WTFMT 64 (HGM ON 14 MAY 19)

WILDERNESS TRUTHS FOR MODERN TIMES-64 TEXT: "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." (Mark 10:21)

 

I. FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

 

A. Because the Wilderness of Zin is a critical point it can be a turning point for better or worse. Thus it can be a point of a new beginning. This is a place from which God calls the children of Israel to go up and to possess the land.

B. But the choice of these people is going to determine whether they have a new beginning and a better life or deal-end course and a worse life. And so the choice itself becomes critical

C. Jesus says to the rich young ruler, "sell all that you have and fellow me." The rich young ruler is forced to make a decision. Will he or won't he follow? One way or the other he will make a decision which will set his course for life, and then some. Just that one decision will carry unimaginable implications. "Come," Rich Young Ruler, "take Judas' throne."

D. Judas, called by Jesus to be one of the twelve chosen disciples, desired money, and so made material gain his objective in life. He made the greatest decision of his life, which cost him his life and his possibility his eternal position. E. Was it the riches, the money that caused them to turn away of the Lord? Or was it the love of earthly riches instead of the heavenly riches? "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (I Timothy 6:10)

F. What was it that the Lord was during in them to force them into making a choice? Was it the Lord not wanting to have money? No. Did the Lord hate Judas and the Rich Young Ruler? Of course not. It was their choice not to serve Lord. Jesus gave them both the same invitation, "follow me." They both made the wrong choice.

G. Saul of Tarus, on the road to Damascus, met this same person who crossed the lives of the Rich Young Ruler and Judas. "And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." (Acts 9:6) That choice resulted in monumental implications not only in the life of Saul himself (later to known as the great apostle Paul), but in the whole Church of Christ. That was just one decision.

H. God doesn't say to us, "Now watch out, this is your critical." How often is the right decision missed? We are to be ready at all times to give the Lord the answer, the response, the decision which He seeks. ALWAYS give God what He wants. That way we will not have to be concerned about when the critical may occur.

I. Our safety in this matter is to lay aside our own will and do the will of our heavenly Father. Ananias and Sapphira made their most critical decision when they decided to lie to the Holy Spirit and to God. (Acts 5:1-10)

J. The Wilderness of Zin, and especially the specific place of the encampment of the children of Israel, Kadesh, are very critical. "Kadesh" means "to consecrate," "to cleanse," "holy." These meanings play an important role in our choices. A life which is consecrated to God, a heart which is daily cleansed from sin, a walk of holiness, and pureness before God, the desire to obey God at all costs, become the element in our lives which will take us in God's direction and to His conclusions.

K. It was in Kadesh that Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it. (Numbers 20:9-13) Kadesh, this place of holiness, was to be for Israel the place of final separation from the flesh.

L. The finality of it is seen in "and Miriam died there, and was buried there." Who is Miriam? She is the one who carried leprosy with her through the Red Sea. That is, she carried her faultfinding and murmuring within herself only to be manifested later. There is to be death to all this; sin shall not rule. Sin and flesh are not to have the victory. Paul tells us in Romans 6:14, "sin shall not have dominion over us."

 

II. PARTING THOUGHTS

 

A. A life in God must be maintained through daily rededication. God brought Moses and the people to a place of rededication, or renewed separation and concretion and cleansing. This was done at Kadesh.

B. On the basis of this renewal they would go up to possess the Promised Land. If they failed in the time of renewal they would fail in their choice and they would fail in their forward spiritual progression, and they would fail to go up and possess the land, failing to inherit that which God called them to inherit.

C. If there is to be any degree of success in God, there must be a constant renewing of our separation and consecration, our separation from the flesh and our consecration unto God. Just as the mercies of God are new every morning, so must our spirit, strength, inner man and mind be constantly renewed. (See II Chronicles 15:8; Psalm 51:10; Isaiah 40:31; Romans 12:2; II Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 4:23)

IDOL WORSHIP

As I was watching the historic and very beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral burn the LORD brought back to my memory the words of my sweetheart and wife (Karen) ":nothing that man makes will last forever." I thought ,yes, "For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." (Psalms 37:2) then my mind advanced in the Psalms to, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more." (Psalms 103:13-16) We like the over 800+ year old Notre Dame Cathedral will wither and blow away some day. God knows our frame (He made us) that we are dust and our days just like the Notre Dame Cathedral "as a flower of the field" and "the wind passeth over it and it is gone." Yet they said they will rebuild. Same words spoken after the twin towers were fallen. The whole picture as it played out on our TV just smelled like something is not right. Why did it take over 2 1/2 hours to put water on the cathedral? The newscaster kept saying, "where is the fire department?" Why did not the sprinkler system work? Why was there not a fire plan in place? And why was not the cathedral insured? Well, it is quite clear now that the donation to rebuild (as of the date of this article) is now over 900 million dollars. Far greater than the 300 million Euros needed to refurbish the cathedral that the French people would not or could not provide, so the Catholic Church reached out to the world hoping for support for which they were not getting as reported by the French press. Something just does not smell right here, yet for us it is a vivid reminder of just how frail and wonderfully we are made, but in the end we all will, "as the grass wither away." Oh how the people mourned as the Notre Dame Cathedral burned! Their idol full of icons and statues was in great peril of being lost to humanity. They believe the actual crown of thorns (housed at the cathedral) Jesus wore on the cross, a piece or an actual nail (not really sure which) that fastened Jesus to the cross, and centuries of paintings, and religious artifacts were in jeopardy of being lost to humanity, oh how the people cried and prayed. How could the people in Paris and around the world believe this was the authentic crown of thorns Jesus wore without inspecting it for themselves? How can they believe in something without knowing for a shadow of doubt this is the real deal. To worship something based on another person's word is pure and simple idolatry. Yet billions of people around the world worship bits of metal, flakes of paper, and statues from history and feel they have touched the heart of God. Well my friend it CANNOT happen. True worship to God comes not by ritual or tradition, but from a heartfelt desire (that God builds in us) to know God in a deep spiritual way. The Psalmist writes, "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." (Psalms 42:7) God has built in us all a desire to know Him in a way that transcends wise tales and generosity, that transcends form and function, and that transcend ritual and traditions. These are what most of the world worships to come to know God. They worship wise tales, generosity, form and functions of God, through rituals and traditions of men. Paul told Timothy and us, "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do." (1 Timothy 1:3-4) Even in the days of Paul and all throughout the Old Testament idol worship and endless rituals and traditions was used by the masses to try to come to a place to where they can come to a "Godly" edification, but statues of clay, sounding brass, and tinkling symbols never reach the heights of God's heart where true worship is found. The pageantry and spectacle of ceremony and ritualism only adds to man's vain attempt to come to God in any meaningful way. Walking the aisle holding books and icons does nothing to draw God to man, but man coming with a broken and contrite spirit before God, well all heavens moves (and is open) for the man or woman who lowers and humbles themselves before God. Robes and rituals never replaces humility and honor before God. You know our faith and believing has nothing to do with how we make our presentation before God. I remember in the 60s and 70s Christians (maybe some Believers) who would lay prostrate on the ground before the altar thinking God would see them lowering themselves to see just how holy they were acting and He (God) would accept their worship based on their position or custom, but not so in God. God looks at the heart not at what we do, wear, or repeat in some chant or ritual service. God does not want us to crawl on our hands and knees on broken glass or rose pedals, oh no my friend God looks at our heart. The Psalms says, "Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart." (Psalms 44:21) God knows our heart, even the secrets things we think we keep secret from our friends and family. He does not care about the idols and icons we wear around our neck or put on the dash board of our car. So many people (not sure I can call them all Christians) wear a cross some with Jesus still on the cross and some without Jesus on the cross, well both are pure idolatry. The piece of hardware becomes the focus as a symbol of worship and then the true worship to God from the heart by the Holy Spirit is lost in all of the hocus pocus mumble jumble. Also in the Psalms King David said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' (Psalms 139:23-24) This searching goes far beyond our heart even to our thoughts to know our wicked ways. Then "lead me in the way everlasting." If we do not allow God to search our heart and know our thoughts then He will never be able to lead us in the way everlasting. Idol worship NEVER allows God to search our heart and know our thoughts; no matter how long we attend a certain church, give money to the poor (and the church) or sing in the choir. Did you know it takes greater faith to believe a lie than it takes to believe the truth? This is why we see the great effort it takes to be religious. We must keep all the 613+ laws, the sacraments, the sayings of a prophet perfectly or God will smite us. Oh no my friend we are saved by grace through faith. Not a faith in an idol, but faith in the work that Jesus alone did on the cross. Jesus needs no help from His mother, Apostles, or any so called Saint. Our salvation was completed in Him and Him alone. We need no help to get to God we can go direct to the Father if we are in Christ Jesus. Did you know for a lie to be believed there must be an element of truth moving in it? This is a spiritual principle that has been hijacked by religion and by all those who promulgate their lies and deception. The use of some truth grabs our heart, but we have to swallow the lie to feel like we have done something for God. This time of the year (around what many people call Easter which only means passover see Acts 12:4) billions of people are over into idol worship. Some even flog themselves as Jesus was flogged. And they wonder why their God seems distant. They wonder why their lives are unfulfilled and they have no joy or contentment, well they are worshipping dumb idols made by the hands of man. I see this in the mainstream denominations (especially in America) and religions of the world. They go through the religious holidays each year thinking maybe this year I will feel God and be fulfilled, but sadly their dumb idols just sit silently as they bow down going through the rituals. For God's sake stop all of the idol worship. Insanity is doing the same thing every time expecting to get a different result. I am amazed to talk with people who worship idols and I ask them what do you feel and many or most say nothing. They go to their churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of prayer habitually and faithfully to pray and worship their idol or statue that is dead and dumb. Oh yes they will rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral and oh the money they well raise to worship idols. Written by David Stahl