King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Saturday, February 29, 2020
Chapters: Numbers 12-13
Message: Sin No More
Hello My Friend,
There are three types of Christians; The faithful, those who for the most part fear God, and serve Him faithfully. They are not perfect, but they serve their perfect Saviour, and for that reason, God has the highest respect for them. Then there are those who are faithful as long as there is affliction in their lives, they only serve God when things are going wrong. And for that reason, God has minimal respect for them. And then there are those who appear to be faithful, they even go as far as becoming pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and teachers, but are far from being faithful. You see, there are actually two groups of this type of Christian, the first group are those who knowingly live in sin, justifying their faith in Christ as just cause for their doing so. And the second, are those who never own up to their being sinners themselves, teach that their way is God’s way, and are very critical of other Christians. And for that reason, God has a great deal of disrespect for either of these groups. God has respect for the one who is great at giving the Gospel, He respects the one who is living the Gospel.
“Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.” – I Corinthians 9:13-19.
“a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.” Do you know how many people preach the Gospel that are not saved themselves? You would be surprised at how high that number is. Remember, nothing we do for God counts unless we are first saved as He does not recognize it because we are not His (Matthew 7:22-23). Do you know how many preach the Gospel that are living in sin? You would be more surprised at how much higher that number is. “that I might gain the more.” We are not called to preach the Gospel for our own personal gain, we called to live the Gospel for the sake of finding lost souls, and keeping them believing. Now, With everything that happened about the plague that killed thousands of people, after God sent the quail and these people fell into their own lust, and God appointing seventy faithful men to assist Moses, Miriam began to complain about Moses. Since there was nothing she could actually accuse him of, she pointed out that he had been married to an Ethiopian woman (this is Zipporah, whom he married in Median), Aaron, once again, too weak to stand up to what was right, agreed, but what they did not realize was that someone was listening to their conversation.
“And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” – Numbers 12:1-8.
“Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation.” First of all, they were in God’s dwelling place speaking against His faithful servant. You would be surprised at how many people do this right in the church, and even during the services, and God hears every bit of it. “I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision,” Prophets are one thing, these are those who God will use for the purpose of preaching the Gospel to a certain group of people, but never really have that close relationship with God because they are kind of idle. “With him will I speak mouth to mouth,” These are those who are not only preaching the Gospel, they live it, and actually can speak to God one on one, and understand Him. I will tell you that when I first dedicated my life to Christ, I was on fire for Him, and at that time I was the one He used to preach the Gospel, but my life was kind of idle because I was in a relationship with a guy who only pretended to love God in order to get to me. Now, I have that close relationship with God, as long as we talk daily, it remains, because it is talking to Him daily that keeps me faithful to Him. I know His presence is with me as He actually speaks to me more than He ever has, in fact, He often gives me answers to my questions as we are talking or as I am reading His Word. “not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Whatever we do, we are to never speak against one of God’s faithful. Right after God spoke to them, He removed Himself from their presence, and Miriam became leprous.
“And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.” – Numbers 12:10-14.
“Heal her now, O God,” Moses pleaded with God to reverse the judgment, but He refused. This is where no amount of praying can change God’s mind, when He chastens His people, they will remain afflicted until an appointed time. Why? “should she not be ashamed seven days?” This is how God deals with His unfaithful, and those who judge His faithful, their sin will be exposed, and they will face shame for their sin in public. Now, after the people tarried for seven days awaiting Miriam to be cured, they moved forward, and camped just miles away from the promised land. It was there that God had Moses send twelve men, one from each tribe to search out the land and check it out to see what they were walking into.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:” – Numbers 13:1-17.
“And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.” This is Joshua, Moses was his mentor, he pretty much followed Moses wherever he went, even when he went up to Mount Sinai, he camped afar awaiting his return. He and Caleb were ready to go in there, but the other ten were too afraid and gave an evil report.
“So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” – Numbers 13:21,23,26-28,30-32.
“and surely it floweth with milk and honey;” Here they are saying that it was everything they were told it to be, and then some, even showing them the giant fruit they picked from the vine. “Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land,” This is why so many Christians remain idle and never get much done for God, they live in fear of what appear to be big, bad wolves coming after them. While we do have to confront some wolves at times, we really have nothing to fear, but fear itself, and unless we get over that fear, we are not going to see many blessings from God “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” – Luke 12:4-5.
“Let us go up at once, and possess it;” We are the children of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. Stop living in fear! Stop living in sin! Stop being judge! And go get what God has promised you, right now. This is no time to be idle, this is no time to live in fear, this is no time to judge other Christians, this is the time to get moving and do what God has commanded you to do. This morning as I was praying I told God that I was no longer going to ask for His blessings upon my life unless I first become a blessing to someone else. This is not about us, it is about lost souls that are in desperate need of Jesus. And we are not to introduce a fake Jesus, it is to be the true Jesus, the one that says that He saves all who come to Him by admitting they are sinners, believing in the Gospel, and confessing that He alone is the only one who can save them. And that He is also the one who says, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” – John 5:14b.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for sending Your Son to save me, I know there is absolutely nothing I can do to merit salvation on my own, but my faith in Him alone does. You forever promise that because of my faith in Your Son, I am forever Yours, and that is solely promised by Your grace alone. Thank You for Your grace upon my life, for saving my soul, for giving me purpose in life, and for using me despite my endless failures in my walk with You. I do not have to worry about my mishaps because You are faithful to forgive me and cleanse me of my son when I come to You confessing my sin sincerely. Lord, I know that obedience is much more profitable than sacrifice, lead me and guide me, keep me walking and talking with You daily so that I remain Your faithful servant, having the same privilege as Moses to be able to speak with You one on one, earning Your respect. And Lord, let me never complain or speak ill toward any of Your faithful servants, rather let me be blessing to them and to all You send across my path. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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