← ArchiveNumbersSunday, March 31, 2019DateMarch 31, 2019Speaker—TextNumbers 33Passages in this sermonNumbers 332:26Joshua 418:41Numbers 1124:44TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Transcribed by ESO, translated by — I love to tell this story, it is pleasant to repeat, which seems each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet.0:30I love to tell the story, for some have never heard the message of salvation from God's own holy word.0:50Then there's a chorus that sounds something like this, right? I love to tell the story, will be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Some of you are thinking, I've never heard that.1:20If you have heard it, why don't you sing it with me? I love to tell the story, will be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. That's what we're doing today. We are telling the old, old story.1:50And we're doing so in the book of Numbers. Some of you have been here for the last several months, and we've been reading through the book. And Brad did a fantastic job preaching in my absence last week. Brad, God bless you for not having this week. As you see the text we're about to read, we're going to retrace the story of what God has done among his people. So if you have your Bibles with you today, I encourage you, you're going to need them specifically today,2:19more than any other day, to follow along in the text. Numbers chapter 33. And I sent those to Eric, who usually puts all of our words on the screen. He said, are you sure you're going to read all 50 verses? And I said, hold on, buckle up. Because the word of God is that important that we should enjoy it. You know, what do you do when you are confident, but you've lost your way?2:46What do you do when you feel like nothing is working right? What do you do when you feel like you're walking around in circles or treading water? How do you pick up the pieces after you've sinned or brokenness in your life because of someone else's sin? And what do you do when you simply feel lost? The refrain that we've heard the last several weeks here at the church going through this book of the Bible is,3:13the greater the maze, the greater the haze. It's hard to see God sometimes working in our lives. And we're simply going to look at the 40 years worth of journey in the word of God today. So follow along with me as I read Numbers 33, beginning in verse 1, finishing in verse 49 today.3:34Numbers 33 in the Old Testament, these were the stages of the Israelites' journey when they went out of the land of Egypt by their military divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. At the Lord's command, Moses wrote down the starting points for the stages of the journey.4:02And these are the stages listed by their starting points. Church, are we ready? Verse 3, they traveled from Ramses in the first month of the 15th day of the month. On the day after the Passover, the Israelites went out defiantly in the sight of all of the Egyptians. Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying every firstborn male the Lord had struck down among them.4:32For the Lord had executed judgment against their gods. The Israelites traveled from Ramses and camped at Sukkot. They traveled from Sukkot and they camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. Here we go. They traveled from Etham and turned back from Pi-Hahirot, which faces Baal-Zephon, and they camped before Migdol. They traveled from Pi-Hahirot and they crossed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness.5:02They took a three-day journey into the wilderness of Etham and they camped at Marah. They traveled from Marah and they camped at Elim. There, the twelve palms and the seventy-date palms of Elim. So they camped there. They traveled from Elim and they camped at the Red Sea. They traveled from the Red Sea and they camped at the wilderness of Sin. They traveled from the wilderness of Sin and they camped at Dofkah. They traveled from Dofkah and they camped at Alush.5:32They traveled from Alush and they camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. They traveled from Rephidim and they camped in the wilderness of Sinai. They traveled from the wilderness of Sinai and they camped at Kebrot-Hata-Avah. They traveled from Kebrot-Hata-Avah and they camped at Hazerot. They traveled from Hazerot and they camped at Rith-Mah. They traveled from Rith-Mah and they camped at Ramon Perez. They traveled from Ramon Perez and they camped at Libna.6:02They traveled from Libna and they camped at Risa. They traveled from Risa and they camped at Kehelethah. They traveled from Kehelethah and they camped at Mount Shephir. They traveled from Mount Shephir and they camped at Haradah. They traveled from Haradah and they camped at Mak-Hilot. They traveled from Mak-Hilot and they camped at Tahat. They traveled from Tahat and they camped at Terah. They traveled from Terah and they camped at Mithkah.6:32They traveled from Mithkah and they camped at Hashmonah. They traveled from Hashmonah and they camped at Maserot. They traveled from Maserot and they camped at Bnei-Yachkan. They traveled from Bnei-Yachkan and they camped at Hor-Hagid-Gad. They traveled from Hor-Hagid-Gad and they camped at Jot-Bathah. They traveled from Jot-Bathah and they camped at Abronah.7:01They traveled from Abronah and they camped at Ezion-Geber. They traveled from Ezion-Geber and they camped in the wilderness of Zin. That is, Kadesh. They traveled from Kadesh and they camped at Mount Hor on the edge of the land of Edom at the Lord's command. The priest, Aaron, climbed Mount Hor and he died there on the first day of the first month. For in the 40th year after the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt.7:29Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor. At that time, the Canaanite king of Arad who lived in Negev in the land of Canaan heard the Israelites were coming. Some more travels. They traveled from Mount Hor and they camped at Zalmonah. They traveled from Zalmonah and they camped at Punon. They traveled from Punon and they camped at Obot. They traveled from Obot and they camped at Ai-Abarim on the border of Moab.7:56They traveled from Iyam and camped at Debon-Gad. They traveled from Debon-Gad and they camped at Almon-Deblat-Thayim. They traveled from Almon-Deblat-Thayim and they camped in the Abarim range facing Nebo. They traveled from Abarim range and they camped on the plains of Moab from the Jordan across from Jericho. They camped by the Jordan from Bet-Jish-Mot to the Acacia Meadow on the plains of Moab.8:24Wow. What you might not know is the kids who are with us today, they always get a sheet in family worship that says, and one of the blanks says, are there any words you don't know? Write them down. Ha ha! Good luck, kids. God bless you on your journeys today. We're honest children.8:54Our adults have never heard these words either, right? But here's what we see. When you're journeying, when you feel lost, you have a father that's searching for you and is rescuing you. Let's pray. Lord, we need you. Father, we need you when we're journeying. We need you when we're camping.9:23We need you when we're on the mountains and we need you when we're in the valleys. Father, we need you in our lives on Sundays and we need you on the days where we don't know what's going on. And Lord, thank you that we can take refuge in the fact that no matter where we go, you are there. And no matter where we go, you've already been there. And Lord, we thank you that you have sent your son to rescue you, rescue us when we were lost.9:48We thank you for the redemption and the hope that is in Jesus. Father, illuminate your word to us by your Holy Spirit, the same spirit that inspired these words. Lord, we pray that you would open up our minds to know you. You would open up our hearts to love you more and that you would open up our hands to serve you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. If you were counting, there are 42 places and 41 stations that we just read.10:16Now, what you might not know is this is not all the places. This is a theological retelling, not necessarily a geographical list of all the places that the Israelites camped. It leaves out a number of places. And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, well, what about Teborah? And what happened to Matanah and Naheliel?10:45Where did they go? Why aren't they in this list? Because God had a specific reason to give these to you today and to give these to the people. See, for the modern reader, if we're honest, anyone ready to be honest, they're tedious and they're boring. Some of you were just praying a prayer as I was reading, saying, Lord, thank you it's not me reading that. See, Brad, I threw you a softball last week because I love you, brother.11:11I didn't want to give you this list. And we gloss over that. But the reality is for those that live through this, these places evoke memories. And they bring to remembrance things that God was doing in their life. And the same thing is for you and for me. Even right now, there are things that you've gone through in your life that bring back certain memories. Have you ever walked up upon someone and they're laughing?11:41And you walk up to your friends and you say, well, what's going on? And they say, well, you just had to be there. But I am here. So tell me. That's what an inside joke is about. You don't get the joke unless you're there, unless you were there. And there are other things that evoke memories in my life. As someone who moved to New Orleans in 2005 of August, I will have an eternal link to anyone who lived through Hurricane Katrina.12:05And I evacuated from the city. I did not live through the flood. I was not in the city. But I lived through the devastation. I lived through the rebuilding. And I will always have an impressionable relationship with anyone who was in the city during those years. Even to this day, if I meet someone that used to live in New Orleans, I say, well, I lived through Katrina, but now I live in Alabama.12:32I almost want to give them a hug and say, man, I know what you went through. Because there's something about my heart that is stirred when I hear that place, when I hear that word. It doesn't have to be solemn. I remember sitting in my living room last year with one of my friends here that went to Mississippi State. And we had crawfish boil, and we were ready to see Mississippi State win its first national championship in anything ever.12:59I'm not joking. That's not an inside joke. And our women's basketball team is fantastic. And we were one shot away. And I remember sitting on my couch when I saw Notre Dame hit the winning shot. It was like, it was a circus shot. And I remember looking at my friend thinking, are you kidding me?13:26It's something that only he and I can really live through because we lived through the misery together. You had to be there. The crawfish didn't taste so good after that. But we're in it again, and we have a chance. We have a chance. Yeah, I remember great celebrations. I remember who was there at the birth of Eli. Eli is actually here right now. I remember who was there at the birth of our daughter. And I remember when my dad had surgery in Mississippi.13:56I remember that he had stomach cancer, and the two men from his church that lived hours away. I don't even remember their names, but I remember they sat with us in the waiting room. I remember them because they lived through major moments in my life. And so let's not gloss over these names because all of these phrases, all of these towns, all of these sites for the people of God, they're part of their redemptive story. And for you, maybe it's not a Katrina. Maybe it's not losing the game winnings, a game losing shot, it turned out to be.14:24But there are other things in your life, aren't there? That someone who was there with you in a big moment, you can just look at them, and you know exactly what they're thinking because they lived through it. You just had to be there. Well, I read you a list of 42 places. You just had to be there. So let's work through these today in a way that we can honor God and say, God, how do we live out these? I just simply ask, what's your story?14:53What are the things in your life? What are the places? What are the journeys? What are the episodes and the life situations that evoke memories and stir your heart? Maybe it's not Libna and Risa and Mount Shepher. But for Israel, these were places where God had changed them. And so we're going to think about three different places here this morning. Places of God's faithfulness in our lives. I want you to think about places of your sin and your rebellion.15:23Because those are represented here. And I want you to think about places that we just don't know what they are. They're not mountaintops. They're not valleys. They're just there. And if we're honest, we have a lot of there days in our life. But we're reminded that God is there. Even if we don't know if something dramatic happens. And so as we honor Christ, think about your story. Think about what God has done in your life as we read through some of these places in the Word of God.15:49So let's go back to verse 3. They traveled from Ramesses in the first month on the 15th day of the month on the day after the Passover. Now let me say, we are going to celebrate a Passover meal here at this church on April 20th. And we have about 30 spots left. We have 100 people that have registered almost. If you want to be a part of that, I would not wait until tomorrow. It's going to be great seeing how God delivered his people.16:19And then on the day after that, we celebrate Easter. How God sent the perfect lamb to pass over us, to give us life. What a beautiful picture of God's saving grace. So for Ramses, for these people, it represented God's judgment on the Egyptians and God's deliverance from his people. Look at what the text says. We have a commentary here. On the day after the Passover, and you say, well, okay, what's the Passover?16:48That's the night where God sent the final plague. And he said, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to send the death angel. You don't have to believe me, but it's going to happen. And if you put a lamb's blood, a perfect lamb, your lamb, you can't steal your neighbor's lamb. It's your lamb. And if you slaughter that lamb, and if you put his blood over the door, the death angel will pass over you.17:15But if you don't, the firstborn child of every house will die. The sad reality is that there were many people in Israel that did not believe God. They did not believe that the judgment and wrath of God was real. And the sad reality for many of us still today, there's some that don't feel like the wrath of God is real. It is. And we cannot take the patience of God for a blind eye.17:44But yet, for those who believe God and who trusted in them, they walked away. Look what the text says. The Israelites, in verse 3, they went out how? Defiantly. They went out saying, uh-huh, we told you guys. Our God is a true God. We told you guys you were worshiping idols. Believe. And we know later on in Exodus that there were many Egyptians who believed in that moment and they followed the Israelites out.18:14That they believed in the one true God. You see, what is God's word telling us here? He's telling us that remember the faithful times in your life. Remember the faithful times. This is not the only moment of remembrance. The people of God are told to make memorials. We call them Ebenezer's, right? Stack up stones. In Joshua 4, when the people finally crossed into the promised land,18:41God told them, when you cross to Jordan, take stones with you. Take 12 stones. And when you take them out of the river and you cross over, stack them on the good side of the river, the promised side of the river, as a reminder. Remember the good. Remember the faithfulness of God in your life. And it's not just an Old Testament concept. Remembrance is a New Testament concept.19:10What does Jesus say about the cup that was drunk and shed, the blood that was shed for us, and the bread that was broken in his body? What does he say? Do this in remembrance of me. What is baptism a picture of it? We're going to have someone baptized next week, and then also for Easter. And if you have put your trust in Christ, and you have never been baptized, that's God's will for your life. You don't have to ask.19:40God gives us his word. If you have confessed him as Lord and Savior, this is what he desires in your life. And we would like for you to be a part. On Easter, we're going to have the baptismal full. And those who have put their faith in Christ this last year and have not done that, we encourage you to take that step of boldness, to be obedient. But by nature, we are to be people of remembrance. We are to remember God's faithfulness.20:06Passover, Ebenezer's, Lord's Supper, baptism. That's who we are. Why does God remind us to remember? Because he knows that we forget to remember. We're forgetful people. So let me bring this home, because we have kids here right now. Parents, if you are a Christ follower, does your child know your story about how you came to faith in Jesus? You say, well, I don't know if they do or not.20:38They should know by the end of the night. And my kid's right here. He's going to hold me accountable. Do they know God's faithfulness in your life? I don't want my kids to have to guess about God's faithfulness in my life. I want them to know. I want them to be sick and tired and say, Dad, we get it. We know God's faithful. We hear it every day. And I'm going to say, but yeah, but one day we might forget. And it never gets old. So I'm going to keep stacking those stones.21:08I'm going to remember Ramesses. I'm going to remember the Passover. I'm going to remember my baptism. I'm going to remember God's faithfulness. I'm going to remember God doing things in our life. Do they know? Are you carrying, perpetuating the story of God's faithfulness? If they don't, they can and they should. Grandparents. Do your grandkids know your story of faith? Do they know how God has been faithful in your life?21:39Do they know that you've been redeemed and that the Lord loves you? And let me just say this as a grandkid. If my grandparents, I don't have my phone on me right now, but if I did and they called, I would answer. They have a right because of who God has put them, who they are and who God has put them in my life. They have a right to speak truth into my heart, into my mind at any moment. To grandparents, don't let that door close. So my grandkids don't listen to me.22:09They do. They just don't let you know it. So what they're going to do, they're going to go on Instagram and say, hey, grandma just called. You'll never know that. But they're listening. Are you, are you a person of remembrance? Share your faithfulness to the next generations. Do your neighbors, do our neighbors know how God's been faithful in our lives? So I don't know if they do. Why don't we celebrate like we should? See, and these are not private celebrations.22:39This is a corporate response to God's goodness. What does the Lord say to Moses? Moses, write down in verse two, the starting points. Let others know, corporately celebrate God's faithfulness. That's one of the purposes of our worship together. It's not doom and gloom. It's to say, hey, look what God has done. And when I hear that from your life, I'm like, no, no, no. Look, you look what God has done. And then you're like,23:08well, no, no, no, no, no. You look twice at what God has done. And it becomes a glory fest to say, man, God is so faithful in our lives. Because if we're honest, there are times where I can't see the faithfulness of God. And I need you to remind me. And when you remind me, it sounds like, wow, he is faithful. May we never forget the faithfulness of God. And if anyone in the world could celebrate anything ever,23:38it's the people of God. If anyone has reason to celebrate church, are you awake? If anyone has reason to celebrate, it's dead people who have come to life. Don't you think that Lazarus was kind of dancing and skipping down the road? He wasn't walking like a mummy. He was saying, guys, don't you see what Jesus has done? I was dead. And he told me to come back to life.24:07And he told them to unwrap me. Oh, the faithfulness of God. Remember the faithful times church. Not only that, we should remember something else. Look at verse 16. Now you're thinking, hey, that sounds familiar. It's not in Alabama,24:37if you're wondering. But Kebrot Hata'avah brings us back to Numbers chapter 11. This is where the people were tired of bread. It wasn't just any bread. It was from the best bakery the world's ever known. It was from the bakery of heaven. It was from manna from God. And they were tired and they rebelled. And they said, God, we don't like this anymore. We won't meet people after my own heart.25:06Give me steak. You keep the roll. Give me the steak. And in one of the most absurd complaints ever in the history of the world, the people actually say in the word of God in Numbers 11, Lord, we need garlic. We need leeks. And I think I said months ago, a leak is not worth going to hell over. It's not. It's just, I mean, there are things that we complain about. Leek is not on my list.25:36But God is reminding the people of their rebellion and their sin. Church, never forget your rebellious times. So that's why I want to remember that. Look at what we don't have in verse 16. Let me just read it one more time. They traveled from the wilderness of Sinai and they camped at Kebrot Hata'avah. Next verse. They traveled from Kebrot Hata'avah and they camped at Hazerot. You know what's not here in these two verses?26:05There's no lengthy commentary on the people's sin. There's not. God didn't say, well, you travel from Kebrot Hata'avah. How could you do that? What were you thinking? Really? I gave you bread from heaven and you wanted garlic butter on it? No, there's no commentary. What does that remind us of? What is amazing that God chose to pass over this sin in silence?26:37Yes, he asked us and asked the people to remember their sin and remember their rebellion. But God does not have an envelope system for the people of Israel saying, when we get to this place again, I'm going to unleash on you. Remember what you did at Kebrot Hata'avah? How dare you? God is not looking at us from heaven with a giant holy thumb saying,27:05I'm about to squash you when you remember your rebellion. And so what we often do is this. Sometimes we fear God because we haven't forgiven ourselves for that sin. And so we never want to think of it again. And we're reminded the famous quote, he who forgets history is doomed to repeat it. Remember your sin. All of us are sinners.27:34Quit acting like you're not. I'm talking to myself. Why do we look in the mirror and we forget that we're sinful? Because the more I realize my sin and my rebellion, the more thankful I become that God is a loving God. You see, what matters to the Lord here is that he has redeemed them. He's not ready to use their sin against the people at an opportune moment.28:00Did you hear what I said? God is not ready to use your sin against you at the opportune moment. There's no aha in verse 16. God passes over in silence. He tells people, Don't forget your sin. Don't forget your sin. But know that I've forgiven that sin. Know that you've already paid the consequences. He passes those in.28:30And is not, is not the forgetfulness of God a beautiful thing? He passes over their sin. Don't forget your sin. Jerry Bridges has a famous quote. He says, Preach the gospel to yourselves every day. I grew up just thinking, Hey, the gospel is someone who doesn't know Jesus Christ. No, the gospel is for sinners who are in need of a rescuer. Anyone in that line?29:00Yes. And I just begin to think, Lord, should we forget our sin? And should we remember our rebellion? And I looked at these verses and said, God, obviously you want us to remember. So God, what in my life do you not want me to forget? Do you think that Peter ever forgot the rooster crowing? I can imagine Peter, every time that a rooster crowed every morning, he would jump up and say, because he would remember the sin.29:28Did that devastate him? I think it did in that moment. But who is Peter? The remembrance of his rebellion led him to be a mighty man of God. He was the man that Jesus looked at and said, upon this rock, I will build my church. I don't think he ever forgot his rebellion. And I think the fact that he, that his sin was always before him, he knew that the grace of God was already and always before him.29:58Church, don't forget your rebellion because that makes us thankful for God. That makes us thankful. Third, remember your celebrate God's goodness in your life. Never forget your rebellion because that makes us thankful for God's grace. But third, we see this in verse 30. Pop quiz time. Raise your hand. If you can tell me what happened at Hashmonah.30:26Close. I'm not going to tell you who said that. He's a dear friend. I'm not going to call him out. He's the only one brave enough. We don't know. We don't know what happened here. We don't really have this episode at all in numbers. You see, or what happened at, at B'nai, Ya'akon. Anyone? We don't know.30:56These are ordinary places. We're not much in the Bible happen. Actually, some of these places are not even evidenced outside of this scripture alone. So what does that tell me? And I would say, in fact, there are more names, more places in that third category than the celebrations and the rebellion. I think we need to remind ourselves that God is involved in the Tuesdays. So what do you mean by that, pastor? Don't forget Tuesdays.31:25You know, it doesn't seem like much happens ever on a Tuesday. We pray for Fridays to come. And in about four months, we're going to celebrate Saturdays. I love Saturdays. I can just sit in front of the TV and watch my team hopefully win. It doesn't happen a lot, but hopefully. And then Sunday we get to worship. And then Monday it's like, oh, back at work again. But what happens on Tuesday? It's just nothing,31:55right? It's just there. Like for most of us, we could remove Tuesday out of our calendar and you wouldn't even notice. So what does that tell us spiritually? We are tempted to ignore these days, but when we look back on it, we see that God is at work on Tuesday. And for Israel, they, they, they look back at verse 30 and they see that God was involved in Hashmonah, and Mazerot.32:24and Mazerot. That God was involved in B'nai, Ya'akon. You see, if we're not careful, and I believe this is a tool of Satan, we don't celebrate God's grace in the mundane. If you know Jesus Christ, there are no ordinary days. Jesus makes the mundane holy. Some of you are thinking, well, I'm not, I would love to be a missionary overseas,32:54but I'm a mechanic. You know how many people that you can, how many lives can be touched by your gifts? This is why I work in the office. Do you know that God's put you there to reach people for Jesus? You say, well, nothing ever happens in my life. No, if Jesus is there, a lot has happened. Don't just say it's a Tuesday. Remember God's grace. Remember the holiness that happens in the Tuesdays. It happens in the mundanes. And every Tuesday in our life is a step in the road of redemption.33:23It's a step in the road of redemption. If you look at verse 30, they wouldn't have gone to the promised land without verse 30. The people would not have made it to the promised land without Hashmanah and Hezorot. This was vital to God's design and his story in their life. So don't forget the Tuesdays.33:52And I think it practically works out in our life in this way. Some of you have had these experiences before. Have you ever been at a stoplight and maybe it's turned green and you didn't go and someone ran the red light right in front of you? And your heart starts beating. And the first thing I do is, God, thank you for protecting me. Or maybe you're behind or, or see someone who's erratic, drunk driver or someone who's texting, or maybe he's someone who's doing both. And you think,34:25man, God, thank you for, in this moment, God, thank you for keeping me safe. Well, you know what we forget? How many thousands of hours have we spent on the road and God has kept us safe? How many Tuesdays has God protected me? And I just don't even think about it. And I believe that Satan's tool against us. He doesn't want us to honor God. He doesn't want to celebrate grace on Tuesday. He says, Josh, just worry about the big moments. Just worry about the wreck that he, that you avoided.34:54Just worry about the cancer that you thought you had, but was removed from you. Or Lord, just worry about these big moments in your life. And God is reminding us, look, I'm there. I'm there in the big moments. I'm there in the darkest valleys. And I'm there, I'm there on Tuesdays. Don't forget that there is no mundane in Jesus Christ. I think we should have a twinkle in our eye. I was reminded in a book I read years ago,35:23I believe it was G.K. Chesterton that said that God never gets tired of telling the sun to rise. And how often do we simply, do I simply ignore God working out daily? This is like a child playing with a balloon. They could play with a balloon in your house for hours. And we look at that as adults and say, what's so fun about bouncing a ball up in the air? Because there's something that is spectacular.35:55There's something amazing about that balloon. And is that not the way we should be about the grace of Jesus? We should wake up every day saying, God, wow, look at what you're doing. Church, rejoice in the glory of God on Tuesday. So what? How can we live this out? Most of you are probably not going to go home tomorrow and read this list. These 42 traveling journeys again.36:25If we're honest, I'm not going to ask you to do that. I'm not going to check up on you. But what a great reminder in our lives that we should celebrate, that we should be thankful for God's grace because of our rebellion, and that nothing, nothing is ordinary in Jesus Christ. So if you know Christ, where do we go from here? I want you to look very quickly at verse 13 of chapter 36. Because this is our last sermon in Numbers for a while.36:52Maybe see me again in 30 years. So we're going to preach through the whole Bible here. But look at 36 verse 13.37:14The final word in this whole book, this wilderness wandering. These are the commands and the ordinances the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. What's happening next? God is fulfilling his promise. God told the people that I would give you this land. Just trust me. Just trust.37:45Just trust. So if you're here today and you are a Christ follower, I want you to do three things this week. I want you to celebrate. Some of you look like you haven't celebrated anything in a very long time. And if you know Jesus Christ, you are by new nature a person of remembrance and celebration. Rejoice in God's faithfulness in your life. Some of us have forgotten that we're sinners. And that we need to remember the depravity of our hearts,38:15that we can remember the grace of God. Because if you find that you're not acting in others in a loving manner, maybe you've forgotten that you're a sinner. And maybe in our time of response, you need to say, God, remind me of the rebellion. Remind me of the rooster crowing. That way I can remember your restoration. And if you're here and you've grown accustomed to just going through life and everything is mundane and everything is ordinary.38:42And the Holy Spirit is screaming at you right now. If you are in Christ, there is nothing else ordinary ever again. Everything in your life is building you on a step of redemption to the promised lands. Everything in your life is working in you an eternal weight of glory. Nothing is unimportant. Rejoice in the mundane holiness of God in your life.39:12That you would be able to sing the old, old story. That you could leave here today saying, I love to tell the story that others might know. That's how we should respond this week. Rejoice, remember, and be thankful. If you're not a Christ follower, let me speak to you really quick. We entitled this series Lost because the people were wandering and they were lost. And by God's grace, this last verse is a reminder that God did not leave them lost.39:43That God didn't say, good luck, you rebellious, stiff-necked Israelites. I'm done. How dare you? I loved you. I cherished you. I redeemed you. And this is how you treat me? That's not what God did. This generation passed away because of their unfaithfulness. But God said, I will send you into the promised land.40:12Aaron, who we read today, died on the mountain. Moses died on the mountain because of their rebellion. But that's not the end of the story. We see in John, in the New Testament, that God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son. That whoever believes in him might not perish, but have what? Everlasting life. Because God did not send his son to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved.40:40Let's put that in numbers language. God did not send his son into the world that we would stay lost. God sent his son that we might be saved and rescued. And if you are here today and you've never put your hope and trust in Jesus Christ, maybe you feel like you're good enough. You're not. None of us are good. All of us are sinners. All of us have broken relationships with God. And we have a rescuer.41:10That's why Jesus died. Maybe you're here and you say, well, I just, I don't know if I can ever accept this free gift of salvation. It's too good to be true. You don't understand my sin. God can't just gloss over my sin. Yes, he will redeem you. He will save you. And then he will do mighty things in you. But what does it take? Really quick. You remember the spies at the first of this book.41:38God sent 12 spies. He said, go out, go spy out the promised land and bring back a report. And they all 12 came back and said, the people are huge. The grapes are huge. The cities are fortified. And 10 spies said what? We can't do it. We can't. And two, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua means God saves. Caleb means dog. He got the short end of the stick. Two men came back and they said, the people are huge.42:09We are grasshoppers. But we can do this because God has given us his promise. What's the difference between those two people? Faith. Faith is saying, God, it's too good to be true. And I don't understand how it's going to work out. And God, I don't think I can do it. But you said you sent your son to die for me, that I might be forgiven and I might be made whole again. And I will have new life.42:38And Lord, I don't know if it's true. I don't think it could be true. But if it is, I will stand on the promise of Jesus Christ. And I have staked my life on the fact that God sent his only son to be born of a virgin, to die for sinners. And he rose again and that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. It is too good to be true, but I have staked my life on the fact that it is true.43:05And I want to be like Joshua and Caleb and say, you know what? The world says it's not possible, but God said he's promised it. I'm taking a step of faith. And if you're here today and you've never trusted in Jesus Christ, why not today? Why not take a step of faith and say, God, I will turn from myself and I will turn to you. I know I'm a sinner and God, you made a way. Oh, may we respond to God's grace.43:36Remember his faithfulness. Remember your sinfulness. And remember in God, in Christ, there is no mundane. There are no more Tuesdays by his grace. Let's pray.← Previous in NumbersSunday, March 17, 2019More sermons on Numbers →
