Numbers 15, Pitfalls to the Promised Land: Sin

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Numbers 15 Pitfalls to the Promised Land: Sin

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Numbers chapter 15 I originally thought just kind of skip over this or summarize it and go to 16, but But you may see why after I read it
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But it's not that we'll do chapter 15 after all we'll be reading all of numbers chapter 15 beginning verse 1 the whole
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Chapter all 41 verses here the word of the Lord the Lord spoke to Moses saying
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Speak to the people of Israel and say to them when you come into the land you are to inhabit which I am giving to you and you offer to the
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Lord from the herd or from the flock of food offering or a burnt offering or a Sacrifice to fulfill a vow or a freewill offering or at your appointed feast to make a pleasing aroma to the
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Lord Then he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah fine flour mixed with a quart of a hen of oil and you shall offer
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With the burnt offering or for the sacrifice a quarter of a hen of wine for the drink offering for each lamb or for a
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Ram you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah the a fine flour mixed with the third of a hen of oil and for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hen of wine a pleasing aroma to the
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Lord and when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a bow or for peace offerings to the
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Lord Then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah fine flour
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Mixed with a hen of oil and you shall offer to the drink offering half a hen of wine as a food offering a pleasing aroma to the
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Lord Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram or for each lamb or young goat as many as you offer
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So you shall do with each one as many as they are many as there are every native
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Israelite shall do these things in this way and Offering a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the
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Lord And if a stranger is so journeying with you or anyone is living permanently among you and he wishes to offer a food offering
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With a pleasing aroma to the Lord. He shall do so do as you do for the assembly there
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For the assembly there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you a statute
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Forever throughout your generations you and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord one law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you the
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Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel and say to them when you come into the land to which
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I bring you and When you eat of the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the
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Lord of the first of your dough You shall present a loaf as a contribution like a contribution from the threshing floor
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So shall you present it some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations
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But if you sin Unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments that the
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Lord has spoken to Moses all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses From the day that the
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Lord gave commandment and onward throughout your generations Then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt
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Offering a pleasing aroma to the Lord With its grain offering and his drink offering according to the rule and one male goat for a sin offering and the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel and they shall be forgiven because it was a mistake and They have brought their offering a food offering to the
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Lord and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven and the stranger who sojourns among you
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Because the whole population was involved in the mistake if one person sends unintentionally
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He shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering and the priest shall make atonement before the
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Lord for the person Who makes a mistake? When he sends unintentionally to make atonement for him and he shall be forgiven and you shall have one law for him who does anything
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Unintentionally for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them
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But the person who does anything with a high hand Whether he is a native or a sojourner reviles the
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Lord and that person shall be cut off from among his people because he has despised the word of the
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Lord and Has broken his commandment that person shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be on him
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While the people of Israel were in the wilderness They found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day and those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation they put him in custody because it had not been made clear what should be done to him and the
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Lord said to Moses the man shall be put to death all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp and All the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones as the
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Lord commanded Moses the Lord said to Moses speak to the people of Israel and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their
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Generations and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner and it shall be a tassel for you to look
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To look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes
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Which you are inclined to whore after so you shall remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your
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God I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the
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Lord your God May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word What do you think of that chapter, huh
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Typical Committed to memory kind of thing Well, maybe you have a goal you desperately want a great career a loving relationship a successful business
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Enough money to live and eventually retire comfortably Maybe your goals aren't so grand right now
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Maybe it's just to lose so many pounds to get in shape to graduate to make a team
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To learn a language maybe to save more money stay out of debt So you're gonna apply yourself and to get that goal, you know, there's steps to take
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Disciplines to embrace maybe classes to take, you know, Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University something like that Often though it's a matter of knowing what not to do
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What are the mistakes to avoid what are what are the pitfalls a Pitfall by definition is it is a hidden in danger literally up it comes from a pit
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Which is covered over by leaves or something like that And if you're not careful you step onto it and you fall in pitfalls
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Are not obvious if you want to lose weight Obviously don't eat a bowl of ice cream after every meal if you want to save money
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Don't buy a car that requires a payment more than you can afford if you want to have a successful business
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Don't hire more employees than you can afford to pay. Those aren't pitfalls. There's just obvious mistakes a
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Pitfall is a trap. You don't see it first. It's not obvious You know if you want to get in shape, so you throw yourself into dieting and working out that's obvious What are you gonna do?
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Well, you're gonna drink only water no more coca -cola. Did you know you can drink too much water a Kidney doctor told me that you can get so obsessive about your weight
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You can develop an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. Those are pitfalls
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You can push yourself so much, you know into exercise working out you can get injured and end up being
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Able to do less than you could before that happened to me when I began college I had a goal of being a college athlete and the coach told me that I needed to run 60 miles a week
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Without telling me he didn't tell me that I needed to work up to it gradually The result was
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I went out and tried to run 60 miles a week Immediately and I got shin splints that kept me out of my first season of cross -country.
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I went after a goal Without knowing the pitfalls and so I was set back even further
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What about you? You have goals Are you are you aware of the pitfalls on your way to those goals?
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Well here Israel has a goal right there come out of Egypt. They have a goal the promised land That's what they left
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Egypt to do. That's what they're for going out for but they've just been told Just just prior to this if you remember last last year about this time
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We were going through numbers and we ended at the end of chapter 14. They've just been told that the current adult generation
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Won't make it They're not gonna make that goal. They didn't really stumble on a pitfall
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They disobeyed because they wouldn't believe that should have been obvious Now they've been sentenced to wander the desert for almost 40 years until the entire older generation with two exceptions
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Joshua and Caleb until they die off The goal is still the promised land
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But now I'll be much further down the road and the entire that entire 40 years
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Is passed over and the next few chapters of numbers that we'll be looking at for about the next month
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It's all about summarized very quickly in just a few chapters in the next Numbers those higher entire 40 years.
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So as they're trudging through the desert now on their extended journey Still to the promised land but much extended.
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They'll have to watch out for pitfalls and We see that here in four parts first the security
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Second the sacrifices third the sins and finally the signs
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Noah is satisfied. That's good. I always aim to satisfy Noah with my alliteration first on their way to their goal they are graciously given an assurance of Security now we start out reading chapter 15 and it may sound kind of normal you get this promise
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But remember where we've come from They've just been told that everyone over the age of 20 isn't going to make it
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That they'll all be buried in the hot sands of this horrible desert They're wandering in God had promised to give them the land but when the twelve spies came back
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With glorious news, you know They came back with this great news of how bountiful the land was that it was exactly what the
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Lord had described You know just flowing with milk and honey. They even brought evidence in the form of a cluster of grapes
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So huge they had to carry it on a pole between two men but they also said How you know how powerful the
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Canaanites were that there were giants in the land, you know Like the kind David would take on later
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So even though the Lord had just overcome The most powerful kingdom on or probably even the most powerful kingdom on earth at the time
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Egypt You think after that they would know hey, the Lord could conquer anybody for us.
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That's not what they thought They had seen the Lord take to overcome the most powerful kingdom of our own earth
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Egypt It divided the Red Sea and drowned Pharaoh's army They didn't think that he could or that he would overcome
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Canaan for them so that he so they refused to march into the land and then the
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Lord told them that their punishment would be that they would all die off over the next 40 years as they
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Wandered around in this desert just eating manna day after day and when they heard that You know, they mourned says and then then they decided okay, that's the that's the other alternative
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We'll attack the land after all and Moses told no don't do that. You're transgressing your sentence has been passed.
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Your judgment has come It's not gonna work, but they wouldn't listen. That's always their problem. They didn't list
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They wouldn't listen when God told him to go in they wouldn't listen when God told him not to go in But and so they're easily beaten back when they tried to attack the land without God's help
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So they weren't going to get their goal at least not in the in the lifetime of the adults but the promise
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Was still valid or was it? What do you think they're thinking? That they've just been told that they've been beaten back.
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They've been defeated what's going through their heads Well, look at the first two verses the Lord speaks to Moses and tells him to assure the
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Israelites Think of the context of this but the Lord speaks to them to him tell them
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Israel when Not if you know if you make it if you if the next general if you finally get there
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No, when you come into the land that you are Not that you might or you may be you know, maybe if you make it no you are to inhabit
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Which I am God says Definitely giving to you
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They might have been tempted to think the promise was revoked Not that it was just put on hold, but it had been canceled
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They might be wondering whether they are they aren't just being disciplined, but whether they've been rejected completely
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You know, we Christians what Paul calls the Israel of God in Galatians chapter 6 verse 16. We have a goal
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We have a promised land To which we're heading and like Israel. We're not gonna make it there in this lifetime unless the
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Lord comes first and we're on a journey and There are pitfalls along the way and we'll be disciplined from time to time
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We'll wonder be tempted to wonder to doubt. Maybe we've been rejected
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Whether this life that began with such great power being led out of death to life out of the realm of Satan into the kingdom of God by his outstretched arm
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You know that whether that that sense of new life we had at one time that sense of God's nearness to us
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We've had from time to time that that ought us now You know, sometimes it seems
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It's just drudgery Day in day out. We're not going anywhere and I'm making any progress tediously wandering in circles
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Waiting this never seems to end we're tempted to wonder as We wander if the promises are for real and for that We too we have words of assurance of a security like to Israel here when you enter
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You will inhabit I am giving to you And we need to constantly remind ourselves of those exceedingly great and precious promises
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Rodney talked about some this morning in Sunday school We need there's much of what we do in church is to remind you of what's already been said
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Because we need to constantly be bringing it to our own attention We need to constantly remind ourselves of the of those promises are our security that our eventual arrival is certain that it doesn't rely on our
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You know trying to take on the fortresses of sin and Satan by our own willpower by our own effort
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No that were heard held firmly in his hand like in Psalm 73 You hold me by the right hand and we have everything we need for life and godliness security is in part
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What the Lord's Supper is for? It's when we do this the Lord Jesus told us to do this as often as you do
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He said in remembrance, it means to remember him what he did for us
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That he was crushed for our iniquities like that like the bread is torn apart That the his blood of the
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New Covenant was shed for us. And so we continue to do this, you know Why we're doing the same thing over you sometimes
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I think Christians just think this is you can skip this This is not so important. We can do it just very rarely because it's the same thing over and over again
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Why but it's for that way on purpose It's to recount that our salvation was secured by him to remind ourselves that even if we haven't entered it all yet We will as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the
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Lord's death We that that secured us.
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It's what he did that secured us and we proclaim it until He comes or until we come to him and then we then when that happens
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We won't need to remember because then we'll be in the promised land. We'll be seeing him face to face
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I'll have fellowship with him. But until then we need to remember where our security is comes from Well here in numbers just after judging them.
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He's got the Lord's disciplining them. He's telling them you can't enter yet He's not enabled them to take the land.
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He gave them a taste of defeat And they attempted to doubt and then he gives them assurance.
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He gives them a reminder of Security you're going to get in Next he tells them about sacrifices
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You're gonna avoid the pitfalls you need to know about sacrifices that get you over the pitfalls But this is one of those, you know, you probably wondering about a half this chapter.
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This is tedious priestly instructions You know You're reading about offerings and bulls and goats and feasts and strange
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Measurements like an ephah and a hen you have no idea what that means You know, this is one of those passages that most of us kind of hard to get through You know, it's like the fine print or maybe that the terms and conditions
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Maybe on some thing you're doing online some website some agreement. You just click. Yes, you don't read all that Because you just you think you hope it's just some legally some company got a lawyer to draft up for them to protect themselves
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This is especially so for us because we think that since we since we don't have to offer
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Bulls and goats and grain or wine offerings, and of course we don't then all this doesn't apply to us
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And not only is it a contract. There's not a contract. We're not even entering anymore. We think so we just skip it but here in the middle of the story of is in the this middle of the story of Israel on the way to the promised land sits these 19 verses about instructions on sacrifices and Stumble into a pitfall if we don't take them seriously
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We see five vital truths here about That we need to know about sacrifices to avoid pitfalls.
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They are one important Are we even necessary second generous? third pleasing fourth shared and five fifth practical
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Well first sacrifices are important, you know, that's why we have these instructions here This critical juncture in numbers these aren't shoved off somewhere like in Leviticus where you can kind of avoid the whole thing right here in the midst of the story as Israel turns back into the desert for 40 years.
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In other words. God is saying now that you're Not getting the land. Well, you are getting the land but not right away.
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You need to know all about this sacrifice Along with the blood of sacrifices the bull or the sheep or the goats that you offer which
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Like Leviticus and other places to talk about in elsewhere, but here along with that you're also to offer grain with some oil in it and Wine, in other words a full balanced meal the blood of the sacrifice
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Which we may understand the blood of the sacrifice may be for your sin But here God isn't just dealing with our sin some about that He'll talk about the atonement later, but he wants us to have fellowship with him.
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And when you have fellowship, what do you do? You eat Yes, sure without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness to sins
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There's no bloodless sacrifice here but along with the bloody sacrifices comes
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Flour or grain mixed with oil to bake the bread and bake in the bread and and some wine
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And and remember except for the whole burnt offering the the people ate Much of what was offered
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Otherwise, they would take this offer it to the lord maybe something Whole burnt offerings were totally burned up.
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But but the other kinds of offerings The priests would get some they would keep some of the rest and they would eat it there
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They were eating with the lord They were having fellowship with the lord. And so too the lord jesus left us a way of remembering him
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That involves eating but you notice our What you want to call it sacrifice so to speak really it's our way of remembering a sacrifice
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It has no blood in it It's a symbol for blood but no real blood in it. The lord suffers a bloodless meal because jesus himself
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Shed all the blood that is needed to be shed to cleanse us of our sins All of those all of these old testament sacrifices were bloody
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And they only foreshadowed They were only a foreshadowing of his true sacrifice because the reality is that the blood of bulls and goats does not take away sin
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It never could Okay, hebrews says that it doesn't take away sin. So this here in numbers isn't an old testament way of salvation
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The way some people debate this is their old way of salvation and now it's not relevant to us. No This is a way of teaching the idea of how salvation will come the idea of atonement that a bloody sacrifice
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Was necessary once that true sacrifice is offered Then the foreshadowing stops
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Right. So when jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom Showing that god did it and the animal sacrifices from then on out were unnecessary
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But here god is teaching the israelites about the importance of sacrifices that they are important That without the one true sacrifice there is no forgiveness of sins that god doesn't just you know, god doesn't just excuse sin
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We talk about god forgiving our sins. It's not just he just excuses it. He just kind of wingset it He would feel sorry for it.
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So he lets us go he shrugs his shoulders and sigh He'll and says he'll let us slide.
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No, that's not how god forgives sin That's that's the pitfall that many people in our day have fallen into that thinking sin is just excused
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It's just it's just it's not atoned for And so they fall into the trap of this indulgent god who accepts even the unrepentant sins and all
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It's a crossless Christianity and there's really no christianity at all.
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But here we see in numbers that god absolutely requires a sacrifice
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And that sacrifice is the basis of fellowship with him Right, so it's important to know that We also hear see here that second the sacrifices are to be generous
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The the amounts here and we we lose this but I wish they would just tell you the amounts and measures we understand but the
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We we don't really see it because we don't understand what the amounts mean Unless you really dig into the details, but the amounts here are large amounts
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I mean, this is this is generous portions of food and drink. He wants his people to be giving a lot
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In verse 4 the offerers are supposed to give almost a gallon of a fine flour
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I guess you're not supposed to talk about gallons of flour Are you whatever the dry measure would be you figure it out? You know, you know what a gallon is, uh, but it's notice it's fine flour, too
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It's not that rough kind of cheap stuff But it's the best and it's to be mixed with about a quart of oil.
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You know what a quart is right of oil To just to bake it with and then to drink gotta have a drink, right?
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You go through bojangles drive -thru in order to tailgater you get so many sides and a drink Here it's a quart of wine so this isn't just kind of a like we do symbolic thimbles full of Of juice and maybe a little piece of bread that we take for the lord's supper.
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This is enough for a full meal with every sacrifice And then if you offer a ram which is a bigger animal than just a sheep you the the amounts go up If you offer a bull even bigger
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You need more sides right the more chicken you order at bojangles the more sides you get And and so the amounts of grain the wine here they go up and the lord here is saying that he will bless them bountifully
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And so he expects them to give bountifully Later in the history of israel during the time of malachi, you know, they they were back in the land
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But they're barely scraping by and they were kind of they were thinking, you know, we can hardly make it we're not even a kingdom anymore where things are
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We're poverty stricken and they they forget this and they thought they could get by offering Measly animals of damaged animals whatever scraps they had but god rebuked them and challenged them.
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You know, he says try me to see if If I won't rain down blessings on you
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If you are generous with your sacrifices now some christians today think that's all passe That's all old testament legalism
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But as before god here is teaching a principle that will bloom In the new testament, so now in our time
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He doesn't just call us to give an offering a tithe But to give our whole lives as a living sacrifice to be generous and pouring out ourselves
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As an offering and so now god is calling us not just give 10 of our income But 100 of everything we have and to be generous.
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That's the new testament law generous with giving to others Third Sacrifices are to be pleasing
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Pleasing to the lord Make sure you know who you're pleasing who your audience is now six times in this chapter
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You notice that phrase probably you notice it occurred over and over again an aroma pleasing to the lord
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That's what worship is about it's about pleasing The lord smells good
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To god and in john chapter 4 the lord jesus said that god seeks what he's seeking
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We're seeking to be pleased by what he's looking for. He's seeking people who are who worship in spirit
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And in truth right worship pleases god. It's like the fragrance
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Of fine food, maybe of a barbecue Pleases us certainly pleases me But in order for it to be a pleasing aroma the kind of worship god seeks it has to be done
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His way, that's why we got all these meticulous instructions on how much to give according to each animal It seems so tedious to us but because he wants to worship done his way.
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That's what when jesus talked about in truth It's not just sincerely Uh as though god will accept my worship as you know, as long as I do it sincerely
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I mean what i'm doing But according to the truth of his word now people fall into a pitfall today when they think they can offer anything to god
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You know just they'll totally ignore what scripture says about singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs About the public reading of scripture about the preaching of the word to do this in remembrance of jesus
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Or to give our lives as a living sacrifice Like in our like in verses 20 and 21 here where they give the first of the dough you go into the land
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Give us first of the dough like we give the first of our lives like we are to seek first the kingdom of god
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Uh, we're not just we don't just give the lord our leftovers We paid our bills. We've had our fun and then we have we'll give lord a little what we have left over That's a pitfall.
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It's a pitfall if we invent our own ways And we think we mean well You know, it seems to work for us.
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It's pleasing to us It makes us happy have a comedian and a skit and you know a dramatized song and laser lights and fog machines
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That makes us happy But is that what the lord wants? Worship is about what's pleasing to the lord
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Is is he pleased and he is pleased if it's done his way? Then it's a pleasing aroma to the lord
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So does your life? Does it smell good? to the lord Well, we need a sacrifice to please the lord people today have fallen into this
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Um, really it's a pitfall of arrogance this our this belief that Many people have we're kind of pleasing to the lord just as we are
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God just pleased with every one of us. Um Because we're just all such great darlings. We're all just so cute to him
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He can't help himself but to be pleased with us because we're just worth so much don't you know god has to be pleased with us
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That which i've just mocked It is passed off in some places as the gospel today, you know that the
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Some people are preachers say, you know, the cross Shows us how much we're worth that god
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Sees us as worth dying for and so he could go and help himself to die for us.
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What a distortion What a perversion of the truth that is The cross doesn't show how good we are
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But how bad our sins are that they required a sacrifice And how gracious god is to give it
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There's nothing about us that you know God couldn't help himself to save he did it because of his own grace And so because of his grace christ gave himself up for us what in ephesians chapter 5 verse 2 he says is a fragrant offering a sacrifice to god
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That's what all these aromas pleasing to the lord Sacrifices here in numbers 15.
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That's what they all work toward the sacrifice of christ christ on the cross the pleasing aroma
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That makes our fellowship with god possible Fourth Sacrifices are shared
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Did you notice that? Who they're shared with shared by all of god's people all people have faith
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Notice the verses 15 and 16 and solved a lot of this chapter that the assembly What's the assembly this gathering?
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What's it made of? just of israelites By below is it by blood? Is that how you get in to this assembly?
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by ethnicity by race No Did you notice that? Oh, it's pretty strongly emphasized the assembly.
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It's the same word that isaac prayed for jacob Yeah who became israel the literal israel that he would become an assembly of nations
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May you jacob be in may the lord make you an assembly a gathering of nations The assembly includes the stranger here says in numbers the stranger
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Who sojourns with you? Stranger you mean he's not from israel you and the sojourner
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That means the foreigner who's living with you the the immigrant You and the immigrant shall be alike before the lord
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Now it's not clear and obvious as it becomes in the new testament. It's still here in the old testament a a mystery
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It's hidden in the old testament, but this is still moving toward the truth It's eventually celebrated in ephesians chapter 2 that there is one people of god
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Made of and that one people is made of people from all nations all races all ethnic groups by faith
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Not by birth The sacrifices are shared with them with all god's people
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No matter where they come from and here missions begins with migrants
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You know, we've had some hypocrisy in that your people will send missionaries off To countries and reach people of races that they won't reach out to if they live next door to them
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That's strange, isn't it? Well here if we want to spread the gospel to people of all nations Let's begin with the foreigners who live next door the chinese restaurant workers the mexican construction workers
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The person of another ethnic group who's right at your doorstep. Some people think the old testament is all about a literal nation
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So you gotta be belong to the right ethnic group, but right here in the heart of the law
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We're told that anyone is included if they believe And they want to offer that sacrifice
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That's an aroma pleasing to the lord they want to please the lord they're in All are welcome
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So even here in verse 16 notice that verse 16 says it so clearly one law and one rule She'll be for you and the stranger who sojourns with you
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Finally sacrifices are practical I gotta figure why why all this is this just is it?
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You know, is it just these sacrifices are they just all burned up? They're good for nothing for no one but for god alone.
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No The the whole burn offerings were all burned up for that. There's there are drink offerings
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They were all poured out but most of these sacrifices had a practical purpose At least in part short one is developing fellowship with all the worshippers with the lord as they came but also in supporting the priest
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Some of this meal offering with the meat and the flour and the wine was given to the priest and that's how they were supported
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You know, the priests were not given land and then were supposed to be farmers kind of moonlighting his priest
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Well on their on their day on their times off Now they were given The priest instead were given parts of the sacrifices
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So they could then dedicate themselves to being priest all the time and the apostle paul in first corinthians chapter 9 verse 14
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Says the same principle That the rules in the church. He says in the same way
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As the priest shared in the sacrificial offerings here in the old testament in the same way
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Those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel So our financial offerings serve the same purpose to practically support the proclamation
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Of the gospel, you know, we don't take your money out and just burn it in the back and give it to the lord that way That's not what it's for We have a goal
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To make it to the promised land we have security Promises assuring us that we'll make it that he holds us by our right hand
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But there are pitfalls along the way We need sacrifices to get there, especially the pleasing aroma of christ on the cross
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That so amazes us with god's grace That we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice
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We then need to be aware of the pitfalls of sin Now some sins are obvious he says go in and take the land we say no way
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It's pretty obvious But others are pitfalls There are such things as you see here as unintentional sins
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Now many modern people don't understand this they think in order for it to be a sin. It has to be intentional
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I have to have intended to offend god or break his word They'll read the lord jesus is saying that even if you didn't even if you don't kill someone
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But you hate you call him you fool Then you've murdered in your heart. You've intended to kill him
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You probably would if there wasn't a law and you were afraid of getting caught Even if you don't commit adultery, but you look lustfully at someone you intended to do it
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And it's sin and that's true that those are sins But then they jump many people that jump to the conclusion that it's always the intention
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That makes the sin So even if you break god's word But because you didn't know any better, you know, because you you weren't taught that you didn't read that you hadn't thought it through Whatever it is
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You know, maybe here in the south everyone was going along with racism and segregation I hadn't really thought maybe some people are gonna say
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I really thought it was a violation of the lord Jesus's second greatest command So it must not be said for me, even though I went along with it
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Or maybe I need the money To spend to myself So i'm not going to be generous
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They'll think I don't intend on turning away from the lord. So they think it's not sin ignorance they think
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Is an excuse But the pitfall of the unintentional sin is that you know
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I think you think We know better. We mean well, we don't know better. Excuse me.
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We we mean well We don't intend to offend the lord we don't intend to sin You don't want to not love your neighbor and so not really love god.
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You just kind of wanted to go along to get along You don't want to deprive the lord of your offerings.
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You just wanted that Treat whatever the money would buy or that extra income but it's still sin
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You are still not seeking first the kingdom of god. You're not loving the lord with all your heart and mind and soul that's why
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That's why you're not really paying attention Why you're getting sloppy that's why you're not thinking things through Because you're not really loving him with all you have not really thinking
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What is it? What does it mean when you silently go along with racism or what does it mean when you? Indulgently spend on yourself while being stingy on offerings.
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You're just not thinking about it. Why aren't you thinking about it? Well Well notice verse 22 the unintentional sin happens when we don't observe god says don't you're not observing carefully
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Why aren't you being careful? Aren't being careful all that We were commanded in verse 24
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It's a sin without knowledge You didn't know any better, but that doesn't excuse it.
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Does it it's still a sin? I just didn't think about it. You got sloppy And it still though requires a sacrifice
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Even that's not winked at that's not let's slide even if notice that even if the whole congregation
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In other words all god's people they're all going along with it at least for a while and they become aware of it
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They all do it. It still requires an atonement a sacrifice
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You know if god does not grade on the curve if everyone fails everyone fails
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But there can be forgiveness with atonement in verse 26 if we find that If we all of us find that we've not been following some command of the lord that we've been negligent
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Then we confess our sin and we seek the blood of christ to be our atonement But we don't think well, it wasn't sin because I didn't know anybody
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You know the saying in the law Is daniel's going to find out I guess Ignorance of the law is no excuse
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Here, that's what god is saying because you didn't know any better. It's not an excuse Yeah, if even if you do it individually you need that sacrifice to make atonement to make you at one
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With the god you've offended That you're just sloppiness But if it's not just a pitfall
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You know, it's not something you fell into, you know, maybe at a moment of temptation you you didn't think about it
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You weren't planning it Was it a sin? Well, that's that would be a unintentional sin, but You weren't being careful, but that kind of unintentional sin, but it's something
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It's a sin you chose with full knowledge You did plan it.
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You did see it coming consciously deliberately. It may be repeatedly It's not just the man
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Who foolishly clicks on some porn website in the moment of weakness unplanned? but it's it's going
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Much further than that. It's contacting someone Deliberately planning i'm going to hook up planning an affair
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Going after it You know getting in your car driving to a destination making reservation to going at all that That is what here he calls in this chapter sin with a high hand
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Like raising your fist to god and shaking it in his face I saw someone online this may seem like a trivial thing but purporting to be a
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Christian and a champion of right doctrine and who in his frustration And arrogance called someone you fool
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And when he was reminded that the lord jesus said that anyone who does that is liable to the hell of fire He then justified it and continued to shout that insult in post after post you fool fool fool
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And he then crossed the line for what maybe okay I understand people lose their temper maybe an unintentional sin the first time which he should confess and renounce
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And seek the blood of christ for to an intentional sin That verse 30 calls sin sinning with a high hand a sin that shows a reviling of the lord
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You don't care what he says You're gonna say what you want to say you're gonna do what you want to do no matter what the lord says about it
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Shows no fear of god's judgment It should restrain you. Yeah. Okay, you get caught up in some
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Temper or lust some passion, but then When you cool down you realize, you know, there's a fear of god that holds you back
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But people that sin with a high hand they don't have that Nothing that pulls them back from continuing in sin
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You know, it's um, it's it's not just when you've clicked on the wrong thing or shouted in anger uh when that happens
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The fear of god will hold you back You'll recognize that you've sinned and you'll you'll
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Repent you'll apologize you'll seek atonement But instead the one who sins with a high hand doesn't do that He continues in the sin
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One supposed christian said that sexual immorality was their besetting sin That can become an excuse like we all get one get out of judgment free card for one sin
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That's my besetting sin. I can indulge in it. They said they thought sexual immorality was their besetting sin as they deliberately went out
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Once again to indulge in that sin No, that's sinning with a high hand it shows
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That sin still has dominion over you that it's not just a it's not just a remnant of your sinful nature that you're struggling against Which we all have
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But it should be something we are indeed battling against But it's who you are. You're sitting with a high hand
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And so you need to examine yourself as to whether you're really in the faith paul says in second corinthian chapter 13 verse 5
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Because if christ is in you He won't let you stay in those sins
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He'll pull you back That's why john says in first john chapter 3 verse 6. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning to keep on sinning
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When you know it's sin You have the knowledge you you've heard it. It's clearly a sin, but you deliberately continue to do it
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That's to sin with a high hand is to revile the lord he says it's to despise his word
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I don't care what he says And verses 32 to 36 gives us an example of sinning with a high hand
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They had been clearly told before this and just probably just probably just a few months before this Not to do any work on the sabbath
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All right, the fourth commandment Honor the sabbath day no work And he specifically even told in exodus.
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You can't even start a fire Right, so, you know, you don't need to start a fire So no need to go out gathering wood, right?
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But one man he didn't care He didn't care what god had said. So he went out and gathered sticks now
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We might think today gathering sticks. Come on. What's the big deal? The big deal is that it was an audacious act of defiance against the lord sin is always against god
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It's not measured by its impact on people, but it's on a on its offensiveness against god
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Sure his gathering sticks doesn't hurt me doesn't hurt you but it was an offense against god it hurts his glory now here
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God's word had told them not to work on the sabbath Well one man didn't care what god had said So they arrested him and moses asked the lord what to do about it and the lord said notice the lord said it
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They didn't make this up themselves. This wasn't their opinion. The lord said in verse 35. The man shall be put to death all the congregation
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Shall stone him with stones outside the camp Notice the lord all wanted all the people to participate in this execution
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To press on to them and sort of an object lesson about the seriousness of sin
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And the sin here is knowing god's command But thinking you know, I know better I'm not believing the lord
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No faith that he can rest on the sabbath and god will still provide for him in hebrews 4
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We're told that christ fulfills the sabbath. He's the one who gives us rest So we don't have to continue to work for our life for our salvation anymore.
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Now if someone doesn't believe that If they think they have to be constantly working
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They don't remember the sacrifice of christ and what it means and that that Is serious sin that's with a sinning with a high hand
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Not to believe in christ and the penalty You think this is rough here and numbers 15?
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What's the penalty for not believing in christ? The penalty is much worse and so We had better fear him
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Who can not only kill the body? But can destroy the soul in hell That we'd be better off we better know we'd be better off Gouging out our eyes or cutting off our hands if that could stop us from sinning
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But it can't We need a sacrifice for that And here we see the seriousness of sin
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It's not just something it's not something to be casual about everybody does it We all got our besettings never mind be indifferent to untroubled by unafraid of We all sin sure and we all need the sacrifice of christ
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Until we see him face to face, but that fact Shouldn't be an excuse to cross the line from unintentional sins
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That were caught up by from time to time to the intentional ones We purposely step into be careful of that pitfall
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Finally as we're on our way to the promised land remember We have security We're held by god's god's holding us by our right hand
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Even if sometimes we're disciplined We need sacrifices The living sacrifices of ourselves motivated by that aroma of the sacrifice of christ
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We must be careful about sins and not let the unintentional sins trap us in the intentional ones
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Then we need signs Signs of grace
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That's what that last paragraph is about verses 37 to 41. It seems strange to us their sign
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Was to put tassels with blue cords in the corner of their clothes Okay, it's a sign and It was to be in verse 39 a sign to remember all the commands of the lord
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Remember to do them. You see that tassel. Ah, remember to do the lord's commands follow his ways
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Follow all his ways not our own ways. Don't do your own thing Don't think your ways are as good as his follow his ways because we're all inclined to think we know better We all inclined to do our own thing
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But we know better how to worship how to handle money how to handle our sexuality And so we'll worship as we please we'll spend on ourselves indulgently
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We'll think sex out of sight of marriage is no big deal and we need signs to jog our memory of what the lord has said
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And that's what the church is for a sign a reminder That's why we're doing what we're doing right now.
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I'm trying to remind you Reminding you of what the lord says even when it goes against what we want
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Because we want to we can't follow always what we want. That's a pitfall That way in verse 40
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Will be holy As the lord is holy And then the lord reminds them
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You notice the sign is not just of what they should do But of what he has already done
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He has in that last verse Already brought them out of egypt And the sign is to remind them of that And he brought them out so that he would be their god
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The sign is to remind them That god wants to be their god He is the lord
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Our god he repeats that at the end to get it through That's why the lord jesus gave us a sign
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You know not blue tassels but this the lord's supper
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We do this To do the same thing the tassels were supposed to do to remember what he's done for us
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That he gave himself as a fragrant offering a pleasing aroma to the lord
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That should motivate in us now a desire to give ourselves completely to him as a living sacrifice
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The lord is pleased with his sacrifice not that he's pleased with death and bloodshed But he's pleased with the atonement
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He's pleased with the fellowship with the relationship that the sacrifice of christ finally makes possible he's pleased to make us his people
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You know and it's not again. Remember it's not because we're just such darlings and we're so pure and great and he can't help himself
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He's pleased to make us his people Because he's so gracious He's pleased
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To be our god Even though we don't deserve it But he's still pleased
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To make us his god to make you know, no, I said that wrong to make himself our god
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Now the question for you, that's what pleases him That we be his people that he'd be our god the question for you
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Is whether you're pleased To have him as your god Whether you're pleased to avoid the pitfalls
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And make it to the promised land Whether you're pleased To have fellowship with him