Getting Personal With God

 The God of Israel

Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 6

What is Spiritual Maturity? If we had one word to describe Spiritual Maturity that word would be "assurance".

This assurance comes by just believing everything God has to say!

1Pe 1:21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 

1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. 

1Pe 2:1  Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 

1Pe 2:3  If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 

1Pe 2:4  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 

Even when we think we know all there is to know about our Savior, there is still much more to learn and we will not know all about Him until we meet Him in the clouds.

As long as we are in this body of flesh, we will feel the need to get closer to God and we had better pay attention to that need!

Israel had lived in the presence of God for some time now.

He walked with them, and He talked with them, and God does this same thing with each and every believer today.

He provided all their needs as He does for each believer.

Remember a believer is someone who believes "all" the Word of God not just bits and pieces.

We cannot select what we believe and what we do not believe.

He kept them safe from danger in ways they could not understand.

As Christians we have angels watching over us.

God gave them laws to set them aside from all other nations.

Those laws are still good laws to help us in this life!

God was faithful to this tiny nation of Israel.

God is faithful to every true believer!

The first thing we need to clearly understand about our God is that there is no other God in this universe.

Oh, there are many so-called  little gods who are only figments of the imagination.

There is only the One God, Jehovah and it does not matter what the world has to say about it or what the world believes!

We have a Living God who has given to us His Living Word!

*****Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

We always forget what God says here. If we love Him in this manner, then we will certainly believe Him.

The Hebrew word "Elohim" is used to say that Jehovah is One God in three persons.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit which Israel still has not understood.

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 

1Ti 2:6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 

That word "Hear" means to hear "with the intent of believing what God says is true", and this is to be applied to all the Word of God!

Moses was God's "messenger: just as every true man "called of God".

1Co_1:9  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1Th_2:12  That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

1Pe_2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe_5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1Jn_3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

God has made a covenant with humanity and this covenant began with the Ten Commandments, which are now hated by the world because they teach us things not to do and the world refuses to be obedient to God.

We must understand that it is hatred not love, that guides this world today!

Have you noticed that even the "judges" of today look upon crime with a soft touch and none of us can understand it. Where did this come from?

It is a complete lack of observing the covenant with God! The Ten Commandments.

Most judges of today are not about laws but only their own interpretation of the laws which they should always avoid!

The Ten Commandments must be followed even today, and we need the Ten Commandments because we refuse to love one another!

There is no true brotherly love in America today.

Every group of people are trying to get what they want off the backs of all other groups of people!

God made this covenant with the Israelites who believed, after He freed them from the tyranny of Egypt!

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

We should not miss the fact that God demands obedience!

God had saved and delivered them, and He expected them to follow His laws.

We see God expects the same for all those He saves!

God made this covenant! 

This covenant was not something dreamed up by humanity!

There is no excuse for any child of God to be confused about the Word of God! 

With those things that we do not understand, we are to just accept them for what they say!

We are to just accept the Word of God and be obedient to it!

It is all those who pervert the Gospel who instill confusion in the many believers.

Moses became a type of Christ as the Mediator of these commandments.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 

1Ti 2:6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 

When we are obedient to our Almighty God, then we become His personal possession, but:

He will treat us a king.

He will treat us as priests.

He will treat us as holy, sanctified, pure, righteous, the consecrated people of God!

These are all things that show us just how much God loves us if we love Him!

*****Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 

You see, it is our Holy God who produced those Ten Commandments and not some man or some group of men.

God will never change these commandments, nor will we ever find them useless as long as we are in these bodies of flesh.

These commandments work because they come from God!

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

Jehovah is the source of all things good and proper!

God simply says, "I Am That I Am", our self-existing God!

He is the source of all life because He is the source of all beings, and the source of all His creation!

Remember God created using nothing but His will!

This is why there are no true creators today, because they only use the things that God has already created for their creations

He created us.

He loves us.

He will save us.

He will deliver us.

He will redeem us if we love Him!

Isa 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. 

We must understand the Word of God as God's Divine Revelation of His Creation and of Himself.

We must have the proper view of the Word of God, to experience the enormous truth that God has given to us!

Though much of the world ignores the Word of God, for we who love Him, we do not know what it would be like to not know the truth of our creation!

Once you know the truth of God then it is easy to see the lies of this world!

Our God is not far off in outer space, unreachable or unapproachable, He is very near to those who love Him, even residing within us!

Deu 5:29  O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! 

My God hears me even when I whisper to Him!

Jehovah is direct! 

He Himself saved the children of Israel, He did not need help from some other source.

The Lord Jesus Christ gets personally involved with those who love Him!

When we study the Word of God, we can see that the Mosaic Covenant is a continuation of the covenant with Abraham.

The Church is a continuation of the covenant with Abraham!

The entire world had rejected God and God chose one man Abram to forsake the world and follow our Creator.

God is still fulfilling the promises He made to Abraham and his descendants!

There is still a "promised land" to the people of God, but it is not of this earth.

Abraham is a picture of salvation!

Moses is a picture of walking with the Lord according to His Word after salvation!

Today we have the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant).

The Lord Jesus Christ instituted the New Covenant, all by the hand of Jehovah God, the One God.

Mat 26:26  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 

Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new "with you" in my Father's kingdom. 

It does not end with us, because we are to pass this information on throughout our families and our friends.

*****Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 

Deu 6:9  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 

Notice God makes it our duty to instruct our own children. 

***We must first place the Word of God in our own hearts.

The commandments of God must be real to us. 

We are to cherish the Word of God as the actual "Words of God" because they are!

We must be committed to obeying what God has revealed to us!

God insists upon this, not because He is some tyrant, but because by being obedient to the Word of God we will live a better life also full of joy.

Our own hearts are wicked!

Jer_17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

When we carry the Word of God within our hearts, it will replace that wickedness with the love of God.

God will look into our heart to see if His words are there.

Rom 10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 

Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

***We must next teach the Word of God to our children.

Some of the Word of God was at one time taught to our children until we allowed certain foolish people to rewrite certain laws to suit themselves.

Our Founding Fathers approved the Word of God.

The original Constitution of these United States is mostly ignored by a certain group of politicians as they seek their own failed glory.

We all understand that educating children is a necessity but indoctrinating our children is a crime!

Today we battle those who are perverted who try to teach even three- and four-year-old their own perverted sexual opinions.

America has surely become the new Sodom and Gomorrah. 

We must stand up against these things no matter what names we are called!

Obeying the Word of God does not make us bigots or racist. In fact it is just the opposite!

Teaching is taking the truth of God and then living the truth of God, so our children will understand why.

We must be examples of what the Word of God teaches!

This is the greatest of all teaching methods and we must take the world out of the focus of our children, and place the Word of God in clear focus.

We need to take back control of our school systems and rid those systems of the entrenched perverted minds of immorality.

This may have to begin with school boards. Rid these boards of perverted people and replace them with Christians.

Our children need to know what God has to say, not what the world has to say.

We need to think upon the Word of God as we walk, as we work, when we are laid down, when we get up and when we are around our children and grandchildren.

We are to live by the commandments of God!

Eph 6:4  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

***We are to use the Word of God as our strong witness while we are in the eyes of the public.

What has happened is there is so much evil in the world, that some of the things taught in schools now seem minor but they are not.

When the children of Israel were out in public, they were bind the commandments of God on their hands and their head.

It is important that we look more like Jesus Christ every day!

In fact, we cannot be Christians unless we begin to look like Him in our everyday walk in this world.

This is called repenting from our old life. Now people just want to cling to their sin yet receive the benefits of God and He is their JUDGE, and He has already JUDGED them! 

Jesus said "ye must be Born Again"!

We should not call ourselves Christians.

It is our enemies who should notice that we are trying to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Orthodox Jews practice these things.

We must understand that the home is to be the center for our testimony of the truth of God and His Son!

1Pe 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 

1Pe 3:16  Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 

Psa 66:16  Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 

God's blessings come to those who love Him and who are trying to be like Him!

*****Deu 6:10  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 

Deu 6:11  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 

Deu 6:12  Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

It is the simple thing of obedience where we fail the most in our relationship with our Heavenly Father!

No matter what we think, God owns all of His Creation and can do with it as He pleases!

He does not need our permission to take our land and give it to someone else! 

Remember God had told Abraham that everywhere his feet would touch would belong to His children.

It is the residents of Canaan Land who were the trespassers!

What worldly gifts did God offer these people?

1) God gave them the land promised to Abraham.

2) God gave them cities that were prosperous.

3) God gave them houses already stocked with good things.

4) God gave them wells that were full of water.

5) God gave them plenty of food.

What do we learn from these things knowing that God will not do for one that He will not do for others?

The believer who is obedient to God will be blessed by God!

Greatly blessed in this life and even greater blessing in that eternal life to come.

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

Moses also taught these who would receive all these blessings, that there was a downside to so many blessings.

Owning so many treasures of this world can lead to the danger of forsaking God, and this is where the Church stands today.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

We have this tendency to get so relaxed after receiving such blessings, that we forget that they came from our Savior and begin to put ourselves before God which is a great sin.

Sudden prosperity can be fatal to Christians!

A Christian can not only forget his salvation, but they can in fact forget God after He has blessed us so much.

As Christians we are to openly declare the Lord our Savior.

Prosperity can put us in a position of compromise!

Again, this is a sign of today's Church who have compromised with the world and allowed what God has called an abomination into the pulpits of the Church.

When we begin to think too highly of ourselves, we begin to forsake God!

We may even think that we are so high on God's list that we will never chastise us.

No one can get too high for God not to act against them!

Remember God loves those He chastises!

We may drift too far from God and feel nothing, and we must certainly never test God nor test the love of God!

We are to never give back the control of our lives to this world!

We must be incredibly careful if it seems we are making demands of God!

The fear of God from the heart is the most powerful principle of obedience!

Pro 30:8  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 

Pro 30:9  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. 

We must always remember our righteousness comes by our faith.

No one can keep all those old laws, and no one can keep the law perfectly.

It is by Jesus Christ that we are accepted by our Heavenly Father.

BUT once we have been accepted by Him we must seek to be obedient to Him and fulfill the commandments of God which is based upon our relationship with Him and with each other.

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

And these things will never change!

Amen

God Never Changes His Plans

 Remembering Israel's Past

Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 4

As we look back in the history of Israel and their escape from Egypt, we should understand that even on foot the journey from Egypt to Kadesh on the outskirts of the River Jordan, was only an eleven day journey and it took Israel forty years to make this journey.

Deu 1:2  (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 

Deu 1:3  And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;

This is the difference between obedience and disobedience even among God's people!

As Christians remembering our past can be painful but also joyful at the same time.

It is sad to recognize how sinful we were, but joyful to know that God has enough "Grace" to forgive us of our sin.

Rom_5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

When we look at our past with clear eyes, we can utterly understand that the news of what Jesus Christ has done for us, is certainly Good News.

We serve a merciful God who is also full of "Grace"!

There is one God who is also our Creator and to Israel, He is Jehovah and to the Church He is the Lord Jesus Christ the true Messiah who came down from Heaven to die that we might have eternal life.

As Christians the one most important thing we must do after we are saved, is to snuggle up to Jesus and stay as close to Him as the hem of His garment.

We need the Lord in our lives much more than we can know!

We must never forsake our Savior as Israel forsook Jehovah, and traveled in the wilderness for forty years.

The journey of the new nation of Israel to their Promised Land in type means, "it will not be easy to be a Christian", but the rewards of obedience to Him are out of this world.

So, we must not just read the Word of God we must study the Word of God.

2Ti 2:11  It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: "he cannot deny himself". 

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

I know when we pray being filled with the Holy Spirit, God does speak to us in our heart and relays that into our mind and we know we have heard from the Lord.

It is a true saying that "I know that Jesus lives because I just spoke to Him, and I know He heard me".

But these Israelites heard the actual voice of God.

Even though we rarely take notice that God is still doing miracles today, these twelve tribes of Israel were eyewitnesses to many miracles, yet they denied the truth of Jehovah God.

When the Lord commands us, He is actually telling us His commandments are better for us and this is why we should obey.

In other words it is good for our health here on earth and later in Heaven if we will just be obedient to all the Word of God!

When we have that understanding, then it is rather easy to tell others what the Lord has done for us and this is what we are to do!

When we study the Old Testament, we realize that God never broke one promise nor any covenant with Israel, and since He never changes, it is the same for the Church if we continue to be obedient to Him.

We know for sure that when we make requests that are known to God, He will respond to that request!

He may say "yes", He may say "no", or He might say "now is not the time", He may even say "I have something better for you", but He will respond to every prayer that reaches Him in Heaven.

Our job is to live our lives so that our prayers can be heard in Heaven!

Isa 58:9  Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 

Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 

Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 

It is a great privilege to take our burdens to the Lord, but when we do, we must certainly leave them there!

Moses declared unto this nation of Israel the truth of God, and they should have listened just as the Church needs to listen to what God has to say today, no matter what part of the Bible He is speaking to us from!

*****Deu 4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. 

Deu 4:32  For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? 

Deu 4:33  Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 

The Creator of all we see here on earth and what we can see in the heavens declare the glory of God!

As stronger telescopes are made and sent into the heavens, we see a never-ending array of God's creation and we need to stand in awe of His mighty power.

We should also understand that according as the speed of light, there are still great lights in the heavens that have not been seen and when they are seen it does not mean they are something new.

This information is ignored because it makes the earth to be young earth and not billions of years old.

Why would such a powerful God pay close attention to the people He created, we might not ever understand that, but He does!

I am sure that He does not call us "birth persons" and "non-birth persons" as we see our government is pushing for us to use instead of boy or girl or male or female. Such foolish people insist that God makes mistakes and I know He cannot make mistakes!

God works for those who love Him!

It is not just anybody who can brag and say, "my God works for me" and He does!

This same powerful God will still humble Himself and stop what He is doing long enough to listen to me when I speak to Him.

The greatest enemy of our prayer life is our lack of faith!

Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 

Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 

The Lord is the only true multitasker!

He can listen to me and many others and still keep His creation moving along according to His plan.

God never has to alter His plan!

My God is not afraid to reveal Himself to me!

My God will also act on my behalf in a world that rejects Him!

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

What was the reality of God in removing the children of Israel from Egypt?

*****Deu 4:34  Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 

Deu 4:35  Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. 

We must understand that God alone has the power to conquer the enemies of life and there are many enemies ready to take control of our lives.

Temptation may be our greatest enemy as it was to Israel!

These children of Israel had witnessed with their own eyes the formidable power of God.

All the way back to the time of Adam there was no evidence that God would deal with a nation as He had dealt with this band of slaves.

We could say that only Adam and Eve had ever heard the voice of God until He spoke to Israel.

Gen_3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

God spoke out of the midst of a fire to Moses, yet Moses still lived.

Exo 3:1  Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 

Exo 3:2  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 

Exo 3:3  And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 

Exo 3:4  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 

God spoke from the midst of a fire to this entire nation of Israel to give them the moral laws.

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying, 

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

No other nation could brag of such a thing as Israel could!

God had shown great signs in the plagues upon Egypt.

Jehovah God is certainly a merciful God.

Yet this same merciful God is a consuming fire to His enemies.

And in the future, not too far off, the enemies of God will be destroyed by this consuming fire.

And yet, this consuming fire can be a refining fire in our hearts to remove the dross and impurities of our sinful lives causing us to be "Born Again" into a new life.

Why had God done all these things in eyesight of Israel? So Israel would know there is a true Living God!

Why does God do what He does? He wants everyone in this world to be saved!

2Th_2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Pe_3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

You see the Lord God is the only Living and True God, the Sovereign Majesty of the Universe, (Jehovah Yahweh), which also makes Him a God of discipline, correction, and holiness!

*****Deu 4:36  Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. 

God gives His commandments in order for us to know right from wrong! 

These are commandments and not suggestions and they are all for our benefit in order for us to live a joyous and productive life upon this earth and a glorious life when He calls us home to Heaven.

These things are not that hard to understand when you come to know Him as your personal Savior!

We would be wrong to think that He will not correct us when we are disobedient!

There is no one more faithful to the things He says than the Lord God Almighty!

There is no one who keeps all His promises as does the Loving God!

It is the faithfulness of God that gives us hope for eternal life!

Death has no real meaning to the child of God, and He wants us to be as His dear children!

Apostasy is the abandonment of our Christian Faith!

The title Christian comes from being like the Lord Jesus Christ!

All those who have abandoned the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ are living in "Apostasy"!

Just as these Israelites began to fall away from Jehovah God, we see today the Church is "falling away" as the Apostle Paul taught and this is a sign of the soon coming of the Lord.

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 

2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

Everything we see going on in our world today is building to this climatic event just as it was for Israel for their own apostasy.

We can believe that the "Man of Sin" is about ready to stick his ugly head onto the world scene if he has not already.

God and God alone have the power to conquer all His enemies who can empower His people to victory.

Victory over our own sin, victory in our lives and that victory will lead us to eternal life in the "Glory World".

It was the nation of Israel who was chosen to bring forth our Savior just as He chose the land now called Palestine for them to live!

*****Deu 4:37  And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; 

Deu 4:38  To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. 

Notice also that this same powerful Holy God, is the God of Love!

1Jn_4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn_4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

When you know Him in a personal relationship you can feel this love!

God proved His love to Israel by leading them out of slavery and bondage.

Egypt can be understood as a symbol of what the world is today.

We should be able to see easily that nations even in the USA are all trying to make slaves of their people and succeeding.

God hates slavery and He removed the tiny nation of Israel out of slavery and the survival of Israel over all these years is enough proof the God is still on their side!

God does not save from a distance. God remains close to His people even when He does not have to!

God alone has the power to conquer all our enemies and He does not need some mighty army to do so.

We know that God had chosen Abraham, then Isaac, and Jacob and He never took His eyes away for their children.

It’s like this today! God chose His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ and all those who accept Him become the children of God and He will never take His eyes off His children.

All He ever ask of us is obedience!

Most all the mighty nations of Canaan Land fell before that ragtag bunch of Israelites when they were obedient to God. 

In fact, the problems they have today with those called Palestinians are the result of disobedience all the way back to the time of Moses and Joshua when they rebelled against the commands of God.

It is the same for us today. Our lives are joyful and peaceful when we come to know our Savior, but when we decide to do some things our own way, we will see failures and some of these things we will carry with us the rest of our days.

It is best just to have faith in the Word of God and be obedient.

*****Deu 4:39  Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 

Deu 4:40  Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever. 

The entire Bible is the revelation of God. God revealing Himself to the world!

He could have chosen many ways, but this the way He chose.

After we recognize this then it behooves us to be obedient. Even through the many translations, the Word of God still has a simple message. 

Just be obedient to God because He is all knowing! He knows the ending at the same time as He knows the beginning.

There is only One Living And True God and it does not matter what unbelievers think or say. They are wrong!

We must always understand, God does not intend for us to argue with the Word of God, the truth is the truth, and we have the truth.

Why are we to keep His commandments, it is quite simple? That it will go well with us!

This means in this life but also in that everlasting life to come if you accept the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.

The Bible is the wisdom for every nation and should be accepted as such.

When we obey the Word of God, we get the blessings of God and just like last week when we studied Balaam.

There is no one that can take away the blessings of God except God Himself!

The Bible will elevate the national character of any nation, and this was once true in the USA, but now our government has kicked God out of government, schools, the laws and about everything else and when God is asked to leave, He will leave.

God will not stay where He is not wanted!

It is the duty of each and every Christian to have a close personal relationship with God!

We are then under obligation to teach those things to our young!

Israel had to relationship with Jehovah. 

In contrast those Gentile nations each had their own different god and most all of them had many gods and much of these things were debased forms of human passion and immorality.

God wanted Israel to be a nation of Priests and a Holy nation the same as the Church today.

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

And the Church:

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 

1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 

We are royal because of King Jesus.

We are peculiar because we are obedient to God and not to this world.

We love Him so we praise Him.

He gives to us "Mercy" and "Grace".

A perfect relationship.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

It only gets better!

Amen

The Blessed of God Cannot be Unblessed

 Balaam and Israel

Book of Numbers Chapters 23 and 24 and 31

It is in the Book of Numbers where we see the story of Balaam the prophet. Now Balaam was not a prophet of God, but he evidently had forecast some things that had come true much like some of the worldly prophets that we hear about.

Some you may know are Nostradamus, Mirza Ghulan Ahmes, Gordon Hinkley, Muhammad, Thomas Monson, T B Joshua, Jeffrey Lundgren (Murderer) Edgar Cayce, William Branham. Many of these, religionist.

You could include Balaam in this bunch of false prophets.

There are some other things we can see about Balaam.

The story of Balaam is somewhat comical especially when we see his donkey talking back to him.

We can see that God does have a sense of humor.

We also see that God is Sovereign over all His creation!

But we also see God is profoundly serious about these things Balaam had intention to do and there are many today who think they can offer God a sacrifice that will cause God to change His mind.

We can be sure that God never has to change His mind because God never makes a mistake. 

Everything God does is the right thing to do whether we believe it or not!

Num 22:21  And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.

Num 22:23  And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

Num 22:25  And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again.

Num 22:27  And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.

Num 22:28  And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?

Num 22:29  And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

Num 22:30  And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

Num 22:31  Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. 

Num 22:32  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: 

Num 22:33  And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. 

Remember to be a prophet of God then every prophecy had to come true because the prophets of God got their information from God Himself.

Deu 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

What did God say to do with all false prophets?

Deu 13:1  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deu 13:5  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

It is the same for sacrifices made by false prophets!

The one thing we should know about all the sacrifices of Israel is that they in one way or another, were a type of Christ Jesus.

God never had pleasure in the sacrifice of animals.

The sacrifices commanded for Israel were to instill faith in this people.

The sacrifices of Balaam were more about superstition and less about faith.

It seems that Balaam was under the impression that a perfect sacrifice placed God under some obligation to him.

The sacrifices of Balaam were offered as a means to induce God to change His mind and God has never had to change His mind and God never makes mistakes.

Balaam felt that if the right sacrifice were offered, He could entice God to give him permission to place a curse on God's people.

You see, there is no perfect sacrifice, but that sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Today many try to use prayer in the same way Balaam used the sacrifice.

We can never convince God to change His mind!

We can never convince God to change His plans!

Prayer works because of faith and God will only change things that have no effect upon His salvation plan or any part of His overall plan which is written down for us.

God does not change things as such as much as He might intervene to change some outcome such as a healing.

Prayer works only because of our faith!

Jas 5:13  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 

Jas 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

We see the prayer of faith.

We see that these prayers should come from righteous men.

Righteous meaning those who are obedient to the Word of God.

A sacrifice can only be looked at in the spirit of the one who made the offer.

Balaam was a wicked man who may have had been some prophet but certainly not a prophet of God.

There have been many such prophets throughout the years.

To be a prophet of God is to have every prophecy to be true because it came from God to begin with.

Man has no such insights into the future!

You see we must offer to God our absolute best.

Our best is not our possessions but is ourselves, so we must give all of ourselves to God for it to be considered a sacrifice.

God does not want part of us, He wants all of us!

Remember the story of Abraham and Isaac.

*****Num 23:5  And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 

Num 23:6  And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 

It does not matter if we are a child of God or some lost soul.

When God says to speak certain words then it is those words we will speak.

The key to this passage is that if our Gracious God has blessed us, then there is no individual who can un-bless us!

There is no one who can call down the destruction of God's people. No human and not Satan.

Jehovah God is in direct control of the things that happen to us! He does not cause terrible things to happen to us, but He may allow some things to happen to us. 

We must remember this great through of the Bible:

Rom 8:28  And we know that "all things" work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

When terrible things happen to us then God had a reason for allowing them to happen!

When good things happen to us then God has His reasons for allowing them to happen!

Just as Balaam and this King Balak tried to curse God's people by using God against us, the world is attempting to do the same thing to us today.

God will never curse those who love Him. He will in fact remove the curse that He placed upon this world one glorious day.

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 

Rev 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 

Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 

This is what awaits all those who have placed their trust in our Holy God!

We can try to make the perfect sacrifice, but if it does not come from a faithful and sincere heart it means nothing.

When we pray, lacking faith, then that prayer does not make it to Heaven and God will not hear that prayer.

Balaam who had been promised riches for cursing the children of Israel began singing to himself as he traveled to meet King Balak.

*****Num 23:7  And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 

Num 23:8  How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

God's blessings are beyond the powers of our enemies to change when we separate ourselves from this world!

As Christians we are independent from the politics of this world.

As Christians we are separated from this world because our morals do not all for immorality.

As Christians we possess privileges that this world can never offer to us.

As Christians we know the benefits of serving the Lord far outweigh any so-called benefit that this world offers.

Psa_68:19  Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Psa_103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Psa_116:12  What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

Balaam might have had a worldly reputation, but he had no power to change the mind of God and no one else does.

No one can curse those God has blessed!

The sacrifice of a pagan is just the destruction of some animal and is meaningless.

All pagan sacrifices are meaningless to the Almighty God.

We can never sacrifice ourselves on the altars of the world!

Can a lost soul hear from God? Sure they can, but they must have faith and repent of their evil ways to have a meaningful conversation with the Lord.

To Balaam and King Balak, Jehovah was just one god amongst the many gods of this world.

Our world still believes this today that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is just one god amongst many gods that serve this world.

The Lord Jesus Christ does not serve the Church, we serve Him!

He came in the form of a servant to show us how to serve Him!

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 

Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

This shows us His great love for us.

Fake or false gods never show love, thank goodness they are just figments of someone's imagination.

What truth did Balaam realize? Man has no control over the things of God!

God would not allow Balaam to speak one bad word about Israel to King Balak.

There is no power in false prophets!

Isa 47:10  For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 

Isa 47:11  Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 

Isa 47:12  Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 

Isa 47:13  Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. 

Isa 47:14  Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. 

Isa 47:15  Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee. 

We will never be able to do more than God allows us to do!

God overruled the purposes of Balaam and he had nothing to offer King Balak as a counselor.

You see no one can touch God's people unless God allows it to happen! Even the Devil knows this! (Book of Job)

We may live in this world, but we are not to be a part of this world!

We can only lose our blessings if we go against the Word of God and He will be our "Judge", not any other.

This world cannot take away from us the "love God has for us"!

*****Num 23:9  For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 

Our safety comes by walking in the will of God for us.

It is our duty and our honor to separate ourselves from this world and never walk according to the ways of this world.

Israel stands above all other nations in the eyes of God.

Gen 28:14  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

Gen 28:15  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 

The only peoples that stand above Israel is the Church. 

Why? Because it was through Israel that we have the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ came to us as a Jew of Judah, a tribe of Israel.

No other nation will ever reach this magnitude no matter what the world thinks!

Balaam may have wanted to die the death of the "righteous", but that was impossible for him unless he repented of his ways and have that true faith in Jehovah God!

Those who are righteous in the eyes of God use death as the first step to true life that is eternal!

We become righteous once we accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and our names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Balaam realized that he would never be able to curse Israel.

Num 24:12  And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, 

Num 24:13  If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak? 

God then used Balaam to make a sure prophecy.

*****Num 24:16  He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: 

Num 24:17  I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. 

What is a parable? A parable is an earthly story that has a true Heavenly meaning!

No doubt this is a prophecy of the coming Messiah and King of Israel, not King David but King Jesus, King of Kings.

We know that Balaam had a head knowledge of God, but he did not the heart of a believer and knew nothing of God's "Grace".

We should understand that all those who oppose God and God's people will eventually see the truth of God's wrath!

Num 24:18  And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. 

Num 24:19  Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. 

God wants the people of the world to know that the Lord Jesus Christ will return in great glory and will rule this earth according to the Word of God for one thousand years and before He sits upon the throne of David, He will have destroyed all those who oppose Him.

Balaam was noticeably clear on this prophecy because God forced these words from his mouth even though he did not want to speak to them.

He did not want to make an enemy of King Balak, but God would not allow his silence.

This sure King would come in the future. The Lord has not yet come as King, but He is coming.

He come out of Jacob and rise out of Israel.

He will be victorious in all His battles and would crush Moab and Edom. The King of Edom was listening as Balaam spoke these words.

He would guarantee the survival of the nation of Israel.

He would guarantee the triumph and the dominion of God's people. He would destroy all the enemies of Jehovah God.

There is none other than Jesus Christ who will accomplish all these things.

He is the Messiah.

He is the Deliverer.

He is Lord of lords and King of kings.

He will rule His entire creation as the Sovereign Lord of the universe.

1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 

1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

No doubt Israel will one day defeat all its enemies!

There is a greater battle that will be won than this as our Savior has been victorious over death, hell, and the grave, and offers eternal life to each believer.

Balaam was called on and paid big money to curse God's people, but he could only tell this king of the destruction of his own nation and of the death of all those that opposed Jehovah.

For each of us that believe the truth of God we can see victory for all God's people.

That victory comes to each individual the very moment we accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have learned that head knowledge is not enough, our faith must come from the heart and God can see into the heart.

The powers of this world have no chance against the power of God!

The evil wicked men of this world are but grasshoppers to God who will perish by the Sword of God's mouth. In other words God will just speak and they will perish.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over the temptations and the trials of this life.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over the powers of darkness.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over all who oppose us here and any that opposed us that were once in Heaven.

The Lord Jesus gives us victory over all things and from the persecution we have received in this life.

War was coming to Israel and Balaam had given the best advice he could of how to destroy God's people.

It is in our flesh to fall into the traps of temptation.

Mat_26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mar_14:38  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

As long as we are in these bodies of flesh, we are subject to the temptations of the wickedness of this world.

These nations of Canaan Land and Moab and Edom had become so wicked that God knew they would never change and give their hearts to Him.

When time for war came God gave the order to destroy them.

Num 25:17  Vex the Midianites, and smite them:

This command was not followed as God intended.

We must understand that God will use a nation to be His arm of wrath and He has a vast knowledge of the future.

Rev_1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Israel did not do as God commanded.

Num 31:9  And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. 

These are things we would consider as proper even today and are in many cases, but not at this time in Canaan Land where wickedness just was not going to end.

They had become as Sodom and Gomorrah.

It was these things that caused Israel to stumble.

*****Num 31:16  Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. 

Moses became terribly angry with God's people because they had failed to obey the Word of God.

Moses was God's mouthpiece, and his words were to be treated as the direct Word of God.

It was women just like these that had caused the judgment of God to fall on the children of Israel and 21,000 Israelites were destroyed of God.

What God has done in the past is something that God will do in the future because He never changes, and He demands obedience.

We may never understand all the things that God does, but if our faith is truly in Him, we will certainly obey Him.

This was Adam's downfall and why we all have this sin nature to begin with.

Why little children?

We say it still today that our children are the strength of our nation.

We even say that the strength of the Church is in the hands of our children.

God says: Pro_22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Once these children had seen the wickedness of their parents and trained in those ways, it was very unlikely, they would ever change.

Look at how the so-called Palestinians train small children today. 

This was not indiscriminate brutality.

These Midianites were a warlike people, and this was never going to change.

To bring this closer home we might remember at the end of World War II, all of Germany was bombarded because it was decided that the only way the Nazi menace could be stopped was to destroy most of its people who were solidly behind Hitler.

Japan got a taste of it with the first nuclear bomb.

This is why nuclear war is scary because it targets all peoples, the women the children and all the innocent peoples.

So no, the world has not changed, and it has not changed because we do not obey our Sovereign God who knows all the future.

Moses saved the innocent girls who were adopted by Israelite families and taught the truth of a Holy God, and they became part of the nation of Israel as free and not slaves.

God will destroy all the wicked one day in our future and not one wicked person will ever be allowed in God's New Heaven.

Our world is becoming more wicked and ruthless every day and it cannot be contained by governments that approve of it, as is the America of today!

Amen

It Takes Spiritual Leadership

 Spiritual Leadership for Israel

Book of Numbers Chapters 16 and 17

We must understand there is a great danger in going outside of God's plan of salvation!

In fact there is no plan of true salvation outside the "Grace" of God!

There is also great danger in taking a role in the leadership of the Church without being called of God to do so!

What is one of the biggest problems in America? Our leaders have no fear of God, and this is one of the signs of the last days.

As for the Church, God has given us all we need to know how to worship Him and serve Him properly!

To all who know they are called of God, they should do their absolute best to walk in obedience to the Word of God and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit living within you, the Word of God cannot be clearly understood.

The Bible is a Spiritual Book when it is taken from the right source, the "Received Text".

The seeking of power and authority other than the power of God will be the downfall of this world!

Just look at this man Putin who feels like he has the power to rule any nation he so chooses.

There is only one power God allows any government and it is the power to serve the people and that according to the Word of God.

Certainly not to be lord over God's creation. This is the thing that the Devil seeks!

The was an Israelite named Korah who grew disgusted with the leadership of Moses, but remember Moses was God's chosen leader.

Because of the unbelief of the Israelite people, Moses had just turned the nation of Israel around and led them away from the Promised Land by the orders of Jehovah.

Num 14:21  But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 

Num 14:23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: 

Num 14:24  But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. 

Korah and his allies were now ready to act and filled with anger, they sought to take the leadership away from Moses.

In reality, this was an insurrection against Jehovah God! 

It was God who instructed Moses to move away from the Promised Land and no human being would have been able to take control of this young Israelite nation to lead them to the Promised Land.

If not careful we could see some typology here. No one but Jesus can lead us to the true Promised Land, the New Heaven, and the New Jerusalem.

Korah was the ringleader of this rebellion. He too was a Levite in fact, he was a cousin to Moses.

Korah led a group of 250 men who were not just men, but leaders well known to the tribes of Israel.

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: 

Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:

Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? 

Some were even Levites.

When they should have been encouraging all the tribes of Israel to be obedient to God, they began a total rebellion to God's chosen men.

By the way this is happening today to those chosen men who preach the truth of the Word of God.

Much of the world just does not want to hear what God has to say!

Korah and this group of rebellious men felt that Moses and Aaron had assumed too much authority and they were ready to take over the reins of Israel and lead them into the Promised Land, where God would have destroyed them.

It is God that makes these kinds of decisions not man.

Heb 5:1  For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 

Heb 5:2  Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 

Heb 5:3  And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 

Heb 5:4  And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 

It is not man who decides what is holy and what is not holy. This too is decided by God Himself!

Num 16:5  And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.

God does not like to see these things!

Num 16:20  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 

Num 16:21  Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. 

God was so angry with this group of men that He sent them straight to Hell without first dying.

Moses received His instructions again:

*****Num 16:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 

Num 16:24  Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. 

Num 16:25  And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 

Num 16:26  And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. 

Num 16:27  So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. 

**Num 16:28  And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. 

We should be careful if we decide to challenge the Word of God for this is the same as challenging God Himself!

Evidently these rebellious men had joined their tents together so they could meet and discuss the intent to go against Moses and Aaron.

A tent is also called a tabernacle.

We can see that rebellious talk will bring a large crowd.

Moses had challenged these unruly men according to the Word of God to a trial by fire.

Moses just said that God would speak for Himself.

Num 16:16  And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: 

Num 16:17  And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.

We will also notice that this trial by fire would take place at the entrance to the Tabernacle of Testimony.

This would be the place where God would choose the men to be His leaders.

What does God always do before He brings final judgment? He gives a warning.

This is a biblical truth even though He does not have to do this.

Remember these rebels were official representatives of the nation of Israel.

It was also these same men who had agreed to the believe those ten spies rather than Joshua and Caleb.

Jehovah was ready to lead this nation into Canaan Land, but they had said no.

It was too late now, just as it will be too late for all those reject the truth of God once God has removed His Church at the rapture.

Will God take judgment upon a group of people for the sin of one man? No never.

Remember God looks into the heart!

God said:

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

Not only were these who were innocent to depart, they were not to take anything from them, which would include words of rebellion.

The only ones left were these wicked men and their families and those who did not walk away from this rebellion some 250 people.

There were four ringleaders of this rebellion. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On.

We see that prayer still worked for the Lord listen to the words of Moses, but "judgment" was still coming to those who were guilty.

Judgment will always come to those who reject the Word of God!

As this group of rebels faced Moses and Aaron the hand of God fell upon these rebels.

The Lord did something new in this "judgment" that had not been seen before and I do not believe it has been seen since.

God opened up the earth and sent these rebels straight to Hell.

*****Num 16:29  If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me. 

Num 16:30  But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD. 

Num 16:31  And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: 

Num 16:32  And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. 

Num 16:33  They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. 

Moses said, if these rebels die a natural death, then he Moses was not chosen of God to lead them, Moses said he could be considered an imposter.

What is the truth?

Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 

Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 

Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

When we start doing what we think is right instead of doing what HGod says is right then we have chose our own path to destruction.

Remember we have no righteousness within us. We are accounted holy only because we have the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not know how to do right unless we are doing what the Word of God says!

No doubt that the Lord had told Moses what He would do.

These rebels went straight to hell to be tried by the fires of Hell and they are still there today realizing they should never have questioned God's man Moses.

Joh 8:24  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 

Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 

We need to pray for our Pastors and Church leaders who are called of God, and it will show by the way they preach Jesus Christ!

It was Moses who had selected Aaron by the Word of God and there would be a separate test for Aaron.

*****Num 17:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 

Num 17:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. 

Num 17:3  And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. 

Num 17:4  And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. 

Num 17:5  And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. 

Num 17:6  And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 

Num 17:7  And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. 

Num 17:8  And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. 

If we cannot see these things as they have happened, we must at least see that God does not like a bunch of complainers and most all of us complain far too much.

We must understand that nothing happens that God is not aware of and that He could stop if He chose to do so!

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

All the things of this world are moving along according to the plan of God!

We should understand that a "rod" used by the Israelites could have been from any tree and they were sometimes formed as that of the staff of a shepherd.

This rod used here seems to be the rod of the tribe of Levi and may not be the same rod Aaron used earlier.

Aaron's name was written on the rod of "Levi" and eleven more rods were gathered from the other tribes and their names were written upon their rods.

These rods would be from dried wood none of them being green.

The rod used in this manner was as an emblem of authority.

We should understand that God has it in His power to appoint His Pastors and other men of God.

God's method of choosing is far different from the way we would choose.

This person would serve under God.

This person would serve under the Lord Jesus Christ.

This person would be filled with the Holy Spirit because they had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and are obedient to Him.

All others are false!

If this person does not promote the truth of God, then they are not God's man and God has the power to deal with them.

God holds this power over all His chosen servants!

Today, everyone called of God are chosen to be a type of Jesus Christ so it should be easy to see who are true to the Word of God and who are not.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only perfect priest which means those chosen today are not perfect because they are only men and their importance comes by preaching the truth of God, which in the original manuscripts is also perfect!

When we attack the Priesthood, we take the chance of attacking the men God has specifically called into the ministry.

When we attack our Pastor, we are attacking God, we are attacking the Lord Jesus Christ.

We know that Korah and his cohorts attacked Aaron and God sent them straight to Hell where they would be judged by the eternal fires of Hell.

It was God who established the position of High Priest and God would defend His choice.

Heb 5:1  For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 

Heb 5:2  Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 

Heb 5:3  And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 

Heb 5:4  And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 

Every priest, or pastor, or whatever their title must serve as being like the Lord Jesus Christ!

If they don’t preach Jesus, or the Blood, or the Virgin Birth, and all the truths of Him written in both Testaments then they are false and not called of God.

All Aaron had was the first five books of the Bible and then he only had the part that Moses had written up to that point which was the moral law and the Book of Leviticus.

Even today some people murmur against any Pastor when the ten commandments are mentioned.

The world rejects most all the Book of Leviticus because of what it teaches about being gay and abortion.

Moses obtained twelve staffs, one from each tribal leader as was Aaron.

The purpose of this is stated: the staff that belonged to the man God had chosen would sprout and this man would be the one God had chosen.

A simple enough test but it required a miracle.

It was the rod of Aaron that sprouted, and Aaron was the High Priest and the line to the priesthood would continue from the line of the tribe of Levi.

All the grumbling and murmuring must come to an end.

This priesthood is not accountable to man but accountable to God and this has never changed.

Complaining and murmuring are not of pleasant to the ears of God and if we are to please Him.

True faith says we trust everything God does so there is no place for murmuring and complaining!

Murmuring and complaining are of the Devil!

If our Pastor is declaring the Word of God from a legitimate translation then those words came from God and that Pastor is just the messenger God has chosen.

God wants His children to know, respect, and honor His chosen messengers!

Aaron's rod sprouted, budded, and blossomed and produced almonds.

None of the others did so.

The tribal leaders knew from that point forward the Levites were priests, and the High Priest would be a Levite.

The point of God's ministers is to produce fruit, just as the rod of Aaron produced fruit.

Bearing fruit is the purpose of the Word of God.

Bearing fruit is the purpose of God's chosen men.

Bearing fruit is the purpose of the Church.

The "Lost" cannot know the truth without the truth being told them!

Bearing fruit means to stop walking in the ways of the world and walk in the "Fruit of the Spirit"!

1Co 12:7  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 

Eph 5:10  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 

The fruit of the Spirit is being welcomed into the family of God and a home reserved in God's New Heaven.

It takes Spiritual Leadership from God's chosen men to reach the Lost with the Truth!

Amen

Always Complaining

 The Murmuring of Israel

Book of Numbers Chapters 13 and 14

As Christians we must realize that when put our own personal preferences before our focus on God and the Word of God, we are stepping toward idolatry!

We must learn to follow Jesus even when it seems things are against us! He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us all our days.

Being a Christian will never be easier than it is right now, until we get to the Glory World.

In fact we already know things are going to get worse here on Earth before the Lord returns.

Murmuring and complaining reveal to God just how far we are veering from true faith. 

In fact these things can reveal a total lack of faith, a lack of trusting in the Lord.

Grumbling and complaining about the way God does things is dangerous!

Israel began showing their lack of faith when they did not accept that Canaan Land, the Promised Land, would be as God described it.

Lev_20:24  But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

We must understand that being negative to the truth of God will defeat us and then destroy us!

A negative attitude is always unwilling to face the facts!

A negative attitude will reject the truth of every situation!

A negative attitude will almost always lead to open rebellion!

A negative attitude will cause an unwillingness to listen and follow the truth!

A negative attitude about the Lord Jesus Christ will lead you straight to Hell!

At this time in this new nation of Israel, they had an unbelieving attitude, and it was separating them from our merciful God.

We should understand that Jehovah God will only tolerate such rebellion for a limited amount of time!

God knows our heart and God knows when our heart will never change.

Gen_6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: 

We could say that the striving of the Holy Spirit is not a physical thing but that it is the energy God uses to place the truth into our minds.

It could be called convincing or persuading, all taking place in our mind because of what is taking place in our heart.

The heart is deceitful, and this is the first place that the Holy Spirit chooses to do battle within us.

We call it Holy Ghost Conviction!

God had led these children of Israel to the entrance to Canaan Land and Israel refused to enter even though God had commanded them to and told them He would be with them.

We should understand that negativism and defeatism does not set well with God because cannot be defeated and he will never feel defeat.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not defeated when He went to that cross on Mount Calvary, He was the Victor, Satan was the loser.

Our God cannot be defeated, neither can the Son nor the Holy Spirit!

Instead of just entering the Promised Land as commanded by the Lord, this unruly mob decided they wanted more proof of the truth of God.

How many are out there today who are seeking proof for the existence of God when the sites if God's Creation is proof enough.

Anyone that believes this world came about by accident are just foolish!

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 

Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 

Jer_17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

God does not need to explain anything to us, we should be able to see the world we live in did not come about by some accident!

Israel chose out twelve men to go into Canaan Land as spies to see if the land was as God described it.

These were not just random men, but men who had leadership qualities and could be trusted, or this was what was intended.

It is at this time that Moses began to push forward a young man named Joshua (God saves).

Remember Moses could lead the Children of Israel to the Promised Land but only Joshua (Yeshua) (Jesus) could lead them into the Promised Land.

Canaan Land would include the lands of Israel today, plus Lebanon, and much of Syria.

The mission was conducted, and the spies left to make an assessment of the Promised Land for forty days.

One of the places they looked at was Hebron and God had already made a promise to Abraham about Hebron.

Gen 13:14  And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 

Gen 13:15  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 

Gen 13:16  And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 

Gen 13:17  Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 

Gen 13:18  Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD. 

God does not ever forget His promises!

These spies returned after a forty-day mission and a report was given to Moses.

Was the Promised Land as God had said?

*****Num 13:26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 

Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

1) The land did flow in milk and honey.

This land was fertile, very productive, and fertile. We may see some typology of our own lands here in America but especially Israel.

The proof was in some of the fruit that these spies brought back with them.

This land could easily provide food for the new nation of Israel.

Their livestock would find plenty of grazing land and water was available.

It was a wonderful land because it was land, that God had chosen for His people. 

It was the Promised Land.

What had the Lord told Moses while these children of Israel were still slaves to Egypt?

Exo 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 

Exo 3:8  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 

Exo 3:9  Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 

Some of the promises of God were ready to be fulfilled, but there are always those who see a dark side to everything.

Reminds me of some of my own family.

*****Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.  

Nevertheless, is a word that should never been used in the English language!

Nevertheless is a word that stands in opposition to the truth!

In other words, "even though everything is just like what Jehovah the Almighty God said and even though He will be with us at all times, the same God who destroyed the Egyptian army, which was the mightiest army in the world, those people look to be too strong for Jehovah God".

To hear ten of these spies those cities were so strong that no one could defeat them.

These men were defeated before they even started!

Putin thought that the Ukrainians would be this type of people and just melt before the Russian Army but that has not happened.

When we look out upon the world, we can see some mighty scary things and the thought of Nuclear War is a scary thing, but when you travel with the Lord there is no obstacle that is so great it can overcome God if we are obedient to Him.

No power on this earth can overcome the power of the Almighty God!

God had already given these children of Israel Canaan Land and He was not going to change His mind.

So what, there were some men that looked like giants.

The Jews are a shorter than average race of people and most every basketball player today would look like giants to them and even today there are a few men and women who are extremely large.

The Amalekites were a wicked people:

1Sa 15:18  And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 

They were also warlike:

1Sa 15:32  Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 

1Sa 15:33  And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

God commanded the Hittites to be destroyed they were so wicked along with those other nations:

Deu 7:1  When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 

Deu 7:2  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 

To not enter the Promised Land as commanded by the Lord God, was to reject God!

There were two, Caleb and Joshua, who saw no problem in being obedient to God.

We should understand those ten spies were exaggerating and distorting the truth saying that God had led them to their death.

God will never do such a thing, but even if I die, I will still be with Him in Heaven before this carcass of a body ever drops to the ground.

These men brought an evil report when God was seeking strength and courage like that of Caleb.

The same strength God is seeking from the Church.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

This wicked distortion of the truth turned the hearts of these people against God.

This is what is happening in our world today! There is a wicked distortion of the truth, or we could say truly little truth from the leaders of nations.

*****Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. 

Num 14:5  Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 

Num 14:6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 

Num 14:7  And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 

This wicked report spread through the people like Covid 19, and the words of Joshua and Caleb were not heard at all.

They all put on their mask and waited for this virus to kill them just like this world has done for more than two years.

All they could think of were cities with such strong walls they could not toppled.

Men so strong they did not need weapons.

Even giants that could not be stopped.

No one talked about the "Grace of God".

No one talked about the miracles they had seen.

No one remembered the angel of death.

No one talked about the "fire of God" or "the cloud" that had led them there.

Fear becomes an overwhelming force, when we allow it to take hold of us and many have during these last two years of Covid 19.

Some people are still so afraid they will still not leave their homes and a new delivery mechanism has been put in place by many retailers.

Nothing brings us into bondage as quickly as fear, but the Lord teaches us how to harness our fear.

2Ti_1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

When we have the Holy Spirit living within us, we have no reason to fear anything in this world!

We do not belong to this world any longer!

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 

All the Israelites were grumbling in unbelief, the whole assembly!

Not a single person beyond Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb were trusting God.

They did not believe God could lead them to take control of the Promised Land.

It is said that no race of people can wail like the people of the East, and I can believe this even today!

The more this people expressed their fear the more they feared.

This people felt they would be better off to just die in the desert and God said "ok" if this is what you want, then this is what you will get.

Joshua and Caleb could not change their thoughts.

*****Num 14:8  If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 

These two young men did their absolute best to change the minds of this people but could not.

In the least, to rebel against the God who saved them, would bring dire consequences.

We know that even when we have the truth of God, most people will still fear what this world holds for them.

We will find that the rebellious lost of this world have such a great fear of this world they will want to destroy God's people and we see this today.

They do not want to hear what God has to say.

God will not tolerate unbelief and rebellion from any person for very long, and remember, they are already sentenced to damnation unless they repent.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. 

When we fear this world more than we fear God, then one day God will show us why we are wrong, when He shows us why we should have feared Him.

Jud 1:5  I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 

God condemns rebellion:

1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

We should understand that God is serious about the truth versus the lies of this world.

As Christians we have the truth of God!

We do not have to argue or run from the lies of this world!

All we need do is stand upon the truth of God and He will take us home one day to our true home the true Promised Land!

Amen