The Result of Not Possessing Your Possesions

which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I commanded thee, thou and thy son and thy son's son, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, that you may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart." As we look at this creed, basically the creed that was given to the nation of Israel and the Hebrew people, we find that in this challenge, this was what God was... His expectations of them as they go into the promised land, the land that was a land that was flowing with milk and honey, a land that was promised way back yonder to Abraham, that if he would follow God and that he would obey God, that God would give him a land of His own. And a family and a people after His name. And man, we read through the book of Genesis and we see where it just never did happen, but yet we see Abraham. We see his son Isaac, his son Jacob, as they were all faithful to that command. And so as we look at this, a couple of things that I pointed out to you last week that I would like to remind you this week is the fact that when we are looking at this and we are studying this, how does this foreshadow or typify Jesus Christ in us today? Well, when we look at Egypt, of course, we know that they ended up in Egypt and we know that Joseph finally died. And the Bible tells us that there was no Pharaoh in Egypt any longer that remembered Joseph, or more importantly, the God of Joseph. And because of that, they began to have the power. They began to have the control. They forgot about God. They forgot about God's people. And Israel wound up being in prison. They ended up becoming their slaves. And because of that, God raised up a deliverer in the man Moses. And Moses was such a tremendous leader, but yet we find as Moses was preserved and brought, we remember the Pharaoh when he found out what was happening and knew the Scriptures and all of this, he said, look, we've got to kill all of these male children under the age of two, which we also see typified in Jesus Christ. But Herod also said all the male children have to be killed under the age of two. But yet God spared Jesus Christ. And we see that God in the Old Testament spared Moses because of the wisdom and the faith of his mother, knowing that he would be the deliverer. Moses' mother said, no, he's got more things than purpose that's there because she understood the Old Testament and she knew that Goshen in Egypt was not where they were supposed to be. They were supposed to go to a promised land. And we find her that Pharaoh ended up bringing Moses and preserving him. And ironically, right, ironically, not luckily, not really ironically, but yet God's supernatural working and his sovereignty allowed Pharaoh's daughter to find Moses there in the bulrushes. She wasn't floating down the Nile. His mother didn't set him out carelessly, but no, she put him in a very particular place where Pharaoh's daughter came and bathed and washed clothes. If you go back and read that, then she knew that she would be coming there that afternoon. And one of the hardest things that you will find out when it comes to babies and stuff, it's hard to not love a baby when you lay eyes on them, right? That's one of the things that we've been seeing happen in our society today. Abortion is easy as long as you do it without looking at the heartbeat, the ultrasounds, realizing that what they call a fetus in the womb is actually a child. But man, once you lay eyes on that child, there's something special. And Pharaoh's daughter spared Moses. And he ended up being raised in Pharaoh's household. Raised as the next Pharaoh in line to take over the throne. And we see that by the time he got up to almost 40 years of age, he found out that he knew he was supposed to be a deliverer. God had been working on him. God had been doing it. He had a heart and he had a love for his Hebrew people. And we find that Moses, because of that, ended up one day to try to deliver the people on his own terms. Right? He rose up and he saw this Egyptian that was beating this Hebrew. And what did he do? His deliverance came out. And he went and he killed that Egyptian. But because of that, because him doing it in his time and in his way, God had another plan. God had another idea. Moses ended up fleeing. The Hebrew people didn't want him around. The Egyptians didn't want him around. And Moses went out into the wilderness for 40 years, where he wandered in the desert, where he learned of God, how to rely upon God, how to trust God, how to survive and keep sheep and stuff alive in the middle of a desert. He does this for 40 years before God finally appears to him in a burning bush and says, Moses, now it's time for you to go back to Egypt. Now it's time for you to go back to Egypt. And when he goes back to Egypt, God tells him, said, I'm going to use you and you're going to get the people to leave Pharaoh to change his mind. You're going to bring my people out and you are going to lead them to the promised land that I am going to give you. That promised land is the land known as Canaan. And so they were heading to the Canaan land. And Canaan was a place, a land that flowed with milk and honey. It was a land of blessings. The problem is, is that it was also a land of trials and tribulations. We noticed that last week. We said that Canaan cannot represent heaven because there was sin in Canaan. There was also fighting and wars in Canaan. And neither one of these things is going to be in heaven. And so when we look at Canaan, what it is a picture of today is the life that we can have spiritually with Jesus Christ. That's what God wants us to have. The problem is, is unfortunately a lot of us, just as they did, end up forgetting about God, testing God, questioning God. And because of that, we wind up in the wilderness. And some of us spend our entire lives in the wilderness and we start looking for Canaan and we start making Canaan heaven. And we do that because we are not receiving the blessings here on God. But that's not because God doesn't want to give us the blessings. Because we're not obeying His voice. The problem is us. The problem is not with God. Jesus Christ said, I came to give life and life more abundantly. And so that's what we are to be experiencing today. And so we notice three types of people that are represented in this story that are represented spiritually today. We have those that are in Egypt that are lost, that never would heed to God, never would listen to God. We know that these people ended up losing the very first born male of every one of their families, of their household. Death came upon not only them, but also on their offspring. We also see the second group of people, those that left out of Egypt, those that trusted God and began to head for the Promised Land. However, not everybody made it to the Promised Land. As a matter of fact, there was all but two that left out of Egypt that crossed the Red Sea. Only two were allowed to go in to the Promised Land. Of nearly two million people in numbers when they numbered the people of Israel, everybody was numbered from all the males from age 20 and upward. 20 and upward, there were 600,000 males approximately. So you take 600,000 men and you give each one of them over 20 a wife. You give each one of them one to two kids, which is very conservative because you know how many kids most people had back then because that was their command is to go into all the world and be fruitful and multiply. And you'd get roughly around two million people that ended up leaving. And out of them two million people, only two made it to where God wanted them to get. And so you have those that were saved, those that picture salvation and obedience to God and faith in God, but yet you have the majority of them staying and dying in the wilderness, and you have two going on to experience the blessings of God. And over the next two weeks, today we are going to look at one individual that did not possess his possessions. Next week we're going to look at the attitude that we're to have as we possess our possessions. And so as we look at this passage of Scripture, I want you to notice today and I want you to see here in this passage, we're going to use three events this morning. As we go and see the problem the result of not possessing our possessions. We're also going to see the harm in doing so. And so we're going to look at three different passages. If you have your Bibles this morning, if you look at Exodus chapter 17, Exodus chapter 17, you will find here, and I don't have any notes or nothing except the outline. I'll encourage you to follow along in this outline this morning with me as we go through there. And I want you to focus on these last three points of every one of these points that I'm making. The first point is we'll see the first event ends in conquest. It ends in victory. The second event ends with the consequence, ends with rebellion against God. The third event ends with a curse. A curse. And we see this downward spiral. And so I want you to look with Moses. And I think there's three key events that are in Moses. And it starts out of Deuteronomy 6 and verse 16 where we read last week, You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massachusetts. When Moses said this, remember that Moses in Deuteronomy is challenging the people to go in and possess the Canaan land. To possess their possession. However, as he is challenging them, he is also turning the reins over to a man by the name of Joshua. And Joshua and Caleb, the only two individuals to come out of Egypt, are going to take them into the promised land. Moses is denied going in to Canaan land. We know Moses is in heaven today, right? Another reason that Canaan is not heaven because Moses appeared with Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. And so we know he was saved. We know he was a great leader. He's in the hall of faith and he's told about how great of a leader and how faithful that he was. But what kept him from experiencing the blessings of God in his life? And how did he get there? And so I think the very first event was I shared with you the life of Moses. We come to a place shortly after they left out of Egypt. Now I want to put these three events in a little bit of proximity for you. Because this first event, it happens before they get to Mount Sinai. What happened on Mount Sinai? Mount Sinai, they received the law. They became a nation. God was going to be their king and their ruler, and they were going to be His people. And He gave them a law and He formed them as a nation. The second event happens after Mount Sinai. And so something happened. What was it all about Mount Sinai? Mount Sinai was all about the law. Read the last part of Exodus. Read all of Leviticus. All of these laws. All of these rules. All of these regulations. Because God said if you're going to be My people, you are going to be holy as I am holy. And this is how you become holy. And man, I get lost in all of the rules and regulations and stuff. Amen? I mean, man, I've got notes and notes and notes of different things to try to put and try to categorize, and it gets so confusing. But notice as we look here, the first event is this fascination that the people of Israel had with questioning God. I think in our society today, we see this same fascination. We always are wanting to question God, right? We always want to question what God is doing. And so here in Exodus chapter 17, notice what he says here in this story beginning in verse 1. He tells us in verse 1, "...and all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord and pitched in the rift of them, and there was no water for the people to drink." Now, why are they pitching here? Because it was getting night. Where are they going? We have to understand they are going to the promised land. God promised every one of them that left Egypt that had faith in Him that He would get them to the promised land. And they wind up staying overnight and for the first time, they did not have water. Now, Deuteronomy, Moses comes back later and tells us that God actually did this to test them, to try them. Do you realize that God will test you as a Christian? It says, he tells us in James, that actually the train of our faith worketh patience. Patience worketh hope. Hope brings about the reality and increases our faith in our life. And so God tested His people. Let's see what you really... Yeah, you passed the test. You got out of Egypt. You've accepted Me. But the question is, are you still going to follow Me? Are you still going to obey Me? And so this way to test Christians and to test people is through their bellies, right? Food and water. And we see these other events happening. They got tested with food on two different occasions. Two different occasions it's recorded of water. And I imagine that there were probably other times that they griped and they belly ached over physical things that are not even recorded here in Scriptures. But this is the first time they are affected by no water. And so Israel, what did they do? What is their crime? What was the problem when this trial and this test came to place? Look at what it says there in verse 2. Wherefore, they simply had no water for the people to drink. Wherefore, the people did chide with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why chide you with me? Wherefore, do you tempt the Lord? Notice their first problem here is Israel looked to Moses rather than looking to God. Amen? As your pastor, I am to lead you. I am to guide you. But I'm not to lead and guide you so that you rely on me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I've got to teach you to rely on God. I've got to teach you to turn to God. Right? And Moses is a great leader. We're going to see that's what happened. But the people, instead of going to God, they went to Moses. Well deserved because God told the people that what? Moses is their leader. Moses was the one that mediated between them and God. And so there was a little bit of difference that was going on here. But notice what happened. Immediately, not only did they turn to their leader, but then they rejected their leader. Look at what they said. Moses, they said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why chide? And the people said in verse 3, they thirsted there for water. And the people murmured. See, here's where they turned against Moses and said, wherefore is it that thou has brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? How many phone calls have I got of the murmuring on Monday mornings, right? Preacher, you've reached that message and I didn't like it. And I didn't really care for it, right? And why are you preaching that? Why are you running us down? No, what is Moses doing? He's leading them to the promised land. And what do they do? They immediately come to Him, but then they turn on Him. But notice the conquest here because this is very, very important. Notice what happened in verse 4. Moses cried unto the Lord. When the people come, what do you do? When they turn on you, my job is to do what? Matter of fact, Peter says that a pastor that rules well is worthy of double honor. What are we ruling for? We're trying to get you to hear well done, my good and faithful servant when you get to heaven. We're trying to get you to experience blessings in this life. And we're going to find that you cannot experience blessings with disobedience in your heart. You've got to do it God's way. That's my job is to lead you to God and to keep you there. And so notice what happens. So Moses did what a great leader should do. He cried unto the Lord. The people came to him, but what did he do? Immediately went to the Lord saying, what shall I do unto this people? They'd be almost ready to stone me. The guy that delivered them out of Egypt, out of bondage, out of slavery, now they're wanting to kill him because why? They have come to rest. They've pitched their tents and they don't see any water. Doesn't mean the water's not there, right? They just don't see it. Look at what God told Moses to do. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people and take with thee the elders of Israel. Get you the men, the leaders of Israel, those that they trust, those that they follow, and get thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the Lord. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? So what was the conquest? Well, Moses went to him, and what did Moses do? God told him to go and take your rod and smite the rock. And so what did he do? He went. Who was there at the rock? God said, I will meet you and the elders at the rock. And this is important because I'm going to bring it back to you at the very end. So hang on to this. God is there at the rock, and Moses smites it. And the people get water. And so everybody is happy. Everybody is good. And guess what? Because of Moses, the people passed the test. And so where are they going? They're heading on to Sinai and to the Promised Land. So you go through and you read this story. They pack up and they head to Mount Sinai. God gives them the law. God gives them the Demetians, everything for the tabernacle, everything that they were supposed to do. And they built the tabernacle. And man, they did it out of their offerings. But you realize these people were giving so much that Moses finally said, you guys quit giving. We've got too much. We can't keep up with it all, right? I mean, you talk about a people that was pumped and ready to head into the Promised Land. And we get all of the law and everything done, and we get right up to the brink of going in. And that brings us to our second event in Numbers 13 and 14. If you turn over to Numbers 13 and 14, you will find the failure of the people to see the goodness of God. In chapter 13 and verse 1, it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, So here they are. They are now there. They are ready to go in. And the Lord said, Send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan, and underline these next three words, Which I give unto the children of Israel of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a ruler among them. These elders that saw God give them water before Mount Sinai are now called to do what? Go into this land and see that it's not everything that I promised you with. Go in and look at it, because I want you to see it. And notice who said it. He said, I will give it to you. Now how many of you have had something given to you? A gift. A gift is something that you don't earn. A gift is something that you did nothing for. God said, I'm going to give you that land. Remember in Deuteronomy last week? What did we see? You're going to acquire houses that you didn't build, that are filled with food and stuff that you didn't get together. It's going to have cities. It's going to have all of these blessings that you're going to get that you are not going to have to do anything for. And so the certainty is, is guess what? Y'all go in and just get a glimpse right quick of what it's like to live in the blessings and the victory of God. And so what happened? We go down a little bit further in the story and here's where it begins to get confusing. Moses told them, as they went in there to go, and I don't know if it's good or bad. I struggled with it all week long. But Moses, when he told them, because God just told them to go up and look through the land that I'm going to give you. Moses added quite a bit to it, but we don't know what Moses discussed, what he didn't discuss with God. He said to see a land in verse 18, what it is, the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many. And what the land is that dwelleth in, whether it be good or bad or what cities they dwell in, whether it be tents or strongholds, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether it be wood therein or not, and be of good courage. And bring the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. He says be of good courage. Why do you think that he told them to be of good courage? And he tells them you're going to go. You're going to survive, right? You're going to go in. You're going to check this out. And you're going to bring food back. So be of good courage. But listen to the report that we find in verse 26. Verse 25, and they returned from searching of the land after 40 days. It had been 40 days there. And they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel into the wilderness of Paran, to Kadish, and brought back word unto them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. What was the fruit of the land that they showed them? Go back up to verse 23. They brought pomegranates. They brought figs. They came to a place called Eschel where they gathered a cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from there and they returned two men having to carry the one cluster. The proof that God was going to give them the blessings that He provided. But look at verse 27. And they told him and said, We came unto the land whither thou sinnest, and surely it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. In other words, we went into this land and it is everything that God promised. Right? We went into this land and we survived, right? And we're back to share the fruit with you that it's everything. Our witness, right? There are witnesses here. But here comes the confusion part. They confirmed everything that God said, but then look at verse 28. Nevertheless, 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, and 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. Do you see the contradiction that's here? Everything is as God promised, and what did God promise? God promised you will have victory. I'm going to give it to you. It is yours. All you have to do is claim it. What did we study in Ephesians 1, verse 3? God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. How do we get there? Well, He told us all over 4, 5, and 6, we've got to walk in the Lord. We've got to walk with God. We've got to follow God. We've got to live like God. We've got to obey God. So they see everything that God promised, but then there's the contradiction that we see. But praise God for verse 30. And that's why we're going to look at Caleb next week. And we're going to get into this more, so I'm not going to mention it more. But look at verse 30. And Caleb, He healed the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. What did Caleb say? Caleb said, God's already given it to us. Let's go get it, right? Which the more I read this and the more that I studied this, who should have been the one telling the people? God said go in and look at the proof of His goodness, but who was being quiet? Moses. Moses. Moses was the leader. Moses should have said, people, be quiet. God has given us this land. They just came back and proved that it was everything that God promised. Now let's get up and head over. We find Moses all of a sudden speechless. Enough so that Caleb has to rise up and say, wait a minute, guys. Wait a minute, guys. God has promised us this. Let's go. We're going to look at Caleb next week. So we see, first of all, they rejected their leader. They rejected God. Look at verse 32. And they brought up an evil report, verse 31. But the men that went up with him said, we'd be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. What did God tell Moses in chapter 13, verse 1? He said, send thou men and search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man. Go search the land. What did they come back seeing? They weren't focused on the blessings and the spiritual stuff. What are they focused on? The enemies. The battles. Verse 32, and they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. Now, how many days did they spend searching the promised land? 40? Did the land eat them up? That's a long time to stay somewhere and survive, isn't it? If it's that dangerous and that's bad, 40 days should have done played that out, right? But every single one of them returned with the bounty of what God had promised. I just find this amusing. Look at verse 33. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which came of the giants. And we, look at this, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight. Who were they looking at? Their self. Who should they have been looking at? God. Who was Caleb looking at? God. He wasn't looking at his self. God made these promises. It's great, man. Look at all these cities, these houses. Everything's going to be there for us. God said He's going to drive the people out. And so what we find here is the consequence. As all the congregation lifted up their voice in chapter 14 and cried, the people wept that night. And the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. They reject their leaders again. The whole congregation said unto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. And how ridiculous is this? This is where looking at yourself will get you in your thinking. What are they afraid of going into the promised land for? Dying. Right? And now they're saying it would have been better off for us to have died in the wilderness than to even test God to see what God is going to do. You know, I am living every single day I wake up, God provides blessings and happiness and victory for me. There's giants in my world. There's struggles that are going on. That's why God told us to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. Right? And so there's giants. There's problems that we're going to face. But guess what? I am not looking at the problems. I'm looking at my God and how He delivers and how He provides and how He takes care of. And so when we get our eyes off of ourselves, what begins to happen? We get so ridiculous in our thinking. They're worried about dying and now they're wishing that they would have died back there. All of this time that they spent in the wilderness, all of these miracles that they've seen God do from the parting of the Red Sea, from the pouring out of water from a rock, from feeding them manna and giving them everything that they need and everything that they could ever ask for. They wish that they would have died and never seen any blessings of God. Man, how many pastors and Christians have I talked to in their older life that was bitter. Bitter. Because they're looking at their self and their ridiculousness instead of looking at the blessings and what God has done. So look at what he says. Verse 3, Wherefore, hath the Lord brought us into the land to fall by the sword, and that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain and let us return to Egypt. And you go down through there and it says Joshua, verse 6, the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, ripped their clothes. Why did they rip their clothes? Anguish. If you go back and you study, what would happen when something terrible would happen? They would rip their clothes. They would begin to fall down. They would take ashes and put on them. They would begin to fast, go without food, go without everything to try to get and hear a word from God. Immediately, Joshua and Caleb, when they hear the people, they rip their clothes hoping that God would step in and fix the problem. It's what they're doing, but look what happened. If the Lord delight in us, verse 8, He will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not you against the Lord, neither fear you the people of the land, for they are bred for us. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. But all the congregation made stone them with stones, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? And how long will it be ere they believe Me for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with pestilence and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than thee. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it. Now, here's the good thing about Moses. And I want you to notice, where are they supposed to be going? They're on the brink of the promised land. Moses finally speaks up, and he says, God says, let me destroy all of these people, and I'll make a nation out of you. And Moses said, You know what's going to be the problem with that, God? It's going to ruin your witness. It's going to ruin your promises. It's going to make you a liar. And Pharaoh and the Egyptians and all of these other people are going to see that you don't keep your word. Go back, go through and read it. And he says, Now, verse 14, And they will tell it to their inhabitants of this land, for they have heard that the Lord art among his people, that thou, Lord, art seen face to face, and that thou, cloud, standest over them, and that thou goest before them by daytime and pillar of cloud. He explains every way that the Lord has done. Now, if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations will have heard the fame of thee, will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. God, you commanded us to be holy as you are holy. I understand your judgment, but God, you're a God of grace and mercy also. And I want you to think and remind yourself about your grace and your mercy. That's what Moses is pleading because people are watching. See, God didn't make the law thinking that we were able to keep the law. The law is to grow us and mature us into holiness. That's why 1 John 1 and verse 9 says that if we sin and we will sin, go on and read chapter 2 because it says if you say you have no sin, then you're a liar and you've already sinned there. So if we do know that we've sinned and we are going to sin, He says if we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And I think right here we see Moses confessing his sins and saying, God, You promised, show us Your grace and Your mercy. But look at what God says. Verse 20, I have pardoned according to Thy word. You're right, Moses. I forgive. I forgive. But, as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, because all these 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... ten times they've tempted God and have not hearkened to My voice. They haven't obeyed one single commandment. One thing that God has told them to do, but yet what do they do? They question the goodness of God over and over and over. God, why? Why? Why? Surely, surely, they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoke Me see it. But, My servant Caleb..." And notice this phrase right here. "...because he had another spirit within him that followed Me fully. Him will I bring into the land whereunto he went. And his seed, his offspring..." Not only Caleb, but who else? His offspring will possess it. Now, the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley. Tomorrow turn you and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. And He tells us there that every one of you, He says, say unto them, verse 29, "...your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you according to your whole number from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me, doubtless you shall not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein, save Caleb and Joshua." And there's one other person that if you go back and you read this very, very carefully, there's one other person that's still not told that he's not going to enter into the promised land. That's Moses. Moses. But he refers to the spies. They were the ones that did the proof. They were the ones that were seeing. They were the ones that conceived. As we come here, and so that brings us to this deal. Event number three. What happens when you stay in the wilderness? So many Christians today, we have trusted God, but we tempt God, and we question God, and we question the goodness of God, and when a giant pops up or something happens in our life that doesn't go our way, what do we immediately do? We blame God. God, why are You not giving us victory? We don't know what God is trying to do. You remember the blind man that Jesus Christ healed in John 4 or 5? The Pharisees asked who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind? Remember what Jesus Christ said? Neither him nor his parents sinned. His blindness is not about a sin. You know what his blindness was about? This day that I might be glorified when I restore his sight. See, God's not interested in our situation and our circumstance. What God is interested in is being glorified. He wants the credit. He wants the glory. And unfortunately, His glory is the brightest when we are suffering the most. Jesus Christ said what? When was Jesus the most glorified in the eyes of God? On the cross of Calvary when He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit. That's when Jesus glorified. And because of that one act, God says I'm going to make you a sin and you're going to sit on the right hand of the Father because you glorified Me. You go read Revelation and what did He say? Because you glorified Me, guess what? Every name and every body and every knee will bow down and confess that you're Lord of lords and King of kings. Why? Because Jesus glorified the Father. See, it's about God getting the glory. And so we come to this last event and I've got to hurry right quick. Look at the last event. What happens when we get in this wilderness? Frustration begins to come. And I honestly believe with all of my heart that America, that Arkansas, that Saline County, that some of us here in Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church have come to this point that we have wandered in the wilderness for so long that we are filled with frustration. And look at the problem with frustration. All we have to do, remember, God is a God of grace and mercy. All we have to do is repent and God is willing to pardon. He's willing to forgive. But look what happens when we get under so much immense frustration from being out of the blessings and the victory of God. Look at what He says. Go to Numbers chapter 20. And we'll tie it all together real quickly. It says, Then came the children of Israel even to the whole congregation in the desert of Zan in the first month and the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried. And who was Miriam? His sister. You can go into all of that and everything. But look at verse three. The people chode with Moses and spake saying, Would not again that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord? And why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have you made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates. Neither is there what? Any water to drink. Now who's saying all of this? This is not the ones that came out of Israel. This is now all of the Hebrew people above the age of 20 has now died. Miriam is dead. Now we can start going into the promised land. But look at what they do. They're offspring. Because of this generation, it passes to the next generation. You have us out here in this desert. Did their parents bring proof that it was a land flowing with milk and honey? Yeah, we read that a while ago. But they said, Man, you brought us out here. We don't see any seed. We don't see any figs. We don't see any pomegranates. We don't see any life or any victory out here, right? Verse 5, And wherefore have you made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us to this place? Look at verse 6, And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Amen. The children now are griping and complaining. Where did Moses go? He turned to God. Still a great leader. Still leading. Still doing what he's supposed to be doing. He left the congregation. He fell upon his face and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thy rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water. And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So thou shalt give the congregation and their beast drink. Take your rod, but do what? Speak. Speak. Look at verse 9. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord. He didn't go get his rod before the Lord. Did he? He went and took it. You see the anger, the frustration building? He took it from the Lord as He commanded him. And Moses, you know, you can do what you're supposed to do and not like what you're doing. You ever had kids that way? What Moses is doing here. He obeyed the word of the Lord, but I'm not going to enjoy it. Right? So look what happens. Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And he said unto them, Hear now, you rebels! Must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod, he smoked the rock twice. He hit it twice. And the water came out abundantly. And the congregation drank. And the beast also. Amen! God provided again, right? But at what cost? Look at the next verse. The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron. And look at this phrase. Because you believed Me not. Because you believed Me not to sanctify. What does sanctify mean? To set Me apart. To glorify Me. What did God tell them to do? God said take that rod, Moses. This has absolutely nothing to do with you. We need you to see, the people to see this lesson. We need them to see that you go to the rock and say God speak. What is the very last miracle Jesus Christ performed? He raised Lazarus from the dead. Remember? Right before His crucifixion. What did He do when He raised Lazarus from the dead? Did He have the power to raise Lazarus from the dead? Yes, He did. But go back and read it in John. What did He do? He said, Father, You're fixed to be glorified. Every one of the people that was standing there had rejected Him as God. As the Son of God. And He brings all the glory to God. And He says, God, will You bring? And He said, now God, now that You're involved, now that the people are looking at You, Lazarus, You come forth. And Lazarus came out of the grave and what did the people want to do? Stone them. Get rid of them. Kill them. This guy, he's acting like God. That's what Moses should have done and went to that rock and said, Rock, God, as You have done before, give us water out of this rock so that Your people can drink. But instead of asking and speaking and glorifying God, He took and He struck the rock out of His anger and His frustration. Now, how does all of this? And I'm out of time. So how does all of this fit in here? Turn over with me to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 4. I do not draw pictures out of the Bible and I do not explain shadows in the Bible without God telling me. In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 4, it starts in verse 1. He says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all of our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. See, crossing the Red Sea is a picture of our baptism, our obedience, because why? That was the last opportunity. You could either go back to Egypt or you can go on to the Promised Land. And what do they do? Well, there's soldiers coming up behind us. The armies are here. And so what? They passed through the sea. That was their baptism. That's what Paul's saying. That's when they identified theirselves. And it didn't matter whether you was an Egyptian, whether you was of the world, or whether you was a Hebrew. All of them passed. All of them were immersed in Jesus Christ and Moses. And look what? All did eat of the same spiritual meat. God treated every one of them alike, whether they were Egyptians or whether they were Hebrew people. And notice verse 4. And did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was who? Christ. Christ. Now let me draw it all together. Moses. And listen to me very, very carefully. Moses, as many of us heard, this is another one of them things that you're going to get mad at, because we've all heard that Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land because he struck the rock twice. How many of you's heard that? Go back and read it. Not one time does God rebuke him for striking the rock. Twice. It says that you're not allowed because you believed Me not and you did not sanctify Me. You didn't set Me apart before the people. That's why Moses couldn't go into the Promised Land. You know why many Christians today are not in the Promised Land? Because we are sitting here striking Jesus Christ out of frustration because we're not in victory. We're not accomplishing the spiritual blessings that we think we ought to have. And we're sitting here and we're striking the rock rather than simply speaking to Jesus Christ who would have gladly given them everything that they want. Quit blaming the preacher. Quit blaming the deacons. Quit blaming other people for your lack of spiritual blessings in your life. You have the opportunity to speak to Jesus Christ. I'm speaking for Jesus Christ. I pray for y'all daily that God will give you blessings in your life. The problem is, is are you striking? Are you speaking? See, God wants to be glorified. Jesus Christ said, if I suffered, don't you think you're going to suffer? Jesus Christ said, you know what? In Canaan Land, they had to face giants. We're going to look at that in three weeks. We're going to look at the first two battles going into the Promised Land. Jericho and Ai. Jericho and Ai. We're going to look at what does it mean to live and to conquer the Promised Land as we go through this journey. But the question is, is are you striking or speaking? Jesus Christ said, if you ask, it shall be given. The locket shall be opened. Seek and you shall find. All the people had to do was say, God, we want some water. We trust You. Man, You have proved Yourself multiple, multiple times. Over and over. But how many times does God do that to us, and yet we still want to strike them? We get mad when we get bad news. We get mad when somebody doesn't like us. We get mad when something doesn't work out our way. Jesus Christ just simply says, Come, all you that have labored and are heavy laden, and I will give you... See, Jesus Christ only had to be struck once to give salvation. And now because He was struck once, He died on the cross of Calvary, now we are given all spiritual blessings. We are considered a joint heir of Jesus Christ. We don't have to keep striking them. He's already been crucified. All we have to do is come to Him and speak. How bad do you want it? How bad do you want it? Do you want it bad enough that you repent of your sins and that you get down on your knees and say, God, bless me. God, show me Your greatness. God, not so that I can enjoy it, but so that I can glorify You, so that I can show up next Sunday morning, and when Fr. Donnie asks, does anybody have a praise, I can stand up and say, look at what God has done for me this week. And guess what? You will start doing that. Not only will you begin to be living in the promised land and experience victory in your life, but others will begin to start living in victory. Others will start to see it and want to participate. Hey, I can trust God. I can trust God. And so as we stand for a verse of invitation this morning, what hymn, Brother Philip? Page 35.