And as you find your seat, let me invite you all to open your
Bibles. Let me invite you all as you
find your seat, to open your Bibles to the Book of Numbers,
Chapter 27. We've been going through numbers
for several months now. Maybe push in a year and we've
made it to chapter 27 last week. We're in chapter all of chapter
26 and this morning will be all in in all of chapter 27.
I won't read the text upfront just for time's sake.
I'll read it as I go through it. But the title of the storm this
morning is this Women honoured and leaders established.
There's basically two stories this morning that really don't
have too much to do with each other, but we're going to look
at both of them. Women honoured and leaders
established. So if you will, I'm going to
open and a word of prayer, if you'll pray with me, and then
we'll jump into our text this morning.
Let's pray. Father is with great joy that we
gather to fellowship, that we gather to see each other's faces
and be exhorted and encouraged by the presence of one another.
But most of all, Lord is with great joy that we gather to
worship your name. That you would be exalted in
this place, Lord, through the singing of praises to your name,
through the preaching of the word, through the fellowship of
the Saints, through the giving unto you, Lord, and, and
everything that we do, Lord, we recognize is our offering to
you. And we are, we are glad.
And please, Lord, knowing that you are pleased.
And so, Lord, now as we look at this text, would you help us to
see your heart, to honor women and to establish leaders.
Help us to see your heart, Lord, in these two stories this
morning, I pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
If you have a court case, the odds of that case being taken up
by the Supreme Court are extremely low.
In other words, a person cannot simply just walk up to a Supreme
Court Justice or the Supreme Court justices and ask them to
review their case. Doesn't work that way.
If you have an issue with Amazon and you think that Amazon is not
treating you properly or so forth, the odds of being of your
issue being heard by the CEO of Amazon are extremely low.
There's just too many people. There's too many issues.
If you want to make a change to Washington DC, you simply cannot
just walk up to the president and make a request.
Billionaires can probably do that, but not us.
And yet when 5 women, five sisters had a legitimate case
that that needed to be heard, not only did Moses hear it, but
so did the Lord. And this testified the two
truths. Number one, that God values the
honouring of women and #2 God values the importance of
establishing qualified leaders. That's what the sermon is about
this morning. Women honoured and leaders
established. So we're going to look at our
text this morning. I'm going to go through a kind
of section by section. I'll read the text, I'll give us
exposition, and I'll give us application as we go through it.
We're going to be in the whole chapter, so we need to jump
right in. So let's start reading Numbers
27, beginning in verses one and two.
Then drew near the daughters of Zella, Fahad the son of Heifer,
son of Gilead, son of Mahir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of
Manasseh, the sons, the son of Joseph.
The names of his daughters were Mahla, Noah, Hagla, Milka and
Terza. And they stood before Moses and
before Eliezer the priest, and before the chiefs, and all the
congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting saying, and
we'll stop right there. So last week we had looked at
chapter 26, where a census was taken in the nation of Israel.
And this is at the end of the 40 years.
They took a census at the beginning of the 40 years and
they took a census at the end of the 40 years.
And we saw that in that census. There was a comment made by the
narrator in verse 33. Look at it with me and Numbers
2633. This is what the says now.
Zelophahad, the son of Heifer, had no sons but daughters, and
the names of the daughters of Zelfahad were Mahla, Noah,
Hagla, Milka and Terza. And as I mentioned last week
that it seemed odd that this detail was given in a census, A
census that was given primarily to know how many men do they
have who are able to go to war. So why in a census like that,
would you highlight the fact that there is a man who had five
daughters and no sons? And this morning we discover why
this is highlighted. There is a man named Zela Fahad.
He has five daughters, Mahla, Noah, Hagla, Milka and Terza.
And after the census is taken, these five women, these five
sisters, they come and present themselves to Moses Eliezer, the
priest, all the chiefs of the people of Israel, and before the
whole congregation. And they do this at the entrance
of the tent of meeting. Now, I want you to consider what
boldness this would have taken for the women to do this.
It would have taken tremendous boldness.
We may not understand this as well in our culture today, but
thousands of years ago, in a heavily patriarchal society,
this would have taken extreme courage, extreme boldness for
these women to do this. Now, what made them so bold?
They are desperate. They are desperate, and we'll
see why in just a minute. But here's what I want to say to
you. Desperation breeds boldness.
How many women do we see in the Bible that their desperation
bred boldness in them? Take for example, Abigail.
Remember Abigail, All the males in her family were on the brink
of destruction. David and his men are marching
there to go and kill all the males in her family.
And in her desperation, she boldly approaches David to make
amends for her husband's folly. Or think about Esther.
We're going to Esther in our Sunday school right now.
All the Jews in the Kingdom are on the brink of destruction.
And in her desperation, she says, I will go to the king,
though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.
Or what about Shipra and Pua? Pharaoh had given an order to
kill all the Hebrew baby boys. They were commanded by their
sovereign ruler kill all the Hebrew baby boys.
But instead they boldly preserved the lives of these
children. Or think about the bleeding
woman in the gospels. She had a discharge of blood for
12 years. She had spent all of her money
on physicians trying to heal this.
And in her desperation she fights her way through the crowd
just so she can touch the fringe of Jesus garment.
She is unclean and yet she is bold.
Or think about the woman or women who anointed Jesus feet.
Luke tells us that she was a sinful woman and she was
condemned by the Pharisees. But in her desperation she
anointed Jesus feet in the midst, right in the middle of
all these condemning Pharisees surrounding her.
Why? Because she is desperate.
Desperation breeds boldness, you see, it's very easy for Satan or
the world or even yourself to tell yourself I'm not this or
I'm not that. I'm not a competent person.
How many of you, you don't have to raise hand, but how many of
you, if you were self admitting, would admit I'm not a confident
person, I'm not a bold person, I'm not an eloquent person.
Listen, that may very well be true.
That may very well be true. But brothers and sisters,
desperation breeds boldness. So let me ask you a question.
How desperate are you? How desperate are you?
These women were desperate. What were they desperate for?
Look at verse three. Our father died in the
wilderness. He was not among the company of
those who gathered themselves together against the Lord and
the company of Cora, but died for his own sin, and he had no
sons. So their father, Zela Fahad has
died, but they want the leaders to know that their father was
not part of Korra's rebellion. Now I want to point something
out just as a side note in #16 the narrator says that the
Korra's rebellion had assembled themselves together against
Moses and against Aaron. But look at what the daughters
say. He was not among those who
assembled themselves together against the Lord.
These daughters have good theology.
Just as we have looked at in the book.
The people's grumbling was not against Moses and against Aaron.
Their grumbling was against the Lord.
And the people's rebellion was not against Moses and against
Aaron. It was against the Lord.
Now, why do they mention the fact that their father was not
part of Korres rebellion? Gordon Wenham, who's a
commentator, writes this. Most probably, it indicates that
those found guilty of serious religious offenses were not only
put to death, but their property was confiscated as well.
And so they wanted them to know that our father was not part of
this rebellion. He died for his own sin.
Now that's interesting. Again, these women testify.
They have good theology. They recognize long before Paul
penned the words the wages of sin is death.
They recognize our father died for his own sin.
Now the problem here though, is that Zela Fahad had no sons.
He had five daughters, but no sons.
Now why is that a problem? Look at verse 4.
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his
clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among
our fathers brothers. Now what does this mean?
In the Old Testament, daughters did not usually have a share in
the family estate. If you wanted property or land,
you had to marry into it. A father's property was divided
between his sons after his death, the eldest son receiving
twice as much as the other sons. That's how it normally worked.
Now, this meant that all five of these women would be given no
inheritance. It would be given to their
father's male relatives unless they married into it.
The problem with that, though, is that the portion that would
go to their father would not go to them.
It would be given to somebody else.
So the five daughters make a request, they say give us a
possession among our fathers brothers, meaning give us land
among our fathers relatives. If you remember from last week,
part another reason for the census in chapter 26 was to
determine who got which portion of land.
When they conquer the promised land, they're they needed to
divide up the land. So they take the census to know
who gets what size, what portion of land.
And so the daughters are like, wait a minute, we don't, our dad
didn't have a son. Remember the game of musical
chairs? Remember playing that in like
middle school or, or like, I don't know, elementary school
where there's like chairs and there's, there's like 13 people,
but there's only 12 chairs. And you go around and then the
music stops. You got to sit down.
And there's always one person left without a chair.
The daughters want to make sure that they're not the only ones
left without a chair. They need this land.
They want this land. Keep in mind, this is an
agrarian society. Land is everything.
It's everything. Land is not only prosperity for
you, land is prosperity for your descendants as well.
You would pass down land to your children and your grandchildren
and your great grandchildren. It was a means by which you
could farm and take care of all your descendants for ages and
ages to come. So the dog said, look, say,
look, we want to make sure we're not looked over.
When we conquer the land and you begin divvying out portions of
land, we're going to get none. We're going to be looked over
because all they're going to look at is father, son, father,
son. But Zela Fahad had no son.
Now, one of the thing I want to mention one, one last element
that highlights these women's faith is John Calvin wrote the
request of Zela Fahad's daughters showed their faith in
the divine promises. Did you notice that?
In other words, the fact that they are making this request
testifies that they believe that God will give them the land.
Remember, their parents generation did not believe it,
they doubted God. But the women, these women, they
believe that God, they're like when we conquer the land, they
believe that God is going to give it to him.
Look at verse 5. So Moses brought their case
before the Lord. I love that verse.
Moses brought their case. As I've mentioned before, one of
the most helpful tools when you're reading the Bible is not
only reading what is there, but reading what is not there.
I want us to consider what Moses didn't do here.
Here's what he didn't do. He didn't dismiss these women.
They come and present their case, and Moses says, well, I
hear what you're saying, ladies, but rules are rules.
Sorry, he didn't do that. He didn't make his best possible
decision. He's like, that seems fair to
me. OK, sure.
I'll make sure you get inheritance.
He doesn't ask Eliezer. Eliezer.
What do you think, priest? He didn't do any of that.
Look at what Moses did. Moses brought their case before
the Lord. Moses has a pattern of seeking
the Lord's counsel and our family worship time.
We were recently reading through the book of Joshua and something
stood out to me as I was reading the book of Joshua.
I love the character of Joshua. I absolutely love his character.
But there's one, there's one time, I mean maybe multiple
times, but there's at least one time that he messed up.
It stood out to me and I forget about it because it's just a
story that's kind of tucked away in there.
If you remember the story of the Gibbey Nights, the Gibbey Nights
come. They hear about Israel
conquering people and they realize that they're about to
get annihilated. So they act deceptively.
They come up with, they come up with a beautiful plan.
They, they put on old clothes and old shoes and they have old
bread and old wineskins. And they come to Joshua and
they're like, hey, we're from a very far away country.
And they're at first they're kind of like, I don't know about
this. They're like, no, no, look, look
at our old clothes. Look at our old wine.
And here's some bread. This bread was fresh when we
left. And now look, it's all mouldy.
And the narrator makes this comment.
So the men took some of their provisions but did not ask
counsel from the Lord. And so they made a covenant with
a giving of nights, and they were spared, but they weren't
supposed to be. And thus Joshua and his men were
deceived. Church family, I want to
encourage you, don't make any major or even semi major
decision in your life without bringing it before the Lord.
Don't make any major or even semi major decision your life
without bringing it before the Lord.
I say this with such urgency because as a pastor, I know good
and well that there are many times that people don't do that
very thing. I was thinking about why is this
even for myself? I'm guilty of this too, for the
times I make decisions and I don't bring it before the Lord
before making a decision. Why is this?
I came up with four reasons. I'm not saying this is
exhausted, but I came up with four reasons why.
Sometimes we don't seek God's counsel before making a decision
#1 impulsivity and or impatience.
Sometimes we're just impulsive, are we not?
We just make a decision and we just act.
Or perhaps we're impatient. I don't got time for this.
Who's got time to wait for the Lord #2 overconfidence.
Sometimes we think we know what's best.
We think we know what's wise. We know what we should do #3
oversimplification. Sometimes we think the decision
is simply straightforward, right?
Sometimes the problem is not overconfident.
Sometimes the problem is oversimplification of the
problem, that we think it's a straightforward problem.
There's no need to seek counsel on this.
This is very straightforward. And yet how many times do people
come to Jesus and ask him for counsel and he blew their minds
with what he said. It seems straightforward, and
yet Jesus is like, this isn't straightforward at all.
And #4 sometimes we don't ask because we don't want to hear
the answer. In the same way that Jonas said
I don't want to go to Nineveh because I know what you're going
to do there. Sometimes we say I don't want to
ask God because I know what he's going to say.
What is it easier to ask for forgiveness than permission?
Brothers and sisters, bring your decisions before the Lord and
wait for Him to answer all decisions.
Who to date or even if you should date?
Where to go to church? Where to serve in a church?
Whether you should get married? When you should get married,
whether you should have kids, when you should have kids, how
many kids you should have, what college to go to, what career
you should choose, what job you should take, whether you should
leave a job, whether you should leave a church.
Bring every decision before the Lord.
Ask His counsel. Look at verse 6/7.
The Lord said to Moses, the daughters of Zela Fahad are
right. You shall give them possession
of an inheritance among their fathers brothers and transfer
the inheritance of their fathers to them.
Now notice the Lord says they are right.
You you kind of wonder how would God respond to such a request.
The Lord says the daughters are right, meaning that what they
have said is correct. They have a valid claim.
And so God says that when you conquer the land and you begin
dividing up the land, their father's inheritance shall pass
to them. God makes basically a new law
here. This is the new law in Israel.
And God makes this. You know what I find
fascinating? This is to me, the most
fascinating thing about Zela Fahad's the story of his
daughters. God is running the universe.
He's running the entire universe and he cares about these five
women. There are five people.
It's five. It's, it's one, it's one, it's
really one situation. He's running the entire universe
and he cares about their individual situation.
The Bible often gets a bad Rep when it comes to women.
I know this. Especially if you had a church
which is complimentarian, which we are.
I don't think it's a bad Rep, which I find fascinating because
there are so many stories of the Bible where women are treated
with a tremendous dignity and tremendous honour.
The only person that God saves in Jericho is a woman.
God uses Deborah to judge the people during a dark time in the
nation. The story of Ruth and Naomi
shows God's heart not only for widows but also for foreign
women. Esther is stolen from her life
that she knew and she is thrust into a King's harem.
But God used her to save a nation.
How many women were barren in the Bible and God heard their
prayers and gave them children? Sarah, Rebecca.
Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth. Think about how many women that
Jesus encountered in his ministry.
Women who would have been considered social outcast by
everyone. The Samaritan woman at the well,
Mary Magdalene who had seven demons, the bleeding woman who
was unclean, the two or three women who anointed him, and even
the Apostle Paul who almost the entire world online brand
stigmatizes as a chauvinist. The Apostle Paul writes these
words. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. We take that for granted.
You have to understand, in 1st century there was no expectation
that any husband would love his wife like that.
None. These are radical words and Paul
says, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through
faith, meaning that when we get to heaven, everybody gets the
inheritance. God cared about these five
women, just as these daughters. They will receive the same
inheritance as the men in heaven.
Women and men receive the same inheritance.
We might even go so far to say, and I will, I will go so far to
say I firmly believe that there are many women who will have far
greater rewards in heaven than many male pastors in heaven,
including myself. I tell my wife all the time I I
believe she's far head the line than I am.
And I don't say that as like, you know, the whole like, I mean
that I absolutely believe she's ahead of the line in me.
Look at verse 8 to 11. And you shall speak to the
people of Israel, saying, If a man dies and has no son, then
you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.
And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance
to his brothers. And if he has no brothers, then
you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers.
And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give
his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he
shall possess it. And it shall be for the people
of Israel a statute and a rule as the Lord commanded Moses.
So God here decides to make a new law for the people of
Israel. This is a brand new law that God
is going to institute for them. This particular situation with
Zela Fahad's daughters, it's not a one off.
This is not just unique to them. And then, you know, this is
going to be true for all women in this situation for
generations to come. All women will be taken care of
that are in this situation. And so God says, here's the
order, If a man dies and he has no son, his inheritance will
pass in this order number one, to his daughter or presumably
daughters #2 if he has no children at all, then to his
brothers #3 if he has no children and no brothers, then
to his uncles. And #4 if he has no children, no
brothers and no uncles, it'll pass to the nearest kinsman of
clan of this clan, like a cousin who has to a cousin or
something. And God says this is a permanent
statue, a permanent rule so that women now will not have to worry
and say, Oh my gosh, my, what do we do if, if, if we don't get
married and our dad didn't have any sons, how are we going to be
taken care of? And God says you will be taken
care of. You know, what's this is a side
note. What's interesting is that at
the end of the book of Job, which many think predates this,
Job at the end of the book gives his daughters an inheritance
among his sons. Job reflects the heart of God,
perhaps even before this law was given.
Now we're going to take a hard shift to a brand new story
because that's how the text shifts.
We're going to look at verses 12 to 14.
Look at it with me, the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this
mountain of a Byram and see the land that I've given to the
people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also
should be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron
was, because you rebelled against My word in the
wilderness of Zen, when the congregation quarrel, failing to
uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.
These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh and the wilderness of
Zen. So God tells Moses, I want you
to climb this mountain of a Byram for two purposes #1 when
you get to the top, I want you to look out and you're going to
see the Promised Land. God is going to allow Moses to
have a view of the Promised Land #2 you're going to climb this
mountain to die, he says. God says when you have seen it,
you also should be gathered to your people as your brother
Aaron was. That's just another way of
saying to die. So Moses is going to see the
land. But when he gets up there and he
sees it, right, you know, sometimes if you like see
something, he might get his hopes up and thinks, oh, there
it is. The God says, don't get your
hopes up. God reminds him, you're not
going to enter it. Now, why is he not going to
enter the land? God tells us, he reminds Moses.
He says, because you rebelled against my word, failing to
uphold me as holy. Now, just as a refresher, if you
remember back in Numbers 20, the people are in the wilderness.
They have no water to drink. They begin quarreling with Moses
and Aaron, and they make some pretty bold accusations about
them. They say it would have been
better for us if we had died with our brothers earlier.
They even accused Moses of bringing them into the
wilderness to die. They call the desert, the place
of God's presence, evil. They say this place is evil.
In response, Moses and Aaron, they fall on their faces.
And yet God in his mercy and his compassion still provides water
for them. God tells Moses, Moses, go take
your staff. Go strike this rock, and it will
yield its water. But instead Moses speaks to the
people here. Now you rebels, shall we bring
water for you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and
struck the rock twice. God says that you committed
Moses to egregious sins. Number one, you rebelled against
my word. God said speak to the rock.
Moses instead struck the rock and #2 He says you failed to
uphold me as holy. You see, the rock was a symbol
of God's mercy. So to strike the rock was to
strike God. Moses gave the impression that
God was capricious. Moses is God's representative,
and he gave the impression that he was capricious, fickle like a
human. And Moses was also diverting the
people's attention away from God, the true miracle worker to
himself. Shall we give you water from
this rock? So God says you will not step
foot in the Promised Land. But here's what I want you to
see about this. Although Moses cannot step foot
in the Promised Land, God and His grace still allows Moses to
see it. He says climb the mountain and I
want you to see the Promised land.
Even in God's discipline, there is tremendous grace.
The fact that Moses is alive, there's tremendous grace.
God could have put Moses to death right then and there, but
not only does he continue living, God says, I will take
you to this mountain where you can overlook the land, and you
will see the glorious promised land.
You will see the land that I'm going to lead these people into.
Even in God's discipline, there is tremendous grace.
Think about David, who committed adultery and murder, and yes,
his child did die and yes, his wives will be taken advantage
of, but God allowed David to live.
David should have been killed. God allowed him to live.
And not only live, God allows him to continue as King.
Think about Jonah. Jonah ran away from God.
Jonah even tried committing suicide to get out of this
calling and as a result God disciplines him by having him
spend three nights, 3 days and three nights in the belly of a
fish. But God still use Jonah to bring
Nineveh to repentance. Or think about Peter.
When Peter denied Christ three times, when he denied Christ
three times, he had to look upon the face of Jesus and face his
shame, but he also got to look upon the forgiveness on Jesus
face on the shores. God will discipline us for our
sin as we see right here. But even in his discipline,
brothers and sisters, there is tremendous grace.
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to
our iniquities. Psalm one O 310.
You ever wonder, did when Moses heard this discipline, what did
he feel? Did he feel like the past four
years was a waste? He's like God's, I just spent 40
years separating these people in the wilderness, and you're not
going to let me in? Did he feel like it was a waste?
I'm not sure. But one thing is sure, Moses is
about to enter glory. He's about to enter the eternal
promised land. Here's why this matters.
Brothers and sisters, whatever God doesn't give you in this
life, sometimes we think God's withholding on us, holding back.
Whatever God doesn't give you in this life, you will receive a
hundredfold in the next. This view that Moses sees in all
its glory when he looks upon the land and he sees the land full
of pomegranates and grapes and milk and honey, this view and
all its glory will not compare to the view he is about to
experience, the view of the face of Jesus Christ.
He is about to see true glory when he closes his eyes for the
very last time. So whatever you don't get in
this life, you will receive a hundredfold in the next look.
At verse 15 to 17, Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, Let the
Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over
the congregation who shall go out before them and come in
before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the
congregation of the Lord may not be a sheep who have no shepherd.
Now again, as we read what is not there in the text, 1 might
expect Moses to complain about the Lord's discipline, right?
I mean, I at least in your heart I'm like, oh come on, God,
really? Or maybe be sad about it, just
kind of like, how'd it go? Moses on the mountain not going
in. I hope you guys have fun.
Eat some grapes for me. But look at what Moses's
perspective is. His focus is not on himself.
His focus is on the people. Moses concern is not with what
he wants, but what the people need.
You see, we all have a great need to look beyond ourselves
and to care for the people of God.
I was thinking about how tempting it is to make ministry
or church about ourselves. I don't want to suggest that
like our problems are not real. And I want to suggest that we
don't come in these doors and feel tremendous pain, sometimes
tremendous discouragement. That's that's 100% true.
But here's what I would say. Sometimes we may come in the
doors and we're so focused on our own problems, my own trials,
my own sadness, my own agenda, my own desires, that I
completely overlook the people of God.
I don't even see the people of God because all I can think
about is my own self, my own problems.
Moses reflects the heart of Jesus here.
I mean, so often Jesus wanted to get away from the people.
He needed a break, He needed rest, He needed alone time.
He couldn't step out of a boat without there being a crowd
there, and every time he stepped out of a boat, there's a crowd
and you kind of like they're just always waiting for him and
what does he do? When he saw the crowds, he had
compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like
sheep without a shepherd. Moses concern is not with
entering the land, but with establishing a leader.
Moses asked God. He said his request is Lord
appoint a man over this congregation.
They need a leader God, they need a leader who will go before
them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and
bring them in. Moses knows that he has been the
people sole leader for 40 years. They've had one shepherd, one
leader for 40 years. That's all they've known as
Moses. Moses, not this Moses.
The Moses, like the Moses, is their leader for 40 years, and
he's about to leave them. And Moses knows the danger of
sheep existing without a shepherd.
How does he know this? Because the brother was only
gone for 40 days and they built a golden calf.
He went on sabbatical for 40 days and they've already built a
golden calf. So what is going to happen when
Moses leaves them for the next 40 years?
So Moses says, Lord, make sure they have a proper shepherd.
But here's the question. Who in the world could follow up
Moses? I was thinking about this.
Like, imagine if I went to, like, apply for a church and,
you know, like, can you tell me about your former pastor?
Well, yeah, His name was Moses. Like, like, like Moses who?
Like Moses. Just be Moses.
How do you follow up Moses? Look at verse 18.
So the Lord said to Moses, take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in
whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.
God answers Moses's prayer. God chooses Joshua to succeed
Moses. Now, just as a refresher, if
you're not familiar with who Joshua was as a refresher,
Joshua was a soldier. Initially he fought with a
Malek. Remember when Moses had to hold
his hands up? It was Joshua down on the ground
fighting the battle. Joshua went with Moses on top of
Mount Sinai to receive God's law.
He was the only one chosen to go with Moses to receive the law.
Joshua did not depart from the tent of meeting.
Whenever Moses left the tent of meeting, Joshua stayed there and
guarded the tent of meeting. Joshua was Moses's assistant
from his youth and he was also one of 12 spies when they went
to spy of the land. He's also one of only two who
did not doubt God and believe God that He would give them the
land. And then here we are given a new
piece of information about Joshua.
We learned that he is a man and whom is the Spirit.
Now I've mentioned this before, that this does not mean that
Joshua was indwelt by the Spirit the same way that we are indwelt
by the Spirit. I don't think there was anybody
in the Old Testament that was in dwelt the way that we are, but
there were several men in the Old Testament that the Spirit is
said to have come upon. Joseph Bezale. 70 elders,
Balaam, Otneil, Gideon, Samson, Jephta, Saul, David, MSI,
Azariah, Jehazio, Zechariah, Isaiah, Ezekiel.
It's actually a lot longer list than you thought.
Here's why this detail is important.
What equips us, what empowers us, what qualifies us, what
makes us wise or competent or useful, is the Spirit.
Joshua is qualified to follow up Moses because he has the Spirit
of God upon him. Why did Peter go from denying
Christ three times to proclaiming Christ to 3000 the
Spirit? How did the early church change
the known world because of the outpouring of the Spirit.
How was Jesus able to defeat Satan's temptations in the
wilderness? Because he said he entered the
wilderness full of the Spirit. How did Stephen have the courage
to stand there and become the first Christian martyr in
history that we know of? Because he was described as a
man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit who was qualified to
go with the apostle Paul on his first missionary journey.
Barnabas, a man, a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and a
faith when I was starting out in ministry some 20 years ago was,
I mean like brand new. We had a college and young
singles minister who led the ministry named Jamie.
He, he was my disciple, disciple of me for two years.
And he was our shepherd. He was, at the time, he was the
only shepherd I ever knew as as a Christian.
He was my best friend too. And one day he said he was
moving. Just out of the blue.
He said he's moving, he's leaving, and he entrusted me to
shepherd the group after him. It's like some 50 to 75 college
students. We'd have like sometimes 75
college students and young singles meet at our house.
The fire department got called several times.
What did I know? How was I qualified to do this?
I remember one of the girls in the group, not my wife, there's
another girl, one of the girls in the group, she wrote me a
letter. And the first thing she wrote in
her letter was, I sense some insecurity on your part.
And she began to use the example of Moses and Joshua.
She basically wanted to encourage me.
This Joshua was never going to be Moses, and you may never be
Jamie. None of that matters because it
is the work of the Spirit that makes the man.
And I want to say the same to you, brother and sister.
If you want your life to matter, if you want your life to count
for something, be a man or a woman who is full of the Holy
Spirit, not just indwelt by the Spirit.
Don't settle for just being a Christian.
Be a man or a woman who is full of the Holy Spirit, consumed by
the Holy Spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit, and your life
will matter. Your life will count for
something. Look at verse 19 to 23, our last
text. Make him stand before Eliezer
the priest and all the congregation, and you shall
Commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some
of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of
Israel may obey. And he shall stand before
Eliezer the priest, who shall inquire for him, by the judgment
of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out,
and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people
of Israel with him, the whole congregation.
And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.
He took Joshua and made him stand before Eliezer the priest,
and the whole congregation. And he laid his hands on him,
and commissioned him, as the Lord directed through Moses.
So God tells Moses, Moses, lay your hands on Joshua.
Make him stand before Eliezer, the priest in the entire
congregation. You shall Commission him in
their sight. In other words, inaugurate him
or ordain him. God wants the people to see that
Joshua didn't just take this role.
He didn't just, you know, sneak in and big I'm leader now.
He wants everybody to see. This is the divinely appointed
leader by God. God says you shall invest him
with notice some of your authority.
Why does he say some some of your authority?
Well, I think the reason is, is because Moses would speak to God
face to face, but Joshua's not going to speak with God face to
face. Moses was unique with Joshua.
He's going to speak to Joshua through the Urim and Thummim.
That's how God's going to speak with him.
He'll have to go through Eleazar.
Eleazar will cast the Urim and Thummim and that's how Joshua
will discern the will of the Lord.
I want you to notice that the purpose of this authority is not
for control. It's not for power.
What is it for? It's for the people's obedience,
God says. I want you to make sure Joshua
has authority over the people so that the people obey, or another
way to put it, so that I don't kill them.
Joshua will stand before Elias of the priest, who will inquire
of God for him. He will use the Urim and
presumably the Thummim as well. Aaron had this role with Moses,
and now Aaron's son Eliezer will have this role with Joshua.
When Joshua tells people to set out, the people will set out.
When he tells them to come in, they will come in.
Joshua will be their new spiritual head.
And here's what I love. Moses obeyed.
I want you to notice that Moses has no misgivings about his
power or his role or his status as a leader.
For 40 years, he's been the sole leader, and he has no misgivings
about passing this on to someone else.
He's ready to pass on the torch to the next generation.
Our job is to raise up the next generation of disciples.
I was talking to this. I don't have this in the sermon,
but it really quick. I was talking to Frank this
earlier. One of the reasons that I love
being here right at 925 S King St. is because Cherise, Bethany
Teresa, somewhere we have an opportunity to invest in people.
You're here for three months and while you're here, we're going
to disciple you. We're going to pour into you to
raise you up. Kyle, our job is to raise up the
next generation to train you. Moses raised up Joshua, Elijah
raised up Elijah. Jesus raised up the 11
disciples. Peter raised up John, Mark, Paul
raised up Timothy and Titus. What about you?
Who is God called you to raise up?
Or who is God calling you to be raised up by?
We are all here to train and raise up the next generation or
be raised up by them the future, the previous generation.
I pray you will take up this mantle of ministry.
Let's pray.