Sunday, May 9, 2010

Apostasy (Numbers 14:39-44)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 9, 2010

On Mother’s Day…

“Making a decision to have a child–it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”

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Today, I want to share with you what God’s been pressing in my heart to ponder, the sin of apostasy. D. A. Carson says, “The essence of apostasy is rejection of covenant standing through unbelief.” It is “Knowing the promises and the power of God who confirmed them with an oath,” but refusing to believe. Unbelief in God’s promises and his power leads down the road to despising God; and this spirit of contempt against God leads to rebellion. Once down this road of rebellion, it leads to dispossession of the covenant standing and dying outside of God’s promise.[1]

Simply said, apostasy is rejecting God’s vision for your life while trying to create your own vision of life. The scariest thing about apostasy is that you do get what you want in place of what God wants for you. When God wants to give you heaven, the apostasy desires hell. This is why apostasy is dangerous and we must avoid it.

Now, apostasy doesn’t concern people outside of church. People who don’t know God cannot commit apostasy because apostasy involves standing away from one’s covenant relationship with God. Apostasy assumes that a person has tasted what it is to stand in God’s promises, his grace, his love, his power. So, the warning against apostasy is for you and me.

One of the clearest pictures of apostasy emerges from Numbers 14-15. Our focus is on Numbers 14:39-44. The Israelites appear to be confessing their sins, “we have sinned” and ready to embrace God’s promise, his vision to give them the land. But, they hear these crushing words from Moses, “This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies… Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

Instead of possessing God’s promises to them, apostasy led them to dispossessing God’s promises and facing the sword of judgment. That was the consequence of apostasy.

Context

Unbelief birthed fear.

In Numbers 13, the spies were sent out to the Promised Land and they came back at the end of forty days and showed the Israelites the fruit from the land.  They confirmed that indeed the land was flowing with milk and honey, which is a metaphor for all good things available through the land's richness (Numbers 13:25-27).  The problem was not that the land was no good. The land was exceedingly good. The problem was that there were powerful people, literally giants living in the fortified and large cities (Numbers 13:28).  Facing these giants, the ten spies were convinced that the Israelites were no match to these giants; compared to these giants, in their own eyes, the Israelites were like insignificant and helpless grasshoppers (Numbers 13:27-33). 

Caleb tried to silence these spies giving the bad report. He demanded, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Exodus 13:30). Joshua, Moses and Aaron were all with Caleb on this. They urged the Israelites to stand in God’s promise, God’s vision to give them the Promised Land. But, the Israelites chose to believe the bad report from the majority voice; instead of embracing God’s vision for them in the Promised Land, they began envisioning life back in Egypt.

Fear birthed grumbling and rejection.

When they allowed themselves to be overcome by fear of these giants living in the fortified cities in the land God promised to give to them, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron (Exodus 14:2). And the grumbling led to standing away from God’s promise.

  • They believed that God was not good after all to bring them out to this land only to let them fall by the sword of the giants (Exodus 14:2). 
  • They sounded pious and righteous when they raised their concern for their helpless wives and children from being taken as plunder (Exodus 14:3).
  • Facing what appears to be the impossible task to take over the Promised Land in spite of what God promised to them, they determined that it was better to retreat back to Egypt where they were slaves (Exodus 14:3). 
  • Having rejected the leadership of Moses and Aaron as flawed, they were determined to choose a new leader for themselves to lead them back to Egypt (Exodus 14:4). 

Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb intervened. As the rebellion escalated, Moses, Aaron fell facedown in front of the Israelites, and the two other spies Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes as a sign of great distress (Exodus 14:6) and they intervened to convince the Israelites that God was indeed good and strong to fulfill his promise to them. They were telling them, “Come on, don’t stand away in your own vision. Come and embrace God’s promise for you, his vision for you.’

  • if God was pleased with them, he would lead them into the land flowing with milk and honey and give it to them (Exodus 14:8).
  • Only if they did not rebelled against the LORD, Only if they did not fear the people of the land, they would take the Promised Land with God's help for the LORD was with them (Exodus 14:9).

Grumbling and rejection birthed violent rebellion.  Their grumbles and rejection turned now to violence as they threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb (Exodus 14:10). 

God intervened. What did God think of their grumbling and rejection of Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb?   God's questions sum up what he thought of them. 

"How long will these people treat me with contempt?  How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?  (Exodus 14:11)... Contempt and unbelief was how God saw their actions.  He was ready to strike them down with a plague and to destroy them and to raise up a nation through Moses (Exodus 14:12). 

Moses interceded.  In the face of God's holiness and his justice, Moses appealed to God's love.  "In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." (Exodus 14:19)

God's response to Moses' intercession.  "I have forgiven them... Nevertheless... not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers.  No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it." (Exodus 14:20-23).

Driven by the progression of apostasy of unbelief, fear, grumbling, rejection and rebellion, they stood away from God’s vision for their lives, God now allowed them to have their way, the vision for their own lives.

When they decided to stand away from God’s vision for the Promised Land, they now faced having to stand in the desert and live and die there (Exodus 14:34).

  • God's forgiveness meant not treating their contempt and rebellion with swift justice of death right then except those spies who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land; God struck them down to death with a plague (Exodus 14:36). 
  • Forgiveness didn't shield them from the consequence of suffering from sins of contempt and rebellion against God's promise, God's vision, God's hope for them.  Their contempt and rebellion resulted in forfeiting God's promise
  • Consequence of rebellion... spending forty years in the desert and tasting what it is like to have God against them
  • Collateral damage... In their fear, they thought they were protecting their children from being taken as plunder by rejecting God's promise, but their rejecting meant their children suffering for their unfaithfulness (Exodus 14:33). Children instead of growing up in the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for forty years.

Let’s recapture what can be learned from this context:

When people of God grumble and reject God's vision for their lives repeatedly, they forfeit the life God envisions for them while causing the collateral damage. (Instead of enjoying the land flowing with milk and honey, they remained in the desert for forty years, subjecting their children). 

That brings us to our passage Exodus 14:39-44.  Having heard and seen God's judgment against the repeated contempt and rebellion, it doesn't surprise us to see them confessing, "We have sinned."  But, what's surprising is their action.  "We will go up to the place the LORD promised" (Exodus 14:40). 

When God blessed them and promised to go with them to take the land flowing with milk and honey, they dealt God with contempt and rebellion; and the consequence was the forfeiture of the Promised Land.  Now, facing the alternative of having to live and die in the desert for next forty years, suddenly, they gained the new appetite for God's promise of the land flowing with milk and honey. 

The way a child takes the time out shows a lot about their heart.  Biting, screaming, kicking, stealing, etc. get you consequence of timeout or even spanking.  But, suddenly awakened to the consequence to one's action, the child has a surge of tears and begging, "I promise.  I won't do it again."  They sound so sincere.  As parents, we have to discern if this child is responding in genuine repentance or trying to avoid the consequence.

When the Israelites saw the spies with bad report about God's Promised Land struck dead, and now having faced with the alternative to spend the rest of their lives on the other side of the Promised Land in the desert, they are tearing up, they are welling up with strong emotions and sheer determination to make things right.  

But, the problem was that their contempt and the rebellion against God's vision for their lives in the Promised Land didn't go away.  Behind the façade of confession of their sins was still the same attitude of contemptuous rebellion. It was too late to stand in God’s promise. Moses made this very clear to them, "Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword" (Exodus 14:43).  Yet, the sad reality of apostasy is that they didn’t believe this would happen to them. They thought few tears, and sheer determination to take back what they rejected repeatedly would be good enough. But, it was too late.

That’s the sad reality of apostasy. Apostasy doesn’t go away with few tears. You cannot undo the sin of apostasy. When people push aside God’s vision for their lives repeatedly wanting nothing to do with God’s vision, God allows it. Instead of the Promised Land, you get the desert.

Having tasted the heavenly gift of manna, witnessed God’s power to break them free from the bondage under Egyptian rule, seen the parting of the Red Sea and walked on the dry ground of the Red Sea, all those who had experienced God, yet couldn’t trust God’s promise to give them the Promised Land, they were to stand away from God’s promise.

In the New Testament, Hebrews 6 speaks to the sad reality of apostasy. It says:

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” (Hebrews 6:4-6).

Although the writer of Hebrews spoke in this stark warning against apostasy, he remained optimistic and hopeful about the readers. He said in verse 9, “Even though we speak like this,” meaning warning against apostasy, “dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case-things that accompany salvation.”

So, it is in the similar tone that I speak to you this morning. Although I speak to warn against apostasy, against standing away from God’s promise, God’s vision for your life, I am optimistic that you will stand in God’s promise. I am confident that you will learn to envision your life as God envisions for you.

This ought to give you tremendous hope. When you look back, you are reminded of your failures, your sins, and your darkness. When you look back, you are faced with spiritual apathy and lethargy. When you look back, you wonder if your life can be any different. Yet, not because you are able to change anything about yourself, but sorely because of the gospel of good news for the new heart and the new life transformation, you can envision better things that accompany salvation.

This is why we must hear the gospel freshly and daily. The gospel is not just for those who don’t have relationship with Christ. The gospel is not something that gets you in the kingdom of God, but then you can forget about it. No, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that he suffered and died in our place for our sins, and that he remained in the tomb, and that he was raised to life by the power of God, this gospel is the power of God that allows us to have relationship with God and to experience things of salvation, now, today, everyday. In the gospel, you can be honest with your sins, your failures, your darkness because God covers you with forgiveness. In the gospel, you can hope for transformation, because the gospel is all about producing lasting changes in you so that you conform to Christ. In the gospel, you can envision your life freshly as God sees your life, unhindered by your dark past. So, keep the gospel at the center of your heart. Keep sin out of your heart. And, keep God’s vision, his promise for your life alive.

Illustration from Jesus

Let me close the sermon by sharing the story of parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise to take oil in jars along with their lamps, while the foolish five did not take any oil with their lamps.

Only those who were prepared, ready with the oil were able to greet the bridegroom and enter the wedding banquet. But those, without the oil and on their way to buy some oil forfeited the opportunity to greet the bridegroom and be at the banquet.

The vision that is laid out in this parable is the vision of wedding banquet. Christ is the bridegroom who is coming. The church is the virgins waiting for the return of the bridegroom.

We all know how much our friends who are getting married spend their time, energy, money to get ready for their big day. It takes months and months of preparation, getting reception hall, getting the guest list ready and invitations mailed out, getting premarital counseling, preparing the wedding ceremony details, then there are rehearsal dinner, gifts for the wedding party, oh and also honeymoon trip to take care of. Did I mention photography and video, limo service? How about place for the wedding guests to stay? How about losing those extra pounds to fit into the wedding dress and the tuxedo? Are Makeup and hair ready?

Six month to a year or even more is spent when people get married. Apostasy is like once envisioning that wedding day, but then you decide that you don’t want to marry that person anymore. So, you break the engagement and break the relationship to pursue new relationships.

Perhaps, none of us are prepared to go all the way to break our engagement with Christ. But, church, how are you spending your energy, resources, and creativity to prepare to meet your bridegroom, and the wedding banquet?


[1] Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.

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