Deuteronomy 2:7-9 Bible Study | Episode 840

December 27, 2024

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

Deuteronomy 2:7-9  Bible Study | Episode #840

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 deuteronomy, chapter two, and we're dealing with a. Well, I guess the best way to describe them is a group of interesting, related people. And so, as we study through this, it is kind of important to note them. It's also important to spend a little time discussing kind of what they picture as far as in scripture. And it is important to kind of see really, really how we're to relate them to modern day, because they show up in scripture a whole lot. The first group of people were the group of people yesterday, and they are. They're not mentioned or called this in chapter two, but they are the Edomites. And the Edomites are the descendants of Esau. And Esau was the brother of Jacob, who later was named Israel, actually was named Israel when he had the time of wrestling with God. And then he makes peace with Esau, his brother. And Esau leaves, and he goes in to receive his inheritance. And the Edomites are the descendants of Esau. And they have a land that was given to them by God. And God says that they have a land that's given to them, and they. That is their inheritance. And that land is in the wilderness. Is in what we call the wilderness. Now, there are people living in the wilderness. It's not. It's not a desert in the sense of nobody lives there. It's not the. Oftentimes, when I say. When we say wilderness, we think of the Sahara desert. But in Alabama, a wilderness is. Is. Is very much like a. Almost like a jungle. Here it's not a jungle in that. It's a rainforest. But in Alabama, if you leave a piece of property alone for 10, 15, 20 years, it will grow up into an almost unpassable area of vegetation. It is thick in some parts of Alabama. In some areas of Alabama, if you don't keep the vegetation cut back. And we call that wilderness. Wilderness is a place where it is difficult to live. It is not in a place that is impossible to live. And in scripture, wilderness is. Well, it's, it's. It's a place where you have to be totally dependent on God, and you're really not doing anything by faith yourself because you really incapable of it. God's got to totally sustain you, and you're not, you're not glorifying him. Bye. By acting as he acts. Remember, Jesus didn't want, didn't. Oftentimes, we see Jesus as just a savior. He's not a savior. He's lord. And he wants us to act, walk, be as he is. And so when you're studying the Edomites and the ones we're going to study today, the Moabites. The Moabites are the descendants of Lothe, and that's the uncle of Abraham. So notice these are family members. These are people that are, that are tangentially associated with the people of God. And you go, tangentially? What do you mean by that? Well, they're not a people. They're not people of the promise. Lot, moses. God never told Abraham to take a lot with him. He just did. And he never told him to take his father in law with him, but he did. And when, when lot chose, because they had grown so blessed, and Lot had the blessings of God because he had gone with, with Abraham. And oftentimes, people will travel with people in life, other people in the world, that are not necessarily believers, and they'll be blessed by them. And that happens a whole, whole lot in this world. That people receive the grace that God is pouring out on his children. They receive the blessing from that. They receive a lot of blessings from that. And that happens regularly in the world. And so Lot was blessed because he traveled with Abraham, and he was blessed greatly, even though he was not. He was obviously not a mandehead of much faith, and he chose to live like the world. And Abraham has to save him from many disasters. And ultimately, God has to save him from where he was living, in Sodom and Gomorrah in that region of the world before God destroyed it. All those stories we've gone through when we studied through the book of Genesis. But the Moabites are a. Well, they're people that, that are tangentially associated with God's people, and they are people of some faith. They believe in, obviously, lot believed in the God of Abraham, and they believe in the God of Abraham. They're believers in that God. However, they wandered so far from that faith and they have not walked in it. And they really don't know that God, God has not revealed himself to them because they, they really have not chased after him. It's the same with the Edomites. The Edomites are believers in the one true God. They're children of Abraham, but they do not walk by faith. And both of these groups of people live in the wilderness, and they are, like I said, they're associated with God, but they, they do not trust God and they do not act as God acts. They do not live it out. They're not a people of faith who are going to be a picture of the spirit filled christian life. They're not that. They're just, well, in our modern times, a lot of people just say, well, they're christian people. They believe in God, but they don't really know God. And they live in the wilderness and they are blessed by being associated with God. And you go, well, are they, are they born again or not? And here's the answer. How would you know? I don't know. There's no way to really truly know. In the pictures, it would seem as if they're not, they didn't pass through the blood. They have not, they have not gone through the waters. They never do any of that. They probably. The answer is probably not. But, but like I've said many, many times before, only the spirit knows the heart of man. And I have no idea whether they've trusted God with, with their lives. And I know that they have very little fruit, but they live in the wilderness. And in the wilderness, there's not a whole lot of fruit to have that you, you can't grow a whole lot of fruit in the wilderness. There's not going to be a fruit of the spirit in the wilderness because, you know, you're dependent, totally dependent. And the children of Israel are that way, too. In the wilderness, they're having to live by the full grace of God. And you go, well, don't we always? Yes, but we walk in that grace in the promised land. We take on giants and we win. And let me say this. In the wilderness, you do do some battling with the enemy. They're not, these people are not the only people in the wilderness that they have to contend with. And at the end of this chapter, they, we're going to deal with some of the people that, and we've already fought a few battles in the books prior to this book with, with people who were, well, they're the enemies of God. They're the enemies of God's people and they attack them. We've got the whole story of the donkey. And so, you know, those, those things happen. But you, it's so murky that you just don't know. You don't know. But God does say that, tell them not to take anything from them. And that's really what happens here. God's telling them, I'm blessing you. And I'm. I'm. I'm sustaining you. In verse seven. He says, for the Lord, your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands, meaning in the wilderness. He does bless their works. They. They've done actions of faith. He knows you're trudging through the great wilderness. He knows it's a drudgery to be in the wilderness lifestyle. It's not a. It's not a. There's not a lot of joy. There's not a lot of peace in. In the wilderness. And there isn't, by the way, you go, well, what's the difference? Why. Why do we have to go fight giants? Why don't we just stay here? Well, because there's not a lot of peace, there's not a lot of joy, and there's not a lot of overcoming in the wilderness. There's not really a whole lot at all. Uh, it's a trudging. This is just a. It's just a kind of getting by. And that's what that word means. It just. You just kind of getting by. Uh, you're. You're making it, uh, through this great wilderness these 40 years, the Lord your God has been with you and you've lacked nothing. Meaning God. Sure, in the wilderness you. You do. God does provide and God is with you, but it's not the fullness of what God has prepared for you. It's not there. And there are peoples out there in that area that have the. Have a form of godliness, but they really kind of deny its power. They don't want the power of God. They don't want the fullness of God. Who are they, pastor? I. They're the just what we call christians who are not really living or walking it out. And you go, well, how do you know? Well, I don't know because some, there are some of those folks who are wandering in the wilderness that are going to enter into the promised land. I don't know who they are. I can't. I can't identify them. They're murky. And isn't that really what it's like to be a believer, but not really have a whole lot of God around you. Isn't it really kind of murky? Isn't it really kind of undefined, I guess, is the best way to describe it. It is. It's undefined, and these people are a group of people that we know, and we know that they know something about God, but. But they're undefined, he says. And when we pass beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from Eleth and Ezion Gibber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then the Lord said to me, do not harass Moab nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession because I have given order to the descendants of lot as a possession. What he's saying is, is don't treat them as if they're not believers. That's. I mean, don't treat them as enemies, but also realize that, you know, they're not really doing the same thing you're doing. They're not a people. They're not your people. They're not. And even though you. If you're. If you're really chasing after God, you'll begin to really see, you know, the Moabites and the Edomites out there. You will. And listen, later on, they have trouble with these people because they become great nation, and the Edomites and the Moabites become jealous and. And want to attack them once they've taken the promised land, and they have to deal with them. And there's some battles that take place, but those battles are. Those battles are the result of the actions of the Edomites and Moabites. They're not a result of the actions of God's people or the plan of God. God's just going to leave them alone and let them figure it out is really what he's doing, and they decide they're going to attack God's people, and God handles them for that. In fact, he handles them completely in some. Some regard. But. But they're not. They're. They're just people that, if you'll notice, he told them, just pass them by. If. If they offer to sell you some food, buy it. If they offer sell you water, buy it. Be a blessing to them. Don't be. Don't. Don't treat them as if they got leprosy, that, as if they're an anathema. Just kind of move on. Well, pastor, aren't we supposed to try to reach out? Yeah. Yeah, but they're not coming out of the wilderness. They like it there. That's where they're at. How do you get them out? Only God can do these things. Man can't do them. How do you know they won't go into the promised land? I don't. I don't know. They might. They might figure it out. They might not be Edomites and moabites. They just might be believers that are acting like Edomites and moabites. They might be. I have no answer for that. And that's really kind of the problem with Edomites and moabites. There isn't really an answer, a good answer for them, because they just are there. There they are. And that's frustrating for believers. That's frustrating for people who are trying to see the fullness of God. It really is, and I know it is. And a lot of times, these people that I'm describing are family members. And what do you do with them? I don't know. I don't know what to do with them. Just help them when you can help them. And don't mess with their stuff and pass them by, because you can't wait for them to decide to go in with you because they're probably not yet, but they're family, Pat. I know. I know. You know, when you enter into God's very, very best, you gotta pass one at the time. You know, the gate is narrow because it's Jesus, and. And entering into anything that's his, you got to enter by him. And you can't do it with other people. You gotta do it yourself. And maybe you going in the promised land will tent will. Will attract their attention. And maybe. Maybe some of them were meant to go in the promised land, and maybe they will because they'll see you going in the promised land. But like I said, that's all work that has to be done. That really has nothing to do with me other than me being faithful. And there you are. There's not a real good answer for it, is there? And many of you have been searching for that answer for those type of people. You really have because you love them and you care about them because they are family. And so was the Edomites and Moabites for the children of Israel. And yet God didn't tell him to, you know, pack them up and bring them in. In fact, you know, God didn't tell Abraham to take lot at all, but he took lot, and lot came along for the journey, and he was blessed by it. Esau. He made peace with Jacob, and he was blessed by. But they're not God's people right now, and they're not going to.

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.