Wandering In The Wilderness

Numbers 14:11-38

We have covered 3 books in the Old Testament,

Genesis

Exorcise

Leviticus

Now we are in Numbers.

We are still dealing with Moses, the children of Israel, and the wilderness.

In the past few weeks, we have looked at

The Cloud and the Fire Numbers 9:15-23

The LORD Sends Quail Numbers 11:4-14, 31-34

The Twelve Spies (last week) Numbers 13:1-14:9

Today

We are going to look at,

WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS Numbers 14:11-38

MEMORY VERSE

NUMBERS 14:18 “The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression.”

LESSON TIME!

The theme of today’s lesson is~

Unbelief robs us of God’s blessings.

We have seen the unbelief of the children of Israel and God is holding them accountable to His law and word.

God holds us accountable if we know His word, He holds us to it.

Have you ever been around someone that has a bad attitude?

You may even try to tell them that their attitude is wrong, but they just will not listen to you.

In today’s lesson, Moses experiences the frustration of a rebellious people who will not listen.

Remember, in our last lesson, God had commanded Moses to send 12 spies into the Promised Land (Canaan)—

the land God desired to give His people.

When the spies returned, all but two, Joshua and Caleb, gave a discouraging report.

Though the land was fruitful and “flowing with milk and honey,” they focused on the strong people,

some of the “giants” and the large fortified cities.

They were filled with fear and unbelief and led the children of Israel into unbelief.

Blinded by fear and unbelief, the people conceived to rebel against God and Moses and, even, to kill the leaders He had appointed and head back into bondage in Egypt.

Remember they kept asking Moses, WHY did you bring us out to starve and die in the wilderness when we had food in Egypt.

They murmured and complained about the walk, the lack of food and water, and now about how big the people are.

God had desired to bless His people with the fullness of the Promised Land, but now they would suffer the consequences of their unbelief.

Numbers 14:11-38

11 Then the LORD said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Notice the words of the Lord,

They are harsh.

He says these people, it was my people.

He tells Moses He will disinherit them.

That means all that was the Lord was theirs.

Story______ Aud and Amanda Adoption.

The people, in their unbelief and rebellion, had provoked the Lord to anger.

The Lord asks, “How long will these people reject Me?

Even after all of the wonderful miracles God had performed, they did not believe Him.

What are some miracles did God do?

Their refusal to believe God was a rejection of God.

God is holy and just.

God said He would destroy the nation and make Moses the founder of a “nation greater and mightier.”

It would seem such a judgment might now seem like a good idea to Moses.

After all, the people had complained and murmured ever since they left Egypt.

13 And Moses said to the LORD: “Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, LORD, are among these people; that You, LORD, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, 16 ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’

Moses did not think about himself or his own glory.

He concerns himself with God’s glory.

He desired that the nations observing Israel would perceive God as powerful and able to bring His people into the Land of Promise.

17 And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, 18 ‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ 19 Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven these people, from Egypt even until now.”

Moses intercedes (stands on behalf of the people), asking that God pardon the iniquity (sins) of the people.

just as God has done since the people left Egypt.

Moses had spent much time in intimate fellowship with God.

Remember, God, spoke to Moses “as a man speaks to his friend.”

He knew God was great in longsuffering, mercy, and in forgiveness.

Longsuffering is, “tolerating something for a long time; patient; long endurance.”

Mercy is, “kindness of heart or disposition which causes a person to overlook things,

or to treat an offender with greater forgiveness and pardon them from their sin.”

Forgiveness is, “the act of forgiving,

the pardon of an offender, by which he is considered and treated as not guilty.”

Moses knew God’s character and nature

great long-suffering,

abundant mercy,

and forgiveness.

He and the children of Israel had experienced His long-suffering, mercy, and forgiveness continually from the time they were delivered from their bondage in Egypt.

The Bible reveals God’s loving nature and His plan for our lives.

20 Then the LORD said: “I have pardoned, according to your word; 21 but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD— 22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, 23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. 24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. 25 Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.”

God’s answer to Moses was immediate: "I have pardoned, according to your word;”

God does not want to judge and looks for a reason, an opportunity, to show mercy.

God uses intercessory prayer to accomplish the purposes of His heart.

God desires that we pray and intercede, for others—

for those who are lost,

have turned aside,

or are suffering.

In fact, in Timothy, we are exhorted to pray for all men. Paul says, “Therefore I exhort first of all those supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,”

God pardoned the iniquity of His people; yet, sadly, God still had to deal with the people’s unbelief.

As a result of their unbelief, they would not be allowed to enter into God’s Promised Land.

Caleb and his children would be allowed to enter, for he followed the Lord “fully” (14:24).

The people of Israel were forgiven, but they still suffered the consequences of their sin of unbelief.

So, everyone 19 and younger were allowed to go into the promised land.

God will forgive our sins when we come to Him in repentance,

but we may still suffer the consequences of the bad choices that we make.

For example, a person robs a bank, gets caught, and finds himself in jail; while in jail, he hears the Gospel message and turns to the Lord,

receiving forgiveness and new life.

Though forgiven, he is still bound to suffer the consequences of his sin.

He must remain in jail until his sentence has been served.

Or Hot Stove?

There is always a cost for disobedience.

God loves us and wants what is best for us; it is only wise to listen and obey God.

26 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: 29 The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 31 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. 32 But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection. 35 I the LORD have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness, they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’”

The people, blinded by their unbelief, had turned away from God and provoked Him with their murmuring and hardness of heart.

In Hebrews 3:7-19, God speaks of this incident. Verse 19 tells us “They could not enter in because of unbelief.” They would suffer the consequences of their failure to believe God’s promises--they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

God told Moses that every one of the original censuses (twenty years old and older) who murmured against Him would die in the wilderness in the course of forty years (each year representing a day the spies were spying out the land).

Caleb and Joshua, as well as the children of the people, would enter Canaan at the end of the forty years.

How different things could have been for the children of Israel.

If only they had believed the One who had done so many miracles since the day they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt.

In Hebrews 3:12, again looking back at the failure of the children of Israel to enter the “Promised Land,” Paul exhorts: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;”

May we not, as the children of Israel, allow unbelief to reign in our hearts and begin to murmur and complain against God.

Unbelief can rob us of the full and abundant life God has in store for each one of us.

May we be as Caleb and wholly follow the Lord—

knowing He is all-powerful,

loves us supremely,

and wants what is best for us.

Are you a Christian?

Do you know Him well enough to know that He loves you and sent His Son, Jesus to die for your sins so that you could live with Him forever (John 3:16,17)?

Do you know that He “stands at the door and knocks” on your heart, just waiting for you to open the door and ask Him to come into your heart (Rev. 3:20)?

Pray

Snack