All right, good evening Praise the lord good to be here. Good to be in church could be with god's people Good to be saved. I guess i'll give you a quick report on the walmart thing since we're here Uh went really well yesterday. We were in south daytona. We gave out About 530 bibles I could be off 10 or so, but it was a real blessing, gave the gospel to a lot of people. Some really seemed interested, said they'd come. You know, it sounds like a good idea on Saturday afternoon, but when you have to get up on Sunday morning, you know, that you're coming from the world. It's unfortunate. But anyway, God's word went out. God's word will not return unto him void and praise the Lord for it was a real blessing. Thanks for all those that help those that prayed really appreciate it. All right, let's get 1 Corinthians 3. We're going to take a little journey through the wilderness tonight. 1 Corinthians 3. Actually, before we get that, let's go real quick to Philippians 2. Romans 5 it is gonna be a lot of Bible bear with me, but I think it'll be a real blessing to you Romans chapter 5 Philippians chapter 2 let's Get those two and then we'll pray It's thirsty in the wilderness. All right. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for giving us this book. God, this great book. I pray that you'd help us now as we read it. Help us as we study it. God, pray that you'd bless us in that study. Help us, God, to live for you. Help us to obey you. God, that you would receive the honor and glory for what's done in our lives. We thank you so much that you sent your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us. And God, that You've given us salvation, eternal life, one another, this place. God, You're so good. Thank You. Pray that You'd help us now. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, Philippians chapter two. Now, I figured I'd cover this first. We're gonna take a look through the wilderness, try and see if we can't learn something from the lives of the children of Israel during that time. I do that a lot. I've been trying to go through pictures and types in the Old Testament as I'm allotted time, but there's a lot of new people thought I'd say this. We believe in what is called standing versus state. There's two separate things. One is eternal salvation or loss. And the other is your condition on the earth. And I thought I'd just kind of show that real quick. Take a look at Philippians chapter two. Let's get that one first. Philippians chapter two. And the Bible says in verse number 19, But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. State. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. Now, these are saved people. This is the church at Philippi. He knows they're saved. He led a lot of these guys to the Lord. Right? But he wants to know their state. How are they doing on the earth? Are they living for God? Are they serving God? Are they sinning against God? Are they in rebellion? He wanted to know their state. How are they doing? How are they faring on the earth? And we see that Philippians chapter 2, Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, The Bible says, verse number 1, Romans 5, 1, "...therefore being justified by faith, we have," present tense, "...peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have," present tense, "...access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope in the glory of God. Just one more. We're here. First Corinthians 15. Many of you guys should know this one. Verse number one. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand. Right. So we believe that that a saved person can choose to, as the Bible says, live after the flesh or live after the spirit. It's what you choose to do, because God gives you the free will to do that. Now, mind you, you are going to a place where the only thing that will matter is how much you loved and served Jesus Christ, and it will be seen for all the ages. All right, now, 1 Corinthians chapter three. I wanna take a look at this. 1 Corinthians chapter three. verse number one bible says and i brethren could not speak onto you as onto spiritual that's talking about their state are they spiritual are they uh... spiritually minded are they serving the lord of a that can see living for the things of god person to her first one but as on the carnal the opposite right living for the flesh even as onto babes In Christ. He's not saying they're lost. He's not saying they lose their salvation. They're still in Christ. They're just as babes. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able, for ye are yet carnal. for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? How would you know if somebody's carnal? Well, a couple of them here. Envying, strife, divisions. That's what God said. Somebody's carnally minded. Take a look at Romans chapter 7. Let's get this. Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 verse number 14, for we know that the law is spiritual. It's good, it came from God. You show somebody something out of Deuteronomy 22, and they're like, oh, you're just a legalist. The law is good, right? The law is spiritual. We have a problem. Now, I want to point this out. This is Paul writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Am I right? I'm right. Romans chapter seven, verse number 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. I have a carnality problem. You have a carnality problem. Right? This is Bible. Jesus Christ said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. My soul is saved. My soul is pure and clean. We read that, sang that in that song earlier. Cleansed and made holy. On the inside, man, I am pure and clean and without sin and I stand before God with his own righteousness. But that flesh, is a struggle ideal with everyday so struggle you deal with everyday and paul's paul said under the inspiration of the holy spirit i'm carnal sold under sin uh... look at romans chapter eight real quick will will go to the old testament just minutes as a lot of bible the bible is good this you need the bible i need the bible romans chapter eight verse number six Verse five, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. We have a choice every day, you have a choice every day to be carnally minded or to be spiritually minded. We gotta make that choice. And I figured I'd show you some things from the Old Testament here at Exodus. Let's go back, chapter 15. We're gonna, like I said, journey through the wilderness. Well, that might be a title, but to give credit for those that are watching, my mom, she used to always say, idle hands are the devil's workshop. It's not a Bible verse, but there's some truth to that. If you're doing nothing, you're engaged in nothing good, you'll get engaged in something bad. alright exodus chapter fifteen so if you remember last time we preached through uh... actually in this chapter how they came to mara and uh... and uh... uh... got moses cast down this tree cut down this tree made the water sweet praise god previous chapter right just give you some context exodus chapter fourteen the children of israel cross the red sea bible says we looked at a hebrews chapter eleven by faith they cross they pass through the red sea I believe they're saved, right? The Bible says that by faith they did that. And it even says God saved Israel. Really good stuff. But we get to chapter 15. They sing this song. And then we go to verse number 22 of chapter 15. Let's start there. 22 of chapter 15. The Bible says, So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. And they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days into the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah, and the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? They're murmuring against Moses. Now, we talked about that before. First mention of Moses, it's a complaint, half-suppressed, low-muttering voice. Automatopoeia, right? But these people, God's redeemed people, brought out of the land of Egypt. They are three days from when God buried the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. And they're murmuring against Moses. And you think, man, how can they do that? How can they do all that they saw? They saw God rain down fire and hail mingled together. They saw locusts destroy this country. They saw so many amazing things, lice and flies and frogs. And you think, that's amazing. The things that they saw, the entire Nile River turned to blood. They saw that. And they saw Moses do that. Pspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspsps speaking against their own God-given leadership. Exodus chapter 16, verse number 1. Look at this. Exodus chapter 16, verse 1, And they took their journey from Elam. And all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month, after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. You'd think They murmured, it's not good, God heard it, it's a sin, right? God provides, cuts down this tree, great picture of Jesus Christ, water's made sweet, now they got another problem. But what do they do? They revert back to the same old natural reactions that they had when they were lost. Murmuring against Moses, murmuring against Aaron. We're not far from that Red Sea crossing. Look at Exodus chapter 17. Exodus chapter 17. Verse number one, And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim. And there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? They went from murmuring, right, which is kind of half suppressed under the breath, talking to their neighbor. Now they're in Moses' face. They're chiding with him. Moses, this is your fault. Moses, you did this to us. We don't have any water because of you. Manna is raining down every morning to feed them. And they're in Moses' face. Can you believe that? You say, man, that's terrible. They're just in his face. Chide is to scold. It's with anger. They're openly there. Keep going. Exodus chapter 18. Look at this. Exodus chapter 18. Let's go to verse number... Oh, this is good Bible. Verse 7. This is a great passage. I love this. Exodus 18, verse 7, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them, by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. Man, every single time, God answered. Every single time, God took care of him. And Moses, Moses, good man, he's out there telling them how great God has been. Verse number nine, and Jethro rejoiced, praised God for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. Imagine, your son-in-law goes to another country, brings that country to its knees, basically destroys it, and then leads the people out. That's amazing. That's pretty wild. Jeff Rose, he's impressed. He says to his daughter, you did good. And Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know, praise God, that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he was above them. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. And Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. Verse 13, And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people. And the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening? Well, what is this all about? Well, Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God. What does that mean? When they have a matter. Look at that. When they have a matter, they come unto me. And I judge between one and another. And I do make them know the statutes of God and His laws. And Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou will surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee, for this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice." Well, we won't go down there. All right, so here we have Moses standing, what did it say? Verse 13, from morning unto the evening. So from the time that sun comes up to the time that sun goes down, the people of Israel are lining up because they can't get along. One brother has a matter against another brother. And they're going to Moses. Now, I know, it's... Maybe two million peoples, that's a lot of people. But there's so many people that have a problem with one another that they are going to stand at Moses, hoping to talk to him from morning until evening, and if they don't get him that day, they go back the next. What is wrong? These are God's people. What, why can they not get along? It's not like they're stealing each other's food. They go out, they collect the, whatever they collect, it's the same amount for everybody, right? God said, he who gathered much had nothing over you. He who gathered little had no lack. What are they fighting about? They're saved, best we can tell. They have been delivered by the blood of the lamb out of slavery in Egypt. And they can't get along with one another? Take a look, let's go 1 Corinthians chapter six. We'll take a break from the Old Testament, we'll come back. I gotta get some water, because it's so thirsty in that land. All right, 1 Corinthians chapter six. 1 Corinthians chapter six. Verse number one. Dare any of you having a matter, same word as Exodus, dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? I hope there's nobody in this case right now, but I mean, man, you got a husband and wife, can't get along, go before an unsaved judge, snarling at one another, throwing curses at one another, blaming the, and then you're gonna tell them you're a Christian and you go to church? Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust? You're going to let them see that? And not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world should be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with brother and that before the unbeliever. That's a sign of carnality. See that same thing in Exodus. So how can they do that? Verse number seven, now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? If Jesus Christ is our example, and he is, the Bible says that very clearly, Jesus Christ, as far as treatment by men on the earth, No one was ever treated worse. Here is the Son of God. He is mocked, scorned, spit upon, smitten, beaten, scourged by Roman soldiers. They ripped out the hairs of his face. Right? Beat him, made a mockery, made him look like a king, would-be king, had him a little procession outside of Jerusalem to bring him to Mount Calvary, strip him, make him carry the cross up the mount, and then they nailed him to the cross, and he died for them. How do we not suffer wrong of one another? How do we not rather take wrong, be defrauded, than to bring it to the point where I don't go to that church no more. That guy did this to me and that guy did that to me. Do you know what those people did to Jesus Christ? They died for him and he died for them. He laid down his life for the people that treated him that way. Alright, back to Exodus. We need a little more water before we go down there. Alright, back to Exodus. Now we'll skip 19 through 31. We'll come back to that. We'll come back to that. It's different. Exodus chapter 32. Woo! Exodus 32. Man, if you ain't heard preaching from this passage, you just ain't heard preaching. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not what is become of him. There is a mountain on fire. smoke lightning trumpets they if you run the references they heard god speak and give at the very least the ten commandments they heard that from god and they like man moses taken too long you know i don't appreciate brother james said we'd we'd get this or we'd get this in where's he at, man? What's going on with this? These people are wicked, man. Look at this. The Bible says, they gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up. He'd been loafing around. He ain't been doing nothing. Moses up there with God and there's lightning and he's getting the Ten Commandments and tables and stone. Aaron's just like, Kick him back, man. Now our church, I think our leadership's pretty good at fishing out muchanaries from the missionaries, but they're out there, man. Listen, we set a high standard. You ain't gonna get God's money, the people of God's money, to go out and do nothing. We ain't down for that. That's not how this works. That's an errand ministry. We got a higher bar than that, praise God. All right, up, up, because you've been loafing around. Make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. You'd think he was Superman at the very least. This guy brings down a nation. You're like, man, I ain't seen him in 30 days. what's going on he's he's probably gone that guy's probably dead let's get a new god these people saw god bring down a nation they saw god work miracles they saw god part the red sea through moses and they're like, I'll get another god you know why? calls that god up there on that mountains telling me thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Man, I just want a god who likes my nakedness, and I want a god who likes my partying, and yeah, let's get that golden calf and drink and dance, and that's why they wanted a different god. That's why they wanted a different god. Skip down, verse number 10, this is so bad. This is God speaking. Verse 10, God was so angry that He was willing to destroy all of them and start over with Moses. He was so angry. That's serious. Say, I'm saved and I can just live however I want. You think so? Is that really the attitude? That you should, the problem is this, the problem is carnality. And rather than feeling bad for your carnality, you're trying to push that away and just find a God who's okay with it. Oh man. I called it the journey through the wilderness. a god that's okay with nakedness and dead, no I'm just, I gotta, I get myself in trouble. All right, let's keep going. We gotta move forward. We'll skip Exodus 33 through 40, but we'll come back to that. We'll come back to that. There's more there. Leviticus mostly is commands, mostly giving of sacrifices and feasts and things like that. Not so much historical account of the nation of Israel, but you do get into some of that. Let's go Leviticus chapter 10 real quick. Leviticus chapter 10. The Bible says, verse number one, and Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them as censer and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. God said, this is what I want you to do. And they said, eh. I can come to God my own way. I believe in God just like you. Oh, I'm a priest just like you. And I'm going to bring God my own fire. But you know what happened? God killed them. Now you say, God's not going to do that. No, but you know what the Bible said? To be carnally minded is death. Death, how about this, maybe death to a crown you coulda earned, death to some eternal reward you coulda earned, death to an opportunity to win somebody to the Lord. Right? The Bible says you do all that nonsense, people are gonna look at you and think, you know God? But if you're out there and you're speaking the truth and living the truth, God says, man, they've come down, God, he's the true God. Because they get a witness, not just from your mouth, but from your life. It makes a difference. It makes a difference. All right, let's go to numbers. Because like I said, the rest of Leviticus really is all feast days and laws and sacrifices and things like that. A few other things, but numbers, you got one through 10, really numbering of the nation of Israel, numbering of the people, a few different additional type commandments. Go to chapter 11. So here we get back into the history of the nation of Israel. Numbers chapter 11, verse number one. And when the people complained, It displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Has this been really pleasant, this carnal journey through the wilderness? It's not been good. murmuring, complaint, death, it's not good, not pleasant, not fun. So we see Numbers chapter 11, take a look at verse number six, look at this. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. And the manna was this coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. Sounds good. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, and the manna fell upon it, Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families. Every man in the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased." They're all complaining about the food they've got. God is raining down bread from heaven every single day, and they're complaining about it. Carnality. carnality not happy with what they've got not content with the things that god has given them godliness with contentment the bible says is great game uh... look at numbers chapter twelve notice work chapter by chapter right it's it's not pleasant numbers chapter twelve there's something good at the end just stick with me numbers twelve verse number one and miriam and erin spake against moses now his own brother and his own sister. Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, not because they don't like his leadership, not because something bad's going on in the camp, because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian woman. Really? You're complaining? You're speaking against this great man of God and this great work that he's done and all that he's been doing for all these people for how long? Just because he married somebody that looks different? It's not like they have to go home to her, right? They're speaking against him just because of who he's married to. Do you know what carnality in a church is like? I don't like that guy, because he wore black shoes. That guy's got a brown belt with black shoes. Can you believe that? I don't like that brother. You know that brother? He did this to one time, and you think, what? Are you seriously? Nonsense. People talking about. People getting upset with other brethren for junk. Look at this. They're speaking against their own brother because of who he married. He's done great things for God and there's been no sin on anybody's part that we're aware of, at least in the scripture. And they're just not happy because she don't look like them. What? What? That is carnality. Carnality. Speaking, fighting against your own brothers and sisters over nonsense. Nonsense. All right, let's keep going. Numbers. Let's see, we did 12. Let's go 13. Spies go into the promised land. This is pretty good. Hopefully, maybe we'll come back here. Numbers chapter 13, real quick. First number. But the men that went up with him said, in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. In chapter 14, all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. God said, go and take the land. You can have this land. I will give you this land. And ten guys go out there, and they're like, oh man, that's scary. I don't think we can do it. And everybody's like, oh no, oh God's gonna kill us, God's so terrible. Look at verse two. And all the children of Israel murmured against Aaron, and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. Really? When you hadn't crossed the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army was coming, You were like, God, get us out of here. God, help us. God, save us. And now they're like, we gotta go fight a scary army. Would God we had died in Egypt, or look at this, or would God we had died in this wilderness, rather than go and take the land that God said is good, rather than go and take the land that God would bless them in, because they're just a bunch of rebels. That's carnality. Carnality is just rebellion. God says, take the land. They say, no, we don't want to take the land. It's too scary. So then God says, all right, you're all going to die out here. Watch. Take a look. verse number 40, same chapter, Numbers chapter 14, verse 40. And they rose up early in the morning and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and we will go up unto the place which the Lord had promised. Oh yeah, I'm doing what God said, for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord, but it shall not prosper? Go not up, for the Lord is not among you, that ye be not smitten before your enemies. Verse 44, But they presumed to go up to the hilltop. Nevertheless, the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and disconfited them, even unto Hormah. So God says, go take the land. They say, no, we're not going to take the land. And then God says, all right, you're all going to just live out here and die for the next 40 years. And they say, oh, no, we'll take the land now. We'll take the land. God says, no, don't go up and take the land. So what do they do? They go and try and take the land. And what happens? They die. Are we seeing the pattern? carnality brings death carnality brings death look at uh... we gotta move numbers chapter sixteen say are you really gonna cover? we're gonna cover a lot number sixteen look at this now korah verse number one the son of izhar the son of koab the son of levi and dathan and abiram the sons of eliab and on the son of pileth sons of ruben took man and they rose up before moses with certain of the children of israel two hundred fifty princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. You know what? You're just trying to rule over me. You're just trying to control my life, says the rebel. And it's like, well, listen, if you would just humble yourself and obey God, not me, obey God, this would be so much better for you. but we're all God's people, I'm as saved as you're saved, and we're all holy like you're holy, and that just ain't the truth. Right? Oh boy, well it gets worse. Verse number 11. Verse number 11, for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord. And what is Aaron that ye murmur against him? And Moses sent to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, which said, we will not come up. They're like, come on, let's talk about this. I'm not going to talk to brother James. I'm not going to talk to brother David. I don't need that. I don't need that counsel. Really? you do that's that's the problem you do now most people they're trying to go to brother david prime trying to go to brother james because they want them to just rubber stamp what they want to do uh... i'll tell you one quick story and then we keep going so there was a a woman that I knew, my friend had a child with this person, and not a good situation. Anyway, this was all when we were first coming, we were coming 100% from the world, so trying to get all these people saved, trying to get them in church, and this girl comes, and she's been talking to some loser in Europe, and she's like, I'm gonna go marry this guy in Europe. And he had come, was it Europe? No, it was South America or something. Argentina, that was it. So he had come here, got her pregnant, gets deported, never sends a dime, and she wants to go marry this guy. Anyway, so she comes to Danielle and I, and we're talking, and she's like, I wanna go talk to Brother James about it, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so, I don't remember if it was you or me, one of us said it, and we're like, if Brother James says don't marry him, are you gonna not marry him? And she never went to go see Brother James. And went and married him, and it didn't go well. Carnality brings death. Carnality brings death. All right, let's keep going. Back to Book of Numbers. Chapter 16, verse, real quick, 31. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them. and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up in their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods. They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation." Man, that is serious. The earth swallowed these guys up, all the people that were with them and all their stuff. Man, you'd think that would solve everything. Man, if the people just saw that, that would really, man, if, you know, when people rise up against a pastor, if God would just open that up, you know, we live in Florida, there's sinkholes, you know. But, no, no, I'm kidding. But look, it doesn't fix the problem. It doesn't fix the problem. Verse 41. But on the morrow, earth swallowed him up. On the morrow, we are less than 24 hours from the earth swallowing up several hundred people and all their stuff. But on the morrow, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. This is your fault. What do you say? I cannot believe it when you read that. You are less than 24 hours from the earth swallowing these people up and they're still complaining against Moses. You'd think the earth's gonna get you, buddy. I'm shocked as I read this, but you know, when you're a Christian, you're in the Christian life for a while, you see stuff happen, you see people live carnally, and it doesn't go well, and you think, how do they keep going like that? Like, why? The carnal mind is at enmity against God and cannot be subject to Him. That's what it comes down to. You need to leave, you by your own choice, need to leave the carnal mind and submit yourself to God. We'll look at that, we'll look at that. Boy, we gotta move, alright. uh... numbers chapter seventeen does a lot of erin will skip uh... eighteen commandment of god nineteen commandment of god twenty uh... real quick twenty chapter twenty Then came, verse number one, then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation into the desert of Zin in the first month. And the people of Bod and Canish and Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses and spake saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord. Are you kidding me? You want water so that you don't die. And you're saying, I wish we just died back then. Well, quit drinking. Why complain? This is carnality. It never makes any sense. All right, but we gotta keep going. Numbers chapter 22 through 24 is a whole Balaam thing. 25, look at this, Numbers 25. Say, does it get worse? I hate to say that. Numbers 25, and Israel bowed and shunned him, and the people began to commit whoredom. "'with the daughters of Moab. "'And they called the people under the sacrifices "'of their gods and the people did eat "'and bowed down to their gods.'" These are the people that saw all the gods of Egypt destroyed. And they're committing whoredom and they're bowing down to false gods. How do they do that? It's carnality. The deceitfulness of sin. You would be surprised how far people go when they have forsaken God. And they're saved, best I can tell. It's terrible. Terrible. First Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10. And we'll come back to Exodus. First Corinthians, Chapter 10. You need some water after all that time in the wilderness. All right, 1 Corinthians 10, moreover, brethren, verse 1, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But, they're all saved. We're all saved. But, verse five, with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent, we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Some good preaching there. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition. upon whom the ends of the world are come. God said all that stuff that happened back there was for you and I to learn something. To be carnally minded is death. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now, here's the problem. Romans 7, I am carnal. Romans 7, you're carnal. so there were two places in which i skipped back to exodus there were two periods of time which the nation of israel was not getting in trouble not getting killed and not fighting and murmuring and complaining and biting and devouring one another exodus chapter nineteen god tells the people he's gonna come down smelton bible says uh... let's see Verse number 18, And Mount Sinai was all together on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount. And Moses went up, and the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord, to gaze, and many of them perish. So here God has got all the people gathered together. Chapter 20, and God spake all these words, saying, All the congregation gathered together to hear the word of God. I'm carnal, you're carnal. I'm this isn't all the answers, but you can't preach all the Bible at once, but you want to stay out of trouble Be in church Every time those doors are open every time you can be in church you be in church all the congregation gathered together to hear the words of God. And you have chapter 19, nobody dies. Chapter 20, nobody dies. God gives His commandments. 21, now these are the judgments, nobody dies. Chapter 22, if a man steals, God's given more commandments and nobody dies, because they're all just sitting listening. 23, thou shalt not. God's given commandments, and they're all listening, and nobody dies. 24, and he said unto Moses, come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, come on, let's all get together, let's hear this, let's listen to this. God's speaking. And I'm telling you, in this life, with this carnal mind and this carnal flesh, one way you want to stay out of trouble, man, you be in church. Listen to God's Word when it is preached. Sit together with God's people. There's something about that. There's something about it, because you know why we see each other? Man, brother, how you doing? Man, brother, what you been up to? Feel like, oh, you know, I was out at the bar last night. And you know what's going to happen? They're going to say, brother, what were you doing? That ain't right. Brother, why don't you come hang out with us rather than hang out with that crowd? You'll get reproved, you'll get admonished, iron sharpeneth iron. What happens is you have that accountability, you got so many other things to it, but being in church, being with God's people, hearing God's word preached, one way to keep you out of trouble. How about this one, let's go Exodus chapter 33. So we read a lot of that in between and it ain't good. Exodus 33 is actually another giving of the law. We won't read all that. Let's keep going, number, or forgive me, Exodus, let's see, I got 35, Exodus chapter 35, watch this one. So, verse 35, Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done. Don't be a loafer. But on the seventh day there shall be to you in holy day a sabbath of rest to the Lord, whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout, and your habitations upon the Sabbath day. Verse 4, And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded. Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it in offering of the Lord gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair, and ram skins, dyed red, and badger skins, and shit and wood, and oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, and onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate. And every wise heart in among you shall come and make all that the Lord had commanded. The tabernacle. His tent and his covering his tatches and his boards his bars his pillars and his sockets the Ark and the staves thereof with the mercy seat and the veil of the covering the table and his staves and all his vessels and the showbread the Candlestick also for the light and his furniture and his lamps with the oil for the light. What are we doing? We got to build the tabernacle We got to get to work We got a lot to do Take a look at Exodus 39. So he's given commandment of all these different things, great details there, tremendous pictures there. Take a look at 39, verse number one. And nobody's dying. Nobody's murmuring against Moses and chiding with Aaron. Bible says, verse number one, And of the blue and purple and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twine, and linen. And they did beat the gold into thin plates and cut it into wires to work it in the blue and in the purple and in the scarlet and in the fine linen with cunning work. They made shoulder pieces for it to couple it together. By the two edges was it coupled together, and curious girdle of his ephod that was upon it was of the same according the work thereof of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twine, and linen, as the Lord commanded Moses." Verse 6, and they wrought How about that? Verse number nine, they made, verse number 10, they set, verse number 15, and they made, verse number 16, and they made, verse number 17, and they put, go to 36, Exodus 36, look at this. And I didn't cover all these chapters, because ain't nobody dying. 36 look at this 36 And they received of Moses verse 3 all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offering every morning. And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they had made. And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than is enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make. The only other time I read these children of Israel aren't getting in trouble and dying is when they're building the house of God. So how do we make application? You know what we are? Lively stones. We are the temple of the Lord. And so you know what you can get busy doing? winning somebody to the Lord. Listen, I'm telling you, you want to keep from getting in trouble and fighting with your brothers and sisters in Christ and fighting with your wife or fighting with your husband, why don't you go out in there and tell somebody about Jesus Christ. Go out there and tell them how the devil wants them in hell, and Jesus Christ wants to save their soul, and how they will be saved if all they do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, you go out there and you serve Jesus Christ. Brother James talks about it all the time. Whenever there's a big evangelism event, you come in, everybody's happy. Oh man, everybody's talking one with another. How'd it go for you, brother? How'd it go for you, brother? What happened where you were at? Oh, let me tell you, I had this great conversation where I had this crazy person at Walmart yesterday. But you know what? I'm not saying, hey, did you hear what that guy did? Hey, did you hear what that sister did? Can you believe? Right? So what am I doing? What am I doing? I'm taking the time that God has given me and applying it to do something for him. When those doors are open, I need to be here. I need to be under the preaching of the word of God. I need to listen to it. When I'm not, man, I need to be out there telling people about Jesus Christ, how he can win, how he can save souls, and what great life that he offers. Let's get one more thing. I think we got time for this. and really like I said, you can't, these aren't all the answers and you got a wicked heart and a rebellious heart, you can still do all that stuff and it doesn't solve the problem let's go back to Numbers chapter 14 because you could just be a wicked little rebel and come to church every time those doors are open and go out there and participate in ministry I don't know that you actually talk to too many people but You got a heart problem. Numbers chapter 14. So number, let's get the picture real quick. I think it's very clear. The wilderness, carnality, right? All we saw was death. All we saw was sin. Little bit of time where they were doing some things right, and they weren't dying, praise God, but when you start living carnally, it brings death. God wanted them to get to the promised land, right? That's that spiritual life. That's that place where you're living in the promise of God, where you're living by faith, where you're doing things for God that please God, living for God. And it's the life, life more abundant that Jesus Christ has for you. And people don't want it. And they don't realize how bad it is where they're at in the wilderness. You get really thirsty out there. But Numbers chapter 14, I think, gives us the answer. So we have these people, they go out there, they go out, they search the land, they come back, they bring an evil report, and everybody's like, oh no, we're not gonna make it. Numbers chapter 14, verse number six. And Joshua the son of Nun, one of those guys that went out there, right, with the two that were good, Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. You know, God will bless you there. It's not like you're going to go and die. Some people do die. You know, it's a picture, a shadow. But ultimately, right, it's that life, that spiritual life that God has for you. It says it's exceeding good. It's exceeding good. That life that God has for you is exceeding good. First say, if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us. I'm not gonna have to win it. I'm not gonna have to fight for it. God will do that, right? If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey only. Here's the answer. Best I can tell, here's the answer. Only rebel not ye against the Lord. Neither fear ye the people of the land. You want to have that spiritual life. You want to leave that carnality. You want to leave that death. God tell you to do something and you don't want to do it? That's where it comes from. If God told you something to do, why not humble yourself and do it? Only rebel not ye against the Lord and fear not the people so what would my friends think what would my family think? What does God think All right, praise God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time with your word. God, help us. Help us to be spiritually minded. God, help us to live for you and enjoy that life and life more abundant than you have. God, pray that you'd bless each and every one that heard. Pray that you'd help me. God, as we go our ways, help us to live it and love it. In Jesus' name, amen.