i mean in this scene he he literally asked god will you just kill me can we get this over with i can't take anymore just kill me put me out of my misery but god says stop being dramatic okay and then god empowers some leaders to help moses carry the burden of dealing with his people in verse 31 it says that the lord listen the lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp for miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the grounds what it says so the people went out and caught quail all that day and all throughout the night that's a long quail hunt anybody ever been quail hunting i'm bored after about 30 minutes these people did it all night long so the people went all day all night caught the quail and the next day too and it says if you read this in context it says that they gathered greedily like what if god doesn't ever send us quail again we got to get what we got today tonight because god may never be wonderful again the whole scene is a slap in the face to god who has only ever shown himself to be wonderful surprising them with provision at every turn verse 33 says while they were gorging themselves on the meat while it was still in their mouth the anger of the lord blazed against the people and he struck them with a severe plague they got sick and so that place was called kibroth which means graves of gluttony because they were there they were buried the people who had craved meat from egypt obviously not everybody died so i don't know if it was the ones that ate the most i don't know how he timid it up but somebody was glutton and they found their grave right there as crazy as that is this still isn't why they wandered in the wilderness moving over to numbers 13 if you want to flip some pages and go over there numbers 13 again a lot transpires you can read this on your own a lot of you have because we're on a bible in a year reading plan here at soma numbers chapter 13 starting in verse 1 says and the lord said to moses send out for yourself remember they're on their way to the promised land they're headed up towards canaan the promised land and god says send out for yourselves men to spy out the land of canaan which i am giving to the israelites from each of their father's house send one man who is a leader among them so he basically sends the leaders of these tribes skipping on down to verse 17 it says when moses sent them to spy out the land he told them here's what he said go north through the negev into the hill country see what the land is like find out whether the people living there are strong or weak are there few are there many see what kind of land they live in is it good land is it bad land do their towns have walls are they fortified or are they unprotected like open camps is the soil fertile or is it poor are there many trees do your best to bring back samples of the crops that you see for it happened to be the season for harvesting the ripe grapes 40 days later if you're familiar with the story 40 days later these guys come back and report what they saw they say we entered the land that you sent us to explore and it is indeed a bountiful country a land flowing with milk and honey here is the kind of fruit it produces apparently they brought back maybe some of the ripe grapes and as you can tell in that picture apparently they were huge but the people living there are powerful and their towns are large and fortified we even saw giants in the land but caleb interrupts them and shouts let's go get em let's go take the land we can do it we can certainly conquer it was the heart of caleb and the people say we can't go against them the other spies we can't go against them they are stronger than we are and it says so they these ten spies joshua and caleb were the only one that had faith ready to fight the other 10 says that they spread this bad report about the land among the israelites the land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there all the people we saw were huge we even saw giants we were like grasshoppers compared to them i want you to listen to me it's one thing to find yourself afraid we all do at some point it's a natural emotion that pops up because of circumstances situations in our life that are wild and wooly and crazy all of us have some sort of giant that will push us in our heart into that realm of fear it's one thing to have your own fear to deal with it's a whole nother thing to spread your fear to other people saints i'm telling you don't do that if you're in a season where fear has gripped your heart i get it i understand we've all been there why do you think god says over and over and over to people fear not why do you think paul told timothy you haven't been given a spirit of fear i get it but that's not what you've been given you've been given a spirit of power and love and a sound mind fear not be not afraid it's over and over and over because god gets it we're gonna find ourselves afraid when you do you lean on the lord you talk to him about your fear you don't spread that fear among the ranks amen in that moment you're looking for some sort of self-soothing soothing make me feel better about what's going on here and what you don't realize is you are conditioning all those around you to now walk in fear and now the whole culture around you stinks you don't want fear and yet you just propagated it to all your friends and all your family be careful how you handle fear amen and that's exactly what happened numbers chapter 14 opens like this then the whole community began weeping aloud and they cried all night their voices rose in a great chorus to protest against moses and aaron if we had only died in egypt or even out in here out here in the wilderness if we'd just died they complained why is the lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle or our wives and little ones be carried off as plunder wouldn't it have been better for us to just return to egypt and they plotted among themselves saying let's choose a new leader and go back to egypt verse 5 says when then moses and aaron fell down on their face before the whole community of israel two of the men who had explored the land joshua and caleb tore their clothing they said to all the people guys we can do this we traveled into this land we explored it and it is a wonderful land and if of course it's a wonderful land god provided it and what is god he's wonderful you can be excited about what he promised is ahead of you i'm just saying that's what it means and if the lord is pleased with us he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us it's rich flowing with milk and honey do not rebel against the lord don't be afraid of the people of that land they are only helpless pray to us i love that he says those people they're giants but they're just like pray we gonna hunt them they have no protection but the lord is with us do not be afraid of him so they're trying to give an alternate report but the whole community began to talk about stoning joshua and caleb for for the good report then the glorious presence of the lord appeared to all the israelites in the tabernacle and the lord said to moses how long will these people treat me with contempt will they never believe me even after all the miraculous signs i have done among them i will disown them and destroy them with a plague then i will make you into a nation greater a greater and mightier than they are than they are he's back to you know what let's kill them all moses let's you and i take the land and once again moses cries out to god not to destroy the people i want you to listen to what he says though interesting please lord prove that your power is as great as you have claimed for you said talking about his time up on the mountain where god hit him in the cleft of the rock you said you specifically told me we had this conversation i just want to remind you i asked you to show me all of you and you wouldn't show me all of you you said i couldn't handle it so you showed me this the lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion but does not excuse the guilty in other words he's just he lays the sins of the parents upon the children the entire family is affected even children in third and fourth generations in keeping with your magnificence your unfailing love please pardon the sins of this people just as you have forgiven them ever since they left egypt lord forgive them again it reminds us of that seeing with jesus on the cross what does he say forgive them they don't get it forgive them this is another way that moses is a type of christ a picture of jesus our deliverer and so the lord said okay i will pardon them as you have requested but as surely as i live and as surely as the earth is filled with the lord's glory not one of these people will ever enter that land they have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs that i performed both in egypt and in the wilderness but again and again these ten times have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice i told you there were more than just the ones that we covered god says these ten times and then he says now turn around tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness again in the direction of the red sea take a lap and your children will be like shepherds wandering in the wilderness for 40 years in this way they will pay for your faithlessness until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness and when moses relayed these words to all the israelites the people mourned bitterly so this is why israel wandered in the wilderness it wasn't that they couldn't believe that god could take out some giants it is that they would not believe joshua and caleb tried to bolster their faith they tried to give them the pet talk of the century but they would not see god as wonderful they would not let themselves be surprised at how god would come through it's not that they couldn't hear what i'm saying it's not that they couldn't they could have they could have listened to joshua and caleb they wouldn't they refused a good report and they received the evil report everyone understand and here's what i think made god send them back out into the wilderness and wander for 40 years they believed the evil report so much more than they believed that god is wonderful that again in numbers 14 verse 1 it says the whole community began weeping aloud and they cried all night long remember isaiah chapter 30. god's speaking prophetically through the prophet isaiah and says therefore listen this is this is god talking to us to the people of israel all those who follow him the lord longs to be gracious to you therefore he stands up he rises up to show you mercy like he he gets he gets out from his comfortable throne i'm going to show some mercy for the lord is a just god blessed are all who wait for him o people in zion who dwell in jerusalem listen you will weep no more and here these people are because of an evil report that they did not have to receive they could have depended upon the information from the day they left egypt he can part water he can turn bitter water into sweet water he can make water come out of a rock he can turn dew into what is it right he can send quail he can feed us he can quench our thirst over and over and over even the awareness that idolatry will get you killed you will weep no more they didn't have to weep they only wept because they didn't receive they could report and believe that god had something wonderful in store right around the corner you will weep no more now remember what i said it's not that we're not going to go through hard stuff and have things to to mourn and cry and weep about we will right but what he means here as i said earlier you will not weep from hopelessness ever again these people went to bed that night with hopeless hearts those who belong to god should never go to bed with hopeless hearts it's like we sang this morning hope is an anchor for our souls amen saints this is a picture of utter hopelessness but god says you're not going to weep anymore it says he will surely be gracious when you cry for help when he hears you he will answer you there's always hope are y'all hearing me this morning i'll close i'll wrap this up but please hear me there's always hope there's hopelessness doesn't exist because god is wonderful to rest and just wonder what is he going to do how is he going to come through how is he going to show himself faithful there's something that you're going through right now and you're like i don't know how it's going to turn out and yet you know it's going to turn out good one way or the other because he's for you he's not against you amen

Channel: Soma Church

Views: 85

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Id: LUpbiyKe-Vc

Length: 55min 4sec (3304 seconds)

Published: Wed May 04 2022