Sermon: Wandering or Pilgrimage?

#1608

Given 24-Jul-21; 66 minutes

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Nominal Christianity has done a grave disservice to biblical understanding by describing the Exodus and the Israelite's subsequent journey to Canaan as a "wilderness wanderings," implying a lack of leadership. God meticulously planned the journey of ancient Israel to the Promised Land, just as He has carefully engineered our pilgrimage to His Kingdom. In both cases, God's purposes are clearly before Him. With the impending collapse of the nations of Israel, God's people must evaluate the kinds of adjustments they need to make now in order to follow in the footsteps of Joshua and Caleb rather than in the footsteps of their many peers who perished before they entered the Promised Land. Like their forebears on the Sinai, individual members of the Israel of God may, from time to time, doubt their own conversion, forgetting that the Father hand-picked them and turned them over to Christ for sanctification, having predestined them for glory from the foundation of the world. We must realize that they we not aimlessly wandering, but are on a God-guided pilgrimage. The circuitous route ensures our safety just as it did for the ancient Israelites, keeping them safe from wars with Egypt, Philistia, and Edom. Just like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we will be on a pilgrimage our entire lives, seeking a sacred place, a promised land, and a heavenly city. The apostle Paul assures us that God intended ancient Israel's experience to provide practical examples and warnings for the Israel of God. We must emulate Paul's example, disciplining our bodies and minds, forsaking aimless wandering, always keeping in sight the goal of God's Kingdom.


transcript:

I clipped a few quotes out of WorldNetDaily news on the Internet and I thought that I would give it to you because it gives a pretty good grasp of what is happening in the churches here in the United States. And I imagine it has probably either happened in the past or it is happening right now also in Britain. This is just to keep you a little bit aware of how things are going in the American religious scene.

A Protestant churches report that covered 34 denominations and 60% of Protestant membership just about every Sunday in America, reported in WorldNetDaily's website on May 29 of this year, that more Protestant churches in America are closing than are opening, thus continuing a string of years that apparently has now reached five years in a row. In other words, the closings are more frequent than openings. In 2019, the last year any fairly solid figures are available for, very close to 3,000 Protestant churches opened their doors and started holding holding services. This was one year. However, that was offset by 4,500 that closed their doors to services the same year. That is a loss of 1,500 congregations. Now, I do not think that any of these groups were very large. But nonetheless, that is still a significant number.

Apparently the last year of real growth that was shown in the Protestant world was in 2014 when close to 4,000 new congregations began. However, that was offset by 3,700 that discontinued operations the same year, thus showing from these figures that interest in the Creator God continues to wane.

Now, as we left off my previous sermon that I gave in late June, I had determined the trek through the wilderness was not going to be an easy Sunday afternoon walk in the park, if only because even conservative estimates of 2 to 3 million walkers were let loose by what God did. Almost all of them were unconverted and the bulk had only begun to even hesitantly follow God.

Those figures argue silently, but nonetheless also deeply impress us because of the sheer size of that many unconverted people released from slave status and thrown together in that very uncertain movement of this mass of people involved in a situation that not a one of them, not even one of them ever had any experience doing. It was rather hectic and full of very uncertain situations that presented a great number of possibilities for arguments to arise, especially out of fear. Uncertainty and fear of the unknown dominated the lives of these people and those released had never proved themselves capable of being governed except when held in a slave status.

How are they going to react now that they had a brief taste of unproven but loosely governed freedom? How many of them really and truly respected Moses' position under God, since many of them had already rejected his and Aaron's preaching? There are no mentions in the Bible of any planning sessions being held, no human beings, as far as I know, were given any maps (and I am pretty sure that no maps were given), but before they barely got going, some of those former prisoners were already beginning to suggest a number of routes that they should take.

That was a rather natural occurrence. But the Israelites were noted for being a peaceful, agreeable people. Why do you think the Egyptians put them in prison for whatever it was up there in Goshen? In addition, I wonder how many showed any initiative whatever about eating. Did anybody think of that? Especially when they were all released and we found out that there were millions of Israelites that were let loose. Did they think about eating? It almost seems as though God set them up to generate a great deal of squabbling. With that large a number of people, and the possibility of differing opinions, it ensured there was going to be a great deal of squabbling.

Only God knew exactly what He was going to do with these people and it may have been that He had alternatives in mind. But in that late June sermon that I gave, we left them on the shores of the Red Sea facing a threat from a well trained Egyptian army that was closing in on them on one side and the sea was at their back. I am not going to go through the crossing any further than to confirm to you what you already know. Yet, one more time I will tell you that it was God to the rescue and that could qualify as a "one for the road" while still in Egypt.

Now, we are not in the same sort of circumstance that they were in, but we are in a circumstance where very serious spiritual, anti-God and anti-true church circumstances are closing in on us demanding serious consideration. Consideration from us about where we stand before God and where we stand before the public here in the United States and Britain. How are we going to deal with what these people are planning on doing? We just heard something from Martin about what people are planning on doing to the United States of America. Are we going to make serious adjustments to prepare for its onslaught? It is going to hit us.

I only plucked five years out of my mind. I know nothing about dates, times, or places, but it seems to me that the way things are moving that five years gives us a little bit of time to get ready. I am not talking about the return of Christ, I am talking about the United States and Britain collapsing.

In my sermon today, I am going to continue picking and choosing what I believe are highlights that especially impact on our calling now and perhaps are more meaningful to us in our calling as we see these things ringing down on America's continuing plunge downward. Not just America, but the Israelitish people as our national immorality grows ever worse.

My overall purpose is attempting to help us prepare mentally to deal with the next five years, which I believe are going to be difficult for us because this nation is collapsing as the failure of the churches, the worldly churches out there, to stimulate obedience even to the level of the US constitution, let alone the government of God as it becomes more apparent. In addition to that reality, we have inherited a political and immorality situation overflowing with badly divided leadership in the church is as well, even though many, many of their members are indeed, surely and truly sincere.

Now, there is a factor attached to our calling that I want to pass on to you because we share this with those who crossed the Arabian desert a couple thousand years ago. We may not grasp that we have this factor in our life. It is possible that knowing this reality, and believing it, may be very supportive of your conversion over the next five years because there may be times that we may doubt our calling and conversion by then.

I was reminded of this reality a couple of sermons back when I was preparing the sermon in which I featured John 6:44 and Ephesians the first chapter; that those two areas played large roles showing in one area that we were predestined to be called. And in the other area that God personally handpicks those He calls and sends the person then on to Jesus. We saw that clearly stated in John 6:44. What a wonderful thing it is to be handpicked by the Creator God to be part of His Family. That is awesome!

Now, there is a factor that is very much tied to the Israelites' journey through the wilderness that somehow, for some reason, people not with the true church have frequently gotten into the habit of calling what the Israelites were doing in the wilderness as wandering. Brethren, this factor is very important to our understanding, important to our spiritual well-being, because we want to see what God was doing.

Let us begin clarifying. Know from the start that the Israelites were not wandering. Absolutely not! With God leading, you do not wander. He is working things out. And neither should we be wandering in our calling. We need to understand and to have faith in the fact that God does not wander through His purposes. He is a working, hands-on Creator God. He knows where He is going and what He must do with each person. He picked us—handpicked us. And you think He does not keep His eye on us? Oh, yes, He does! And He knows what He has got to do. He had many purposes to accomplish out there on that desert. And for us, going through these next five years, there is going to have to be faith exercised in God's leadership over the church's ministry. Zero in on that. God has much He wants to accomplish within us.

Brethren, that wandering term is simply a distraction intended by ungodly people to diminish what was being accomplished within and through those people out there with God leading and helping to produce the activity that continues the progress during the trip right up to its ending yet in the future. You hear what I am saying? It is not done yet. Even with those people who are now dead, there are things that have not been done yet.

Let us continue setting things up. I am going to be skipping through this narrative leading up to crossing between the waters and to the safety that God provided. But I want you to first take note of how purposely and orderly everything was done. Not in the Israelites camp necessarily, but done by God. These are not the marks of wandering leadership at the head of the group. So turn with me to Exodus the 13th chapter.

Exodus 13:17-21 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. [See that. The children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.] And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you." So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take the pillar of cloud away by day or the pillar of cloud by night from before the people.

God chose the route because He was certain that He would lose a huge number of people along the way if the Israelites would do the choosing. Who knows, He might have lost almost all of them. The Egyptian eastern border was heavily fortified in order to protect Egypt from invasions from other nations. It is entirely possible that the Israelites might have been forced into war with the Egyptians, just outside of eastern Egypt, even as they were just getting underway on their journey. But God's dividing of the sea eliminated that threat. Also, God did not allow the Israelites to go in a northeasterly direction to Canaan because of the possibility of warfare precipitated by Israelites invading Philistia on their journey.

I am going through these seemingly minor details, but there is a purpose in this. God led them from the very beginning and God chose the route and He chose it because He did not want to lose anybody or at least very many. And so He took that out of their hands, that leadership. Brethren, the Israelites journeying was not a wandering, it was very purposeful. Things were happening practically all along the way. So they even took Joseph's bones so that he could be reburied in Canaan.

Now, these people were as carnal as could be. But with God leading them, they were very definitely headed somewhere. Do not let that slip from your mind. And some were learning a great deal toward salvation and service. Now, everybody who was a part of that specific journey was learning things that would ultimately be useful towards salvation for them. But God was not calling every adult in that perhaps 2-3 million (and maybe more) journeying at that time. But they also needed to learn a great deal as they were moving.

I am going to interject something here—even as we too need to learn from our journey. Do you know that you are on a journey? Are you aware that you are on a journey? While journeying, God was specifically preparing them to some degree to govern and live in the Promised Land. Now I am using the term journeying frequently, but now I am going to begin to pull this beginning of the sermon together.

Make special note of this. Christians are twice, in the New Testament, called pilgrims. But that specific Greek term used in those two places is somewhat misleadingly translated into English. That specific Greek term translated as pilgrim is actually closer in literal meeting to the English term "resident alien" than it is to pilgrim. The term pilgrim is a far, far more specific term, and pilgrim, a far more important term to our understanding. We are going to ignore that resident alien term completely. But what the Israelites were doing in the wilderness most assuredly qualifies by definition as a pilgrimage. Here is a brief definition of pilgrimage drawn from the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery,

In both testaments, pilgrimage becomes a metaphor for the shape of the earthly life of anyone who was headed toward a heaven beyond this world. [The term shape there means the form and substance of how we act during this period of time on a pilgrimage.] In all instances, the image implies a journey to a sacred place. The pilgrim is always a traveler. It is the goal that motivates the journey.

How long did the Israelites journey? The whole while, brethren, they were walking.

Of far more concern and interest to us is that our pilgrimages, meaning Christian pilgrimage, meaning our personal pilgrimage right now, began under God with who else, brethren, but Abraham and Sarah. Nobody else; it could not have been but those two. We are told in God's Word to look to our roots. They, Abraham and Sarah, are our human roots in what God is doing with us. That is, we are to look to them and learn things beneficial to us within our calling.

Much was established by God with Abraham and Sarah. With them patterns were established that were also used even generations later, that is generations, many generations later, when God began dealing with the descendants of Abraham and Sarah in their calling. It is interesting that the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery makes clear note that Christian pilgrimage began with Abram and Sarai. It is so plain in the Scripture. Ask yourself a question. Are we going to follow Abram and Sarah in what they did? Yes, we are.

Genesis 12:1-4 Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country [Here is the beginning of the calling. Here is the beginning of their pilgrimage.], from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Abram and Sarah did literally begin their spiritual pilgrimage with a literal pilgrimage from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran and then after Terah's death they moved on into Canaan. As you know full well, it was God who literally motivated their literal journey's beginning with their calling. Now that is clear, "look to your roots." It began with their calling.

Now, God is permitting us to observe this in His Word because He was establishing, and He continues to establish, a pattern, a pattern in all He calls. They begin a journey just like the Israelites did, just like Abram and Sarai did. We are told in His Word that we are to look to our roots because our calling, our spiritual roots within God's Family, are Abram and Sarah. Our calling is also literally the beginning of our personal pilgrimage. You share something with Abram and Sarai. You are on a pilgrimage right at this moment. Did you hear what I said? What God did with them in their calling may be exceedingly important to us. And it is.

Let me show you something meaningful. Meaningful enough to make note of. We are going to go back to the New Testament to the book of Acts so we can see what this is about. In verse 1, Saul was still breathing threats.

Acts 9:3-7 As he journeyed he came to Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." And then the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.

On this occasion the people with Paul, and Paul himself, fell to the ground, and those with him heard a voice, but they saw no one, and did not understand. However, Paul understood much of what was said. Now what we are going to do is, we are going to let a few years pass, and then Paul is going to tell the story again, but he expands a little bit. We are going to see this in Acts the 22nd chapter. There is a very nice little thing in here, a little lesson.

Acts 22:6-10 [Paul is talking to the king here.] "Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon [he is recounting what happened on the road to Damascus], suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.' And then those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. And so [Saul] said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, "Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all the things which are appointed for you to do.'"

There is a difference here between these two tellings; nothing really substantial. But there is something interesting. The light came. Again, the others saw it, they heard the voice, but they did not understand. Now, there is a lesson here God may repeat with others. So, what can we learn from this? If your calling takes place with other unconverted persons present, do not expect them to understand what you do with the aid of God's help. They might hear exactly the same things you do and they do not get it. That is what happens in the calling. We hear something that others do not hear because God is involved in our calling.

One of the other things that this teaches us is this: God is paying close attention to those He calls. Here were people side by side. Some of them got it; Paul got it, the others did not.

Overall, here is what we learned from this: God instituted journeys for all those truly following Him within His purposes, for His uses in creating His Family—and that includes now us. Even, in fact, all He truly calls as it included the Israelites journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Now, we are going to go back into the Old Testament again to the book of of Genesis. We are going to go to Genesis the 47th chapter. Jacob has come into Egypt at the invitation of his son Joseph and, of course, the Pharaoh, and Jacob has now met the Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:5-7 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. [This is what Pharaoh is saying to Joseph.] Have your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsman over on my livestock." Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed the Pharaoh.

When I read that I thought, is that not interesting? There was this pagan and he, Jacob, was never a minister that I ever know of. He blessed the Pharaoh. It may have been that he blessed him because of the way he treated Joseph. Because he was very good to Joseph, because Joseph was making a lot of money for him.

Genesis 47:8-9 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old are you?" And Jacob said to Pharaoh [now listen to what he said], "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years [that was his whole life practically]; and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

I wanted to read that because he called virtually his entire life a pilgrimage and that his fathers were also, these are people that we are part of that family, and they too had a pilgrimage. Now, perhaps the way that Pharaoh treated Joseph was because he was making a lot of money for him. But I want you to make note of these facts because this is something that always holds true in a pilgrimage. A true pilgrimage, always, always, always, always, always involves a purposeful journey to a sacred place. Remember that. By definition, a true pilgrimage always involves a purposeful journey to a sacred place.

The Israelites, because God was leading them, were in the wilderness, but they were not wandering. They, whether they realized it or not, were on a purposeful journey to a sacred place. They were walking a journey, walking, preparing for the Kingdom of God and the settling of the Promised Land. Thus, their journey had very important spiritual elements within it at its beginning and end. The exodus from Egypt set the stage for their calling at its very beginning and entry into and the settling of the Promised Land was at its end. That was the sacred place. They were on a walking journey to the Promised Land and that Promised Land was their sacred place destination because of it being the very land that would ultimately be God's gifting to the Israelitish people.

Now, I hope that you are beginning to get the point. And that is, that after God calls us, the pilgrimage He assigned for each and every one of us has begun. You are on a journey and God is leading and guiding you. But how are you doing on it? This is important! God repeats things that are important to His purpose and that is why he tells us to look to Abram and Sarai. What God did with them set an awful lot of patterns for everybody that follows them into the Family of God.

They went on a journey. You are on a journey whether you realize it or not. God even did it with two or three million Israelites that He called into the Promised Land. So, you and I are on our personal pilgrimage at this very time. So welcome to Abraham and Sarah's group.

Now, I want to put a note of warning in this by turning to Deuteronomy 5. This is God speaking.

Deuteronomy 5:29 "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever."

He is talking about the people who followed Him through the wilderness. The overwhelming majority of the Israelites most assuredly did not realize it while they were in the wilderness trek because they lacked the spirituality to really grasp what was being carried out by God. So make note again for your own spiritual benefit. The Israelites were on a journey being led by God Himself and yet it still did not change their hearts because the overwhelming number of them would not allow it. I do not think that they realized very strongly at all that they were actually being led by God despite the cloud and despite the fire. They were just that thick.

Now, I hope that you realize that I am appealing to you to understand that you are on a pilgrimage that God set up for you personally. He does that for everyone He calls, He does not skip a person. And there are times, brethren, when I know that I realized that I do not have the liberty that I originally thought I did because Somebody else was guiding me and I did not know it. One thing I know where He was guiding me and I did not know it was doing what I am doing right now—giving sermons. I was a welder. I worked at a steel mill. Now that I liked to do. I did not like to get up and talk to people. Spilling my guts out, my brains up there.

So, make note of this again for your own spiritual benefit. The Israelites were on a pilgrimage being led by God Himself and yet it still did not change their hearts because the overwhelming number of them would not allow it. But note the difference they had with another group of people. We are going to go back to the New Testament, this time to chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham and obeyed when he was called [he started walking right after he was called] to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 8:13-16 These all died in faith [that is the people mentioned previously], not having received the promises [and it especially applies to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob], but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. [Brethren, is that you? Are we following what God did in Abraham and Sarah? Are you seeking a homeland, I mean your real homeland?] And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had an opportunity to return. [but they did not] But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

We are going to expand a little bit more to the concept of making a pilgrimage because God Himself was the one who literally began this practice with His people. He began it quite early in the history of mankind. Now I want you to notice such things and help you to see what the pilgrimage is for.

Do not athletic coaches do similar things to those people that they are training? They give the athletes that they are training a detailed resume of what they have to do in order to get into good shape to win. What I am trying to tell you is that this journey that we are on is a God-ordered exercise and training program getting us ready for the Kingdom of God. Does not Genesis 1 reveal that God clearly followed a definite order when He began this creation? That is what well organized people do in order to accomplish goals. With God absolutely nothing is helter-skelter.

This is, in a way, point number one. I went through all of this in order to help you to understand you have to begin making plans for the next five years because it is going to keep on going, that is, life in the United States is going to keep on going in the way it has been going. And I can only believe that it is going to get worse.

Now, let us go back again to the Old Testament to Exodus 23. Here is something maybe you did not realize.

Exodus 23:14-17 "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

In the Old Testament there are images of pilgrimage focused on God's command given here in verses 14-17. The holy place (remember I said there is always a traveling to a holy place), was wherever God's festivals were being held and the overwhelming number of times within the Bible itself this was in Jerusalem and centered on the Temple. So the pilgrimages continued to this day, but now because of the worldwide circumstances of the church, it is wherever we believe that God has placed His name for the well being of the church.

Now, maybe you did not know that you were making a pilgrimage to a place made sacred by God for the period of the festival, because God set it apart for His people to worship there. So, on one hand, we are on our pilgrimage right now and we are preparing for another pilgrimage that will come up in late September/early October and it will be held at Myrtle Beach. There is always a traveling to a holy place and for that period of time, God has made that place holy for His use.

I have been doing this since 1960, traveling off to a holy place at least once a year to the Feast of Tabernacles. And then, there in Pittsburgh, six other times for the local holy days.

So, maybe you did not know that you were making a pilgrimage to a place made sacred by God for the period of the festival because God set it apart for His people to worship there, but we are on our pilgrimage right now. But brethren, I want you to understand that, similar to those being named earlier, our pilgrimage encompasses the whole time of our calling, as Jacob said. That is what Jacob did. We see a benefit there. He called his whole life a pilgrimage because of the way it was lived and the things that he went through and so forth. He actually talked to God. I mean, had a conversation with Him.

Is there any part of our life that God is leaving out of our relationship with Him? Now understand this: God handpicked every one of us, but God made sure He called people who can, with His help, make it. Do not let your life get lost in the shuffle because we have a destination we must reach. Let us go back to the New Testament once again, this time in I Corinthians 9.

I Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run [to get prepared for this next five years] in such a way that you may obtain it. [we might apply that to our pilgrimage, run on your pilgrimage] And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we do it for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. [Paul is saying, "I don't shadow box."] But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

I Corinthians 10:1-6 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

This is the second, beginning in chapter 9, verse 24, of the five great exhortations made by the apostle who wrote this. The first is at the beginning of Hebrews 2 warning us to avoid neglecting lest we drift away and lose salvation. This one is a warning against doubt. God is faithful. Do not doubt His promises. We just read that verse back in Deuteronomy, the Israelites did forget.

Now, the apostle Paul ties the beginning of chapter 10 right into the heels of his description of his attitude of how he faced the challenges of his life in Christ. In short, he disciplined himself strongly to meet and overcome those flaws in his character that were threatening to hold him back. Now Israel's experiences in Egypt and the wilderness contain a series of object lessons that God desires us to reflect on frequently. In fact, the entire experience as the Israelites of that generation went through it could be understood as a single object lesson with many highs and low points within it. But the apostle Paul breaks the lessons into smaller parts.

The lessons are mostly forcefully brought to the fore during the spring when we begin rehearsing God's plan of salvation for the annual holy days. But I use the term "object lessons." Do you know what that term means? It means an example of a principle or a moral in concrete form, a striking instance that we should quickly understand.

Here is a clearer example. Once freed from their slavery to Egypt, it took the Israelites seven days to get across the Red Sea and thus breaking completely clear of that Egyptian control I mentioned earlier, because the Egyptian army and its leadership was virtually destroyed in the attempt to cross the Red Sea. Now, in dramatic contrast, it took the Israelites 40 years to walk the remaining few hundred miles. Now listen to this. This is sobering because the Israelites in that walk did not take advantage of it. Every man of war numbered in the first census—603,000—after leaving Egypt, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, died without reaching the Promised Land. What a lesson! Every single one of them, except for two men. The Egyptian army was no problem for God. Israel's recalcitrant behavior was the problem.

Now, we will allow ourselves to match this miserable record by failing to maintain our liberty through careless sinning. Will we do that? Is it going to happen through laziness or failure to appreciate the value of what we have been given? Was that a costly expedition or what?

I am going to give you some figures here as I close this out, but they are, to me, earthshaking to understand what happened. But let us resolve to take the warnings from God to inspire us to take our calling more seriously by playing with the numbers for just a bit.

Suppose we begin with the two million men, women, and children I arrived at with my conservative counting figures. But do not forget that I told you that my New King James Study Bible actually estimated three million. But we are going to work at the beginning here with just two million. We will also use that wilderness time of 40 years. We just read 40 years there in Hebrews 3:9. How many days are there in 40 years of time? That is 40 times 365. That totals to 14,730 total days they were walking across the wilderness. Now we are going to divide 14,730 total days into two million men, women, and children the journey began with and that provides us with a potential possibility of an average of 136 people dying out there in the wilderness just from the population they began with, and in 40 years, every day at least 136 people died!

Now, it is a reality that life goes on regardless of what is going on in our mind with our conversion. But let us up the ante just a bit more so it is a little bit more impressive. We are going to use the three million figure that other study Bible used. The three million raises the death rate by 67 more people died every day, or 203 people died every day just from the original group.

The record given in Scripture is clear. The Israelites clearly did not make the right efforts to defend their God-given liberties. Instead, they exacerbated their circumstances by failing to discipline themselves to submit to God's rule over their lives. Even though He freely rescued them from their slavery, they were unwilling to pay the cost of directing their lives as God commanded them, despite knowing through many manifestations of His power, that He acted exactly as Moses said that He would, even out there. They did not get it.

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