Keeping Canaan out of Israel

Sermon: – Keeping Canaan out of Israel Speaker: Ps Nick Booth Date: 14th April, 2019 Text: Exodus 23: 24 Do not worship the gods of these other nations or serve them in any way, and never follow their evil example. Instead, you must utterly conquer them and break down their shameful idols. (NLT) Leviticus 20:23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. Introduction: I spoke last week on real need for the Exodus that was ‘Getting Egypt out of Israel’ and how this related to our lives, but truthfully, this is only half the journey. The next step for Israel after leaving Egypt, as we discussed last week was to have an encounter with God, followed by the journey to the promised land. Today’s message is about keeping ‘Canaan out of Israel.’ Feel free to download last week and this week’s messages or listen to them online. We read in the book of Exodus that God gave Israel the chance to enter the land of Canaan immediately. Moses sent out 12 spies. When they returned, 10 had a negative report while 2 had a positive report. Israel’s faith in God’s ability to deliver the land to them failed and consequently, Israel failed to obey God and enter the land of Canaan. They tried to do it the very next day but God had already told that generation that they had missed the opportunity. Israel ended up walking around the desert for a full 40 years based on their unbelief and their disobedience. When they finally did get to enter the land, they had the instruction from God to wipe out the nations that inhabited the land because of the sins that they committed for more than 500 years (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 400 ears of slavery plus 40 years of desert wanderings.) If you are have questions about how God could effectively tell Israel to commit genocide, I recommend that you have a read of a little booklet (cost is 99c on Amazon and the Itunes store) “Is the Bible Sexist, Racist, genocidal and homophobic?” Most of the series is available to download also although there is one that isn’t available (You could also download a one chapter booklet from Amazon Kindle by the same title.) these will do a much better job of discussing the issue than I will in just these few minutes. I heard a comment recently that has influenced the decision in bringing this message. Namely that the bigger problem for Israel was their readiness to embrace the small ‘g’ gods of the Land that they were possessing. And not only the issue of returning to Egypt (although this was also a problem for Israel historically that brought God’s judgement on Israel.) 1. It’s not what you have that is the problem. It is what has you! It could be your Job, your Career It could be your study It could be a relationship, even prioritising your family and your children over God turns them into an idol! For many people, it is money or things. Often this gives them the prestige and pride they crave because it matters more what other people think about you than what you think about yourself and more so about how God feels about you. Jesus clearly tells us that our efforts to save our own lives result in losing them while laying down our lives results in saving it. Mark 8: 34-35 4 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. We are called to offer ourselves and all that we have as a sacrifice to God, however, for many people we sacrifice the things that really matter to gods who ae no more than idols. Let me ask the question bluntly, is your career worth your family? Is your marriage and kids worth that office romance or fascination with porn. I Know that God loves you and me but that does not mean that he approves of everything that we do. He certainly didn’t in the case of the nations who inhabited the promised land before Israel, and he didn’t approve of Israel when they followed their gods and their ways. Israel was kicked out of the Promised land into Exile because they let Canaan possess them rather than them possessing Canaan. Theologian and author Gordon Fee, points out that the primary theme of the old testament prophets is God speaking to Israel about their sins of worshipping the gods of the land and the coming judgment against them that would result in removal from the promised land. • Worship of Idols • Sexual immorality • Abuse of vulnerable people (typically Widow and Orphan) They worshipped the Gods of the land. Molech, Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice. Baal, God of fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, seasons, war, patron of sailors and sea-going merchants, Ashtoreh Throughout history the Jews were constantly tempted to worship this pagan goddess and attend her rituals, and it was this forbidden practice which finally led to Israel’s captivity and the seventy years in Babylon. If you break these sins down, they are the very sins that our generation rush into helter skelter. Freedom from responsibility (molech), Search for prosperity Baal) and sexual immorality (Ashtoreh). • Who or what do we worship? I said at the beginning, it is not what we have but what has us that really matters. How do we let God get more of us? I believe that we need to:- 2. Let the Sanctifying work of God’s Spirit work on your character and on your whole self. Love, Joy and Peace – replace the anxiety and fretting that has been your pattern of life. Patience - Kindness and Goodness – Faithfulness Gentleness Self Control – primarily relates to sexual control! Galatians 5 lays out various fruit of the Spirit. It contrasts them with the works of the flesh. (That is your sinful nature away from God). Every time that we say Yes to God, we say no to our sinful desires, and we are winning a victory in the war that has been won on our behalf by Christ. The great news is, now that we have been born again, you are empowered to say yes to God and no to the sin. Previously we had been slaves to our sinful nature and just did whatever. Like last weeks scripture said. We are now sons and not slaves. This picture is repeated often in the New Testament. 3. Dare to be different – Be like Jesus This means that we should be authentic to who we are and let Jesus make us the most genuine us that we can be. You see, sin has marred and distorted who God intends for us to be. The work of redemption isn’t to reform you but it is to re-form you back into the image of God. I heard another pastor tell me recently that someone left his church and they told him the reason for this was that the he thought the Pastor wanted him to be like Jesus! Well that is the point of our Christianity. Hopefully, the longer that you are a Christian the more we become like Jesus! Have you ever just hung around with or been around one of those really wise Christians. You walked away and thought, ‘That person is really like Jesus.’ We should do everything that we can to be that kind of person also. Going through Bible college back in Sydney in the 90’s, David Cartledge would often tell us to dare to be different and be like Jesus. Don’t be a bad copy of someone else (not even of yourself). Be who God intends you to be. 4. Lets be part of Jesus answer to the deliverance from sin for a world that is still desperately in need of a saviour and deliverer. Song ‘So will I’ Jaimee shared how this song impacted last week. The essence of the words of this song, capture the heart response of some one who hears and experiences the heartbeat of God for a Lost and broken world. James 1: 27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”. Isaiah 58 6-7 to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away Conclusion/ Altar call Essence of last weeks message was that we need an encounter with God This week it is that we need to be like Jesus and have the heart of God to help others find deliverance and have an encounter with God.