Lesson 2 | Restless and Rebellious

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god we're just getting started with a series entitled rest in christ i know you'll be blessed because we need that rest in our lives today our topic today restless and rebellious you say derek that sounds negative we'll learn some lessons from god's people through the ages that will help us realize how much we need rest in christ so welcome to hope sabbath school and welcome to the team this is going to be a great series isn't it and you'll notice if you're watching we've just got five we call that our gideon's band but because of the restrictions but we're excited that we're adding some remote team members we've got shaina from main chain it's great to have you with us for hope sabbath school today we have addison from british columbia and canada addison we're glad you're with us and we've got puyo all the way from hawaii we are glad to have you with us too and it's so exciting to see how in this difficult time god is working all things for good amen amen and we're just really excited that we can study the word of god together today we're always happy to hear from you our hope sabbath school members around the world we're in more than 200 countries and the spirit of god is changing lives and i use my favorite hebrew word hallelujah here is gitou writing from papua new guinea guitur writes and says in my busy work schedule now that's the 24 7 isn't it there is a lunch hour is the appointed time for me to study with hope sabba school thursday lunch i would like to thank you for the lesson outline that's the one we use in our study which is an excellent document for me to follow along i always look forward to thursday lunch as i learn many new things when i study the bible with you please continue what you're doing i pray god will bless you as we prepare for the coming of jesus amen amen amen thanks for writing to us from papua new guinea here's a note from ezra in the philippines ezra writes and says hello hope sabbath school team and a wave i'm wonderfully blessed by jesus every time i watch hope sabba school amen you are mighty instruments helping us to understand the bible and its application to life jesus is truly wonderful thank you may god continue to bless you as you wait with me for his second coming greetings from the philippines hope sabbath school has helped us understand the bible with the help of the holy spirit amen amen well thanks everyone writing to us from the philippines beautiful here is a note from a donor in washington state in the u.s of a who said no name we don't give a name but a fellow adventist from washington usa writes and says during the pandemic we've not been attending our local church very often because of the restrictions placed by our local state but we've been watching hope's episcopal amen every friday evening we found it to be a blessing and an encouragement in our walk with the lord we appreciate the discussions which each person presents backed up by what the bible teaches amen may our loving god continue to bless the group as disciples for jesus and we're sending a donation to help with the expenses to broadcast your program to the world and a donation of one hundred dollars amen to health hope sabbath thank you to our donor from washington state in the united states thank you to each one of our donors you can always go to hopetv.org donate and partner with us in this global ministry alfian writes from indonesia and says thank you so much god bless the hope sabbath school team i am a church pastor in indonesia i had enjoyed and grow faithfully even my method of teaching by watching hope's endoscope praise the lord even though my english is poor but the holy spirit helps me to understand your english amen thank you well pastor alfie and thank you for riding all the way from indonesia we're glad you're part of our hope sabbasco family one last note from george and his wife linda they're from india but they're in the united arab emirates in the middle east greetings they write my wife and i are from india working in the united arab emirates for the last 12 years it's been a great blessing ever since we found hope sabba school we download the study material and even use it in our sabbath school discussions we send the link of hope sabbath school to anyone interested in learning the word of god amen god bless your ministry well george and linda thanks for writing from the united arab emirates isn't that amazing to see hope sable school members all around the world well our theme song for this series is taken from matthew chapter 11 the words of jesus verses 28 to 30 come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and i will give you rest let's sing it together [Music] come to me [Music] i will give you rest come to me [Music] i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me foreign [Music] you will find rest for your souls [Music] take my yoke upon you and learn from me [Music] for i am gentle and lonely [Music] come to me [Music] i will give you take my yoke upon you and learn from me foreign [Music] am gentle and lonely [Music] well before we pray i just want to speak to our hope sabbath school family if you enjoyed that song from matthew 11 28 to 30 we would like to not only send you a copy but 11 other scripture songs it's a special gift during this series on rest in christ and all you have to do to get those 12 scripture songs is go to our website hopetv.org hope ss and you'll find a button says get free gift if you push that button get free gift you'll get a link to be able to download not only this theme song but 11 other beautiful scripture songs so you can hide god's word in your heart i hope you take advantage of that gift from hope sabbath school let's pray together now father in heaven we're thankful for that beautiful word of jesus come to me and you will find rest for your souls and as we study today about restless and rebellious even though it's a challenging topic may we look beyond these difficult lessons and see the rest in christ that will bless our souls be with each hope sabbath school member around the world we pray in the name of jesus amen amen we're going to start in numbers chapter 11 and i'm just so excited each one of us can be here i'm going to ask shaina who's up there in maine one of our remote team members shayna could you begin our study today reading from numbers chapter 11 and verse 1. sure and i'll be reading from the king james version numbers 11 1 and when the people complained it displeased the lord and the lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp now that's a very troubling verse by the way that's what we need to read the whole counsel of god because we read about a god who loves with an immeasurable and unfailing love what had god done for this people and why were they so restless and complaining well let's talk about what he'd done for them first anybody yes brittany well he delivered them from slavery in egypt by a mighty miraculous several plagues that were brought and signs and then he brought them through the red sea and destroyed their enemies and then he's even been providing food for them on a daily basis showing them he's taking care of everything he even provided a pillar of cloud to shelter them from the sun in the day and a pillar of fire at night so they could find their way so he's provided in every way for their every need so why are they complaining sabine what do you think they are complaining because they don't have the same type of food that they used to have in egypt for instance so maybe that uh puya all the way there in hawaii maybe that's just the symptom of a deeper problem help us out with that breath why are they complaining even though like brittany said they they've got so much right i i believe this is human nature when when we have problems um many problems in our lives we bottle up our problems and emotion deep inside and when we are faced with a situation that we are sensitive about that would serve as a detonator of the the underlying deeper issue and here in the case of the israelites it seemed that the deeper underlying issue is they are rebelling against god's leading god's leading in their lives and so this this complaint about the food and what them wanting to eat meat is just a symptom of the underlying the deeper underlying issue because uh if if if we look back the past in in their past it seemed that they are very selective in their memory because even though they could have eaten uh meat in egypt but they were suffering so they they had a selective memory in that they only remember some portions of probably a few portions of their experience in egypt and compared them to where god is leading them sure and i think that's a good point just think of it even in a family if if a spouse is yelling at the spouse because the menu for dinner is not right that's that's not the real problem is it there's a relationship problem yes and i think you made a good point there's a relationship problem here they're disconnected from god they're rebelling sabina if you could continue reading in verses two through six of numbers 11 let's see how the children of israel react okay so i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says then the people cried out to moses and when moses prayed to the lord the fire was quenched so he called the name of the place tabera because the fire of the lord had burned among them now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving so the children of israel also wept again and said who will give us meat to eat we remember the fish which we ate freely in egypt the cucumbers the melons the leeks the onions and the garlic but now our whole being is dried up there is nothing at all except this mana before our eyes well i'm hearing puya's words talk about a euphoric recall selective recall i don't know if they ever ate the melons and the cucumbers maybe some of the mixed multitudes but they were all slaves and they they probably were happy to have anything to eat but there's this rebellious and restless spirit now before we unpack a little more of the restlessness of the children of israel harold why record a story like that in the bible doesn't it say in i think in romans 15 that these stories are written for our learning why record such a negative restless attitude uh here in numbers 11. well it's to actually remind us of what we can become when we do not depend on god we we do not rest in god and trust in him because god knows that we are sinful and we need to be reminded that we have a tendency to sin we have a tendency to rebel and we see like what the consequences are but at the same time we get to see god's mercy even though we we do see something unfortunate i mean in the end we we see god's plan actually his goal is to save us let's take a look jason if you could go to romans chapter 15 and verse four but you know that you make a really good point we look and we say wow that's how i could act if i'm not connected maybe someone's watching hope sabba school as a family and someone's elbowing the person next to them like but actually don't elbow anybody just think about how i could act if i'm not really connected and resting in christ right jason uh what does that text say in romans 15 and verse four all right so i'll be reading romans 15 chapter and four verse and the bible says for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures might have hope so let's go back to that story and and this uh or maybe almost fanciful recall about how good it was before they allowed god to deliver them is it possible even today that that either ungodly friends or maybe the kingdom of darkness could deceive you into thinking that things were better before you decided to surrender your life to god what do you think sabine yeah i think so i think it's very much possible and i think that even if there is not those bed of a friends even ourselves you can catch you know especially in a moment in which we are traversing challenges which is what was happening to them right uh it's it's okay they were going through a problem yet god was providing enough for that in that moment and promising for them much more than what was already being given and they were not satisfied with that with the word of god given to them in that moment so i think it is possible pastor derek that we sometimes especially when we cross valleys in life then we may forget what god has done for us before or what he's doing in the moment even it feels unsufficient but we need to remember that he's enough for us and his grace is enough for us right i think if we just take one point and i'll come to you addison i see your hand raised there in british columbia um that it's very easy when we disconnect to become restless we could always find something to complain about but there's some lessons we've learned from romans 15 that we could learn yes addison well that's a really good point about disconnecting from god and uh i just thought of in this life in this 24 7 society it's easy it's easy for us to to take on some type of temporary security distrust god and sacrifice the freedom and security that we have in jesus for something that is superficial something that we think is more beneficial especially when we're looking at it with the selective memory thank you for pointing that out we're going to go to another incident just the next chapter over in numbers chapter 12 where there's some more restlessness brittany if you could read the first three verses for us um this is a troubling picture let's let's see what the bible records numbers 12 verses 1 to 3. and i'll be reading from the new king james version numbers chapter 12 verses 1-3 then miriam and aaron spoke against moses because of the ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an ethiopian woman so they said has the lord indeed spoken only through moses has he not spoken through us also and the lord heard it now the man moses was very humble more than all men who are on the face of the earth so shayna what's the problem here he's just got married to to zipporah i think her name is right she's from ethiopia um what what are miriam and erin talking about well first of all she's from another country so they may have had a problem with her nationality um and i'm sensing some kind of pride in miriam and aaron because they're like well didn't god speak to us too um so yeah there's there's some sense of pride and i don't know racism jealousy not sure you know uh we noticed earlier that there may be a kind of a presenting issue but it's not the deeper problem unfortunately it could be let's just stay with the surface issue he married someone who wasn't part of their ethnic group how how how you know respond to that i mean we deal with racism today right yeah she was the daughter of jethro who was a priest of the most high god who gave godly counsel to moses right so what is the deeper problem than just being critical about who he married gladys i think that they had a problem with moses you know sometimes when we wan when we criticize is we want to level the ground with other people so i think they felt like oh moses is this high up guy but yet he married this woman you know and didn't god speak through us too kind of like leveling the ground between moses and themselves so they wanted to make sure that moses didn't feel like he was higher or mightier than them all right sabine and also having a sense of superiority above other you know nations and in this case the ethiopian woman so uh it clearly was a lack of humbleness and sense of who they were also in christ you know we think about being prejudiced against other nations i'm thinking uh even ethiopia you find an ethiopian in the new testament in the book of acts and he's also seeking god so just having a racist attitude towards someone because they're not from your group that in itself is is a big problem isn't it yeah but there's a deeper issue too brittany i was just going to say it reminds me of what happened in heaven originally where we have satan who was lucifer and he wasn't content with the position god had given him he wanted to be god and he started a rebellion and we see the same spirit in moses and aaron that they aren't content with the positions god has given them and they're trying to get the position that god gave to moses and we see this same discontentment that leads to rebellion in them well let's see how the story unfolds and what lessons we might learn from it if harold you could read on for us in numbers 12 beginning with verse 4 down through verse 10. um the lord responds to this attitude the presenting issue is kind of a racist attitude but a deeper attitude of rebellion so i'll be reading from the new king james version and it reads suddenly the lord said to moses aaron and miriam come out you three to the tabernacle of meeting so the three came out then the lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called aaron and miriam and they both went forward then he said hear now my words if there is a prophet among you i the lord make myself known to him in a vision i speak to him in a dream not so with my servant moses he is faithful in all my house i speak with him face to face even plainly and not in dark sayings and he sees the form of the lord why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant moses so the anger of the lord was aroused against them and he departed and when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle suddenly miriam became leprous as white as snow then aaron turned toward miriam and there she was a leper now there's so much in that passage whether you're our remote team members around the different parts of the world maybe you can be thinking what what why is this scripture recorded you've got some important revelation from the lord and then this severe judgment on miriam anybody what do you think what's the what's a lesson here brittany well i think the leprosy was just to show what was going on in the heart we can't see necessarily the sin that's going on in someone's thoughts and in their heart but god is exposing that and saying look what what you're harboring in your heart it's leading to this disease sin is is causing something greater in you that is going to cause sickness and and death if we allow it to run its course addison you want to add to that you know one plague that has spanned the course of history for nearly 6 000 years is the plague of sin and here is another illustration of god saying okay the he's saying jealousy ambition of this form it's it's it's vice and he wants to give an example and say okay i am going to um there is still mercy in this story because god is long-suffering but he ultimately he wants them he wants to stop this plague stop this plague from spreading in their own life i saw your hand raised there in hawaii right um it is also interesting to note that it seemed that miriam received a harsher uh punishment than aaron and probably could be that miriam was the instigator of this attack on moses and i believe one of the dangers of leaders attacking other leader leaders is that it could spread quickly among the other members of the the group and so god had to take uh immediate action let's see how aaron responds because uh absolutely right they don't both get leprosy it's interesting that it says miriam and aaron complained miriam's name is listed first but let's see gladys in verses 11 and 12 of numbers chapter 12. how aaron responds when he sees that his sister has become a leper i'm reading from the new living translation and he cried out to moses oh my master please don't punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed don't let her be like a stillborn baby already decay at birth now it's interesting he's talking like moses brought the judgment was that is that is that correct no no no the judgment came from the lord but i think the point was well made that the lord could have struck her down dead you know the leprosy could have lasted her whole life neither of which is true right but there was a very visible reminder of as you pointed out brittany a sinful or rebellious attitude on the inside yeah what can you learn from aaron's response um in in pleading with his brother anybody subin it sounds like he had the spy gods already uh you know speaking to them and already giving that sign in rebuttal that still he had not understood the matter what was going on in their hearts because in bringing that as we are saying back to moses and punishing moses his mindset is that like oh it's still it's moses the one who is causing all this problem moses is the one who took the ethiopian lady in marriage and now moses is the one who is causing us to suffer this way rather than repenting exactly i've sinned against the lord so so he's trying to get help but he's really not thinking that clearly himself good point gladys i see it a little bit differently like um here on the verses that were read before is it but not with my moses my servant moses ah he is the one i trust my version says so i think that at that moment when when aaron saw what happened to to his sister miriam he saw moses like you are the one who is closer to god you know intercede for us don't don't don't take it so personal that just be you know an intercessor for us before god okay so not not that you can solve the problem but you can the lord has said that you talk with him face to face exactly and so be an intercessor for us so we've got a situation here moses has a choice to make he could have the same critical spirit and criticize them back what could he say well you deserve it you deserve you got what you deserve yeah or he can intercede he can pray to god uh for them why is intercession always the best option um anderson over there in british columbia and then puja why is intercession maybe someone has done something foolish you say well they did something foolish they deserve it why is intercession or praying for them always better than criticizing them well jesus set a perfect example of what it means to intercede for others even on the cross he prayed for his enemies and he said father forgive them for they do not know what they're doing and so even when we're talking about other people who have disowned us or have done something wrong we need to lift them up in prayer and allow god to work a miracle in their life because the prayer of a righteous man availeth much quoting from uh james 5 verse 16 17 somewhere in there the prayer of a righteous person i believe that that's when we pray in jesus name by the way because there's nobody righteous right except when we come in his name but uh yeah this whole this whole topic of intercession puji i saw your hand raised there in hawaii um why is intercession praying for someone or for your leaders always better than criticism as someone has stated um that people don't care what you know until they know that you care so criticism alone information alone does not change people's hearts what changed people's heart hearts is that when we see kindness when we see understanding when we see forgiveness it actually motivates us to to be transformed so i believe intercession for others is more effective in the long run than criticism because when we criticize someone or when we are being criticized our first human response natural response is to uh to to not accept that criticism and and we tend to isolate ourselves from the people who are criticizing us and and and so in the end until we know that people care or that someone cares about me do do we actually plan to change and so intercession is always more effective than mere criticism i think jesus says addison pointed out really modeled that didn't he well we're going to have to hold some of the comments as we move on in our study because someone might be watching hope sabbath school today and say well why why why are you worried about my restlessness you know this is just my life but the problem we're going to discover is that restlessness which is a symptom of being disconnected from rest in christ restlessness leads to rebellion and rebellion can be deadly so we're going to look together and i'm going to ask jason if you would read for us numbers chapter 13. we're moving way in this book of numbers and we've seen them complaining about the menu right they want some other food forgetting all of god's blessings we see some leaders complaining against other leaders this restless spirit which is an evidence of not being connected to god not resting in god can lead to rebellion read for us numbers 13 verses 27 to 33. my pleasure and i'm reading from the new king james version numbers the 13th chapter 27 verse through the 30 uh third verse and the bible says then they told him and said we went to the land where you sent us it truly flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit verse 28. nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong the cities are fortified and very large moreover we saw the descendants of enoch there verse 29 the amalekites dwell in the land of the south and the hittites the jebusites and amorites dwell in the mountain and the canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the jordan verse 30. then caleb quiet the people before moses and said let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it but the men who had gone up with them said we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we verse 32 and they gave the children of israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out saying the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people we whom we saw in it are men of great stature in verse 33 there we saw the giants the descendants of enoch came from the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their site now as you're watching that there's kind of a crescendo happening what what's happening it's kind of a strange change of story what lesson could we learn what's happening brittany well something that i see happening is that they forgot or they didn't believe the promise that god had given them because if we look at the very beginning of the chapter in chapter 13 verses 1 and 2 we see that god said i'm giving you this land go spend spy out the land that i am giving you but now they're saying we can't overcome them they're too great for us so they've forgotten the one who's giving them the land they think that they have to do it in their own strength and it starts out the report starts out saying it's truly a goodly land flowing with milk and honey and it ends up saying the land devours people yeah some things happen in their brains exactly because of their disconnection of god let's see how yeah let me take your point and then let's go to uh chapter 14 and see how this bad report impacts the rest of the children of israel yes when we are restless at heart we struggle to walk by faith and i believe this is exactly what we see in the lives of these uh ten spices because they did not rest in god in their heart which again is the real uh cause the real issue here it leads to the the symptoms of uh not being able to trust god so um even when we talk about physical rest when we don't get enough rest uh when we don't have enough sleep it leads us to making bad choices bad decisions bad health lifestyles which leads to problems and bad judgment in our day-to-day lives so now if if we look at our spiritual lives how much more do we need to rest in god in order to be able to walk by faith and trust god when things are difficult absolutely so shaina if you could keep reading for us in chapter 14 verses one to four it's it's almost like in their disconnection their restlessness has turned to rebellion that they're now actually being used to turn the whole people away from god how does the bible read in numbers 14 1-4 and i'll be reading from the king james version and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night and all the children of israel murmured against moses and against aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would god that we had died in the land of egypt or would god we had died in this wilderness and wherefore hath the lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were it not better for us to return into egypt and they said one to another let us make a captain and let us return into egypt they're going back to slavery yeah they've been set free and they're saying let's go back to slavery how did moses and aaron respond do you know because they fall down found their faces before they fell down on their faces now are they are they falling down to worship these people who are saying let's go back not at all they're falling down before the lord yes and saying lord we don't know what to do and now a young man speaks up gladys if you could read i'll call him young relatively young compared to moses in numbers chapter 14 verses six through nine verses six through nine two of the men who had explored the land joshua son of nun and caleb son of jed funet tore their clothing they said to all the people of israel the land we traveled through and explore is a wonderful land and if the land the lord is pleased with us he will bring us safely into the land and give it to us it is a rich land flowing with milk and honey do not revel against the lord and don't be afraid of the people of the land they are only helpless prey to us they have no protection but the lord is with us don't be afraid of them i just want to say hallelujah and the next verse says and the people repented yeah and entered in we would hope but brittany you're shaking your head does it startle you would you read verse 10 of numbers 14. does it startle you that restlessness can lead to rebellion can even lead to violence no wonder god wants to give us rest for our souls rest in christ we could end up going down a very destructive path how did the children of israel respond to to the testimony of joshua and caleb i'll be reading from the new king james version numbers chapter 14 and verse 10 says and all the congregations said to stone them with stones now the glory of the lord appeared in the taprillard knackle of meeting before all the children of israel so i have a question here's the grace of god in action why didn't joshua and caleb die that day supernatural intervention what what god do to distract them from stoning these two faithful witnesses he immediately comes into scene and is going to is challenging them saying i'm going to you know hit you with pestilence and it it's almost like of course god's presence was there through the shekinah glory but it's almost like god creates a diversion yeah you know the glory of the lord like um okay you need to pay attention to me now right right but do you see a troubling puyo i see your hand raised is it possible even today we could get so disconnected that our restlessness leads to rebellion even to open violence i believe so even today i believe if we are not resting in god if we're not resting in christ even after god has set us free from the bondage of not of egypt but the bondage of sin and the slavery of sin if if we are not in that relationship with god if we're not resting in christ jesus the tendency is that we we remember the past and and sometimes it's easy to remember the past in uh as a better experience more than it actually was and we are uh tempted to go back into our old sinful ways which is why paul warns uh the christians time and again in the new testament where he said stand firm in the freedom that christ has set you free do not go back to the yoke of sin and slavery and so here it's interesting that they they were even suggesting to go back to the slavery of egypt than to continue to trust in god because of their restlessness so the same thing can happen to us today if we're not resting in christ at his righteousness that we would be tempted to go back to the slavery of sin all over again i can see that this is touched a response i've got several hands that are raised here we could see ourselves in a similar situation this story is a warning that rest in christ is not just a kind of a an optional extra is essential yes for our salvation yeah addison i see you hand raised yeah just to add on to what puyo was saying and i thought that was beautifully put but over and over again throughout the bible there's just copious examples you can go to the book of psalms time and time again the psalmist learning firsthand from his own experiences facing his enemies uh fleeing from saul time and time again he's learning the importance of i'm going to exchange my fear for faith and rest in christ amen amen amen that is the theme throughout the entire bible old and new testament and that is what we can do today beautiful thank you so much exchange my fear or my restlessness for rest in christ can you think of some examples and then i want to go and end with a positive note of intercession can you think of some other examples in the scripture i'm not going to read text just share a story where restlessness led to rebellion that even led to violence and we see how dangerous a restless spirit is sabine pastor derek for me the most shocking one is the crucifixion of jesus himself religious leaders religious leaders people who had scriptures in their faith just like the people of the hebrew people had here in the desert they had truth for them god had already spoken to them about that but they were not able because of their critical hearts the restless heart they were not able to see truth in front of them and you know just like these people here in the book of numbers we know they are not going to enter canaan eventually also the same happens that these prophets at the time of jesus were you know just the leaders in the time these religious people they ended up not experiencing the blessing that god had to them through the messiah so that's really terrible to think of right you know that really is the most vivid example and i'm going to leave that one as an example for all of us to say that religious people could kill the messiah and we do not want to have that restless experience we want to rest in christ but i want to move on harold if you could read for us in numbers 14 verses 11 through 19 again we see moses you know moses was not perfect right he killed an egyptian uh kind of took things into his own hands later he'll make other mistakes he's not perfect but here we see the heart of god when he he intercedes for his people would you read for us numbers 14 verses 11 through 19. and i'll be reading from the new king james version and it reads then the lord said to moses how long will these people reject me and how long will they not believe me with all the signs which i have performed among them i will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them and i will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they and moses said to the lord then the egyptians will hear it for by your might you brought these people up from among them and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land they have heard that you lord are among these people that you lord are seen face to face and your cloud stands above them and you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night now if you kill these people as one man then the nations which have heard of your fame will speak saying because the lord was not able to bring this people to the land which he swore to give them therefore he killed them in the wilderness and now i pray let the power of my lord be great just as you have spoken saying the lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression but he by no means clears the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation pardon the iniquity of this people i pray according to the greatness of your mercy just as you have forgiven this people from egypt even until now now i want you to notice the next verse and then i have a very important question for you brittany if you could just read just a short verse verse 20 of numbers 14. i'll be reading from the new king james version then the lord said i have pardoned according to your word so here's the question did moses say some important things when he was pleading with the lord yes yes or no absolutely god you're long suffering you're merciful did he change the lord's mind by pleading or interceding on behalf of his people gladys he didn't change god's mind because he quoted god's word back to him so he said you have to be faithful to your word what you have said to me so i imagine maybe i'm using my sanctified imagination but i imagine the lord smiling yeah as moses is saying lord remember who you are an earthly ruler could have responded by just you know that was the human response right just start with you no lord you know how you are yeah it doesn't change the character of the lord does it but what a beautiful testimony where moses is reminding the lord how do you see that intercession that revelation of the character of god kind of as a a foretaste of the of the ministry of jesus it's almost as if if you could look forward if you could look forward and see how jesus revealed the character of the father we were catching a little glimpse of that what do you think puya in in the action of moses here yes we we do we we do indeed moses interceded on behalf of the people to god and in the same way when we read hebrews we are told that jesus is interceding on our behalf and god is uh accepting the intercession of jesus on our behalf and so before god our sins are forgiven through jesus just as god forgave uh the sins of the the rebellion of the people of israel through the intercession of moses and so jesus indeed was um foreshadowed uh from the story of moses here shaina i see your hand raised there in maine it's a beautiful picture even though moses is far from perfect he's saying god i know your character i know what you're like shayna right and it also foreshadows the type of love that jesus came and showed us moses could have asked god to take his siblings out um but he didn't he he pleaded with god to spare them instead and jesus did the same thing when he came here on earth um lived life as a human um as our elder brother and died and intercedes on our behalf as puya mentioned that hebrews mentions that he intercedes now in heaven for us so it yeah it really shows love or that love that that jesus came and showed as well beautiful thank you for sharing that and you know let me just reinforce one important point and that is jesus doesn't change the father's heart either god loves the world father son and holy spirit god is not stern and wanting retribution and somehow jesus changes his heart but he is a revelation he says if you've seen me you've seen the father and what a beautiful revelation that is now tragically having rebelled and even become quite violent to be wanting to stone joshua and caleb now the children of israel say well we're going to go take the land but we'll do it by ourselves and and what's what's the outcome maybe we should look at that one text together in numbers chapter 14 and uh addison if you could read that for us numbers 14 beginning with verse 39 how does that read in your bible reading from the king james version and moses told these sayings unto all the children of israel and the people mourned greatly and they rose up early in the morning and got them up into the top of the mountain saying lo we be here and we'll go up unto the place which the lord hath promised for we have sinned and moses said wherefore now do you transgress the commandment of the lord but it shall not prosper go not up for the lord is not among you that ye be not smitten before your enemies for the amalekites and the canaanites are there before you and you shall fall by the sword because ye are turned away from the lord therefore the lord will not be with you but they presumed to go up unto the hilltop nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the lord and moses departed not out of the camp then the amalekites came down and the canaanites which dwelt in that hill and smote them and discomforted them even unto horma so question for you why did moses say well okay we'll go with you why didn't he do that brittany well it was directly against what god had said so he knew god wasn't going to be with them yeah so disobedience in order to try to accomplish something good never works right their restlessness even in supposedly doing what god had asked them to do previously it's just not going to work what are the lessons from this story let me take a few minutes with us here now we hear god appealing to us to rest in christ to let his presence abide with us and and to guide us by his spirit just as he did with the cloud and the fire what's the most important lesson sabine that you get from our study yeah pastor derek i think that for me a great lesson from this story is that you know when you have the spirit of criticism and restlessness it will cloud your vision of everything around you so it leads to lack of vision and god has given us a vision about what's what are the things coming and where should we be standing and if we have this criticism and lack of vision that is caused by restlessness then we might not get to the final destination that god intended for us so we might want to look into the circumstances through the eyes of the scriptures through the eyes of the holy spirit so that we can get to the right destination that god has for us so i really want to affirm that and addison i see your hand raised in just a moment but that restless rebellious spirit can literally cause us not to think clearly yeah we end up doing foolish things and god loves us too much to want us to do that right he wants us all to be saved and to rest in him addison god's love is immeasurable and unfailing and we we need to pray we need to say every day when we get up in the morning and we you know the very first thought should be of jesus and we should say lord take my heart for i cannot give it keep it pure for i cannot keep it for thee and to praise the lord let this mind let this mind that was in jesus be also in me beautiful and all the way in in hawaii i see your hand raised a lesson for us today what what do you hear yes uh saying augustine once said in a prayer he said god you have created us for yourself so our hearts are restless until they find rest in you and and i believe this is the lesson that i take away from our study today that we are restless as human beings in our search for peace and happiness and fulfillment until we look for it in the right place that is in jesus christ thanks so much for sharing shayna a thought from up there in maine we're so glad to have our remote team members with us what's an important lesson you take away from our study today unless we have fully submitted all to christ our will will not be in his will or yeah his will will not be ours and we're going to be restless so it's important for us all to learn how to fully submit and that submission leads to ultimate rest in christ and and that rest is the most beautiful thing that we can ever find well thanks so much for sharing with us one last thought from a team member what do you take away jason well it really niggles down to faith and anyone who knows me you know i love acronyms so faith is forever admitting i trust him and in order to rest in christ and that's what it's about resting we having faith in him and that's the underlying message that i take away and you know the lord wants each one of us to rest in christ you say restlessness doesn't sound too bad but it can lead to rebellion can lead to violence can lead to destruction jesus wants you to find rest in him today he says come to me and find rest for your souls do you long for that rest in your life today let's pray together our father in heaven thank you that you're more willing to give us rest and we're willing to ask you love to give good gifts to your children and i i pray that you would give us rest for our souls today rest in your love rest in your presence rest in christ thank you for that precious gift in jesus name amen amen amen well friend don't forget that free gift go to hope tv.org hope ss click on that button get free gift you'll get the theme song come to me find rest for your souls 11 other beautiful scripture songs we want you to hide those promises in your heart and to find the rest in christ that will bless your life and in the midst of all of those blessings go out in jesus name and be a blessing to those [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

Views: 485

Rating: 4.4666667 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 3rAPMFvXG0E

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021