Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday, November 13, 2016
They refused to operate in the faith-rest drill, this generation of Jews, with a few exceptions, were excluded from ever setting foot into the promise land.
It wasn't a matter of their salvation but the fact that they could not handle stress, they could not handle pressure.
2TI 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline or a sound mind.
PSA 103:2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
ISA 5:4 "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
Adversity is inevitable, stress is optional. Adversity is what someone or something does to you, stress is what you do to yourself.
Adversity is an outside pressure in life; stress is an inside pressure of the soul. Stress is what you do to yourself; adversity is what the circumstances of life do to you.
It was the sudden stress that got to them.
The Jews have just been freed from slavery and therefore their big problem is gone.
As they moved out from Egypt and they are rejoicing and filled with all kinds of happiness, then "all of a sudden" a situation of adversity came to them and they became filled with a lot of stress.
They wanted to return to slavery even though they had just been delivered by Jehovah Elohim and they also had one of the greatest leaders in all of human history, Moses, leading them.
The slave mentality is that the individual would rather have security rather than freedom.
They would rather be slaves to Egypt (world) then to be free in the desert (or really the spiritual life).
One of the main problems the Jews faced in this dispensation of the Law is that they forgot what God had done for them.
Their rate of forgetting exceeded their rate of learning.
We have at least three exceptions at this time. Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.
Moses continued to concentrate on doctrine in this disastrous situation while the majority of his congregation was guilty of the blackout of the soul.
REV 3:17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
1CO 11:19 For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.
The word for looked is the Qal imperfect of the Hebrew verb nasa which means that they kept on staring.
They did not look unto Christ, instead they concentrated on Pharaoh's army.
Heb 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
They were concentrating but they were concentrating on Pharaoh's army, they completely forgot the grace of God and the power of God and the marvelous deliverance that they had experienced just a week or so before.
They concentrated on the problem rather than the solution.
"They began to murmur and complain."
"You know God, you know the serpent, after all you created him and you allowed him to tempt us.....so it's really Your fault God!"
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
Notice that the apostle John says Now, salvation, power, and the principle of authority has come.......why?
Because the who questions these things, salvation, power, and authority, is Satan himself who accuses God's people before God day and night.
He wants you to question salvation because he wants you to question, Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
He also wants you to question "the power" which is that power you rely upon, is it the power of God in Act 1:8, Heb 4:12; or the power of self, ROM 10:3.
Questioning the power has always been an issue as noted in ROM 10:3 when the apostle Paul said that the Jews Not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
MAT 22:29 But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God.
Paul also said in 2TI 3:5 that many of the early believers in the Church-age, were "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;"
1CO 2:5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
The big problem that existed in the dispensation of the Law was not the problem of salvation or the problem of what power was needed but it was the problem with authority.
All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
ACT 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, "We must obey God rather than men.
When it comes to something that is the policy of the organization or the job or the church, then it is totally wrong to reject authority and question it at all.
Authority is your friend---not your enemy!
DEU 11:26-27, "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today;
DEU 11:28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.
There is blessing for respecting and listening to the voice of authority.
K.J. = 1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
The Jews not only had a problem because of their fears and not being able to pick up the shield of faith, but they also had a problem because they had the attitude that Satan had in Rev 12:10, they questioned authority!
God has authority over nature, and nature obeys God, MAT 8:27; Mar 4:41; Luk 8:25; Rom 8:20-22.
MAT 8:27 And the men marveled, saying, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
MAR 4:41 And they became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
Angels are subject to divine authority, Mar 1:27; 1Pet 3:22. Mar 1:27 And they were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, "what is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."
1Pe 3:22 He is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
The pastor-teacher and church officers have authority over the congregation in the local church, 1Co 16:15‑16; 2Co 10:8; 1Th 5:12; Heb 13:7, 17; Isa 54:17.
2Co 10:8 For even if I should boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you,
1Th 5:12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,