The Promised Land
Notes
Transcript
This year we have encouraged and challenged you to be reading your Bible
Last week we talked about how you and I are to put our faith to action
That we are to read our Bibles and then apply what we read to our daily lives
So as you have read through your Bible
Maybe each year you try to read the entire Bible and you always start in Genesis
And you get through Genesis then Exodus and you always get stuck in Leviticus, and Numbers or Deuteronomy
The problem is you never end up with the end result of them wandering in the desert for so long
So after 40 years of wandering in the desert the Nation of Israel is coming into the promise land
First we need to understand why the wandered in the desert
22 “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.
Because they refused to trust God there were not allowed to enter into the promise land
The land that God has promised their fathers and fathers father and fathers father fathers
This was the Land that was to be theirs and they were to have rest because they trusted in the Lord
Church we see what happens when you don’t trust in the Lord you don’t have rest
You don’t get to enter into the promise land you don’t get to experience what the Lord has for you
Because you aren’t trusting the promise
Think in your own life when you refuse to trust the Lord has a plan and try to do it yourslef
Does it always work out like God had planned of course not because you have refuse to obey him
33 ‘Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. 34 ‘According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. 35 ‘I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’ ” 36 As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, 37 even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.
Because after they left Egypt they were told to go in and possess the land that God had given them
So they went in and came back scared
Church it should be noted if God is for us who can stand against us
We have nothing to be scared of as long as we are with God
And yet they reported back to the nation
The people are to big for us to take
These are the same people who crossed the red sea on dry land
And in the midst of it they didn’t trust that God would give them the land that God himself had promised to give them
And I think we do the same things sometimes
When things get a little hard or don’t go as easy as we had expected because we think if we walk with God things will be easy
We stop trusting God
When we stop trusting God we don’t enter into the promise and rest of God
So because of that that generation was not allowed to enter into the promise land
The kids were able to enter into the promise land
2 people who were men when they left Egypt were allowed to enter the promise land
Joshua and Caleb
And so after the 40 years they come into the promise land
And as they prepare to take the land God reminds of somethings
11 “Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 “Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.
Notice that God is reminding them to observe His commands
This was God’s attempt to keep His chosen people pure and to follow after Him
Remember that this is a process that God will bring about salvation
This is a reminder that we are to follow the commands of God
We hear this and of course agree with God
These are people who saw the Red Sea split and walked through it on dry ground
These are people who watched the plagues in Egypt
And yet here God is reminding them that they must follow His leading
He is reminding them to watch their step
I heard something on the radio you can be obedient to God if you don’t love Him with your entire being
We hear that and read in the Old Testament and we are quick to say come on Nation of Israel how could you not
And we sort of come down hard on the Nation of Israel
They were not going to enter into the Rest of God in the Promise Land until they learned to trust God and obey God
And yet church
We are in the same predicament
We will never enter into the rest of God
We will never experience the peace of God
We will never experience all of what God has in store for us if we refuse to trust Him and obey Him
8 ‘See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.’
God finally gets ride of the na sayers and the problem generation
He tells the nation to set their sights on the promise land
This is the land that they have been promised for generations upon generations upon generations
IF you will obey my command and
Then after they have taken possession of the land
Joshua who led the people to take possession of the land
tells the 2 and half tribes
5 “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
This was directed towards them but I believe it was for the entire nation of Israel
Now that you have rest in the land from war
Now that you have taken possession of the land that was promised to you by God
Be careful
Do what God has called you to do
Be obedient in what God has commanded you
Love God and Love people
Because that is the only way we will truly experience all God has for us
Church you cannot be a part time Christian
You cannot be a weekend Christian
You cannot be a conditionally Christian
You and I must be obedient to what God has commanded us to do
We are to follow and walk with God in our lives not just when life is good or not just when life is so hard that the Christian thing to do is to cry out in prayer
That same warning is told to us in the New Testament
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Church we are to be on alert
We are to take heed that we are obedient to God
Just like in the Old testament as they came into the Promise land they are warned to be obedient to God
They are warned to not take up the things of the nations they are going to kick out
We are also warned to be obedient to God
We are also warned not to take up the things of the world but rather flee from them and run to Jesus
When we do that
When we are obedient to God
We enter into His presence and His peace
Just like the Nation of Israel did when they were obedient
They entered into the peace of God
They entered into the rest of God
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Jesus calls us to come to Him
Jesus calls us to take His yoke and learn from
Jesus calls us to be obedient to Him
Jesus calls us to trust Him
You will have rest when you and I trust God
To give our burdens to Christ and take up His and be obedient
That only comes from trusting God in our daily lives with our actions
And being obedient to God when He calls us to do something to do it
Then we will find rest
Church the Rest and Peace God offers is different from what this world will offer you
The Nation of Israel was never going to enter into the rest, peace, and all what God had to offer and had for them
They were never going to experience that until they trusted God
And church that rest and peace that God has is so very very good
So as we come to a close this morning
If you hav never prayed to receive Christ this morning
You can trust God for the first time this morning and enter into the rest and peace of God this morning
Or maybe you already have a personal relationship with Jesus
And maybe this morning you need to get back to trusting the Lord
Or being obedient to the Lord and enter into the rest and peace God has to offer you
Or maybe you just need to spend sometime in prayer this morning
The alter is open
