← ArchiveNumbersSunday, March 17, 2019DateMarch 17, 2019Speaker—TextNumbers 20Passages in this sermonNumbers 201:49Luke 192:22John 182:35Numbers 20:17:58John 3:1729:52John 1729:581 Corinthians 1032:59Exodus 1736:04John 737:48TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00The End How's everyone doing?0:30Excellent. My name is Josh, lead pastor here. Thank you for worshiping with us this morning. We forgot to mention earlier that if you have something that the Lord is doing in your heart, something that you would like for us to pray for, if you're new here, you can fill out that Connect card and put it in the offering bucket at the end of the service. So you have time to pray over that as the Lord leads you.1:00Most of you know this song. It goes like something like this, right? Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Once blind, but now see. Most of us know that song from childhood, from infancy. And yet I began to think and pray over our passage of Scripture today and realized Amazing Grace is a song of those who were lost and are now found.1:28And that's exactly where we've been as a church. We've been lost for about two and a half months in the book of Numbers. Can you believe it's been two and a half months? I went back and made sure that my math was correct in that. If you have your copy of God's Word, join me in Numbers chapter 20 today. Numbers chapter 20. We've been wandering around the wilderness for about two and a half months, give or take.1:57And this sermon series, as you've already seen, is simply entitled Lost. I once was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, but now I'm found. And lostness is not only in Old Testament concepts. We see the imagery of lostness in the New Testament. For example, Jesus Christ himself says these words in Luke chapter 19,2:22that the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost. Jesus also says in John 18, I have not lost one of those that the Father has given him. So this idea of lostness pervades scripture. It's not an antiquated term. And really, I believe that the Word of God demonstrates that every believer,2:52really every person in the world is in one or two categories. The first is this category, those who are lost. Today, you fit into that category where you do not know Jesus Christ, where you have not ever heard the name of Christ. As our missionary friends share this morning, that they prayed with someone in North Africa in the name of Jesus. And that was the first time he had ever heard anyone speak the name of Jesus Christ.3:18We say, wow, is that even possible? Well, think about this. In St. Clair County 2010 census, 52% of people in this county identify as either non-religious or non-practicing. 52%, which tells us, has this immediate truth. You do not live in a Christian county. Think about that.3:4952% of people say, I just don't practice. I don't have any religious affiliation. So that you are living in a mission field. And you say, well, surely not. Wait till the 2020 census comes out. We have to be hyper-vigilant of reaching the lost. So some of you are in that category right now. You are lost. And maybe you've never thought about that before. You've just grown up in church. And you think by your good merit that you will earn your way into heaven.4:16Or one day God will weigh the scales in your life. And the good things, the times that you've helped people across the street, particularly old ladies who can't get across the street. And the times that you've been nice to your parents and honored them or given money to missions, that those good things that you deem good will outweigh the bad things. That's not biblical. That's not godliness. So some of you are there today. You are lost.4:46The hope is that Jesus has come to save you. You don't have to remain in your lostness. The other group of people is this. Those who were lost. So there are only two types of people in the world. Those who are lost are those who were lost. I once was lost, but now I am found. Why is this important? Because we must never forget that if you were lost, you did not find yourself.5:11You didn't go to the rainforest and had an epiphany and said, ah, now I understand. It's only by the grace of Jesus Christ, through his atoning work on the cross, that you were found. So let me just say as nicely as I can to church people, you didn't find yourself. Get over yourself. We need to quit acting like we found something and we found ourselves.5:40We need to tell people, look, we were exactly where you were. I was lost in my sin and my rebellion and God, by his mercy, sent his son to save a wretch like me. That's what others need to see. That's what others need to hear. And so if you are lost right now, know that Jesus came to find you. And that if you turn from your sins and you turn to him right now, that he will forgive you of your sins and make you new.6:10And if you were lost, take time to celebrate God's goodness in your life. Because you've done nothing to earn God's favor. But Jesus did everything to give you righteousness. And so with that introduction, we're going to look at Numbers chapter 20. And this is what we see in the text. We have a congregation now, at this point, they've wandered around, the wilderness for 40 years.6:40And what have they learned? Not much of anything. 40 years in and they've learned nothing. Now let me stop and say this. What a great indictment it would be upon the people of God if others look at us and say, you know what? Josh has been following Christ as he says he's followed Christ for 40 years and nothing has changed. What a grand indictment that is against the people of God, if that is us.7:10And so if our testimony, if your testimony sounds like this, well, I was saved 40 years ago and that's it? That's not much of a testimony. That's not much of a God. That's not much of the strength of the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life as nothing has happened in 40 years. Surely we can learn something for Christ working in our life. And may we commit today, if I only had one prayer for us,7:39that we would commit and say, Lord, help me flourish spiritually. Father, help me grow that I would be different today than I was yesterday because you have the man who is dead is now alive again in Jesus Christ. So let's look at the word. Numbers chapter 20, verse 1. The sin of Zen is the sermon title this morning. The sin of Zen. The entire Israelite community entered the wilderness of Zen in the first month.8:08Now, just mentally highlight these words because we're glossing over them because they don't make significant impact on us right now, but they will. So highlight in your mind the wilderness of Zen. The first month that they settled in Kadesh, Miriam died and was buried there. So I want you to think about those three things. The wilderness of Zen, the first month in Miriam.8:36Verse 2. There was no water for the community. So they assembled against Moses and Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. Why have you, Moses, brought the Lord's assembly into the wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?9:03Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink. Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly of the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell face down and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses.9:34Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock. Remember that word. Remember that phrase. While they watch and it will yield as water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink from the community and their livestock. So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence just as the Lord had commanded him. Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock.10:03And Moses said to them, Listen, you rebels. Must we bring water out of this rock for you? Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff. So that abundant water gushed out and the community and their livestocks drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the assembly of the Israelites,10:33you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them. These are the waters of Meribah where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and he demonstrated his holiness to them. Let's pray. Father, we simply ask right now that you would slow our minds and our hearts down11:02to truly hear your word. That we would understand the division of the self-centered life and your desire for the spirit-filled life for each and every one of us. Lord, for those right now in this assembly who are lost,11:32they have walked in here in the darkness and the blindness of their sin, remind them today that you sent your son to find them and to save them. And that if they would turn from their sins and confess to you that Jesus is Lord, that they would be saved. Father, for those in here right now that were lost,12:00may we rejoice in the God of our salvation. May we not act as if we have earned righteousness on our own, as if we have brought water from the rock on our own, but may we daily be thankful for the mercy that you have provided12:23in the rock of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. The two lives, right? The self-centered life and the spirit-filled life. So let's look at the Numbers chapter 20 again. This is a story that has deeply troubled readers in the audience for thousands of years12:51and for many, many reasons there. I think primarily that we see in 13 verses, Aaron and Moses, they lose the most cherished dream that they have, the promised land. Let that be a warning for God's people. If in 13 verses, the prophet of God can lose his promised lands,13:18who are we to think that God will not judge our sin anymore? We say, well, God's a loving God. He would never do that anymore. The same God that speaks in Numbers 20 is the same God who still rules today. And we're going to work that out. But may we never think that God has elevated us to mosaic status or greater than that. Secondly, we see, I believe we can feel the heaviness of this passage.13:48Now, I ask you to mentally highlight three thoughts in verse 1. And they were this, right? The wilderness is in. The second was simply the first month. And the third was Miriam died. Now, let's look at the heaviness and the weight of this passage that sometimes we miss in verse 1. The wilderness of Zen was what? You say, well, I don't know where that is. Some of you are Googling it right now. You're mapping that. The wilderness of Zen was the southern border of the promised land.14:19You might not think of that as important. But the wilderness of Zen would have been the jumping off point for the adventure into the promised lands. This is where the spies began their journey, the 12 spies that scouted out the land, the land that God had already promised them. That's why it's called the promised lands. They had the easiest job in the world. Just go take pictures, post it to Instagram, and tell the people, look, this is what God is giving you. We don't really have to take it.14:51We just walk in. The people have given up. The Bible says that God had melted their hearts. This should have been the beginning of the freedom trail. Unfortunately, the people rebelled against God's grace in their life, and they are not in the promised lands. So this was actually a reminder of the rebellion of the people and not a rejoicing in God's grace and mercy. Second point, the heaviness of this passage. We see that they're in the first month. Now, some of you who have been reading the Old Testament,15:22some of you who have already signed up for our Passover Seder meal are thinking, hey, I know the first month. That's where the people should have been celebrating the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. What's the Passover? The Passover is a reminder of the final plague in Egypt, a place where some of these people were living, and God delivered them. And you remember, it's called the Passover because God said, I'm going to send the angel of death to slaughter every firstborn male.15:50And I want to remind you that most of the CEOs, most of your presidents are firstborn in their family. This would have wiped out generations of leadership. This would have had devastating effects on a political empire. But God said, if you trust me and you put the blood of a lamb on your door, spotless lamb, that the angel will see the blood of the lamb on the doorframe16:20and it will pass over you. And instead of death and condemnation in your life, you will receive life instead of death. And that would happen in the first month. And so Israel set their calendar by this new spiritual reality in their life. Israel's calendar was literally set upon the Passover when God delivered them. Think about your life. If you have rejoiced that God has saved you,16:50should your spiritual journey, should your calendar not begin there? And maybe you can go back to that day where you began anew. And so they're not in the promised land and they're not celebrating the Passover in the promised land like they should be. And the third weighty message is Miriam passing. Who is Miriam? So Miriam is the only female in this generation that we have recorded in the scripture that dies and has her name in the word of God.17:17Who is Miriam? She's Moses' sister. We say, well, man, he must have loved his sister. Well, she was a sister, but she was a really good sister. She was a sister that when mom put Moses in the Nile and he, in the basket that she had fashioned, he was floating down the river. Miriam was a sister that walked and followed this little ark. And Miriam was a sister that when the daughter of Pharaoh,17:48the Pharaoh that said any Hebrew son will be killed, the daughter of Pharaoh that picked up this little baby, looked around and said, well, who does he belong to? Where will we find a nurse? Miriam was the child that said, I know one. His mom would make a really good nurse. And the way that God provided for Moses, Pharaoh paid Moses' mom to nurse him and take care of him. And Miriam was there.18:17Can you imagine the heaviness of Moses right now? Not in the promised land. Supposed to be celebrating the Passover in the promised land. And now Miriam has passed away. And in the midst of all of this disappointment, we find a rebellious community. They have learned nothing in 40 years. Here we find them again assembling and grumbling against the people of God.18:46And so this is where now we enter the equation because this speaks a lot about selfishness, man-centeredness, and the opposite what is spirit-led congregation. And so how can we apply this to our life? And so for a brief moment, I want you to focus on two realities. I want you to first look inward, and then we're going to look upward. Because the reality is you can't look upward if you're not looking inward.19:15So what do we see in the word of God? Look at verse 3. The people, and we can say again and again and again and again, quarreled with Moses and said, if we had only perished when our brothers, remember that word, when our brothers perished before the Lord. So first thing that self-centeredness does in our lives, in your life and my life,19:44self-centeredness and selfishness in your life always leads to contention and rebellion. If you're quarreling with someone right now, I guarantee you there's some selfishness in your heart. Even if they are 99.9% at fault, there is 0.01% of selfishness in your life. And that's the reality of these people. They're fighting again, and these assemblers should have known better. Look what they say in verse 3 and 4.20:13If we had perished when our brothers had perished. So who is complaining right now? If you say the older generation or the younger generation, who's complaining? It's the ones who had the brothers in the other, the brothers from the same mother at this point, right? In Egypt. The senior generation. Well, if we would just die when they died, they're quarreling.20:43they're quarreling. They should have known better. These are people who have experienced the deliverance of God in their life, and they have closed their eyes to God's providence, and now they're quarreling, and they are rebelling. So if the older generation, some of you are feeling a little guilty right now, and you should be probably. If the older generation is complaining, who's listening? The younger generation. Now let that be a reminder of the community of faith. So what the younger generation is hearing right now21:12is that mom and dad are grumbling against the Lord, so maybe we can do that. And some of us have complained. Some of us have grumbled, and now we cry out to God, and we say, God, where are all the young people? Why have they left the church? You know why? If we're honest, it's about to get real deep. Because they have seen mom and dad quarrel more than live a Christ-filled life.21:38And younger generations have seen mom and dad, if all you do is grumble about God working in your life and about the people of God, why would we want that? When you quarrel, it has a profound impact on the next generation. So next time you're willing to open your mouth against the Lord's mercy in your life and against the leadership of God working out in your life, look at the younger generation.22:08A lot of them are right here because they're listening to you, and you're teaching them that it's okay to grumble against the Lord. What a sad state of affairs, is it not? And that begins with sinfulness. You know what? Lost people quarrel. And I made a promise a long time ago to the Lord that I will never speak down about my bride to other people. I don't care what she does,22:40if she doesn't do me anything. If anyone's going to do anything in our family, it's me. I have an easy time with this, but I will never speak down upon my bride to anyone else. And the second promise I made to the Lord was this, I will not speak down about the bride of Christ, the church, to others. Because if they hear me quarreling and grumbling about the people of God, how much more will the younger generation, how much more will those who are currently lost, grumble and rebel against God in their life?23:11And may you just make a commitment right now, God, I'm not going to quarrel, I'm not going to grumble against your people, against your assembly. Because if I'm lost, and you're supposedly found, and you're grumbling against God and his work in your life, I don't want to be found into that. The heart of self-centeredness. That's why Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers.23:40What is that? People who have made a commitment, God, I will live for peace. As the scripture says, as much as it depends on you, make peace. Selfishness makes you quarrel, makes you grumble. We also see this in the word of God, in verse three and four, the people quarrel with Moses and said, if only we had perished, Moses, when our brothers perished before us. Why have you brought us out into the wilderness24:09that we may die? And not even us, who else? Our pets are going to die. Our livestock, you hate the cows. Moses, you know what they're doing? Catastrophic language. They're catastrophizing, which is a word, I looked it up. And that's what selfishness makes us do. It paints our situation darker than it really is. You see, what they're doing in their life,24:39they're looking at their circumstances and they're not looking to God. That's the heart of selfishness. And what we see here, they continue. They say, Moses, in verse five, why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this place of Ra'ah, this evil place? Now, we say, well, why would they call something good? Why would they call something evil that God has already said is good, but there's something deeper going on here.25:09Out of the 12 spies that spied out the land, two came back and said, this is a good land flowing of milk and honey. Ten spies came back and said, this was an evil lands. You see, they're mirroring the language of the spies. That's what selfishness does in our life. It perpetuates ungodly lies. It makes us catastrophize the things in our lives. So when you settle in the selfish wilderness of Zen,25:38we always focus on the problem and the plight rather than the answer, who is Jesus? And you know, what we want to do is white knuckle our way out. Let me just bear down and work harder. That's not the gospel. The gospel really is encapsulated in the old hymn, you turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face26:10and the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace. Will you make a commitment today just to look more at Christ? When we look only at our situation, it maximizes our difficulty and it minimizes God's working out in your life. The people are looking and saying, ah, the cows are dying. Moses, don't you even care?26:40They're thirsty. And they've looked at their situation and they can't look at a God who is, if you know your scriptures, he's already provided water from a rock. Are you looking too much at your situation today and not looking to Jesus? Because everything else will grow strangely, strangely dim if you look at the beauty of what Jesus has in your life. Be careful of making a catastrophe out of what God says is not above his control.27:08Third, selfishness does this in our life. Look at verse four. They say, why have you brought the Lord's assembly into the wilderness? Now, did you pick that up? Why have you, Moses, why have you brought the Lord's assembly into the wilderness? Verse five, why have you led us into the wilderness27:36to die right here? What's going on? Selfishness always leads you to place blame on someone else. It's called blame shifting or blame projection, right? It's never your fault. It's never my fault. It's always your fault, Moses. I can't believe you did this. And the reality is it was the sinfulness of our hearts. One commentator says it this way, that all of us have blame retardant hearts.28:06We never want to take the blame in our lives. It's always a situation. It's always someone else's fault. And that is the heart of ego and selfishness. Psychologists define projection as this way. Listen to this. Projection and blame shifting happens as a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself28:34by denying personal responsibility and attributing it to someone else. And the answer to selfishness in your life and in my life is what 1 John would say. If you would confess your sins, that God is faithful and just to forgive you. And without the confession of your sins, you will never be saved. And the danger for many of us29:03is that we have been told by someone, well, if you want to go to heaven, you pray this prayer without looking internally first. The danger in church life is we say, well, just look up to Jesus. And we forget to say, before you need to look up to Jesus, you should look into your heart. You must take responsibility for your sins. Confession comes from a heart that looks inwardly. And praise God that you can't see my heart.29:33Praise God that I can't see your heart. But the reality is that God sees all of our hearts. And so we need to quit saying you and you and you, and we need to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. John chapter 3, verse 17. Some of you say, well, didn't you skip verse 16? John 17 says, but God did not send a sign into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Jesus.30:03The reality is that we're already condemned because of our sin. Don't place blame on someone else. Are you willing to take responsibility for your sin today? Because the reality is there will be a day where you must face the consequences. And there will be a day where I look God face to face and I will be held accountable for my sin. And this is what Jesus did. Jesus is the opposite of blame projection.30:33If anything, Jesus is the reverse of this. Jesus' death on the cross is him looking to his father and saying, God, I know that Josh is guilty, but I'll take his blame. God, I know that Josh deserves punishment for his rebellion, but I'll take the punishment. You see, the gospel is the antithesis to a self-centered life.31:03What a glorious story that Jesus would take our blame upon himself if we would willingly confess him and say, Jesus, I want that. That's the beauty of finding Christ and being found in him. So if the first part of this passage is a self-centered life, how can we now live a spirit-filled life? Look at verse 8.31:33Let me give us some promises and hallmarks to take home today from the word of the Lord. The Lord says to Moses, take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock. Who's staff? Some of you here last week32:03are thinking, I know Aaron's staff, the one that budded and the one that blossomed and the one that produced almonds. Very possible. It could be the staff of Aaron that the people have seen God work in their life, but it could also be another staff. It could be the staff of Moses, the same staff that would have touched the Nile and turned the Nile River into blood. It could have been the same staff that he stretched out over the Red Sea32:32and the waters parted and the people walked through on dry ground. Regardless, the staff was a reminder of the promises of God in the lives of the community. So what is the Lord telling Moses? The Spirit led life confidently rest upon the faithfulness of Yahweh. It's a reminder of 1 Corinthians 10, but God is faithful.33:02Some of you today need to hold on to the staff. You're here and you've been beaten up by the world and God is saying, take the staff, remember the promises. And when you take the staff, hold firm. Remember that God is faithful faithful in your life. Remember that He is the faithful one. Remember that He is the one33:31that will provide. And remember that the greater your struggle, the greater your grip on the staff of His promises. Church, hold tight to the promises of God. Never let those leave you. We also see this, the Spirit-filled life in verse 8. Again, the Lord says, Moses, take your staff and speak to the rock. What did Israel do34:00to deserve the rock? Great answer. Nothing. They have done nothing. And it's a reminder that the Spirit-filled life rejoices in mercy. Spurgeon says it this way, God's mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water or deprive the sun of its light or make space too narrow than diminish the great mercy of God.34:28Are you rejoicing in God's mercy in your life? If you are found, if you were lost and you no longer are lost, rejoice in that fact. Rejoice in the fact that you should be lost and God in His mercy has offered you salvation as He has offered every man who believes. But I would also encourage you to do this today. Find mercy in someone else's life34:58and celebrate that. I find often that we're not quick to celebrate mercy in other people's lives. And they're desperately of need of the same rock as you have. Spirit-led people rejoice in mercy. They rejoice when we say, man, look at God working in God's life. Can you believe that? How awesome God we serve. And Larry, can you believe that God refreshed your soul and now hearing that35:26is refreshing my soul. Choose to find mercy in someone else's life today and rejoice in that. That's the Spirit-led life. What else do we see in the Spirit-led life? Verse 8, take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock and they will watch and it will yield its water. Now let's drill down at this point here. Moses was to do what to the rock?35:55Speak to the rock. Now, in Moses' defense, there's already been an episode in Exodus 17 that the people were thirsty and they needed water and God said, if you take your staff and you hit the rock, water will come out. So Moses is thinking, hey, not my first time around the block. But that's not what God said. God told him in this instant to speak to the rock.36:23And so Moses, whether or not listening or not obeying, decides to do something different. Now, we're going to come back to that point. But what is God reminding the people? That ultimately, refreshment to the people of God comes from God himself. The Spirit-led life is a refreshed life. Isn't that what we see in Scripture?36:52in Scripture? Did you know that neurologists have studied thirst patterns? And they have found that nothing quenches the thirst of a person more than water. Now, I would say, well, maybe my brain is hardwired incorrectly because I would argue that a cold Coca-Cola does it just as bad, just as well for me. But neurologists would say, I'm wrong, that only fresh water can quench your thirst.37:21And how much more spiritually? Some of you are here right now and you're thirsting and just know that only the refreshment of the Spirit of God can quench your thirst. And the opposite is true. For those who have the Spirit of God, you should be quenched. You shouldn't be thirsty because Jesus makes it very clear. In John 7, 37, he says,37:51he says, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, Jesus, and drink. And in verse 38, the one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep from deep within him. Now, this is where 1 Corinthians 10 connects the dots of numbers with the New Testament church. 1 Corinthians 10 said that they did drink and the rock is Jesus Christ. So for you right now,38:21if you know Jesus, you should have wells of living water flowing within you. The Spirit-filled life is a refreshed life. Some of you are thinking, oh man, I failed. I'm worn out. Well, we ultimately find rest in Jesus, don't we? I had a friend that was diagnosed with cancer the last several weeks and as he was relaying his story, he said,38:51he said, look, I'm okay. God's gonna work through this. But he said, the doctor could not understand why I was taking the news like I was taking it. As if something had refreshed his soul in spite of the bad diagnosis the doctor had just given. And she kept saying, are you sure you're okay? And he said, you don't understand. I've been redeemed. I've been refreshed. And yes, my circumstance has changed.39:21has changed. But the same rock that gave me water 10 minutes ago is the same living water that wells up within me because of the Holy Spirit. And others need to see spiritual refreshment in your life. That is the Spirit-filled life. Be refreshed. And maybe you just need to stop and go, ah, right now. That is the satisfaction that we receive in Jesus.39:49If I lose everything in my life, I can still sit back and say, God, you've given me all that I need through the rock of Jesus Christ. Lastly, what is a Spirit-led life look like? Let's go back to verse 12 or go forward to verse 12. We are to be refreshed. We are to rejoice in mercy. We are to confidently40:19hold on to the promises of God. But we're also to do this, Moses, to do this, church. And if we're not careful, sometimes we forget to live out, to demonstrate Christ working in us. Look at the indictment of the Lord upon Moses in verse 12. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of Israel, you will not bring40:49this assembly into the land which I have given you. See, Moses decided not to speak to the rock but to smite the rock twice. Now this is a passage of scripture that has really caused a lot of sensational scholarship because we don't know what the sin actually was. So throughout the ages, Jewish community and the Christian community have postulated on the sin of the people. Some would say41:20it was a character flaw. He was an angry man because remember he called the people rebels. Maybe he was a coward or some would even say he was callous to Miriam's death. He didn't mourn like he should have mourned and that was the sin. Some would say, well, he questioned God or he doubted the Lord or he was contentious towards the people. Some scholars would say, well, no, no, it's not any of that. It was his physical activity41:49because instead of speaking to the rock, he struck the rock. Some say that he chose the wrong rock. We don't know which rock God told him to choose, do we? Some say, well, he struck it twice. We don't know the specific sin of Moses, but we do know the consequence. And the reality for Moses was that he led this rebellious generation for 40 years42:19and at the very end he lost it all because he did not demonstrate the holiness of God. You see, the spirit-led life is a life that demonstrates the holiness of God. And we live in a culture that says this, and I want you to hear from a pastor's mouth what I hear over and over and over again. Hey, Bubba, we'll just call42:49this person Bubba. Bubba, are you a Christian? Oh, yes, I'm a Christian. Do you worship anywhere? Oh, no, I don't do that. I worship at home. Okay. Well, do you think you should worship anywhere? No, no, no, I can live my life how I want to. For the person who believes that they can live their life by their terms, that is not a person that has surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ.43:19And Moses, if we could speak to him right now, would say, don't do it on your terms. It's not worth it. Live according to the word and the precepts of God in your life. Demonstrate the holiness of God. But what if we get ridiculed? That's okay. I would rather take the word of the Lord and the ways of the Lord over the ways of man any day. Demonstrate the holiness43:48the holiness of the Spirit-filled life. Spurgeon, again, clarifies this point. He said, there is nothing which my heart desires more than to see you, the members of the church, distinguished for holiness. It is the Christian's crown and glory, an unholy church. It is of no use to the world and of no esteem44:17among men. Oh, and it is an abomination. It is hell's laughter and heaven's abhorrence. The Spirit-filled Christ's life is a holy life. And as we see here, the Lord said, you do not demonstrate my holiness in the sight. Literally, the Hebrew is in the eyes of the people. And what the eyes of the people need to see44:46if you are a Christ follower is to see you walk humbly with your Lord and demonstrate His holiness. So how do we live this out? We're going to have a time of response and Matt and the team are going to lead. Some of you right now have failed to live a holy life. And you would call yourself a Christ follower. Let me encourage you this way. The Christ follower45:17will ultimately always fall on the side of God in regards to His sin. And if you're here right now and you say, I know I'm a sinner, I just don't care. I enjoy this and I'm going to do it. I would say, you are not a Christ follower. You are lost and you're living a selfish life, but here's the hope for you. You can be saved if you would look inwardly and confess your sins. And say, God, I know now I cannot do it on my own and I want to turn to Christ and Him alone.45:47Maybe you know that you failed and you are not living a life that is honoring God and you need to come to the steps here and just hit your face before God and say, Lord, I am sorry, forgive me and empower me to live and demonstrate your holiness. Maybe in our time of response, you need to find mercy in your life and celebrate that. Maybe you should stand where you are and raise your hands and say, God, I'm going to spend this time celebrating your mercy46:16in my life, thanking you for the refreshment, holding on to the grip of the staff, the promises of God in my life. That would be an adequate response to the Word this morning. I don't know how the Holy Spirit has moved you, but I know He has. And would you respond rightly to the Word of the Lord in celebration and repentance and in glory of our Lord and Savior? Maybe you're here right now and I know46:46there are some in our midst that are not Christ followers and right now you are lost. Are you ready to have new life? That's what Jesus is offering. To say, if you would follow me today, I will make you new. Listen to the first line of the biography, the autobiography of St. Patrick of Ireland. He would say this, my name is Patrick,47:15I am a sinner, a simple country person, in the least of all believers, and I am looked down upon by many. That is a heart of a man who once was lost, but now is found. We have two choices, don't we? The self-centered life or the spirit-filled life. Choose today47:44Choose today who you will serve. But may we follow the example of St. Patrick. Lord, I am the least of all believers, a sinner. Let's pray.← Previous in NumbersSunday, March 10, 2019Next in Numbers →Sunday, March 31, 2019More sermons on Numbers →
