Sunday,
May 5, 2013
DON'T DISOBEY
THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT
Last week we saw in the New
Testament that the Spirit spoke to people directly. While it is true that they didn't have as much
written revelation as we do in that they had not yet received the written NT,
the direct communication they received from the Spirit would not have been
affected. The instructions they received
were outside New Testa-ment revelation, but they were in no way contradictory
to the New Testament.
I want you to continue to chew on
that. As you do, I want to say a couple
of things in the way of introduction this morning. Last week I spoke about the Spirit's ability
to lead us in making decisions in a more direct way than through the Bible
itself. While that is true, I need to
bring some clarity. In using decision-making
as the primary example of the direct communication of the Spirit, I sense that
I was misleading. The Spirit can
certainly do that, but surely there are more important things about which the
Spirit speaks to us.
Let's go back and read John
16:13-15...
However, when He, the Spirit of
truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His
own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things
to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it
to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He
will take of Mine and declare it to you.
Jesus said that the Spirit would glorify
Him. Certainly it can be glorifying to
God, when the Spirit speaks to us directly concerning decisions. However, I want to point out again that
Jesus' instructions concerning the coming of the Spirit are found in chapter 14
and then at the end of chapter 15 and on into chapter 16. Between these two series of instructions
about the Spirit is the passage about abiding in the Christ. We cannot view that as just a coincidence. The greatest way the Spirit can glorify Jesus
in our lives is by drawing us into that intimate and abiding fellowship with
our Lord Jesus. Ultimately, that
fellowship with Him is far more vital than making specific decisions, though
they may be very important decisions.
Many of those decisions will flow out of our abiding fellowship with the
Lord Jesus. Is there any work of the
Spirit more vital than drawing us into a closer fellowship with our Lord Jesus? May we hear the sweet voice of Jesus through
the Spirit, saying, "Abide in me, and I in you."
I also need to emphasize again that
the Bible and the Holy Spirit are not opposed to one another. The person who will hear the communication of
the Spirit most clearly is the person who is in the Word deeply and
consistently. Surely we can understand
that, because the Spirit is the author of the scriptures. If we want to know His voice, we need to be
continually reading and applying what He has said to us in the Word.
Last week I also mentioned that our
hearing of the Spirit can be hindered by certain things. That is true, whether we are talking about
the Spirit speaking through the Word or speaking more directly, as in the
examples in Acts 13 and Acts 16.
Brothers and sisters, we must hear from the Spirit. Remember what Jesus said to each one of the
churches in Rev. 2-3: "He who has
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
This morning I want us to think
about disobedience. Disobedience not
only displeases our Heavenly Father, but it also has a great affect upon our
ability to hear the Spirit speaking. It's
like the case in which a church called a particular man to be its pastor. The first week he preached a powerful
sermon. The people of the church took
great encouragement in what they heard; surely they were right to call this man
to be their pastor. The second Sunday he
preached again. Literally,
"again;" he preached the same sermon he had preached the first
week. The people didn't know what to
think. Was this the only sermon he could
preach? Had he forgotten what he
preached the week before? Then came the
third Sunday. The pastor preached the
same sermon for the third time in a row.
Finally, one of the well-respected men of the church approached the
pastor and asked him the question that was on the mind of every person in that
church. "Pastor, that was a really
good sermon, but are you aware that you have preached it three Sundays in a
row?" The pastor calmly replied,
"Yes, I know that." "But
why?" "Why should I preach
another sermon; you haven't obeyed this one yet?" Why should the Spirit entrust us with further
instruction, if we have not yet heeded what He has already said to us? If we want to hear the Holy Spirit speaking
to us, immediate joyful obedience is a must.
Brothers and sisters, it is possible
for us to hear the Spirit (either through the Word or directly) and not obey
His voice. We are constantly tempted to
compromise instead of responding with immediate, joyful obedience. I would like to relate three biblical stories
of such compromise and what resulted.
All of them come from the Old Testament, but they have application for
us today. May the Lord use each
succeeding story to reinforce the truth from the preceding one.
I.
Israel's Demand for a King
God called a man
to lead His people out of Egypt. What
was his name? Moses. After Moses died, God called another man to
take his place. What was his name? Joshua.
After Joshua died and God's people began to rebel against Him, He used a
series of Judges (Deliverers) to lead His people. After the Judges, the recognized leader of
God's people was a man named ___________ -- Samuel. Now let's pick up the story in I
Samuel 8:1-10...
And it came to pass, when Samuel
was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his
firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in
Beersheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre,
and took bribes, and perverted judgment. 4 Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto
him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a
king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when
they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7 And
the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that
they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me,
that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have
done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day,
wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto
thee. 9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly
unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10
And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a
king.
It is clear that God did not want
His people to have a king, because He told Samuel, "They have not rejected
you, but they have rejected me." It
wasn't enough for them to have God as their king; they wanted a human king, so
they could be like the other nations.
Samuel obediently told the people what it was going to be like to have a
king, reminding them that it would mean taxation and a military draft. Now come down to verses 19-12, "Nevertheless
the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, 'No, but we will
have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our
king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.'" In insisting on having a king, they were
disobeying the Lord Himself. Now come to
I
Sam. 12:1, "Now Samuel said to all Israel: "Indeed I have
heeded your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you." In the verses that follow Samuel relates how
the Lord had always been faithful to meet their needs, even though they had no
king. Now I Samuel 12:16-17,
"Now therefore, stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do
before your eyes: 17 Is today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the LORD,
and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your
wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a
king for yourselves."
It was wrong for Israel to ask for a
king in the first place. It was
wickedness for them to insist upon it, even when the Lord clearly showed them
it was wrong. So here is the big
question: Why did God go ahead and tell
Samuel to let them have their king? If
it wasn't right and if God knew the problems it would cause, why did He allow
it? That is not an easy question to
answer, and we are not going to try to give a definite answer. Rather, let us observe an important principle
from scripture: "If a person or
persons insist upon having something from God, God may give it to them, even
though it is not His best." As we
will see, this is not an isolated case.
II.
The Sending of the Spies
Consider the Promised Land. You will remember that from the time the Lord
brought His people out of Egypt, He promised them the land of Canaan. They left Egypt, spent about a year at Mount
Sinai and then came to Kadesh-barnea.
Kadesh-barnea was the gateway to the Promised Land. The Israelites arrived there, and then what
happened? That's right -- they sent
twelve, a representative from each tribe, to spy out the land. The spied out the land and came back with
their report. The news they brought back
was very simple: "It's a great
land, and it does flow with milk and honey, but we can't take that
land because there are strong, fortified cities and there are giants in the
land." That was the majority
report, agreed to by ten of the twelve spies.
Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, insisted that they should
immediately go and take the land, because their God would be with them.
At this point I want to ask you a
couple of questions. When the people of
Israel refused to go into the land, what was their punishment? Yes, they would have to wander in the wilderness
(desert) for 40 years. But why 40
years? That's how long it would take for
that generation to die off. But why the
specific number 40? Let's read the
answer in Num. 14:29-35...
Your carcases shall fall in this
wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number,
from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30 Doubtless
ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell
therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But
your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and
they shall know the land which ye have despised. 32 But as for you, your
carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall wander
in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be
wasted in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye searched
the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities,
even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 35 I the LORD have
said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered
together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they
shall die.
The number "40" was very
significant. Their punishment was
related to the number of days the spies spent searching out the land -- one
year in the desert for each day the twelve spied in the land. Does that raise any questions in your mind
about the mission of the spies? Why
would God base His punishment on the number of days the spies were in the land?
There is an Old Testament book whose
name means "Second Law." What
is it? That's right -- Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy Moses not only gives a review
of the law, but he also reviews much of the history of their journey from Egypt
to the Promised Land. Moses delivered
these messages just before he died and the people entered the land under the
command of their new leader Joshua. Now
let me read you a bit of that history from the first chapter of Deuteronomy. Read Deut. 1:6-8, 19-23...
The LORD our God spake unto us in
Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 7 Turn you, and take
your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh
thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and
by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the
great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go
in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them... 19 And when we departed from Horeb, we
went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of
the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to
Kadeshbarnea. 20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the
Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. 21 Behold, the LORD thy God
hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy
fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22 And ye 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 by what way we must go
up, and into what cities we shall come. 23 And the saying pleased me well: and
I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe...
That's the rest of the story. God told them to "go in and possess
it" (8). That was the Lord's direct
command, and Moses repeated it to the people (21), but they had another
plan. They said, "We will send men
to search out the land and bring us word again." Of course, they were very crafty about it. They were only doing it so they would know by
what way to go up and into what cities they should go. The plain fact is that they didn't want to
obey God. Moses thought it was a good
idea too; even Moses refused to act upon God's command. So when we read the actual history in Numbers
13, we find these words: " And the LORD
spoke to Moses, saying, 2 'Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am
giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall
send a man, every one a leader among them'" (Num. 13:1-2).
So did God command Moses to send out
spies? Indeed, He did, but it wasn't his
first command. God's perfect will was
for them to simply go in and take the land, trusting the Lord all the way. After all, what could the spies find out
about the land that God didn't already know?
The bottom line is this -- they compromised. God said, "Go;" they said, "Let
us send in spies." So He said,
"Moses, send in spies." How
destructive was it? As a result of their
report, the nation refused to go in at all.
It cost them 38 extra years.
III.
Balaam and His Donkey
The next story I want to mention
comes from the book of Numbers. Rather
than reading this one, please allow me to tell it. The Israelites have refused to go into the
Promised Land and have been sentenced to 40 years of wandering in the desert,
as we just read. The last part of that
journey finds them coming up on the east side of the Dead Sea (use "arm
map" to illustrate). In this
general area they conquered two great kings and their countries (Sihon and Og)
because they refused to let Israel pass through their land. Finally they came into the plains of
Moab. Moab sometimes occupied more
territory than at other times, but at this time they had a position far enough
north that they occupied this territory across from Jericho, where the
Israelites would soon enter the Promised Land.
So our story begins with the people
of Israel camping in the plains of Moab.
The King of Moab was named Balak.
He was greatly afraid of Israel because there were so many of them and
likely had heard how the Lord had fought for them. Since he didn't believe he was any match for
Israel along conventional lines, he resorted to a different strategy. Somehow he knew of a prophet named
Balaam. We don't know anything about
him, but he must have had a reputation, because King Balak knew of him. He sent a group of men to Balaam with this
basic message: "A people has come
and is settling down next to me. They
are so numerous that they cover the face of the earth. Please come at once and curse these people
for me. They are too strong for me, but
maybe after you curse them, I will be able to defeat them. I know that those you bless are blessed and
those you curse are cursed."
When the messengers reached Balaam
and delivered their message, Balaam told them to spend the night and that he
would bring back the Lord's response the next morning. Now "the Lord" is none other than
Yahweh, Jehovah, the God of Israel. So
Balaam was in some sense a prophet of the Lord.
That night Balaam told the Lord what was going on, and the Lord told
him: "You shall not go with them;
you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." The next morning Balaam said to the
messengers, "Go on home, because the Lord will not let me go with
you." They returned to King Balak
and gave him the news.
Balak did not give up easily. He sent the messengers back to Balaam, with
the promise of honoring him greatly.
Whatever that included, I figure it included wealth, position, etc. So when they reached Balaam the second time,
they said something like this:
"Balaam, don't let anything keep you from going to King Balak. He will give you great honor and whatever
else you ask. You must come and curse
these people." Balaam immediately
responded: "Even if Balak were to
give me all his silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of the Lord my
God." But then Balaam added,
"Spend the night here, so that I can see if the Lord has anything more to
say." During the night the Lord
said to Balaam, "If those men still want you to go with them, go ahead,
but speak only what I tell you to speak."
So in the morning Balaam saddled his
donkey and went with these messengers from Moab. The next words we read are these: "Then God's anger was aroused because he
went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against
him" (Num. 22:22). When the
donkey saw the Angel and the sword in His hand, she turned aside, ambling out
into a field. Balaam hit the donkey to
turn her back into the road. The Angel
then positioned Himself in a narrow part of the road where there was a wall on
each side. The donkey moved closer to
one of the walls, crushing Balaam's foot against the wall in the process. So Balaam hit her again. The Angel then went a little farther where
the road was even more narrow. There was
no way to go down the road without running into the armed Angel. When the donkey saw this, she lay down under
Balaam. Now Balaam was mad and he
smacked the donkey with his rod. At that
point the Lord opened the donkey's mouth and she said, "What have I done
to deserve you hitting me these three times." The talking donkey isn't the most amazing
thing. Balaam answered, "Because
you disobeyed me. If I had a sword right
now, I would kill you."
"Haven't you ridden on me ever since you owned me? Have I ever done anything like this
before?" Balaam had to answer,
"No."
Finally the Lord opened Balaam's
eyes and he saw the Angel of the Lord with the sword in His hand. Balaam fell flat on his face before the
Angel, who then spoke to him: "Why
have you treated your donkey like this?
I came out to oppose you because your behavior is crooked and
perverse. If it hadn't been for your
donkey, I would have killed you by now."
Humbled by the experience, Balaam then responded, "I have sinned,
because I didn't know you were standing there with the sword. If you want me to, I will go back
home." The Angel of the Lord
responded, "Go ahead; go with these men, but speak only what I tell you to
speak."
I will summarize the rest of the
story. Balak took Balaam up to a high
point where he could see the Israelite camp and urged Balak to curse them. Balaam heard from the Lord, and spoke the
blessing that the Lord pronounced. Then
Balak took up to another viewpoint, but Balaam blessed them again. And then a third time, and finally a fourth
time. There is actually more to the
story, but we don't have time to deal with it now.
Here's the question: "Why was God angry with Balaam? Didn't the Lord tell him to go with the
men?" Yes, but that wasn't God's first
word to Balaam. If Balaam had
immediately and joyfully obeyed the Lord, there would have been no need for a
second word. Balaam was like the
Israelites who demanded a king. God told
them not to go with them, but when Balaam heard what Balak was promising, he
decided it might not hurt to ask the Lord again. The rest of the Bible confirms that Balaam
was a money-hungry prophet. Though he
would bless Israel, he later found a way to collect a reward for leading the
people into idolatry. Had he obeyed the
Lord and sent those messengers away once and for all, he could have avoided
becoming a negative example even for us.
Balaam compromised.
Conclusion
Israel knew the will of the Lord,
but she compromised in continuing to demand a king. Moses and the people of Israel heard the
clear command of the Lord, but they compromised and refused to enter the land. Balaam, though he was a prophet, compromised
the clear word of the Lord.
Contrast those examples of
compromise with Abraham, when the Lord told him to take his son Isaac up on the
mountain and offer him as a sacrifice.
The cost was much greater than for Israel, Moses, or Balaam, but Abraham
responded with immediate obedience. In
so doing, he became our example of faith.
But
an even greater example than Abraham is the Lord Jesus Himself. As the cross drew nearer, He cried out,
"Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour?' But for this purpose I came to this
hour" (John 12:27). No wonder
His soul was troubled; He was about to face what no man had ever endured
through the history of the cosmos. The
Father was asking Him to die on behalf of sinful men, to hang there on the
cross -- the just for the unjust. Oh the
agony! How could He agree to take upon
Himself the wrath of His own Father, who had loved Him for all eternity? How could He who knew no sin become sin for
the men who would hang Him on that tree?
There has never been a greater temptation to compromise. Maybe it would be enough to give one last
insightful sermon and just forgive them from His heart. Surely the Father couldn't blame Him for
shying away from such an ugly cross. No
one could blame Him.
Praise God that Jesus didn't disobey
His Father, that He didn't compromise for one minute. Instead, He cried out, "Father, glorify
thy name" (12:28). That was always
His attitude, but now it came at a greater price. Now the cross was upon Him. When He said, "Father, glorify thy name,"
He was saying, "Father, this is what you sent me to do, and I know that my
cross will be your glory, and mine. I
cannot shrink from what you have sent me to do." Praise God that He obeyed. Rom. 5:19, "For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one Man's obedience
many will be made righteous."
Do you want to hear the Spirit of
God speaking to you through the Word? Do
you want to hear the quiet voice of the Spirit within? Then joyfully obey Him with urgency. By the grace of God and the power of that
same Spirit, refuse to compromise. Like
our Lord Jesus, be jealous for the glory of God.
Don't deceive yourselves. Let me give you a little illustration of what
I mean by deceiving ourselves. Granny
still lived in Tularosa at the time. I
had ridden my bicycle to Tularosa and Rhonda had gone in the van. Normally, I just put the bike in the van and
we came home together after supper. But
on this occasion, I really wanted to ride my bike back home. Rhonda suggested it would be too dark. I responded by saying I would just ride it as
far as her sister's house. She still
didn't like the idea. I later added that
if I wasn't there, I had decided to ride farther and she could just pick me up
on the road. Finally, we reached the
point where she didn't say, "No."
Did she want me to ride my bike?
No. Did I know she didn't want me
to ride it? Yes. Was it vitally important that I ride it? No.
Did I do it anyway? Yes. Do you see my point? I had deceived myself into thinking it was
perfectly okay for me to ride my bike, but it wasn't. It troubled Rhonda, the wife who had loved me
for over 25 years, but I insisted on having my own way. I did ride farther than her sister's
house. As a matter of fact, I rode all
the way home. It was before we had a
cell phone. She kept looking for me,
suspecting that I was lying in a ditch somewhere. I was trying to impress by seeing how far I
could get before she picked me up. She
got to a certain point and turned around, concluding that I couldn't possibly
have come that far. My insistence on
having my own way caused her a lot of grief.
Of course, I could try to justify my actions by saying, "Well, she
didn't say, 'No.'" She didn't, but
I knew her desire, and I ignored it. Brothers
and sisters, we may demand our own way from God and get what we want, but that
doesn't mean it is best for us.
Let me say one other thing with
regard to this subject. What if a person
does disobey? What if you
compromise? "If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). We have all disobeyed. Praise God that He is faithful to forgive and
cleanse us. He is not only faithful, but
He is just to do so, because Jesus paid the price. But maybe you are here this morning and
compromise has crippled you. You
disobeyed and continued to disobey.
Compromise led to more compromise.
When you are honest, you have to conclude you are in the grip of
compromise. You aren't sure how to move
from the way of compromise to the road of obedience. Repent!
Yes, confess your sin, but repent.
Yes, agree with God that it is sin, but then by His grace hate that
sin. You convinced yourself that your
disobedience wasn't too bad, and that's why you have continued in it. Now face it squarely and change your
mind. See clearly that this is not the
life for you, because you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our
Lord. As you do, actively despise that
disobedience and compromise. Ask the
Lord to strip it from your life. As Paul
put it in Rom. 13:14, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
What greater joy in life than to
walk with our Lord in the light of His Word, simply trusting and obeying
Him? What foolishness to compromise that
joyous walk with Him. May the delight of
His presence ever motivate us to joyously obey Him without compromise.
Lost sinner, can you continue to
refuse Him who loved you and gave Himself for you? Can you look squarely at Jesus, the Christ,
and what He did for you and reject Him?
Fall down before Him; turn to Jesus for the glory of God and for your
own salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment