Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20120729.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part XLVIII: Fulfilling God's Assigned Calling Of Holiness For Blessing
(Numbers 33:50-56)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Tom Krattenmaker, typifying the viewpoint of many in our era, recently expressed concern about "a lot" of "tension" in "the body politic." ("Learning to tolerate tension," USA TODAY, July 16, 2012, p. 7A) He claimed it is caused by contrasting ideas such as "The religious nuts will run the country off a cliff" versus "We need to turn back to God." He claimed that though this "tension is inevitable," it is "a key to our renewed success -- if only we can learn to appreciate it."

    However, how can we learn to appreciate the tension between turning back to God versus not doing so in light of current issues?

    (1) Theodore H. Martland, a past Waterbury and Woodbury school superintendent, in a letter to the Republican-American, July 23, 2012, p. 4A, wrote "42 percent of all pregnancies" involve unwed minors as mothers, and "up to four girls can identify the single male" as the father who faces "no legal, financial or moral consequences." Martland wrote: "This is the slippery slope to national destruction."

    How, then, can we tolerate the tension between turning back to God Who directs, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" in Exodus 20:14 -- that counters the entire problem -- versus not turning back to Him?

    (2) Last week we heard the NCAA punished Penn State for its past leaders' cover-up of coach Sandusky's crimes. How, then, can we tolerate the tension between turning back to God Who directs, "Thou shalt not covet" in Exodus 20:17 -- that counters the entire problem as the cover-up was fueled by a lust for all the fame and fortune that was tied up in Penn State football -- versus not turning back to Him?

    (3) The Aurora, Colorado mass shooting led James A. Fox, Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern U., to pen, "Unpredictable mass killers," in the July 23, 2012 USA TODAY , p. 9A. He wrote: "Mass killers tend to be profoundly frustrated . . . over . . . disappointments, isolated from family and friends . . . and see themselves as the victim of undeserved mistreatment and unfairness . . . The difficult and sad truth is that thousands upon thousands of Americans share these same characteristics." (emphases ours)

    How, then, are we to tolerate the tension between turning back to God Who tells us "Thou shalt not kill" in Exodus 20:13 -- that counters the entire problem -- versus not turning back to Him?

    So, we ask, "In line with the thinking of our era, does God want us to appreciate tensions between contrasting ideas? How?"

    Need: "As is typically promoted in today's world, does God want us to tolerate and appreciate tensions between opposing ideas? How?!"

  1. God had Moses INTOLERABLY call Israel to PURGE Canaan of its EVIL people and EVIL idolatry in HOLINESS in CONTRAST to Moses' OWN FAILURE at HOLINESS, Numbers 33:50-52:
    1. God's instruction to Moses on having Israel purge Canaan in holiness was given in the plains of Moab near Jericho just before Moses died, failing to enter the Promised Land, Numbers 33:50-51; 31:2.
    2. Moses failed to enter Canaan because he failed back at Meribah to present God to Israel as holy, or separate from sin, Numbers 20:1-13:
      1. God had told Moses at Meribah to speak to the rock to get water (Num. 20:8), but he instead struck it, publicly saying i n glorifying himself that he and Aaron had produced it when God had done so, Num. 20:10-11; Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Num. 20:8.
      2. In their disobedient act, Moses and Aaron had also attributed to themselves the glory meant only for God, thus failing to exalt Him as holy, as separate from sinful Moses and Aaron, Num . 20:12a.
      3. God thus sentenced both men to die outside the land, Num. 20:12b.
  2. This failure by Moses became a huge heartbreak for him as revealed in his interaction with God in Deuteronomy 3:23-27:
    1. Deuteronomy 3:23-27 reveals that Moses had likely often "begged" (ethanan, v. 23, Kittel, Bib. Hebr., p. 267; B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 720; Hithpael stem of hanan = intensive reflexive; B. K. C., O. T., p. 268) God to change His mind to let him enter Canaan.
    2. However, God had just as intensely become "infuriated" at Moses for this begging (wayitaber, v. 26; Hithpael of abar), not tolerating any change in His sentence of Moses, to where He had even told the prophet to speak no longer to Him about the matter, Deut. 3:26!
  3. Thus, in a stunning scene, a HEARTBROKEN Moses told ISRAEL to SUCCEED where HE HIMSELF had FAILED in the realm of HOLINESS OR SUFFER GOD'S DISCIPLINE, Num. 33:50-56:
    1. God had Moses tell Israel to be holy in driving out the Canaanites from the Promised Land, in destroying all of their idolatrous articles and in possessing the land in purity before the Lord, Num. 33:50-53.
    2. This was both a national charge and a personal calling, Num. 33:54:
      1. Along with this charge, God also had Moses tell Israel to divide the land for inheritance by lot according to her families, Num. 33:54a, so God determined which parcel of land each family unit received.
      2. The tribes with more people were to inherit more land, and those with fewer less land so that each family obtained a parcel of land that fit its needs and its ability to manage, Numbers 33:54b.
      3. God also declared that the people would inherit land according to their ancestral "fathers," and every individual Hebrew's ancestry was set by God via that person's birth, Numbers 33:54c KJV.
      4. Thus, GOD gave every Hebrew an assignment of holiness (a) in regard to destroying the Canaanites on the parcel of his inheritance, (b) in destroying their idolatrous articles on that parcel and (c) in maintaining his inherited parcel in holiness unto the Lord!
    3. Then, in stunning conclusion, Moses who had failed in his personal assignment of holiness, missing the Promised Land, warned Israel's people that if they likewise failed in their assignment(s) of holiness, THEY would face God's severe discipline, Numbers 33:55-56:
      1. If Israel failed in her assignment of holiness, God would let the godless Canaanites Israel had let remain give the people of Israel "trouble in the land where they would live," Numbers 33:55 NIV.
      2. God added that He would do to Israel what He had first planned to do to the Canaanites, Numbers 33:56. He would show favoritism to Israel over the Canaanites, but clarified the need for holiness in the people of Israel or they would be just as severely punished as the wicked Canaanites they were assigned to displace!
      3. In the historical context, this warning was very POTENT: if God was intolerably about to make the great prophet Moses die outside the Promised Land as He had Israel's faithless generation for failing His holiness, God would ALSO SURELY make Israel's new generation face calamity for failing to be holy!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to be saved, John 3:16. (2) Then, depending on the indwelling HOLY Spirit (Romans 8:3-4) for the motivation and power to do so (Galatians 5:16-23), (3) may we fulfill God's assignments for each of us to part with evil and be holy as He the Lord is holy, 1 Peter 1:15-16.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 Recently, a believer told me that the pastor of an influential Gospel preaching Church in our area has publicly come out in support of the teaching of Rob Bell, a pastor of a large evangelical church in our nation, that God does not send anyone to an eternal hell.

We know this belief is in error, for 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-9 KJV claims: " . . . (T)he Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven . . . taking vengeance on them that . . . obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction . . ."

Yet, the reason for Bell's error here involves a greater error: he is part of the "Emerging Church Movement" that holds that Christian doctrine is "morphing'" by the Spirit's work (Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis - Rethinking the Christian Faith, 2005, p. 1, 68, cited in apprising.org, Ken Silva, "Rob Bell Says Sayounara Sola Scriptura," March 28, 2009). Bell adds: "(W)e got the Bible from the church voting on what the Bible even is.'" (Ibid., Silva, citing Bell, Ibid., p. 67, 68)

Bell is close to the Roman Catholic view that the Church is authoritative over the written Bible (Ibid., Silva) when the opposite is the case: (1) the canon of Scripture was not set by 4th century clerics choosing what books were canonical, but "(t)hey merely recognized the evidence that pointed to the true apostolic source of writings Christians had cited as authoritative since the death of the apostles." (Ibid., Silva, in citing Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, 1986) (2) Then, Jude 3 claims the Christian "faith", its body of doctrine, was "once for all [the N. T. Greek term, hapax (Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1967, p. 80)] delivered" to the saints, so God's revelation is not open for alteration. Also, Psalm 119:89 KJV affirms: "For ever ["eternal" NIV; "forever" ESV], O Lord, thy word is settled ["stands firm" NIV; "is firmly fixed" ESV] in heaven." (3) Regarding the authority of Scripture, Psalm 138:2b claims of the "Lord": "(Y)ou have exalted above ALL things your NAME [i. e., God's reputation, Z. P. E. B ., vol. Four, p. 364] AND your WORD." (NIV, ESV)

Thus, to apply this sermon on holiness as it affects OUR assignment in our area before God, we counter the Emerging Church Movement's beliefs in OUR area in reaffirming that all God's written Word, the infallible, inerrant Scriptures, is unalteringly and unchangingly our final authority on all matters faith and practice!