Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110612.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part III: Capitalism, Marxism And God's Renewal Of Our Nation
(Numbers 5:1-6:27)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    An ideological struggle grips America today, one we often hear voiced over talk radio show programs, and it causes confusion and disillusionment to many regarding our country's current direction:

    (1) We Americans used to be taught that personal property ownership and liberty as "capitalists" was a virtue, but "leftists" have worked long and hard to change the landscape of American thinking:

    (a) Rob Salvino of Conway, South Carolina had a letter in The Wall Street Journal June 6, 2011, p. A18, complaining of the rise of Marxism. He wrote: "It is unfortunate that many in our society are so suspicious of economic freedom, and even more unfortunate that economic freedom is so often blamed for what ails society."

    (b) Liberal Theology is swayed by Marxism: Stephen Prothero, a religion professor at Boston University, wrote in Monday's USA TODAY ("You can't reconcile Ayn Rand and Jesus," p. 9A) to oppose the Republican Party's love of capitalist, Ayn Rand. Prothero claimed: " . . . (Y)ou have to decide whether you are robbing from the poor to give to the rich [a critique of capitalism], or robbing from the rich to give to the poor [as in Marxism]. Because you cannot do both. You cannot worship both the God of Jesus and the mammon of Rand."

    Rand was anti-Marxist, so Prothero meant that to heed the God of Jesus, you must rob from the rich to give to the poor as in Marxism!

    (2) Our problem is, we face much incorrect, muddled thinking:

    (a) Opposite Prothero's Liberal Theology idea, the Bible never condones robbing the rich -- Exodus 20:15 flatly bans stealing!

    (b) Also opposite Prothero's implication, "Marxism" is not to be equated with "Christian": Marx's "Communist Manifesto" calls for the abolition of the family, marriage, religion and morality! (learn-usa.com/transformation, "Goals, Communist Manifesto'")

    (c) Then, Ayn Rand, though a capitalist, was not a Christian, either! In an interview with Playboy she said, "(F)aith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life,'" Ibid., Prothero.

    (d) We thus face (a) Marx's godless communism that promotes no morals, (b) Rand's godless capitalism that promotes selfish morals and (c) Liberal Theology's idea that God is a Socialist Who promotes moral relativism, morals by politically correct opinion.

    So, we ask, "In view of America's strain over capitalist and Marxist ideas, what is right, and how can our nation be renewed?"

    Need: "In view of the strain over capitalist and Marxist ideas in our nation, what is the right view, and how can our nation be renewed?"

  1. God had Moses address the NATION Israel in Numbers 5:1-6:27 on certain issues so they might be BLESSED as a NATION:
    1. In Numbers 5:1-2a, 5-6a, 11-12a and 6:1-2a, God repeatedly told Moses to speak to the people of Israel on a variety of issues.
    2. Were they to heed God on those issues, Israel would be blessed as a people with God's Numbers 6:22-27 priestly blessing, Numbers 6:27.
  2. In this address, God revealed HIS SOCIAL ORDER, and it just HAPPENS to CRITIQUE the CAPITALIST-MARXIST DEBATE:
    1. First, Numbers 5:1-4 shows God telling Israel through Moses to practice physical cleansing for national ceremonial purity.
    2. This physical cleansing typified the need for cleansing relative to the nation's SOCIAL ORDER for God's blessing, Numbers 5:6-31:
      1. Israel needed purging from personal property sins, Num. 5:6-10:
        1. As man is made in God's image (Genesis 1:27), a sin against an individual human being is a sin against God, so the Lord taught that (1) to defraud an individual human of his private property is (2) to sin against God, (3) requiring reimbursement plus 20% in punitive damages, Num. 5:6-7; B. K. C., O. T., p. 221.
        2. If the victim had since died and left no kin, since the victim had borne God's image in life, the wrongdoer paid God, and the priest would receive th e reimbursement, Numbers 5:8-10.
        3. Thus, God called Israel to heed THEISTIC CAPITALISM -- upholding personal property rights in accountability to God.
        4. This COUNTERS (1) Marx's atheistic collectivism (the mass' atheistic seizure of individual property), (2) Rand's atheistic capitalism (gaining goods by atheistic morals) and (3) Liberal Theology's theistic collectivism (the belief that God condones the masses' seizure of individual property for its own interests)!
      2. Israel needed purging from objective morality sins, Num. 5:11-31:
        1. God told Israel that if a man suspected his wife had been immoral, an extensive test to obtain God's objective judgment on the matter was to follow, Num bers 5:11-14, 15-26, 27-31.
        2. This directive COUNTERS (1) Marxism's atheistic amorality (no God, no morals), (2) Rand's atheistic moral subjectivism (no God, and morals set by selfish individual greed) and (3) Liberal Theology's moral relativism (equating God's morals with "political correctness").
        3. Rather, God wanted adherence to His unchanging morals as HE stated them [in Scripture] in OBJECTIVE MORALITY.
    3. If the nation as a whole FAILED in the realms of personal property and objective morality sins, INDIVIDUAL Nazirites could offer to separate themselves from worldly lusts for GOD to USE in delivering and renewing the nation Israel, Numbers 6:1-21:
      1. Israel ran the risk of failing as a NATION to heed God's social order, leaving godly INDIVIDUALS unfairly oppressed!
      2. Thus, God gave opportunity for an individual man OR woman to take a Nazirite vow so He could use that one to deliver Israel: (a) EITHER a man OR A WOMAN could take the vow of a Nazirite, meaning "to separate or abstain," Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Numbers 6:1-8). (b) It required avoiding (1) all forms of grapes (Num. 6:3-4), (2) not cutting the hair of one's head (Num. 6:5) and (3) not going near dead bodies (Num. 6:6-7) to signify separation from corruption, and God could then use that individual to save Israel, Z. P. E. B., vol. Four, p. 392!
      3. Indeed, three times in Israel's history are Nazirites mightily used of God to save the nation when Israel was corrupt and unblessed -- the cases of Nazirites Samson , Samuel and John the Baptist, Ibid., p. 393; Ibid., vol. Five, p. 252-254; Ibid., vol. Three, p. 642.
      4. Of interest for our application today, the three conditions for the Nazirite vow each typified separation from corruption in society due to sin: (a) avoiding grape products (Num. 6:3-4), not ingesting fermented grapes that led to disorder in Noah's family, and future world social problems, Gen. 9:20-27; (b) not cutting the hair of the head (Num. 6:5) as pagans did this in false belief (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Lev. 19:27) and (c) not being near dead bodies (Num. 6:6) since death was the ultimate corruption of society due to sin! (Gen. 2:17)
Application: (1) May we believe on Christ to be saved, John 3:16. (2) May we (a) respect individual property ownership under God and (b) heed Scripture's objective morals for God's blessing. (3) If society is lacking in this realm, may we individuals avoid all worldly lusts in our own lives that God might use us to help others!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 1 Samuel 7:3-14 is a passage in Scripture that illustrates the great impact of the Nazirite Samuel when he made himself available to God in holiness, that is, in separation from the world and its lusts.

Israel had been in disarray: her priesthood under Eli and his immoral sons had led to ignorance of Biblical truths on God's absolute morals and the loss of the ark to the Philistines. Samuel then told the nation to put away its idols and return to the Lord, 1 Samuel 7:3. As the people began to obey his call, Samuel summoned them to gather at Mizpeh about seven miles north of Jerusalem, and there he would pray for them to receive God's national blessing, 1 Samuel 7:4-5.

When they met at Mizpeh, and there began to confess their sins against the Lord in national repentance, the Philistines heard of the gathering and mustered their forces to attack Israel, 1 Samuel 7:6-7a.

This terrified the people of Israel (1 Samuel 7:7b), so they asked Samuel to pray for God's help, 1 Samuel 7:8. Samuel offered up a lamb to the Lord as a burnt offering, and prayed for deliverance, and God heard the prayer of this holy Nazirite, 1 Samuel 7:9.

While Samuel was still offering the lamb, the Lord sent a great thunderstorm against the Philistines, terrifying them because, as worshippers of Baal, the god of thunder and storms, Baal seemed to the Philistines to be influenced to oppose them by Samuel, 1 Samuel 7:10a. The Philistines fled, and Israel's men pursued, 1 Samuel 7:11.

Consequently, 1 Samuel 7:13 reports that all during the days of Samuel's judgeship in Israel, the Philistines did not come into Israel's territory, and God made life difficult for the Philistines! Also, the cities the Philistines had seized were restored to Israel, and there was peace between Israel and not only the Philistines, but all the inhabitants of Canaan, the "Amorites," all during Samuel's rule! (1 Samuel 7:14)

And all Samuel did was offer a lamb and pray as a Nazirite!

Imagine how much peace the nation could have enjoyed all the days that Saul and David warred against the Philistines if ONLY Israel had left the NAZIRITE, Samuel, to "stand in the gap" instead of asking for a king to rule over them! (1 Samuel 8)

What is especially noteworthy is that a WOMAN, Samuel's mother, Hannah, had made his Nazirite vow for him, 1 Sam. 1:11!

May ANY of us believers in Christ ALSO separate from the worldly lusts about us so God can USE us to bless others in need!