[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles and go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 21.
[0:12] Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 21. We're going to finish the message that we were on whenever the last time we were in Deuteronomy. We're going to look at this, and this is learning from the past.
[0:24] So Moses is giving his farewell speech. He's in front of everybody. He's about to step aside. This is like the longest farewell speech you can imagine. And he's going to talk to them, and he's going to tell them, we need to talk about the past so you don't repeat your mistakes.
[0:40] So read with me, if you would, verse 21. Behold, the Lord thy God has set the land before thee. Go up and possess it, as the Lord the God of thy fathers has said unto thee.
[0:50] Fear not, neither be discouraged. He says, you know, the Lord set it there, and it's time for you to go get it. Don't be worried about it. Go do it. Verse 22. And you came to me, because he's talking about the past.
[1:01] You came near unto me, every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land and bring us word again. But what way we must go up, and into that what cities we shall come.
[1:12] Well, the saying pleased me well, and I took 12 men of you, one of a tribe, and they turned and went up in the mountain and came out of the valley of Escold, and they searched it out. Father, I pray you just help us to learn something from the past, and apply it to our lives, and help us to be, as a church, stronger, because we've seen what you have done.
[1:32] We've seen our mistakes, and we've seen other mistakes, and we want to grow in you. And I give you praise for it all. In Jesus' precious name, amen. They had been told to go up and possess the land 38 years before.
[1:45] They were commanded to go. They said, Don't get discouraged. Before they ever sent the spies in, he said, I don't want you to get discouraged. Every time, though, that God sends us anything to do, it's going to be bigger than us, it's going to be scary, and it's going to be a risk.
[2:01] So Moses gave them approval to go ahead and take the spies, and they could go in, and they could check out the land, and they could come back. But there's a big contradiction going on. From the time they left Egypt, God's been telling them everywhere to go.
[2:15] They've been traveling all the way to get to the border, and when they get to the Red Sea, it was God who showed them when to get there. It was God who put the cloud in front of them and the fire at night.
[2:25] It's God who got them across the river. It's God that took them to every camp at a spot. He kind of went ahead, figured out a spot for them to camp, put them a spot to camp. They didn't know where they were going. They just blindly followed him and showed up to where he said.
[2:38] When they got there, everything was okay. When they get to the promised land, he said, all right, I've given you this land. I'm all-powerful. I'm God. I just flipped to Egypt. I just sent 10 plagues on them.
[2:49] I just opened the Red Sea, let you through, and destroyed their people, got you all the way to here. We're ready to cross to the promised land. And they said, well, you need to let us figure it out. You need to let us check that out.
[3:00] We need to get our plan together. We need to figure out what we're going to do and how we're going to go out. Let us go in there. Let us check out the cities where we're going to go. We'll post it on Facebook. We'll tweet it out. We'll let everybody know where we're going so we'll be ready to go into the place.
[3:13] And so they knew God was going to give them the land. Look at verse 25. In verse 25, the last words say, It is a good land which the Lord our God does give us.
[3:27] We often know that God will do something. We believe that He can do something. We doubt that He would really do that with us, though. That's a big step.
[3:39] Almost everybody knows God can. Almost everybody knows God will or would. The problem is, would He do it with me? We're afraid of the pain of stepping out by faith.
[3:50] We want God to just give it to us. We'd like to say, God, I need this done. And boom, there it is. God, I need you to pay my bills. And I don't want to have to work. God, I need you to do this.
[4:00] And I don't want to have to do that. I just want you to do it. We want God to do it. We believe He can. But we refuse to obey Him. Look, if you would, at verse 26. In verse 26, notwithstanding, you would not go up.
[4:13] I told you I gave you the land. You knew I'd give you the land. But you would not go up. But you rebelled against my commandment. Not only did they rebel. I want you to look at the verses and see if it doesn't sound a lot like us.
[4:25] If you look at verse 27. They murmured in their tents. And they said, because the Lord hates us. He brought us out of the land of Egypt. To deliver us into the hand of the Amorites.
[4:37] And to destroy us. We were slaves. God whipped Egypt. God got us across the Red Sea. God got us all the way over here to where we're ready to go in. We've been traveling. We're here now.
[4:48] And it's time to go into the promised land He has for us. But we're scared. We think God hates us. We think God hates us. They thought God wanted to hurt them. And see them destroyed.
[5:00] Isn't this where we get when things get scary? We want to blame God. We accuse Him of not loving us. Of not taking care of us. Of allowing bad things to happen to us.
[5:11] Though God's a good God and doing good stuff. In verse 28. The ten spies discouraged their hearts. Look at verse 28. Just something like discourage their heart. We listen to the wrong people.
[5:23] The wrong voices. We allow circumstances to discourage us. We let the baggage from the past destroy our present. Moses tried to talk to them.
[5:34] Tell them that they shouldn't be afraid. Look at verse 29. He said, don't dread. Don't let fear overcome you. Don't be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goes before you.
[5:45] He shall fight for you. You guys, look. You can go into promised land. It's all going to work out. God is going to take care of you. In verse 31 he said, He is the God that's been carrying you like a father does his son.
[5:58] That's how you've gotten this far. That's how you've overcome Egypt. God's been good to you for so many years. He's met every need. He'll continue to do it. But they still won't believe God even though they know that God has been good.
[6:11] Verse 32. In this saying, you did not believe the Lord your God who went in the way before you to search you out of place to pitch your tents in a fire by night to show you what way you should go in a cloud by day.
[6:26] They didn't believe him. He'd been good to them in the past. He'd been good to them. We were able to figure out what is it. We want to be able to figure out what's going to happen. We're afraid to take God at his word.
[6:39] We want to understand everything on a human level. Let me just say something to you. Let's just take giving. Let's take giving. That's probably one of the scariest areas of our lives. Can I trust God?
[6:50] If I give him money, will he take care of me? Will he meet my needs? Because that's a scary area. I need my money. I've got to have my money. I've got to be able to pay my bills. I've got responsibilities.
[7:01] And God said I'm supposed to give to him. But if I give to him, he might not take care of me. And, you know, he's not that good of God anyway. I mean, just to be honest, he has people get in trouble before.
[7:12] And he might let me get in trouble, you know. And I'm scared and I don't want to give. And that's kind of what's going on. Or maybe God's called you to be a missionary. And you're like, I'd like to be a missionary. And I know God could use me.
[7:23] And I know God's powerful. And I know God's been real good to me. And I know what he's done in my life in the past. But I'm not sure he can do it in the future. I'm not sure. Here's the sad thing.
[7:34] There comes a point when God says, all right, that's it. I've had it. I'm angry. And that's what happened in verse 34. And the Lord heard the voice of your words. And he was wroth.
[7:45] That means he was angry. And he swore, saying, surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land which I swear unto you. Except for Caleb in verse 36 and Joshua in verse 38.
[7:58] And that's it. Nobody else is going in. That's it. I've had it. There comes a time when God's like, I've been doing everything in the world for you.
[8:10] I feel like a daddy carrying you on my back. Y'all got through the wilderness. You got out of the, you got across the Red Sea because I carried you. I've been carrying you. I've been taking care of you.
[8:21] I've been doing all of this for you. And you don't appreciate what I've done. You don't see what I've done. You're acting like I don't do anything for you. The fact is you say I'm mean. You say I'm hateful.
[8:32] You say I want to hurt you. You say I brought you out to kill you. You accuse me. And I'm just fed up with it. I don't know if you can understand that at all. If you've been a parent, you can.
[8:44] You ever been a parent and your kids get mad at you and maybe they said some ugly things to you? Or maybe they were talking amongst themselves or talking with a friend and they talked about how you weren't so good.
[8:55] And you're thinking about how many hours you worked and all the things you did and the times you sat by their side. Or maybe you did it to your parents or whatever and they've done all these things for you. And all of a sudden, you're like, I do everything in the world.
[9:11] Or maybe if you say, trust me. And they're like, I don't know if I can trust you. It hurts. It hurts. And the father's like, I don't know why you don't trust me. I've been so good to you.
[9:22] I saved you. I provided you with everything you've got. I've done everything in your life. And you don't trust me. You don't trust me. You don't believe in me. You think I want to hurt you.
[9:34] You honestly think that I would call you to the mission field so I could hurt you. You honestly think I want you to give an offering to tithe and give some faith promise because I want to hurt you.
[9:45] You really think that. You think I want you to be honest and love your wife and be faithful to your wife. You think I want to hurt you. Huh. So understand how you could think that about me. Look at verse 38.
[10:00] He says to Moses, he says, you need to encourage Joshua. He shall go in thither. Because in verse 37, Moses says to him, he said, you know, God's mad at me too.
[10:14] It's all y'all's fault. I don't get to go in either. But God told me to just tell Joshua and encourage him. Joshua needed the encouragement of people. Joshua, Moses had been discouraged by the people.
[10:27] Moses now saying to the people, y'all need to encourage Joshua. Y'all need to motivate Joshua and challenge Joshua. And here's the beautiful thing about the whole story.
[10:38] And I don't have time to go into it as much. We'll do it on the next two verses. I've already got the next message fixed on chapter 2 and chapter 3. Here's the deal. Joshua's already going to win.
[10:49] Moses is already going to win. The children of Israel are already going to win. The deal's done. Just like it is for us. You're going to win. Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. You have victory through Jesus Christ.
[11:01] God can do great things for you. You've got all that going your way. That's not positive thinking. That's just facts if you read the Bible. And he said, now Moses, you get the people. Y'all all encouraged Joshua.
[11:12] I'm going to give him the lamb. But he's going to have to deal with a bunch of bellyaching Baptists. And I need y'all to encourage him. And so they caused him great headaches.
[11:24] And we should be working and encouraging those that are taking these big steps in ministry. We should be encouraging, not discouraging. I was studying today just some fun stuff, not anything I really needed from preaching.
[11:40] And one of the articles I read said the most horrible thing you could do is embarrass them and discourage them publicly.
[11:51] That's one of the most harmful things you could do. They'd done that to Moses. And Moses is being told, don't let that happen. Now, if you go to verse 39, see, God's angry.
[12:04] You've got to remember, 38 years before they had gotten to the edge of the promised land, it was right across the river. All they had to do was go across. It was theirs. The cloud by day and the fire by night was going to take them in.
[12:15] He would have led them exactly to where they needed to go. He would have won the victory. He would have done great things with them. That's what he was going to do. He was going to do big stuff with them. They were almost there.
[12:26] And then they got to saying, and I don't really think it's true. I mean, I think what the Bible says is true, but I think they claimed it was their children. I don't really believe they was worried about their children.
[12:36] I believe it's selfishness. And look, if you would, at chapter 1 and verse 39. He said, moreover, your little ones, which you said would be hurt, your children, which in that day had no knowledge of good and evil.
[12:50] You said they'd get hurt. Just kids. And you said, I'd hurt them. And if I took you in the promised land, they might get hurt. Well, I'm going to give them the promised land. And let me just tell you what I think ends up happening so many times with us.
[13:03] We blame it on the kids. I just think they're scared to go fight. I think they're scared to risk our life. They won't say, what's up? Our kids will get hurt. They said, we don't trust you, God. You might want to hurt our kids. You don't just want to hurt me.
[13:14] You want to kill my kid. I don't trust you. That's kind of what they were saying to God in the whole story. And so God said, okay, big deal. Then I'll just let you die, and I'll take your kids in.
[13:26] I'll give them all the promises I had for you. I learned something in Peru. And you won't see this as openly in America, but I'm going to say something to make you all mad at me.
[13:39] I've got four minutes, and I'm not going to get finished, and I'm probably still a couple extra minutes. But you know what the Peruvians would say? They'd say, I've educated my kids. I fed my kids. I clothed my kids. I housed my kids.
[13:50] I'll help them graduate from school, but they're supposed to take care of me. I invest in them, so they'll invest in me when it's all over. And a buddy, a Peruvian family would get so mad if anything happened that might keep their parents.
[14:02] I was in China, sitting in China, and I'm talking to a young preacher boy. He said, I don't know if I can preach or not. He said, because my parents have paid for all my education. If I go into ministry, they're going to charge me for everything they've ever done for me. They asked for the money it cost to raise me.
[14:15] So it's really kind of selfish. He said, well, it's not like that in America. Oh, I think it is. You're going to keep the grandkids close to me? You're going to do what I want to do? I don't care what God wants from your life.
[14:27] I'm really worried about what I want. Whatever we use as an excuse is just that. God even blessed the children with a promise that the parents never got to enjoy.
[14:41] So once God said all that ugly stuff, and he kind of blew his stack there for a second, they said, oh, man, we didn't know you was that serious. We didn't know it was that big a deal that you really wanted us to go into promised land.
[14:52] And so you're going to kill us? If you're going to kill us, we'll just go in and fight now. That happens in chapter 1 and verse 40. But as for you, turn you and take your journey into the wilderness. In verse 41, you answered and said, no, no, no.
[15:04] We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and we will fight according to all that the Lord, our God commands us. And they all grabbed their weapons and decided to go into battle. And Moses said, he won't go with you.
[15:15] Verse 42, the Lord said unto me, said to them, I will not go. I'm not among them. If they go in, they're going to get hurt. And in verse 43, the guy said, we don't care whether God goes.
[15:27] We're going to do it now. We're going to do it. You see, they were willful when they said no, and now they're willful when they say yes. And God's like, I don't like willful people. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[15:40] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The attitude is supposed to be, whatever you want, God, that's what we're doing. The attitude here was, no, God, we are not going in.
[15:51] Change your mind. Okay, you're really mad? Okay, well, we'll change our mind. But you will go with us. And he said, oh, no, I won't go with you. There comes a point when God will not listen to your prayers.
[16:02] Verse 43, they went up presumptuously into the hill. Verse 45, the Lord would not hearken to their voice. He wouldn't listen. God said, you don't want to obey me.
[16:15] I can stop listening. I can stop answering prayers. We need to learn from the past. We need to learn from the past. We need to realize that God's will ought to be more important to us than anything else.
[16:28] You ought to be an encourager to your children that want to be serving God. You ought to be an encourager to the missionaries that go out of our church. You ought to be an encourager to other dads and moms who are trying to raise their family for Jesus.
[16:40] You ought to be an encourager. Let's look at the past and learn some great lessons. It's been 38 years. It's time for them to go in. And Moses says, before we go in, let's just take a minute and review the past.
[16:50] Because we don't need any more of that happening again. They reviewed the past. Let's share the stories of how God is blessed. Let's share the stories of our own disobedience and how it costs us.
[17:01] Can I say to parents, you need to be real transparent. You need to say to your kids, you need to say to your children, this is where I've been. This is how I've messed up. This is what I've done wrong. This is how God taught me.
[17:12] We need to share those things with our kids. We need to teach our children how to obey God. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. God let you be a dad. And don't use your kids as an excuse.
[17:24] Take them as a responsibility and say, I'm going to teach my children to serve God. I'm going to teach my children to honor God. Tell them the stories of what God's been doing in your life.
[17:35] Help them to know to honor God and fear God and trust God and step out by faith. Don't make the mess that's happened before. I think, and Betty and I have had the privilege of raising four children, and they're all serving the Lord, and we're very proud of our children and love them.
[17:55] But I think if there's a big responsibility every parent has, it's to say, kids, let me tell you how God's brought me where I am. Why should my kids have to relearn all my lessons?
[18:07] One thing my dad told me when I was younger, he said, you will not live long enough to make all the mistakes you might want to learn from somebody else's. And as a dad, you might could help your kid.
[18:17] As a dad, you might could say, there was a time when I dried up in my Bible reading. There was a time I went to church and sat on my rear, and I wasn't a giver. I wasn't a giver, son. And I really see how God didn't bless me like he would have blessed me if I'd obeyed him.
[18:31] I wasn't praying like I should. And this temptation got into my life, and I realized how it messed me up. Because instead of my kids being 57, 58, and 59, about to enjoy all the promises God had for me, but I wouldn't tell them, I'd rather tell them the story and help them not mess up.
[18:50] Amen? You're standing on the edge of the promised land. Your kids are that close, and just in a few days, it took them seven years to conquer the whole land. Seven years.
[19:01] But it's been 38. They could have been enjoying the land 31 years by now if mom and dad had just taken a stand for what God wanted and just believed God.
[19:14] Are you grateful? Do you look back over all God's done all over your life? Can you think about what he's done, how he's brought you where he has? Can you think about the times you were in desperate need, and you prayed, and God answered that prayer?
[19:25] Maybe your wife was sick, or your kid was sick, or their money wasn't there, or you needed a job, or you needed God to do something. And you needed God, and he showed up? Tell the kids. They ought to be able to say, my dad knew God.
[19:39] My dad knew God. My dad walked with God. My dad learned these things from God. Tell the past. So Moses, before he finishes chapter one, he says, I'm going to talk to you a whole lot of stuff about how to get ready to live in the land.
[19:52] I'm going to prepare you for the promised land. But the first preparation is, let's go back and look at our past. Let's look at the mess up. That's not the parents doing it. It is Moses doing it. But wouldn't it be a good deal if I went home and I said, Chris, let me tell you where dad messed up.
[20:08] By the way, they don't listen. The older they get, the less they listen. So if your kids are young, they'll still listen to you. They're thrilled by your stories to 12, 13, 14. I'm not sure when.
[20:19] But somewhere in there, they stop being so thrilled by your stories. But somewhere in there, they decide they want to tell their stories. And they're not so thrilled to listen to your stories. So you better take advantage of it.
[20:30] You've got small children in your home. Don't blow it. Tell them about Jesus. Father, I love you. Thank you for the chance to serve you. I thank you for your word. Thank you for all the people in our church that are helping our missionaries.
[20:42] I give you praise for all. I love you. Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.