Remember Kadesh Barnea The Results of Unbelief Among
Remember Kadesh Barnea The Results of Unbelief Among the Children of God
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • The story of what happened at Kadesh Barnea is one of the saddest events we read about in the scriptures. • Before we get into the details of that story, I want to bring out a couple of principles that are taught in the New Testament. • The claim is often made against members of the Church of Christ that we don’t believe the Old Testament. • Nothing could be further from the truth!
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • As Christians we must believe the entire Bible • But we must also rightly divide it! • None of the Laws given in the Law of Moses apply to us today, including the Ten Commandments. – Ro 10: 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. • We are accountable to the Law of Christ today – Ga 6: 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Just because we do not believe we are accountable to those Old Testament Laws does not mean we cannot learn from their examples. – Ro 15: 4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. • There are many valuable lessons to be learned from the Old Testament!
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Many of the things in the Old Testament were symbolic of things that would take place in the New Testament. • For Example: the sacrifices under the Law of Moses were a shadow of or symbolic of the sacrifice of Christ. – Heb 10: 1 ¶ For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Noah and his family being saved by water was a symbolic of the Christian being saved by baptism. – 1 Pe 3: 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. – 21 ¶ There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • There is another of these symbols, shadows or like images we want to discuss today. • The Children of Israel in the Wilderness is symbolic of the Church today. – 1 Co 10: 1 ¶ Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; – 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Remember Kadesh Barnea! – 1 Co 10: 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; – 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. – 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. • What these Israelites did is strikingly similar to what we do in order to become a Christian today.
To the Egyptians Children of Israel Red Sea IN BONDAGE Church in Wilderness FREE From the Egyptians IN BONDAGE To Sin Man Baptism Church of Christ FREE From Sin
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Steven refers to the Israelites while the were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years as the Church in the wilderness – Ac 7: 38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: • They looked for their “Promised Land” which was the land of Canaan. • We look for our “Promised Land” which is Heaven
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Now I want to take a look at what happened to many of those members of the “Church in the Wilderness” because of their unbelief. • First lets get a little background on the situation the Children of Israel were in. • After the death of Joseph the Egyptians put the Israelites in bondage. • God decided to send Moses back into Egypt to bring His people out.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Because of Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people of Israel go, God sent the 10 plagues on Egypt • These plagues culminated with the death of all the first born in Egypt • After this Pharaoh let them go. But he soon changed his mind and sent his army after the Israelites. • It was at this time that God parted the Red Sea in order to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • After crossing the Red Sea the Israelites went to Mt Sinai. Where they witnessed the thundering, lightning and smoke on the mountain. • God gave them water to drink from a rock • He fed them with manna • These Israelites had witnessed many powerful miracles performed by the hand of God!
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • After they left Mt Sinai, they came to a place called Kadesh Barnea. • It was on the southern border of the “Land of Promise”. • They arrived here approximately 2 years after leaving Egypt. • It was from here that Moses sent the 12 spies into the land.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 13: 17 Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, • 18 "and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; • 19 "whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds;
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 20 "whether the land is rich or poor; and whethere are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land. " Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. • 21 ¶ So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 22 And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. ) • 23 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 13: 24 The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. • 25 And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 26 ¶ Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. • 27 Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 28 "Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. • 29 "The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. "
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it. “ • 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. "
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. • 33 "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. "
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • The response to this report by the members of this Church in the Wilderness is what is so sad. • Nu 14: 1 ¶ So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. • 2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 3 "Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? “ • Did you hear what they said? • They actually accused God of bringing them to this land to be killed.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • After seeing God’s deliverance from Egypt and all the miracles he had performed, how could they think such a thing? • Nu 14: 4 So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt. " • 5 ¶ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 14: 6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; • 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. • 8 "If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey. '
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 9 "Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them. “ • Even after the pleading of Joshua and Caleb. The people were still determined not to go into the land. • Instead they thought it was a good idea to stone Joshua and Caleb.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 14: 10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. • 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?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Moses had to plead with God to keep Him from destroying the Israelites completely. • God did still bring a severe judgment on them. • Nu 14: 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,
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 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. • 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.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 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.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • When the Israelites were numbered after coming out of Egypt there were 603, 550 fighting men Twenty years old and above. • ONLY 2 of them made it into the promised land! • Of the group of adults that had been baptized unto Moses in the Red Sea and had been a part of the “Church in the Wilderness” only two made it into the promised land.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Why? Because they did not believe God! • What does that tell us today? • Not everyone who has been baptized and is a “member of the Church” will make it into the “Promised Land”. • Contrary to what many believe, we can loose our soul’s salvation. • This is why we are warned time and time again to be faithful till the end in the New Testament.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • This is the reason Paul brought up the wandering in the wilderness we read about in 1 Corinthians 10. • 1 Co 10: 6 ¶ Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. • 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. "
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 1 Co 10: 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; • 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; • 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. • The things that happened to these people are examples for us today. • We desperately need to learn from their examples….
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • We should learn from their examples not to “lust after evil things” like they did. • They had a lust or strong desire for sinful things and were destroyed. • Instead of desiring evil things we should a strong desire for things that are good so we can live. • We should desire a knowledge and understanding of God’s word.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 1 Pe 2: 1 ¶ Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, • 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, • If we truly desire the Word of God then what will we do? • We will spend time in study of it!
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • We should have a strong desire for a home in Heaven when this life is over. • The writer of Hebrews tells us that men like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all desired a home in Heaven. • Heb 11: 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Heb 11: 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. • 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. • 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • If we desire that same home these men did then what will we do? • We will live by Faith just like they did! • Ga 2: 20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. • Living by Faith means we do what He tells us to do in His word
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 1 Jo 2: 16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. • 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. • If we truly desire that home in Heaven then we put away the evil lust of this world and do the will of God.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Paul says the Israelites also left us an example of those who became Idolaters. • No doubt thousands of the Israelites in the Old Testament were killed because they worshipped idols. • This is one of the main reasons they went into Babylonian captivity. • We need to learn from their example and not become idolaters
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • You may be thinking “I am not going to fall down and worship some image” • That is good! • But an idol can be more than some image made out of wood or stone. • An idol is anything we put ahead of God! • Our idol could be our Job, Money, our Spouse or even Entertainment.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • We must understand God has to come first in our lives. • He must even be put ahead of our closest relationships • Mt 10: 37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. • Do we have something in our life that is more important than God? • If so, then we have not learned from their example
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Paul says we need to learn from their example when it comes to committing sexual immorality. • 1 Co 10: 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; • 23, 000 of the Israelites died in one day because of fornication. • What does that tell us about how God feels about this sin?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Are we going to learn this lesson? • There is probably no sin condemned in the Bible more often than fornication • Fornication is any type of sexual sin. • It is repeatedly condemned in the New Testament. • 1 Co 6: 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Ga 5: 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, • 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, • 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 1 Th 4: 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; • We also have the example of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah because of fornication • Jude 1: 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • The sin of fornication is running rampant in our society. • It is glorified in songs, on television, in the movies and in books. • Many simply do not see anything wrong with this sin! • But, God says differently! • Are we going to learn from the examples of those who participated in these sins in the past or will we be destroyed ourselves because of these same sins?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • We should not tempt (test) or complain against Christ like the Israelites did • They often tested the patience of God by their wickedness and then complained about the situations they found themselves in. • They failed to trust in the Lord to take care of them in spite of all He had done for them in the past
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Ex 17: 1 ¶ Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. • 2 Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, "Give us water, that we may drink. " And Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD? "
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, "Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? “ • Did they really believe the God who had just delivered them from slavery was going to let them die of thirst? • Their complaining got so bad at one point God sent poisonous snakes into the camp to bite and kill them.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 21: 4 ¶ Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. • 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread. "
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 21: 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. • 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us. " So Moses prayed for the people.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Nu 21: 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. " • 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. • Are we going to learn the lesson about testing God’s patience and complaining about the way He has set things up?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Do we complain about attending worship services? • Why do I have to go to church? – I want to go fishing this morning – I want to go play golf – I want to sleep in. • Why can’t we have a piano when we sing? It sounds better to me. • Why can’t I go out drinking with my friends? Everyone else does.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! I can’t do all these things the Bible says. It’s just to Hard God just expects to much. We really need to learn from the examples left for us! We really need to remember the events at Kadesh Barnea • Just because we are members of the Church now does not mean we will make it into Heaven • •
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • As we mentioned earlier in the lesson we are encouraged over and over again to remain faithful. • If we don’t we will lose our soul! • Ga 5: 1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Ga 5: 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. • 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. • 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. • These Christians were in danger of falling from the saving grace of God!
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • The writer of Hebrews uses Kadesh Barnea as an example of falling from grace • Heb 3: 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; • 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today, " lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Heb 3: 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, • 15 while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. " • 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • Heb 3: 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? • 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? • 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. • Will we be deceived by sin and not allowed to enter into our promised land because of unbelief?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • The Apostle Paul himself recognized there was a possibility of him losing his soul. • 1 Co 9: 24 ¶ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. • 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • 1 Co 9: 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. • 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. • What a shame it would be for any of us to have started the Christian race and then not finish it. • It has happened many times before. Will it happen to us?
Remember Kadesh Barnea! • What lesson can we learn from these examples? • If we don’t obey we will be destroyed! Spiritually • 1 Pe 4: 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? • 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? "
Conclusion That should be a thought that strikes fear into our heart The righteous will be scarcely saved! We need to be doing everything possible to obey God. Don’t think anything that God has told us to do is to hard! • Don’t let anyone convince you that once you become a Christian you have got it made! • •
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