WEBVTT 00:00:06.479 --> 00:00:12.720 Psalm 106, verse 24 is where we will start tonight. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:17.719 We've just been breaking down all these different 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:21.699 instances of Israel's disobedience and looking 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:25.140 at some of these examples. These are not necessarily 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:28.059 listed in chronological order. They kind of jump 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:30.160 back and forth. Some of the ones that are listed 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.079 before happen later and then skip to one that's 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:37.039 happened before. Kind of bouncing back and forth, 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.659 so they're not necessarily in chronological order, 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:43.020 but the psalmist here is just covering some of 00:00:43.020 --> 00:00:46.859 the big moments in Israel's past where they were 00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:50.000 disobedient, and there were certainly plenty 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.920 of them. We've kind of seen a theme here. They 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.460 were disobedient. God was angry with them. We 00:00:56.460 --> 00:00:59.700 would see Moses or Aaron or both of them intercede 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:02.020 for the people in some way or atone for their 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:06.719 sinfulness. And it's a good foreshadowing there 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:10.079 of what Jesus was going to do, that ultimately 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.799 we would be no better off than the Israelites. 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:15.579 We too would be sinners deserving of God's wrath, 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:19.480 but there is one who stepped up for us and took 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.120 atonement for us and made atonement for us, and 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:25.379 that was Jesus Christ. And so tonight we are 00:01:25.379 --> 00:01:29.260 just looking at another example of Israel's disobedience 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:34.120 in Psalm 106, verse 24. Just four verses is all 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:36.879 we'll look at. And if you want to go ahead and 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:42.599 put a finger in Numbers 14. Numbers 14. We were 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:46.519 in Numbers 16 a week or two ago. And looking 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.400 at that story. And tonight we're flipping back 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:52.379 a little bit in time. And looking at Numbers 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:55.120 14. We're not going to read through the whole 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.909 chapter. That'd be good homework for you this 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:00.730 week. If you want something to read, read through 00:02:00.730 --> 00:02:03.230 Numbers 14. You'll get a little more of the context 00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:05.109 about what's going on, but we're going to hit 00:02:05.109 --> 00:02:08.849 the high notes. So let's pray, and then we'll 00:02:08.849 --> 00:02:11.310 get started. God, we come to you tonight. We 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:14.689 look at so many of these examples of Israel being 00:02:14.689 --> 00:02:18.729 disobedient, dear Lord, and let us look at our 00:02:18.729 --> 00:02:21.150 own lives and help us, dear Lord, just let your 00:02:21.150 --> 00:02:24.659 Holy Spirit just convict us. Maybe there are 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:27.340 areas in our life now where we're being disobedient 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:29.120 and maybe we're missing some of your blessing. 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.780 And I pray, dear Lord, that we wouldn't be so 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:34.900 stubborn and so hard -headed, but that we would 00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:38.000 be those who hear your word and hear your commands 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.039 just as the Israelites did. And maybe we can 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.039 do better in some ways than follow them, but 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:46.139 dear Lord, a lot of times we just don't do any 00:02:46.139 --> 00:02:50.099 better. We do just as bad. And so we ask for 00:02:50.099 --> 00:02:53.060 your grace and your mercy that you would just, 00:02:53.819 --> 00:02:56.259 Be patient with us, dear Lord, that through Jesus 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:58.780 Christ that we would receive that grace and atonement 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:02.039 for our sins. We don't deserve it, but I pray 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:03.759 that you just help us to continue to come back 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:05.500 to the cross, dear Lord, because where else can 00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:08.699 we go? So I ask these things in Jesus' name. 00:03:09.099 --> 00:03:15.580 Amen. All right, Psalm 106, verse 24. This is 00:03:15.580 --> 00:03:17.939 speaking of the Israelites here when it says 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:21.879 they. They despised the pleasant land and did 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.960 not believe his promise. They grumbled in their 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.680 tents and did not listen to the Lord's voice. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.139 So he raised his hand against them with an oath 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:35.659 that he would make them fall in the desert and 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:38.259 would disperse their descendants among the nations, 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:42.979 scattering them throughout the lands. So the 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:46.680 people are so close to getting to go into the 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.099 promised land. They had been delivered from Egypt. 00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:52.319 They had made their way. And they were right 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:56.360 on the precipice of being able to cross over 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:59.300 into the promised land. And there were some spies 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:01.680 that were sent to see what was going on, to see 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:04.439 what things looked like there. And when the spies 00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:08.099 came back, they were afraid. They said, hey, 00:04:08.139 --> 00:04:11.719 look, this land is fantastic, but there are some 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:13.500 folks there that are big and strong and scary, 00:04:13.659 --> 00:04:16.079 and I just don't think we can do it. If we go 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:20.170 in there, they are going to slaughter us. And 00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:22.810 that's what's being referenced here in this particular 00:04:22.810 --> 00:04:25.649 passage, that God had brought them out of slavery. 00:04:26.009 --> 00:04:28.329 He said, I'm going to take you to your own land 00:04:28.329 --> 00:04:30.970 flowing with milk and honey. It's yours. You 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:33.009 just got to go in there. All you got to do is 00:04:33.009 --> 00:04:35.310 just go get it. I'm with you. It's yours. Just 00:04:35.310 --> 00:04:40.189 go get it. And the people were too afraid to 00:04:40.189 --> 00:04:44.329 do what God had called them to do. And that's 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:47.300 what this... This part of this psalm is talking 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:50.079 about they grumbled in their tents. They did 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:52.779 not listen to the Lord. They were too afraid. 00:04:52.899 --> 00:04:55.740 They were just complaining all the time about 00:04:55.740 --> 00:05:00.120 everything. And as a result of that, they experienced 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:02.800 God's punishment. Now, we've already seen some 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:05.819 examples in the last few weeks. People that were 00:05:05.819 --> 00:05:07.980 disobedient, and God's ready to destroy them 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:10.500 all. And some of them he did destroy, and some 00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:13.899 of them suffered consequences, great consequences. 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.360 A plague came on them, and there was all kind 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:19.379 of stuff that took place. And so you would think 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:22.240 in all of these stories that God's people at 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.259 some point would start to learn their lesson, 00:05:24.339 --> 00:05:27.660 but they really never do. And I guess maybe there's 00:05:27.660 --> 00:05:30.699 something to be said for that, because how many 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:33.470 times should we have learned our lesson? How 00:05:33.470 --> 00:05:35.649 many lessons are there things that we've done 00:05:35.649 --> 00:05:37.470 repeatedly and we should have learned them by 00:05:37.470 --> 00:05:39.589 now? We should have learned them when we were 00:05:39.589 --> 00:05:41.930 10, when we were 20, when we were 30, when we 00:05:41.930 --> 00:05:45.350 were 40. And maybe for some of us tonight, we're 00:05:45.350 --> 00:05:47.750 70, we're 80, and maybe there's still some lessons 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:50.910 that we should have learned and we're still struggling 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:53.290 with them. And that's not a good thing. It's 00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:55.569 not like, oh, well, that's just humanity. We 00:05:55.569 --> 00:05:58.430 just do that. Well, we do fail sometimes, but 00:05:58.430 --> 00:06:00.850 we should never just be content to say, well. 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:03.759 People just fail. Well, we do fail, but we should 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:07.180 strive to try to do better. And maybe by looking 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:09.920 at these examples in Scripture and maybe some 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:11.980 of our own failures, we can look back and say, 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.339 you know what? I know the power of God. I just 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:18.079 need to start trusting God. And these people 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.839 didn't trust God, and they found themselves in 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:23.620 a lot of trouble as a result of that. And maybe 00:06:23.620 --> 00:06:26.379 that's true for us too. Sometimes in our foolishness, 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:29.519 Some of our bad choices, we find ourselves in 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.399 some trouble that could have been avoided had 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.899 we have listened to the Lord. But like the Israelites, 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.779 there are plenty of times in our life that maybe 00:06:38.779 --> 00:06:42.339 we just didn't listen in the way that we should. 00:06:42.420 --> 00:06:45.319 Now, the first three verses that we looked at, 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:49.279 we see this in Numbers 14. We see this story 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.279 kind of unfold. The last verse that we looked 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:56.240 at here in verse 27, it's... It's actually a 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.839 reference to Ezekiel. And, of course, the story 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:01.040 in Ezekiel is also pointing back to the same 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.980 event. But that's kind of more of a connection 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:07.680 with Ezekiel than it is in the passages that 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.019 we're going to look at in Numbers. But if you 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:13.279 flip back to Numbers 14, you'll see this story. 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:15.660 Now, I've kind of gone over the story with you. 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:18.860 We won't go over it in great detail tonight. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.459 Like I said... You can go through and read through 00:07:21.459 --> 00:07:24.060 all of it this week. But just to get a little 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:26.579 more context and kind of see the story unfold 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:31.740 in numbers, let's look at Numbers 14, verses 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:37.680 1 through 3. This is after the spies went out 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:39.680 and a report came back in and the people were, 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.220 oh, things are so bad. We should have just stayed 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:44.240 in Egypt. It's horrible. We can't go into the 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:47.199 land. And this is the response of the people 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:51.189 that we see here. Numbers 14, verse 1. Then the 00:07:51.189 --> 00:07:54.029 whole community broke into loud cries, and people 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:56.930 wept that night. All the Israelites complained 00:07:56.930 --> 00:07:59.470 about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:03.670 told them, If we had only died in the land of 00:08:03.670 --> 00:08:07.730 Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness, 00:08:08.189 --> 00:08:12.110 why is the Lord bringing us into this land to 00:08:12.110 --> 00:08:16.689 die by the sword? Our wives and little children 00:08:16.689 --> 00:08:20.180 will become plunder. wouldn't it be better for 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:23.160 us to go back to Egypt? Well, that seems kind 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:25.639 of like a little bit of an extreme reaction. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:29.720 Now, these are the same people that were enslaved 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:33.279 in Egypt, that had witnessed the power of God's 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:36.399 plagues, and they had witnessed the power of 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.080 being delivered, and they weren't just delivered 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:42.590 empty -handed. They were delivered with all this 00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:44.809 gold and stuff that they were able to take out 00:08:44.809 --> 00:08:46.669 with them. I mean, they were delivered with wealth 00:08:46.669 --> 00:08:49.950 and freedom. They see God part the Red Sea. Even 00:08:49.950 --> 00:08:52.450 in all the disobedience they had seen up to this 00:08:52.450 --> 00:08:54.769 point and experienced up to this point, the gold 00:08:54.769 --> 00:08:57.889 calf and all their complaining. And God had got 00:08:57.889 --> 00:09:02.029 them all this way and brought them right here 00:09:02.029 --> 00:09:04.230 to the promised land. He said he was going to 00:09:04.230 --> 00:09:09.529 give them. And they get a bad report. Oh, the 00:09:09.529 --> 00:09:11.309 people in the land are big and strong. What are 00:09:11.309 --> 00:09:14.090 we going to do? And they just go to the extreme. 00:09:14.750 --> 00:09:16.970 Oh, we should have just, it would be better if 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:19.370 we had died in Egypt. That would have been better 00:09:19.370 --> 00:09:21.470 than where we are now. If we had died between 00:09:21.470 --> 00:09:24.129 Egypt and here in the wilderness, we'd be better 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:26.470 than we were now. It would be better if we just 00:09:26.470 --> 00:09:30.309 turned around and went back. Woe is us. The sky 00:09:30.309 --> 00:09:34.269 is falling. Everything is so bad. And they just 00:09:34.269 --> 00:09:36.269 went totally to the extreme. Now, we don't ever 00:09:36.269 --> 00:09:39.129 do that about anything, do we? We don't ever 00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:42.409 go to the extreme about nothing, do we? Something 00:09:42.409 --> 00:09:44.490 bad happens, it didn't happen just like we wanted 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:46.730 to, and then all of a sudden we just forget it. 00:09:46.809 --> 00:09:48.730 I don't want to hear nothing. I don't want to 00:09:48.730 --> 00:09:52.750 do it anymore. I'm done. We go to the extreme 00:09:52.750 --> 00:09:56.830 about the stupidest little things. We make a 00:09:56.830 --> 00:09:58.830 pizza at night, and we want a pizza, and we want 00:09:58.830 --> 00:10:01.720 some ranch dipping sauce. And we get our pizza 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:03.559 cut up and on the plate, and we go to reach for 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:05.159 the ranch dipping sauce, and there ain't none 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:06.679 in the refrigerator. And we say, just forget 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:08.379 it. I'm not hungry. I don't want anything to 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:11.620 eat. Now, that's not a true story, by the way. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:16.279 I'm just using an example. I'm just using a random 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:22.440 example here. But sometimes we go to the extreme 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.019 on things like that. Y 'all don't do that. I 00:10:25.019 --> 00:10:27.580 know y 'all don't ever do that. But sometimes 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:29.639 things aren't as bad as they seem, and maybe 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:32.480 if we just stopped for a second, we'd realize 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.879 that maybe a little bit of an overreaction. You 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:37.500 know, you see that football season, like you 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:40.000 get a quarterback that, like they played great 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.559 for ten weeks, and then they throw three interceptions 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.580 one Sunday, and then the next Monday, it's like 00:10:44.580 --> 00:10:46.879 the next day, it's like fire them, send them 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:48.860 to the Cleveland Browns where they can just rot 00:10:48.860 --> 00:10:51.100 away with the rest of the players there. We just 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:53.879 overreact about things as human beings, and it's 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:57.029 not a good thing. And this was a serious thing. 00:10:57.110 --> 00:10:59.490 This was an awesome thing that God said, I'm 00:10:59.490 --> 00:11:01.649 going to take you to a great place. And then 00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:03.389 all of a sudden there's one little thing that 00:11:03.389 --> 00:11:05.230 just goes wrong and they're just, oh, it's over. 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:08.490 We'd just be better off dead than to be here. 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:11.129 But what they should have said was, hey, God's 00:11:11.129 --> 00:11:13.990 been pretty good. I know what God's done for 00:11:13.990 --> 00:11:17.649 us. We've heard God speak. We've seen God's instructions. 00:11:17.909 --> 00:11:20.990 We've seen God's leader in Moses. We've seen 00:11:20.990 --> 00:11:24.419 these awesome miracles. This is going to be kind 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:27.179 of scary, but hey, we see what God can do, so 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:29.659 let's go in there and get this land, y 'all. 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:34.360 But they didn't do it. Now, how many times do 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:37.620 we know God's Word and know God's power? And 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:39.600 we should be ready to say, okay, I'm up against 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.700 this really hard thing that's in my life, or 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:44.700 maybe there's something we feel called to do, 00:11:44.740 --> 00:11:46.419 and it's kind of scary, and we're like, golly, 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:49.000 I don't have the skill set to do that, or I feel 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:51.210 uncomfortable doing that, but... But there's 00:11:51.210 --> 00:11:53.309 something in us that convicts us, that just tugs 00:11:53.309 --> 00:11:55.830 at us, that makes us want to feel like it's what 00:11:55.830 --> 00:12:00.309 we need to do. And we become too afraid and we 00:12:00.309 --> 00:12:03.809 say, man, I can't do that. We come up with all 00:12:03.809 --> 00:12:05.750 these excuses and we just kind of throw our hands 00:12:05.750 --> 00:12:08.909 up. And maybe we're missing the blessing that 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:10.750 God wants to bless us with, the way that he wants 00:12:10.750 --> 00:12:13.809 to use us to bless somebody else, which is also 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:15.970 a blessing to us. We just give up because it's 00:12:15.970 --> 00:12:19.230 too scary what's before us. Well, what was before 00:12:19.230 --> 00:12:22.029 them? It seemed scary to them. They were ready 00:12:22.029 --> 00:12:25.029 to die. It was so scary. And they were complaining 00:12:25.029 --> 00:12:28.669 all over the place. Well, Joshua and Caleb were 00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:30.610 two of the ones that had gone into the promised 00:12:30.610 --> 00:12:33.409 land. And they came back with a good report. 00:12:34.029 --> 00:12:37.070 They said, hey, look, this is good. This is going 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:38.830 to be scary, but we need to go in there and get 00:12:38.830 --> 00:12:41.690 what God has given us. We see that if you skip 00:12:41.690 --> 00:12:46.029 down a couple of verses into verse 7. Joshua 00:12:46.029 --> 00:12:49.799 and Caleb here, it says, and said to the entire 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:53.200 Israelite community, The land we passed through 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:57.440 and explored is an extremely good land. If the 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:59.779 Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:02.740 this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:06.919 and give it to us. Only don't rebel against the 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.720 Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.240 land, for we will devour them. Their protection 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:16.740 has been removed from them, and the Lord is with 00:13:16.740 --> 00:13:21.700 us. Don't be afraid of them. Now, that's good 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:25.460 instruction right there. Joshua has some sense. 00:13:25.539 --> 00:13:30.500 He has some wisdom. He says, look, this is going 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:33.240 to be all right. Like God brought us here for 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.279 this all the way here, and he said he was taking 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.360 us to a land of milk and honey, and boy, is this 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.299 land good. This is a good land. Yeah, there's 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:44.679 people there, but God's going to take care of 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:48.279 us, and he's going to devour them. And Joshua 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:52.059 tried to talk some sense into them, but they 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:58.399 weren't having anything to do with it. If you 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:02.139 skip down toward the bottom of the chapter there 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:06.580 in Numbers chapter 14, verse 28, we see the Lord 00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:10.000 speaking here in verse 28. The Lord is not happy 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.700 with the people. They don't listen to Joshua 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:13.679 and say, all right, Joshua, you're right. Let's 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.379 go in there and take this land. Nope. They continue 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:19.279 their complaining. Moses intercedes for them, 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:22.399 as is usually the case. And then in verse 28, 00:14:22.700 --> 00:14:26.200 the Lord says, Tell them, as surely as I live, 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.440 this is the Lord's declaration, I will do to 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:33.299 you exactly as I heard you say. Your corpses 00:14:33.299 --> 00:14:36.379 will fall in this wilderness, all of you who 00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:39.100 were registered in the census, the entire number 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:42.179 of you, 20 years old or more, because you have 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:45.309 complained about me. I swear that none of you 00:14:45.309 --> 00:14:47.590 will enter the land I promised to settle you 00:14:47.590 --> 00:14:51.429 in, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, 00:14:51.730 --> 00:14:57.190 son of Nun. So God says, okay, you say you'd 00:14:57.190 --> 00:14:59.710 rather die in the wilderness? You're going to 00:14:59.710 --> 00:15:02.470 get what you want. I brought you here to bring 00:15:02.470 --> 00:15:04.509 you into a promised land to bless you, to take 00:15:04.509 --> 00:15:07.690 care of you. But if you'd rather do it your way, 00:15:07.809 --> 00:15:10.470 if you'd rather die in the wilderness, God says, 00:15:10.610 --> 00:15:12.549 so be it. You're going to die in the wilderness. 00:15:14.059 --> 00:15:16.559 And they were so close to experiencing the blessing 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:21.200 of God, but because of their disobedience, they 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.840 ended up missing it. They ended up dying in their 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:32.220 disobedience and missing God's blessing. Now, 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:35.519 how many times is there blessing that God wants 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:40.059 to pour out on us? How many times may God be 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:43.679 calling us to something? To do something for 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.299 Him, to serve Him in some way, to minister to 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:50.240 somebody else in some way. How many ways might 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:54.639 God want to bless us in service to Him and we 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:58.679 just refuse God's blessing because it looks too 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:01.940 hard? Now, I'm not implying when I say God's 00:16:01.940 --> 00:16:04.740 blessing, I'm not implying that it's riches or 00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:07.759 wealth or whatever that may be. A lot of times 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:10.730 God's blessing... It's just simply doing the 00:16:10.730 --> 00:16:12.929 right thing. I mean, there's a great blessing, 00:16:12.970 --> 00:16:15.590 and if God calls you to do something, to go help 00:16:15.590 --> 00:16:17.529 somebody, to love on somebody, and you do that, 00:16:17.750 --> 00:16:20.570 like, man, you're just so blessed by being obedient 00:16:20.570 --> 00:16:23.750 to God. It doesn't even have anything to do with 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:25.370 what you're going to get in return. A blessing 00:16:25.370 --> 00:16:28.110 is not necessarily a physical thing in return. 00:16:28.830 --> 00:16:30.669 It's just knowing you did the right thing. Now, 00:16:30.730 --> 00:16:32.590 in their case, there was going to certainly be 00:16:32.590 --> 00:16:35.750 some physical return, and sometimes in our life 00:16:35.750 --> 00:16:38.889 there is too. There's certainly... physical blessing 00:16:38.889 --> 00:16:44.149 that comes. But how many times do we miss God's 00:16:44.149 --> 00:16:49.029 blessings because of our disobedience? It was 00:16:49.029 --> 00:16:52.470 all right there before. God says, here's how 00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:55.090 I want to bless you if you would just trust me. 00:16:56.610 --> 00:16:59.730 And how many times are there in our life that 00:16:59.730 --> 00:17:02.789 maybe God's saying the same thing to us? That 00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:04.490 God's calling us to something, leading us to 00:17:04.490 --> 00:17:07.410 something and saying, Here's what I called you 00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:10.670 to do. I want to bless you. I want to be with 00:17:10.670 --> 00:17:12.990 you. Here's what I want you to do. Just go and 00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:15.890 do it. In the first little roadblock, we say, 00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:18.809 ah, golly, I can't do that. I'm not equipped. 00:17:19.029 --> 00:17:21.910 I'm not qualified. I'm not brave enough. I'm 00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:25.690 not whatever. We could all write a book of the 00:17:25.690 --> 00:17:29.829 excuses we've used. But maybe we could learn 00:17:29.829 --> 00:17:33.789 from God's people here and take a second to think 00:17:33.789 --> 00:17:35.960 about those opportunities when they come. And 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:39.460 think about the words of Joshua. And Joshua says, 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:41.839 look, if God has brought you here, if God's called 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.460 you to this place, he's going to be with you, 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:48.019 so let's go do what God wants us to do. And maybe 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:50.980 Joshua's words can be an encouragement to us. 00:17:51.059 --> 00:17:53.599 We just started Joshua in Sunday school on Sunday 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.240 mornings. In chapter 1, we see right there at 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:58.859 the beginning, he says multiple times, don't 00:17:58.859 --> 00:18:01.400 be afraid. The Lord's with you. Don't be afraid. 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.890 You don't have to fear. It's all good. That's 00:18:04.890 --> 00:18:08.329 the same message that we see Joshua speaking 00:18:08.329 --> 00:18:12.009 of here in Numbers 14. Joshua says God's going 00:18:12.009 --> 00:18:13.309 to be with you. You don't have to be afraid. 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:17.170 So let us think about that in our life. Next 00:18:17.170 --> 00:18:20.490 time we feel that there's something in us that 00:18:20.490 --> 00:18:24.250 I believe is the Holy Spirit that's just convicting 00:18:24.250 --> 00:18:26.789 us and calling us and feels like, man, I need 00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:30.490 to do that. I need to step out in that way. May 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:33.240 we have courage to do that. If the Lord's calling, 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:35.720 may we have courage to follow and trust Him even 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:40.140 if it may be hard. Let's pray. God, we come to 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:42.960 You. We thank You for these good words and these 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.359 stories of Israel's past and maybe their stories, 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.279 dear Lord, remind us some of our stories. God, 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.640 maybe we have been disobedient more times than 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.420 we even care to say, dear Lord. We're embarrassed, 00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:59.779 ashamed. in our disobedience. And I pray, dear 00:18:59.779 --> 00:19:01.880 Lord, that you forgive us for the opportunities 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:04.079 that we've missed to serve and to listen and 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.400 to follow you. And maybe we've missed some of 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:09.160 your blessing along the way, but maybe there's 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:11.480 some opportunities now, some ways that you want 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:13.980 to bless us now or use us to bless others now, 00:19:14.140 --> 00:19:16.579 dear Lord. Some things that you're calling us 00:19:16.579 --> 00:19:19.740 to that may at first glance seem pretty scary, 00:19:19.819 --> 00:19:22.079 but I pray that we would just trust you and that 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:23.599 we would seek you and that we would know that 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:26.539 you're good. And that wherever you lead us in 00:19:26.539 --> 00:19:28.359 life, God, you're not going to lead us there 00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:31.900 to just stay there. If we just trust you, dear 00:19:31.900 --> 00:19:33.680 Lord, you'll lead us right on through whatever 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.559 it is. And so I pray, God, that we would learn 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:40.579 from the Israelites' mistakes here, that we would 00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:42.799 not be those who come up short of your blessing, 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:45.880 but that we be those who follow through and trust 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:49.259 you and get to see your blessing. And I ask these 00:19:49.259 --> 00:19:51.400 things in Jesus' name. Amen.