In the Wilderness: God’s Guidance in the Journey
In the Wilderness • Sermon • Submitted
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· 31 viewsGod guides us safely through life ... we need to watch and listen.
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Text: Numbers 9:15-23
Theme: God guides us safely through life ... we need to watch and listen.
Date: 02/09/2020 Title: InTheWilderness-04.wpd No:
“He drew me closer to His side, I sought His will to know,
And in that will I now abide, Wherever He leads I’ll go.
I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go.
Those words are the 2nd stanza to the hymn Wherever He Leads I’ll Go written by B. B. McKinney. Baylus Benjamin McKinney was one of the most prolific hymn writers of the early 20th century being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1982. He wrote the hymn Take up the Cross and Follow Me in one evening in 1936. He was leading music for the Alabama Baptist Sunday School Convention. Robert S. Jones, a long-time missionary to Brazil, was the key-note speaker. Unfortunately, just days before the convention Jones learned that a health condition would keep him from returning to the mission field. Expressing his concern, McKinney inquired as to Jones’ future plans. Jones replied, “I don’t know, but wherever He leads, I’ll go.” With those words ringing in his ears, McKinney went to his hotel room and wrote out both words and music of the hymn. After Jones spoke that night, McKinney handed a manuscript copy of the song to the organist and sang it as a solo. The hymn has been in every Baptist Hymnal since 1937.
How do we know when God is leading us? In the Book of Numbers, God’s design for His redeemed people involved guiding them through the wilderness to the promised land. As they journeyed step by step, they followed His leadership in the form of a cloud that signified His presence. This morning I’d like to preach to you about the Presence of God and the Providence of God in the presence of God.
I. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
I. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
“On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.” (Numbers 9:15–16, ESV)
1. vs. 15-16 are a reminder that the presence of God was continually with Israel in their wilderness wanderings
a. God never took a day off ... never disappeared for a weekend ... never took time for a nap
1) vs. 16 tells us “So it was always ... “
2) some translations say, “It remained that way continuously ... “
b. whether it is the cloud by day or the fire by night, these verses bring home the truth that God is with His people ... unceasingly ... enduringly ... around the clock
2. God has always desired a presence among His people
a. He frequently came to stroll with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
b. He regularly visited with Abraham in the form of an angel
c. He came to the prophets of Israel in dreams, and visions, and the still small voice
d. in the passage before us He appears to Israel through the Shekinah—the pillar of cloud and fire that was constantly with Israel
1) it is a word that simply means dwelling and refers to God’s divine presence—His dwelling among His people
2) it is not a biblical word—but was first used by Jewish rabbis in the period between the completion of the Old Testament, and the beginning of the New Testament era
3) it was their way of describing the supernatural manifestation of God in the life of Israel
a) Yahweh was a God who dwelt, or tabernacled with His people
4) this glorious God, who is so holy, so omnipotent that He cannot be looked upon lest one dies, still desires to be known, and have a real presence among His people
3. the Father’s intimate, loving presence among His people is found throughout the Scriptures
a. for the Christian, God’s character is most clearly revealed in the Second Person of the trinity
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:1–3, ESV)
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” (Colossians 2:9–10, ESV)
ILLUS. During Jesus’ last Passover he tells his disciples that “No one can come to the Father except through me,” which prompts the disciple Philip to ask the question, “Lord, show us the Father, that’s all we really want.” In response Jesus gives the clearest statement of his identity, and his deity ... “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
1) to know God the Son, is to know God the Father
2) to worship God the Son, is to worship God the Father
3) to follow God the Son, is to follow God the Father
b. for the Christian, God’s presence is manifested in us by His Spirit
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,” (1 Corinthians 6:19, ESV)
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16, ESV)
1) it is through God’s indwelling Holy Spirit that His promise to His Elect is ultimately fulfilled
c. no other religion, or world faith, past or present, describes such familiarity between God and man ... He’s not merely with us, He is in us
4. Jesus is the ultimate display of God's Shekinah glory
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt [literally tabernacled] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)
a. when the Apostle John wrote this, every Jew who read it immediately understood what John was claiming
1) just as Yahweh’s presence was physically manifested in the glory of the Cloud of Presence, so was it manifested in the person of Jesus who is equally full of glory
A. THE CLOUD IS A PICTURE OF GOD’S NEARNESS TO HIS PEOPLE
A. THE CLOUD IS A PICTURE OF GOD’S NEARNESS TO HIS PEOPLE
1. the Shekinah is the supernatural manifestation of God dwelling in the midst of His people
a. the very layout of the Hebrew camp, with the Tabernacle—called the “Tent of Meeting” and also the “Tent of Witness”—in the middle of the camp, is a clear reminder that God’s presence must be at the center of our lives
2. the Tabernacle will be a reminder that God’s people come into His presence on His terms, and not on our own whimsy
a. that presence comes through mediators and sacrifices
b. it comes through the yearly reminder of the Passover, described in Numbers, chapter 8, where a spotless lamb is sacrificed on behalf of the people
3.The Cloud Is All about the Presence of God ... but it’s also about ...
II. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
II. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
1. the providence of God is simply the manifestation of God’s foresightful care for His people
a. we see it manifested in the Cloud of Presence that guided the Hebrews in their wilderness wanderings
“And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. 18 At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 19 Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the LORD they remained in camp; then according to the command of the LORD they set out. 21 And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. 22 Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. 23 At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out. They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by Moses.” (Numbers 9:17–23, ESV)
2. verses 17-23 are a picture of God’s steadfast providential leading of His people
a. despite their constant whining, and periodic faithlessness, God remains faithful to them
A. THE CLOUD IS A PICTURE OF GOD’S GUIDING AND GUARDING OF HIS PEOPLE
A. THE CLOUD IS A PICTURE OF GOD’S GUIDING AND GUARDING OF HIS PEOPLE
1. God does not leave His people guessing where they should be going or how they should get there
a. for the next forty years God’s guiding presence will lead them from place to place
b. according to our text, as long as the Shekinah stood above the Tabernacle, that’s where God’s people needed to stay
1) sometimes it was for a few days, and sometime it was a mere 24-hours
2) at other times it was for a month or longer
c. when the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle the people were to strike camp and follow God
1) and when the did break camp it was to be orderly
2) that’s what Numbers, chapter ten is all about
“In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, 12 and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.” (Numbers 10:11–12, ESV)
2. God’s guidance through His Cloud of Presence is not normative for us today
ILLUS. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were! Just think if we each had our own personal piece of the Shekinah that would guide is in our journey through life? “God, what college should I go to?” and our own personal piece of the Shekinah would go rest over Mizzou, or Truman State, or Linn Technical College. “God, whom should I marry?” and our own personal piece of the Shekinah would go rest over some hunky guy, or glamorous gal. “God, what car should I buy? and the Shekinah moves over 1972 Ford Pinto.
a. even though His Cloud of Presence is not normative for us today, God will lead us today, just as He led the Hebrews then
b. the question is not whether He will lead us, but will we follow?
1) and how will we follow?
a) will we be whiners, complaining and grumbling when the way becomes hard
b) will we be warriors, marching resolutely toward Zion, steadfast in our trust of God’s leadership?
2. notice in vs. 18 that it’s at the Lord’s command that the people of Israel strike camp and move
a. the cloud lifts, they break camp and move
b. the cloud settles, they set up cam and stay
1) the expression appears eighteen times in the Book of Numbers
c. what we witness here is a pattern of obedience that serves as an example for us
1) in that obedience they had to be alert and sensitive to God’s leadership because they never knew for sure when He would suddenly move them on in their journey
3. The Cloud Is All about the Providence of God as He Leads by His Presence
III. SOME APPLICATION
III. SOME APPLICATION
1. what does this passage have to teach to New Testament Christians?
a. everything that happened to the Old Testament saints was written for the instruction and edification of New Testament saints
“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4, ESV)
A. THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN THE LIVES OF HIS ELECT PEOPLE IS ACTUAL AND ACTIVE
A. THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN THE LIVES OF HIS ELECT PEOPLE IS ACTUAL AND ACTIVE
1. the Cloud of Presence is not normative in the Christian’s life, but the Spirit of Promise is
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16–17, ESV)
a. the indwelling of the Holy Spirit has always been the Father’s plan, and is the decisive event of God’s redemptive work in Christ
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:26–27, ESV)
b. when you are born from above through faith in the risen, glorified Christ, God performed spiritual surgery on you soul
1) He removed the heart of stone that is hard and unresponsive to Him
2) He gave you a heart of flesh that is soft and responsive to Him
3) and with that new heart comes the presence of the Holy Spirit
2. Christ is in me, by His Spirit today, as surely as He was with the disciples
a. God’s presence in me is as actual as was His supernatural manifestation among the Hebrews in the cloud of presence
ILLUS. J.D. Greear, Pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina and the current President of the Southern Baptist says this about the Holy Spirit, “When it comes to the Holy Spirit, most evangelicals fall into one of two extremes. Some seem obsessed, relating to him in strange, mystical ways. Their experiences with the Spirit always seem to coincide with an emotionally ecstatic moment created by the swell of music in a worship service or a weird confluence of events: “I was praying about whether to ask Rachel out, and suddenly I saw a billboard whose background was the same color as her eyes, and I got goose bumps—I knew it was the Holy Spirit!”
“Other Christians neglect his ministry altogether. They believe in the Holy Spirit, but they relate to him the same way I relate to my pituitary gland: I’m really grateful it’s in there; I know it’s essential for something; I would never want to lose it . . . but I don’t really interact with it. For these Christians, the Holy Spirit is not a moving, dynamic person. He’s more of a theory.
Yet Jesus made his disciples the most astounding promise about the Holy Spirit, one so astounding I think many of us do not really take it seriously: the very presence of God in us.
b. are you born again? —if so God’s Holy Spirit is in you!
3. while this is another sermon for another time, the presence of the Spirit of God within you accomplishes four God-wrought objectives
a. The Spirit Sanctifies Us—His primary work is to make us holy
b. The Spirit Seals Us—He is God’s guarantee that nothing can ever steel us away from Him
c. The Spirit Strengthens Us—The Spirit is given to help us be spiritually strong and fruitful
d. The Spirit Speaks for Us—when we talk to God, the Spirit is with us to intercede and be our Helper—especially when we don’t know how to pray
B. THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN THE LIVES OF HIS ELECT PEOPLE WILL GUIDE US IN OUR JOURNEY
B. THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN THE LIVES OF HIS ELECT PEOPLE WILL GUIDE US IN OUR JOURNEY
1. how does the Holy Spirit guide us? ... in four ways
a. 1st, He will guide us through the Scriptures
1) the primary counseling role of the Holy Spirit is to guide us into truth and God’s Word is truth
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13–15, ESV)
2) the Scriptures are God’s revealed word and describe God’s disclosure of Himself to humanity
a) as our Confession of Faith states, “The Bible is our only source for faith and practice”
3) the very same Spirit who revealed the Scriptures to the original authors is the very same Spirit who will illuminate your mind to understand it
a) God does not want you to be in the dark about His will and ways and so He has given you the Holy Spirit that you might understand the things freely given us by God
b. 2nd, He will guide us through Prayer
1) prayer is simply the believer living in conversation with God, and is meant to be a two-way communication
ILLUS. Frequently our prayers are characterized like this ... "God, how are you doing today? I'm fine I guess. Well, not really. God my life's a mess. The wife nags me. The kids get on my nerves and the dog won't obey me. The guy I work with is a real pain in the rear-end and this is the second year I've gone without a raise. God, it just ain't fair. I know it's been a while since I've been to church, but you know how it is. Sunday is the only day I have to do the things I want to do. Besides I don't like that new preacher much anyway. His sermons make me feel guilty. Well, God. Thanks for listening, I gotta go now. I'll talk to you again when I have time.”
a) we often rush off without ever listening for what God has to say to us in return
2) effective prayer includes listening, and when we do listen, especially, especially when we are praying the Scriptures, God will speak to us and guide us
c. 3rd, He will guide us through the Church
1) one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to bind the Church together in unity with one another, and unity in Christ
2) as a unified Body, each part of the body is in relationship to, and speaks to the rest of the body
ILLUS. We use this kind of language all the time in regard to our physical body, don’t we? You eat a pepperoni pizza that then gives you indigestion. What do we say? “Wow, my gut is really speaking to me!” We over-do it on the athletic field or in the exercise class. Our knees are really sore. What do we say? “Gosh, my knees are yelling at me!”
a) on a physical level we recognize that our bodies “communicate” to us and sometimes say, “I wish you hadn’t done that.”
3) what’s true of our physical body can also be true of our church family
a) when we are living in relationship with other people whom we know and love and trust, they can often give us insight into our lives and God’s will for our lives that we do not see
b) we have an example of this in the Book of Acts
“Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.” (Acts 13:1–4, ESV)
c) it’s clear form this passage that the Holy Spirit spoke to the Church concerning God’s will for Barnabas and Saul
d. 4th, He will guide us through Circumstances
1) God often uses circumstances to confirm His will and reveal His purposes for our lives
2) throughout Paul’s life we see him interpret open and closed doors as evidence of the Spirit’s leadership
a) in his first letter to the Corinthians he explains he will stay in Ephesus to preach because a “wide door for effective work” had been opened, which he evidently took as the Spirit’s leadership
b) there was no special prophetic word, no handwriting in the sky, no image of the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich—just an open door
3) let me quickly say that this one can be tricky, because an open door doesn’t always mean something is God’s will
ILLUS. Jonah happened on a ship to Tarshish, but God’s will for him was 180 degrees the opposite direction.
a) likewise, a closed door doesn’t always mean something is not God’s will
b) in Paul’s explanation to the Corinthians of why he would stay in Ephesus, he understood that many difficulties lay ahead of him
c) he didn’t interpret these difficulties as evidence God wanted him to leave, but to stay
2. perhaps the best way to experience God’s guidance in your life is to know that all four of these things work in tandem to reveal what God is up to in our lives and where He is leading us
ILLUS. in his autobiography, Rebel without a Cause, Franklin Graham tells a vivid story of God’s guidance. Graham, who had just recently earned his pilots license, had flown from Longview Texas, to Florida to visit his parents, who were vacationing there. Several friends, including Graham’s flight instructor, accompanied him. On their return trip, they encountered turbulent weather and had to detour to Jackson, Mississippi. In route to Jackson, the plane suddenly lost its navigational instruments, the radio went dead, and the cabin lights went out. Well you can imagine what took place ... the plane’s occupants began to pray ... earnestly. As they approached a small regional airport, they circled for about ten minutes waiting for clearance. According to FAA procedures, the control tower would signal a radioless airplane with a green light when it was safe to land. Graham saw a the green light begin to flash indicating clearance to land. As they flew lower all the runway lights suddenly came on bright, and the plane made a smooth landing. God had guided them safely into the airport. Just as suddenly, all the runway lights went out. They could not understand why the control tower did not leave the lights on.
It was years later that Graham learned what really had happened that night. The on duty air traffic controller was giving his pastor a tour of the tower, and explaining to him what he would do in case a plane ever attempted to land without radio communication. Both the green landing light and the runway lights that guided Franklin’s approach had been activated only as a demonstration for the visitor. The controller had no idea that a plane, with all its avionics out, was desperately looking to land. But for Franklin and his fellow passengers, the lights came on as God’s perfectly timed answer to prayer.