Roots of Rebellion
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 28 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Intro
Intro
— Thank you for the opportunity
— Pray for our Pastor and everyone on senior trip
— Take your Bibles and turn to Numbers chapter 14, Numbers chapter 14, we may hop back to chapter 13 but we’ll be in chapter 14 for the most part
Most of y’all know I am a dad now as of a few months ago. You’ve probably either met my son or have at least heard him saying amen when Brother Andrew is preaching a good message.
But since I’m a dad now, I realized I need to start practicing my dad jokes, so I thought I’d try out a couple
**Jokes
— Did you hear about the horses that formed a rebellion against the farmer when they ran out of food? It was the last straw.
— What did the airplane yell at his rebellious son? Watch the altitude
— Did you hear about the pigeon rebellion? Apparently it was quite the coo.
Listen I got those from the internet so if you didn’t like those it’s not my fault.
Let’s read our passage before yall boo me off the stage.
Alright numbers 14 verse 1
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. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
*Explain story
Hebrews are slaves in egypt
God calls Moses to lead them out and free them
red sea
Promise of a land
I’d like to direct your attention back to verse 9 for a moment. “rebel not ye against the Lord”. Many commentators and theologians label this passage as the rebellion of Israel, even after Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb told literally told them to not rebel against the Lord. This rebellion takes full effect when the Israelites hear this and pick up stones ready to kill these four.
To rebel is to be intentionally disobedient causing someone to become bitter, whether its yourself or the person your rebelling against.
So here’s what we’re gonna do, this rebellion, which are wrong actions is really the fruit of something else. What we must do, is do some digging until we discover the roots, the root problem of these rebellious actions. So the fruit is what everybody sees. Everybody saw the wrong actions of everybody else in the nation of Israel. So we are going to dig into the Scripture to find out what is really causing this rebellion
1. Wrong Actions (14:9-10)
1. Wrong Actions (14:9-10)
Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
These people had picked up stones, ready to kill the man who had rescued them from bondage and from Egypt. They were so angry with the fact that they were so close to the promised land yet so far away that they were ready to kill Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. Their anger was so strong that they were ready to break the law of God and disregard their own salvation. They had forgotten the omnipotent power of the Lord and His miraculous works. They were willing to drop the law of God from their hands and pick up stones instead to kill these four men.
It got so bad in fact that the Lord Himself had to show up and make an appearance to take over the proceedings.
What happened that they had come to this point so quickly?
Wrong Actions come from
2. Wrong Words (14:1-4)
2. Wrong Words (14:1-4)
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.
Each year on the fourth of July the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Company sponsors a hot dog eating contest. In 2013 Joey Chestnut won the competition for the seventh year in a row, setting a new record by eating 69 hot dogs and buns in just ten minutes. The second runner up “only” managed to eat 51. According to news reports, Chestnut received a prize of $10,000 for his eating performance, and consumed over 20,000 calories during his eating spree.
Few of us are in danger of eating seventy hot dogs in one day, let alone nearly seven a minute for ten minutes straight. And yet we live in a world where “enough” is never enough. Many people devote their lives to acquiring wealth and possessions, living with a focus only on the temporal. As a result, rather than living in contentment, they live in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction. They struggle to get the latest and biggest and newest toys and never enjoy a moment of peace.
“Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.”—Proverbs 25:16-17
Your contentment must come from Christ. The Israelites were overcome by discontentment which led to their grumbling and complaining.
Verses 1 and 2 emphasize the pervasiveness of the entire population. The words “all the congregation” in verse 1, “all the children of Israel” in verse 2, and “the whole congregation” again in verse 2 tells the reader that this was not just a few or even a slight majority, but the entire congregation, except for Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. This threefold emphasis on the extent of the rebellion is important, for the judgement of God will extend tot he entire community, which has been given over to wailing, an intense form of complaining that is a distinctively eastern practice. This is not a scene of passive resignation, of silent ruing. We are to imagine the worst sort of rage, a picture of screaming, rending, throwing, cursing anger- an intoxication of grief.
When your eyes are on yourself and your own circumstances, you lose a godly perspective and you say and do ridiculous things.
The more the people complained, the more the people complained.
**All it takes is a spark of a bad attitude to ignite the wildfire of complaining in an entire congregation.
They would rather die in bondage in Egypt than experience the salvation of the Lord. They are even asking to be killed right here in this wilderness.
How serious can complaining be, I mean seriously cmon. The Lord takes it very serious. In fact He takes it so seriously that it makes Him angry. Just a few chapter earlier the Bible says this
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.
The Jews had a long record of complaining agaisnt the Lord and their leaders, and being judged for it. Their murmuring began on the night of the Exodus when they were sure Pharaoh’s army was going to kill them in Exodus 14. As they entered the wilderness of Shur, they complained because the didn’t have water to drink in chapter 15, and they murmured because they missed the delicious meals in Egypt in chapter 16. In chapter 17 they were ready to stone Moses because they had no water, and in Numbers 11 as we just read they complained and some were killed by fire. Moses became so discouraged that he literally wanted to die.
Many other scriptures make reference to it
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Grudge=murmur
In Proverbs 23:29 we see that complaining is a characteristic of a drunkard.
Yea, they despised the pleasant land,
They believed not his word:
But murmured in their tents,
And hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
without murmuring
Here’s a verse to remember, a verse each of us need to memorize.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
When the child of God is in the will of God, there is no place for complaining, even if the circumstances are difficult. The will of God will never lead us where the grace of God can’t provide for us or the power of God protect us. If our daily prayer is “Thy will be done”, and if we walk in obedience to God’s will, then what is there to complain about? A complaining spirit is evidence of an ungrateful heart and an unsurrendered will. By our grumbling, we’re daring to say that we know more than God does about what’s best for his people.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
So what is at the root of wrong words?
Wrong Words come from
3. Wrong Thoughts (13:28-31)
3. Wrong Thoughts (13:28-31)
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
These 10 spies let their fleshly reasoning outweigh their belief in their God. They thought, that they knew better. In other words they were quite prideful. The sin of pride is an epidemic that many Christians do not realize is affecting them, their families, and their churches. Pride, in its simplest form, is at the root of many many sins, if not the majority of sins. In fact it was the very first sin.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Satan was prideful enough to think that he could be like God.
And again we see it in the first human sin
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Because of Satan’s own pride and lies, Eve believed if she ate the fruit, she could be like gods.
Pride usually starts as a thought and somehow always manages to manifest itself as words or actions.
It is because of this first sin of pride that we also struggle with sin, especially the sin of pride. This sin nature, or inclination to sin has infected every human who has ever lived. It is a literal curse. When given the choice to believe and do God’s will or our own, our flesh will naturally choose to follow ourselves rather than God.
These 10 spies had given into their flesh and sinful natures because they had forgotten about their Lord and what He had done for them. Their thinking meditated on the evil and wicked things of the people living in the promised land. Their thoughts dwelled on fear and anxiety rather than the promises of God. Maybe that’s you tonight. Maybe your mind is constantly inundated with ungodly thoughts and emotions of fear and anxiety and dread and worry. That is not how the Lord desires for you to live.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
So what is at the root of fear and any sort of wrong thoughts,
Wrong thoughts come from
4. Wrong Beliefs (14:11)
4. Wrong Beliefs (14:11)
This is the final root. We have dug and dug and dug and now were at the very bottom of the root system. Because of wrong beliefs we have wrong thoughts, wrong words, and wrong actions.
And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
So the Lord speaks and He give the final word. He tells us what this final root is. He says how long will they not believe in Me? They have seen all these marvelous works. They’ve heard the amazing stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. They were slaves in Egypt and I rescued them and delivered them and did countless miracles for them, yet they still don’t believe in me.
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
**Spurgeon sermon
On Thursday evening, June 8th, 1876 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London England, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon began his sermon with the verse Mark 16:14 “He upbraided them with their unbelief.” He said to his congregation: “I shall not dwell so much upon this particular instance of the disciples’ unbelief as upon the fact that the Lord Jesus upbraided them because of it. This action of his shows us the way in which unbelief is to be treated by us. As our loving Saviour felt it to be right rather to upbraid than to console, he taught us that, at lease on some occasions, unbelief should be treated with severity rather than with condolence. Beloved friends, let us never look upon our own unbelief as an excusable infirmity, but let us always regard it as a sin, and as a great sin too.”
Take your sin seriously
So we’ve got beliefs, thoughts, words, and actions. Think of it like this with me. Your heart represents your beliefs. Your head represents your thoughts. And your hands represent your words and actions. So your heart affects your head, which will affect your hands.
So here’s their problem which I believe is our problem too.
They really were not too concerned with fixing any of their issues. They’ve been complaining and murmuring and grumbling for a long time. But if they did try to fix any issues, they only tried to fix the fruit. They would only try to stop wrong words and wrong actions as they were happening. It doesn’t work like that.
You, you’ve got to go deeper than that. Not just your thoughts, not just the head, no even deeper. You must start with the heart.
It’s gonna do me no good to try to conform myself on the outside to look like a Christian without conforming on the inside first. It’s not gonna do me any good to try to make myself a better Christian and make myself look like a good spiritual person if I don’t have any real heart change.
And listen, that’s another place where I think we often get messed up. Is we try to conform ourselves to the image of Christ instead of allowing Christ by faith to conform us to His image.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
That’s how sanctification takes place, not by you doing all these good works trying to make yourself into a good person, nooo its by faith, and then because of your faith in your heart, the natural fruit of that is good works.
You’re not righteous because you do righteous things, nooo you’re righteous because Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to you by faith. I am being molded into the image of Christ in this sanctification process by faith. That’s why the Scriptures continually tell us to increase our faith, stand in faith, walk in faith, etc.
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
You’re not righteous because of you, you’re righteous because of Christ in you. The doctrine of imputation is a glorious doctrine that many neglect to study. Let me tell you briefly how the doctrine of imputation affects you.
There’s three imputations that affect you. First, Adam’s sin is imputed to all of humanity.
We talked about the sin nature right, that all men have an inclination to sin because of adam and his original sin.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
So we are guilty because of our sin and sin nature.
Second imputation: Humanity’s sin is imputed to Christ.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
So He took on our sin. He died because of my sin, and your sin. He was innocent yet became guilty for you and for me.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Not only did He take on our sin, but we take on His righteousness. Now when God the Father looks at you, He does not see the disgusting sinner that you were, no He sees Christ in you and Christ’s righteousness.
You aren’t a good person because of the good things that you do. You are a bad person who was made into a good person because the greatest person decided to intervene in your life and save you and put His own righteousnesses on you.
You want to overcome your wrong thoughts, wrong words, and wrong actions? You must continually live in faith and trust God.
Listen right here I’m almost done. Some of y’all do not understand the severity of your sin.
The Israelites were so broken and so backslidden that they desired to go back to Egypt. They desired to go back into bondage. They desired to go back under oppression, they may not have necessarily desired the beatings and whippings but they thought that Egypt and Pharaoh had more to offer than their own God. They missed the food of Egypt. Literally. Numbers 11:5
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Now y’all know me, I’m a lover of all things food, as you can see, but my goodness, is the pleasure worth the pain?
Listen to what Hebrews says about this:
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
We hear this story of the Israelites and think it’s ridiculous that they could even think of going back to Egypt, yet Christians today are doing that exact thing.
God has done miracles and miracles in your life that you may not even be aware of, He has saved you which is a miracle in and of itself. So He lovingly embraces you with His salvation, yet when sin calls and tempts you pull away and go back into your sin. It’s like if Lazarus after being raised to life ran back into his tomb and put his graveclothes back on, it would be like if the leper ran back to the leper colony and put his rags back on his arms where the sores used to be, it would be like the lame man who was healed getting back on his bed at the city gates not wanting to get up and walk.
Every time you go back to your sins you are like the Israelite who desires to go back to Egypt. Jesus Christ died to bring you out of the bondage of sin, He didn’t save you so that you could constantly go back into it. That’s not the purpose of grace that’s not the purpose of the gospel. He saved you so that you could be set apart for Him and molded into His image, and one day you can be presented before Him holy and blameless.
Stop the rebellion. Take your sin seriously. Whether its wrong actions, wrong words, or wrong thoughts, it all stems from wrong beliefs. The church’s theme this year is growth, and if you want to grow you must figure out what diseased roots are hindering you from growing and cut and prune those out. Align your beliefs with God, and grow your faith in Him.
Romans 10:17 says
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Examine your own heart and life to see if you have any of these roots of rebellion and make the conscious decision and effort to prune those roots out of your life.
wrong actions
wrong words
wrong thoughts
wrong beliefs