Numbers 15:17-21 Bible Study | Episode 768

September 18, 2024

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Numbers 15:17-21 Bible Study | Episode #768

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up.

His word to you and allow you.

To see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in numbers, chapter 15. Numbers, chapter 15. And remember, we're in that spot that is between, well, them not going in and the rebellion that's going to take place in chapter 16. And in the midst of it, God is still giving them instructions as to how they are to operate when they go in the promised land. It's going to be 40 years from now, he says the bodies of the people who refuse to go in are going to die in the desert, and they are. They're not going to have the opportunity to go in. Caleb's going in, Joshua's going in, and their families. But other than that, nobody's going in. And so you would think that that would be all that God dealt with until he decided to take them in. But that's not how God's dealing. God is in the midst of all this. He's still giving them instructions and saying, this is what you do when you go in. This is how you need to operate when you go in. And if you remember last week, we talked about these offerings, all the sacrifices, the blood sacrifices were to be mixed with flour, with oil, and with wine, and different amounts for the different types of sacrifices. More oil, more wine as you go up, and the first sacrifice is burnt offering for sin. And then you've got the sacrifice and sacrifice. All of them are for sin, but different levels, different things that God is doing. We've been through all those. But as you noticed, we talked about the grain offering, the flour, the wine and the oil, and we talked about the power of the Holy Spirit. We talked about the goodness of the Holy Spirit, and we talked about the flower offering being a picture. Well, it's the word of God. It's Jesus. It's a picture of Jesus, the word made flesh. And so when you're studying through this, you hit this and you go, wow, God's saying you're definitely going in. Even though he's pronounced judgment on those who refuse to go in, he's saying, the rest of you guys, y'all are going in. Y'all are going to go into the promised land. And when you do, what's important to me is that, you know, even when you're dealing with sin, that you recognize my power, you recognize my goodness, and you recognize the importance of my word. I, when you go in, and then in verse 17, he deals with what would only happen when they go in to make the, when they go into the promised land, because they didn't have land where they were able to sow and have, well, have, have bread, have flour, have the meal required to create these, these specialties. And so one of the things that is important about the picture of the promised land is that you understand that when you go into the promised land, the guidance that God's going to give you comes from his word and from the Holy Spirit. You have the wine and the oil that represent the aspects of the Holy Spirit's work. The water is a picture of his cleansing pile, but that's pictured in the crossing of the Red Sea. The first baptism. And secondly, the crossing the Jordan river, which Pentecostals will teach, is the second baptism. What I believe is the anointing in power that comes from being obedient and going in. That's why the priest had to put their feet in the water. And we'll get to that as we get through these Bible studies. But there has to be with the Red Sea. God did it with, and God did it in the Jordan also. But at the Red Sea, they didn't have to do anything. Moses just raised his hands at the Jordan river. The priests have to decide to go in. They have, the river's at flood stage and it's rushing and they have to put their feet in the water. They have to, by faith, trust God, which is a picture of us being a holy priesthood, the New Testament believer, a holy priesthood, and we have to put our feet in the water. We gotta cross over and trust God in it. And obviously, God was not only he wasn't worried about the Anakites, he was worried about teaching his people to trust him. Because you could be killed by Anakite, sure. But you could also be killed by drowning if you fell into a roaring river. And they had to trust him and put their feet in. And when you go into the promised land, you're going to be able to sow and to reap. You're going to be able to have your own grain. You're not going to have to buy it by traders that are moving through and passing by. You're going to have your own source of grain. And it's not going to be manna that falls on the ground. It's not going to be a bread that falls on the ground that's freely given to you. It's going to be a bread that you go out there and you sow and you reap and you go. What's the difference between the two? Well, you know, God's revelation to you is, is good. And on Sunday mornings, we even talked about it this Sunday, a little bit. On Sunday mornings, you know, we go and we receive what someone else has mulled over. They've worked it, they've worked the ground, they've planted the seeds, they've harvested those things they've grounded into a meal, and they've prepared it as a bread offering or a cake offering for you on Sunday morning. And that's fine. That's good. As a congregation, we need to be hearing together God's word because we head in the same direction together. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. That's exactly what oughta happen. That's, that's Jesus did it himself in the synagogues. And the, and, and so he, it's, it's, it's important. But for. Well, for promised land believers, for, for spirit filled believers, for powerful believers, you have to, you have to grind up some words yourself. You've got to read God's word and allow God to teach you personally. You got to, you got to step into the river yourself. You've got to, you've got to decide. You're going to, you're going to get you some word on your own. You're going to search it out and seek God out and read God's word and allow God's word to teach you and to guide you and to lead you into new understandings. Remember, those understandings go come from God revealing his word and into a situation you're in, and you trust him in that situation. And then you realize, you know, God's doing these great things for me. And then before you know it, you're putting up standing stones, places of remembrance, where you remember where God taught you something and you walked through it. And finally you got to the end and you see that God is faithful and God's able and God's wanting to do these big things for you, and he does. And so we get to verse 17, he says, again, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, notice when you come into the land which I bring you, meaning when you go into the promised land, when you get. Get to the place of God's promises, when that happens, when you come into the land which I bring you, then it will be when you eat of the bread of the land that you shall offer up a heave offering to the Lord. And that's. That's really lifting up an offering to God. It's really kind of like we do during worship, lifting up holy hands, except they're gonna be filled with bread, and you're waving them before the Lord. What is that? A recognition that this comes from God. Recognition that the word of God comes down from God. And Jesus said, I am the word of God who comes down from God. I'm the bread of life who the father has sent. He's telling them that he's the fulfillment of this passage. And when you hold up that bread, you realize that it's given to you by God personally. And he says, when y'all come into the promised land and you make your first. You make your first loaf of bread from. From the harvest, when it's time to harvest, and you're gonna actually have a land of your own, you're actually gonna have a part of the promises of God. You're gonna have a land of your own. And when you're sowing and reaping, and finally, you grind that, that flour down to meal, and then you prepare bread for the first time, you lift it up to me. You lift it up high in the air and lift it up and say, say, I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this for you. And I recognize that you're the one who is giving me this knowledge, this understanding, this information. You're the one who is nourishing me spiritually. Why? Because when they get in the promised land, they're going to be able to do that. When they get in the promised land, they're going to be able to have those things when they get in the promised land, they're going to be able to see God in a way different light than they seem in the wilderness. Because in the wilderness, they're totally dependent on God. In the promised land, they begin to act as God acts. They begin to walk out the character of God and the nature of God that he's placed in them by his power and by his spirit. You begin to be as Christ is. You begin to be perfect or be holy as he is holy. And what he's saying is, I want you to begin to walk and be like me. I want you to be able to see things the way I see them. I want you to begin to do things the way I do them. I want you to be able to live the way I live. And that's the purpose that Jesus given us eternal life, which means a life that has no beginning or end. That's what eternality is. From a scientific term, that's what it is. We originally thought that the universe was eternal. It had no beginning or end. And then we realized, oh, the universe has a beginning. And then we go, uh oh. Well, most of the scientists who originally, the older scientists, when that came out, fought against it because they didn't believe in God. And they said, you know, if there's a beginning, then there has to be a beginner. And if there's a beginner, who's the beginner? And I don't want it to be God. That's what I mean, really. That's what it's. What was the big argument? And then the data just came in too heavy, and people began to realize, oh, oh, there is a beginner, then it's then, oh, well, we're not gonna worry about that. We're just gonna. We're gonna come up with a big bang. The big bang was beginning, but who made the bang? And then you got just big old mess. And it is a mess. It's a. It's a mess for them and a mess that has not been answered. They can always figure out what was done, but they can't figure out who did it or how he did it or how it was done. And so God says, when you go into the promised land, I give you eternal life. Jesus said, those whom the father give me, I give eternal life. A life that has no beginning or end, a life of God. And when you have that kind of life, you need to learn how to use it. You need to learn how to walk through it. You need to learn how to walk in it. And so he says, when you go into the promised land, you shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meals, a heave offering, as a heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you offer it up, meaning, go back to the place where you are actually threshing this wheat on top of the hill, where you throw the wheat up in the air and the chaff blows away, and you get those kernels of bread, you get those kernels of wheat, and right where you get it, you need to offer up this offering to me, realizing that God's the one who is the revealer. He's the revelator. We call John the revelator. But the truth is, John received his revelation from God. God's the revelator. God's the one who reveals himself to us. And if he's revealing himself to us, you need to recognize it. You need to recognize when God's speaking to you, not when he's speaking just to the congregation. And you see the Holy Spirit move and people react to it. But you need to remember when God reveals himself to you. And so he says, remember that every year when you get your first bread, you go to that threshing floor and you offer it up to me. You recognize that I'm giving you the word of life. I'm giving you the bread of life. I'm giving you Christ. And so this is a great. A great picture of God saying, yeah, I want you. When you're dealing with sin, I want you to add the Holy Spirit's power. I want you to add the Holy Spirit's goodness. I want you to add a grain offering, a flower offering. I want you to realize that the initiator of this and ultimately the one who's going to bring it to its culmination of fulfillment is Jesus Christ. But also, when you get in the land and you begin to have your own grain, your own flower, you need to realize that that personal revelation that I give you comes from me, comes from God. And so he's. He's telling them that right here in numbers, right after he told some of them they were never going in. He's still preparing you to go in. I want you to hear me today. God is still preparing for you to go in. He's preparing for you go in. He wants you to be in his promised land. He wants you to walk in those promises. When you're young, sometimes it feels like, man, I'm never going to have any of that. But you do. And when you get a little older and your children are young, you feel like I'm just never even gonna sleep anymore, you know, my life, I just got stuff going on all the time, and I don't even know how to. I just. I'm a zombie walking through it. But you make it, and then finally you reach to a place where you realize, yeah, God has really brought me all through this and taught me a whole lot of stuff in the midst of it and. And in the. In the whole process. He was holding me up and he was sustaining me. And now I'm in the promised land and I'm getting the promises of God and I'm seeing it in his fulfillment. Be long suffering, be patient. Keep walking with him and he will give you the promises of his kingdom.

As you go today. I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today, in Jesus name.