La Caída de un Líder / The Fall of a Leader
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
Many of us are aware of the triumphs and successes of our leaders:
We know about Thomas Jefferson’s role in drafting the Declaration of Independence. But how many times have you heard about his ideas about the superiority of being white over being black?
We hear about Bill Cosby’s acting career, and yet recently we learned about his harassment and sexual abuse of many woman.
We hear about the great golf player but we rarely stop to think about the many revelations of multiple affairs that came to light in 2009.
Many of the people that we revere and hold in high esteem have also faced scandal and specific acts that have ended their careers, tarnished their reputation, and in many cases the damage has been permanent.
One of the reason why we know the Bible is the word of God is because of its honesty.
The Bible does not present a fairy tale picture of its main characters.
The Bible presents each character with brutal honesty.
The Bible shows us the virtues and the many faults of those that have called upon the name of the Lord.
The Bible does not only show us their seeking after God but it also shows us their multiple failures.
In our journey through the Bible in 2019 we come upon a very sad chapter in the book of Numbers (20).
In this chapter Miriam, Moses’ sister, dies.
In this chapter the great high priest of Israel, Aaron, also dies.
But the saddest point in this chapter is found in verse 12:
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Y el Señor dijo a Moisés y a Aarón: Porque vosotros no me creísteis a fin de tratarme como santo ante los ojos de los hijos de Israel, por tanto no conduciréis a este pueblo a la tierra que les he dado.
Moses and Aaron are judged by God and are forbidden from entering the promised land.
This is the same Moses that God spared as a baby from the death sentence that Pharaoh had pronounced upon all the newborn Israelite boys.
This is the same Moses that God called from the burning bush to be the deliverer of his people Israel.
This is the same Moses to whom God gave his commandments upon Mount Hermon.
Why? Why would God judge him so severely?
In our time today, we will consider this very sad event in the life of God’s ancient people:
The people complain
The Lord gives his command
Moses disobeys
Moses is judged
I. El pueblo se queja
I. El pueblo se queja
I. The people complain
I. The people complain
Miriam has died. The people of God continue to journey through the harsh desert and they start to cry out complaining against God and their leaders:
There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.
The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!
“Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here?
“Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.”
Num 20.2
Y no había agua para la congregación; y se juntaron contra Moisés y Aarón.
El pueblo contendió con Moisés y le habló, diciendo: ¡Ojalá hubiéramos perecido cuando nuestros hermanos murieron delante del Señor!
¿Por qué, pues, has traído al pueblo del Señor a este desierto, para que nosotros y nuestros animales muramos aquí?
¿Y por qué nos hiciste subir de Egipto, para traernos a este miserable lugar? No es lugar de sementeras, ni de higueras, ni de viñas, ni de granados, ni aun hay agua para beber.
The people of God come against Moses and Aaron saying that it would have been better for them to have died.
There is no water for them, their children, and their livestock. They are desperate.
This is the second time they complain. The first time they complain about the lack of water if recorded in .
This serves to demonstrate that although God had previously provided for them, they gave into their lack of faith and trust in God. Instead of trusting in God they complain about their situation.
It is normal to feel pain during a trial/tribulation.
It is perfectly within reason to feel the stress of the many hardships that we will face in our lives.
However, it is never acceptable, and always sin to complain as if God does not care or to distrust God’s goodness.
God will never forsake his people - it is easy to say when things go well; but we demonstrate our trust in God’s promises in how we respond to hardship.
Their complaint is not so much that God has failed to keep his promises; rather their complaint is that God has not fulfilled his promises now!
We will be miserable in this life if we expect God to fulfill his promises or answer our prayer when we say so.
If this were so…then we would be God.
We are his people and cry out to God that he give us patience/hope/trust/faith that he will be faithful and grant the power to persevere.
II. El Señor da la orden
II. El Señor da la orden
II. The Lord gives his command
II. The Lord gives his command
Moses and Aaron did the appropriate thing: they went to seek the Lord’s face for only he could provide water in the middle of the desert.
God speaks to his servants:
and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
“Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”
Y habló el Señor a Moisés, diciendo:
Toma la vara y reúne a la congregación, tú y tu hermano Aarón, y hablad a la peña a la vista de ellos, para que la peña dé su agua. Así sacarás para ellos agua de la peña, y beban la congregación y sus animales.
The Lord is very clear about his instructions:
The people of God should be assembled.
Moses must come before the people and speak to the rock; he must speak to the rock in the presence of the people.
The rock will bring forth water and the people’s thirst will be quenched.
III. Moisés desobedece
III. Moisés desobedece
III. Moses disobeys
III. Moses disobeys
What happens next will forever change Moses’ life.
So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him;
and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?”
Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
Num 9
Tomó Moisés la vara de la presencia del Señor, tal como El se lo había ordenado;
y Moisés y Aarón reunieron al pueblo ante la peña. Y él les dijo: Oíd, ahora, rebeldes. ¿Sacaremos agua de esta peña para vosotros?
Entonces Moisés levantó su mano y golpeó la peña dos veces con su vara, y brotó agua en abundancia, y bebió el pueblo y sus animales.
Moses takes Aaron’s rod/staff and comes before the people.
The people are assembled before Moses.
Moses come in front of the rock and goes on to speak; but he does not speak to the rock as God had commanded.
Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses goes on to rebuke the people.
Notice what he calls them - rebels! Have they rebelled against God and their leaders? Yes!
Moses is clearly upset. The people complained before about the same thing. God provided and here they are complaining once more.
Moses must be tired. They’ve been journeying through the desert for many years and he is most likely tired of the desert, tired of the people’s constant complaints, tired of the people’s failure to have faith in the God who delivered them from slavery.
Nevertheless, God did not command Moses to strike the rock. God was clear in what he had commanded. God said: speak to the rock. God did not tell Moses to yell at the people of God.
But this is not what God had commanded. God was clear in what he had commanded. God said: speak to the rock. God did not tell Moses to yell at the people of God.
Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses takes the staff and strikes the rock two times.
God in his great mercy and grace brings water from the rock.
The people and their livestock drink. The people of God will not die from thirst. God has provided water for his people.
IV. Moisés es juzgado
IV. Moisés es juzgado
IV. Moses is judged
IV. Moses is judged
The people’s lives have been spared. But God must now deal with his servant:
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
Y el Señor dijo a Moisés y a Aarón: Porque vosotros no me creísteis a fin de tratarme como santo ante los ojos de los hijos de Israel, por tanto no conduciréis a este pueblo a la tierra que les he dado.
Aquellas fueron las aguas de Meriba porque los hijos de Israel contendieron con el Señor, y El manifestó su santidad entre ellos.
The Lord tells Moses that he did not believe God’s word.
God had given Moses a simple command: speak to the rock.
God did not command Moses to strike the rock, and surely not to strike the rock two times.
God did not command Moses to take out his frustration upon the people of God.
God was 100% clear and said: speak to the rock and it will bring forth water for the people and their livestock.
Moses failed to believe God’s command and now he will be judged by God.
Moses will not enter the promised land.
Moses will not enter the land that God had promised his people.
Doesn’t matter that he is the one called by God to deliver his people from Egypt.
Doesn’t matter that Moses risked his life by coming before Pharaoh to demand that he let the people of God go.
Doesn’t matter that Moses saw God’s glory upon the mountain.
Moses was not exempt from God’s standard of holiness.
Some may think that God was being overly harsh with Moses.
What we forget is that God is a holy God.
God is just. He is holy.
Following God does not simply mean acknowledging that he exists but rather requires that we follow what he commands.
We cannot pretend to be the people of God and act according to our own will and desires.
We cannot call ourselves the people of God and disobey what God clearly commands in his holy word.
God was right in judging his servant Moses.
God is right in all he does.
God gave a command, Moses disobeyed, and faced the just consequences of his sin against God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What does this mean for us?
It is possible that many will despair: if Moses did not enter the promised land what guarantee do I have that I will be saved?
We may think, if Moses disobeyed and was judged, what hope is there for me - when I have failed so much and continually fall short of what God demands from me.
If we trust in our own strength I can guarantee that we have no hope.
We simply cannot be good enough.
We cannot be perfect enough.
We cannot live a sinless/perfect life.
It is for this reason, that we must do what Moses failed to do: we must trust God what God commands!
God has not only given us the 10 commandments.
Judaism says that God gave a total of 613 commandments.
God has given all these commands and many more.
However, God has also commanded us:
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Ellos respondieron: Cree en el Señor Jesús, y serás salvo, tú y toda tu casa.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Confía en el Señor con todo tu corazón,
y no te apoyes en tu propio entendimiento.
Reconócele en todos tus caminos,
y El enderezará tus sendas.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
Si confesamos nuestros pecados, El es fiel y justo para perdonarnos los pecados y para limpiarnos de toda maldad.
1 jn 1.
We will sin. We will continue to fail.
For this reason, God commands us to trust in his forgiveness.
God commands us to trust in Jesus’ work on the cross that cleanses us from all our sins.
God commands us to follow him and acknowledge him in all our ways.
It is true, that Moses did not enter the promised land. He stood outside of the land of Israel and was able to see the land the people would inherit.
Nevertheless, he trusted in God.
He faced the consequences of his sin but the blood of Jesus was sufficient for the forgiveness of his fault before God.
We know this because the Bible tells us in that Moses kept his hope in God’s promise of eternal salvation.
considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
considerando como mayores riquezas el oprobio de Cristo que los tesoros de Egipto; porque tenía la mirada puesta en la recompensa.
Brother and sister, if you have sinned against God, God commands you to confess your sin. He will forgive you. Continue trusting your heavenly Father who is faithful until the end.